Dr Joanna McKenzie
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie
@jobob.bsky.social
170 followers 110 following 1.4K posts
Data nerd with a PhD in particle physics from before they discovered the Higgs. Loves Fantasy books and TV, drawing and painting, and sometimes I do running and cycling. Glasgow based. Tha mi ag ionnsachadh Gàidhlig.
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 2h
I wonder if it's for the same reason fascists hate being laughed at: because laughter seriously undermines power plays.
gailsimone.bsky.social Gail Simone @gailsimone.bsky.social · 5h
Why is female joy so terrifying to weirdos and losers?
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 7h
You know I don't think I ever watched the second gremlins film. Maybe I've been missing out all these years!
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 17h
For some reason my brain keeps going "Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today..."
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Reposted by Dr Joanna McKenzie
greenparty.org.uk
The Green Party of England & Wales @greenparty.org.uk · 18h
Huge congratulations to Zohran Mamdani on his election as Mayor of New York City from all of us at the Green Party! 🎉💚
REAL HOPE. REAL CHANGE. CONGRATULATIONS ZOHRAN FOR NEW YORK CITY Green Party Promoted by Chris Williams on behalf of The Green Party, both at PO Box 78066, London SE16 9GQ
11 200 920
jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 1d
That's cool!
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 1d
I've always thought English overcomplicates "politeness noise". Just think of everything you can do with "bitte" in German.
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 1d
I'm not keen on tapioca, you can have mine 😂
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Reposted by Dr Joanna McKenzie
sorayanadiamcdonald.com
Soraya Nadia McDonald @sorayanadiamcdonald.com · 2d
seems bad!

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
Screenshot text from the Atlantic Here is where the bubble dynamics get complicated. Tech firms don’t want to formally take on debt—that is, directly ask investors for loans—because debt looks bad on their balance sheets and could reduce shareholder returns. To get around this, some are partnering with private-equity titans to do some sophisticated financial engineering, Paul Kedrosky, an investor and a financial consultant, told us. These private-equity firms put up or raise the money to build a data center, which a tech company will repay through rent. Data-center leases from, say, Meta can then be repackaged into a financial instrument that people can buy and sell—a bond, in essence. Meta recently did just this: Blue Owl Capital raised money for a massive Meta data center in Louisiana by, in essence, issuing bonds backed by Meta’s rent. And multiple data-center leases can be combined into a security and sorted into what are called “tranches” based on their risk of default. Data centers represent an $800 billion market for private-equity firms through 2028 alone. (Meta has said of its arrangement with Blue Owl that the “innovative partnership was designed to support the speed and flexibility required for Meta’s data center projects.”) In this way, the data-center financing ends up being a real-estate deal as much as an AI deal. If this sounds complicated, it’s supposed to: The complexity, investment structure, and repackaging make exactly what is going on hard to parse. And if the dynamics also sound familiar, it’s because not two decades ago, the Great Recession was precipitated by banks packaging risky mortgages into tranches of securities that were falsely marketed as high-quality. By 2008, the house of cards had collapsed. Data-center build-outs aren’t the same as subprime mortgages. Still, there is plenty of precarity baked into these investments. Data centers deteriorate rapidly, unlike the more durable infrastructure of canals, railroads, or even fiber-…
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 2d
The world is full of big things to be annoyed about, and not to minimise those... But honestly today I'm feeling a bit down just because we live in a world which puts so much resources into making sure most people are miserable most of the time.

Where's my utopia??
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Reposted by Dr Joanna McKenzie
monkemma.bsky.social
Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 3d
Let’s take a look at the whole “there are too many black people on TV” thing, shall we?

After Pochin claimed Black people in TV adverts “made her mad”, all her supporters tried to use 👇🏼 as their excuse for why she was somehow justified in her overt racism.

Spoiler - she isn’t! 🤨

🧵
1/22
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Reposted by Dr Joanna McKenzie
seananmcguire.bsky.social
Seanan McGuire @seananmcguire.bsky.social · 3d
I legitimately hate how every website seems to think that what I want more than anything else in this world is yet another inbox to monitor and take responsibility for.
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Reposted by Dr Joanna McKenzie
watershedlab.bsky.social
Dr Dan Shugar 🇨🇦 @watershedlab.bsky.social · 4d
Who did this?!
A joke scientific paper with the title "Over 90% of children diagnosed with autism consumed breast milk and/or formula mileL a comprehensive cross-sectional analysis of the obvious"
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 4d
I think the trouble is some of these people are basically steering the Labour Party already. And they suffer from the Liz Truss problem - "what do you mean it's not working? Do it harder!"
jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 4d
This particularly works for me because I'm working without much of a visual memory so I don't know what it'll look like until I draw it, and I'm short on time (working parent) that might otherwise go on planning out the piece.
But I've enjoyed this approach this month.
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 4d
This month I did a straight pencil sketch following the reference fairly closely to get the bones of the drawing, and then I did the actual piece with ink on top. By keeping the sketch loose and taking care to approach the ink part creatively I got the best of both worlds.
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 4d
I settled into an approach this month that I actually really enjoyed. The thing with ink is that if you do a pencil sketch first it can feel like the actual drawing is just going over the lines... But if you don't, unless you're really good, it's hard to do a good ink drawing first go.
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 4d
Always a bit weird on the first day after an art challenge month to go through a day without making a point of doing a specific type of drawing. It is, though, a good time for reflections.
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Reposted by Dr Joanna McKenzie
pickwick.bsky.social
pickwick @pickwick.bsky.social · 4d
Imagine writing "young people should in no circumstances get a tiny treat once a week" and not hating yourself
paleofuture.bsky.social Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 5d
“At the same time, more than half of Gen Z members say they are struggling to make ends meet, yet a majority buy themselves a small treat, such as a pastry, coffee, or sweet, at least once a week. That can lead to overspending…”

archive.ph/2TI8J
Why are young people spending so much money?
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 5d
So kind of you to say!
jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 5d
So King Charles is head of the Commonwealth, and Nigeria is a Commonwealth country....
beijingpalmer.bsky.social BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 6d
"Dear Sir, Your good name has been bought to my attention as a trustworthy man and a believer in God. I am the son of the late Queen Elizabeth II, ruler of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. My mother left me forty-five million pounds and the city of York but I am unable ..."
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 5d
Day 31: a horse. And we're done! #inktober2025
An ink drawing with crosshatching of a horse running towards the viewer and slightly right, with a dramatic black mane and tail.
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 6d
Actually £25 for dinner doesn't go far here either these days...
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 6d
Day 30: ghost grid. Not sure this was enormously successful but I think there's mileage in the idea.
A simple drawing in ink on a sketchbook page which is attempting to create the illusion of a ghost emerging from a hole by using gridlines which leave the background and follow the contour of the ghost. It's simpler than it sounds!
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 6d
Political, systematic interference in individual choice where there's no evidence of broader harm and little evidence of individual harm is a really significant slippery slope.

Women's rights are human rights. Trans rights are human rights. Leave human rights alone.
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jobob.bsky.social
Dr Joanna McKenzie @jobob.bsky.social · 6d
I'm not sure they only coexist. I think taking rights from trans people also takes them from everyone. If trans people can't transition it impacts everyone's right to control their bodies. If a trans person can't self-identify which bathroom they use, neither can anyone.
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