Mal J Brown 🐿 @mjb@octodon.social
An eclectic rebel, nighthawk, eco-geek, & full-stack web software developer. https://about.me/m.j.brown
Also: @mjb
Dare I question transhumanist dogma on Mastodon? Yes, I do.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2017/04/18/the-gospel-according-to-st-ray/
I'm losing my patience with Google+
Is Mastodon the new social media star, or imploding black hole? http://zd.net/2orhW8E
Tampermonkey/Greasemonkey script to translate toots using Google Translate.
https://github.com/tomouchuu/mastodon-translate
Mathematical Model Reveals the Patterns of How Innovations Arise
http://ur1.ca/qrpyv
'The team has also shown that its model predicts how innovations appear in the real world. … Interestingly, these systems involve two different forms of discovery. … Curiously, the same model accounts for both phenomenon.'
Beaver herds 150 cattle
http://ur1.ca/qrpxk
"We just thought this was so funny and so Canadian," she said. "A Canadian beaver leading around a bunch of Canadian cattle just makes it even more funny."
Why There Are No New Social Networks
http://ur1.ca/qrpwc
[repost with corrected URL]
The author doesn't seem to get that an open federated network, such as Mastodon, is fundamentally different and not subject to the same market forces as a traditional social network.
Hello, Octodonners. It looks like Alice's patreon in support of our chosen instance has plateaued. Please do what you can to help our friendly neighborhood cyberpunk queen, @CobaltVelvet
Donating is grand; boosting this, even, will be helpful, to get the message around.
Please don't take this the wrong way. Show more
A lesson learned from app.net is that when all conversations on a social network are meta-conversations *about that social network* you get an incredibly boring, self-centered echo chamber that's very unappealing to most audiences (which, in turn, makes it more boring and self-centered).
Disclaimer: not *all* conversations on app.net were about app.net. Far from it, actually. Still, it was such a prevalent topic that it might as well have been the only one. I'm convinced this is what killed it.
RIP Lexi <3
How Algorithms and Authoritarianism Created a Corporate Nightmare at United
This is a really worthwhile read about what happened with United Airlines the other day. It holds some important lessons for building human safeguards into our increasingly algorithmic management.
http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2017/04/algorithmic-dystopia.html
138 Short Animated Introductions to the World’s Greatest Ideas: Plato, Michel Foucault, Simone de Beauvoir & More @ OpenCulture.com
https://is.gd/ks3ViR
Finally, a breakthrough alternative to growth economics – the doughnut
https://is.gd/gSkx0s
'“The welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measure of national income.” … Instead of economies that need to grow, whether or not they make us thrive, we need economies that “make us thrive, whether or not they grow”. This means changing our picture of what the economy is and how it works.'
Whales Keep Carbon out of the Atmosphere
https://is.gd/rszc6x
'[T]heir movements… tend to push nutrients from the bottom of the ocean to the surface, where they feed the phytoplankton and other marine flora that suck in carbon, as well as fish and other smaller animals. [Also:] fecal plumes. … [O]ne study suggests that every year, sperm whales help sequester as much carbon as 694 acres of U.S. forests do.'
Malala Yousafzai's full speech to Canada's Parliament: 'Education for girls can transform communities, countries and our world,' Nobel laureate says in address.
https://is.gd/bLf8BD
The Death of Awe in the Age of Awesome (And why you should consider binning your bucket-list)
https://is.gd/ajhlti
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” — Yeats
The Fantastical Capybara: An Interview with Melanie Typaldos About Her Caplin Rous
https://is.gd/iE5ShM
Capybaras are close relatives of octodon degus! Mine is named Lexi.: smile:
Taoist monks find new role as environmentalists
https://is.gd/uegQzT
Not Awesome: ES6 Classes: A curated list of resources on why ES6 (aka ES2015) classes are NOT awesome — https://is.gd/aQlnCO
