pies @pies@qoto.org

"I've always felt like I don't fit," the young woman said.
"Fit where?" the witch said.
"In..." The young person gestured at their whole body. "Can you ..?"
"I can't make you fit what you have. I can make what you have fit you."
"Really?"
"It worked for me."
The young man smiled.
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic #TransVisibilityDay

Carl Sagan Explains How the Ancient Greeks, Using Reason & Math, Discovered That the Earth Isn’t Flat Over 2,000 Years Ago

https://www.openculture.com/2023/03/carl-sagan-explains-how-the-ancient-greeks-discovered-that-the-earth-isnt-flat-over-2000-years-ago.html

After the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision overruling Roe v Wade last year, each state was left to make and enforce its own abortion laws. Many red states had already put abortion “trigger” laws in place that would leap into effect the moment Roe was overturned, while many blue states rushed to pass additional protections to guarantee the right to abortion access.

Then there was Wisconsin, where a law essentially banning all elective abortion procedures has Democrats in the state fired up and ready to fight back. They get a big chance to do so next Tuesday. http://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/reproductive-freedom-democracy-wisconsin-court

There is truth in his words. 😅

WHOA whoa whoa whoa hold on there bucko, you've changed it from illegal in Florida to illegal in Tennessee

The trolley problem: your imagination versus the even sadder reality. (Just got this from a friend who also collects trolley problem variants.)

✨ new tech bingo ✨

From: @pluralistic:

"To understand the future of Mastodon, we have to understand network effects...a product or service that gets more valuable as it attracts new users.

The people who stay...make it a busier, more exciting place...the next surge will find an even higher equilibrium as users who try Mastodon find more fully acclimated users who can hold their hands as they get settled in, and also provide the vibrant community that presents a good reason for doing so."

https://doctorow.medium.com/of-course-mastodon-lost-users-c48ef8102891

You're not stupid for using a framework, and nobody has pulled a fast one on you. https://seldo.com/posts/the_case_for_frameworks

So, Google gained 6% stock value when they fired 12000 people for no obvious reasons, and has now lost 7% after a mediocre AI demo, so I guess all the invisible hand of the free market does these days is make vague jerking-off motions.

Overheard: “Not all heroes wear capes. Or tops, it seems.”

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!
I'm Furious That It's Not Butter!
I'd Give You Anything If You Could Please Give Me Butter!
I'm Sad Because It's Not Butter!
I've Come to Terms with the Fact That It's Not Butter.

- The stages of margarine grief

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Canada's privatised shadow civil service; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/31/mckinsey-and-canada/

#Pluralistic

1/

Pluralistic: Tiktok’s enshittification (21 Jan 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow - https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys

Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.