The Drain 005 - Bluer skies

Kempa and Palma give an update on the developing story of university administrators endangering their own students to appease the Trump administration, before diving into the magical realm of microblogging sites and social media in 2025.

Did you know that 58 of 60 California Assembly Democrats are leaving X-The-Everything-App? A number of them--39 of the state's 120 legislators in total--have migrated to Bluesky.

So, what is Bluesky?

It's a microblogging site like Twitter, but with a focus on open-source development and user control. It actually has Twitter roots, and was a pet project by Jack Dorsey before he sold Twitter to Elon Musk. Once CEO Jay Graber took the helm, it became apparent that the two techies had diverging principles, so Dorsey left. Probably to some Vipassana retreat in Humboldt County.

Early Bluesky was rad. Many of us (including AOC) remember ALF's hog, Big Naturals Tom Bombadil, and a culture driven by artsy trans women posting thirst traps. Then the Blue Wave hit.

After Twitter's new owner Elon Musk helped elect Donald Trump in 2024, Democrats across the country left his site in droves, with many moving to Bluesky.

Does this matter/mean anything at all? We don't know. The new site isn't quite what we'd like it to be. It's a little saccharine. No one is doing real-time sports clips (European top-tier soccer goals or MMA finishes). And the funniest/meanest people are still on Twitter.

But there are lots of scientists. Obummer moved over last week, and now Billary is there.

Twitter culture is all about hating, which is fun. Bluesky is more like going to a local Unitarian church where you can’t really say bad words or, you know, do anything fun. But at least there is space for conversation and discourse without people losing their minds.

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Oh, and we're on Bluesky: @thedrain.bsky.social, @palma.ltd, @yeshelloitskempa.bsky.social