Jeff Roberts
@reliablyjeff.bsky.social
Sociologist primarily interested in organizations. Fan of archives and cities. American in London. Working on the applied side.
It’s all garbage cans.
It’s all garbage cans.
This is why I always thought using twitter as a proxy for real life was insane.
With only rare exception, it simply represents(ed) a source of information for those too lazy to leave their desks.
With only rare exception, it simply represents(ed) a source of information for those too lazy to leave their desks.
Musk turned on a feature on X that showed country of origin.
He disabled it a couple hours later when it was revealed how many MAGA accounts aren't in the U.S.
Foreign bot disinformation machines exposed.
Seems like Twitter could have done that feature 15 years ago & we wouldn't be here today.
He disabled it a couple hours later when it was revealed how many MAGA accounts aren't in the U.S.
Foreign bot disinformation machines exposed.
Seems like Twitter could have done that feature 15 years ago & we wouldn't be here today.
November 23, 2025 at 12:45 PM
This is why I always thought using twitter as a proxy for real life was insane.
With only rare exception, it simply represents(ed) a source of information for those too lazy to leave their desks.
With only rare exception, it simply represents(ed) a source of information for those too lazy to leave their desks.
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
I once knew a Federal bank examiner, and one time someone asked him why we had to KEEP inspecting banks over and over. He basically said every new batch of business school grads invents bank fraud from first principles.
AirBnB CEO calling it “vibe revenue” just 👨🍳 😘
The underlying cause of every bubble - debt masquerading as financial innovation - depends on not just short financial memory & speculative neophytism, but reinventing jargon of finance, like how each generation of kids has new ways to say same things.
The underlying cause of every bubble - debt masquerading as financial innovation - depends on not just short financial memory & speculative neophytism, but reinventing jargon of finance, like how each generation of kids has new ways to say same things.
November 22, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I once knew a Federal bank examiner, and one time someone asked him why we had to KEEP inspecting banks over and over. He basically said every new batch of business school grads invents bank fraud from first principles.
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
I got married outside, on a beautiful day in late May. After the service my father, a career Marine officer, pulled me aside and said “You need to get the troops out of the sun.” This is a great thread; military leadership axioms often boil down to meticulous care for the people around you.
Here it is. Advice for leaders, random notes and hard lessons learned during nearly 3 decades in uniform. In this version, I will try and make more applicable to other professions. None of this is rocket science, and most of it is ripped off from mentors and colleagues.
November 22, 2025 at 11:26 AM
I got married outside, on a beautiful day in late May. After the service my father, a career Marine officer, pulled me aside and said “You need to get the troops out of the sun.” This is a great thread; military leadership axioms often boil down to meticulous care for the people around you.
Uber transitions into its mature company phase.
November 19, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Uber transitions into its mature company phase.
And to think, some would have us think the age of the conglomerate had passed.
November 19, 2025 at 12:55 PM
And to think, some would have us think the age of the conglomerate had passed.
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
Saki Soda (1975-1975): A lemon-lime soda from Kawasaki, maker of motorcycles and jetskis. After dipping their toe in the beverage market with what they dubbed "The Good Time Soft Drink," Kawasaki discontinued it within the year to re-focus on their core products
November 19, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Saki Soda (1975-1975): A lemon-lime soda from Kawasaki, maker of motorcycles and jetskis. After dipping their toe in the beverage market with what they dubbed "The Good Time Soft Drink," Kawasaki discontinued it within the year to re-focus on their core products
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
Another absolute banger in our war/climate/geopolitics series
Our tech and energy systems being transformed. But how & in whose interests?
Read @iliasalami.bsky.social's Imperial State Capitalism to understand how the development of AI & the energy transition are being shaped by profiteering & geopolitical competition.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
Read @iliasalami.bsky.social's Imperial State Capitalism to understand how the development of AI & the energy transition are being shaped by profiteering & geopolitical competition.
transitionsecurity.org/imperial-sta...
Imperial State Capitalism
A new geopolitics is shaping the development of AI and the energy transition.
transitionsecurity.org
November 18, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Another absolute banger in our war/climate/geopolitics series
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
Larry Summers (Nov. 10): The trustees need to investigate the Harvard Crimson!
Harvard Crimson (Nov. 16): Mr. Summers, while we have your attention...
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Harvard Crimson (Nov. 16): Mr. Summers, while we have your attention...
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
November 17, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Larry Summers (Nov. 10): The trustees need to investigate the Harvard Crimson!
Harvard Crimson (Nov. 16): Mr. Summers, while we have your attention...
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Harvard Crimson (Nov. 16): Mr. Summers, while we have your attention...
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
The compliance guy telling you not to put your crimes in email doesn't look so silly now huh
November 13, 2025 at 4:02 PM
The compliance guy telling you not to put your crimes in email doesn't look so silly now huh
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win. Please do repeat this insight.
BREAKING: At Pope Leo XIV’s urging, U.S. Catholic bishops just delivered the strongest rebuke of a sitting president in Church history — condemning Trump-Vance raids as “inhumane” and “dehumanizing” in a 216–5 vote.
NEW: At Pope Leo’s Urging, Bishops Issue Historic Rebuke of Trump’s Raids
Nearly all U.S. Catholic bishops united in Baltimore to denounce the Trump administration’s “inhumane” deportation campaign — a near-unanimous, unprecedented moral stand against a sitting president.
www.thelettersfromleo.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:02 AM
I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win. Please do repeat this insight.
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
Every office has an executive tier whose emails are like:
saw on news , , can we replce complianc dept with web 3
and a worker tier whose emails are like:
Dear Jim,
First of all, I *love* this idea! Unfortunately, I spoke with Legal and identified a few issues with this approach. For starters…
saw on news , , can we replce complianc dept with web 3
and a worker tier whose emails are like:
Dear Jim,
First of all, I *love* this idea! Unfortunately, I spoke with Legal and identified a few issues with this approach. For starters…
Well, it's a little clearer now why billionaires are so invested in technology that produces better written emails.
November 13, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Every office has an executive tier whose emails are like:
saw on news , , can we replce complianc dept with web 3
and a worker tier whose emails are like:
Dear Jim,
First of all, I *love* this idea! Unfortunately, I spoke with Legal and identified a few issues with this approach. For starters…
saw on news , , can we replce complianc dept with web 3
and a worker tier whose emails are like:
Dear Jim,
First of all, I *love* this idea! Unfortunately, I spoke with Legal and identified a few issues with this approach. For starters…
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
“Stigmatizing fascist beliefs is not at odds with the ideal of the open society because a commitment to that ideal is not a suicide pact.” www.liberalcurrents.com/liberalisms-...
Liberalism's Positive Vision Must Be the Open Society
Liberalism is not just the mitigation of dangers. It is also an active striving towards a world that is truly free.
www.liberalcurrents.com
November 12, 2025 at 11:03 AM
“Stigmatizing fascist beliefs is not at odds with the ideal of the open society because a commitment to that ideal is not a suicide pact.” www.liberalcurrents.com/liberalisms-...
<at a professional services job interview>
Interviewer: so tell me about your skills.
Me: well, I have a PhD in sociology.
Interviewer: …and
Me: I excel at identifying petty status distinctions and making them central to my identity.
Interviewer: when can you start?
Interviewer: so tell me about your skills.
Me: well, I have a PhD in sociology.
Interviewer: …and
Me: I excel at identifying petty status distinctions and making them central to my identity.
Interviewer: when can you start?
November 10, 2025 at 7:44 AM
<at a professional services job interview>
Interviewer: so tell me about your skills.
Me: well, I have a PhD in sociology.
Interviewer: …and
Me: I excel at identifying petty status distinctions and making them central to my identity.
Interviewer: when can you start?
Interviewer: so tell me about your skills.
Me: well, I have a PhD in sociology.
Interviewer: …and
Me: I excel at identifying petty status distinctions and making them central to my identity.
Interviewer: when can you start?
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage
November 10, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
Loved this simple image from @tomflood.bsky.social set behind the panel at the Life After Cars event hosted by @visionzerovancouver.ca.
Happy to join @thewaroncars.bsky.social and happy my City Councillor @lucymaloney.bsky.social was up on stage too.
Happy to join @thewaroncars.bsky.social and happy my City Councillor @lucymaloney.bsky.social was up on stage too.
November 9, 2025 at 6:14 AM
Loved this simple image from @tomflood.bsky.social set behind the panel at the Life After Cars event hosted by @visionzerovancouver.ca.
Happy to join @thewaroncars.bsky.social and happy my City Councillor @lucymaloney.bsky.social was up on stage too.
Happy to join @thewaroncars.bsky.social and happy my City Councillor @lucymaloney.bsky.social was up on stage too.
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
White House Maid Shrieks After Spotting Melania On Ceiling
White House Maid Shrieks After Spotting Melania On Ceiling
WASHINGTON—Expressing horror as an unidentified slimy substance dripped on her shoulder from above, White House maid Carla Ovares reportedly shrieked Tuesday after spotting first lady Melania Trump on...
theonion.com
November 8, 2025 at 7:00 AM
White House Maid Shrieks After Spotting Melania On Ceiling
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
Haha, this from the New Yorker is getting passed around the math dork community. I did a comic about this kind of thought a few years ago: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/commut...
November 7, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Haha, this from the New Yorker is getting passed around the math dork community. I did a comic about this kind of thought a few years ago: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/commut...
The British malaise is rooted in a national inability to take management seriously.
November 6, 2025 at 3:15 PM
The British malaise is rooted in a national inability to take management seriously.
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
Back c. 2017, after I heard @stewartbrand.bsky.social offer his standard line that “scenarios of the future to work need to be plausible in the present,” I observed to him that the problem right now is that the present isn’t plausible in the present.
This announcement is a case in point.
This announcement is a case in point.
Truth Social (which 😡 owns) is announcing that it plans to allow users to bet crypto (presumably 😡Coins) on prediction markets for elections (that 😡 himself aspires to control). The press release is 🤯 s3.amazonaws.com/b2icontent.i... the news story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
s3.amazonaws.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Back c. 2017, after I heard @stewartbrand.bsky.social offer his standard line that “scenarios of the future to work need to be plausible in the present,” I observed to him that the problem right now is that the present isn’t plausible in the present.
This announcement is a case in point.
This announcement is a case in point.
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
If I were Bill Ackman, I really would not tweet the mayor's office and say "please tell me what I can do", because I think they will.
November 5, 2025 at 11:09 AM
If I were Bill Ackman, I really would not tweet the mayor's office and say "please tell me what I can do", because I think they will.
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
A halloween cartoon for @newscientist.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:27 AM
A halloween cartoon for @newscientist.com
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
Shares in chicken-frying robot maker rise after three men were seen eating chicken. This is what markets news is now.
www.ft.com/content/b003...
www.ft.com/content/b003...
The AI bubble has reached its ‘fried chicken’ phase
This is fine
www.ft.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Shares in chicken-frying robot maker rise after three men were seen eating chicken. This is what markets news is now.
www.ft.com/content/b003...
www.ft.com/content/b003...
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
Reposted by Jeff Roberts
Genuinely delighted to download a PhD thesis from a university repository where the author has neglected to remove the words "BITCH THIS IS YOUR THESIS" from the filename.
October 30, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Genuinely delighted to download a PhD thesis from a university repository where the author has neglected to remove the words "BITCH THIS IS YOUR THESIS" from the filename.