Paul Sutton @zleap@social.cleverlibre.org

My favorite fact about Americans is that a 1/3 pound burger was created to compete with the Quarter Pounder and people didn’t buy it because they thought it was 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 due to being bad at math/fractions.

The worst thing that ever happened in software engineering was when Kirk asked Scotty how long something would take and Scotty said thirty minutes and Kirk said you’ve got five and Scotty got it done in five and impressionable children watched this and grew up to become managers.

Today is #EarthDay💥

Loss of #biodiversity, desertification & #ClimateChange are among the consequences of our disregard for nature & the integrity of its ecosystems.

Earth Day calls for a new relationship with #MotherEarth. 🌏

#ForNature

More at👇🏽
https://www.un.org/en/observances/earth-day

I see so many cool things on .art; people making baskets from reeds (https://mastodon.art/@rugedigu/110236622110220183), hand-carving wooden violin bridges (https://mastodon.art/@temporalsculpt/110235635560416400), making soap (https://mastodon.art/@onecreativecat/109970347824944932), banging out metal jewelry (https://mastodon.art/@sonjaselena/110240948349464658), constructing mossy terrariums (https://mastodon.art/@TeaFrancis/109836748446833020). It's inspiring and wholesome and amazing and I love it.

What are some recent awesome crafty stuff you've seen around the fediverse lately? Link the posts!

Borrowing from @HopeVanDyne-

“I asked my Senators to put something together and got a good response from one. They’ll never know what we want from a WaPo column- we have to tell them. I’d do that.”

Sharing opinions and articles is important, too, but this is a really important part of participating in democracy and we should all be doing it regularly. Most of them really don’t hear from us enough.

Find Your Representatives - Common Cause-
https://www.commoncause.org/find-your-representative/

@themarkup @gbhnews @damemagazine @TexasObserver @TPR @azpm @thexylom @wausaupilot @STAT @coloradosun

Thanks GBH for kicking off the thread.

I'll start the links with this fascinating update on progress in editing genes in living cells to cure genetic diseases
https://theconversation.com/erasing-or-replacing-errors-in-a-patients-genetic-code-can-treat-and-cure-some-genetic-diseases-200803

#Newstodon #FollowFriday

I want to tell parents of trans kids under attack in the red states something:

This is simply horrifying. Like you, we can't understand how any politicians could stoop so low as to attack the most vulnerable among us.

You are strong, and we will fight for and beside you. And though we may lose these initial battles, your love and strength will help win this in the end. I know that to be true.

ACLU, others sue Tennessee over gender-affirming care ban

https://flip.it/w.6r73

#Transgender #trans #lgbtq

Y esterday my post on Germany's new law phasing out fossil fuel heating went viral. But what does the draft law actually say? I have written up a summary for you.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/janrosenow_yesterday-my-post-on-germanys-new-law-phasing-activity-7055116179052339200-gfEK?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

#Twitter removes labels describing international media organizations as government-funded or state-affiliated, including those under authoritarian control in #China, #Iran and #Russia.

Dear @Gargron,

Please reevaluate your decision to incentivise centralisation on mastodon.social in the official app.

This is the sort of design a VC-funded startup would implement, not a non-profit acting in the interests of a healthy commons.

I’m sure you don’t want mastodon.social to become mini-Twitter and you don’t want to become mini-Musk.

That’s not how we win this.

More instances, not larger instances is the key.

https://mastodon.ar.al/@feditips@mstdn.social/110233282943673558

#decentralisation #fediverse #staySmall

@mmlvx @mnemonicoverload @zleap

@Radical_EgoCom@kolektiva.social
@twitterreject

I had various part time jobs as a teen which didn't impact on my school performance, I grew up in Britain where there are regulations against excessive child labour and they are enforced.

Even so, my best paying Saturday job was selling cigarettes/tobacco from a supermarket kiosk (run by a Big Tobacco company!) as young as 17; it was only in the 2000s that the EU stopped teens being allowed to work in such places until 18..

It's now TWO YEARS and 105 days since Donald Trump's Jan 6 terrorist attack. In any other first world country he'd already be charged with crimes. Instead Trump is running for President where he's actively spewing more lies to delegitimize our democracy. Indict trump for Jan 6!

I have interviewed many hundreds of scientists for the BBC, Fully Charged and others over many years, and I can tell you that however nice, capable and well-intentioned they are, the ones working for companies ALWAYS have their boss and the company’s investors at the back of their minds. It’s never the same sort of conversation. So what happens when we, the public, need expertise and realise that we don’t have access to it any more, even though we paid for it to develop? #climate #OpenAccess

A current worry: The only people with existing deep expertise in things like how the atmosphere/ocean/geosphere work are academics, who are ace at giving impartial evidence-based advice. But as lots of climate “solutions” companies spring up, these academics are consulting with them & in some cases leaving academia to work for them (often much better pay & working conditions) & are then limited in what they can tell the rest of us. So the public source of open unbiased expertise is at risk.

🇬🇧 Yesterday, the European Parliament voted to abolish anonymous money transfers in cryptocurrencies, which harms NGOs and whistleblowers.

This is why #Pirates voted AGAINST: https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/pirates-new-eu-crypto-rules-will-harm-ngos-and-whistleblowers/

The little known and highly unusual Saltcoats Castle, hidden away half a mile to the south of Gullane in East Lothian. It probably dates back to the years after 1590, despite a date mark that appears to be two centuries older. More pics and info: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/gullane/saltcoatscastle/index.html

#Scotland #SaltcoatsCastle #Castle #Gullane #EastLiothian #UndiscoveredScotland

There's strong evidence – including a radioactive type of iron – that supernovae occurred close to Earth between ~2m-8 million years ago. A new study shows how X-rays from such stellar explosions could threaten any life on surrounding planets for decades. https://go.nasa.gov/3op5LvX
#NASAExoplanets