@anirvan@mastodon.social
@anirvan@mastodon.social avatar

anirvan

@anirvan@mastodon.social

Techie, public historian, and activist from Berkeley, California.

I curate the monthly Berkeley South Asian radical history walking tour — now celebrating its 11th year.

Pronouns: he/him/ও/সে

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anirvan, to random
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"…that framing smells of bullshit. Here is a micro-generation that, if we’re to listen to the commentariat, is detached and anti-social thanks to smartphones and disillusioned by coming of age in the middle of multiple economic, social, political, and viral disruptions. By that logic, these students should be removed from the world to the point of nihilism. But what we’re seeing in these protests is the near opposite. It’s not nihilism. It’s activism."

https://annehelen.substack.com/p/the-college-student-keeps-the-score

anirvan, to random
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I'm absolutely guilty of using at least a dozen of these.

(But it's not only sci/tech/biz! All kinds of groups do this)

https://andersonchris.medium.com/the-nerd-urban-dictionary-abcd55ca7ac4

anirvan, to random
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Kindle? Kobo? Apple Books?

What’s the best, or maybe most ethical, ebook platform?

(I rarely reread books, so long-term ownership isn’t a factor for me)

anirvan,
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@eniatitova Yikes! I can totally see why that history would impact your choices in what’s worth saving.

In a different context, I’ve started doing more personal archiving of born-digital materials I care about, because I know they’ll get deleted or changed at some point in time.

anirvan, to random
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"…San Ramon Democrat Rebecca Bauer-Kahan…stood on the floor of the California Assembly and persuaded their colleagues to advance legislation that would have California join a handful of conservative states in passing laws requiring pornography sites to verify the ages of visitors to ensure they’re adults."

https://calmatters.org/politics/2024/05/california-porn-id-bill/

anirvan, to random
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This is cool: Firefox has started putting rough CO2 estimates inside the profiler

https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/news/carbon-emissions-in-browser-devtools-firefox-profiler-and-co2-js/

anirvan, to random
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"And she also argues that they have an ethical duty to do it. Smith recently resigned from the board of the local transit agency — or 'transit society,' as they’re called north of the border — when it became clear she’d be forced to approve endless fare increases just to keep the buses running, even as her work on the city council made it clear that the government could just increase taxes and get rid of fares altogether."

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/05/16/this-city-leader-wants-drivers-to-pay-850-year-to-register-their-cars-and-give-the-money-to-transit

anirvan, to random
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"To call this a blind spot would be an understatement. The delusion has reached such extremes that the White House reportedly saw Gaza as an asset that would allow Biden to contrast himself favorably against Trump. Needless to say, it has not been that."

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/biden-gaza-polls-2024/

anirvan, to random
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"Prof Matthew Campen, at the University of New Mexico, US, who led the research, said: 'If we are seeing effects on placentas, then all mammalian life on this planet could be impacted. That’s not good.'"

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/27/microplastics-found-every-human-placenta-tested-study-health-impact

anirvan, to random
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"'At the beginning, I doubted whether microplastics could penetrate the reproductive system,' said Prof Xiaozhong Yu, at the University of New Mexico in the US. 'When I first received the results for dogs I was surprised. I was even more surprised when I received the results for humans.'"

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/20/microplastics-human-testicles-study-sperm-counts

anirvan, to random
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The interactive type tutorial is great for beginners

https://www.learnui.design/tools/typography-tutorial.html

anirvan, to random
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#NetipornSanesangkhom

https://globalvoices.org/2024/05/19/thai-youth-activist-charged-with-royal-defamation-dies-in-custody/

anirvan, to random
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"Despite this, some agencies still choose to do whatever it takes to keep microtransit going — including cannibalizing funds from fixed route transit, accelerating a death spiral that’s already been spinning faster since the pandemic. The researchers say agencies like Sarasota, San Antonio and Green Bay have already 'eliminated directly operated bus service in favor of microtransit operated by independent contractors' — and they suspect more will follow suit."

https://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/05/20/microtranist-is-taxpayer-funded-uber-advocates-warn-and-its-a-threat-to-real-transit

anirvan, to random
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"Since then, the FDA has received further advanced trial data showing the efficacy of MDMA-assisted therapy in significantly reducing PTSD symptoms. The regulator will rule on whether the evidence is sufficient to grant approval in August. The FDA blessing would be a landmark moment for the psychedelics movement, and it would help provide safer settings for psychedelic therapies — with hundreds of veterans going abroad each year to unregulated centers."

https://theintercept.com/2024/05/20/va-veterans-mdma-ptsd/

anirvan, (edited ) to random
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Outraged at the waves of police attacks to shut down the UCSF Palestine Solidarity Encampment. No other school in Northern California lashed out at their students, staff, and faculty in this way.

More updates from the encampment at: https://www.instagram.com/ucsf4palestine

anirvan, (edited ) to random
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I still love the Downtown Berkeley BART station, over three decades after my first time seeing it

anirvan, to random
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"South Africa’s May 10 application to the ICJ, and today’s presentation by its five-member legal team, was its fourth attempt at securing an order from the court, compelling Israel to suspend its military assault, now into its eighth month."

https://mondoweiss.net/2024/05/south-africa-returns-to-the-icj-to-demand-a-stop-to-the-israeli-genocide-in-gaza/

anirvan, to random
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Pakistan's heatwaves are coming again

https://www.dawn.com/news/1834203/sizzling-punjab-dreads-imminent-heatwave

anirvan, to random
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"Which means that if the children are our future, as that old saw goes, then our past my be our future, too. Alternatively: If we adults want a better world, we should probably stop fantasizing about the next generation saving us, and do a little more work to save ourselves."

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2024/05/18/1252192769/in-a-debate-over-a-school-name-its-not-just-parents-who-are-attached-to-the-past

anirvan, to random
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On the 277th Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour (https://www.BerkeleySouthAsian.org/) last weekend, we visited the UC Berkeley Palestine encampment.

Halfway through a story about Indian student protestors in 1975, we stopped to point out the Palestine encampment behind us, and then welcomed our special guests: three students and faculty members active around the encampment. (1/4)

anirvan,
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Participants asked questions, got oriented to the space and safety issues (e.g. not taking recognizable photos of people), explored, and brought back stories and photos they could share with their families and communities.

A huge thank you to our guests and participants, for trusting us. The walking tour uses the past to talk about the present, and it’s important that we can do that by offering both historical context and financial support back to movements doing the work. (3/4)

anirvan,
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Our guests shared some of their own stories, walked us over to the encampment, and talked about how it fit into the movement to protect Gaza, making connections to imperialism, the role of the academy, and related systems like Hindutva. And then, to our delight, we heard from a middle school student activist on our tour who had helped organize a walkout for Gaza in their Berkeley public school. (2/4)

anirvan, (edited )
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We have more tours coming up!

Come join us on three Saturdays next month: June 1, 15, and 29, in downtown Berkeley, California.

Details and registration at https://www.BerkeleySouthAsian.org/

(4/4)

anirvan, to random
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"The Drug Enforcement Administration will next take public comment on the proposal in a potentially lengthy process. If approved, the rule would move marijuana away from its current classification as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD. Pot would instead be a Schedule III substance, alongside ketamine and some anabolic steroids."

https://apnews.com/article/marijuana-rescheduling-drug-policy-biden-15b43441670757b0c2bfa36731e47d07

anirvan, (edited ) to random
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These little stories from computer drop-in time at a Vermont public library are fascinating and delightful. Thank you, @jessamyn!

https://glammr.us/@jessamyn/112453470424319654

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