J. Nathan Matias @natematias@octodon.social

This Dec 5 talk by @Florini on how people create online enclaves for conversation away from harassment may be of interest to people on Mastodon: https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/2017/luncheon/12/Florini

Finally getting some of my art on the wall. This one is a panel from Nick Sousanis's graphic novel PhD dissertation.

https://octodon.social/media/YkZenSU_jxXlP3TpEEk

It me.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualConversation/comments/64mfox/i_cant_open_my_jar_of_talenti_gelato/ https://octodon.social/media/3dtEFJ_MiE4iSvTV_lQ

Statue of the day: Angeline Eberly shot a cannon to protect the Texas archives in Austin from a secret incursion ordered by Sam Houston in 1842 https://octodon.social/media/PShO3HcHagxh3tqSsDk

Photo by John Nestor on Flickr. Sculpture by Pat Oliphant

New bicycle trailer seems to be working well!

https://octodon.social/media/0ehdDfxIUz-hPXcIdwg https://octodon.social/media/82wHsxqmqlc5g4fOXjM

Their report on the decentralized web can be read here: http://dci.mit.edu/decentralizedweb

.@ethanz writes about Mastodon's popularity as part of a wider report with Chelsea Barabas and Neha Narula on decentralized publishing:

https://medium.com/@EthanZ/mastodon-is-big-in-japan-the-reason-why-is-uncomfortable-684c036498e5

UK politicians bringing their cats to work: http://www.metafilter.com/168869/UK-politicians-trying-to-get-their-cats-wedged-into-parliament

My contribution: Platform-based social change will continue to be risky without progress on evaluation and governance by platform users

https://medium.com/@natematias/the-benefits-of-massively-scaling-platform-research-and-accountability-b969a58b5d5

New report on harmful speech online by folks at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard, useful for thinking about Mastodon instance management: https://medium.com/berkman-klein-center/fresh-perspectives-on-harmful-speech-online-d25fc4092db1

Hi everyone, went quiet on Mastodon for a while during the dissertation, now back. *waves*

I am so conflicted about what to eat tomorrow. Denver has *three* Guatemalan restaurants, which is a rare treat. But they also have a Native American restaurant, which is impossible to get in Boston.

I'm leaning towards Native American cuisine.

Today I ate vegetarian Arepas at a local restaurant in Boulder.

They were open-faced, round with artistically-bordered patterns like galettes. The corn + cheese + peppers arepa was creamy, and the mushroom arepa was smooth and flavorful.

Today, I totally borrowed the title of a Stephen Universe episode for my blog post about finishing the PhD #LifeGoals

Maybe I will use octodon to share what I am eating. Last week, I enjoyed fresh fruit from Frog Hollow Farm, the farm that supplies Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Someone surprised me with a gift.

The pears were fantastic. After some ripening, they offered the perfect combination of melting sugary liquid with a texture that still yielded to each bite.

For the main I had Shyakpa, which was great. It reminded me of my childhood, when my parents would put dumplings in our soup too: http://bossnepal.com/shyakpa-type-sherpa-noodle/

Went to a nice Nepali restaurant and enjoyed the Momos. So tasty!

The Pollen has attacked in force here in Boston, so I have quarantined myself inside until my dissertation defense.

Last sighting of the Pollinator: https://youtu.be/0DnLhveQkVQ?t=5m21s