Paul Sutton @zleap@qoto.org

Guerilla shelving by the booksellers at Waterstones 😂

#UKPolitics #Bliar #GetHimToTheHague #Bookstodon

It's so nice to see people wearing the Fediverse Shirt at Fediday. The colour fits you well @andypiper

https://www.spacefun.ch/merch

#Fediday #Fediverse

Having been locked out of other platforms, #Palestinians are turning to #Mastodon and #Fedi to communicate with the outside world.

Gaza Verified is an initiative to verify that the accounts are genuine, by having a video conversation with the families on Signal. Take a look and consider following one or more of these accounts.

https://gaza-verified.org/

#Gaza

Solidarity with the Global Sumud Flotilla

The ships of the Global Sumud Flotilla have been violently intercepted by Israeli forces. 42 boats, with more than 400 activists from across the world, had set sail to try to break the illegal siege on Gaza and to deliver aid to a population deliberately starved. Their act placed humanity, international solidarity and civil disobedience above borders.

Systematic destruction of Palestinian life, enforced through famine, bombardments, and displacement, is genocide.

The very same European governments who let people die while crossing the Mediterranean are complicit in these crimes. Financing the siege, arming Israel and hiding behind empty statements. But millions around the world are refusing to look away: demonstrating, striking and rising up in solidarity.

We demand the immediate release of the flotilla’s.

From the central Mediterranean to Palestine.
For a free Gaza. For a free Palestine.

#freetheflottilla #freepalestine

Brilliant point well made by David Osland.

We're told pensions are 'unsustainable’, the Post Office is ‘unsustainable’ and now that the NHS is 'unsustainable'. They were all entirely sustainable before the private sector starting looting the public sector.

How the BBC works hard to keep the public misinformed about what the Scottish Government is doing. Bias by omission.
#Politics #Media #Scotland
A tale of BBC Scotland’s response to Scottish Government press releases – how widespread, how blatant is bias by omission becoming? https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2025/10/03/a-tale-of-bbc-scotlands-response-to-scottish-government-press-releases-how-widespread-how-blatant-is-bias-by-omission-becoming/

Microsoft steals content for their AI training data but doesn't want others to do the same thing. Odd.

https://therecord.media/linkedin-sues-data-scraping-company

Another small victory today.

A salesperson had almost convinced a client to move their email from 365 to Google because "they hold all the cards now". I stepped in and suggested they keep their email on servers that they control instead. The salesperson almost mocked me, treating me like a "nerd" who doesn't understand how the world works.

I was happy to be a nerd, if necessary, to explain the pros and cons of the solution to the client.
The result? The salesperson was politely thanked and "sent home", and I'm now evaluating some details of the new mail server, which, by the client's choice, will be based on OpenBSD.

Because people need explanations, not brochures.

#OwnYourData #OpenBSD #RunBSD

Dang, Lego just keeps getting better and better.

Ok (hopefully) last interview of the week done for a small province-wide radio station that I think someone here recommended to me. Thanks, fediverse!

One last shot at getting the word out to farmers who might find Starlink debris in their fields. Next week, I'll shift my focus to teaching lots of people about all the terrible environmental and safety consequences of "sunlight as a service"

"agents forcibly removed all residents from their homes regardless of their legal status"

'It was heartbreaking': Naked zip-tied children dragged from homes in 'surreal' ICE raid - Raw Story

https://www.rawstory.com/it-was-heartbreaking-naked-zip-tied-children-dragged-from-homes-in-surreal-ice-raid/

Big Tech is doing a great job of hiding the environmental cost of chatbots

"Given scope of the investments being made now, what will the environmental impacts of AI be moving forward? It’s a question that’s hard to answer because the biggest tech companies are not sharing enough data for us to collectively plan ahead. But one thing is clear: when it comes to clean energy and fresh water, it will demand hard choices between the needs of humanity and those of machines."
https://thewalrus.ca/ai-environmental-cost/

Apple Takes Down ICE Tracking Apps Amid Trump Pressure Campaign Trump administration officials have issued several legal threats over ICEBlock, a popular app that allows users to alert others to the presence of nearby immigration agents. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Apple Takes Down ICE Tracking ...

Old Elephant Bull Paying Respects at a Friend's Gravesite

This moment was among the most profoundly moving and memorable experiences of my life- yet it was so gentle, so quiet, had I been distracted I would have missed it.

The longer tale, if you are so inclined: I spent many days near a single watering hole on Hwange, Zimbabwe, where an elephant skeleton lay nearby. Many young elephant families passed through, without giving the bones much attention. But one day, an older bull elephant, walking slowly, stopped at the bones. His ears lowered and his trunk stooped in solemn reverence. He grazed the bones with his trunk and then massaged the skull for a very long time- elephants who mourn at the bones of their loved ones favour the skull, which I assume is more individual and recognizable. It was extremely hot, and other elephants, mothers with their babies and lone bulls- charged toward the watering hole, eager for a drink and a bath. The bull was surely hot and parched- but unrushed, every part of him connecting with the bones before him.

I asked a local, a former guide, if he knew who the elephant was who died. He was also an old bull, so old his last set of teeth had worn out completely, and he lived at the watering hole, soaking grasses to make them soft enough to eat. He died nearby of natural causes last year. This old bull, the visiting mourner, was very likely a good friend, maybe even a travelling companion.

There are detractors who say we can't know for certain that the behaviour at these boneyards really is mourning behaviour. I can't help but think that such detractors have never witnessed first hand the palpable emotions of a grieving elephant. #elephant #africanelephant #Hwange #Hwangenationalpark #nature #natur #naturephotography #wildlifeprotection #wildlife #wildlifephotography #africa #zimbabwe #wildlifeconservation #nationalgeographic #natgeo #natgeonature #tierwelt #mammals #ethicalnaturephotography #conservation #animalsareamazing

@LauraScrimshaw amazing and beautiful. They're such incredible creatures