Topher White

Conservation Technologist — Founder @RainforestCx — Explorer @NatGeo — Brand Ambassador @SaxxUnderwear & Mountain @Hardwear

[Topher White @topherwhite]

VIDEO: "What can save the #rainforest? Your used cell phone." https://t.co/umgFcOIFkH

[Topher White @topherwhite]

"For the first time, scientists are tracking the migration of monarch butterflies... actively monitoring individual insects" Such an inspiring accomplishment — Congratulations to the team at @CellTrackTech !
https://t.co/CDUGY6Pd5B

[Rainforest Connection @RainforestCx]

Ceibo Lodge is your gateway to the Amazon. Home to a thriving Indigenous community and forest-grown chocolate. But deeper lies Kawsak Sacha—the Living Forest. Hear it in real time via the Rainforest Connection app, powered by HD sound. 🌳🎧 #Rainforestconnection

[Nature is Amazing ☘️ @AMAZlNGNATURE]

It's called a Dactylotum bicolor or Rainbow Grasshopper and they are native to northern Mexico, the United States and Canada.

[Robert Scoble @Scobleizer]

Forgiveness.

My former partner Shel Israel just called.

We wrote several important books together. He says we really wrote only one "Naked Conversations," which we wrote while I worked at Microsoft. The book launch for that was quite epic. Aaron Schwartz, Doug Engelbart, and many other tech industry luminaries were there. It was the last party in @arrington's back yard (he started Techcrunch and hosted several epic parties in his back yard that have are now part of Silicon Valley lore, even memorialized in TV shows).

It laid out how social media would someday be important to business.

Back then it wasn't. At all.

Most people resisted social media. Gary Vaynerchuk @garyvee and I would be on stage trying to tell people about Facebook, that just started, and we heard it over and over that people thought social media was a fad and would never matter. This was all before Twitter started. Those lessons serve me well as we see the same kind of resistance to AI, and are coming out of that stage in this industry, headed to mass adoption.

Anyway, he is facing new health issues (he's 20 years older than I am, those kinds of problems await) and wanted to make amends and he wanted to thank me for the good times we had together, rather than focusing on the pain of how it ended. I knew the call was coming, my wife helped arranged it.

We ended our relationship eight years ago because of my behavior and how I treated women in the industry, and because my career was on fire due to #metoo. My brand went from a rock star in the tech industry to one of "toxic brand" in a few hours and I made many mistakes, and still do sometimes.

Tough time in both of our lives, he never worked in tech again and even today, eight years later, we both know that those glory days won't return. We spoke to many audiences of thousands and used to have people lined up by the hundreds to buy our book. Traveled together to China and many other places.

If you asked me eight years ago whether I would ever forgive Shel for how he handed things, or forgive myself for being such an asshole, and getting myself into a position where my behavior was laid out on the front of USA Today and the New York Times, I probably would have answered "hell no."

But time, and work with therapists, family, and friends, have softened that view, and turned it around to seeing the gifts it gives. In Alcoholics Anonymous we learn to turn the coin over and instead of seeing the pain we caused, or the smoldering pile of losses we have wrapped up, to look with gratitude to the things we still have. I was whining in one meeting about how much I lost and my sponsor told me his membership in AA cost a lot more than what I had to pay to get mine (he pulled out his first day sober coin and told me about how he lost much more money and his family to get that coin).

And I am deeply grateful to all of you who have stuck with me over the years, and the amazing world we get to see evolve every day.

If you are going through something tough, know that even in the toughest problems there are gifts. Cancer, divorce, some of my friends have done prison time, and other tough things people go through. All have gifts, and time tends to reveal them. But you have to be open to seeing them.

My gifts? Going through all that saved my life and brought me many gifts with family and friends. I have much more empathy, much more of a calm outlook on life, and I'm far more likely to have a kind word for people than I used to.

I once met a Holocaust survivor who forgave those who put her into a camp and killed most of her family. That conversation has stuck with me.

Glad I took the call. It closes a chapter on my life and opens a new one. Will we be close friends again? Probably not, he's living a different life now in a state far away.

But it feels like a weight has been lifted. Glad I took the call. Helped me forgive myself, and helped me stick to my new mission to look for adding joy to the world rather than introducing new pain.

Now off to pick up an AI developer at the airport with a fresh point of view. Love!

[Alex Rogers @alex_rogers_cs]

Experimenting with visualisation of GPS synchronised @OpenAcoustics AudioMoth recordings. These are some test recordings from last summer of an air horn on a football pitch.

[Project CETI @ProjectCETI]

CETI’s science team has used machine learning to uncover the “sperm whale phonetic alphabet”!🐳

Read the paper at the link in our bio!
#machinelearning #CETI #Dominica #spermwhales #interspeciescommunication #MIT #CSAIL #Carleton #DSWP

[Cody James 🇺🇸 @codyaims]

If you use Compressible Flow analysis on the USPS eagle, it’s going Mach 4.9

[Topher White @topherwhite]

@RingoHosp We absolutely lit the fire up in the fireplace of the Orchard room on Friday night! It was fantastic. Such a great stay in every way and can’t wait to be back — we’ll see you then, Toph. Big thanks to Claire!

[Kate McElderry @KateMcElderry]

🧠An incredible experience @ #WISHfest w/ Dr. @FumikoHoeft & #Transcend @UConn, @UConnBIRC team! Great learning & sharing w/ @topherwhite @Seedlingtv1 on panel ‘re #Neurodiversity…great seeing 📕Making a Mark! making a mark w/ students & professors! 💫

[Gibbons Daily @GibbonsDaily]

Am I right or am I right?

[Topher White @topherwhite]

“The Conservative Environmentalist” — Grab your copy here: https://t.co/bI83nwc6V5

[Topher White @topherwhite]

So proud of my friend and consistent source of inspiration, @BenjiBacker, for disproving a supposed political divide in conservation and leading a whole generation of Americans in tow.

His first book, in its first week, is already a bestseller and this feels like a very good sign for all of us. Please jump onboard and get a copy if you can: see link in the thread for all the options!

Congrats to Benji on this signature launch and to the whole team at @ACC_National for their ongoing work: @ChrisBarnardDL, @DanielleBFranz, @karlymatthews_ & @luceroicantu amongst many more.

[Andrew Côté @Andercot]

The picks and shovels play of deep tech is McMaster-Carr and as a close second Digikey

[Dimitri Ponirakis @funkingmajic]

Listen to world's first 'chat' between humans and whales https://t.co/AGTgYWppgD

[Vincent Lostanlen @lostanlen]

"Machine learning on a solar-powered environmental sensor" PhD offer is open until April 26th! ⤵️

https://t.co/DD8mIifzuN

[Topher White @topherwhite]

@tophtucker @RingoHosp Huge congrats to both of you! So cool.

[Topher White @topherwhite]

Coral reefs have their own "Dawn Chorus" | Researchers found that moonrise and moonset at a Hawaiian coral reef triggered shifts in fish and invertebrates' vocalizations
https://t.co/QYfuUEwQKc

[Nicolas Mathevon @nicolasmathevon.bsky.social @MathevonNicolas]

Thank you so much @PrincetonUPress, being published by you was my first reward, and now this prize! Let's hope it helps to bring the fascinating world of animal acoustic communication to as many people as possible.
@InstUnivFr @Univ_St_Etienne @EPHE_PSL @NatGeo @acad_euro

[Monkey Haven🐵 @MonkeyIOW]

It’s the weekend!! 🙌🏻
Bog & his backing singers are whooping with joy as it’ll soon be Easter & we’re so excited to see you all!! Turn up the volume to hear the gibbons singing & look out for Xhabu coming down his ramp to join them🥰🎵❤️

#weekendvibes #FridayFeeling