‘Bloody’ overtaken as the UK’s most popular swear word, study suggests

I've been self-censoring since I got to the US - people swear much less often here - but I'm being less diligent over time. [Link]

11 assertions about blockchain

1. Proof-of-work is a disaster. There’s no way to couch it; arguments about it providing economic incentives for renewable energy are cognitive dissonance at best. Proof-of-work blockchains have the environmental footprint of a small country. Bitcoin could raise global temperatures by two degrees over the next decade all on

Feds Deliberately Targeted Black Lives Matter Protesters, A Report Says

"Movement leaders and experts said the prosecution of protesters over the past year continues a century-long practice by the federal government, rooted in structural racism, to suppress Black social movements via the use of surveillance tactics and other mechanisms." [Link]

Rain falls at Greenland ice summit for first time on record

“That meltwater is streaming into the ocean, causing sea levels to rise. Already, melting from Greenland's ice sheet --the world's second-largest after Antarctica's -- has caused around 25% of global sea level rise seen over the last few decades, scientists estimate. That share is

Court rules California gig worker initiative is unconstitutional, a setback to Uber and Lyft

“A California judge on Friday ruled that a 2020 ballot measure exempting rideshare and food delivery drivers from a state labor law is unconstitutional because it infringes on the Legislature’s power to set workplace standards.” Great news! [Link]

Fairness Friday: California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance

I’m posting Fairness Fridays: a new community social justice organization each week. I donate to each featured organization. If you feel so inclined, please join me. This week, I’m donating to the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance. CIYJA is an organization run and developed by undocumented youth organizers.

Op-Ed: As a doctor in a COVID unit, I’m running out of compassion for the unvaccinated. Get the shot

“I can pretty much guarantee we would have never met had you gotten vaccinated because you would have never been hospitalized. All of our COVID units are full and every single patient in them is unvaccinated. Numbers don’t lie. The vaccines work.” [Link]

The three-dimensional engineer

I’m hiring for a few engineers right now: five Ruby on Rails positions (most of them senior), two JS positions, and a quality engineer. More than a few people I’ve spoken to for these roles have apologized to me for coming from different backgrounds and not having been

Global organizations urge Apple to drop child safety features

"More than 90 civil liberties organizations around the world sent a letter to Apple's Tim Cook Thursday, urging the CEO to walk back its plans to use machine learning to automatically detect child sexual abuse material on users' devices." Although everybody wants to protect children,

Afghanistan's all-girls robotics team frantically trying to flee Taliban

"Members of the team, who range in age from 12 to 18, have overcome war and other hardships to pursue their love of engineering and robotics and strike a blow for national pride. They've made global headlines as a symbol of a more progressive Afghanistan." [Link]

‘It’s not hard work for me’: At 101 years old, this Maine lobsterwoman still works the water

"Virginia Oliver is the oldest licensed lobsterer in Maine and possibly on the planet. But in her eyes, it’s simply what she does. Her world has changed in once-unimaginable ways since 1920, but in other ways it’s hardly changed at all." Come for the story, stay

Afghanistan Meant Nothing. A Veteran Reflects on 20 Wasted Years

“And so I sit here, reading these sad fucking articles and these horrified social media posts about the suffering in Afghanistan and the horror of the encroaching Taliban and how awful it is that this is happening but I can’t stop feeling this grim happiness, like, finally, you fuckers,