Phil Landmeier @shuttersparks@social.cleverlibre.org

At five years old, I couldn't grasp the concept of a scapegoat; all I understood was that, because of Japan’s aggression that pulled the United States into the war, my family and I had to leave our home at gunpoint, taking with us only what we could carry. As I got older, I understood scapegoating for what it is: a channel for hate, blame, and bigotry.

My lifelong mission has been preventing this from happening again, yet my heart aches as the LGBTQ+ community faces it now. We've fought for our rights to live, love, and be ourselves—a vibrant, misunderstood, and often mistreated rainbow of identities.

I have seen where scapegoating, if left unchallenged, leads. And it is a very dark place. This week, I chose to share my story with you in the hopes that we never repeat the heinous mistakes of the past. https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/takei-scapegoating-lgbtq-japanese-internment

Last night, I sat on the cliffs at Rhossili from 10:30pm until 1:30am. I set my camera up to take photos continuously and when I put them all together, this photo was created showing how the Earth rotates in relation to the stars. The star in the middle is Polaris, also known as the North Star.
https://www.dansantillo.com/gallery/gower/?photo=DS_311196

#rhossili #rhossilibay #burryholms #llangennith #gower #swansea #wales #cymru #nighttime #astrophotography #startrails

Microsoft AI suggests food bank as a “cannot miss” tourist spot in Canada

AI-penned Microsoft Travel article recommends food bank as if it were a famous restaurant.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/08/microsoft-ai-suggests-food-bank-as-a-cannot-miss-tourist-spot-in-canada/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

How to say you're a racist state without saying you're a racist state

Arkansas education officials say AP African American Studies program won’t count toward graduation

#arkansas #education #racism #blackhistory

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/15/us/arkansas-ap-black-history-reaj/index.html

Scientists are moving from X-itter. Almost half have opened accounts with Mastodon, the highest of all the other social networking sites according to a Nature survey.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02554-0

NPR: More than 230 active wildfires are burning in Canada's Northwest Territories, including one outside the capital of Yellowknife, forcing 20,000 residents to flee.#news #NPR #Canada #Wildfires #CanadaWx https://www.npr.org/2023/08/17/1194388692/wildfire-yellowknife-canada-evacuation

I'd been wondering why I'd heard so little from Naomi Wu lately, and the reason is unhappily worse than Twitter breaking API based post mirroring to Mastodon.

Worth reading in full, as the end includes a brief interview and suggests that her earlier highlighting of the security risks of comprised keyboards to E2E encrypted messaging turned out to be potentially relevant.

https://www.hackingbutlegal.com/naomi-wu-and-the-silence-that-speaks-volumes/

Texas counties don’t have power to ban solar farms, attorney general finds
Opinion comes as communities across the U.S. fight solar & wind development, which play important role in slowing climate change but use a lot of land
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/08/16/texas-solar-farm-ban-counties-attorney-general/

Koch-Funded Group Undermining US Clean Energy Goals
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/110866968900299317

“Sports reporter Nicholas Kimball explained that they were able to put together the paper using his computer, which was not seized by police, as well as the ad sales computer.”
https://thehandbasket.substack.com/p/exclusive-first-look-at-marion-county

Not a good look

Mark Meadows offered cash from Trump campaign to investigator auditing Georgia's mail-in ballots: indictment

#news #politics

https://www.rawstory.com/mark-meadows-georgia-cash/

@georgetakei Soon, in Florida, one could literally say that "my poll numbers are under water".

Hawaii braces for crushing wildfire death toll with estimated 1,300 missing #Lahaina #Maui #wildfire #disaster #MauiFires https://www.axios.com/2023/08/16/maui-wildfire-death-toll-missing?utm_campaign=editorial&utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon

Ingenious!

Ukrainian army noticed that during hot days, the Russian mines absorb heat during the day, which is then released at night.

So with a thermal camera, the Ukrainian army can map out the exact location of the mines. 💡

Suource: #CNN https://youtu.be/MO8CWts2-P8

#Ukraine #landmines #UkraineWillWin #ArmUkraineNow #StopRussianAggression #ArrestPutin

Did you see this piece in the Guardian? Senior managers at Vice apparently blocked a story about how the Saudi government helps families harass and threaten transgender Saudis living overseas. Vice now gets a lot of Saudi money, and it seems like the editorial independence of their news team was part of the deal.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/aug/15/vice-blocked-news-stories-that-could-offend-saudi-arabia-insiders-say

Rising methane from 0.7 parts per million before Industrial revolution to over 1.9 ppm could be a sign that Earth's climate is part way through a 'termination-level transition'
in which the entire climate system reorganizes

https://phys.org/news/2023-08-methane-earth-climate-termination-level-transition.html

Right now if you search for "country in Africa that starts with the letter K":

- DuckDuckGo will link to an alphabetical list of countries in Africa which includes Kenya.

- Google, as the first hit, links to a ChatGPT transcript where it claims that there are none, and summarizes to say the same.

This is because ChatGPT at some point ingested this popular joke:

"There are no countries in Africa that start with K."
"What about Kenya?"
"Kenya suck deez nuts?"

Google Search is over.

How big is this good news? India removing coal from their in-place five year plan?

Its bigger than if Canada announced it was ending the 25 billion dollar Trans-mountain Pipeline, and will be spending the money on building renewables.

That is how big this news is.

Thank you again India.

Over to you Mr. Trudeau.

link for story

"Next green leader? India halts new coal plant construction."

#Climate #ClimateAssault #canpoli #canada

https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2023/0601/Next-green-leader-India-halts-new-coal-plant-construction

Evangelicals now hate Jesus because he sounds like a liberal wimp. Christians are now complaining that "turning the other cheek" is nothing more than liberal talking points.

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/08/evangelicals-now-hate-jesus-because-he-sounds-like-a-liberal-wimp/

#EvangelicalsHateJesus #LiberalWimp #ChristianComplaints #TurningTheOtherCheek #JesusLiberals #TalkingPoints #Politics #News

Following a week of action against the expansion of a military base in so-called Michigan, an activist discovered that a GPS device had been placed on their car - which law enforcement later admitted to placing.

https://itsgoingdown.org/michigan-activist-finds-gps-trackers/

Today, Reddit forcibly removed me (and everyone else) as mods of /r/iOSProgramming, a subreddit official about 130k users. I was keeping the sub private / NSFW to prevent Reddit from monetizing it with ads.