SecondJon @SecondJon@qoto.org
I'm interested in being just not civil, but excellent in interacting with others of different viewpoints in an online world where we can so viciously defend our echo chambers and be so dismissive of other perspectives.
Because this is less and less possible here, I'm largely offline and am not sure if I'll be returning. It was fun back when civility was a trend on qoto.
Joined Aug 2018
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"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C.S. Lewis ( on government response to #COVID and other crises?)
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Thanks for the welcome, #@freemo Here's my #introduction .
I'm...
• a dad of a handful of kiddos, married, living in Colorado.
• a Christian in the Anglican tradition, and suppose I'm an unaffiliated conservatarian.
• a reader, working through the great novels as well as easier/fun books and nonfiction.
• a card and board game player and am happily teaching more to my kids as they get older.
• short on free time. I enjoy a philosophical pipe as I read and/or reflect, and occasionally get my guitar or bow/arrows out to learn new skills.
• a software developer... and have been for a very long time, now in the world of APIs and cloud development (CRM/SFDC).
Sadly I think #qoto is dying. This may be the end for my real engagement on Mastodon/the Fediverse. It's hard to find an insurance with rules attempting to create an instance where people treat others well, even when there's disagreement. Even here, though, they've failed...Just look at the local timeline. I miss the days when @freemo was involved and I hope he doing well.
SecondJon
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@SecondJon Thank you for your kind words. I am finding it harder to use QOTO. A lot of the features do not work for me such as automatic delete of posts; some security features related to the account; no notification for comments left on published toots; unable to see previous toots posted on the homepage (just get a 500 error); unable to use the search facility for toots; this is just a rudimentary list I thought off the top of my head.
#uspol Which party has changed? Is agreeing with the other party's still living former presidents being extremist?
#uspol Which party has changed? Is agreeing with the other party's still living former presidents being extremist?
SecondJon
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Exclusive: Nigeria Massacre of Christians: Eyewitness Accounts as the Left Claims This Is Not Happening
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/01/exclusive-nigeria-massacre-christians-eyewitness-accounts-as-left/
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/01/exclusive-nigeria-massacre-christians-eyewitness-accounts-as-left/
SecondJon
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Don't be shy about telling the truth. Don't be afraid to question what you believe to be true.
SecondJon
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I wonder if we could reduce our troubles by renaming ICE the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
SecondJon
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🖥️ **AI is fast. But checking its work is slowing workers down.**
"_A new Workday-backed survey found that nearly 40% of AI's value is lost to rework and misalignment._"
🔗 https://www.businessinsider.com/workday-study-looks-at-time-spent-fixing-ai-errors-2026-1
SecondJon
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Just saw Fellowship of the Ring in a theater for the first time in 25 years. Fucking fantastic. Still.
SecondJon
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One of my old college friends messaged me earlier this morning. I usually only hear from her once a year, can exchange a couple messages, and then she goes back offline.
I completely forgot that she is Iranian, and her family is in #Iran. (I think she still lives in the #USA.) She hasn't been able to hear from her family in a week because of the blackouts.
If you guys are of the praying type, please pray for the following:
a) That the protests end soon with the rebels as the victors
b) That the blackouts end
c) That the people who have been injured in the violence are able to recover from their injuries
If you are not the praying type (or even if you are), please signal boost this story. I've been following it for a few days even before knowing that my friend's family was in danger, it's a huge story and arguably the biggest news of the week, more people should be talking about this.
I completely forgot that she is Iranian, and her family is in #Iran. (I think she still lives in the #USA.) She hasn't been able to hear from her family in a week because of the blackouts.
If you guys are of the praying type, please pray for the following:
a) That the protests end soon with the rebels as the victors
b) That the blackouts end
c) That the people who have been injured in the violence are able to recover from their injuries
If you are not the praying type (or even if you are), please signal boost this story. I've been following it for a few days even before knowing that my friend's family was in danger, it's a huge story and arguably the biggest news of the week, more people should be talking about this.
SecondJon
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White House Announces Over 1,000,000 New Jobs Were Created In December But They Were All Filled By Marco Rubio
https://babylonbee.com/news/white-house-announces-over-1000000-new-jobs-were-created-in-december-but-they-were-all-filled-by-marco-rubio/?utm_source=fediverse
Rubio addressed what they mean: “What’s going to happen here is we have a quarantine on their oil. That means their economy will not be able to move forward until the conditions that are in the national interest of the United States and the interests of the Venezuelan people are met, and that’s what we intend to do,” Rubio explained.
And
“It’s running POLICY,” he said. “We want Venezuela to move in a certain direction because not only do we think it’s good for the people of Venezuela, it’s in our national interest.”
Mary Margaret Olohan on X: "Rough translation of Maria Corina's message: Venezuelans, The HOUR OF LIBERTY has arrived! As of today, Nicolás Maduro faces international justice for the atrocious crimes committed against Venezuelans and against citizens of many other nations. Faced with his refusal to" / X
The federation feed, like legacy media and other democrats cries End of Democracy, Worse than Hitler, etc. no matter what the current popular vote winning president does. When it's fascist it he sneezes, the timeline looks effectively the same with Trump authorizing extracting the dictator from #Venezuela.
As far as I remember, every president has done what would seem to us non scholars and their political opponents as a violation of the War Act, so that's just Trump acting like Biden, Obama, Bush, Reagan, and Carter.
So that's sort of ho him, the way both party's commander in chief had acted.
But... Can the US arrest and extract an illegitimate leader from his/her own country? Can we declare we'll just run another country for a while?
These are the things that seem different with this situation.
Always way way behind my wife's annual reading goal, I started the new year with reading 10 books cover to cover before I went to bed this morning.
The problem is... soon I'll run out of toddler board books and my pace will slow.
#newyears #resolutions
I drove past a church sign yesterday that read, "JOIN US FOR LESSONS AND CARLOS" Which I thought was a strange message. Like... Hey public, Carlos is here soon!
I looked back and... Yeah, it said CAROLS, which made more sense was wasn't nearly as funny. I'm sure there's a chance that the front of the sign said Carlos, but I probably just misread it.
https://qoto.org/@bibliolater/115708528499000242
Shocking news that before the decline of Europe, when the birth rate was higher, people valued having babies.
SecondJon
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#uspol From the party of "everyone who disagrees with me is a Nazi," and "the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi", Harris' running mate and democrat governor addresses the problem of people using... "the 'r' word".
"This creates danger! ... People driving by my house and using the "R-word" in front of people ... I'm worried. You know how these things go, they start with taunts, they turn to violence."
I'm interested in being just not civil, but excellent in interacting with others of different viewpoints in an online world where we can so viciously defend our echo chambers and be so dismissive of other perspectives.
Because this is less and less possible here, I'm largely offline and am not sure if I'll be returning. It was fun back when civility was a trend on qoto.
Joined Aug 2018
