Don Osborn

Just say “no” to wars of choice.

BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide.

This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.

Still no lidar?

Impressive engineering. Dystopian concept.

Selecting people out as “less than human” is, of course, worse than dangerous. It’s the hallmark of racism.

(Even in the particular case of people guilty of heinous crimes, who by their actions have betrayed [their] humanity, is justice in any way served by framing them as other than human?)

Kind of like a blog, in other words? This is what I’ve been wondering about in discussions about writing on one or another platform (since before the issues with Substack).

CO2 monitors are great for estimating both air quality and the risk airborne disease transmission in a given space. A study just came out comparing the top of the line Aranet with a low cost alternative (Vitalight). Turns out they work just as well in typical environments.

Kankow dɔnbaga Mamadou Lamine SANOGO ko Charles Bailleul bɛ jati bamanankan sɛbɛnnikɛla ŋanaw cɛma Mɔpɛrikaramɔgɔ Charles Bailleul faatura kunu k'a si to san 98 na. France jamana in tun ye san caman sigili kɛ Mali la. A ye gafe caman sɛbɛn bamanankan na, minnu bɛ tali kɛ nsiirinw, zanaw ani daɲɛgafew la. Mali la, mɔgɔw tun y'a tɔgɔda yɛrɛ ko Ba bilen kulubali. Charles Bailleul bɛ se ka jati bamanankan sɛbɛnnikɛla ŋanaw cɛma. Professeur Mamadou Lamine SANOGO ko ten, ale ye kankow dɔnbaga ye ka bɔ Burkina FASO. An b'a lamɛn. 

Kankow dɔnbaga Mamadou Lamine SANOGO ko Charles Bailleul bɛ jati bamanankan sɛbɛnnikɛla ŋanaw cɛma

The pace at which US wealth concentration is rising is simply staggering

The concentration of AI wealth into the hands of a few tech barons + plutocratic capture ==> unchartered territory

Is there any way for anyone else to ID a drone in their vicinity? Like a flight tracker for aircraft?

Who had the inane idea to use a knob to select gears in the first place? Never liked that feature when I encountered it.

Why do we still use the term “sub-Saharan Africa”? Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg began his first visit to Nigeria on Aug. 30—a country of 182 million people whose GDP quadrupled between 2005 and 2015. But many Western headlines, including one by CN...

qz.com/africa/77035...

“The Clean Air Act has saved millions of lives by significantly reducing air pollution levels in the United States. Estimates suggest that the act has saved over 230,000 lives annually by decreasing harmful pollutants that contribute to respiratory diseases and other health issues.” Nat Geog

I'm a 25-year-old founder who loves robots but too many humanoids are militant and creepy-looking. Things need to change—just look at Elon Musk | Fortune Who’s raising our robots? Teaching social norms in the age of humanoid robots.

Grace Brown, CEO of Andromeda Robotics, questions current #humanoid robot design. One could go much deeper, all the way to why the focus on imitating human form in the first place.
fortune.com/2026/02/05/2...

Suggesting use of robots for companionship is problematic & points to failures of society.

Legacies of Eugenics | Los Angeles Review of Books Legacies of Eugenics is a series made up of essays by those who think deeply​ about what eugenics is; its entanglements with science, technology and medicine; and its past and futures.

"Legacies of Eugenics" is a series of essays on @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social re "what #eugenics is; its entanglements w/ science, technology & medicine; & its past and futures" lareviewofbooks.org/columns/lega...
It's supported in part by @publichealth.berkeley.edu news.berkeley.edu/2020/10/26/b...

Thanks to Dr. Noor Bari @njbbari3.bsky.social for this discussion of the problematic notion of “health anxiety,” our changed/ing health environment, and the importance of detailed factual information

Love, Race & the ‘Mixed Marriage Project’ Podcast Episode · Fresh Air · 02/10/2026 · 44m

Sorry to miss this - was it recorded?

I caught part of Prof. Roberts’ interview with Tonya Mosley on @nprfreshair.bsky.social , and look forward to reading her book.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...

If I had the time, I’d run with this -
“No need to ahsk, these are grain elevators,
Graain elevaators, …”

Still thinking that humanoid robots are a hugely bad bet. Who wants them? And out of those, who can afford them?

Meanwhile, humanoid robots are a small fraction of robots in use.

Seems like there’s opportunity to develop different concepts of intelligent robots not intended to imitate humans.

Is there any way to ID a drone or drones in one’s vicinity?

Director Jeong Jin-woo dies at 88 after fall and COVID complications Director Jeong Jin-woo dies at 88 after fall and COVID complications

“Director Jeong Jin-woo … had been hospitalized at a university hospital for treatment after a fall while walking his pet dog about two months earlier, and was reported to have not recovered his health after being infected with COVID-19.”

Hospital acquired COVID?

biz.chosun.com/en/en-entert...

Probably a different set of considerations for the executive (esp. when both head of state and of govt.), where the term limit can mitigate against dictatorship.

The risk of the airborne transmission of disease correlates with the amount of infectious exhaled aerosol. Since people exhale CO2 with aerosol, its conc has been used as proxy for exhaled aerosol

In this article, researchers propose a new way to estimate risk of transmission

It certainly was never inspirational.

The lead concentration in hair samples before and after the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. It has steadily plummeted since the 1960s.

A small study found that exposure to lead—a dangerous heavy metal—has fallen by a factor of more than 100 since the 1960s.

However, the researchers warn that all the gains in lead exposure could be reversed if pollution policies change. bit.ly/4ryhLH2

📊: @unamandita.bsky.social

Still no lidar, huh?

This is a great idea!

Sometimes “held accountable” is really “face consequences.”

Sometimes an event is not just a “tragedy,” it is an “atrocity.”

As a beginning, some ideas:
* Limit # of pardons per term
* Limit scope of pardons (e.g. not negating claims of victims?)
* No person may receive >1 pardon, lifetime
* A pardon must state basis, and may be challenged on that basis
* Some mechanism to review pardons for quid pro quos (e.g. sale)