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/
Theda Skocpcol was excluded until she won a major prize. This is very depressing but also made me feel less alone.
[oof]
December 24, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Theda Skocpcol was excluded until she won a major prize. This is very depressing but also made me feel less alone.
Drunk young men sounding good.
December 19, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Drunk young men sounding good.
It’s time for everyone to accept that Russia cannot be trusted to be part of a peaceful, law-abiding international community. It is a lawless wasteland of death.
Fantastic piece of journalism by the AP. A map of the 145 Russian sabotage and disruption incidents across Europe.
These are not random acts. "Russia wants to drain Europe's investigative resources with its sabotage campaign, officials say." apnews.com/projects/rus...
These are not random acts. "Russia wants to drain Europe's investigative resources with its sabotage campaign, officials say." apnews.com/projects/rus...
Russia wants to drain Europe's security resources with sabotage campaign, officials say | AP News
The Associated Press has tracked 145 cases of sabotage and disruption that Western officials blame on Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. They say Moscow wants to drain Europe’s investigative r...
apnews.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:51 AM
It’s time for everyone to accept that Russia cannot be trusted to be part of a peaceful, law-abiding international community. It is a lawless wasteland of death.
If you're feeling increasingly socially isolated, it's not just a feeling - new research confirms we are spending less time with friends and family, even before the pandemic. I've studied time use for 165 years and this is the most depressing study I've read www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
December 18, 2025 at 8:11 PM
If you're feeling increasingly socially isolated, it's not just a feeling - new research confirms we are spending less time with friends and family, even before the pandemic. I've studied time use for 165 years and this is the most depressing study I've read www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
A nice little way to end the year.
Here’s a short promo for the sixth (and final!) episode of Off the Path with Sam and Steve. It's called Making Mistakes and as @sladner.bsky.social helpfully clarifies, it's about mistakes.
December 18, 2025 at 4:24 PM
A nice little way to end the year.
It’s going to take a few years before we can truly see this post-pandemic sludge period. But when we are trudging through extreme weather to shittier-than-ever jobs, we will start to see how a band of sociopaths sold our children’s futures for pennies.
December 17, 2025 at 9:05 PM
It’s going to take a few years before we can truly see this post-pandemic sludge period. But when we are trudging through extreme weather to shittier-than-ever jobs, we will start to see how a band of sociopaths sold our children’s futures for pennies.
Reposted by Sam Ladner
Christopher Anderson and Vanity Fair really managed to do a solid for the concept of *photography* on this late date in the year of slop.
www.wefolk.com/artists/chri...
www.wefolk.com/artists/chri...
Christopher Anderson | We Folk
Born in western Canada and brought up in West Texas, Christopher Anderson is the author of nine monographs of photography including the acclaimed trilogy of intensel.
www.wefolk.com
December 17, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Christopher Anderson and Vanity Fair really managed to do a solid for the concept of *photography* on this late date in the year of slop.
www.wefolk.com/artists/chri...
www.wefolk.com/artists/chri...
Nailed it.
The U.S. is giving dying mall vibes.
I can't explain it, but you know I'm right.
I can't explain it, but you know I'm right.
December 17, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Nailed it.
Wow this is amazing
One of the biggest moments of my career:
USCIS canceled my client’s naturalization oath ceremony. We filed a lawsuit, went to trial, and the judge swore him in right there in the courtroom!
USCIS canceled my client’s naturalization oath ceremony. We filed a lawsuit, went to trial, and the judge swore him in right there in the courtroom!
December 16, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Wow this is amazing
And another preview for your listening pleasure.
Here's a short promo video for the fifth episode of Off the Path with Sam and Steve called "Why aren't you a big shot?" @sladner.bsky.social and I are excited to share this with you and look forward to your perspectives. (links follow) 🧀
December 15, 2025 at 4:37 PM
And another preview for your listening pleasure.
"It's kind of cruel," said one recipient of grants that have been cut off by the Trump administration. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/u...
Born Deaf and Blind, She’s Caught in Trump’s Anti-Diversity Crusade
nytimes.com
December 15, 2025 at 3:46 PM
"It's kind of cruel," said one recipient of grants that have been cut off by the Trump administration. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/u...
Reading Wajcman warped my brain into the critical machine it is today.
OTD in 1950, Judy Wajcman was born. A pioneering sociologist and feminist theorist, Wajcman reshaped the philosophy and sociology of technology by showing how technological systems are deeply entwined with gender, power, and social organization.
1/
1/
December 12, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Reading Wajcman warped my brain into the critical machine it is today.
This was so much fun to do!
@sladner.bsky.social and I are back with more episodes of "Off the Path with Sam and Steve." Episode 4 is called "Impact without Authority" and in this promo video we ask about *your* experiences with this.
December 11, 2025 at 8:08 PM
This was so much fun to do!
TIL that design is boring, you know, like accounting.
"AI is not in a bubble, because you are fundamentally automating the boring part of businesses like accounting or billing or product design or delivery, or inventory.
If anything it is underhyped"
~ Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt
If anything it is underhyped"
~ Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt
December 10, 2025 at 12:59 PM
TIL that design is boring, you know, like accounting.
Articles like this one on the mixed and muddled Ukrainian identity in the Soviet Era tracks. There are far more Ukrainian artists than most people realize it. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/w...
Another Front in the War in Ukraine: Who Gets to Claim a Famed Artist?
www.nytimes.com
December 9, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Articles like this one on the mixed and muddled Ukrainian identity in the Soviet Era tracks. There are far more Ukrainian artists than most people realize it. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/w...
The Finnish prime minister advocates for a new multilateralism in this Foreign Affiars article. Like me, he was an undergraduate in intl relations during the fall of the Soviet Union. His GenX energy comes through www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
The West’s Last Chance
How to build a new global order before it’s too late.
www.foreignaffairs.com
December 3, 2025 at 1:22 PM
The Finnish prime minister advocates for a new multilateralism in this Foreign Affiars article. Like me, he was an undergraduate in intl relations during the fall of the Soviet Union. His GenX energy comes through www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
Reposted by Sam Ladner
My great-uncle was born in the Russian Empire and wrote God Bless America
Rep. Kat Cammarck: "Today, one in six people in the US is foreign born. That quite frankly is not sustainable to maintain a culture that we are known for here in the United States."
December 2, 2025 at 5:18 PM
My great-uncle was born in the Russian Empire and wrote God Bless America
SS....ecretary?
Pete Hegseth's nameplate during today's cabinet meeting featured an unfortunate error.
(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty)
(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty)
December 2, 2025 at 8:25 PM
SS....ecretary?
I recently read the 1972 New Yorker article on the My Lai Massacre and it is worth the read. The heroism of some is matched by the dishonor of others www.newyorker.com/magazine/197...
December 2, 2025 at 5:31 PM
I recently read the 1972 New Yorker article on the My Lai Massacre and it is worth the read. The heroism of some is matched by the dishonor of others www.newyorker.com/magazine/197...
As a sociologist, I have had this question more times than I can count -- and yet, I have managed to keep a full head of hair!
As a sociologist: Have you read Malcolm Gladwell?
As an emergency management guy at a Maritime Academy: Where can I get my kid into boat safety training?
As an emergency management guy at a Maritime Academy: Where can I get my kid into boat safety training?
What’s the worst question someone can ask after you tell them your profession? For linguists, it’s definitely “how many languages do you speak?”, but I’m curious what else is happening to the rest of y’all out there?!
December 2, 2025 at 5:27 PM
As a sociologist, I have had this question more times than I can count -- and yet, I have managed to keep a full head of hair!
Reposted by Sam Ladner
This is absolutely astonishing. Alt text in comments.
This is why I support freedom of expression.
Appropriately, it is the chaos of a system that supports free speech that gives rise to the grand process of democratic self-governance and the ideally upward arc of human progress and flourishing.
Yesterday a Stoppard play, today a tweet.
Appropriately, it is the chaos of a system that supports free speech that gives rise to the grand process of democratic self-governance and the ideally upward arc of human progress and flourishing.
Yesterday a Stoppard play, today a tweet.
December 2, 2025 at 1:45 PM
This is absolutely astonishing. Alt text in comments.
Reposted by Sam Ladner
According to Statistics Canada, there are about 684,500 Canadians living in Canada who also hold U.S. citizenship. www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recen... and ~800,000 Canadians living in the US. www.international.gc.ca/country-pays...
December 1, 2025 at 11:39 PM
According to Statistics Canada, there are about 684,500 Canadians living in Canada who also hold U.S. citizenship. www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recen... and ~800,000 Canadians living in the US. www.international.gc.ca/country-pays...
Reposted by Sam Ladner
Twenty people allege he has a racist past. He denies it. Who’s telling the truth about Farage’s schooldays? Reform UK’s leader refuses to answer questions about his abusive behaviour, claiming there’s ‘no evidence’. We talk to victims and witnesses www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Twenty people allege he has a racist past. He denies it. Who’s telling the truth about Farage’s schooldays?
Reform UK’s leader refuses to answer questions about his abusive behaviour, claiming there’s ‘no evidence’. We talk to victims and witnesses
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Twenty people allege he has a racist past. He denies it. Who’s telling the truth about Farage’s schooldays? Reform UK’s leader refuses to answer questions about his abusive behaviour, claiming there’s ‘no evidence’. We talk to victims and witnesses www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
The costs of AI-related cognitive offloading are just beginning to be visible. In a few years, it should be very obvious what the total harm will be. Yikes.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 6:11 PM
The costs of AI-related cognitive offloading are just beginning to be visible. In a few years, it should be very obvious what the total harm will be. Yikes.
Guys, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I think we are all in big trouble. cheknews.ca/all-southern...
All southern resident killer whales gathered into ‘superpod’ south of Vancouver Island
The Orca Behavior Institute says it’s “thrilled” to have seen a southern resident killer whale superpod gather in the waters south of Vancouver Island last week.
cheknews.ca
November 19, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Guys, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I think we are all in big trouble. cheknews.ca/all-southern...