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

Feudalism, Then and Now.

"Monopoly for Millennials: "Forget real estate. You can’t afford it anyway."

OK Boomer. Fuck you Hasbro.

(Yup, that's a real Monopoly version you can buy)"

RT from muesli. https://mastodon.social/@fribbledom/103369846188111416

* Letter to a Friend on Christmas morning *

Just wrote a reply to a good friend, a penpal via the #Slowly app.

She sent me a nice letter and was not pleased with the multitude of tabs in use in my too busy browser .

Now the story is on my blog: https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/letter-to-a-friend-christmas-morning #xp

And I jsut received a really nice Japanese Crane stamp from a friend in #Slowly.

Love it - thank you! Now responding to your letter.

Had to share a snapshot for the friends who dig the stamp collecting in @slowlyapp - another of the neat ideas in this project. #xp #penpals

Goodreads is well know and popular. LibraryThing less so -- Although some (like me) might prefer it.

Less social, more books and info. Faerye has a blog post with her comparison of the Two - great idea!

http://faerye.net/post/cage-match-goodreads-vs-librarything

@LibraryThing #xp #Books #booklovers #unite

And if anyone hasn't had enough of Xmas for the year, how about this?

8 Hours of Department Store Christmas Music. No kidding. #xp #NoThanks

https://boingboing.net/2019/12/21/and-now-eight-hours-of-vintag.html

https://youtu.be/nQKlEkKXBzQ

#Fediverse is full of #Books and #BookLovers -- Do you know about LibraryThing ? a GREAT place to create a catalog of your own books, find recommendations, read reviews, etc.

https://www.librarything.com/

For Readers, Writers and book lovers, a neat place to be. #xp
---
RT @LibraryThing
Merry Christmas from LibraryThing! May your day be full of joy and your stocking full of books.
https://twitter.com/LibraryThing/status/1209828798432194562

The Economist, a #favourite here. #xp #economics #earth #Internationalism
---
RT @TheEconomist
Our special report from July shows that the golden age of globalisation may be over, and thinly-stretched supply chains are slowly unravelling https://econ.st/2LGc5cd
https://twitter.com/TheEconomist/status/1209824761234239488

Gladstone is the official Cat of Her Majesty's Treasury in the UK. Besides being a beautiful mini Black Panther.

#Familiars #xp #Cats #CatsOfMastodon #mastocats #meow
---
RT @TreasuryMog
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, nothing was stirring, not even a mouse. Of course not, I'm a fabulous mouser! (Pic from treasury_cat on instagram)
https://twitter.com/TreasuryMog/status/1209584357805035522

Attentive class.

#xp #cats #catsofMastodon #mastocats
---
RT @gayocats
1117533961818
https://twitter.com/gayocats/status/1209823613462835200

It's Winter and always a more difficult time, for many if not most here in the Northern latitudes.

There's hope in the promise of Spring.

Celebrate Solstice and Yule.

https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/yule-and-solstice-season-greetings

#Slowly is for #writers. Thank you to @slowlyapp@twitter.com Team for publishing my story! It is a full letter to a new #penpal in #japan and I thought it would look great in a Blog format. #xp

RT @slowlyapp@twitter.com

RG🇨🇦 learned from his pen pal that Japanese🇯🇵 would take a yuzu bath🍊🛀 during Winter Solstice🍃

https://www.getslowly.com/en/story/rg/

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/slowlyapp/status/1209753312439857157

"Soaking in baths full of fruit in Japan"

"In Japan, people traditionally soak in hot baths with the yuzu citrus fruit to welcome the winter solstice and protect their bodies from the common cold. During last year’s solstice celebration, children from a local preschool shared a dip in a traditional yuzu tub in the city of Toyooka as dozens of the yellow yuzu fruits surrounded them on the surface, according to Japan’s daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun."

https://time.com/5060889/winter-solstice-rituals/

And I just found out up to date stats for Masto Bida IM -- ant they are over 7,000 users.

https://fediverse.network/mastodon.bida.im

3 large Instances now at the top of the JoinMastodon.org suggestions list.

I am glad, that there are other larger instances, helping accommodate new users joining #fediverse

👍 Bida.im is suprising me, didn't realize they had those numbers. Congrats!

https://joinmastodon.org/#getting-started

New user? need a Guide?

There's a good one here: https://lifehacker.com/a-beginner-s-guide-to-mastodon-1828503235

And on Christmas Eve, we get into a fight with someone with a mobile phone, some weird ideas and time to drum up and attack our instance.

Kind of neat the title being bandied there now, STEM Lords, for our staff here at QOTO.

LOL, thanks DK. 😜

Happy Holidays to you too.

/me needs this too... 😜

I just came across a post by someone who spouses De-Federation of QOTO.org -- and has simply posted a snapshot of one of our pages, without a word, to support their case.

I stumbled upon a reply in that thread by sheer accident, in the Home feeds.

If anyone is interested, it is here : https://radical.town/@DissidentKitty/103360603294150583

The post is Pinned at the top of DissidentKitty's user profile.

A number of users are posting supporting her views, a few disagree.

@DissidentKitty@radical.town is the author of the request.