Mike Capern @mikecsees@qoto.org

How to Catch a Mountain Lion
an illustrative guide

1. Place a cardboard box where the animal frequently visits.
2. Sit back and wait.
3. A cat is a cat is a cat.

@erin Welcome! You’ve already figured it out 😁
Accessibility is really important here. Three tips:
1. No emoji in usernames (screenreaders read each one aloud, every time)
2. Put your hashtags in a group at the end of your post (screenreaders again)
3. Add alt text to every image (including memes) that you post so our visually-disabled friends can participate. ❤️ In the web interface and MetaText, just click the image. It’s easy, and I find it fun to try to describe images well.

Good evening sweet Fediverse!

News from state legislative world: here are some early insights + thoughts from me about the historic *state legislative* results Dems saw this year -- including how Sister District has and will continue to support permanent state power-building.

Spoiler alert: I'm committed to building a vision of progressive federalism. We have to expand our imagination about the power + promise of states.

#midterms #politics #progressive #federalism

https://sisterdistrict.com/b/2022-post-election-analysis/

Brexit

picking a mastodon server to join is easy -- just think of it like you're allying with one of many families in a war-torn medieval land, each with their own histories, feuds, laws, blood rituals

Eclipse by CE Wallace

Here
On the
Dark
Side
Of the
Moon
I sit in
Shadow
Clinging
To the
Promise
That no
Matter
Which
Phase I
Might be
In I still
Remain
Whole

#amwriting #poetry #writingcommunity

@froodie has made a wonderful infographic to share. She asks that you DON'T attribute outside the Fediverse, but you can share freely.

I have added a full-text description for users who use screen readers.

is there a #librarian or #informationarchitecture community on mastodon? i only used twitter for shit posting, but since i’m starting over and this place is positive, it would be cool to connect with people who actually like the dorky things i like

I see a lot of pundit speculation and debate that goes something like, “well, only the hackers and cybersecurity people are moving to Mastodon - and everyone else is just going to stay on #Twitter “, but the thing the folks saying this do not understand is that we are a canary.

We watched Twitter get rid of qualified #cybersecurity people who we personally knew. We understand the implications of privacy teams and lawyers being fired has on our data. We hollered about the way the new blue check system would be abused days before billions were lost by a couple companies. We understood the implications of rapid and haphazard terminations. The bottom line is:

1) We know our login data, DMs, and private posts really aren’t secure at all anymore due to lost competent staff and disgruntled employees,

and

2) Twitter probably won’t just shut down this month or next month, but it’s going to start having some serious and unpredictable financial and technical problems due to the people who were let go as well as Elon’s apparent instability and lack of checks.

So, we migrated. Other communities don’t necessarily have this inside baseball, and they understandably just feel like Twitter is too big to fail. We will see if stuff that happens over the coming weeks pushes more folks here, or to other social media sites. Depends a lot on our outreach and what we do with this community.

The thing about Twitter is that it really lacks a lot of the features you'd expect from a true Mastodon replacement.

For example, there's no way to edit your toots (which they, confusingly call "tweets"—let's face it, it's a bit of a silly name that's difficult to take seriously).

"Tweets" can't be covered by a content warning. There's no way to let the poster know you like their tweet without also sharing it, and no bookmark feature.

There's no way to set up your own instance, and you're basically stuck on a single instance of Twitter. That means there's no community moderators you can reach out to to quickly resolve issues. Also, you can't de-federate instances with a lot of problematic content.

It also doesn't Integrate with other fediverse platforms, and I couldn't find the option to turn the ads off.

Really, Twitter has made a good start, but it will need to add a lot of additional features before it gets to the point where it becomes a true Mastodon replacement for most users.

#twitter #mastodon #twittermigration

Russia's future will be shaped not by mystical laws of history but by how its leaders and citizens absorb and interpret the tragedy of this shocking, brutal, unnecessary war. The best way that outsiders can help Russia change is to ensure that Ukraine takes back Ukrainian territory and defeats the empire.

full argument, again, is here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/12/putin-russia-must-lose-ukraine-war-imperial-future/671891/

“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”

Happy #WorldKindnessDay 🌈

Wishing you and loved ones peace and love always ❤️

#KindnessDay #KindnessMatters #KindnessIsFree #KindnessIsMagic #amigurumi #crochet #crochettwitter #autumnleaflet

Morning Fediverse!

Good news from state legislative world:

Tiny margins led to success this year - typical for state legislative seats and chambers.

Example: just 425 votes in a single house district likely kept North Carolina from falling into GOP supermajority. This tiny margin for Dem Diamond Staton-Williams will allow Dem Gov Cooper to continue to veto abortion restrictions, “don’t say gay” copycat bills + other regressive GOP legislation.

#Politics #Midterms

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article268621292.html