So, the European Union has set up its own Mastodon instance, EU Voice, as an official channel/platform for all its many institutions - what a great initiative https://social.network.europa.eu/about
#TwitterMigration #europe #Diplomacy #Transparency
UK Politics; PPE VIP lane
Because people are talking about the unlawful PPE VIP lane again (good), I just wanted to reshare these truly shocking stats from Spotlight on Corruption:
🚩 59% of all money awarded to VIPs was spent on useless PPE
🚩 HALF of VIPs supplied PPE that wasn’t fit for purpose
🚩 One third of all £ spent on unsuitable PPE went to VIPs
🚩 £1 BILLION was awarded to VIPs for unsuitable PPE
@maurielle@mstdn.social @rswestmoreland @leonerd agree, on ios Metatext works very well.
Nice to see some support on reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mastodon/comments/z09ioa/qotoorg_an_inclusive_stemfocued_instance/
@kacytillman I’m an eye surgeon. It doesn’t take long.
I sat by an election denier on the airplane and he started poking me in the arm to be emphatic about his views on people stealing ballots secretly and the airplane was full and I couldn’t move anywhere so I started explaining the yellow fever in very great detail, all the way down to telling him about the bloody vomit that looks like coffee grounds and it worked. He stopped talking to me. The moral of this story is you can’t out-weird an academic; our toolset is too vast. #vastearlyamerica
Alleged Tory corruption again again
Is this corruption, or is it gross corruption, or is it usual Tory practice?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/23/revealed-tory-peer-michelle-mone-secretly-received-29m-from-vip-lane-ppe-firm
@DrFunkySpoon I used this tutorial for OBS with zoom. Remarkably easy if done step by step. https://youtu.be/SmZEtahnd0s
Here's your irregular reminder that:
Twitter was a multi-billion dollar company with thousands of employees.
Mastodon is a niche hobbyist product run by volunteers
The fact that we're being seen as a viable alternative to them is an admission that a federated, decentralized future is not only possible, but desirable.
Mastodon is not one thing, or one place. It's a network of many things and many places. We don't have a spokesperson (I mean, there's me. I'm the official spokesperson for 💯 of the fediverse, but beyond me there is no spokesperson) we don't have consensus on moderation or blocking or tools or what is good and what is bad. Some of us are professional SREs and Sysadmins, some of us aren't. Some of our instances have been around for 5+ years, some won't be here in six months.
And that's good! All of it, every last bit of it is good.
We're wrestling power away from the billionaire class, in real time, and reclaiming it for the People.
@tashLDN hello - came over from the Other Place to see if you were findable - and both your new and old self pop up as soon as I search. Last night, however, I think the servers were tired.
Brexit: Swiss model
So there are rumours that government *might* *perhaps*, on a very good day… consider a Swiss style arrangement with the EU.
We should be so bloody lucky.
That’s not a model that either the EU or Switzerland particularly like and we think we can just swagger in and propose that do we? With our ugly rejection of freedom of movement? While the zealots still scream about betrayal? And we threaten to break the treaty we already have? Staggering.
@Dr_BellaR or both!
I like vulfpeck. And R. And Wulferampton. I don’t like COVID or Brexit or strange billionaires.
The day job is retinal surgery.