Random moments: from journalism to history to spiders to poetry

First, let me just mention how appalling it is that journalism is joining the gig-economy as more journalists basically have to become independent contractors.

I know, I know - independence, having their own voice, and all that. But as more and more media outlets fail to get enough advertisers or subscribers to survive being owned by rich predators or predatory hedge funds or whatever, and as more and more journalists have to start flogging their own Substacks, people are starting to notice:

Anyone connecting the dots between the simultaneous dismantling of corporate & local media, the scuttling of the digital public square (Twitter, Reddit, Facebook) & the increasing decline of online search tools into ‘sponsored content’ distributors?

— Alison Creekside (@CreeksideAlison) June 28, 2023

More terrific journalists, losing their jobs.... https://t.co/muOa7mco9D

— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) June 28, 2023

Meanwhile, journalism is still being committed somewhere, but just not here:

Not a peep about any of this in Canadian newspapers or electronic media since the pack moved on to passport pics, China smears, convoy hyping and all the rest. Meanwhile, the lawsuit against Canadaland in Toronto grinds on, too. #reckoning https://t.co/TnZcjv5UdB

— Mark Bourrie (@MarkBourrie) June 28, 2023

"SLAPP" by the way, means Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation -- I had to look it up.

I think we all need to follow this advice from Governor Pritzker:

College graduation speeches are often evergreen. They can be given at any time, similar from decade to decade.

Which is why Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker’s “How To Spot An Idiot” at Northwestern’s graduation is so genius.

It is the speech for TODAYpic.twitter.com/ZshXbCq6cI

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 27, 2023

Moving on, I love Craig Baird's twitter account and this is why - I was today years old before I had ever heard of outstanding Canadian Abe Okpik:

It is #IndigenousHistoryMonth and this is the story of Abe Okpik, the man who helped the Inuit gain surnames, rather than government disc numbers.

Abe Okpik was born in the Mackenzie Delta area on Jan. 12, 1928. Put into Residential School, he eventually contracted TB.

🧵1/6 pic.twitter.com/9wowZwbKu7

— Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx (@CraigBaird) June 23, 2023

Moving on, here's an interesting observation about Art:

I love when media feels aesthetically dated. I love when art looks like a product of it’s time. I love janky special effects.

— Luke📼Baker (@spacemacchiato) June 22, 2023

And in response, @invaderalex posted this on Twitter, from writer Brian Eno:

And here's a random observation about math:

the two kinds of unsolved math problem are "we think it might be infinite but we've solved it definitively up to 12,478,329,709,179,875,728,943,982,427,349,234,293,487" and "we've spent the past thirty years trying to find out if 2 is a valid answer"

— cohost.org/hthrflwrs (@HTHRFLWRS) June 20, 2023

Moving on, I'm noticing that many of Twitter's oddball or funny accounts have disappeared now due to Musk's style of cutting off his nose to spite his face -- I guess he thinks he should be making more money from accounts like this, he doesn't seem to understand they are drawing thousands of people to create their own twitter accounts. At least some are still posting, for the time being:

This video shows timelapse of an orb-weaver spider creating its typical spiral wheel-shaped web, a true engineering feat

[read more: https://t.co/fW3CSh5mkZ]
[📹 Dina Oren: https://t.co/vzEVtj6qN9] pic.twitter.com/8IEeEgJOfB

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 19, 2023

Kona is worried his own reflection is going to steal his favorite toy
(wildontherun IG) pic.twitter.com/Y5a6dLm9yP

— theworldofdog (@theworldofdog) June 27, 2023

#INDIGENOUS #TAIRP pic.twitter.com/9uaJHQCFSc

— Indigenous (@AmericanIndian8) June 28, 2023

Finally, here are some bits and pieces of poetry to enjoy:

 

That's how it is sometimes—
God comes to your window,
all bright light and black wings,
and you're just too tired to open it.

—Dorianne Laux

— Poetry Daily (@Poetry_Daily) April 7, 2023

it’s never how you imagine. you imagine love has sunlight colored hair and smells like french toast and a laugh like a magic harp but maybe love has hair the color of the ocean and smells like grey tea and laughs like a crackling fire. maybe it’ll take you a while to recognize it

— tiny fairy tales✨ (@tinyfairytales) March 10, 2021