one sentence

Radiolab episode The Cataclysm Sentence was about Richard Feynman on the One Sentence to Be Passed on to the Next Generation, which was "If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis that all things are made of atoms — little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another. In that one sentence, you will see, there is an enormous amount of information about the world, if just a little imagination and thinking are applied." 

the hosts asked a bunch of people the same question and they got all sorts of answers including stuff about fear, about God, about race. honestly, mostly dumb stuff that aliens wouldn't care about because these things are too specifically human.

I thought a good answer was from writer Jenny Holwell: "Everything is connected." she said about it: "to me that feels like a sentence that contains an element of scientific truth, but also inspires us to believe in it. Because I do think that whatever we leave behind needs to contain something about it that would inspire the finder to believe in it."

before I heard her sentence I was thinking mine might be something along the lines of "no matter how much you want it to be untrue, basically, nothing you do matters." which is... fucking dismal, lol. I like Jenny's thought that it should inspire the finder. so I added another sentence.

"No matter how much you try, basically, nothing you do means anything. But don't try too hard to disprove this."

bipoc

I watched Joker last week, and a few days later I realized that there seemed to be speaking parts for only white or Black people. I don't remember any other races of people talking, which is nuts. 

and this is why I kind of hate the term BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color)

Black people are the go to race when adding diversity. I'm glad that these days tv and movies include more than a single "token black person". but, just as including one black person in a group of a dozen or more white people doesn't make it a diverse cast, adding just one other race doesn't make it so either. 

when Kamala Harris was announced as the democratic VP candidate, I saw SO MANY headlines saying "first Black woman" but only a handful that said "first Asian woman". she's half Indian, and was mostly raised by her Indian mom. (side note, did you know that Tiger Woods is only a quarter black but 1/2 asian [1/4 Chinese, 1/4 Thai]. he's also 1/8 native American and 1/8 white.)

Black people are already highlighted in our society today. yes, often because of horrible horrible things. but they're still assumed to be American. I don't think Black people are often asked "where are you from?" whereas I've been asked dozens of times, even though I speak perfect english with more than a hint of a so-cal accent. asians, and possibly latinx might always be considered "other" in America. we may always be assumed to have immigrated here recently. which is crazy, because a good portion of today's America used to be belong to Mexico. and Mexicans had settled in places like New Mexico before 1600 even!

I don't at all take issue with the I in BIPOC. I think they, more often than the rest of us, get forgotten about. their experience is very different than the rest of us in that this was their land and it was stolen from them. (Mexico lost the Mexican-American war so gave up land in the settlement)

flash drives collection

do you have old USB drives or SD cards? I'm collecting!

USBs over 2GB will go to Recycled USB which partnered with Sugar Labs to provide a free activity-focused, open-source software learning platform for children. USBs under 2GB and all SD cards, will go to Flash Drives for Freedom partnered with Human Rights Foundation which loads them with "content proven to inspire North Koreans to disbelieve Kim Jong-Un's propaganda" and smuggled into the country.

deadline is beginning of December so I can ship them off before the end of the year.

prefer one org over the other? lmk when and I'll ship yours to the one you prefer.

august 2020 donation

this month I donated to a friend's 5k fundraiser for the in-n-out foundation and slave 2 nothing.

a tip to these fundraisers. while most of your friends don't really care what org their money is going to, you should write up a little description about the org, their work, and why they're important to you. if you join a team for your event, it'll likely just be the org they pick and you can't change it, but you should try to connect to the org and their mission somehow.