Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

LightNews

Dev Petty

@devpetty.bsky.social

4.3K followers 2.8K following 2.2K posts

Children’s Author. Devout Californian. Rep'd by @jenrofe of ABLA www.devpetty.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · Nov 14

Possibly the single greatest moment in children’s literature.

Illustration from James Marshall’s George & Martha.

Martha, a hippo wearing a dress, is seated in an arm chair smoking a cigar.

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 4h

Remember when there was a whole huge movie about him

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 5h

I also see this

Reposted by Dev Petty

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 9h

www.wweek.com/culture/2025...

Can you put into words what that purpose is? You and the frog have really become icons of this protest.

There’s been a nice overall whimsy that has shown up. The frog is amazing. We had a bunch of other inflatable people here last night, too. I saw people playing Twister the other day.

What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid.

It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as “war-torn,” it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.

Reposted by Dev Petty

Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 9h

Republicans in Congress strangely silent on the Argentina bailout to benefit Bessent’s friends.

It also helps you to avoid talking about it when you are never asked about it.

Reposted by Dev Petty

CajunBlueAZ ⚜️🇺🇸 🇺🇦 @cajunblue.bsky.social · 7h

🚨 Today in Portland, large groups peacefully gathered to unite against hate and oppression. 1/2

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 5h

My kid’s in college there and we lived nearby for a spell. Home away from home. Bravo portlandians!

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 6h

I take it back…

I *DO* WANT TO BE A FROG.

Cover of the picture book I don’t want to be a frog, written by Dev Petty, illustrated by Mike Boldt. The cover is light blue with handwritten text in orange and green and the illustration of a very wide mouth frog with his hands on his hips and mouth open saying the words I don’t want to be a frog, the title, in a speech bubble.

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 7h

There is also an inverse relationship between the amount of time it takes to craft a post and how well received it is.

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 7h

Thank you! Thank you for reading and for seeing all that brightness in her. She was so unbelievably neato.

Reposted by Dev Petty

Yaga Baba @729xhappier.bsky.social · 9h

When taking videos of ICE abductions ask:
Name/Nombre
Telephone/número de teléfono
Get the name of the person, get a number from them to tell a loved one they’ve been taken by ICE,
You can skip asking if they’re okay more than once. Notify local ICE patrol or ACLU or organizations about it

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 8h

❤️

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 9h

A link:

www.adoptapet.com/pet/45976018...

Richmond, VA - Domestic Longhair. Meet Fluffy a Pet for Adoption - AdoptaPet.com

Pictures of Fluffy a Domestic Longhair for adoption in Richmond, VA who needs a loving home.

www.adoptapet.com

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 11h

If you read all this, thank you.

There was a lot more to her, but I save that stuff for me- she was my best friend and, however much I miss her, I'm VERY glad she's not around to see all this.

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 11h

Dr. Hoos remained at Berkeley as a research sociologist, first at its Institute of Industrial Relations, then at the Space Sciences Laboratory. At the laboratory, where she was the lone social scientist, she expressed concern over the effect of satellite surveillance on individual privacy.

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 11h

Ida Hoos began to pursue her Ph.D. there and became interested in the effects of automation and technology on workers. She received her doctorate in 1959, and her dissertation was published in 1961 as “Automation in the Office.” Another book, “Retraining the Work Force,” was published in 1967.

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 11h

She graduated from Radcliffe in 1933. While studying for her master’s degree, which she received from Harvard in 1942, she founded Jewish Vocational Services in Boston, to help Jewish women who were working in the city’s garment district find better jobs.

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 11h

These technical-think-tank types were riding high,” and Dr. Hoos “wasn’t averse to pointing out that the king was naked,” said Louis Feldner, an engineer who worked with her on several technical committees over the years. “And she was respected for it.”

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 11h

Dr. Hoos also questioned the usefulness of systems analysis when evaluating public policy. Her 1972 book, “Systems Analysis in Public Policy: A Critique,” cast a critical eye on the prevailing methods for evaluating education, waste management and health care.

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 11h

Dr. Hoos urged national decision makers to take such assessments “with a large measure of skepticism lest they lead us to regrettable, if not disastrous, conclusions.”

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 11h

“A kind of quantomania prevails in the assessment of technologies,” Dr. Hoos wrote in 1979 in the journal Technological Forecasting and Social Change. “What cannot be counted simply doesn’t count, and so we systematically ignore large and important areas of concern.”

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 11h

With the concept strengthening in the 1950s and ’60s, when the use of computers to assess technology grew more popular, she wrote widely on a need to balance it with other considerations like effects on the work force.

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 11h

Dr. Hoos, a sociologist, was widely recognized as an outspoken critic of systems analysis, which came to prominence after World War II. The approach used mathematical models to perform cost-benefit analyses and risk assessments on complex technologies like radar systems and military aircraft.

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 11h

Ida R. Hoos, a prominent critic of assessing technology solely on the basis of mathematical models that failed to take account of societal factors, died on April 24 in Boston.

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 11h

🧵

It would be my grandmother's birthday today so I'd like to tell you a bit about her since it seems relevant right now.

I can tell you this...she would have hated Elon, AI, Tech bros etc.

Here are some bits from her 2007 NY Times Obit:

Ida R. Hoos Is Dead at 94; a Critic of Systems Analysis

A black and white image of a woman in her 80s with large glasses and a rye smile, seated and leaning on the arm of a chair.

Dev Petty @devpetty.bsky.social · 16h

I’ve reached some sort of life gimbal
lock