nesdon
@nesdon.bsky.social
Proud papa, artist, and scientist. An old fart still with the cool clear eyes of a seeker of wisdom and truth.
Enough with the "Gulag". It's a loaded purple word and actually not a very strong analogy. It signals bias and, preaching to the choir, alienates potential moderate allies. The left needs to get a grip on its language. Our sloganeering has cost us our moral authority.
April 29, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Enough with the "Gulag". It's a loaded purple word and actually not a very strong analogy. It signals bias and, preaching to the choir, alienates potential moderate allies. The left needs to get a grip on its language. Our sloganeering has cost us our moral authority.
They may not want to, but we should boycott it. Then rub his nose in the abysmal ratings. Plus, it might be pretty hard, literally, to stomach. xhhttps://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/03/democrats-trump-speech-response-sotu-00206863
Democrats plan a different kind of response to Trump’s big speech
Their less pugilistic approach is the latest sign the party is still coming to terms with how to confront the president.
www.politico.com
March 3, 2025 at 1:35 PM
They may not want to, but we should boycott it. Then rub his nose in the abysmal ratings. Plus, it might be pretty hard, literally, to stomach. xhhttps://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/03/democrats-trump-speech-response-sotu-00206863
Reposted by nesdon
Donald Trump...
✅ Boots FAA chief
✅ Freezes hiring of already short-handed air traffic control personnel
✅ Offers to “buyout” federal workers
✅ Guts key aviation security advisory group
And when one of our busiest airports is understaffed he has the nerve to blame wokeness?
✅ Boots FAA chief
✅ Freezes hiring of already short-handed air traffic control personnel
✅ Offers to “buyout” federal workers
✅ Guts key aviation security advisory group
And when one of our busiest airports is understaffed he has the nerve to blame wokeness?
January 31, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Donald Trump...
✅ Boots FAA chief
✅ Freezes hiring of already short-handed air traffic control personnel
✅ Offers to “buyout” federal workers
✅ Guts key aviation security advisory group
And when one of our busiest airports is understaffed he has the nerve to blame wokeness?
✅ Boots FAA chief
✅ Freezes hiring of already short-handed air traffic control personnel
✅ Offers to “buyout” federal workers
✅ Guts key aviation security advisory group
And when one of our busiest airports is understaffed he has the nerve to blame wokeness?
Wildfires have been happening in SM Mountains forever. ALWAYS driven by Santa Ana winds blowing offshore down the canyons, they are generally unstoppable while the Santa Ana is blowing, but once they end and the normal onshores resume, fire fighters can generally prevent any further structure loss.
January 8, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Wildfires have been happening in SM Mountains forever. ALWAYS driven by Santa Ana winds blowing offshore down the canyons, they are generally unstoppable while the Santa Ana is blowing, but once they end and the normal onshores resume, fire fighters can generally prevent any further structure loss.
TCEP, Topanga Canyon's unique and extraordinary community emergency prep organization reports that th cluster of businesses at the junction of Topanga Canyon Blvd and PCH: The Reel Inn, Malibu Feed Bin, Cholada and Wylies Bait shop have burned. All of Topanga is under evacuation orders.
January 8, 2025 at 2:26 AM
TCEP, Topanga Canyon's unique and extraordinary community emergency prep organization reports that th cluster of businesses at the junction of Topanga Canyon Blvd and PCH: The Reel Inn, Malibu Feed Bin, Cholada and Wylies Bait shop have burned. All of Topanga is under evacuation orders.
And its partner, Gratitude.
holly-days.org/2024/12/26/g...
holly-days.org/2024/12/26/g...
Gratitude
I expect that like most families on Thanksgiving, when we sit together around our feast, we take turns sharing something we are grateful for. It can be hard, because, where do you start to take sto…
holly-days.org
December 27, 2024 at 7:55 PM
And its partner, Gratitude.
holly-days.org/2024/12/26/g...
holly-days.org/2024/12/26/g...
Happy Generosity!
holly-days.org/2024/12/25/g...
holly-days.org/2024/12/25/g...
Generosity
The metaphor in Corinthians: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully, is pretty obvious when when applied to actual agriculture, but…
holly-days.org
December 27, 2024 at 7:53 PM
Happy Generosity!
holly-days.org/2024/12/25/g...
holly-days.org/2024/12/25/g...
Wild that Joni Mitchell's River gets so much play as a holiday song. She rhymes "singing songs of joy and peace" with "loved me so naughty made me weak in the knees". Title scraping bots have also put two other pretty dark songs: White Winter Hymnal and Hallelujah in the holiday rotation.
December 26, 2024 at 3:03 AM
Wild that Joni Mitchell's River gets so much play as a holiday song. She rhymes "singing songs of joy and peace" with "loved me so naughty made me weak in the knees". Title scraping bots have also put two other pretty dark songs: White Winter Hymnal and Hallelujah in the holiday rotation.
Happy Holly Days!
holly-days.org/2024/12/24/h...
holly-days.org/2024/12/24/h...
Hope
Our band of apes has managed to bob and weave past all the obstacles, both internal and external we have faced these past million years. Knowing we have overcome impossible odds again and again, I …
holly-days.org
December 26, 2024 at 12:41 AM
Happy Holly Days!
holly-days.org/2024/12/24/h...
holly-days.org/2024/12/24/h...
Ending the first trinity of values is Kindness.
holly-days.org/2024/12/23/k...
holly-days.org/2024/12/23/k...
Kindness
Be kind. Just six letters, two words, but perhaps the most profound and effective rule for social harmony. Our pain, guilt, or anger may rankle us and lead us to scowl at our fellow humans rather t…
holly-days.org
December 24, 2024 at 2:00 AM
Ending the first trinity of values is Kindness.
holly-days.org/2024/12/23/k...
holly-days.org/2024/12/23/k...
Today is the second Holly Day. Each day we contemplate one of the values in a quartet of trinities, today I muse on Compassion.
holly-days.org/2024/12/22/c...
holly-days.org/2024/12/22/c...
Compassion
My process with these posts had been to go back and re-read all the old posts in an effort to avoid repeating myself and to seed my contemplation of these big ideas. I’m not doing that this y…
holly-days.org
December 23, 2024 at 3:28 AM
Today is the second Holly Day. Each day we contemplate one of the values in a quartet of trinities, today I muse on Compassion.
holly-days.org/2024/12/22/c...
holly-days.org/2024/12/22/c...
My family celebrates an mash up winter holiday we call Holly Days. Runs 12 days from the Solstice to New Years Day. This is its origin story. Happy Unity!
holly-days.org/nesdons-rant/
holly-days.org/nesdons-rant/
Nesdon’s Rant
On the winter solstice of 1995, I stood shivering, looking across the chaparral-covered hills surrounding my home in our beloved Topanga. The sun had begun to set behind the huge but now barren old…
holly-days.org
December 22, 2024 at 3:12 AM
My family celebrates an mash up winter holiday we call Holly Days. Runs 12 days from the Solstice to New Years Day. This is its origin story. Happy Unity!
holly-days.org/nesdons-rant/
holly-days.org/nesdons-rant/
Under Medicare drs are incentivized to upcode and rx unnecessary procedures. Rather than Medicare for all we need Kaiser for all. Most docs are salaried in Kaiser’s non profit system that succeeds when members are more healthy. Plus they build extraordinary and specialized centers of excellence
December 15, 2024 at 11:37 AM
Under Medicare drs are incentivized to upcode and rx unnecessary procedures. Rather than Medicare for all we need Kaiser for all. Most docs are salaried in Kaiser’s non profit system that succeeds when members are more healthy. Plus they build extraordinary and specialized centers of excellence
The Mangione story is very reminiscent of a number of young men I've known who had their first psychotic breaks in their 20's as their first expression of their schizophrenia, schizo affective disorder or bipolar one.
www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publi...
www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publi...
Understanding Psychosis
This fact sheet presents information on psychosis including causes, signs and symptoms, treatment, and resources for help.
www.nimh.nih.gov
December 12, 2024 at 11:39 PM
The Mangione story is very reminiscent of a number of young men I've known who had their first psychotic breaks in their 20's as their first expression of their schizophrenia, schizo affective disorder or bipolar one.
www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publi...
www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publi...
Give snitches riches and indict the bitches who give snitches stitches.
December 10, 2024 at 11:06 PM
Give snitches riches and indict the bitches who give snitches stitches.
He “saw himself as hero” means to me that all of you cheering him as a hero have blood on your hands too. www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12...
Police Say Luigi Mangione, Suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO's Killing, 'Views Himself as a Hero': Live Updates
The suspect, Luigi Mangione, 26, was charged with murder on Monday after his arrest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa. An internal police report obtained by The Times said he had the potential to be seen...
www.nytimes.com
December 10, 2024 at 4:53 PM
He “saw himself as hero” means to me that all of you cheering him as a hero have blood on your hands too. www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12...
Too many assumptions. At the end of the day this sort of mercy might be warranted, but it is undoubtedly not warranted at this point. Condoning vengeance puts all of us at risk. Should we pardon the son of this executive after he kills you for calling for his father's murderer to be freed?
December 6, 2024 at 6:45 PM
Too many assumptions. At the end of the day this sort of mercy might be warranted, but it is undoubtedly not warranted at this point. Condoning vengeance puts all of us at risk. Should we pardon the son of this executive after he kills you for calling for his father's murderer to be freed?
Given all the increasing serious knock-on effects of this problem, this may be our most existentially important project. Buried in a post from Jay, this is an important and very accessible read. knightcolumbia.org/content/prot...
Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech
knightcolumbia.org
November 20, 2024 at 3:21 PM
Given all the increasing serious knock-on effects of this problem, this may be our most existentially important project. Buried in a post from Jay, this is an important and very accessible read. knightcolumbia.org/content/prot...
This “marketplace of algorithms” feels like it could be as revolutionary and disruptive as was the incoming link weighting in google’s automated marketplace of search. BUT we code clutzes need help! Point us to tutorials on how to craft/assemble our best personal algo.
November 19, 2024 at 3:56 PM
This “marketplace of algorithms” feels like it could be as revolutionary and disruptive as was the incoming link weighting in google’s automated marketplace of search. BUT we code clutzes need help! Point us to tutorials on how to craft/assemble our best personal algo.
Adding this important statement of goals here. I tend to trust that most folks have good intentions, even if they may be laying evil paving stones. Most of the digerati, unlike the robber barons, were/are utopians. This means diligent iteration may save us. bsky.social/about/blog/3...
Algorithmic choice - Bluesky
Your attention is an invaluable resource. We want a future where you control what you see on social media.
bsky.social
November 19, 2024 at 3:42 PM
Adding this important statement of goals here. I tend to trust that most folks have good intentions, even if they may be laying evil paving stones. Most of the digerati, unlike the robber barons, were/are utopians. This means diligent iteration may save us. bsky.social/about/blog/3...
I was hopeful when elon took over twitter that features like community notes and Open algorithms could solve the profound crisis of social media. Of course he was BSing and just went all oligarch, but I am more hopeful that we may create solutions here together. www.newscientist.com/article/2456...
Bluesky is ushering in a pick-your-own algorithm era of social media
Nearly 20 million people have joined Bluesky, a social network that gives you fine-grained control over what you see and who you interact with. I think it is the future of social media, says Chris Sto...
www.newscientist.com
November 19, 2024 at 3:35 PM
I was hopeful when elon took over twitter that features like community notes and Open algorithms could solve the profound crisis of social media. Of course he was BSing and just went all oligarch, but I am more hopeful that we may create solutions here together. www.newscientist.com/article/2456...
There is a very deep insight into network effects that led me to take the BG photo in my header. It is of two things I love very deeply interacting it what seems an impossible way. Big props to anyone who can unpack all this.
November 19, 2024 at 3:15 PM
There is a very deep insight into network effects that led me to take the BG photo in my header. It is of two things I love very deeply interacting it what seems an impossible way. Big props to anyone who can unpack all this.
Holly Days, our homemade winter holiday, now almost 2 decades old! holly-days.org
HOLLY DAYS
A Truce in the Petty Squabbles about the True Meaning of the Seasonal Ascension of our Beloved Sol
holly-days.org
November 19, 2024 at 12:43 AM
Holly Days, our homemade winter holiday, now almost 2 decades old! holly-days.org
Been very sad that as a lonely old fart the online communities that keep me connected have turned to shit. Looking blueskyward hopefully
November 18, 2024 at 3:17 PM
Been very sad that as a lonely old fart the online communities that keep me connected have turned to shit. Looking blueskyward hopefully