Aaron Cox

Lover of baseball, snacking & 80's action movies...ok, all movies. Mizzou ‘08. MO-ID-NC-GA-LA. Public Relations at @ololhealth.

[New York Magazine @NYMag]

Joe Lim estimates that 90 percent of what you see on the internet is advertising in disguise, and he should know. For three years, Lim ran a company called Floodify, which at its peak operated 65,000 dummy social-media accounts used to drum up attention on behalf of paying clients.

The point of this kind of marketing is that nobody is supposed to notice it. But lately, the machinery has started to show.

In April, Justin Bieber headlined two consecutive weekends at Coachella. Coachella is the biggest stage in pop music save only for the Super Bowl, the kind of event that in theory generates its own attention. And yet on both weekends, a Discord server writer Lane Brown had been monitoring hosted paid campaigns for Bieber’s Coachella performances, offering clippers — people who are hired to turn a song, trailer, interview, stump speech, or whatever into short, social-media-friendly fragments — as much as a dollar per thousand views.

“On social media, popular opinion is being formed, measured, and manipulated all at once, and every signal the platforms produce — a trending song, a backlash, a talking point, the feeling that ‘everybody’ is suddenly talking about the same thing — can now be fabricated by unseen actors with hidden agendas,” writes Brown.

“Everybody is doing this now,” Lim says. “And if you’re not, you’re behind.”

Brown reports on how the same techniques are now being used to fool people on every app they go to in order to find out what other people think, not just in music but across entertainment, politics, consumer products, and celebrity gossip: https://t.co/hlcdfSmzPc

[James Surowiecki @JamesSurowiecki]

It's impossible to overstate the insane hubris required to believe that God is intervening in human history to protect the bombing runs you order.

[Prof. Katharine Hayhoe @KHayhoe]

Last year, when the U.S. administration terminated the first-ever National Nature Assessment, the team behind it refused to let the work disappear.
Director Phil Levin and the entire author team — all volunteers — reorganized, built a new secretariat and advisory committee, spent months persuading foundations to fund the effort, then got back to work.
This week, the result is here! The new Nature Record has just been submitted to the National Academy of Sciences for formal review -- and it's been opened for public comment, so you can read it too: https://t.co/uZodPAiTns
The report meticulously documents the many ways humans have degraded nature — on land, in lakes and rivers, in coastal wetlands, and in the ocean.
But what I love most is that the report starts with a “Bright Spots” chapter. It highlights real-life successes, the conditions that helped them happen, and how treating each other with greater equity and justice can also benefit nature.
Why does this chapter matter so much? Because social science research shows something important: while doom and gloom may get the most clicks and shares online, focusing only on the negative (without any positive information about solutions) can leave people feeling overwhelmed and powerless. When we pair the risks with information about solutions that work, people feel a greater sense of efficacy — and efficacy is what motivates us to act.
Not only that, but when it comes to nature, there are so many solutions that work (and the report talks about them, too!). Restoring ecosystems can strengthen food systems, improve our physical and mental health, protect communities from floods, storms, and heat, support biodiversity, and even help draw carbon out of the atmosphere.
Nature-based solutions are powerful. And the more we share stories of what’s working, the more we can build momentum for the work still ahead.

Read more here:
https://t.co/yLsReMViEZ

[Rick Steves @RickSteves]

In a speech before the @UN General Assembly today, President Trump said climate change is a “con job” and climate scientists are “stupid people” — and he called green energy and immigration a “double-tailed monster” that is destroying Europe.

After traveling through Ethiopia and Guatemala, I find it ironic that those most concerned about immigrants and refugees are the least likely to take climate change seriously.

As you’ll learn in this clip, there’s no denying that climate change is here — and by causing more hunger, more conflict, and more destabilization in the poorest countries, it actually drives migration. The solution? Climate-smart agriculture.

To find out how you can help, go to https://t.co/SyqWEnDynF — and while you’re there, check out my one-hour public television special “Hunger & Hope: Lessons from Ethiopia and Guatemala,” streaming completely free and ad-free.

[NRDC 🌎🏡 @NRDC]

Polluters are backing a dangerous liquefied natural gas project in the heart of the Gulf of California, home to 39 percent of all marine mammal species on earth. We can’t let Big Oil sacrifice this UNESCO World Heritage site for profit.

[MLB @MLB]

Happy 45th birthday to Albert Pujols!

Remember when Pujols became the oldest player with 7 home runs in a 10-game span?

Repost and like for a chance to win this autographed card celebrating that milestone.

[Patagonia @patagonia]

If you haven't voted yet, now is the time to fill out and return your mail-in or drop-off ballot. If you've already voted, consider volunteering to assist others in doing the same.

We must elect leaders we can push to act on the climate crisis. Vote and sign-up to volunteer at https://t.co/OBzMJucI1D

[Arnold Schwarzenegger @Schwarzenegger]

I don’t really do endorsements. I’m not shy about sharing my views, but I hate politics and don’t trust most politicians.

I also understand that people want to hear from me because I am not just a celebrity, I am a former Republican Governor.

My time as Governor taught me to love policy and ignore politics. I’m proud of the work I did to help clean up our air, create jobs, balance the budget, make the biggest infrastructure investment in state history, and take power from the politicians and give it back to the people when it comes to our redistricting process and our primaries in California.

That’s policy. It requires working with the other side, not insulting them to win your next election, and I know it isn’t sexy to most people, but I love it when I can help make people’s lives better with policies, like I still do through my institute at USC, where we fight for clean air and stripping the power from the politicians who rig the system against the people.

Let me be honest with you: I don’t like either party right now. My Republicans have forgotten the beauty of the free market, driven up deficits, and rejected election results. Democrats aren’t any better at dealing with deficits, and I worry about their local policies hurting our cities with increased crime.

It is probably not a surprise that I hate politics more than ever, which, if you are a normal person who isn’t addicted to this crap, you probably understand.

I want to tune out.

But I can’t. Because rejecting the results of an election is as un-American as it gets. To someone like me who talks to people all over the world and still knows America is the shining city on a hill, calling America is a trash can for the world is so unpatriotic, it makes me furious.

And I will always be an American before I am a Republican.

That’s why, this week, I am voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

I’m sharing it with all of you because I think there are a lot of you who feel like I do. You don’t recognize our country. And you are right to be furious.

For decades, we’ve talked about the national debt. For decades, we’ve talked about comprehensive immigration reform that secures the border while fixing our broken immigration system. And Washington does nothing.

The problems just keep rolling, and we all keep getting angrier, because the only people that benefit from problems aren’t you, the people. The only people that benefit from this crap are the politicians who prefer having talking points to win elections to the public service that will make Americans’ lives better.

It is a just game to them. But it is life for my fellow Americans. We should be pissed!

But a candidate who won’t respect your vote unless it is for him, a candidate who will send his followers to storm the Capitol while he watches with a Diet Coke, a candidate who has shown no ability to work to pass any policy besides a tax cut that helped his donors and other rich people like me but helped no one else else, a candidate who thinks Americans who disagree with him are the bigger enemies than China, Russia, or North Korea - that won’t solve our problems.

It will just be four more years of bullshit with no results that makes us angrier and angrier, more divided, and more hateful.

We need to close the door on this chapter of American history, and I know that former President Trump won’t do that. He will divide, he will insult, he will find new ways to be more un-American than he already has been, and we, the people, will get nothing but more anger.

That’s enough reason for me to share my vote with all of you. I want to move forward as a country, and even though I have plenty of disagreements with their platform, I think the only way to do that is with Harris and Walz.

Vote this week. Turn the page and put this junk behind us.

And even if you disagree with me, vote, because that’s what we do as Americans. https://t.co/eHFZ723I4H

[Climate Defiance @ClimateDefiance]

A brand-new report just found that billionaires are spewing as much carbon in 90 minutes as the average person emits in a lifetime. This is hideous. This is grotesque. This is a crime against humanity. If this does not shock you to your core, what will? What will?

🧵 (1/12)

[David Wallace-Wells @dwallacewells]

“We are on the brink of an irreversible climate disaster. This is a global emergency beyond any doubt. Much of the very fabric of life on Earth is imperiled. We are stepping into a critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis.” https://t.co/dFlDchwgyb

[Céspedes Family BBQ @CespedesBBQ]

A few quick thoughts on the A's and the utter wickedness at play.

Pro sports rely on the emotional connection between team and fan. It's a pact. The fan buys in, caring deeply about 26 souls wearing the same laundry. The fan makes it all matter, makes it mean something.

[Will Leitch @williamfleitch]

https://t.co/pOS0ZLbx6D

[Rev. Justin Berkobien @JustinBerkobien]

This little misunderstanding is what happens when Christians are always outraged but seldom curious

[David Wallace-Wells @dwallacewells]

“Our climate debt ultimately leaves us with two options: either pay the price of adapting to the ravages of a hotter world–and acknowledge that large parts of the natural world will be lost in the process…” https://t.co/8QG4CyMOda

[Jeff Berardelli @WeatherProf]

Similar numbers in US. Shows you just how successful the doubt/ denial campaign has been. Remember this has never been up for debate. The science has been settled for decades that humans are solely responsible for modern warming.

[PowerMizzou @PowerMizzoucom]

We've got a new giveaway for #Mizzou fans courtesy of our friends @CharlieHustleCo

All you have to do is follow us, follow them and RT this tweet and you're eligible to win. Announcement of the winner will come on Friday June 28.

[MLB Network @MLBNetwork]

Prime Jim Edmonds was different 😳

[David Wallace-Wells @dwallacewells]

“The climate crisis—unlike most of our political woes—is a timed test; past a certain point, we can’t repair the damage. Once you melt the Arctic, no one knows how to freeze it back up again.” https://t.co/rGWCptki9t

[Damian Carrington @dpcarrington]

Climate experts were increasingly saying that keeping heating below 1.5C is near impossible, yet it remains the global goal. So I asked hundreds of top IPCC scientists what they thought. What they said shocked even me…
🧵 1/n #ClimateCrisis

[Jeff Berardelli @WeatherProf]

Here’s the problem. 99% of climate scientists agree the climate is warming and humans, mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels, are the cause. BUT in the US, only 55% of people know that virtually all experts agree. Called the consensus gap, fueled by deliberate disinformation.