Sam Ladner
@sladner.bsky.social
Industry-based sociologist. UX Strategy and Research. Enterprise Software. Future of work. Foresight. Also photography. 🇨🇦 living SF Bay Area. Working on a book on strategic foresight to be published by Routledge. More: https://www.samladner.com/
Pinned
This seems like a bad play. “The Trump administration told states on Saturday to “immediately undo” any actions to provide full food stamp benefits to low-income families, threatening financial penalties if they do not comply.” www.nytimes.com/live/2025/11...
Trump Administration Live Updates: Officials Demand States ‘Undo’ Work to Send Full Food Stamps
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:00 PM
This seems like a bad play. “The Trump administration told states on Saturday to “immediately undo” any actions to provide full food stamp benefits to low-income families, threatening financial penalties if they do not comply.” www.nytimes.com/live/2025/11...
Excellent read. Well done, Sharon.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Excellent read. Well done, Sharon.
Reposted by Sam Ladner
Jan. 6 gunman arrested on kidnapping and aggravated assault charges www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
Former Jan. 6 defendant arrested on kidnapping and aggravated assault charges
The Utah man was previously charged with firing a gun outside the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
www.nbcnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Jan. 6 gunman arrested on kidnapping and aggravated assault charges www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...
We (@steveportigal.bsky.social and I) removed our humble little podcast and I cancelled our family subscription. We did bc Indivisble organizers suggested this as a way to protest ICE's unlawful and cruel policies. Keep up the pressure!
Spotify is crashing HARD because of the boycott. Their stock dropped 11% in value over the last month. Let’s keep this going!
Tell everyone you know to boycott Spotify. There are plenty of alternatives that don’t run ICE advertisements and screw over artists.
We made it easy at boycottspotify.com.
Tell everyone you know to boycott Spotify. There are plenty of alternatives that don’t run ICE advertisements and screw over artists.
We made it easy at boycottspotify.com.
November 7, 2025 at 7:52 PM
We (@steveportigal.bsky.social and I) removed our humble little podcast and I cancelled our family subscription. We did bc Indivisble organizers suggested this as a way to protest ICE's unlawful and cruel policies. Keep up the pressure!
Reposted by Sam Ladner
I wanna invite Pope Leo to my Intro to Science and Technology Studies class
November 7, 2025 at 6:04 PM
I wanna invite Pope Leo to my Intro to Science and Technology Studies class
This story has a lot to unpack: Trump's tariffs destroying a 100-year alliance, Canada's productivity crisis, corporations happy with welfare as long as it benefits them, and the death of manufacturing. All sad and all unnecessary www.wsj.com/world/americ...
Canada’s Economy Starts to Buckle Under Trump’s Tariffs
Nowhere is the toll of Trump’s trade policies more apparent than in Canada’s manufacturing heartland in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
www.wsj.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:13 PM
This story has a lot to unpack: Trump's tariffs destroying a 100-year alliance, Canada's productivity crisis, corporations happy with welfare as long as it benefits them, and the death of manufacturing. All sad and all unnecessary www.wsj.com/world/americ...
This was a good show.
Australian noir, anyone?
crimereads.com/mr-inbetween/
crimereads.com/mr-inbetween/
Mr. Inbetween: It’s Time to Appreciate the Genius of This Very Australian Noir
I recently chaired a panel in which several American crime writers discussed their most memorable discoveries in terms of noir television and film during the various COVID lockdowns we have all end…
crimereads.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:33 AM
This was a good show.
Reposted by Sam Ladner
Reposted by Sam Ladner
This is phenomenal.
GOOD NEWS! Researchers have developed a cancer vaccine that has shown STUNNING results, PREVENTING up to 88% of MULTIPLE aggressive cancers by harnessing dual-pathway nanoparticles that train the immune system to recognize and destroy tumor cells. In some cases, it COMPLETELY prevented metastasis.
November 6, 2025 at 12:41 AM
This is phenomenal.
Reposted by Sam Ladner
We have friends everywhere
November 5, 2025 at 4:57 AM
We have friends everywhere
Reposted by Sam Ladner
I have been writing for years about the fact that we are not ready for the destruction of costly signalling mechanisms. Writing used to be a way of measuring effort, ability and diligence. We still have no easy substitute
Now this paper confirms that cover letters have lost their value as predictor
Now this paper confirms that cover letters have lost their value as predictor
November 5, 2025 at 1:48 AM
I have been writing for years about the fact that we are not ready for the destruction of costly signalling mechanisms. Writing used to be a way of measuring effort, ability and diligence. We still have no easy substitute
Now this paper confirms that cover letters have lost their value as predictor
Now this paper confirms that cover letters have lost their value as predictor
I didn’t watch the interview but reading the fact check is worthwhile www.cnn.com/2025/11/03/p...
Fact check: 18 false claims Trump made on ‘60 Minutes’ | CNN Politics
President Donald Trump littered his new “60 Minutes” interview with a wide-ranging assortment of false claims, the vast majority of them previously debunked. We counted at least 18 inaccurate assertio...
www.cnn.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:27 PM
I didn’t watch the interview but reading the fact check is worthwhile www.cnn.com/2025/11/03/p...
More evidence that Orcas as the badasses of the ocean. Orcas found to hunt sharks by flipping them over, rendering them immobile, and then eating their livers. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
Killer whales perfect a ruthless trick to hunt great white sharks
In the Gulf of California, a pod of orcas known as Moctezuma’s pod has developed a chillingly precise technique for hunting young great white sharks — flipping them upside down to paralyze and extract...
www.sciencedaily.com
November 3, 2025 at 5:36 PM
More evidence that Orcas as the badasses of the ocean. Orcas found to hunt sharks by flipping them over, rendering them immobile, and then eating their livers. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
Whenever people tell me that govt is inefficient, I ask them if they’ve ever seen private corporations make costly strategy mistakes.
The wet fart noise you hear is the AI bubble deflating. CEOs are pivoting from "AI will make us more productive, somehow" to "culture will make us more productive, somehow"
The bottleneck has ALWAYS been bad strategy at the top. But instead, Amazon is trying to solve it by hollowing out the middle.
The bottleneck has ALWAYS been bad strategy at the top. But instead, Amazon is trying to solve it by hollowing out the middle.
Amazon's layoffs are driven by something even stupider than AI
Andy Jassy wants you to think that velocity can make up for lack of strategy. But "build, measure, learn" only works if you're willing to learn.
productpicnic.beehiiv.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Whenever people tell me that govt is inefficient, I ask them if they’ve ever seen private corporations make costly strategy mistakes.
Reposted by Sam Ladner
Here’s your SNAP money ⬇️ it’s currently adorning the Lincoln potty 🚽. He sure focuses on bathrooms.
October 31, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Here’s your SNAP money ⬇️ it’s currently adorning the Lincoln potty 🚽. He sure focuses on bathrooms.
The people’s house. With the people’s dollars.
On the left, the refurbished Lincoln bathroom. On the right, picture I took in Saddam Hussein's palace in Basra in 2005.
October 31, 2025 at 6:24 PM
The people’s house. With the people’s dollars.
We are 100% against ICE’s unlawful and cruel tactics. For this reason, we are taking our humble little podcast off Spotify. I hope they get the message.
An update: @sladner.bsky.social and I have removed our Off The Path with Sam and Steve from Spotify in response to their taking money from ICE to run recruiting ads. Children are being zip-tied and dragged from their homes and Spotify is taking money to help staff that authoritarian hate.
Here's the show on Spotify
October 31, 2025 at 6:17 PM
We are 100% against ICE’s unlawful and cruel tactics. For this reason, we are taking our humble little podcast off Spotify. I hope they get the message.
As Putin loses his grip, it’s going to get a lot more dangerous. www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2...
Putin is losing the weirdest war in 150 years
The Ukraine conflict has descended into farce. But behind the fog, Russia’s desperate state is becoming ever clearer
www.telegraph.co.uk
October 29, 2025 at 7:54 PM
As Putin loses his grip, it’s going to get a lot more dangerous. www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2...
If I didn’t know that Doug Ford was Canadian, for some reason, this quote would absolutely confirm it. globalnews.ca/news/1150012...
October 29, 2025 at 3:45 PM
If I didn’t know that Doug Ford was Canadian, for some reason, this quote would absolutely confirm it. globalnews.ca/news/1150012...
America’s top diplomat to Canada is not very diplomatic. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
U.S. ambassador to Canada goes on expletive-laced tirade at Ontario’s trade representative, witnesses say | CBC News
The U.S. ambassador to Canada delivered an expletive-laced tirade at Ontario's trade representative at an event in Ottawa on Monday, multiple witnesses tell CBC News
www.cbc.ca
October 29, 2025 at 3:21 PM
America’s top diplomat to Canada is not very diplomatic. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
It’s literally everyday I get the “try AI!!!!” nudge. Yesterday, I told Copilot to fix a ton broken links (all broken in the same annoying way) in a long document. Not only did it not do it, but I ended up arguing with it on how sycophantic it should be.
October 29, 2025 at 2:44 PM
It’s literally everyday I get the “try AI!!!!” nudge. Yesterday, I told Copilot to fix a ton broken links (all broken in the same annoying way) in a long document. Not only did it not do it, but I ended up arguing with it on how sycophantic it should be.
Jays win in LA and now it’s back to the 6ix. Exciting!!
October 29, 2025 at 5:09 AM
Jays win in LA and now it’s back to the 6ix. Exciting!!
Reposted by Sam Ladner
This is a real thing that a judge had to say to the Chief of US Customs and Border Protection.
"Kids dressed in halloween costumes walking to a parade" do not present an immediate threat to law enforcement officer and riot control measures may not be used, Ellis says.
October 28, 2025 at 3:20 PM
This is a real thing that a judge had to say to the Chief of US Customs and Border Protection.
Reposted by Sam Ladner
More and more evidence that dementia is a vascular disease. Very interesting work here. neurosciencenews.com/glympahtic-s...
Brain’s Waste System Breakdown Linked to Dementia Risk - Neuroscience News
Researchers have discovered that problems with the brain’s waste-clearing system—the glymphatic system—may significantly raise the risk of developing dementia.
neurosciencenews.com
October 23, 2025 at 10:33 PM
More and more evidence that dementia is a vascular disease. Very interesting work here. neurosciencenews.com/glympahtic-s...