szescstopni @szescstopni@qoto.org

This gives me life - "Object downed by US missile may have been amateur hobbyists’ $12 balloon" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/17/object-us-military-shot-down-amateur-hobbyists-balloon?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Un gafarró (Serinus serinus) alimentant-se entre la vegetació.

Observat a Barcelona el 16 de febrer.

#gafarro #serinusserinus #natgeo #animals #bird #birds #birdlovers #ocells #birdwatching #birdphotography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #ornithology #birder #photography #nature #naturephotography #biodiversity #natura #olympus

@quinn “Hey, boss! I’ve got an idea for a cover this week that’ll save us the cost of paying an artist or photographer!”

Millions of Americans receiving food assistance benefits just earned a new right that they can’t yet enforce: The right to be reimbursed if funds on their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards are stolen by card skimming devices secretly installed at cash machines and grocery store checkout lanes.

On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, which — for the first time ever — includes provisions for the replacement of stolen EBT benefits. This is a big deal because in 2022, organized crime groups began massively targeting EBT accounts — often emptying affected accounts at ATMs immediately after the states disperse funds each month.

But the states all have to submit their own plans for how they're going to detect suspicious transactions and alert EBT participants, and states that don't get those done before Feb. 27 risk losing the ability to be reimbursed for EBT fraud losses.

For the time being, the main fraud controls available to people receiving food assistance from the states is to change the card's PIN -- at least once a month.

“By changing PINs frequently, at least monthly, and doing so before benefit issuance dates, households can minimize their risk of stolen benefits from a previously skimmed EBT card,” the USDA advised.

Read more here:
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/02/new-protections-for-food-benefits-stolen-by-skimmers/

From 1978 to 2021, CEO pay grew by 1,460% while the typical worker's pay rose just 18%.

This explosion in CEO pay relative to the pay of average workers isn’t because CEOs have become so much more valuable than before.

They've just gamed the system to line their pockets.

#CookingWithMischka : Friday flatbread, folded and filled with a bit of cheese. Mischka is attracted to the smell of the lard. #cats #catsofmastodon

#Bees without gut #bacteria can partially digest amygdalin – a toxic substance found in #almond #nectar – to prunasin.

Bees with #gut #bacteria continue that conversation from prunasin to hydrogen #cyanide.

Great evidence that 🐝 collaborate with their gut #microbiome to deal with #plant #chemicals. But why should bees want a dose of #cyanide?

Good question. The authors think that it may help to kill off harmful parasites.

OA paper: https://elifesciences.org/articles/82595

Explainer: https://elifesciences.org/digests/82595/a-chemistry-lab-in-the-gut

From Cows and Fish #Alberta!

We're excited to announce "Beavers in our Landscape," a free workshop about living with #beavers in Clearwater County on March 18.

Whether you love them, hate them, want to understand them, think you need them, or want to learn how to live with them, you will find this workshop useful.

Topics include:

- Beaver basics - Ecology, natural history, watershed connections
- Beaver challenges – Issues and human-beaver conflicts
- Beaver solutions - management, co-existence options and alternatives
- Beaver case studies - How others are dealing and living with #beavers.

Register online via Eventbrite, call 403-846-4040, or email landcare@clearwatercounty.ca

Topics include:

• Beaver basics – Ecology, natural history, watershed connections

• Beaver challenges – Issues and human-beaver conflicts

• Beaver solutions – Management, co-existence options and alternatives

• Beaver case studies – How others are dealing and living with beavers

Here's a first... I just got an email because ChatGPT suggested an article I wrote to somebody. Could I send them a copy? Except, I never wrote the article, it doesn't exist. PLEASE realize right now that this tool isn't pulling out cool references for you. It's making plausible titles and matching them to authors names.

Well this is interesting. Way too many online shops seem to think that if I buy something from them, this gives them permission to harass me with #spam forever more. #PECR says that this is unlawful, and I routinely make claims against companies that misuse my personal data in this way.

Today was a rare occasion where the defendant refused to negotiate or enter into mediation and it went to court. And I won.

May be of interest to @revk and @bloor

A newly-formed Tesla union was shadowbanned on Twitter.

Hmmm... Elon Musk is both the CEO of Tesla and Twitter 🤔

What an odd coincidence.

There cannot be a conflict of interest here!

Or can there?

https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7gmqx/tesla-buffalo-union-busting-shadowban-twitter

Carl Bergstrom wrote a simple, clear guide, explaining how to invite crows into your daily life. https://post.news/article/2JO6fdl6txYBNOSeTe9hN233IN6

More cheese, Gromit? This came from a properly peer-reviewed scientific article, but I'm still amazed anyone could publish it with a straight face. It's a "texture map" of different cheeses, comparing their fracture stress and fracture strain. Jolly useful for the cheese enthusiasts out there, I'd say. #Cheese #Physics

A few days ago, I tweeted a flyer about a protest against Jordan Peterson in Seattle. I was subsequently screenshotted by Andy Ngo and mass reported by his goons, resulting in my permanent suspension from twitter.

SO! Please help spread the news: Jordan Peterson is coming to town, and Twitter is censoring the opposition! The original flyers from my tweets are attached. These are autonomous actions.

#Seattle #LGBTQ