Simon King

4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment In the past two years, without much notice, solar power has begun to truly transform the world’s energy system.

This article about the state of solar power is the most hopefully thing I've read in a long time. The US has needlessly handicapped itself but the rest of the world has caught on that it's now cheaper to capture energy from the sun than it is from fossil fuels. www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...

Iceland: Week 1 I live in Iceland now. It feels surreal to say that, and also a relief since getting here has been a lot of planning and work. So much of my life has been upended in the last year that all I can do no...

I moved to Iceland last week. I reactivated my blog where I'll hopefully be capturing my experience and reflections. I also just added a feature where you can sign up for weekly email updates. www.asfarasicantell.com/2025/07/icel...

The Minnesota shooter apparently used data broker websites to find the home addresses of the people he shot and murdered.

Congress has had years to do something about data brokers and they've sided with the tech lobby over and over again.

Their inaction is deadly.

Pussy Riot on the steps of City Hall in Downtown Los Angeles, unfurling a banner that says IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE RUSSIA. #NoKings

Hands Off rally in Chicago was massive.

Social Security Don’t Miss — Optimist Economy

I highly recommend the “Optimist Economy” podcast by @kedseconomist.com, particularly this episode about Social Security. There is so much misunderstanding about SSA. It’s a great program, it’s run well, and it’s easy to sustain with simple changes. overcast.fm/+ABOKn2-OjiM

A few signs from the #TeslaTakedown protest in Golden Valley, MN this morning.

This is why the people who want raw milk are dumb ass rich people who have never been in the same zip code as a farm.

TIL, thanks for @robinsloan.com's newsletter, that USPS offers a Global Forever Stamp. Pay $1.65 today, and you'll have a magical sticker that at any point in the future will convey your envelope anywhere in the world.

A person holds a sign that says “Fire Elon” at a protest against Elon Musk outside of a test dealership in Golden Valley, Minnesota.

A person holds a sign that says “Sell your Tesla” with an anti-swastika graphic, at an Anti-Elon Musk protest outside a Tesla dealership in Golden Valley, Minnesota.

A man stands behind multiple signs, protesting, Tesla and Elon Musk. One of them says “ don’t buy a fake truck from a real Nazi. Tesla funds fascism.”

A person is standing with their back to the camera, wearing a long pink winter coat with the words “Fuck Musk” on the back, spelled out with black tape. This is outside of a Tesla dealership to protest Elon Musk in Golden Valley, Minnesota.

The freezing rain and strong winds didn’t deter 100s of protestors from speaking out against Elon Musk’s fascist takeover of our government. This is the 5th week — every Saturday at 11am, outside the Tesla dealership in Golden Valley, MN. #TeslaTakedown

Share the media.
The news is compromised.
We're starting to boil over.

This is consistent with my experience working there (many years ago). Duolingo is so ideologically driven by product metrics that they can't grasp why it's wrong to use shame or fear as a emotional cudgel to drive engagement. Thank you for disassociating what you do from the profession of UX Design.

Hello My Name is [EmployeeFirstName] Mug 100% of proceeds benefit illegally fired CFPB union members.

Ha, the CFPB union is selling merch for the botched mail merge that was used to lay-off probationary employees cfpbunion.shop/products/hel...

54: At the Intersection of Design and Business, Be The Anomaly (ft. Roger Martin) Joining Peter and Jesse is business strategist Roger L. Martin, former Dean of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, who advanced the conversation about design and business…

After years of feeling dismayed by the design profession’s utter capitulation to backwards-looking data-driven decision making, I found this podcast with Roger Martin surprisingly refreshing and inspiring. Thanks to @jessejamesgarrett.com and @peterme.com. findingourway.design/2025/02/08/5...

St. John’s Abbey, designed by Marcel Breuer.

18f.org

Dictator vs. Democracy. The stark contrast could not be any greater. 🇺🇦 🇺🇦 🇺🇦

As he targets the CFPB, Elon Musk looks to dismantle his own potential regulator Elon Musk and DOGE have begun making moves toward dismantling the CFPB. The watchdog agency would be in charge of regulating X, which Musk wants to transform into a payments platform.

You know what this looks like? A way for the richest man on the planet to get richer at the expense of working families.

Do you use a credit card? Rent or own a home? Use utilities like water and electricity? Send your kids to school? Have a job? Eat? Drink? Deposit money in a bank, or withdraw it? The government provides services and safeguards that enable us to do ALL of this safely. Now Musk is taking it all away.

i think we should replace “how are you?” with “hey things are generally bad, how are you personally?” just to make things easier on everyone trying to answer in a way that doesn’t initially seem like you’re either delusional or complicit

Republican lawmakers no show as western Wisconsin farmers complain of Trump chaos, disruption  • Wisconsin Examiner Western Wisconsin farmers expressed concerns about Trump administration tariffs and budget cuts; Republican representatives failed to show

Farmers express concerns about chaos from Trump tariffs and budget cuts; GOP electeds fail to show up via @henry-redman.bsky.social wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/02/21/r...

an archival black and white photograph of the KKK marching in Washington DC with the capitol behind them

In light of everything happening, I wrote about how the KKK in the 1920s felt unstoppable, about the people that fought against them anyway, and about how fascism always fails. dansinker.com/posts/202…

Trump, DOGE work to shutter CFPB, an agency created in response to the 2008 financial crisis The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a watchdog agency created to protect consumers, is under fire by President Trump and DOGE. Its new head ordered work to stop and funding to end.

www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-d...

Lesley Stahl reports on President Trump’s efforts to halt the work and cut the funding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an enforcement agency that was created in response to the 2008 financial crisis. 60 Minutes, Sunday.

Something is shifting. They are still breaking things and stealing things. And they will keep trying to break and to steal. But the propaganda magic around the oligarchical coup is fading. (1/2)

Shutting down already-installed infrastructure in the name of government "efficiency" while also harming business competitors of a government official who just happens to have his own network of EV chargers.

Here's video of Steve Bannon doing a Sieg Heil today at CPAC. It is what it is and it's what Bannon intended. Don't let yourself be gaslit.

DOGE’s Millions: As Musk and Trump Gut Government, Their Ax-Cutting Agency Gets Cash Infusion The Department of Government Efficiency is funded — and acts — like a federal agency. But the White House has shielded DOGE from the rules that govern such agencies, ProPublica found as it examines th...

Musk called DOGE “maximally transparent,” but it has refused to release info about its spending and operations — including the names of its employees.

Thankfully, @propublica.org has identified 46 of them, including 12 new names just added to the list today.

...Yesterday Steven Miller said in an interview: this is how it works: you cut, then you reassess those cuts, then you rehire if necessary. No. Those *cuts* break spirits, deplete bank accounts, sever relationships, destroy institutional knowledge. You can't just tape them back together.

Elizabeth Warren Fights to Defend the Consumer Protection Agency She Helped Create Elon Musk’s campaign to shutter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will end up hurting the very people Donald Trump promised to safeguard.

I fought to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for the same reason I’m fighting to defend it: big banks shouldn’t be able to cheat people.