Jules @afewbugs@librem.one

If you're like me, then you were really happy to learn about Mastodon's enthusiastic support for image descriptions, and you were really eager to join in.

Then you went to actually write something and realized you have no idea how to present visual information in a way that is helpful/enjoyable to those who are #VisuallyImpaired or #Blind.

I found this guide really informative: https://uxdesign.cc/how-to-write-an-image-description-2f30d3bf5546

Of course, I'd also love to hear any additional tips y'all might have!

#Accessibility

Imagine if those in a position of power today were to wake up 30 years into the future and find themselves having to answer an international tribunal judging their contribution to climate breakdown that has since developed. Would they claim they had no choice? #COP27 #climate

See in the image how thin the atmosphere is we're polluting. Take a globe, find two cities just 100 km apart on that globe - tilt that distance vertically and that's all there is to space. And that's already generous.

The other thing the "adaptation is more realistic than mitigation" deniers get wrong is ecology. Organisms live in habitats, their ecological niches. Climate is a major determinant. It's a complex web that would be broken. There is no adaptation without huge ecological upheaval.

Solidarity with all the UK #academics on #strike today ✊🏾

There's no high quality public-service education without fair pay, healthy working conditions, dignity and labour rights for all staff. We're with you #UCUrising @ucu!

I'm so old I remember that both the US and the UK used to tax very high incomes at 90%. AFTER you made a bunch of money THE REST was taxed a lot. If you make $1 billion you "only" take home $100 million.

How MANY problems do we have now with billionaires screwing up both countries, and the rest of the people struggling?

So don't tell me about solutions until you raise top tax rates back where they should be in a democracy.

The POINT of top tax rates is redistribution.

#tax #taxtherich

#GreenParty MP Caroline Lucas' #RightToRoam bill calls for access to rivers, woods and green-belt land:
“There is overwhelming evidence that time spent in nature makes a huge contribution to our physical health and mental wellbeing, yet access to nature remains vastly unequal across different parts of the country, and people from ethnic minorities or with low incomes are even less likely to live near accessible green space.”."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/22/national-parks-england-and-wales-off-limits-to-public #UKPolitics

Tiny particles of rum, pineapple and coconut are soon to be beamed around the new 27km tunnel of the Large Piña Collider.

Proud to say that when I tweeted this it was liked by CERN. So don't be surprised if you see them attempt this at some point in the future.

We've had a very mild start to winter, but now it's starting to really show it's here, here are some solid tips for cycling through winter
https://www.willcycle.com/2021/10/04/back-to-basics-winter-cycling/

As a community manager or leader the worst thing you tolerate is what your community becomes.
The worst thing you walk past is who you are. And in open source communities the blast radius of that negligence is enormous; for every person you can see pushing back against toxicity there might be dozens, hundreds or thousands peeking in, seeing that this is how you and your project have decided to live, shaking their heads and silently moving on, knowing they have better options.

"Listening to Black Women: The Innovation Tech Can't Figure Out"
https://www.wired.com/story/listening-to-black-women-the-innovation-tech-cant-figure-out/amp

It seems that the "caffeinate your underwear" thing is going around again. I wrote about that before at WIRED; still doesn't work ☕ 😁 👖 https://www.wired.com/2014/10/caffeinated-underpants-wont-make-your-butt-smaller/

*PRO NERD TIP*

Today I learned about "The Wikipedia Library Card". If you've been a WP editor for >6 months, have made >500 edits, at least 10 edits in the last month, and are not blocked for being a cretin, you can access a *ton* of paywalled content for free.

ScienceDirect, AAAS, The BMJ, both APAs, EBSCO, Springer, Nature, Wiley, and many more.

https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/about/

All those hours in 2005 spent editing sci-fi book articles finally paying off!

(Cross-boosted from: @emollick@🐦.com)

Humans are pattern-finding machines & some patterns call to us more.

This neat paper finds that, across 27 cultures, we tend to name the same patterns of stars, mostly because the perceptual systems of humans are all drawn to the same types of patterns.

Paper: http://www.charleskemp.com/papers/kemphlc_perceptualgroupingexplainssimilaritiesinconstellationsacrosscultures.pdf

I still get shocked surprise when I tell people that H G Wells wrote War of the Worlds after learning about the genocide inflicted by British colonists on the Aboriginal Tasmanians. It's right there in the foreword of the book.

#HGWells #WarOfTheWorlds #Indigenous #FirstNations #Aboriginal #lutruwita

So all this talk about thunderstorms last couple days reminds me of the Supercell storm that blew through Christchurch in September 2012, I'd been out chasing this storm front everywhere got hammered by hail and rain, didnt really get a shot

Went home, setup the camera on tripod on the deck, locked the cable release on auto and went inside to sort out washing

This is the result

#aotearoa #nztwits #nz #newzealand #photography #nature #landscapephotography #longexposure #NewZealand

To introduce ourselves... The Isle of Eigg was one of Scotland's first community buyouts when in June 1997 its 65 inhabitants raised £1.5m to buy the island. Since then the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust has owned and managed Eigg on behalf of its residents and the world! Eigg's population is now around 115. We generate our electricity from renewable sources, have our own broadband company, and many thriving community and private businesses. Find out more from our website http://isleofeigg.org

Eigg isn't connected to the UK national grid. Instead we generate 90% to 95% of our electricity from wind, sun, & water (hydro). Community-owned Eigg Electric was switched on in 2008. Islanders are trained and employed to manage it. Electricity costs 28p per unit/kWh. Before 2008 each property had its own diesel generator. Now we have 24kW of wind, 110kW of hydro, 170kW of solar PV, storage batteries, and a back up generator. Next challenge is #netzero #renewables #eigg http://isleofeigg.org/eigg-electric/