Dr. Austin Hope

@aphope90.bsky.social

189 Followers 129 Following

Contractor with STC for NOAA, working on IBTrACS product code; PhD in Atmospheric Science (climate and weather modeling); DC resident & STL native; soccer fan; PokeNerd; cat dad; dabbler in music/art/writing; he/him

I started following STL soccer in 2006 and moved to DC in 2012. Considering DC has been doing slightly better than STL so far this season, I would've been happy with an away draw for STL tonight, or a win either way as long as both teams played well, lightly preferring an STL win.

The TLDR of tonight's match, in my opinion, is a great game for the first 75', then either DC turning up the pressure and/or STL questionably sitting back for the next 15', and then DC equalized and STL utterly collapsed for the 10' of stoppage. It was rough to watch as an STL fan, made even rougher when DC's game-winning goal was called offside by VAR... However correct it was, STL did not deserve that based on their last 25' of play.

Screenshot of a custom-labelled Google Map highlighting many restaurants and bars in NoVA and DC. The label pins on the map are in six colors, with the legend showing that the red labels are "to visit" with about two dozen examples spelled out.

Screenshot from Tylenol.com on the morning of 9/24/2025 how acetaminophen is one of the most tested and trusted drugs in the world

Cancellation screen for Paramount+. The "other" option is selected with the response "After first neutering 60 Minutes and now kicking Colbert to the curb, I won't support CBS any more."

Selfie, holding up a 2025 WorldPride Capital Cup Gold medal and wearing a DC United pride jersey

Screenshot from an MIT Technology Review article:

So all the right elements are currently in place at Bluesky to usher in this new architecture for social media: independent ownership, newfound popularity, a stark contrast with other dominant platforms, and right-minded leadership. But challenges remain, and we can’t count on Bluesky to do this right without support.

Critics have pointed out that Bluesky has yet to turn a profit and is currently running on venture capital, the same corporate structure that brought us Facebook, Twitter, and other social media companies. As of now, there’s no option to exit Bluesky and take your data and network with you, because there are no other servers that run the AT Protocol. Bluesky CEO Jay Graber deserves credit for her stewardship so far, and for attempting to avoid the dangers of advertising incentives. But the process by which capitalism degrades tech products is so predictable that Cory Doctorow coined a now-popular term for it: enshittification.

Picture of myself from half a block outside my polling station, wearing a "warming stripes" mask and holding up the "I Voted" American flag sticker

Four panel comic in meme format:
1 - general face says "scientists were wrong before!"
2 - second person says "how did we get to realize that?"
3 - beat panel of general face
4 - beat panel of now-angry face

A grey longhair cat inside a doorway with the reverse of a sign reading "beware of cats!"