Dave T-W @davoloid@social.cleverlibre.org

"X has become the homeland of anti-scientific humbug. Science does not win on its own; it requires ethical dedication and institutional backing, as well as some form of a belief in truth. As X becomes a plaything of the highest bidder, science loses to entrenched interests."

Timothy Snyder makes a great point here: Elon Musk, supposed advocate for making life multi-planetary, is actively reducing that likelihood.

https://snyder.substack.com/p/how-can-we-be-alone-in-the-universe

The past few days were a stark reminder of how unbelievably more toxic Twitter/X has become and how it’s lost most of its utility as a political communications platform. I wrote this a while ago - I think it’s still relevant:
 
On the sabotage of Twitter, and what democracy is losing
 
(Thread: 1/)
 
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-sabotage-of-twitter-is-a-disaster

If #RachelReeves & #KeirStarmer are going to listen to anyone... here's hoping they're listening to Maraina Mazzucato.

And if you're not sure who Mazzucato is, here's a piece she wrote for the Guardian last month summarising her critique of both parties approach to #economics.

Whatever Michael Gove may have told us, we actually do need experts (especially those like Mazzucato, who have a handle on our successive economic miss-steps!)

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/18/economy-growth-sustainable-government-strategy

In general, #Ukraine has a very developed culture associated with flowers.

For example, it’s frowned upon to give an even number of flowers – or even to have an even number of flowers displayed.

A bouquet with an even number of flowers is only taken to funerals and cemeteries.

According to pagan beliefs, even numbers are the personification of death and evil and are associated with the end of life.

Odd numbers, on the other hand, symbolize development, success, luck, and life.

'The impact of this escalation will be far-reaching'
by #BBC Lyse Doucet:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-67037895?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=65227d523fc96e28602bfd57%26The%20impact%20of%20this%20escalation%20will%20be%20far-reaching%262023-10-08T10%3A44%3A47.375Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:dba2e8eb-161a-4c38-8ef8-bfd0188e54b8&pinned_post_asset_id=65227d523fc96e28602bfd57&pinned_post_type=share
'This unprecedented escalation has come at a time of unprecedented diplomacy: Saudi-US negotiations seemed to be heading towards the kingdom’s recognition of #Israel ; greater engagement between #Riyadh and the #Palestinian Authority, #Hamas ' arch rival.
There are many players – #Iran, a staunch ally of Hamas, as well as #Russia . Even the war in #Ukraine could find itself in this orbit.

I would like to see future infrastructure plans in Ireland account for the carbon cost and economic cost of deploying things slowly

Every round of public consultation and random individual delaying infrastructure projects has a non-negligible cost, both in terms of carbon emissions that could have been reduced if the infrastructure were already built, as well as the cost of all the trips not taken by people who could have availed of the transit

What I'm trying to say is BUILD FASTER

I stand by what I've long said. Attacks on civilians are never justified. Hamas terrorist attacks, which have killed 200 Israeli civilians, are condemnable, inexcusable, and horrific. My deepest condolences to the loved ones of those lost.

Furthermore, Hamas is not Palestine. Israel's attacks, which have killed 230 Palestinian civilians, are condemnable, inexcusable, & horrific. Israel now cutting off electricity to 2M+ Gazan civilians is collective punishment & violates international law.

1/2

Cistercian Numbers; are an extremely interesting and basically forgotten number system developed 8 Centuries Ago. It is much more compact than Arabic and Roman systems, you can basically write any integer from 1 to 9999 with one character.

@archeohistories #Numbers

PCIe lightning is what USB-C took from us,

@maggiemaybe @mjc0961
Sorta like this --
(not much has changed in 30 years)

A photo taken during the excavations of the remains of a #Roman timber #amphitheatre in Künzing (Bavaria) at the Upper German-Raetian Limes (the Roman frontier) in 2003. It was located in the civilian settlement of the fortress in Künzing and had a capacity of about 500 spectators. The amphitheatre was a temporary structure that was later used as dumping ground.

Photos: Bayerischen Landesamts für Denkmalpflege, Museum Quintana Künzing.

It's crazy that a small number of companies see it as their goddamned right to steal all your content and demolish a server / cost a fortune because they want to do something.

They don't know what, but something, and your data is the key.

Google slurps up OTF without my permission and that's my problem.

I download everything on YouTube and I'm the copyright thief.

Go figure.

'It should be understood as a responsibility of citizenship to be skeptical (but not cynical) about what we hear and read, find reliable sources of information, apply basic logic and analysis, and know enough about history and the physical world to differentiate fact from fiction.'

Truth as a Common Good - Robert Reich https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-common-good-chapter-9-resurrecting?publication_id=365422&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&r=diqr