*banned 4 MarkDown love* @design_RG@qoto.org

* How To Write A Blog Post People Read *
by Rachel Thompson, @BadRedheadMedia

https://medium.com/the-1000-day-mfa/how-to-write-a-blog-post-people-read-441b9e8bbd82

"Unsure how to structure your blog posts? Here’s a quick guide to get you started!

Writing a blog post people will read isn’t rocket science, yet it does take some skill. As I work with writers new to blogging, many are stumped by how to go about structuring a blog post."

A nice read, recommend it for anyone interested in writing and blogging in special. Thank you, Rachel!

A good page of the Mastodon Documentation explains how to set up Filters to get rid of unwanted contents.

I just shared some tips with users in another instance, and plan to write a blog on this. But for now, here's the link:

https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moderating/

Example on Screenshot below, which removed some particularly annoying posts from a local user there.

#Geopolitics , censure and #tech news. #xp
---
RT @DanielDumbrill@twitter.activitypub.actor
Twitter banned the president of Syria and an Iranian leader.

Now an Iranian & American ambassador are arguing with each other on Weibo... In Chinese.

The Chinese internet has become the most uncensored environment for international political discussions.

#irony
https://twitter.com/DanielDumbrill/status/1215165980281753600

Another nice page on the same site -- adding Themes to Mastodon!

https://wiki.nixnet.xyz/books/masto-tweaks/page/themesskins

The author describes how to obtain a fully fleshed theme like the ones in use at Toot.cafe or Witches.Town from their Github depositories (links provided!)

And then, you could modify either of them to your own liking.

I really like the custom theme Renato Lond created and uses at his instance - https://masto.donte.com.br/

Green background is easy on the eyes, while some contrasting elements add pizzazz and make it easier to find controls and scroll bars (these, sometimes are blurred into the Dark Themes I prefer) Screen cap of the default Web client view attached.

@realcaseyrollins Most of the time people come looking for a social experience, discovering new things, learning and having a nice time in their limited spare time.

So avoiding unwanted content or conflict is important to most people, I think. For a long time I avoided Twitter for this and other reasons (their brain dead 140 characters limit was also so stupid as to defy my comprehension, to be perfectly honest)

And I found a really clear reference for any system admin sympathetic enough to their Users and budding Writers plea for MORE space than the freeking 500 chars hardcoded into Mastodon source.

(** at Gargron's insistence, and not in a config file as I would think it should be; would make the changes MUCH easier.)

https://wiki.nixnet.xyz/books/masto-tweaks/page/character-count

@realcaseyrollins I don't see the fact that people want to avoid untrammeled speech as a problem -- we are all here in seach of different things, and conflict is not on most people's lists of reasons to be here.

I like the fact that there are different places and you can visit and see, find nice local feeds to chat more closely with people.

It only would take a few storm troopers determined to make havoc to disturb things a lot if there were no controls or doors to stop them. State sponsored actors included.

@realcaseyrollins@mstdn.social @pschwede @pigeonkami One post total, and she seemed a nice person, pity.

Good luck and have fun, @phoebe

@pschwede @pigeonkami And she never even settled here.

A really interesting book it seems (mentioned by Cory Doctorow's Boing Boing article) but rare are very high priced copies.

Bummer.

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0955006139/downandoutint-20

"The clever, bizarre and poignant DIY housewares that fill the pages of Home-Made: Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts have stories to tell.

They communicate the textures of the lives of ordinary Russians during the collapse of the Soviet Union, they highlight alternatives to factory design and disposable goods, and they speak volumes about what goes on in other people's homes--how they spend and scrimp, how they make do.

Home-Made highlights the best of the everyday objects made by ordinary Russians during and around the time of the Soviet Union's decline."

Initial post on Cory's thread is https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1216379601976356864

Cory Doctorow just posted a really nice series of Tweets, and at the end cited this article as inspiration.

#Tech #science #computing #parallel computing #xp
---
RT @doctorow
(this thread inspired by @jjn1's column in today's Guardian)

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/11/we-are-approaching-the-limits-of-computer-power-we-need-new-programmers-n-ow
https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1216380499712606209

#Math and #Cats all in one post.

Great #photography too. #xp
---
RT @CTrustme@twitter.activitypub.actor

https://twitter.com/CTrustme/status/1216390547780382722

...and then people ask, why do you need more than one instance??

For an active Local feed, for example, when things quiet down and you can hear insects chirping in your normal main one...

@float13

Excellent catch -- he is indeed. For 20 years now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick

Someone still operating a twitter account with his name, then, since he died before twitter was born.

@snow

From Z's status : https://hackers.town/@zpojqwfejwfhiunz/103468609517484112

* Not an Emergency, but an alarming thing to receive in the morning *

...and then you wake up to an alarming SMS message.

Happened before in Hawaii, last year, and this morning in Southern Ontario. Toronto is a large metropolis about 40 Km or so from a Nuclear power plant in Pickering, ON.

The image is the SMS sent out -- by mistake, and that nonetheless must have rattled many people.

CBC article has lots of details -- and thankfully it was NOT an emergency but a mistake.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/pickering-nuclear-generating-station-1.5424115