Ambulocetus @ambulocetus@social.cleverlibre.org

Community members in #SilverSpring #Maryland formed a wall of resistance to protect a kids event from violent Proud Boys.

"The Proud Boys became violent, kicking and pushing while shouting at families on megaphones, while the community held the line and drowned them out with music and cheers."

https://itsgoingdown.org/community-holds-back-proud-boys-silver-spring/

The FTC has started a new Office of Technology! Now they're hiring technologists to power their investigations: https://ftc.gov/technologists

* Remote work possible.
* Pay is amazing by non-tech-sector standards (up to $176K).
* Blessedly simple application process.

Get in there!

The Entomological Society of America's legendary "World of Insects" calendar is now taking submissions for the 2024 edition.

#Insects #Photography #Entomology #Macrophotography

If you've got a spectacular arthropod photo from anywhere in the world, here's the place to send it:

https://www.entsoc.org/publications/world-insects-calendar

March 15th, the Ides of Musk, is #LeaveTwitterDay

That’s the day people log off and never look back, having chosen bluer skies elsewhere.

Pass it on.

#IdesOfMusk #LeaveTwitterDay #Twitter

It's #PterosaurPtuesday, and it's Rhamphorhynchus time.

#pterosaurs #art

https://johnconway.art/rhamphorhynchus-muensteri

Many scholars are leaving Twitter for #Mastodon, a public, decentralized alternative, impervious to private take-over:

https://www.science.org/content/article/musk-reshapes-twitter-academics-ponder-taking-flight

Scholarly organizations are already supporting this migration:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00486-3

and

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7643817

There are analogous solutions for another public good in private hands: journals. There are even levers the scholarly community could pull to incentivize an analogous migration:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5526634

What are we waiting for?

Portugal tackles housing crisis:
- all unoccupied homes to be put on market at affordable prices
- government acts as estate agent
- capped rental price
- 'tourist apartments' prohibited

(Surprisingly, article is in Spanish)
https://elpais.com/economia/2023-02-17/portugal-revoluciona-su-politica-de-la-vivienda-prohibira-nuevos-pisos-turisticos-y-elimina-los-visados-de-oro.html

Nature:
"There is now a golden opportunity for every scholarly society to implement a Mastodon instance for anyone interested in their field. If the academic community can create a public resource protected from private interests, it could become a model for bringing the remaining scholarly record — encompassing text, data and code — into the Fediverse."
Paper:
https://zenodo.org/record/7652771#.Y_S6OOzMKhc
Article:
https://www-nature-com.ezproxy.gc.cuny.edu/articles/d41586-023-00486-3
h/t @fediversereport

Have you noticed two bright "stars" in the western sky just after sunset? Those are the planets Jupiter and Venus. Over the next few days, they'll appear closer and closer together in the sky every evening, culminating in a close conjunction on March 1st. https://piped.kavin.rocks/hcgj6KsR-fc?t=12
#NASASolarSystem

Today in 1905, 118 years ago: The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of Massachusetts's mandatory smallpox vaccination program in Jacobson v. Massachusetts.

#OnThisDay

My almost 13 year old daughter had a good idea. We’ve been talking about doing a podcast together - mostly for us to have.

Her idea was reviewing books that are being taken out of school libraries - discussing the content, reviewing the actual literature but also the reasons it was banned and our thoughts there as well.

This is something I think that we will do, soon.

#BookBanning #Books #Podcasts

Can we get rid of #LouisDeJoy yet?!?!?

“The media’s portrayal of these laws as moves in the ‘culture wars’ is an unconscionable misrepresentation of fascism,” writes Jason Stanley https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/13/african-american-studies-republican-ban-florida

Did the NYT really publish an Opinion speculating that young girls today are more depressed than ever because of _phones_?

In a world where they lost the right to control their own reproductive healthcare? Where states are pondering making them report their periods? In a world debating genital inspections to play school sports? While banning books? Where they practice school shooting drills? With climate change? Where sexual assault isn’t disqualifying for public office?

Sure, it’s the phones.