herid @herid@qoto.org

Astrud Gilberto - Corcovado

https://youtu.be/9srw5FRm5eA

If you are looking for some relaxing music this is it

#SongOfTheDay
#FavoriteMusic 80/

What doesn’t kill you, should not be given a second chance.

If you've been waiting for full-text #search on #Mastodon, please go to #TootFinder and sign in. The more the merrier.
https://www.tootfinder.ch/

It's opt-in, not opt-out. It respects Mastodon culture and doesn't index accounts that don't sign in.

That means the index might be small if we don't spread the word.

#mastotips#feditips

Almost every Washington Post political news story I read these days feels like it was written by someone absolutely terrified of the right wing and not remotely confident that their editors would back them up. https://presswatchers.org/2023/02/the-washington-post-is-doomed-without-a-major-reset/

Background on Pamela Paul here: https://presswatchers.org/2022/07/who-hates-inclusivity-the-question-answers-itself/

Many people have a rock-solid belief they're good people. They care about others, they think. Yet, right now, not one among us is unaware #COVID19 still rises and falls. We also know that immunocompromised friends, peers, and family are at greater risk and sheltering at home. Despite that, most “kind” people won't #WearAMask. They abandon their values because strangers may look at them funny. If that's all it takes to discard their principles, then they aren't as kind or good as they believe.

On generative AI:

"Training the models takes a ton of time/data, but…the AI that can find all the potatoes in your photo library is a totally different thing from one that can draw a potato from scratch in a wide variety of artistic styles”

https://www.macworld.com/article/1507282/appel-generative-ai-chatgpt-bard-bing.html

#AI

Good news all around.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/new-one-and-done-therapy-can-help-curb-severe-covid-19-infection-canadian-led-study-1.6265716

To everyone who is joining or rejoining us here, do us all a favour… stay! This community only thrives with vibrant and diverse content, and we would love for you to help contribute to the positive growth here on #Mastodon🤍

Boost, post, comment, hashtag like you’re being paid for it.. be annoying as hell and tell us your thoughts (respectfully)… just be here with us, please?

#mstdnca #Welcome #Fediverse

AWESOME.

I noticed @MoriartyLab has just recently arrived on Mastodon!

Welcome!

Her work is IMO the Last Credible Source of Canadian quantitative #COVID #risk analysis.

If there is another or better source for Canadian analysis (other than Our World In Data), I don't know it.

She is co-lead of the #COVID19 Resources Canada web site.

Here's the hazard page area I spend so much time staring at:
https://covid19resources.ca/covid-hazard-index/

And the excess mortality tracker: https://covid19resources.ca/public/excess-mortality-tracker/

Direct assessment here that were Russia successful in defeating Ukraine, Russia would be able to reconstitute and be in a position to invade Estonia or other Baltic states in as little as 4 years; is motivated to; and that a UA defeat would increase risk of direct R-NATO conflict

Probably due to #TwitterDown, Mastodon is currently seeing an increase in new users to almost 1000 new users per hour, from the normal recent baseline of around 300. This is nowhere close to previous surges which reached as high as over 5000 per hour.

As has been noted, many users created accounts here and drifted back to Twitter. It seems many of these existing accounts are reenergized, so the actual impact of this latest meltdown may be greater than the numbers indicate.

#twittermigration

ISW reports that Russia has now begun committing its forces previously staged in Luhansk, and that the renewed Russian offensive that everyone was expected against #Ukraine has now begun, with an expected significant increase of tempo over the next few days https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-february-8-2023

Also, what makes you think Putin has given up on his original plan to occupy Ukraine, kill Zelensky, carry out genocide and install a puppet government? How is your negotiation going to persuade him to give up that imperialist dream? What's your plan?

You say you want to stop the suffering in Ukraine. Do you have any idea what kind of suffering would follow a Ukrainian capitulation? Or even a decision to hand over more Ukrainian territory?

Do people who think the Russian war in Ukraine should be ended for "humanitarian" reasons not understand what is happening in Russian-occupied Ukraine? They haven't read about the torture chambers? The mass murders? Deportation of thousands of children?

In occupied Ukraine, an even uglier, bloodier and more terrifying humanitarian crisis is unfolding, much worse than the bomb damage you can swe on television. You want to make that crisis permanent? You want more people to die?

Approaching the first anniversary of Russia's invasion, it's a good time to take stock of the war narratives in circulation on Russian TV.

But first, back by popular demand, the spaghetti chart:

Madonna - Like A Prayer

Since Madonna is in the news

https://youtu.be/79fzeNUqQbQ

#SongOfTheDay
#FavoriteMusic 79/

This is not legal advice, but I don't think you should do this:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-07/insider-trader-s-phony-letter-to-judge-from-ex-fiancee-backfires