Dave T-W @davoloid@qoto.org
- Location
- Mostly London
- Pronouns (plz)
- he/him
Just another worried little citizen of this modern-day Pompeii. Techie at UCL, working on Process Automation with MS Power Platform. Scatterbrain, interested in education, languages, Space and lots of disparate things. sorry.
Keeping my space toots at @astrodad as an experiment in self-moderation :)
*Background banner is a photo Yorkshire flag in blue and white, in front of a classic bell tent, in a field of similar tents at a festival.
Joined Oct 2022
Oh well, #Twitter just made it easier for those of us trying to wean ourselves off reading. Can't even view posts any more without a login.
Dave T-W
boosted
VOTED
Ad blockers are also cybersecurity. Say it with me.
They reduce malvertising, watering hole attacks, and general malicious script execution. It’s not all about you, ad firms.
This twitter thread by @ChrisO_wiki doesn't seem to have made it to Mastodon. He notes that #Shoigu still remains in one piece, and that he has a lot of connections. If he has any sense he'll swap being a courtier for becoming a baron, get himself made Governor of #Tuva and wait for the inevitable collapse of Russia.
Dave T-W
boosted
1/ A new opinion poll in Russia, conducted before the Wagner mutiny, shows nearly equal numbers of Russians wanting to continue the war or start peace negotiations. However, 64% support a fresh attack on Kyiv and 58% believe the war is going well. ⬇️
Can't praise this show enough. First series is only 7 episodes, I hope to see more of Cootie and the gang.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/im-a-virgo-amazon-boots-riley-b2361661.html
Dave T-W
boosted
After over a century, it's gone 😞 Whatever remains will be nothing like before.
"Nineteen staffers affected, according to Washington Post, with celebrated #magazine to end newsstand sales"
#NationalGeographic reportedly lays off its last staff writers | #USPress | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jun/28/national-geographic-staff-layoffs-report
Dave T-W
boosted
The Kremlin power felt its power is becoming less secure, and rushed to restore and strengthen its positions:
1. Putin intensified his presence in media space, started handing out awards and privileges, meet with key allies;
He gave out hundreds of awards for "suppressing the rebellion" to people who did nothing.
2. In parallel, the process of searching and finding "guilty parties" has launched. These won't be the true instigators - "guilty ones" will be appointed to bear responsibility for what happened.
Putin and Shoigu, who went into hiding in the first hours of the mutiny, need to wash away their shame with public arrests or something similar.
At the risk of prosecution and being arrested are:
1. Government officials from the cities along which the PMC convoy moved;
2. Lower-rank military and those who tried to enlist into Wagner as volunteers;
3. All commanders of military units in Voronezh and Rostov regions. It doesn't matter that they didn't receive any orders;
4. Military correspondents and bloggers who supported the mutiny and who supported Wagner before;
5. Heads of prisons who allowed Prigozhin to enlist prisoners - especially those prisons where rebellions started during the mutiny;
6. Syrian grouping of Russian military - they cooperated with Prigozhin at some point;
7. Complaints: thousands of denunciations are being written already, to point out "Prigozhin's supporters in hiding" - people want to use the social lifts available to them, and send their bosses under arrest. This might be especially harmful to officials.
To conclude:
Earlier those who were against Wagner, risked to be imprisoned. Now it's time for those who supported it to go to jail.
And the most paradoxical thing of all: no one calls Prigozhin's name in relation to all this. At least publicly.
Will Surovikin be appointed the scapegoat? Or will he be able to set himself free? (Which is probable). Will they find others to blame?
Dave T-W
boosted
When you spot a boost that is from someone you know but did not know their handle, you can follow them.
If you boost that account, your followers will learn something. Maybe they will follow them depending upon subject matter interests.
It is about networking. You can not follow everyone, but you will eventually see those you want to follow.
You want to follow those that are good at vetting, and when they spot something important, they will hopefully boost it.
Dave T-W
boosted
If you see a post that you think is important and newsworthy, Boost it.
Do not just Favourite it.
You need to get your followers informed.
If they think it is important or newsworthy, they can Boost it again. Then their followers may learn something.
If you see a Boosted post, and you agree, then Boost it again.
It is all about communication.
Do not stay silent.
There may be recursion here.
Dave T-W
boosted
A new study finds that Indigenous-led reforestation projects can deliver better outcomes than government-led ones. The study compared two reforestation programs in Brazil and found that the indigenous one had higher survival rates, diversity, and carbon sequestration. The study highlights the importance of involving local communities in environmental restoration.
If only more dictators were like Elan's dad in webcomic Order of the Stick.
"You should try being more optimistic. If someone conquers an empire and rules it with an iron fist for thirty long years, and then some paladin breaks into his throne room and kills him - what do you think he's going to remember as he lays dying?
...That good triumphed over evil?
No, that he got to live like a God for three decades! Sure, the last ten minutes sucked, but you can't have everything."
Dave T-W
boosted
In that very American way of ours, we are trying to use a democratic lens to make sense of a kleptocracy.
A mafia state’s having problems, and events are still unfolding.
Dave T-W
boosted
⚡️'Experts' who failed to anticipate the coup, now count the Chef Saucerer out.
They missed the USSR's collapse too. And that Ukraine would outlast Russia on the battlefield.
Now, they've reverted to type: Chef Saucerer is out.
And they're lulled again by the Chief Sorcerer Putin's nonsense.
Despite all of these experts knowing about what happened after Napoleon's first exile, they're now VERY well placed to miss the next act in this play.
Dave T-W
boosted
1/ Another open-air dungeon used by the Russian army to imprison its own soldiers has been exposed in the occupied Donetsk region. According to a commander, "every unit has one." Although they're illegal, he says "nobody gives a shit, statutes and laws don't apply here." ⬇️
And finally one more connection:
https://www.pingthread.com/thread/1672399934471954433
"We are all used to thinking of the FSB as of the modern Russian nobility. But if you look at the ministerial or gubernatorial appointees of the last decade, you will notice a rapidly rising share of the FSO officers
Putin's personal bodyguards becoming governors basically"
I think one of the side comments in that thread was that the local governors are very much hated. Associated with the failure of Putin and the damage the SMO has caused to Russia, and with the ambivalence towards the coup attempt from soldiers, citizens and propagandists alike, they're in danger.
This is only just getting started.
A reminder of last year's thread by @kamilkazani on "Jubilee" - financial and social debts are being cashed in and power structures are in flux.
https://twitter.com/kamilkazani/status/1503430216554795014
"The same is true for the loans of power. During the Jubilee it's better to be a power debtor, to have some direct control over valuable resources which give you leverage than to be a power creditor. So the crisis inverts the normal relations between the courtiers and the barons
That goes on every level. Typically politicians and bureaucrats in any country will at least try to cash out their administrative leverage for monetary benefits and it's delusionary to expect otherwise. "
Dave T-W
boosted
No elected official has ever been accused of anything remotely on the scale of what Donald Trump has been charged with.
His prosecution isn’t a witch hunt. It’s a defense of our democracy.
Don’t believe his lies.
Wow, Prigozhin continued to stick the knife in here. Mark Antony would be proud. Direct appeals to Russian people and stating what central line will not: the SMO is a failure and people have been thrown into a meat grinder.
https://twitter.com/igorsushko/status/1673509067640434689?s=20
Dave T-W
boosted
Fascism comes as a pencil pusher with alpha male in his blue-checked twitter bio.
"Ten years after launching what has become a pillar of queer nightlife in Houston, Mabry says the ongoing push by conservative lawmakers to restrict LGBTQ rights in Texas has jeopardized her business: for the first time since its doors opened in 2013, Pearl Bar was denied an insurance policy it needs to continue operations earlier this year, specifically because it hosts drag shows. "
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/houston-pearl-bar-drag-texas-18100109.php
Whilst Elton's #Glastonbury set was fantastic last night, as you might expect, I was watching that in the background as #Phoenix played an amazing show, full of energy and gratitude to their fans.
On iplayer now, under the "hidden gems": https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0ftbb3w/glastonbury-phoenix?seriesId=b007r6vx-61-hidden-gems
And if you liked that, here's the Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5LcBx5gFclXGlbOCGIVveI?si=d97951400eec4aac
- Location
- Mostly London
- Pronouns (plz)
- he/him
Just another worried little citizen of this modern-day Pompeii. Techie at UCL, working on Process Automation with MS Power Platform. Scatterbrain, interested in education, languages, Space and lots of disparate things. sorry.
Keeping my space toots at @astrodad as an experiment in self-moderation :)
*Background banner is a photo Yorkshire flag in blue and white, in front of a classic bell tent, in a field of similar tents at a festival.
Joined Oct 2022
