ML2 @mathlover@social.cleverlibre.org

Anyone else feeling that real mix of darkening December days and end-of-semester just... draining all your focus?

... I have a little sun lamp. I should actually USE it.

If you live in the US, this is a worthy charity to donate to: https://standardebooks.org/donate

They take public domain ebooks from Project Gutenberg and Wikisource and then improve the formatting to professional standards. They take books from the public domain and they release the final product back into the public domain (i.e. use Creative Commons Zero waivers). They need 75 patrons to help sustain themselves.

Donate if you can, please!

Twitter Blue will be more expensive on iPhone to offset App Store fees https://9to5mac.com/2022/12/08/twitter-blue-pricing-iphone/

I see Putin is threatening to use nukes again. Really starting to feel like "dying man trying desperately to still seem scary" to me.

How is 2022 already almost over?

If we have to have crazy conspiracy theorist wingnuts why couldn’t we get some who think billionaires and the rich are secretly Mammon cultists

The New York Times Guild is walking out for one day - today 12/8 - so please stay off New York Times platforms until 11:59 p.m tonight. I’m gonna break my Wordle streak – how about you?
#NYTimesGuild #PicketLine #nyt #union

Mainstream media journalist: It's too hard to build an audience on Mastodon! I cross-post the same shouty posts and one-sentence slogans as I do on the fowl app, and they just get no traction here! It must be because it's just too complicated for people to read posts from other instances or something!

Me: Okay, do you follow many interesting people here?

Journo: No.

Me: Do you reply to posts and engage with other people?

Journo: No.

Me: Do you like and share many other people's posts?

Journo: No.

Me: Do you post anything interesting, insightful or funny? Or just shouty denouncements?

Journo: Oh, I don't just cross-post shouty posts and slogans — I also do self-promotion! Subscribe now to read my latest article!

Me: Could the problem be that you've relied entirely on an algorithm that's fine-tuned to incite people by distributing the most provocative content widely to generate ad views? That the core issues are that you don't engage, contribute little to the online community, and share little content of real value and substance? That you're essentially no different to the social media bullies you so often denounce in your paywalled articles?

Journo: No. The problem isn't me, the problem is Mastodon!

#TwitterMigration #Twitter #Mastodon

I can't call my doctor today because voice calls are broken on pmOS.

I don't emphasize the importance of prioritizing mobile phone functionality to throw shade at pmOS, but because it's important for people's lives.

;#KimStanleyRobinson's 2020 novel #MinistryForTheFuture was a groundbreaking work: it's the tale of a detailed, plausible transition from a world on a collision course with civilization-ending climate catastrophe to one where the challenge is met, with humanity collectively deciding to save itself:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/12/03/ministry-for-the-future/#ksr

1/

The biggest constitutional change for a century?

Labour’s report would transfer major powers from Westminster to nations and regions, and formalise and protect the constitution.

#Labour
Via @bylineseast@mas.to
https://eastangliabylines.co.uk/the-biggest-constitutional-change-for-a-century/

Would be great to see #governments not so blatantly endorse a product. 48 CFR § 1452.203-70 prohibits. #Microsoft
#Word should be replaced with something else. Maybe #OpenDocument Text? Wouldn't you agree @libreoffice?

In my news feed at the same time:
In Ukraine: There is no power, but fortunately people can still shop for food using flashlights and cash.
In Denmark: Danish trade association HORESTA is making yet another effort to convince politicians to allow businesses not to support cash payment anymore — while there is an actual war going on in Europe.

I am on my way to the #Biodiversity #COP15 in #Montreal. I am looking forward to meeting wonderful friends and colleagues, but I also go with a bit of a heavy heart. We need #transformative proposals that tackle the root causes of the destruction of #nature, not more of the same. ☘️❤️

Accelerating Antarctic ice, liars headed to court, spacecraft, snowmaking machines and trying our hand at --intentionally-- tampering with the atmosphere are only a few of the explosively complicated effects of anthropogenic climate change covered in this week's Skeptical Science New Research, #49 for 2022 and counting back up to #1.

There are 142 articles published in 57 journals with ~1,011 contributing authors in this week's edition.

Russia's barbaric bombing continues in Ukraine.

We are making the Kremlin pay for its cruelty and stepping up our pressure.

Today we propose the 9th package of sanctions.

It complements the existing sanctions that are already biting hard.

#StandWithUkraine

🐦🔗: https://n.respublicae.eu/EU_Commission/status/1600538807744577548

Today, DOE "proposed a rule requiring electrification of all new & renovated federal buildings. Starting in 2025, those buildings would be required to reduce their on-site emissions tied to energy consumption by 90%, and 'fully decarbonize' by 2030." https://www.enr.com/articles/55531-us-proposes-energy-efficiency-standards-for-federal-buildings#:~:text=Additionally%2C%20the%20U.S.%20Dept.%20of,%E2%80%9Cfully%20decarbonize%E2%80%9D%20by%202030.

This is possibly the most depressing thing on the internet right now but I'm afraid we're going to have to face up to it...
https://www.biodiversitystripes.info/
#biodiversity
#biodiversityStripes

Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people.

When I hear about the coup attempt in Germany & the desire of these violent extremists to insert Prince Heinrich XIII of Reuss as the leader after a planned execution of the German chancellor, it sounds ludicrous, laughable. But that's the thing: These people are deadly serious.

Because the plots of these anti-democratic extremists often seem so ludicrous, they can succeed because the public--& too many leaders--don't take them seriously enough. This tendency is how Trump got as far as he did.