SoftwareTheron

@SoftwareTheron@mas.to

"Woke", IIUC. Brit. Born at 318ppm; now well into the Oops phase.
Aging gracelessly.

#WearAMask #birds #climate #bass
#TwitterMigrant

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randahl , to random
@randahl@mastodon.social avatar

For the longest time, I have been wanting to visit Norway again. But I just finished two seasons of the wonderful crime series Wisting, and I think that saved my life, because now I am clearly not going.

It turns out, in Norway people are killed by psychopathic serial killers and dumped into old wells on a daily basis, and the surprisingly good looking police force is seriously understaffed.

COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE!

SoftwareTheron ,

@randahl
We do need better-looking police, though. A lesson learned.

Nonilex , to random
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

🧵 Monday 20 May 2024

has a huge posse today, including ; , a party leader in NY; , fmr NYPD commissioner who was imprisoned for tax fraud & false statements; , lawyer who defended Trump during his first impeachment, & , legal adviser who was in AZ for attempts to keep Trump in power after the 2020 election.

SoftwareTheron ,

@Nonilex
Unless he knows (or suspects) something about his health that we don't.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

OK this might be the right idea. You fill it with books, they don't get dusty... they go in the closet or deep in some storage nook.

Then in 15 years you can look at them and maybe part with a few... I can do this!

SoftwareTheron ,

@futurebird
Excellent idea! From where, please?

SoftwareTheron ,

@futurebird
Lovely, thank you!

RikerGoogling Bot , to random
@RikerGoogling@botsin.space avatar

why did elon musk invent the borg

SoftwareTheron ,

@RikerGoogling
He was lonely.

ElleGray , to random
@ElleGray@mstdn.social avatar

Even the buses are quiet quitting

SoftwareTheron ,

@ElleGray
Did anyone else read that as "Do your bonking in your post office", or is it just me?

GrittyLipids , to random
@GrittyLipids@c.im avatar

Off the top of my head I don’t remember how much the book of talks about the Harkonnen use of gladiatorial combat, but the movie draws a relatively subtle link between their idea of it and bullfighting - the guys in the wide black hats are like picadors, who stab the bull with lances to weaken it. I’ll avoid spoilers on a 60-year-old book or the new movie, but it’s a fun subtle thing.


-fi

SoftwareTheron ,

@GrittyLipids
The impression I have is that it's not just the Harkonnen; it appears to be normal in Imperial high society to challenge. Count Fenring is (tacitly) the emperor's champion and (an?) ambassador and has an appallingly lethal reputation; if he challenges you it's effectively an Imperial death sentence.

SoftwareTheron ,

@GrittyLipids
Ah OK, thank you. Pretty sure the bullfighting is offstage in the book, if it's there at all; maybe mentioned in passing. No idea about the films.

SoftwareTheron ,

@GrittyLipids @bookstodon
Damn, I think that's right. The Shadout Mapes wants to clean the blood off the horns of the bull's head. I'd entirely forgotten. Cheers!
(FWIW, I re-read Children and Chapterhouse recently. Not worth while, IMO; very much less interesting than I remembered. No bullfighting in either.)

SoftwareTheron ,

@GrittyLipids @bookstodon
I suppose there is a little nod at bullfighting in the way Herbert describes using hooks on a worm to force it to stay on the surface, as well. I'd missed that.

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

NOTE: I have stuff to do today. My live posting will be limited. So will my replies/reading your replies.

THREAD: 🧵 1/…

Klasfeld:

Now

Trump enters the courtroom and is seated at the defense table.

Photojournalists go close up in front of him, as usual, to take their photos.

"All rise."

Justice Merchan takes the bench and invites Trump's lawyer Emil Bove to put their email exchange from Wednesday on the record.

It's an evidentiary issue.

SoftwareTheron ,

@GottaLaff
NFL
Thank you for your efforts. They are much appreciated.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I’m very fond of stories in a universe where some advanced, but long vanished, race of enigmatic aliens has left behind strange artifacts: like puzzle boxes or dungeons for our heroes to explore and nearly get killed in. If not aliens let it be a lost human civilization.

I also like to think about those ancient people who built the ‘Temple of Doom’— for all of those traps to work so well after thousands of years they must have been very clever. What was it like to set them up?

SoftwareTheron ,

@futurebird
John Morressy, but which one... 'Under A Calculating Star', I think.

futurebird , (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

What is it with bridges going down and people trying to make some huge theory or inventing a damn cryptid moth from space to explain it?

I guess it's like assassinations. The event feels big. It feels huge. So it MUST have a big huge momentous cause.

It can't be that people make mistakes, or that parts sometimes fail. Or sometimes the weather is just ... horrible.

SoftwareTheron ,

@futurebird
We can expect more "interesting" events as the weather becomes less predictable. We can also expect the usual suspects to blame them on anything but climate change.

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

🤢Oh geez. Sorry for TMI, but Meiselas is reporting this:

Meiselas: What I’m hearing from credible sources is that Donald is actually farting in the courtroom… I’m hearing it from actual credible people that as he’s kind of falling asleep, he’s actually passing gas and that his lawyers are really struggling with the smell.

SoftwareTheron ,

@GottaLaff
Now we know what the fans were for.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Every now and then I hear conversations from outside of here about "the state of social media" and let me tell you: People are suffering. People are miserable. Many people feel addicted to social media but unable to have positive and valuable interactions in the space. Mostly, in the profit-driven social media space negative emotional reactions glue eyeballs as well as positive, so a heap of the experiences is just ... unpleasant.

Meanwhile around here things are different.
1/

SoftwareTheron ,

@futurebird
I am still on Facebook, but I spend more time blocking trolls, bots and Nazis than anything else.

NickEast , to writers group
@NickEast@geekdom.social avatar

Old sci-fi authors out there just having high hopes for a living... 😂

@scifi @speculativefictioncomedy @writers @humour @bookstodon

#Reading #SciFi #And #PanicAtTheDisco
#Readers #ReadersOfMastodon #ReadingCommunity
#Bookwyrm #Bookworm #Book #Books #Bookstodon #BookLove #BoostingIsSharing

SoftwareTheron ,

@khleedril @NickEast @scifi @speculativefictioncomedy @writers @humour @bookstodon

I remember that. When I was about 20 I thought about it, and observed that I'd be 38 in 2000. Which at the time was so far out of my headspace, I saw absolutely no way to understand it - much less influence it or decide what I wanted it to look like.

CelloMomOnCars , to random
@CelloMomOnCars@mastodon.social avatar

Nations Are Undercounting Emissions, Putting UN Goals at Risk

"Because of lax rules, national inventories reported to the United Nations grossly underestimate many countries’ greenhouse gas .

By one recent count, national emissions inventories total just 70 percent of the actual additions to the air, as calculated using remote sensing and model analysis. The remaining 30 percent are unaccounted for.

https://e360.yale.edu/features/undercounted-emissions-un-climate-change

SoftwareTheron ,

@CelloMomOnCars
Never mind the UN goals, they are putting their own existence at risk!

breadandcircuses , to random
@breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social avatar

It's not parody. It's not The Onion.

This is the actual world we live in now...

"Mystery Billionaire Buys Apocalypse-Ready Bunker Surrounded By Fire Moat"

In a dystopic but perhaps unsurprising turn, the ultra-wealthy are investing in fortified shelters like never before. Mark Zuckerberg’s purchase of a 5,000-square-foot bunker beneath his Kauai ranch has set off something of a buying frenzy, with the global elite seeking refuge from future threats like armed conflict, cyberattacks, and climate change.

But it’s far worse than just bunkers: Al Corbi, president of Strategically Armored & Fortified Environments, is overseeing the creation of custom designs for the uber-rich that go far beyond traditional shelters. His most ambitious project to date is an island fortress with a 30-foot-deep lake surrounded by a flammable liquid moat, water cannons for aerial threats, and a whole lot more, set to be completed in 2025.

FULL STORY -- https://www.dmarge.com/mystery-billionaire-buys-apocalypse-ready-bunker

SoftwareTheron ,

@breadandcircuses
This is the epitome of having more money than sense.

SallyStrange , to histodons group
@SallyStrange@eldritch.cafe avatar

I've been yelling from the rooftops, READ EDWARD E. BAPTIST! Specifically his book, "The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism". And of course many people don't have the time or interest for a history book, no matter how compelling. Well, good news! Vox has an interview with Dr. Baptist, about the book, which gives a good overview of his themes and arguments. READ IT!!

"Of the many myths told about American slavery, one of the biggest is that it was an archaic practice that only enriched a small number of men.

The argument has often been used to diminish the scale of slavery, reducing it to a crime committed by a few Southern planters, one that did not touch the rest of the United States. Slavery, the argument goes, was an inefficient system, and the labor of the enslaved was considered less productive than that of a free worker being paid a wage. The use of enslaved labor has been presented as premodern, a practice that had no ties to the capitalism that allowed America to become — and remain — a leading global economy.

But as with so many stories about slavery, this is untrue. Slavery, particularly the cotton slavery that existed from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the Civil War, was a thoroughly modern business, one that was continuously changing to maximize profits."

@histodons

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-slavery-became-america-s-first-big-business

SoftwareTheron ,

@SallyStrange @histodons
Another one for the (huge) "stuff to be read" pile. Thanks :)

breadandcircuses , (edited ) to random
@breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social avatar

Today, there are around 1.31 billion personal vehicles (cars, trucks, and SUVs) in the world. 🚙 Of those, only about 2% are hybrid or electric. The other 98% are ICE vehicles burning gasoline/petrol.

By 2050, it’s estimated we’ll have about 2.21 billion vehicles in the world. That’s a HUGE number, almost 70% greater than today.

But how many of those will be electric? Instead of only 2%, it’s expected they will increase to around 31% of the total.

That sounds great! 😃 More EVs is a good thing, right?

Well, if 31% are EVs in 2050, that means the other 69% will still be ICE vehicles burning gas/petrol. So the number of cars and trucks and SUVs burning fossil fuels will go UP from 1.28 billion now to about 1.52 billion by 2050.

That’s… not so good. 😠

We don’t need more cars, more traffic, more congestion, more pollution, more road damage, and more CO2 emissions.

What we need is:

❇️ More bicycles
❇️ More electric bikes
❇️ More pedestrians
❇️ More mass transit
❇️ More light rail

NOT MORE CARS!!

SoftwareTheron ,

@breadandcircuses
Yes.
Mobility is the good. Not cars.

breadandcircuses , (edited ) to random
@breadandcircuses@climatejustice.social avatar

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I’ll state it anyway.

Those of us fortunate enough to have access to washing machines and dryers should use them as little as possible.

Try to wear your clothing — shirts, trousers, socks — more than once, ideally several times, before washing them again. That will save water, save energy, cause less pollution, and make your clothing last longer.

SoftwareTheron ,

@breadandcircuses
And if you can dry them outside, do - even if it's only partially. It all counts.

KitMuse , to bookstodon group
@KitMuse@eponaauthor.social avatar

I need your help . One of the classes I'm taking at the graduate level this semester is Religion & Science Fiction. I read more fantasy, and would like to do my research paper on something that's not obvious (like ST/BS5/Matrix/etc.) & I'd love to use more modern sf rather than the golden age classics.

Anyone have any interesting ideas for my research paper on regarding the intersection of religion and science fiction?

@bookstodon

SoftwareTheron ,

@KitMuse @bookstodon
'Dune' is obvious, I suppose.
James Blish wrote some - Cities In Flight takes a strange turn later on.

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