Maybe I’m watching
Looks like all we need to do to save the world is get our narrative in order. We need a unified message. Corruption as a central point will help. So I guess the message is “Those guys are corrupt af.” Ok, now that we’ve taken care of that, we should probably feel a little bit better knowing that it’s not fascism coming for us. It’s something called “patrimonialism”, which sounds suspiciously like “patriarchy” and means pretty close to the same thing.
The men in power are our daddies, and if we just accept that daddy knows best, and behave, he’s going to take care of the family. Except that the crime families playing with the fate of the world for unlimited cheeseburgers and golden toilets aren’t representative of the power structures we all live inside of on a daily basis, you know? Yeah, we suffer under the thumb of monumentally stupid state politicians, but our bosses, mayors and public transit workers have more direct power in our daily lives. As I said last week, opportunities to make the world a better place present themselves all the time.
Let’s just hope that the opposition in the US realised right quick that at this moment in history wearing pink and sitting down quietly is not a protest.
Did you know that I write this newsletter as a sort of “note to self” every week? Note to self, I’ve not been doing well regulating my emotions. Note to self, joy is a choice. Note to self, “Three character traits will cause particular problems: caring too much, having values and having standards,” and I have all of them. Note to self, you know who doesn’t give a toss about politics or leaders or NATO agreements? A whole lot of people who just don’t.
I’m not going to stop caring, but I need to stop fretting because spring has come. I have better things to do then faff about with “what ifs” and “if onlys”.
- One Word Describes Trump > https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/corruption-trump-administration/681794/
- 3 Character traits > https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/03/05/three-character-traits-will-cause.html
- Jane Fonda’s Lifetime Achievement Award speech > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_v0NJ8_8ps
- Jeff Bezos Has a Very Billionaire-ish Idea of What Freedom Means > https://newrepublic.com/article/192279/jeff-bezos-washington-post-billionaire-idea-freedom
- Good Trouble: JD Vance Chastised by Vermont Snow Reporter > https://kottke.org/25/03/jd-vance-chastised-by-vermont-snow-reporter
Maybe I’m waiting
If only I reminded people that the co-op still has capacity, I wouldn’t be wondering what’s going to come down the pipeline.
Next week I’m going to present the Friends of the Earth report I co-authored to some nonprofits in an AI working group. Honestly, I need to reread what I wrote. It’s been awhile since I gave a thumbs up to the final edit, and I have processed a lot of information since then.
Our release of another paper I (barely) co-authored, this one on Microcredentials and Lifelong Learning, has been delayed for some reason. We wrote this one at the end of last year for the National Digital Leadership Network (NDLN), “a collaborative initiative dedicated to advancing digital transformation across Ireland’s Technological University sector”. It would be lovely if that paper had some impact and someone in Ireland decides that we absolutely need to show up and chat with some people there. Last year I went to Ireland for the first time and it was fantastic.
Truth be told I’ve not spend loads of time on the computer this week. We will be starting a project with Amnesty imminently, and I’m looking forward. I’m ecstatic that I will be supporting Amnesty activists to help organise and build communities and campaigns. I can’t think of a better way to spend some of my time this year. Another potential project, with the BBC on AI Literacy, is looking promising, but we’ve not yet heard that it’s definitely coming off.
The co-op could still use more work, but for now, I’m using the down time to renovate a wall, plan my garden and otherwise not sit at my desk.
- We Are Open has capacity > https://weareopen.coop
- Our client wiki > https://wiki.weareopen.coop/en/clients/overview
- A write up of the IRC pilot we worked on last year > https://www.jff.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/JFF_Elevating-Your-Programming-with-LERs_A-Guide-for-CBOs.pdf
Maybe I need help
The voice actor of Space Ghost died this week. If you just said “Who is Space Ghost?”, I suggest you to go down a youtube Space Ghost Coast to Coast rabbit hole immediately. Last week I watched a 1994 Wu Tang Clan documentary, so I guess it makes sense that I’m about to start watching Adult Swim reruns.
No wonder the Zs and Alphas are bringing back everything 90s. It was definitely a better decade than the one we’re living in now.
At the beginning of the year I fiddled a bit with the tech here behind the scenes. Last week I realised that captions aren’t included when this newsletter is sent.
- So if you were wondering how you could make your own Album Shelf, check out Doug’s very cool app here > https://album-shelf.com/
- Little Caeser’s App > https://bsky.app/profile/sadie.bsky.social/post/3lipwvhaels2x
- Space Ghost has died > https://bsky.app/profile/willharrisinva.bsky.social/post/3ljko34uoa22x