Jules @afewbugs@librem.one

Microbiologists are larger than one might expect.

Not gonna lie, this report is impressive, and every Mastodon instance should publish something like this every month. I have an account on mstdn.ca, and this is the kind of thing that would encourage me to move my main account from mastodon.social to mstdn.ca (although I would still support Eugen’s Patreon for his work on Mastodon, which benefits all instances). Staying put for now, though.

https://news.mstdn.ca/state-of-the-instance-nov-2022/

When we started the #treebybike campaign way back in 2014, it was to prove to naysayers that their lack of imagination shouldn’t result in a lack of action.

Since then, it has become a cherished annual tradition for our family, marking the official start of the Christmas season.

Mastodon which is incredibly hot, supports RSS beautifully.

Just add .rss to any account to get the feed. Amazing!

https://mastodon.social/@davew.rss

Open that in your favorite feed reader. It’ll work.

Post a screenshot, say what the reader app is.

And pass this on to everyone who uses a feed reader.

Spread the word!

This is a huge deal for the open web.

Students respond better to feedback when it's depersonalized.

Personal: Your wording here is unclear
Impersonal: The wording here is unclear.

Personal: Your organization is confusing.
Impersonal: The organization is confusing.

Personal: You made the opposite claim in the previous paragraph.
Impersonal: The previous paragraph made the opposite claim.

I've found that this makes a massive difference, giving students the detachment they need to focus on their writing.

#AcademicMastodon

Expensive Taste.

Another amazing encounter with an otter, from a couple of years ago on Mull.

I had been watching two otters fishing in the loch for over an hour when one of them caught something large, and started swimming towards the shore.

I got into a location to watch from, and saw her splash through the waves and out on to the shore with a huge lobster in her jaws.

She spent half an hour eating almost all of it.

#otter #Mull #lobster #WildlifePhotography #wildlife

Whenever I post digital security or privacy advice, there is always one reply boasting that they assume everything is being watched at all times and nothing is secure. Cool. Good for you. Do you want a fucking medal? Because in the meantime, I'm trying to give actionable advice to people in vulnerable situations trying to live their lives.

the great thing about the fediverse is instead of being stuck with someone else’s petard you can hoist your own

If we do this right, our grandchildren will think that “having an oligopoly” is on a par with being diagnosed with a case of the vapors by somebody in a bird costume who writes you a prescription for leeches.

"People used to _do_ that!?"

So. Much. FacePalm. Conspiracy theories and insects collide: "a cabal of shadowy elites are trying to force the population to eat insects as part of a sinister totalitarian plot" 🤦‍♀️ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/london-ontario-cricket-factory-1.6562083

Plenty of people have mental disorders and don’t praise Hitler or spread hate.

Subjective impression: seems like big BirdSite accounts are not as happy with a perceived lower level of engagement here, while smaller ones find a lot more engagement.

I bring this up, as I feel like I'm in a bit of a sweet spot (30K twitter followers, 2K here) where the engagement is more or less equivalent. It seems like the same community in a slightly different-shaped bowl.

Here’s why politicians around the world should be watching Paris:

When she first started challenging car dominance, Mayor Anne Hidalgo was ridiculed, threatened and sued.

But these measures are working, and proving incredibly popular, as she was comfortably re-elected in 2020.

Book Review: An Unflinching Critique of the Eugenics Movement. In “Control,” geneticist Adam Rutherford grapples with the millennia-long history of engineered attempts to perfect humanity — and how that checkered past ought to shape current science. “Eugenics is a busted flush, a pseudoscience that cannot deliver on its promise,” https://undark.org/2022/12/02/book-review-an-unflinching-critique-of-the-eugenics-movement/

Trans rights, women’s rights, human rights: beyond the vitriol

How did the small and vulnerable transgender community become so vilified in the UK?

Via @YorkshireBylines

#Bylines
https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/news/home-affairs/trans-rights-womens-rights-human-rights-beyond-the-vitriol/

A 1937 poster demonizing jaywalking. In the early 20th century, it became clear that the proliferation of cars was dangerous for pedestrians. In order to make city streets easier for drivers to navigate, auto companies invented the crime of "jaywalking" ("jay was slang for "fool") in order to get pedestrians out of the streets. It was successful. Soon, after streets went from being places of commerce and communication to the domain of automobiles.

#history #histodon #histodons @histodons

💡 Idea: we need a privilege similar to attorney-client privilege, but between techies and people they support.

Journalists, refugees, people at-risk and from marginalized groups, and we all, really, need to *know* that tech people supporting them cannot be legally forced to disclose the (often very personal or sensitive) data they gain access to while providing tech support.

Data that is shared with them in confidence, and which is often necessary to render tech help at all.

#InfoSec #Legal