I assume that nobody will notice, let alone care, but I decided to send this post out a bit early, since I may not have access to my computer when I normally wouldā€™ve done soā€¦

Anyway, as discussed previously, on Fridays, I present my weekly social media roundups. Note that toots of articles generally include header images from the articles, which I donā€™t include here unless their creators happen to have released them for use under a free license, and I notice. Most have not, or I donā€™t notice. But I now add my commentary here, where I donā€™t feel restricted by message length.

diagrams showing the division of the day and of the week

Also, I donā€™t generally attach pictures to posts with quotations.

9:06 ā€“ Mon 20 May 2024

Image Not Shown: A woman sits at a desk filled with stacks of papers. She has a pen and pad.

Mary McLeod Bethune, known as the ā€˜First Lady of Negro America,ā€™ also sought to unify the African diaspora from The Conversation

She called for support for Haitian womenā€™s suffrage. She also called for members of the National Council of Negro Women to assist with the building of orphanages in the country and actively raised money to do so.

Hashtags: #History #NewDeal #BlackDiaspora

If you donā€™t know Bethune, definitely do some research, because the people who you do know about made it a point to understand her work and herā€¦

12:03 ā€“ Mon 20 May 2024

Quoted on Mastodon

Life ran along for the happy child like a song, a poem which even Takumushi could not have composed.

Winnifred Eaton

Hashtags: #Quotes #AAPIHeritage

9:07 ā€“ Tue 21 May 2024

Image Not Shown: An Amazon logo appears on an Amazon delivery van in Boston, Oct. 1, 2020

Amazonā€™s self-driving Zoox robotaxis crash, leading to another NHTSA investigation from Fast Company

The agency said the probe will focus on the performance of the companyā€™s automated driving system during the crashes, as well as how it behaves in crosswalks around pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.

Hashtags: #SelfDriving #Amazon

You know, between all the companies working on these projects, it feels like an outside observer could come away with the impression that self-driving cars donā€™t actually work, and almost none of the promises have worked out. And yet, weā€™ll probably get another round of ā€œonly a couple more yearsā€ promisesā€¦

12:06 ā€“ Tue 21 May 2024

Quoted on Mastodon

How far two or more minds can get along in mutuality depends on the degree of their sincerity towards others. The common ground has to be made, and kept, by moral effort. No joy that is bought at the cost of mental unity is contributory to life, and a joy bought at the cost of anotherā€™s welfare or at the cost of duplicity of living, is destructive of mental unity.

Bhagat Singh Thind

Hashtags: #Quotes #AAPIHeritage

9:02 ā€“ Wed 22 May 2024

Image Not Shown: Close-up of worried man at home

Discrimination may speed up biological aging from Futurity

Every day and major discrimination were consistently associated with biological aging, while exposure to discrimination in the workplace was also linked to accelerated aging, but its impact was comparatively less severe.

Hashtags: #Aging #Discrimination

This shouldnā€™t surprise anybody, other than maybe the idea that work abuses us so much that the damage done by discrimination seems less noticeableā€¦

12:04 ā€“ Wed 22 May 2024

Quoted on Mastodon

Listen! The sorrowless birds rejoice at the revealing of the Perfect Day; they bend not their wishes unto titles and gold.

Yone Noguchi

Hashtags: #Quotes #AAPIHeritage

9:04 ā€“ Thu 23 May 2024

Content Warning: US Politics

Image Not Shown: A person at a fuel pump

Trumpā€™s Corporate Tax Cuts Paved the Way for Inflation from OtherWords

But why would a change in the corporate tax rate unleash the kind of rampant corporate profiteering we saw in the aftermath of the pandemic? Simple: Itā€™s a lot more fun to gouge customers when you get to keep more of what you pull in.

Hashtags: #USPol #Inflation

This actually makes an interesting assertion that Iā€™d like to see the numbers for, because if literally true, it would show that ā€œtrickle-down economicsā€ directly does the opposite, as opposed to only enabling it.

12:01 ā€“ Thu 23 May 2024

Quoted on Mastodon

Many moons had gone by since Koan-lo the Second had betrayed the trust of Koan-lo the First, and Koan-lo the First was wondering what Koan-lo the Second was doing, and how he was living.

Sui Sin Far

Hashtags: #Quotes #AAPIHeritage

5:16 PM ā€“ Thu 23 May 2024

Posted to Cohost

The Ultimate Half-Baked Idea

As we near the end of Star Trek: Discovery, and since theyā€™ve built this season as a sequel to TNGā€™s The Chase - along with plenty of TNG name-dropping, lest you think that even one show in the modern franchise has any criticisms of decisions made in 1987 - I want to state my demands on how to resolve this plot point, finally paying off the most important offhand comment in TNG.

For all we know, this might just be a recipe for biscuitsā€¦

I like the idea of the Discovery crew deciphering an ancient biscuit recipe, staring at it absolutely baffled, and making peace with the Breen over a massive breakfast spread. At this point, it also seems fitting given Paramountā€™s apparent financial trouble, if took a page from Gene Roddenberryā€™s book and marketed Progenitor Biscuitsā„¢ with Kwejian Gravyā„¢ everywhere they could to turn a couple of extra bucks.

I couldnā€™t resist getting in one comment about a current series. In a few months, Iā€™ll bring this line up again, because I love itā€¦

9:03 ā€“ Fri 24 May 2024

Content Warning: US Politics

Image Not Shown: Justice Samuel Alito being sworn in to the Supreme Court in 2006, during which he vowed to remain impartial

Samuel Alitoā€™s excuse for his ā€˜stop the stealā€™ flag doesnā€™t add up from Daily Kos

Whether or not Alitoā€™s story is true, or even sort of true, one fact remains: A Supreme Court justice should not be so glib about his partisan biases.

Hashtags: #USPol #SCOTUS #Corruption

Oddly, the article does not mention all the times that Alito has raged against his colleagues ever suggesting that they might prefer to not live in a fascist country, trying to shame them into backing away from cases. And yet, he doesnā€™t seem to mind it so much, when he does itā€¦

12:02 ā€“ Fri 24 May 2024

Quoted on Mastodon

Japan is often called by foreign people a land of sunshine and cherry blossoms. This is because tourists generally visit only the eastern and southern parts of the country, where the climate is mild all the year round.

Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto

Hashtags: #Quotes #AAPIHeritage

Bonus

Because it accidentally became a tradition early on in the life of the blog, I drop any additional articles that didnā€™t fit into the one-article-per-day week, but too weird or important to not mention, here.

Content Warning: Ageism, Police Abuse

Image Not Shown: An illustration suggesting aging

The realities of older sex workers in Kenya from Global Voices

Tragically, those who cannot afford the bribe or lack the physical attractiveness to appeal to police officers find themselves locked out of their premises for the day.

All this, because weak men canā€™t deal with a world where women control their own bodiesā€¦

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Credits: Header image is Circular diagrams showing the division of the day and of the week from a manuscript drafted during the Carolingian Dynasty.