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Patrick Atwater

@patwater

76 Following
148 Followers
Patrick Atwater pfp
Patrick Atwater
@patwater
“*We know that there is no help for us but from one another, that no hand will save us if we do not reach out our hand. All you have is what you are, and what you give.*“ ~ Ursula LeGuin
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Patrick Atwater
@patwater
You gotta love when hard science types dip their toes into moral philosophy and policycraft https://www.gap-map.org/gaps/policy-creation-and-evaluation-is-manual-and-suffers-from-low-efficiency-and-accountability/
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Patrick Atwater
@patwater
https://blog.google/technology/ai/dolphingemma/
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Edge City
@edgecity
Who would you love to see at Edge Esmeralda? We’re launching a community-powered funding pool with Ante Finance where you can stake USDC to help bring your dream participants to the gathering. Submit your dream participants here: https://bit.ly/4jaFzfH Think big—tech icons, thought leaders, artists, researchers, writers. Anyone who reflects Edge’s spirit of innovation, complexity & human flourishing. Here’s how it works 👇
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Patrick Atwater pfp
Patrick Atwater
@patwater
I regret to report I don't have any special insight into packing peanuts which I believe is what these are
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Patrick Atwater pfp
Patrick Atwater
@patwater
Jfc https://nypost.com/2025/04/14/us-news/trump-says-home-grown-americans-are-next-to-go-to-el-salvador-tells-bukele-gotta-build-about-five-more-places/
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Patrick Atwater
@patwater
The cat memes will continue and tell morale improves
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Patrick Atwater pfp
Patrick Atwater
@patwater
Because we’ve had the plans for years. We had support. We had funding. The groundwater recharged by that ditch costs about five times less than imported water. And still—it took a decade to navigate the maze of permits, jurisdictions, and inherited friction. That’s how so much of California breaks down—not in dramatic failure, but in slow-motion bureaucracy. Everyone’s trying. But no one can see the whole picture. What finally made the difference wasn’t just the volunteers (though they were incredible). It was a protocol. A shared process. A simple way of coordinating across silos, aligning schedules, unlocking action. Not a grand reform. Not a new law. Just a way to move. That’s the pattern I keep seeing again and again: Good ideas, good funding, and good people aren’t enough. Without a protocol—without a path—we get stuck."
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Patrick Atwater
@patwater
I had fun riffing with GPT on this little ode to the ditch we dug in my hometown, a near decade long odyssey. "Ten years. That’s how long it took to build a simple stormwater recharge ditch in my hometown north of L.A. Not a dam. Not a desalination plant. Just a basic diversion channel—a design older than civilization itself. The kind of thing you could dig in a single day with the right crew and a shovel. And that’s what happened this weekend. Over 50 volunteers came out to help finish the project—more than ten times the usual turnout for efforts like this. Neighbors. Students. Staff. People who just wanted to help California work a little better. It was beautiful. And humbling. And a little surreal.
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Patrick Atwater
@patwater
I remember when open data was super hyped circa early 2010s with McKinsey saying it was a $2T opportunity. That fell down to earth when the add on use cases beyond GTFS (aka what lets you see bus and train times in maps) didn't really materialize. Meanwhile though the techtonic gears of government turned and have come closer to open data's early dreams " One such initiative is GASB's Voluntary Digital Financial Reporting project, which aims to develop digital taxonomies for governmental financial reporting. This project seeks to enable state and local governments to produce machine-readable financial statements, enhancing accessibility and transparency .​ In parallel, there is growing interest in adopting eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) as an open data standard for local government financial reporting. XBRL allows financial data to be tagged and structured in a way that is both human- and machine-readable, facilitating easier analysis and comparison.
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Patrick Atwater
@patwater
Crypto finance folks - is the Financial Data Transparency Act of 2022 on your radar? A big deal or a little blip? https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/4295/text
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Patrick Atwater
@patwater
"Quarrels could turn into blood feuds, and rivals used the cover of the hunt to shoot down other participants—their deaths could conveniently be attributed to attacks by wild beasts. Many hunters lost their lives this way. Meanwhile, unfaithful wives plotted against their husbands while the latter were absent hunting; the clan’s enemies took advantage of a prolonged hunt to attack the flocks and kidnap the women left to guard them. These bardic stories functioned as a warning to horsemen and chiefs alike to keep their jealousies in check. By inviting horsemen to join him on the hunt, a local chief could constitute a larger following. He showered hospitality on his invited guests, making sure they enjoyed the best position in the cavalcade to get the best shots off, to kill the choicest game. Over time this ambitious chief could vie with others for leadership over the horse breeders. His hunts would grow bigger, involving as many as three thousand or even five thousand horsemen."
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Patrick Atwater
@patwater
“You know, Phaedrus, writing shares a strange feature with painting. The offsprings of painting stand there as if they are alive, but if anyone asks them anything, they remain most solemnly silent. The same is true of written words. You’d think they were speaking as if they had some understanding, but if you question anything that has been said because you want to learn more, it continues to signify just that very same thing forever. When it has once been written down, every discourse rolls about everywhere, reaching indiscriminately those with understanding no less than those who have no business with it, and it doesn’t know to whom it should speak and to whom it should not.”
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Patrick Atwater
@patwater
I believe the Germans already have a word for this
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Patrick Atwater
@patwater
I would love to see a chart of how members of Congress spend their time in 1800, 1900, 2000 and today https://www.understandingcongress.org/podcast/what-does-a-member-of-the-house-of-representatives-do-all-day-with-fmr-rep-derek-kilmer/ Dream would be decade by decade
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Patrick Atwater
@patwater
Very, very nice Thanks for sharing Internet friend
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Patrick Atwater pfp
Patrick Atwater
@patwater
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Patrick Atwater pfp
Patrick Atwater
@patwater
Scattered these wildflowers, Jonny apple seed style I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see these native plants blossom Every day now, one or two more burst into bloom There’s a metaphor in here about how my cofounder once upon a time was always great about scattering his idea seeds far and wide. Many now have turned into Oakes
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Patrick Atwater pfp
Patrick Atwater
@patwater
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Patrick Atwater pfp
Patrick Atwater
@patwater
Here’s to hoping the tariffs are rightly declared unconstitutional https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-conservative-legal-advocates-working-to-kill-trumps-tariffs
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