Where is the Bird?
Astute newsletter readers may have noticed we are now in the longest hiatus in WGTB history. It’s not because the union stopped doing stuff (they didn’t) but in fact because I started doing too much other stuff. A combination of personal life factors and big historical events have led me to put our beloved weekly dispatch on hold. If you’re one of the very generous people who chip in a few bucks monthly, you’ll notice those payments are also on hold.
The good news is this thing isn’t rocket science. With the right combination of Google alerts, free time, and obsessive interest in our labor union mastodons, it can be replicated. I also don’t know if this is goodbye or see you later — but for the next few months, maybe year, I’ll have my hands full and this is me leveling with you all on that front.
Please do stay in touch, and it would be really helpful if someone could put together a weekly roundup of everything happening in the labor movement so I could keep up on current events… And serious deep thanks to everyone who has contributed to this project with a few bucks, tips, analysis, corrections, connections, and so much more. It’s seriously been one of the best projects I’ve worked on.
You can always reach me by email at jonahfurman@gmail.com, at the next Labor Notes Conference, or in the Bureau of Labor Statistics Work Stoppages Page comments section (I wish).
In solidarity,
Jonah
This is a bummer and I’m sorry to see you go. Any sub stacks or mastodon folks you can recommend? Or other media that we might not know? Thanks and good luck to you!
In case anyone wonders what rocket science is, let me fill you in.
Apart from all the obvious stuff which is mostly Newton's First, F = ma, there are two subtle and difficult points:
1.) Cool yer jets.
2.) The Earth is a sphere.
Making a high-thrust rocket is easy; keeping it from melting the whole joint is difficult. The German V2 used thecrude method: they made the stuff exposed to heat out of heat-proof material. The American space effort got a whole lot more subtle -- one of those little things that makes some of us think that engineering is sometimes beautiful -- they surrounded the hot parts with cold fuel pipes that needed to be heated up. Cooled jets, hot fuel. Neat!
That the Earth is a sphere is simply a reminder that the military mind is likely to think that since maps are flat the territory must be flat, too. As with jets, there are two sets of work-arounds: you can either calculate your routes using geometries that reflect the real world or you can make a whole lot of course corrections as you go along. Turns out that doing both is the best way of doing things.
There. Yer welcome.