szescstopni @szescstopni@social.cleverlibre.org

For those who have books to promote, items to sell etc, I have lost track of the number of books I have bought because the author posted about it here and it piqued my interest. And I've a couple on pre-order.

I *love* hearing people talking about their own stuff, especially if it is computer-y geeky nerdy stuff.

There’s an interesting linguistic thing happening where the word ‘GIF’ has ceased to refer to a file format and come to refer simply to short video clips. I just realized that most of the ‘GIFs’ out there now are actually .mp4 or other video files.

I wonder how many young people even know that .gif was just a crappy 8-bit file format with patent problems?

Chasing pigeons
#dogsofmastodon

Onesimus, a Boston enslaved man saved hundreds of people from the horrors of smallpox in 1721. His contributions to science reverberate to this day b/c his knowledge led to what became the 1st vaccine-related study in America. Onesimus’s story illustrates the degree to which reputable men of science de­pended on the testimony & experience of Africans in dealing with a dreaded disease.

1/15

#StillWeRise #Medicine #BlackHistory
#BlackMastodon
#Histodons #History

@blackmastodon@a.gup.pe @BlackMastodon@chirp.social

Metrics
http://smbc-comics.com/comic/metrics (click for full comic)
#smbc #hiveworks

#WorthARead

Only one form of anti-racism actually works: And it ain't "reasoning with racists".
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/29/antiracism-diversity-training-liberal-antiracists-vocabulary-direct-action

❝
The liberal tradition sees racism as essentially a matter of irrational beliefs and attitudes. Its founders, such as the anthropologist Ruth Benedict and gay rights pioneer Magnus Hirschfeld, were interested in understanding the rise of nazism in the 1930s. They concluded that, in societies where racial prejudices were widespread, liberal democracy could be undermined by political extremists inflaming race hatred to gain power. To remove this danger, they called on the liberal establishment to persuade the masses, especially the poor and uneducated, that racist opinions have no legitimate basis.

This approach remains at the core of liberal antiracism today, from the enthusiasm for diversity training – a $4.3bn business in the US
❞
•
❝
The radical tradition, on the other hand, sees racism as a matter of how economic resources are distributed differently across racial groups. In a 1938 article on “racism in Africa”, for instance, the Trinidadian writer CLR James argued that British colonial racism was not a set of beliefs or attitudes but a structure of generally observed social rules and policies that enabled economic exploitation. Individual racist attitudes no doubt existed but were not the decisive factor.
❞

❝
Radical antiracists argue that the only way to fight this oppression is to build autonomous organisations with the power to dismantle existing social systems and build new ones.
❞

❝ Liberal antiracists are powerless against this new structural racism. They demand we use the correct racial vocabulary, shaming Conservative MPs or sports commentators when they use derogatory terms; but abolishing a word does not abolish the social forces it expresses.❞

#racism #DismantleSystems #DismantleSystemicRacism #SupportJournalism

I had no idea that gravity on earth fluctuated that much.

The Indian Ocean has low density matter beneath it that causes it to be 100m lower than if it were average gravity at sea level.

Giant ‘Gravity Hole’ in the Ocean May Be the Ghost of an Ancient Sea:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/giant-gravity-hole-in-the-ocean-may-be-the-ghost-of-an-ancient-sea1/

#News #Newstodon #NewsTooter #Science #GravityHole

Apparently it’s 8 years today since I discovered that adding googly eyes to the tap on a wine box makes it look like Shaun the Sheep.

#Twitter going rogue has much deeper implications than the Musk saga with all of its daily bullshit.

Let's not forget that, before the billionaire fascist buffoon took over, Twitter used to be a place where government and scientific entities used to post (and they still post) information that may be crucial for the population. Twitter used to be the primary place for announcements about earthquakes, eruptions, pandemics or weather alerts.

How does that cope with a reality where external APIs are basically shut down, their unofficial frontend API is no longer working either, viewing is only possible through registered accounts, and even those accounts have a cap on the number of posts that they can consume?

How can a service with such heavy constraints around monetization still be considered a viable way of delivering messages that matter for the whole population?

As an example, one of the few Twitter accounts that I still follow (mirrored on the Fedi) is the one of INGV - the Italian Institute for geology and vulcanology.

I've got my good reasons, as I was born in a city (Naples) that may soon blown up by the eruption of the largest European supervolcano (Campi Flegrei).

As my parents and relatives are now sitting just 1-2 km above several square km of magma, I obviously follow any updates that the INGV Twitter account posts about earthquakes in the area, with an automated system of alerts in place.

How does that cope with the world of a service that lets users see only a few hundreds of tweets per day, and where you need bullshit like being registered, verified etc. to reliably access the content?

Can you imagine a tsunami alert system in Japan that alerts only those who paid for a platinum alert subscription?

Twitter must be abandoned RIGHT NOW by any institutional accounts that post stuff that can make the difference between life and death of people.

#SilentSunday

I wish someone rate limited my drinking last night.

friendly reminder for those coming from twitter to use image alt text and content warnings for sensitive topics :-) please and thank you!

„Oswojenie ryjówki” (ang. "The Taming of the Shrew")

A u mnie za oknem niezmiennie zajebiście! #Warszafka #saskakepa

I am in the process of moving my Instance so if things are a bit weird that is why. Hopefully once it is worked all your lovely followers will still be with me but if you want to find me in the meantime is am now
@Mollysdailykiss

Most garden plants don't survive our White-Tailed Deer infestation but we get to watch the little awkwardly stumbling newborn fawns grow up... This one is a few weeks old and stops by our yard early every morning - just when it's still a little dark for my camera.

#Deer #Wildlife

I’m seeing folks from #Sudan on #twitter despairing that the site’s new limits, and its general m*sk-era brokenness, will compromise their ability to stay updated on the catastrophe unfolding in their homeland and share emergency info.

Once more: mastodon/fediverse needs to think seriously about how to expand to users in Asia and Africa and how to handle emergencies #twitterdown

Update on the robin’s nest by heat pump.

We haven’t used AC since the eggs hatched, not wanting to disturb things for fear parents would abandon the nest. Smoke, along with high temps and humidity, moved into the area yesterday. House has been closed to keep smoke out and was getting hot. So I turned the AC on low and watched everyone. Babies kept sleeping, Mom (or dad) collected worms, then hopped up onto unit rail, ran over to nest, and poked at babies to wake them up. BOOM three wide open beaks pointing up, starving! Parent drops a worm into one, hangs out a bit, then repeats the process. No one seems to notice the fan blowing air out the coils (other direction).