Tweets from 02/17 to 02/21

As promised (or threatened), this is the weekly Twitter roundup. Note that tweets of articles generally include header images from the articles, which are not included here unless they happen to be available under a free license. Most are not.

9:01 – Mon 17 February 2020

Starlight alone can tear asteroids into pieces from Futurity

Orbiting asteroids will absorb the radiation from the star, redistribute it internally, and then emit it from a different location, creating an imbalance.

12:03 – Mon 17 February 2020

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a Government for the whole is indispensable.

George Washington

9:05 – Tue 18 February 2020

Why the ‘business case’ for diversity isn’t working from Fast Company

…what people fail to recognize is that the current system is actually an affirmative action program for those already in positions of privilege…

12:01 – Tue 18 February 2020

Chief Justice does not directly assert, but plainly assumes, as a fact, that the public estimate of the black man is more favorable now than it was in the days of the Revolution. This assumption is a mistake.

Abraham Lincoln

9:02 – Wed 19 February 2020

Many Americans Can’t Afford Broadband, But the FCC Doesn’t Care from VICE

…flaws in the NTIA’s survey methodology result in the blame for the digital divide being placed unfairly on allegedly disinterested, largely rural consumers.

A related story is Lower internet prices aren’t enough to bridge ‘digital divide’ .

12:05 – Wed 19 February 2020

Celestial choir! enthron’d in realms of light, Columbia’s scenes of glorious toils I write. While freedom’s cause her anxious breast alarms, She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.

Phillis Wheatley

9:03 – Thu 20 February 2020

Senate Acquittal Gave Trump a Blank Check. With Roger Stone’s Sentencing, the President’s Crime Syndicate Is Cashing In. from The Intercept

Earlier this week, Barr again intervened to help Trump’s illegal efforts to get Ukrainian officials to help him win reelection…

Post-Acquittal Trump Really Is Democrats’ Worst Nightmare may also be of some interest, on this topic.

12:02 – Thu 20 February 2020

Don’t feel when you go into a strange community, that it is necessary to inform the people how wise you are, and what vast stores of learning you possess. Too many are doing that now, wasting precious time and life. Life was not made for that.

William H. Crogman

9:04 – Fri 21 February 2020

The Long History of the Hand-Washing Gender Gap from Slate

…a horrible window…when American women were told that their families’ health depended on them enforcing the strictest standards of hygiene.

12:04 – Fri 21 February 2020

The introduction of women and children into the factories proves that capitalists are only concerned with profits and that they will exploit any race or class in order to make profits…

A. Philip Randolph

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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.