Any Old Sunday @JWE@qoto.org

If you enjoy someone's post on #Mastodon go ahead and click the star. If someone tells you that's meaningless because there's no #algorithm, ignore them. Sure, boost the post too if you want others to also see the post, but don't think telling someone you like what they posted is somehow unimportant. In real life I don't tell someone, "good job," or "well said," or "I love that," for the sake of some algorithm, I do it because I'm human and they are too. It's fundamental to being truly social.

“Time and again, journalists have exposed how Britain is a global hub for illicit finance. In March 2022, the National Crime Agency estimated that the scale of money laundering impacting the UK is in excess of £100bn a year. Speaking in July, Raab underlined his commitment to reforms which will “uphold freedom of speech, end the abuse of our justice system, and defend those who bravely shine a light on corruption”.

A decade ago, this image went mega-viral on Google+. In the ensuing years, it has been adapted and reused thousands of times.

@cra1g created this instantly viral image and tells the story of its evolution here:
https://medium.com/@CRA1G/the-evolution-of-an-accidental-meme-ddc4e139e0e4
@sociology @politicalscience

If you ever had a vaccine, injection or surgery, you are indebted to the ancient & wondrous horseshoe crab.

Why? Its blue blood contains Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) which clumps at contact with bacterial toxins. Animals are caught for their blood to test the sterility of medical equipment & injections.

Unfortunately the harvest is unsustainable & populations are in decline. An effective synthetic substitute has been available for 2 decades & we just need the biomedical industry to switch.

#BlackFriday deals are everywhere, but there’s only one we care about. And that is a deal made by our world leaders to avert the biodiversity crisis!

In a single day, an estimated 144 plant and animal species go extinct, just let that sink in.

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

“To the extent that people remain active on Twitter, they preserve the viability of Musk’s gambit. The illusory sense of community that still lingers on the platform is one of Musk’s most significant assets. No matter which side prevails, the true victor in any war is the person selling weapons to both sides.”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/why-i-quit-elon-musks-twitter

Twitter was never a healthy "public square" for most of us. Let's not rewrite history while eulogizing the hellsite.
Twitter was a frightening battleground where we managed barely to claw out an uneasy existence amidst the worst violent neo-Nazi extremists who constantly published our home addresses, threatened our kids' lives, and sent hordes of racist trolls into our mentions.
The same principles that allowed us to survive uneasily on Twitter will be required here in the #fediverse. Community defense, thoughtful pressure on moderation policies, and eternal vigilance.
There are no safe spaces but those we make safe through constant effort. We keep us safe.

Can’t get yesterday’s #guardian cartoon out of my mind.

How did it come to this?

#GTTO

OK so wow its 10 years since I took this shot. Where does time go?

I planned this shot for a year, turned out exactly what I wanted which almost never happened.

Featuring Lake Tekapo and the Church of the good Shepard , with springtime Lupins in the foreground (an invasive weed) with the snowy mountains in the background

Canon 5dmk2/24tse mk2 panoramic

#Aotearoa #nz #Photography #Nature #naturephotography #LandscapePhotography #NewZealand

We live closer in time to Tyrannosaurus rex than it did to Stegosaurus. #science

This is absolutely wild: a Nepali student who flew to the UK to take up a university scholarship with a valid visa and proof of his uni place was detained at the border and held in custody for 12 days, leading to him losing his place.

Adding insult to injury, while a spelling mistake in his bank letter was part of the reason for disbelieving him, the Border Force's letter to him made several spelling mistakes https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/26/treated-like-a-criminal-nepali-student-wrongly-detained-at-uk-border-loses-uni-place

Dalai Lama #quote

Surround yourself with people who respect you enough to tell you the truth. When you're making a mistake. When you're being an idiot. When you've got a problem. And then behave well enough to be worthy of their respect.

Don't ask for loyalty. Ask for honesty. Then make it safe for people to be honest. And be sure to thank them for their bravery.

#Leadership

So sick of the ‘anti foreign’ rhetoric. #Refugees. #International #Students. #NHS staff. Every vote they think they’re winning by this is a vote based on lies and won’t last. They can’t turn back time. The #UK is stronger for its #diversity and weaker for its prejudice. Division is cheap and dirty politics. Always has been, always will be.

Hey @kev and @mike - what's #fosstodon 's current approach/thinking regarding #qoto and more generally - #mastodon instances that choose not to #defederate from other instances as a point of principle?

Trying to work out what to think about it and thought I should start by asking folks who will have thought about it a lot more than myself.

Now Musk is saying if Apple and Google block Twitter on their app stores, presumably for failure to moderate hate speech and for safety, he will just create a new phone.

So it’s going well, right?

Look at your email inbox and other socials today and then come back here and appreciate that in the last three days here you have not seen a single corporate advertiser in any of your feeds or suggested posts or sidebar or interstitial or… literally anywhere.

Promoted by me, a fellow human

You certainly don't get #skies quite like this here in the UK! This is me under the spectacular #starry skies above the #ESO #LaSilla #Observatory in #Chile. Above and to the right you can see the Large and Small #MagellanicClouds. These are relatively small galaxies that orbit our #MilkyWay #Galaxy. Literally galaxy moons!