The Void ザ・ヴォイド #PR! @TheVoidTLMB@qoto.org

We'll be streaming cryptic crosswords in a couple of hours' time (12 noon UK).

Come along for a chat if you like.

Always happy to answer questions about cryptics (and if we can't then there's always someone in chat who can).

https://twitch.tv/crypticsunday

#CrypticCrosswords #CrypticSunday

// @archelina

“The #fediverse is like #email.”

Yes.

Now read this and understand it:

“I have been self-hosting my email since I got my first broadband connection at home in 1999 … But my emails are just not delivered anymore. I might as well not have an email server.

Email is now an oligopoly, a service gatekept by a few big companies which does not follow the principles of net neutrality … I lost. We lost. One cannot reliably deploy independent email servers.“

https://cfenollosa.com/blog/after-self-hosting-my-email-for-twenty-three-years-i-have-thrown-in-the-towel-the-oligopoly-has-won.html

Via @cancel

Now seems to be a good time to mention that xScope by #Iconfactory (makers of #Twitterrific, which had to exit the App Store today) is a pretty damn sweet piece of software that makes any sort of on-screen design easier

https://xscopeapp.com/

The UK Conservative government is attempting voter suppression by requiring photo ID to vote at polling stations.

Three useful points:

(1) You can use an expired passport, provided your photo still looks like you

(2) You don’t need photo ID for a postal vote

(3) You can get photo ID free of charge on the government website below (it can only be used for voting)

Spread the word!

https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

THE TWELVE MYTHS OF CHRISTMAS

The first myth of Christmas my true love told to me...

The 'Christmas is pagan' meme was invented twice. Once by Naturalistic approaches to religion in the late 1800s (Christmas = Invictus festival = sun cults), once by the Puritans in mid-1600s England (Christmas = Saturnalia = Yule).

Mainstream scholars haven't taken Naturalism seriously since the 1920s. And no one should ever take Puritan propaganda at face value.