Andy Lowry @AndyLowry@qoto.org

“Meeting expectations since 1994.”

True story: I was once invited on the board of directors of a feminist news outlet and I came to suspect that I wasnt there to be the "trans" voice but more to be the white voice against the black women. So I just shut up and voted with the black women. No one noticed me but it was my finest hour. For once in my life I managed to do good by being quiet. Shutting up is very hard for me, Im a chatterbox. But it can really pay off. I bet no one who was there remembers me at all. As Bilbo would say, thank goodness.

Sorry Twitter, I was deleting all my tweets and think I deleted a load-bearing one.
#TwitterDown

I keep seeing articles about Mastodon slumps, and journalists going back to Twitter. Is it fair to say, that maybe Mastodon isn't for journalists, or brands, or even people who want large accounts? Maybe Mastodon is true social media, for people who want to interact and discuss, not be influenced, sold to, or manipulated with cult style tactics and followings. There will always be groups who dislike the idea of the people controlling their own inputs, people who don't like the idea of accessible Administration, and people who don't like the idea that if we don't like a space that we can just move to another one, or even create our own. Individualism is scary to the kind of people who thrive on complacency, and not challenging the status quo.

It's hard to know how to help those suffering from the devastating #earthquake in #syria and #turkey. Many have their trusted charities. I worked in international public health in scores of countries over my thirty year career. From observing (and sometimes working with) various charities/humanitarian response outfits, my 'go to' charity is Medecins Sans Frontiers/ Doctors Without Borders. You can donate here: https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/secure/donate?_gl=1*4w99x2*_ga*MTAzOTI2MjQ3LjE2NzU3MDU2OTk.*_ga_C7EW6Q0J9K*MTY3NTcwNTY5OS4xLjAuMTY3NTcwNTY5OS4wLjAuMA..&_ga=2.42982757.1950086691.1675705701-103926247.1675705699

#Mosstodon Icelandic homes built into hills and covered with moss.

Thought for the day: in addition to TLDR ("Too Long, Didn't Read") maybe we also need SLDR to denote "Should Like, Didn't Read"—for reading matter with insights recognize are valid and virtuous but AAARGHoutsidemycomfortzonerightnow.

Turkey and Syria: more than 1,700 people confirmed dead after two large earthquakes strike – latest updates https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/feb/06/turkey-earthquake-2023-live-updates-quake-tremor-latest-news?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other #earthquake #syria #turkey

It's tax season, where the toxicity of the US is summed up in having to figure out what you owe and pay to file with a government that already received reports of all your income and withheld all the money many of us owed. Why? Because doing taxes is an industry.

“The thing we understand, which is proven in international research, is that providing housing for homeless persons is always more cost-effective for society than keeping people homeless…We did a study that showed when a former homeless person gets housing, even with support, the cost savings for society are at least €15,000/person per year.”

Canadian city learning from Finland.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-wants-to-eradicate-homelessness-here-s-how-finland-is-doing-it-1.6728398

Genuinely have no idea how to turn the toxic cycle of discourse around.

Staying out of the way feels wrong.

Speaking up never seems to go well.

Trying to model less reactive behavior doesn’t seem to help anything.

Technology is turning all of us, myself included, into the most reactive versions of ourselves. We are not evolved to handle this much input.

I’m smart enough to know we need to step back from the brink, but not enough to know how to get there.

Humans don't act for reasons, we act and then produce reasons as required.

Paraphrasing Mercier and Sperber

#philosophy

Cunk on earth is an absurdly stupid, in an intellectually funny way, show.

If you're not already familiar, the "host" Philomena Cunk is a persona played by comedian Diane Morgan who interviews scholars like an ordinary documentary host but with very stupid questions.

The questions and narrations are stupid in a way like children asking things with logic half correct and half absurd.

And yet if you read between the lines, it's very clever.

Very British, I'd say.

#Cunk #CunkOnEarth #Netflix

You reach Asgard, the realm of the Viking gods, via Bifröst, the rainbow bridge.
The Vikings were woke baby 🌈

"How to Get the Most Out of Windows 11"

1. Erase Windows by installing Linux
2. No regrets

Adam Smith’s invisible hand just gave me the invisible finger.

Re the Supreme Court leak, the most plausible explanation for the report's findings is pretty obvious in retrospect:

They investigated everyone -- including a look at their digital communications -- who had access to the draft ruling EXCEPT the justices.

That's basically a roundabout way of saying the leaker had to have been one of the members of the court.

This is a coverup, not an investigation.