Nordstahl @Nordstahl@social.cleverlibre.org

You must be wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today….

Scientists have discovered a black hole that absorbs all food that drops to the floor.

@GhostOnTheHalfShell

Have to tell you, it's been weird. Even as my income has continued its staggering drop, it seemed for a bit that Uber had backed off taking 60 percent of fares. Today, though, when I happened to be talking to a passenger and it came up, they were back up to around 50 percent.

The correct answer, which they admit to, is it varies. And the rationalization, which they don't admit to, is simply that they need the money, clearly more, they seem to think, than drivers.

The bottom line is what it always is: Those least able to afford it subsidize lifestyles of the rich and powerful, and in this case, even the stably employed.

Fediverse growth opportunity!

Bluesky is melting down this week due to poor moderation. It’s a really good time to be friendly & invite twitter & bluesky friends to check out Masto and fedi.

I think it’s our job to actively help people find safe communities and connections here, and also to actively keep our communities and connections safe on here ourselves.

There's reportedly a tentative #debtlimit deal between the White House and House Republicans.

One of my projects this weekend is to finish #bettercallsaul. The show continually takes my breath away, especially the artistry of the camera work. I find myself taking pictures of the #tv!

In April of 1945, 22 men of the US 7th Army pose for a picture while standing on a captured French (used by the Germans) railroad gun near Rentwertshausen, Germany

#ww2 #photography #soldiers

Huge Tesla leak reveals thousands of safety concerns, privacy problems (Jonathan M. Gitlin/Ars Technica)

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/05/massive-trove-of-tesla-files-contains-thousands-of-safety-complaints/
http://www.memeorandum.com/230527/p49#a230527p49

The Phenomenon Of “Crown Shyness” Where Trees Avoid Touching

Source https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2017/08/the-phenomenon-of-crown-shyness-where-trees-avoid-touching/

#science #trees #photography #nature

When I worked at a bookstore, I learned that when an author like Dean Koontz signs his books, their resale value goes up.
I also learned that when an author like Stephen King signs Dean Koontz's books, the price goes even higher and that Dean Koontz is not amused by this.

Happy #Caturday from a pensive mittens.

Abandoned dam tunnel in the woods outside Pittsfield, Massachusetts

JamesTheConqueror, 2020

#photography #Graffiti

My oldest was asking me about the Iraq war today - the most recent one, that is. Have you ever answered a kid’s questions about that war? It really drives home how meaningless it was. For what we spent on that war, we could have installed rooftop solar on every home in the U.S., invested in enough renewable energy sources to shut down every coal plant in the country, and still had change left over.

Instead, we hung out in Iraq for like a decade. Totally worth it, right?

Republicans should be nervous if this is happening in places like Texas. Sure, Paxton’s extra corrupt and it’s been ignored by the Texas legislature for too long, but accountability is what matters. And those who enabled him won’t be forgotten.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton impeached, suspended from duties |
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/27/ken-paxton-impeached-texas-attorney-general/

The most common gender affirming surgery is breast augmentation -- in cis (non-trans) women.

The regret rate is around 20%.

Gender affirming surgeries in trans people have around a 1% regret rate.

Guess which people need approval from a mental health provider...

“The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

-- John Ehrlichman, senior aide to President Richard Nixon and co-conspirator in the Watergate scandal

Henry #Kissinger turned 100 today, so it's a good time to remind people of Anthony Bourdain's quote about him. And all other amazing quotes by Bourdain.
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/8/17442194/anthony-bourdain-ally-marginalized-voices

> Witness what Henry did in Cambodia — the fruits of his genius for statesmanship — and you will never understand why he's not sitting in the dock at The Hague next to Milosevic.

Tennessee, giving me his "you just woke me up" look. (He woke up as I was snapping photos of him.) #Caturday #CatsOfMastodon

Al Ahmadi oil field, Kuwait, 1991 - by Steve McCurry (1950), American

#photography #horse