@furblescout.bsky.social
Mockingbird avatar commissioned from @aledthompson.bsky.social
Reposted
Why do I include poetry in a presentation about data visualization? Because cartography IS poetry.
The ocean is not literally blue. The land is not literally green.
Symbolism, metaphor, language, cultural context and history all inform map making.
Both exercise the same brain-parts.
The ocean is not literally blue. The land is not literally green.
Symbolism, metaphor, language, cultural context and history all inform map making.
Both exercise the same brain-parts.
Guess I'm a freelance corporate consultant now because I just led a really fun session walking a group of software developers through some mind bending relationship visualization problems.
Bibliography: Tufte, Margaret Atwood, Borges, Tobler, Cynthia Brewer, RJ Andrews and Madeline L'Engle
Bibliography: Tufte, Margaret Atwood, Borges, Tobler, Cynthia Brewer, RJ Andrews and Madeline L'Engle
November 12, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Why do I include poetry in a presentation about data visualization? Because cartography IS poetry.
The ocean is not literally blue. The land is not literally green.
Symbolism, metaphor, language, cultural context and history all inform map making.
Both exercise the same brain-parts.
The ocean is not literally blue. The land is not literally green.
Symbolism, metaphor, language, cultural context and history all inform map making.
Both exercise the same brain-parts.
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The value of reading history is you know that in 1860 there were abolitionists who were so demoralized that they thought chattel slavery would be permanent. 5 years later those still alive had lived to see its end.
November 12, 2025 at 8:05 PM
The value of reading history is you know that in 1860 there were abolitionists who were so demoralized that they thought chattel slavery would be permanent. 5 years later those still alive had lived to see its end.
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Grace Kelly photographed on 4 October 1951 watching the World Series opener between the New York Yankees and the New York Giants at Warner Bros Burbank Studios with the cast and crew of “HIGH NOON” including Otto Kruger, Thomas Mitchell, Gary Cooper and Lon Chaney Jr.
November 12, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Grace Kelly photographed on 4 October 1951 watching the World Series opener between the New York Yankees and the New York Giants at Warner Bros Burbank Studios with the cast and crew of “HIGH NOON” including Otto Kruger, Thomas Mitchell, Gary Cooper and Lon Chaney Jr.
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Nadine and the Swimming Lesson
November 12, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Nadine and the Swimming Lesson
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Can't fight alongside people who don't fight.
November 12, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Can't fight alongside people who don't fight.
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Every technology problem is three social problems in a trench coat
ok one last post -- oldheads are always going to "why is the web dying.... how can we get the kids invested in the free and open web"
bro the kids can't read. that's why the web is dying. first things first
bro the kids can't read. that's why the web is dying. first things first
November 11, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Every technology problem is three social problems in a trench coat
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It still pisses me off that jail and prison are two different things.
Jail is where you go while you await sentencing.
Prison is where you go to serve your sentence.
That first one undermines the whole "presumption of innocence," doesn't it.
Jail is where you go while you await sentencing.
Prison is where you go to serve your sentence.
That first one undermines the whole "presumption of innocence," doesn't it.
November 12, 2025 at 3:38 PM
It still pisses me off that jail and prison are two different things.
Jail is where you go while you await sentencing.
Prison is where you go to serve your sentence.
That first one undermines the whole "presumption of innocence," doesn't it.
Jail is where you go while you await sentencing.
Prison is where you go to serve your sentence.
That first one undermines the whole "presumption of innocence," doesn't it.
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November 12, 2025 at 3:29 AM
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We started Indivisible in 2016 because a future Trump appointee was talking about the WWII Japanese internment camps as a model for immigrants at the same time that Schumer was talking about finding common ground with Trump.
This concentration camp was opened at Fort Bliss, the site of a former Japanese internment camp.
It also cost over $1B in private contracts to build in a place meant to hold 1000 people. So, basically it’s a fascist grift.
shorturl.at/qhuSc
It also cost over $1B in private contracts to build in a place meant to hold 1000 people. So, basically it’s a fascist grift.
shorturl.at/qhuSc
November 12, 2025 at 3:06 PM
We started Indivisible in 2016 because a future Trump appointee was talking about the WWII Japanese internment camps as a model for immigrants at the same time that Schumer was talking about finding common ground with Trump.
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Seems like a good day to promote this charity that buys and forgives medical debt in the United States.
unduemedicaldebt.org
unduemedicaldebt.org
Undue Medical Debt Homepage
Undue Medical Debt makes it easy for donors to make an impactful difference in the lives of those struggling with medical debt.
unduemedicaldebt.org
November 12, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Seems like a good day to promote this charity that buys and forgives medical debt in the United States.
unduemedicaldebt.org
unduemedicaldebt.org
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Daily bunny no.3136 is going home at last
November 12, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Daily bunny no.3136 is going home at last
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They’ve laid off so many people that the government is now getting its economic data from DoorDash.
November 12, 2025 at 1:09 AM
They’ve laid off so many people that the government is now getting its economic data from DoorDash.
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Pardon my suddenly watery eyes, but a long-time regular just stopped in with this.
He'd been reading, found this line, and thought of me, so he wrote it out and brought it in.
"I am a handmaiden of civilization. I am a bookseller."
📚❤️
He'd been reading, found this line, and thought of me, so he wrote it out and brought it in.
"I am a handmaiden of civilization. I am a bookseller."
📚❤️
November 11, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Pardon my suddenly watery eyes, but a long-time regular just stopped in with this.
He'd been reading, found this line, and thought of me, so he wrote it out and brought it in.
"I am a handmaiden of civilization. I am a bookseller."
📚❤️
He'd been reading, found this line, and thought of me, so he wrote it out and brought it in.
"I am a handmaiden of civilization. I am a bookseller."
📚❤️
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how did i go so long not knowing we were literally teaching people to read wrong. i knew something wasn't right but jesus christ www.apmreports.org/episode/2019...
How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers
For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked. And many teachers and parents don't kno...
www.apmreports.org
November 11, 2025 at 6:18 PM
how did i go so long not knowing we were literally teaching people to read wrong. i knew something wasn't right but jesus christ www.apmreports.org/episode/2019...
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feel like not nearly enough people are talking about this — apparently the democratic “yes” votes have effectively agreed to having the u.s. government write 6 republican senators $500k checks?
Look at this new outrage. To open govt, we're retroactively letting 8 Senators sue for $500K each over having had their J6 phone toll records looked at. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/u...
Spending Bill Would Pave Way for Senators to Sue Over Phone Searches
www.nytimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:58 PM
feel like not nearly enough people are talking about this — apparently the democratic “yes” votes have effectively agreed to having the u.s. government write 6 republican senators $500k checks?
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US senators will say anything. "Standing up to donald trump gave him more power." No it didn't. That isn't true.
This is what bullies want you to think, and it's why they get stronger
November 11, 2025 at 8:09 PM
US senators will say anything. "Standing up to donald trump gave him more power." No it didn't. That isn't true.
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"The great majority of users have no awareness [that] their chats are being grabbed off their screen, sent over a network, packaged, and resold"
AI chats aren't private? 🤔
Profound is allegedly collecting & licensing sensitive ChatGPT & Google Gemini prompts via extensions, selling the data privacy risk to marketers. #AIChatbots #TechNews
Read more on PCMag 🔗 bit.ly/3LyZz0g
Profound is allegedly collecting & licensing sensitive ChatGPT & Google Gemini prompts via extensions, selling the data privacy risk to marketers. #AIChatbots #TechNews
Read more on PCMag 🔗 bit.ly/3LyZz0g
November 11, 2025 at 9:16 PM
"The great majority of users have no awareness [that] their chats are being grabbed off their screen, sent over a network, packaged, and resold"
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Turns out poor people spent a lot of money on tea and sugar *because they were poor* and that was their inadequate replacement for unaffordable things like cooking fuel, food with actual nutritional content, and enough calories to slave away over a loom for 12 hours.
November 11, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Turns out poor people spent a lot of money on tea and sugar *because they were poor* and that was their inadequate replacement for unaffordable things like cooking fuel, food with actual nutritional content, and enough calories to slave away over a loom for 12 hours.
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ever since I learned about three-cueing I've developed infinitely more patience for replies on social media. mfers literally do not know how to read. people are walking around conjuring random meanings into words they don't know, and they don't know a lot of words. it's crazy
November 11, 2025 at 6:15 PM
ever since I learned about three-cueing I've developed infinitely more patience for replies on social media. mfers literally do not know how to read. people are walking around conjuring random meanings into words they don't know, and they don't know a lot of words. it's crazy
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yes yes we all know about the Edmund Fitzgerald, rest her soul, but did you know about the ship laden with explosives that sank in the mouth of the Thames in 1944 and could explode at any minute and which attempts to disarm keep failing
November 11, 2025 at 3:12 PM
yes yes we all know about the Edmund Fitzgerald, rest her soul, but did you know about the ship laden with explosives that sank in the mouth of the Thames in 1944 and could explode at any minute and which attempts to disarm keep failing
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This is actually good spin, or would have been. But the fact that the Democratic cave happened without even a coordinated, agreed-upon message like this indicates the depth of the leadership void.
November 11, 2025 at 5:12 PM
This is actually good spin, or would have been. But the fact that the Democratic cave happened without even a coordinated, agreed-upon message like this indicates the depth of the leadership void.
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it's not that i ever doubted that being a barista was a skilled position, but my year-long effort to try to produce a half-decent latte at home has convinced me that a good barista is easily more skilled than virtually every c-suite executive on the planet
November 11, 2025 at 3:58 PM
it's not that i ever doubted that being a barista was a skilled position, but my year-long effort to try to produce a half-decent latte at home has convinced me that a good barista is easily more skilled than virtually every c-suite executive on the planet
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Business rent is way too high on Mag (not Miracle) Mile so companies are just shuffling around. H&M moved two blocks down the road to save cash.
He's blaming "murder and crime" in one of the safest parts of the city because the real problem is "landlords." Almost like that's the whole gambit.
He's blaming "murder and crime" in one of the safest parts of the city because the real problem is "landlords." Almost like that's the whole gambit.
Call in the troops to solve the commercial real estate crisis in our swanky downtown cores
You can’t make this shit up, folks
You can’t make this shit up, folks
November 11, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Business rent is way too high on Mag (not Miracle) Mile so companies are just shuffling around. H&M moved two blocks down the road to save cash.
He's blaming "murder and crime" in one of the safest parts of the city because the real problem is "landlords." Almost like that's the whole gambit.
He's blaming "murder and crime" in one of the safest parts of the city because the real problem is "landlords." Almost like that's the whole gambit.
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In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 AM
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
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While we're at it, why do we pay for a fire department when most houses don't even burn down.
Tell me you don’t understand risk pools without telling me you don’t understand risk pools
November 10, 2025 at 6:46 PM
While we're at it, why do we pay for a fire department when most houses don't even burn down.