Ben Taylor @VoxDei@qoto.org

when a picture says a thousand words

Opinions on Daniel Dennett will almost certainly vary, but this advice on writing remains a banger:

"Take courage and set out to write up the Great Discovery; if after many hours of red-​hot thinking and writing you discover to your dismay a fatal flaw . . .  all is not lost. Go back to the first paragraph and write something along the lines of 'It is tempting to think that...'"

This magical bookcover is just one of the gems of type and lettering in the latest James E. Arsenault & Co newsletter.🧙
https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/6396/p-didion/le-livre-magique-tombe-de-la-lune-1500-ans-avant-la-creation-du-monde-et-retrouve-en-1870-chez-mm

"It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities."

Sir Josiah Stamp
(06/21/1880 – 04/16/1941)
English economist

Do you think an average #Mastodon user with a couple hundred followers could post a silly #poll to the #Fediverse, and get a million or more votes in 7 days?

Please boost to widen the sample. ;-)

#polls

Good morning Internet, and a @HappyGoodFriday to all who care about such things.

#Easter #EasterBunny #StephenCollins #comic #funny #humor #webcomic #TheGuardian #comicstrip #funnypages #paganism #christianity #daylightsavingtime #daylightsavingstime

Comic source - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/picture/2024/mar/29/easter-weirdness-chocolate-eggs-and-changing-the-clocks-the-stephen-collins-cartoon

@danlyke

Every time I see some nob going on about 'cancel culture' I immediately suspect one to many of the following is true:

1. They were a complete ass to someone before they were 'cancelled'

2. I would not be welcome to speak freely in their spaces

3. They don't understand 'free speech' means you are free to talk – while others are just as free to ignore you; actively if necessary

4. They are narcissists and everything they say – including about cancel culture – is all about THEM

† Vernor Vinge (79)

Rest in peace. Loved the Zones of Thought series.

#books #amreading #reading #kindle #literature #bookwyrm #booktoot #book #books #knihy #scifi #sff @bookstodon @scifi @knihy

“We want to make sure that we’re not leaving any pricing on the table. We want to take as much as we can.”

—CFO of Constellation Brands, producer of popular beers like Corona and Modelo

Corporate price gouging has gotten so bad that they aren't even trying to hide it anymore.

Rancher faces prison for trying to breed absolute unit of a sheep

Ewe-nique endeavor aimed to create Jurassic Baaa-rk experience for hunters In a case that could have been lifted from a bad movie about a "mad scientist," a Montana rancher has pleaded guilty to wildlife trafficking charges in his quest to genetically engineer an ubersheep for hunting.…
#theregister #IT
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/03/14/rancher_hybrid_sheep/

OMG!!!

For years, the antivirus software company #avast harvested information from users’ web browsers without their consent.

And SOLD that data!

Though I have never used any of their products, I pray that this company is sued into oblivion.

What an abhorrent deception! https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/22/24080135/avast-security-privacy-software-ftc-fine-data-harvesting

Palantir is looting the UK’s National Health Service, under cover of vulture capitalism’s Big Lie: “There is no alternative.” — @pluralistic https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/08/the-fire-of-orodruin/

As someone who did her PhD on consent I just want to flag a few things in the bsky bridge discussion. One: medical style disclosure based consent (terms and conditions, EULAs etc.) is totally inappropriate for this sort of situation and has been for decades. But it serves the needs of slow-moving legal requirements and companies that like people to forget they signed up to stuff (or were coerced into doing so for social or other reasons). See https://liedra.net/thesis for more details. (1/n)

Canada's 10 seasons:
Winter
Fool's Spring (we are here)
Second Winter
Mud, Potholes and Allergies
Hope
Summer
False Fall
Second summer
Fall
Hello darkness my old friend

Here's today's press release for JAXA's SLIM lunar landing!

TL;DR:

Pinpoint site identification was crazily successful.

We were lowering into position, detecting boulders like a champ.

THEN ONE OF THE ENGINES DROPPED OFF.

(I kid you not)

(we don't know why yet)

(maybe space pirates)

But we still soft-landed on 1 engine.

(TAKE THAT SPACE PIRATES!)

but on our head.

Strangely, might not be a big deal once the Sun moves round to the other side of the spacecraft.

https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2024/01/20240125-1_e.html