Mike Csees @mikecsees@qoto.org

Just before the invasion, #Ukraine made a deal with #Amazon #AWS to create a data warehouse for its government information and infrastructure: tax and property records, bank statements, and the like. Things that an invaded and occupied Ukraine might lose if Russia got their hands on the only copies.

They literally snuck Pelican crates full of SSDs into the country and spirited them back offshore after backing up 10 petabytes of important historic and legal records.

This paragraph, second from the end, really put a fine point on why Amazon did this: They were not beholden to, nor being held hostage by, any Russian operations...because they never had any:

Amazon didn’t have to worry about its relationship with Russia on the Snowball project. It doesn’t have one. “We didn’t have anything to turn off there,” Maxwell said. “We had never invested there. It’s a point of principle.”

Truly an amazing story from the #LATimes.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-12-15/amazon-ukraine-war-cloud-data

Fascinating- Microsoft has just banned crypto mining on Azure. Bravo. https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/15/microsoft_online_services_cryptomining_ban/

On science communication:

Today Elon Musk attacked Anthony Fauci. The post got at least 600,000 likes.

Whatever this means for #TwitterMigration (should be: let's leave!),
it also means many have been radicalized against Fauci and science and gov't. While many of us have been carrying about our business, rightwing media has been creating vast hate for science. Vast.

There's only one solution: FIGHT. (more below) /1

#scicomm #science #fauci #musk #twitter

Wow... #ElonMusk is apparently very worried about #Mastodon taking his customers.

I merely replied to #EltonJohn's tweet that he was leaving #TheBirdSite with an invite to join us here, and my tweet got FLAGGED for "Sensitive Content."

I think the only people "sensitive" about this content are the folks worried about losing customers to the competition.

#TwitterMigration #Twitter
#TwitterExodus #Elon

NFTs hosted / minted by FTX are now all broken and useless (even more so than before), as the API that provides their metadata *and actual picture* disappears after FTX' collapse.

Owners can't even see their NFT's image anymore, neither int heir wallets nor as a preview on NFT sales platforms.

It's like the web's link rot problem, only sped up 100x.

And it's fabulous.

src:
https://web3isgoinggreat.com/?id=ftx-hosted-nfts-break-after-website-is-redirected-to-a-restructuring-page

“Nothing will be what you expected.”

Advice from your 80-year-old self https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/01/18/advice-from-my-80-year-old-self-susan-omalley/

There are sled dogs, and then there are SLED DOGS! With all the snow falling on the Sierra, I hope there are lots of good dogs enjoying the snow like THIS self-starter good dog!

#California #Sierra #snow #weather #sled #sledding #sleddog #dog #dogs #dogsofmastodon #mastodondogs

Today's #SCOTUS hearing left @marcelias cautiously reassured: "There seems little chance that the Court will deny state courts their traditional role of interpreting and applying their state constitutions to state laws governing elections."
://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/headed-toward-a-middle-ground-todays-argument-in-moore-v-harper/

I just want everyone to know that in 2023, Goodnight Moon enters public domain.

https://publicdomainreview.org/features/entering-the-public-domain/2023/

Goodnight, moon.

Goodnight.

goodnight...

Pluto backlit by the distant sun, captured by the departing New Horizons spacecraft.

Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
https://www.nasa.gov/nh/nh-finds-blue-skies-and-water-ice-on-pluto

#science #astronomy #nasa #pluto

Documentation vs User experience.

NY Times newsroom workers will stage a 24-hr walkout on Thursday, Dec 8th.

Please stand in solidarity by participating in a one-day "no NYT" digital walkout Dec 8th.

This means not engaging w/any NYT platforms on Dec 8th, not logging in, and not purchasing, clicking, or reading content.

Including but not limited to:

-Website + any links from it
-All sections of the NYT
-Wordle, Crossword, Spelling Bee & any NYT online games
-Wirecutter, The Athletic

Just one day. Support NYT workers.

‘Putin bans protests outside universities, railway stations, churches and other places.’ May we never forget how important our Bill of Rights (including the 9th and 10th amendments BTW) is. We shouldn’t take out 1A rights for granted. #Russia #Ukraine https://www.yahoo.com/news/putin-bans-protests-outside-universities-140820692.html

Steven Strogatz (@stevenstrogatz) has joined Mathstodon! He's an applied mathematician who works on nonlinear dynamics and complex systems, and he's written a lot of popular books: The Joy of X", "Infinite Powers" and others. Check out some of his essays here:

https://www.stevenstrogatz.com/essays

He has a massive number of followers on Twitter, so please say hi and help him with his withdrawal symptoms in this calmer, happier place.

As the world turns into a population chart: Earth, by the number of people living at each latitude
https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/oh75y9/oc_spinner_top_world_where_the_area_of_each/

A beautiful timelapse of the Milky Way galaxy over Cerro Armazones in Chile.

Credit: ESO/S. Brunier

#photography #space #night #timelapse

“For the first time, ProPublica has cataloged cleanup efforts at the 50-plus sites where uranium was processed to fuel the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Even after regulators say cleanup is complete, polluted water and sickness are often left behind.”

Thanks, @ProPublica

#NuclearPower #NuclearWastw #StillAProblem

https://newsie.social/@ProPublica/109450569858835662

Even if you don't add an image to the #silentsunday tag (and you are warmly invited to join in), just touring the sharing is an amazing visual experience. If you are not sure what #silentsunday is, it is a weekly call for an image with no written context (except for the alt-text layer -- please do that). The result is this quiet unfolding of landscapes, spaces and objects from across the world, and it is a lovely sharing experience. Thank you, all

@Ciantic @jeffjarvis I've said this publicly before. The #Mastodon onboarding situation is a real problem, especially for nontechies without a lot of time to "research" all this. Frankly, I'd like to see a nonprofit create a quality onboarding and support structure, with some sort of membership fee involved to pay the bills. I realize this is controversial but I think it likely is necessary -- or else something else along these lines.