Ben Werdmuller
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Ben Werdmuller

Ben Werdmuller

Notable Links

Texas Banned Abortion. Then Sepsis Rates Soared.

[Lizzie Presser, Andrea Suozzo, Sophie Chou and Kavitha Surana at ProPublica] My colleagues at ProPublica conducted a first-of-its-kind data analysis on health outcomes after Texas banned abortion in 2021. Here's what it found: "The rate of sepsis shot up more than 50% for women hospitalized when they

21 Feb 2025

Indieweb

Reflections on 25 years of Interconnected

[Matt Webb] I love this: "Slowly, slowly, the web was taken over by platforms. Your feeling of success is based on your platform’s algorithm, which may not have your interests at heart. Feeding your words to a platform is a vote for its values, whether you like it

19 Feb 2025

Media

America Needs a Working-Class Media

[Alissa Quart in Columbia Journalism Review] This article cuts right to the core of why media is failing to connect with mass audiences in America. It doesn't report from a perspective that they can identify with - largely because it doesn't hire people like them. What

19 Feb 2025

Technology

Are We Self-Segregating on Social Media?

[Allison Hantschel in DAME] Hand-wringing over people leaving overtly unsafe spaces like X to find communities that are actually enjoyable to hang out in (like Mastodon and BlueSky) is absolute nonsense. "With that user growth, mostly from liberals disgusted with Musk’s nonstop promotion of conservative disinformation, came criticism

18 Feb 2025

Indieweb

Own what’s yours

[PJ Onori] I can't disagree with anything here: "Web 2.0 seemed like such a great idea in a more innocent time. We’re at a point where it’s only prudent to view third-parties as guilty until proven innocent. Not as some abstract, principled stance, but

18 Feb 2025

askacto

Ask a CTO: security vs. productivity; when to adopt technology trends

Ask a CTO is an irregular column where I answer anonymous questions from a technical leadership perspective. You can ask questions using this form. I have two answers to two questions this time around: Security vs. productivity Where do you draw the line between security and productivity? What are the

17 Feb 2025

Technology

Elon Musk’s X blocks links to Signal, the encrypted messaging service

[Matt Binder at disruptionist] Just in case you thought he was still all about free speech: "Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, is currently banning links to “Signal.me,” a URL used by the encrypted messaging service Signal. The “Signal.me” domain is specifically used by the service

17 Feb 2025

Fediverse

Bringing Quote Posts to Mastodon

[Mastodon] Mastodon doesn't have quote posts, but is finally adding them after years of pressure. It's a harder decision than you might think - which is made clear by this excellent post by the team. In order to help mitigate potential abuse, the team has imposed

16 Feb 2025

Technology

Silicon Valley Software Engineers Horrified as They Can't Easily Find Jobs Anymore

[Joe Wilkins in Futurism] The job market in the tech industry has been brutal for a little while now, and doesn't show signs of getting easier. "Of all the workers devastated by the carnage, former tech workers in Silicon Valley are having a particularly rough go of

16 Feb 2025

Life in Weeks

Inspired by Gina Trapani, Buster Benson, and others, I started to build my own Life in Weeks page from scratch. It looks pretty cool, and it’s interesting to see my life milestones presented on this scale. But I’m not going to share it with you. As I was

16 Feb 2025

An update on searching for trans-friendly employers who sponsor visas

Last month I asked to hear from trans-friendly employers who sponsor visas, and provided a simple form for interested employers to reach out. In the process, I heard from many individuals: people who were hoping to find new employment in another country, and people who worked for companies that were

16 Feb 2025

Fediverse

Organizing on decentralized social networks

[Jon Pincus at The Nexus of Privacy] There's an argument that one reason Elon Musk bought Twitter was to reduce its effectiveness as a platform for progressive organizing. Whether you buy that or not, it's clear that the new set of social networks are fertile ground

16 Feb 2025
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Werd I/O explores the intersection of technology, democracy, and society. It's independently published by Ben Werdmuller, reader-supported, and always free to read.