Andy Lowry @AndyLowry@qoto.org

As far as I'm concerned, the most impressive shot in the entire "Star Wars" franchise was the very first shot in the very first film, when we first saw that star destroyer come into view at the top of the screen, and go on and on and on and on. Nothing that came later ever reached that same impact. Sorry George.

Deployment of Christmas catnip results in cat crackhouse

For the holiday, a thread on how to befriend crows.

--

Befriending crows is a wonderful thing.

I have many crow friends at home and at work. They bring joy at unexpected moments and can rescue a miserable day even without shaking down the dust of snow that Robert Frost described.

This thread is an updated version of one I posted at the bird site in July 2019.

#birding #birdwatching #birds #urbanbirding #crows #corvids #crow #corvid #crowfriends

One of the right wing's goals is to destroy public institutions of all kinds -- not just schools but also libraries, transit, and pretty much anything that can be "privatized" (a BS word that means sold off to financial profiteers who will gouge the public and degrade vital services.

In Huntsville, Texas, they've done it to the library. https://bookriot.com/huntsville-public-library-privatization/

Merry Christmas, #neurodivergent celebrants! So many autistic people *want* to be around people today but find it difficult, so have chosen to be on their own. Others are with family & friends right now, but are quickly overstimulated, and need to some quiet downtime to recuperate a bit. Either way, I'm on the #JoinIn hashtag, if you want a chat.
#ASD #autism #ND #Aspergers #AuDHD

He talked about electric cars. I don't know anything about cars, so when people said he was a genius I figured he must be a genius.

Then he talked about rockets. I don't know anything about rockets, so when people said he was a genius I figured he must be a genius.

Now he talks about software. I happen to know a lot about software & Elon Musk is saying the stupidest shit I've ever heard anyone say, so when people say he's a genius I figure I should stay the hell away from his cars and rockets.

While I have your attention, the majority of the parliament of Iran voted to sentence all the arrested protestors (almost 15,000 people so far) to death. There’s so much more we could be doing to help, eg removing Iran from the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women, launching independent investigations into HR violations, freezing assets of regime family members. If you haven’t contacted your representatives, please do so. Here’s a template and instructions bit.ly/freeiran2022.

My son has been asking a lot of questions this Christmas season, and I'm worried it might be the last year he believes that Bitcoin is real.

So, I'm finding out the hard way that if you start a new Mastodon server, nobody can find you.

This is a shameless request for some boosts so some of the bigger instances see me.

#mastodon #twittermigration #mastodonserver #findme #helpimtrappedinawell #imlonely

Just want to add that I know it’s easy to hate on journalists, but we are people from all walks of life. Personally, I love thinking about social products and features, that’s why I write about communication technology. I appreciate everyone’s feedback and I hope ppl understand that I’m not trying to “ruin” anything by sharing my personal opinions on features. It’s ok to disagree! I also have deep knowledge of online harassment and how it manifests 💓

@AndyLowry The Ego Tunnel changed my life. Literally. I finally let go of the supernatural while reading it. A huge weight lifted off me and I just knew I was free of the baleful influence of supernatural beliefs forever. I've never looked back.

Also a fan of Damasio.

If one is doing "labelling" of mental states, how does one know which is which? What phenomenological different distinguishes say "greed" from "generosity"?

#Buddhism

the 4 types of national anthems:

- Gosh, This Sure is an Attractive Piece of Land We've Got Here

- That One War in Particular was a Doozy

- We Only Sing Parts of This Song Now Because the Other Verses are Racist

- We Speak French and We Will Fucking Kill You

TL;DR: Seth Abrahamson is falsifying with his claim that Mastodon admins are secretly reading our DMs and his claim that they are "overlords" acting like "secret police" represents a very dangerous sort of finger-pointing associated with, well, secret police. Methinks the liar doth protest too much.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One of the claims Seth Abrahamson makes on his post article is not only false it is sensationalism in a sort of inverted Alex Jones style:

Writing in "The Post" which might more appropriately be deemed "The Pest", he claims:

".. the sometimes-anonymous overlords of an individual Mastodon server can actually read your private messages without your knowledge... the level of content moderation on that site extended even to a secret police–like surveillance of users’ private communications..."

☝️ Regarding "the sometimes-anonymous overlords"

☝️☝️almost every significant instance is hosted by a person who gives their full legal name and in many cases they proudly state their business or place of employment and can be verified on Linked In. His use of the #weaselwords does not change the fact that his characterization of Mastodon admins as 'anonymous overlords' is both wrong and demagogic

☝️Regarding "can actually read your private messages without your knowledge...secretely"

☝️☝️​ there is full disclosure everywhere you look that DMs are not encrypted on Mastodon.

You are warned and advised to use email, Signal or some alternative for private comms. Abrahamson incorrectly characterizes DMs as "private" but they are expressly NOT private. No one thinks that but perhaps Abrahamson's cult of devotees.

Mastodon admins are probably the busiest techies on the planet who are not in a sweatshop like twitter where the threat of losing their work visa and a sadistic madman of a boss are driving them to work long hours.

They simply don't have the time to read or surveill anyone's DMs even if they wanted to.

☝️☝️It is technologically intricate and time-consuming to plow through DM. This can be fact checked with @tim @Gargron
@jerry or anyone at #admin

-
☝️Insofar as it is common knowledge that the DMs are not encrypted, if a harassing or threatening DM were sent they would have the ability to verify that they were sent as alleged. This is true of twitter and Facebook as well, for that matter.

☝️Regarding " the level of content moderation on that site extended even to a secret police..."

☝️ ☝️Aside from the distortions and falsifications, if true, these alleged Stasi/Gestapo/FSB surveillance activities would not be 'content moderation'. He is commingling the complex issue of #contentmoderation with the issue of #privacy in a bizarre false reality of his own making. To the extent it is at all intelligible, it would be some kind of illicit peeping tom malfeasance with no legitimate connection to content moderation. It seems like he is trying to leverage discontent with content moderation and parlay into a following by hitching it to his hyperbole.

Seems like the kind of thing that Trump does, but on a somewhat more sophisticated level. Sneaky, really.

☝️☝️ In conclusion ☝️☝️

Seth Abrahamson has a reputation evident on a search engine output in which unsurprisingly consistent with the above. And that is just one point among many in his article of Pest. Note also, the top return on #duckduckgo leads to an embarassing tweet that he deleted. Despite his sanitizing, the Duck Duck Go server retains the gist of the tweet, which I have posted here on another entire thread. This particular thread is restricted to his near-slanderous allegations about #mods and #Moderation

Gotta love tech journalists who describe Mastodon as "that impossible-to-use website." First of all, it's an app. C'mon. Second of all, aren't these the same people who write breathless explainers about the wonder of cryptocurrencies, which are not only impossible to understand but literally built from bullshit?

I’m an author and journalist, hopeful about the #TwitterMigration.

I write about science and technology and their cultural effects. My books include Chaos, The Information, and Time Travel, as well as biographies of Richard Feynman and Isaac Newton.

I’m working on a history of the telephone.

#Introduction #authors #science #technology #Feynman #Newton #TimeTravel #Chaos #telephone

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