As discussed previously, this is my 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.

diagrams showing the division of the day and of the week

I also don’t generally attach pictures to posts with quotations.

9:05 – Mon 16 March 2020

Thomas Piketty thinks the philanthropy of billionaires can help ‘pauperize’ poor countries from Fast Company

…subsidize through their taxes the philanthropic preferences of the wealthy—a novel form of confiscation of public goods and control derived from wealth.

12:01 – Mon 16 March 2020

It is not easy to be a pioneer - but oh, it is fascinating! I would not trade one moment, even the worst moment, for all the riches in the world.

Elizabeth Blackwell

9:02 – Tue 17 March 2020

This chief hopes Yorùbá speakers adopt his newly invented ‘talking alphabet’ from Global Voices

Some language advocates contend that using Latin, a foreign script, to encode African languages, keeps the continent in an enslaved mindset.

12:02 – Tue 17 March 2020

People who pin their faith to a catchword never feel the necessity of understanding anything.

Agnes Repplier

9:04 – Wed 18 March 2020

Researchers are sitting on tech that could transform trees into power generators from Quartz

Leaves, which are positively charged, produce small amounts of electricity when they come in contact with the tree trunk or any other negatively-charged material Lotero says.

12:05 – Wed 18 March 2020

Every person is responsible for only the good within his abilities, and for no more, and no one can tell whose sphere is the largest.

Mary Abigail Dodge

9:01 – Thu 19 March 2020

The Most Critical Fight Against Trump’s Border Wall You’ve Never Heard Of from VICE Motherboard

In opposition, the Esto’k Gna tribe has joined forces with the Ramirezes and other local landowners, reviving ancestral villages along the length of the Rio Grande.

12:03 – Thu 19 March 2020

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

Helen Keller

9:03 – Fri 20 March 2020

Coronavirus brings moratoriums on evictions, utility and water shutoffs, bank fees, and data caps from Fast Company

What if small business owners can’t pay their bills on time, because of the sudden drop in shoppers?

Also: To stop a coronavirus quarantine recession, economists say send everyone cash—now

12:04 – Fri 20 March 2020

Africa was the privileged hunting-ground of Europe and America, and the flag of different nations hung a sign of death on the coasts of Congo and Guinea, and for years unbroken silence had hung around the horrors of the African slave-trade.

Frances Harper

Bonus

Because it accidentally became a tradition early on in the life of the blog, here’s a sixth article that didn’t fit into the week, but too weird to not mention.

Maryland Suddenly Looks Like it Might Break John Deere’s Repair Monopoly from VICE

“The opposition that’s been most visible is from John Deere,” Scarr told Motherboard over the phone ahead of the committee hearing. “We’ve heard rumors that they’ve cut a deal with the American Farm Bureau to keep the Farm Bureau from lobbying in support of the bill.”

For context on this, see John Deere Thinks People Will Pirate Music With In-Car Computers.

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