Eric J. Korpela @SETIEric@social.cleverlibre.org

getting a bit tired of people bemoaning the loss of twitter as a ‘public square’ when it was nothing of the sort.

it was a place where the algorithmically selected and advertiser friendly could hear their own voices amplified, and the rest of us were allowed to listen in.

someone’s thumb is always on the scale and it certainly isn’t the ‘public’.

the fediverse isn’t perfect, but *we* are the ones who determine what it is and can become.

the weights have been removed from the scale and what you see is what people can create when left to their own devices.

the voices you hear are those that have been amplified by the people and communities around them.

isn’t that what you mean by a ‘public square’?

The Covid-19 vaccines prevented more than 18 MILLION additional hospitalizations and 3.1 to 3.4 MILLION additional deaths.

Including probably many people reading this toot.

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/two-years-covid-vaccines-prevented-millions-deaths-hospitalizations

@SETIEric And, more importantly, we need to be off fossil fuels in basically 25 years and there is exactly zero chance of this reaching global industrial scale in that timeframe.

Assuming we don't go extinct in the next hundred years, I can see applications potentially for interstellar use. But for humans on Earth, this is not our path to surviving the climate/energy crisis.

Oh gods, why do I do this to myself? The problems with live auctions are that you can't cancel them and if you aren't outbid you tend to forget about them, so I just won this

positives:
It was only £65, pretty good for a Master, Monitor and Printer

negatives:
You can probably see from the screen that there's an issue - which might well be corrosion

It's a master, monitor and printer - delivery is going to be hellish.

I don't need another monitor and printer.

#retrocomputing

I've gotten a lot of responses to that Substack piece about leaving Twitter. Many are positive but some are negative. A few are saying "oh so you think free speech is nasty?"

What kind of stupid question is that? Of course I do. The Nazis marching at Skokie were nasty. All sorts of speech is nasty. Supporting free speech doesn't mean reserving judgment about it, you imbecile. It means not using the state to suppress it.

Why didn't any of the latest inflation reporting mention that corporate profits just hit a record high?

Corporate profits reached $2.08 TRILLION in the 3rd quarter.

Corporate greed is playing a role in driving up prices — and the media will hardly talk about it.

I often agree with @dandrezner

I do now, too
---
RT @dandrezner
I’m beginning to think it’s time for a Twitter sabbatical. Staying on this site right now feels like it’s enabling this kind of behavior. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/12/musk-twitter-harass-yoel-roth/
https://twitter.com/dandrezner/status/1602482073314410500

Let Me Introduce Myself-

I'm the Organizing Director for All On The Line. I focus on fair redistricting and preventing gerrymandering.

I've been advocating on the topic of veterans' health for over a decade. I am a fundraiser/volunteer with Team Rubicon, and I'm an alumni of the Veteran Organizing Institute.

I live in North Carolina with my family. I have two children, two dogs, and a wonderful wife. We enjoy nature through hikes and kayaking.

I hope you join me on my journey with Mastodon.

I would love to rebuild our community of veterans.

If you are a veteran, drop me a hello in the replies.

Maybe a hashtag would help too.

#VetsConnect

(If I don't follow you right away, just give me a day or so)

I've long said that Twitter's character limit is way too small, and I've also long seen that Fediverse and Mastodon are fine with instances having very high limits. (My current instance has over 16 times Musk's new limit, for example. We also have Markdown for text formatting)

*That being said*, Twitter is not Fediverse, where there's a history of posts of all different sizes going around. People are used to the small character limit, and are averse to anything that would change it. Going from 280 to 4000 in one go — rather than an incremental approach or even collapsing longer texts by default *à la* Octodon Social --- is going to be a culture shock to existing users.

Plus, I'm pretty sure Musk isn't going to implement Markdown anytime soon. I'm not even sure he knows what Markdown is! Why waste $8/month for 4000 characters on a desperate billionaire's dying platform when you can sign up to Qoto (or if you don't like that for some reason, a Pleroma, Misskey, or Akkoma instance) and get more characters *and* versatile text formatting for free?

https://mashable.com/article/twitter-character-limit-4000-elon-musk

When I wrote one of my first scientific papers, #fusion was decades away.
(Gleick, P.H. 1977. "The power of nuclear fusion." Yale Scientific, Volume 51. No. 5. pp. 41‑45)

Still is.

Um. A founding investor of Post.news is going to participate in #QElon’s “Twitter Files” #psyop.

This seems problematic.

Traitor Ralph Norman (SC-R), colluded with Mark Meadows and fellow members of Congress to overthrow our country. The work of holding these seditious bloodsuckers accountable isn't over. Until those who plotted the end of America face justice, there is no putting J6 behind us.

Norman via text to Mark Meadows, "...we are at a point of � no return � in saving our Republic !! Our LAST HOPE is invoking Marshall Law!! PLEASE URGE TO PRESIDENT TO DO SO!!"

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/feature/mark-meadows-exchanged-texts-with-34-members-of-congress-about-plans-to-overturn-the-2020-election

#uspol #politics

People being sent death threats... DDoS on UFoI members, one LGBTQ server in good standing was blocked by 33 other instances for supporting us openly.... Yet they insist there is no problem that needs addressing, to the point they violently oppose an agreement between server admins to engage in transparency, ethics, and evidence in interinstance moderation....

These things prove that the need for the UFoI is very real.

#UFoI #UFI @ufoi

Had a tough day on Facebook. I still don’t know what you’re supposed to comment under a photo of a new baby, but I’ve learned it isn’t ‘Yikes’.

The #NDAA internet censoring provision is set for Senate consideration this week. It allow federal courts to order anyone to remove info about fed'l judges from the internet.

Let's hope Sens. Schumer, McConnell, Reed, & Inhofe pull the language. To tell your Senator to oppose section 5934, call 202-225-3121.

Our letter is here.https://s3.amazonaws.com/demandprogress/letters/Censorship_of_Federal_Judicial_Info_NDAA_2022-12-12.pdf

#congress #FirstAmendment