“The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing which stands in the way… As a man is, so he sees.”

On Blake's birthday, his most beautiful letter – a classic defense of the creative spirit https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/07/14/william-blake-john-trusler-letter/

@Jelaniya @jeffjarvis

the reason why brave people fight fascists in the street, with cops supporting the fascists, is not because the fight is easy to win

we fight even when we know the odds are against us

we fight even when we know we going to lose

we fight in public so others in their houses and apartments can see us fight, so they know resistance is possible

so that some of them might eventually join us

when people surrender the territory without a struggle, when they disperse themselves and make themselves invisible, we commit collective suicide

@Michele @kathygriffin @jeffjarvis

I disagree. An algorithm is not intrinsically bad. As long as we understand that it represents the interests of whoever paid to have it constructed. I think an algorithm with human values that simply wanted to enrich experience is perfectly possible.

I haven't seen one, probably because nobody has ever had a financial incentive to construct it.

Mastodon would be a good place to try to make one.

Can we normalize telling people about our hobbies when asked "what do you do?"

It has been a wild day watching the historians.social instance come to life. I’m excited to see old friends (either IRL or on the bird site) re-assembling here and beginning to get to know some new faces … er, avatars. We’re all new at Mastodon, so experiment, share what you learn, and ask lots of questions!
And if you want to learn more about historians.social, check out our page with information, our code of conduct and rules, and more: https://historians.social/about
#histodons

55% of the world's population lives in this circle, within 2,500 miles of Yuxi, China
http://www.statsmapsnpix.com/2022/02/the-yuxi-circle.html

Linear time is a convenient illusion

Sharing an image of a Northern Cardinal taken earlier today. Not the clearest image but I love the way he started to fly up - a beautiful red cape. #Ottawa #birdwatching #birdphotography #naturephotography #nature #birds

A BBC journalist was just beaten by police while covering protests in #Shanghai and, incredibly, authorities are claiming they arrested him to protect him from getting COVID in the crowd.

Remembering Harvey Milk, slain on this day in 1978, with a lovely picture-book about his life and legacy https://www.themarginalian.org/2015/04/10/the-harvey-milk-story/

@Gal_suburban
It’s unfortunate that the #January6thCommittee didn’t do its job telling the American people the full truth about what happened.

They spent nearly 100% of their efforts on blaming Donald Trump, who was at best a cooperative puppet of the people running the show: Mike Flynn, Erik Prince, Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, and Peter Fucking Thiel, all supported by Vladimir Putin.

We need to do better.
#ArrestMikeFlynn
https://jimstewartson.substack.com/p/how-mike-flynn-transformed-qanon

Pretty soon @TheConversationUS will have more followers on #mastodon after 9 days than we have accumulated on TikTok in 18 months.

Could you help us get to 1159 by boosting this toot and telling your friends about the work we do?

(We're a nonprofit news organization dedicated to sharing the knowledge of academic experts with the public)

https://theconversation.com/us/10-ways-we-are-different

Space exploration back in 1946…
We have gone a loooooooong way.
First ever image from #space makes history | This Day in Space (24 Oct. 1946)
“The grainy, almost unidentifiable photo above was taken on October 24, 1946, at an altitude of 65 miles (105 km) above the New Mexico desert. It was captured on a 35-millimeter motion picture camera being hurdled into space on a U.S. captured German V-2 missile. The camera was enclosed in a steel case for protection as a few minutes later it returned through Earth’s atmosphere and slammed into the ground at about 500 feet per second.

The #photo is officially hailed as the first image captured of Earth, while also being the first-ever image from space.”

Full article
https://spaceexplored.com/2021/10/24/first-ever-image-from-space-makes-history-this-day-in-space-24-oct-1946/

#photography #astronomy #science #geography #discovery #history

The Brooklyn Public Library Gives Every Teenager in the U.S. Free Access to Books Getting Censored by American Schools

#bannedbooks #censorship

https://www.openculture.com/2022/08/the-brooklyn-public-library-gives-every-teenager-in-the-u-s-free-access-to-books-getting-censored-by-american-schools.html

The @NobelPrize was established on this day in 1895. Here is one of the greatest acceptance speeches ever given, by Bertrand Russell, on the 4 desires driving all human behavior https://www.themarginalian.org/2015/09/21/bertrand-russell-nobel-prize-acceptance-speech/

I do not like that site of birds
I do not like its awful words
I do not like what it became
I do not like its cult of shame
I do not like intrusive ads
I do not like the vapid fads
I do not like the clout it’s given
I do not like its algorithm
But I shall miss that weird bird town
I do not like it burning down

The Closest view of Jupiter ever taken!
NASA / SPACE X

We need to remember the #DigitalDivide. The web we know is not inclusive, not universal, not accessible, and actually, it's never been.

Digital divide is easy to miss, especially when you are enthusiastic about new developments. When digital divide combined with the #EchoChamber problem, it became more dangerous to make assumptions and predictions about new web-based experiences and their possibilities.

CNet news has mentioned QOTO

https://www.cnet.com/news/social-media/i-want-to-like-mastodon-the-decentralized-network-isnt-making-that-easy/

#QOTO #CNet #Eugen

So, the European Union has set up its own Mastodon instance, EU Voice, as an official channel/platform for all its many institutions - what a great initiative https://social.network.europa.eu/about
#TwitterMigration #europe #Diplomacy #Transparency