Paul Brownjohn @Paulos_the_fog@qoto.org
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
If you use US internet services, here is a list of European alternatives.
There are currently plenty of political reasons to wish to reduce our dependence on US based companies as most seem to be run by management who support the orange moron but there are, in reality, other good reasons to eschew any connection with the USA.
Russia has recently been indulging in a bit of sabotage of undersea assets and, should the conflict between Russia and the rest of the world escalate, the data cables that connect the USA to Europe will be a prime target. Thus if you or your business depend on a good connection across the Atlantic ocean to servers in the USA, now might well be a very good time to sever that umbilical cord and connect to services closer to home that are less likely to be disrupted if the conflict escalates.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Researchers in Australia, Europe, the UK, and Canada funded by the US are being asked if their work touches on topics like DEI or climate & environmental justice— topics denounced by the current administration.
It's another example of the deteriorating climate for the freedom of scientific practice in the US.
As someone studying climate history and politics with a focus on the United States, I find this deeply alarming.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
i see americans on other socials saying things like “liquidating the department of education turns us into a third world country” & it’s like first of all idk what alternative reality you came from where the cold war never ended, but as someone who’s from what you call a “third world country”, we still have a fucking department of education so really this is a YOU problem. bitch
My parents were regular churchgoers. The church we attended had a Sunday school for members of the congregation who were under - I don't know exactly 12 or 14 maybe.
One day, I was in this Sunday school when I had what I can only describe as an inverse damascene revelation! Like a beam of light shining through a stained glass window, I realised the the Christianity about which I was being taught was a complete sham; a bare faced lie from beginning to end!
Later on that day, I plucked up the courage to tell my parents what I had experienced and that I had no interest whatsoever in ever attending church again. My father, ever the conservative dickwit, was horrified but my mother took my side and said that if that's really how I felt I should not be forced into going to church in future and despite all my father's efforts to dissuade her she stood absolutely steadfast in that position and I never attended church with them ever again.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
I was once on disability benefits, and I was in a chronic pain management group run by an NHS physio department. I had 8 other friends in the group.
Along came the latest round of benefit cuts and new DWP rules to force us into work. (We were all prime targets having invisible disabilities the DWP doctors could dismiss as 'all in your head')
I got lucky and found a way to emigrate somewhere warmer and eventually got healthy enough to work.
Of the other 8, one got a job for a while but was unable to cope for more than a few months. Then was back on the dole where they still are a decade later.
The other 7 of them were all dead by suicide within 5 years.
Cuts kill
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Scientists warn
that the health secretary’s idea
of just letting bird flu spread
could be disastrous
could be really disastrous,
and though you too
should find this idea worrisome
you should also find it worrisome
that just letting it spread
is what we’re doing with Covid.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
"Only half think Trump favors Putin- are the other 50% brain-dead zombies living in a shed behind the White House!?!"
- Aure
Poll: Most Americans are rooting for Ukraine. But nearly half think Trump prefers Russia.
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline #Ukraine #Russia #Putin #EU #NATO #Zelensky #war
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
How did stabbing our friends and allies of the last 80 years in the back become a conservative Republican Christian value? Since when has sucking up to bullies and dictators become a conservative Republican Christian value? Are any of these RINOs aware of what they’re doing? Putin works to destroy us. And Trump loves him.
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline #GOP #Politics #uspolitics #uspol
https://www.idahostatesman.com/opinion/article301866534.html
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Periodic reminder that Israel has been mass starving the people of Gaza for 16 days now.
Please boost for visibility.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Poorest Brits now worse off than poorest in Slovenia, report finds
https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/living-standards-benefits-uk-poorest-brits/
There are some truly fantastical cünts out there especially, it seems, in the middle east where it appears being completely deranged is the norm!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
But how can it be fake if it says exactly what i think?
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Top contributors in aid for Ukraine/person:
Denmark: 1850€/person
Norway: 1520€/person
Estonia: 900€/person
Netherlands: 744€/person
Finland: 700€/person
Sweden: 610€/person
Then way down the list is USA which is bankrupting it’s people by committing 196€/person, and they need their money back so bad, they’re ready to lose all their allies over it!
America, fuck yeah!
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
