mcneely @mcneely@librem.one

I'm not saying there are a lot of viral infections going around right now, but when the NY Times feels the need to publish a list of symptoms so you can figure out which of four illnesses you have, that might be saying something.
The rate of COVID positive testing is at its highest point in three months in the US. The US rate of flu hospitalization is up 50 to 100% in the past two weeks across all age groups. Masks on to protect yourself and your family this holiday season!

#Histodons, please help us spread this opportunity for early-career environmental historians (PhD candidates included). The editors of the upcoming 𝘙𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 are looking for emergent scholars to write the book's afterword!

https://www.iceho.org/news/2022/12/12/open-call-for-authors-future-directions-in-environmental-history

#EnvHist @histodons #EnvHum

Someone reported @KimCrayton1's tweet to us, when she was talking about racism. The tweet was reported to us from another instance. This is the first person reported to us on our instance, and it is a Black woman. What does this tell you?
Good thing we're running our own instance. No action taken, more encouragement. Keep doing what you're doing.

@mmasnick @ericbrignac I've had the same thought. Conceptually, I'd like something like what Twitter does but with sliders to allow me to tune the weightings the way I want.

@ericbrignac I get that instinct, but frankly, having an algorithm that I could control (as opposed to a company) would be nice to better organize things...

A suggestion (inspired by @meganmariehart): If an organization hosts a profile of you on their website and includes social share buttons, ask them to create a button to take people to your #Mastodon account. Also, even without such a button, have them include your mastodon feed in your contact information. #fediverse #twittermigration

@mmasnick I would say we’re living rent-free in Elon’s head, but he doesn’t seem to know what paying rent is.

If it's true that the EU has forced Apple to open up ios devices to outside app stores, this is a huge and important change.

It should have been done long ago in the US, but our lawmakers love monopolies and cartels.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-13/will-apple-allow-users-to-install-third-party-app-stores-sideload-in-europe

Based on your Mastodon experiences so far, how sure are you that you would have learned about George Floyd, Sandra Bland, or Tamir Rice from your current feed?

if your opinion is "technology is neutral" then you and I do not have a difference of opinion, just like I do not have a difference of opinion with people who think the world is flat

you're just wrong

The reliably good @GregSargent on Elon Musk’s latest tweets as an example of right-wing info warfare: “In much of the right-wing info-ecosystem, liberal outrage is a sign of an attack's effectiveness. It can be only confirmation that the Libs Were Owned. Shaming is useless in such an environment, and in some ways can backfire.” He also talks with the also great and reliable provider of incisive takes @mmasnick in this piece. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/12/musk-fauci-right-wing-information-warfare-how-to-respond/

Terrifying. A new bill, HB1011, out of Oklahoma would forcibly medically detransition anyone under 21, including Transgender ADULTS.

It bans things like "aesthetic procedures" and likely even hair removal. It must be stopped.

Sub to support my work. 🧵

#trans #Transgender #transrights #lgbtq #legislation

https://erininthemorn.substack.com/p/adult-transgender-bans-are-here-ok

I love @robtaber 's 's new essay about ending his first semester of World History survey in 1763. I wanted to share a few thoughts about the essay.
https://ageofrevolutions.com/2022/12/12/ending-world-history-part-one-in1763/

I see so many posts about how problematic it is to remain on the birdsite as if raising awareness is the only step needed to migrate off it.

Off boarding communities from Twitter is going to take a lot of work. It will require champions and concerted attention and effort to do.

Not to mention a bunch more dev and product work.

For those who are unfamiliar, "Measuring Worth" does a decent job of providing the market value of #historical transactions in today's prices. For those interested in the nuts and bolts, it includes a user guide and a methodological essay.
#histodons #history #EconHist @histodons http://measuringworth.com/

My suggestion if you want the Fediverse to work, follow and favorite and boost the absolute hell out of people. It’s not about dopamine or clout chasing, it’s about letting people know they’re not just typing into a void.

“You can find us anywhere you get your podcasts.”

I *adore* this phrase, because it has been like two whole-ass decades and not one single venture capital darling has managed to unseat plain RSS as the distribution method for podcasts. Not one. (And they have really tried!)

Podcasts are just out there, like air. You don’t go to one place to get them; you get them from everywhere and anywhere. You can choose how you want to engage with them and manage them and it is legitimately heartwarming that nothing has ever gotten in the way of that being a fundamental fact.

This is the best of what the web is. It will never have a stock ticker or even a marketing scheme. Most people don’t even know it is there. But it endures (past the many, many attempts by squillionaire corporates to kill it) because of its absolute unshakable utility.

My suggestion: any time you hear “anywhere you get your podcasts”, send a little thanks to RSS for keeping the real web alive.

#RSS #Podcasts #ProtocolsNotProducts

I thought you might need to see this.
#MeanwhileInCanada

We have to deromanticize community. It's not some pristine untouched forest of soft moss and good vibes. The corporations count on that misconception to stripmine us for content.

Community has always been as weird and messy as humans are. It's work. It's relationships. It's hard. There isn't a magic number. They aren't inherently anticommercial. They don't all look or act the same.

That's one of the reasons I wrote this and am driven to write more: https://powazek.com/posts/3571