Happy new year! 🎉 And if you’re on a different calendar, happy Friday!

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. But I now add most of my commentary here, where I’m not restricted by the message length.

diagrams showing the division of the day and of the week

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

9:01 – Mon 28 December 2020

Trump Is Going Full QAnon for His Final Month in Office from VICE News

…Trump discussed the possibility of appointing Powell as White House Special Counsel to oversee an investigation into the baseless claims of widespread voter fraud…

The article doesn’t bother to make this connection, but it’s worth remembering that all these conspiracy theories and all this money have been put into play just to be able to claim that the United States never had a Black man as President. They hate the idea so much that claiming that Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States brought Trump political power, and he has exposed the Republican Party platform as preventing non-White people from having their votes counted.

12:05 – Mon 28 December 2020

It is well to give when asked but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.

Kahlil Gibran

9:03 – Tue 29 December 2020

Combating misinformation in under-resourced languages: Lessons from around the world from Global Voices

“Who or what may be trusted in one culture may not be the same in another culture, and so keeping that in consideration is really important in the kinds of things we’re seeing online.”

My admittedly limited experience has been that cultures aren’t really so different, but it’s always worth remembering that you need to meet people where they are.

12:04 – Tue 29 December 2020

The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.

George Bernard Shaw

9:04 – Wed 30 December 2020

The Trump Administration’s Final Push to Make It Easier for Religious Employers to Discriminate from ProPublica

…EEOC commissioners have multiyear terms, so the Biden administration won’t be able to change the board’s composition until 2022.

See the foregoing about Republicans not wanting non-White people to vote. While it’s obviously not a precise overlap, there’s enough of a correlation that it’s notable.

12:02 – Wed 30 December 2020

Be generous, be delicate, and always pursue the prize.

Henry James

9:02 – Thu 31 December 2020

I Sued Blackwater for the Massacre of Iraqi Civilians. Trump Just Pardoned Those Convicted Killers. from The Intercept

The Blackwater guards were firing indiscriminately. Iraqi traffic police initially tried to wave down the Blackwater men that there was no threat, but they too had to run for cover.

It’s worth noting that Blackwater—or whatever the company is now called—was founded and is led by Erik Prince, who is the brother of Trump’s Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. While that sounds like the makings of a conspiracy theory, the reality is more mundane, that there are few wealthy families in the United States, and they’re mostly racist fascists who run their companies the way they want the country run.

12:03 – Thu 31 December 2020

The worker must work for the glory of his handiwork, not simply for pay; the thinker must think for truth, not for fame.

W. E. B. Du Bois

9:05 – Fri 01 January 2021

Mealworms vs. grasshoppers: Which food fails the ‘yuck’ test? from Futurity

…What was significant was whether the insects appeared to be gross or not—whether they had wings, eyes, etc., as was the case with grasshoppers.

This isn’t the highest priority issue to deal with, but there’s a wide variety of reasons to investigate diversifying diets. This is one of many steps in that direction.

12:01 – Fri 01 January 2021

Women have been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given them isn’t worth ruling.

Louisa May Alcott

Bonus

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

Hiding Covid-19: How the Trump Administration Suppresses Photography of the Pandemic from The Intercept

“Photography has played such a key role in the civil rights movement, in ending the Vietnam War, and any number of key moments in American history — and it just seems missing in action on this crisis.”

It’s an important point, especially when so many Republican talking points amount to “I don’t know anybody who died, therefore it must not be a big deal.” Without documentation, they have the privilege of pretending that the problem doesn’t exist.

The six most immersive online art exhibits to explore over the holidays from Fast Company

There has never been a better time to be an armchair explorer.

I can never find the study when I look for it, but there was a study, years ago, indicating that social progress has often been most powerfully aided by disasters that ravaged populations. An online museum certainly isn’t massive progress, but those, online conferences and conventions, and even remote work have all transformed how we think of accessibility. Just a couple of years ago, it was shockingly impressive for a conference to have childcare available, but today, it’s inappropriate to give a presentation to a significant audience that doesn’t have clean audio and a transcript, for the people who can’t focus their full attention.

This is something we could capitalize on for the future, making even in-person events and installations better for everyone.

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