Sign in

Justin Mackie

@meetjmac.bsky.social
140 followers 270 following 59 posts

“We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.” -Mary Bateson datajustin.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Justin Mackie
Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Finish this sentence: “The biggest obstacle to actually turning MY city into a better city for people is __________________________.”
1949421
Reposted by Justin Mackie
Saganism @sagan.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
"If we continue to accumulate only power and not wisdom, we will surely destroy ourselves." - Carl Sagan, Pale blue dot
6383101
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
The U.S. Travel Association reports 66.5 million international arrivals in 2023. They spent a whopping $160 billion ($129B leisure and $31B business). Note U.S. Travel & Tourism supports roughly 18 million American jobs overall; the jobs can’t be easily offshored. What happens now?
000
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
“Books permit us to voyage through time, to tap the wisdom of our ancestors.” -Carl Sagan
000
Reposted by Justin Mackie
Chris Tomlinson @cltomlinson.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Loose lips sink ships, which is why the Pentagon slaps a classification on almost everything. I was an intelligence soldier and a war correspondent, I've never seen an unclassified attack plan. Hegseth should face charges. www.houstonchronicle.com/business/col... @houstonchronicle.com #txlege
houstonchronicle.com
Tomlinson: I’d have gone to jail for those Signal texts
All war plans are classified before the attack, people are punished for leaking them beforehand.
115448
Reposted by Justin Mackie
WeRateDogs @weratedogs.com · 12/03/2025
This is Tellen. She went to work with her human today. The only agenda item on her calendar is dropping toys in the hallway until someone plays with her. 14/10
429165112043
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Kara Swisher’s essay on the tech titans is so good—the deft framing, the wit—that I quickly bought her Burn Book: A Love Story. Here is the tech titan essay: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
Move Fast and Destroy Democracy
Silicon Valley’s titans have decided that ruling the digital world is not enough.
030
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Social media posts are now “thought crimes” that can get legal visitors deported. Obvious 1st Amendment violation. When you punish folks for merely stating an unpopular opinion without an accompanying malign action, this is the path to hell.
130
Reposted by Justin Mackie
Richard Hanania @hananiarichard.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
I thought censorship was the worst thing you can do to the public square. Musk has shown there is something worse. He doesn't want you to read less biased sources of news or info, he wants to make you into Catturd. On Musk's war on the human intellect. www.richardhanania.com/p/liberals-o...
richardhanania.com
Liberals Only Censor. Musk Seeks to Lobotomize.
The public square is turning into a grotesque idiocracy
0224
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
This is wonderful 🏆
010
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
This Einstein quote is evergreen. He wrote it one week before he died. Original German: “Wer es in kleinen Dingen mit der Wahrheit nicht ernst nimmt, dem kann man auch in grossen Dingen nicht vertrauen…”
000
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Sometimes I wish Bluesky’s likes were private. The likes are a trove of public sentiment. But, the risk of blowback for “endorsing” things is real. Even with GDPR, understand social media posts are scraped at industrial scale by actors worldwide. LOL at anyone who thinks GDPR stops this.
010
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
The CFPB was created in response to the Great Recession. Recall the market situation was so dire our 74th Treasury Secretary puked from the stress. CFPB spent ~$777 million in 2024 and only has 1,758 employees. Eliminating it would have negligible impact on the Fed deficit.
200
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
The changes by DOGE are bewildering. The key motivators seem to be stale tech and the Federal budget deficit. As DOGE slashes heads, the American population continues to grow. It is up 17.4% over the past 20 years. How big is the Federal labor force? It is 1.35% of the American labor force.
100
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
The premise that tariffs help domestic (American) manufacturers can be false. Tariffs on components and intermediate inputs can act like a tax on “domestic manufacturers who use these imports, raising their costs instead of protecting them from foreign competition…”
010
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Helped someone assemble a new vacuum cleaner. She said that decades ago, you wouldn’t trash the old vacuum. Instead, it would be repaired in a shop. Today many products are short-lived or have nerfed parts: phones, fridges, printers, microwaves. Just put it in a landfill and buy a new one.
media.tenor.com
a man is holding a phone and says i 'm actually kinda sad
ALT: a man is holding a phone and says i 'm actually kinda sad
010
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
The new tariffs spotlight international trade and the disturbing lack of viable manufacturing in the USA (outside the high end). How much of a competitive disadvantage are high housing, healthcare, and transit costs for the American workers? Suppose these became half the current cost.
100
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Timing is everything.
010
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Here are a couple of beneficial uses of generative AI. 1) Quickly produce an ensemble of weather forecasts to illustrate a range of conditions (Example: GenCast) 2) Make a medical differential diagnosis to boost patient safety And yes, IP issues need to be promptly remedied.
020
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
This post with 2K “likes” shows how social media validation drives attention-seeking and anger rather than truth-seeking behavior. “There is no ethical use for AI” is an absurd, hyperbolic view. How do we reach a consensus in the loud, attention-harvesting world we’ve built?
000
Reposted by Justin Mackie
Max Roser @maxroser.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
Our Daily Data Insight today — the world has passed “peak child.”
415457
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 21/01/2025
January 21, 2025: A rare snow day in Space City. Magical. It feels a bit surreal after 45 days of 100+ degrees in recent memory (calendar 2023). ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ ❄️
000
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Text2video in 2025 is both really impressive and concerning. 🙃 Today, legions of anonymous bots hijack and manipulate online chats. Tomorrow, will convincing fake videos be the next shoe to drop in the push to shape public opinion?
000
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
24 hours left ⏳ to wear shorts 🩳 on the Gulf Coast in January. Then 🧤🧣🥶 and maybe ❄️.
000
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
He’s right. I followed for Onions the dachshund.
030
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
Why are parking lot trees planted with only a small slice of soil exposed to rainfall? The result is shallow, thirsty tree roots. Hurricane Beryl tipped over this tree. Similar, properly planted trees lost a few branches at most.
010
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
Thought the Bluesky recommender algo was haywire yesterday when suddenly cat pics were everywhere in my feed. This never happened for dogs or other pet species. Or cats vibes were just trending? 🤔 Observing, not carping. x.com/thezvi/statu...
x.com
x.com
100
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 28/12/2024
No New Year’s Resolutions hitting my feed. But, there’s an incredible number of cat pics. 🐈😺 It would be illuminating to see an anonymous list of resolutions—peoples’ *real* resolutions.
000
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 28/12/2024
Doh! My flu post had a typo. * “H1N1” is actually swine flu. * “H5N1” is bird flu, a.k.a. avian influenza if you’re wearing dress clothes.
000
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
How high should the “oh-shit” meter be for zoonotic H1N1 bird flu in humans? One virologist—an emerging disease specialist—said the situation is “grim” and referred to the explosion of human cases. Helen Branswell’s article is below. @helenbranswell.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2024/12/26/c...
statnews.com
CDC says H5N1 bird flu sample shows mutations that may help the virus bind to cells in the upper airways of people
The CDC said Thursday that the mutations, detected in a sample taken from a Louisiana patient, may help bind the virus to the upper airways in people.
010
Reposted by Justin Mackie
The Onion @theonion.com · 23/12/2024
Cat Clinging To Side Of Christmas Tree Admits That Was Extent Of Plan theonion.com/cat-clinging...
Cat Clinging To Side Of Christmas Tree Admits That Was Extent Of Plan
-The Onion
214237244100
Reposted by Justin Mackie
Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 13/12/2024
METAR xkcd.com/3024
372855405
Reposted by Justin Mackie
Ismail (Nature Lover) @naturehorizon.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
Zion National Park 🇺🇲❤️
372266661409
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
So let me get this straight, Texas. We pretended to end vehicle state inspection trips, but nearly two-thirds of Texans live in emissions test counties (with Bexar in 2026). If we must still do the trip, and given Texas averages 10+ auto deaths a day, maybe a tire and brake peek is prudent?
110
Reposted by Justin Mackie
SK Winnicki, PhD 🏳️‍⚧️ @skwinnicki.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
Confession: I took a bunch of sunset photos today because I was bored staking out a field waiting for owls to show up, it was only after seeing multiple posts from local weather service accounts that I thought “wait, that was an unusually pretty sunset too” Little too focused on birding, perhaps
Dark heavy clouds lit from below by a bright orange sky, almost like lavaBrilliant orange sunset lighting the clouds above a cold field with pinkSoft pink sunset with purple clouds above, the shape of the clouds look like gentle waterfallsCold brown field with warm orange and gray clouds above
25910473546
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
So far, Bluesky is more enjoyable and pleasant than the year (2024) I spent on Twitter. - Bluesky users are more data-oriented and polite - Less noise and bot slop - No personality cult in my feed - Sensible post “Reply” rather than “Reply All” We need a town square not tumult. Good luck, mods.
020
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Over one-third of U.S. adults are obese (BMI > 30). It doubled in under 35 years. The trend has no end in sight without side-effect heavy drug intervention. Obese excludes the merely overweight, despite the latter also carrying higher mortality risk. ourworldindata.org/grapher/shar...
ourworldindata.org
Obesity in adults
Estimated prevalence of obesity, based on general population surveys and statistical modeling. Obesity is a risk factor for chronic complications, including cardiovascular disease, and premature death...
010
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
The Stock Market Cap to GDP ratio is sky high at over 200% and 2.2 standard deviations above historical trend. This is the Buffett Indicator. The correction will be brutal for post-2009 investors that have only seen the market trend up (excluding a brief COVID drop).
010
Reposted by Justin Mackie
Marko Liias 🏳️‍🌈 @markoliias.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
The solution is to build more homes.
1012522
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Domain-based identity verification is the wrong technique for the broad community. There a folks more qualified to opine on this issue. Nevertheless, pay $1 and receive a postcard with a PIN at the billing address is simple. An added benefit is linking the user to their country.
020
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
How many times is it appropriate to ping customers with surveys about brief service experiences (e.g. auto shops)?
020
Reposted by Justin Mackie
David Vatz @davidvatz.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
City Planning: We held a public engagement meeting at 7pm last Tuesday night and 80% of the people who came to the meeting told us they didn't want these new apartments in their neighborhood! Therefore, we have blocked the project.
0234
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Tokenization chops unstructured text into smaller chunks called tokens. A token might be a word, subword, punctuation, or number sequence. The chunks are written to a limited-size dictionary which is the vocabulary of the associated text. bsky.app/profile/thom...
100
Reposted by Justin Mackie
Qagggy! @qagggy.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Before & After: I don’t think people realize the extent to which parked cars degrade public space.
Street full of parked cars in Bordeaux France, Google photo from 2008.Same location in Bordeaux photo taken by me in 2023.
232161872108
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
The sedum lemon ball is making a comeback in part shade along the fence line. The dog hasn’t sat on it in a while. 😆
010
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Nate Silver has 3.4 million Twitter followers and (probably) monetization. He has under 10 thousand Bluesky followers and zero posts. There is no Bluesky monetization. If you were him, how eager would you be to jump platforms? Pay attention to incentives.
000
Reposted by Justin Mackie
Marty Manley @martymanley.bsky.social · 20/11/2024
The US has far cheaper energy costs than Europe does -- and our costs are falling while theirs are rising. Cheap energy makes many other things cheaper.
011
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Social media platforms that rein in the bot slop will gain advantage. Require suspected bots, based on activity, to pass a bot-resistant quiz before they can continue. Francois Chollet’s ARC puzzle is designed to resist bot AI. Do it, Bluesky.
010
Justin Mackie @meetjmac.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Build more housing.
010
Reposted by Justin Mackie
Space @redditspaceviewes.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Pluto's moon, Charon, at highest resolution so far captured by NASA
320295441400