# orderedItems[].object.content
@futurebird
Reminds me of a claim about sense of smell and race on Wikipedia, which if you chase the reference is hearsay from a European trader talking about "natives", quoted in one of Darwin's later (and lesser!) works, very much in the time of "scientific racism".

How to challenge? Darwin is respected. It's a legit reference. But it reflected the bias and ignorance of its time.

No more valid than Newton's mysticism or Kepler's sacred geometry or Shakespeare's antisemitism.

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
@futurebird
Reminds me of a claim about sense of smell and race on Wikipedia, which if you chase the reference is hearsay from a European trader talking about "natives", quoted in one of Darwin's later (and lesser!) works, very much in the time of "scientific racism".

How to challenge? Darwin is respected. It's a legit reference. But it reflected the bias and ignorance of its time.

No more valid than Newton's mysticism or Kepler's sacred geometry or Shakespeare's antisemitism.

# orderedItems[].object.content
@g

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
@g

# orderedItems[].object.attachment[].name
Meme image. Drawing of young woman looking at the viewer -- 

Text reads: "QUIZ: Are You Even Good Enough to Have Imposter Syndrome?"

Second panel: close up of woman's face, looking perhaps accusingly?

# orderedItems[].object.content
One of the reasons CWs for politics is nice is that they can tell you what country we're talking about.

I just saw this:

"People who argue that it isn’t the time to deal with structural, constitutional issues because the country is in crisis never seem to consider that the country might be in crisis because we’re in desperate need of structural and constitutional reform."

Is this guy trying to rationalize Trump?

Probably not. He's Scottish. Reads differently now! 😅

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
One of the reasons CWs for politics is nice is that they can tell you what country we're talking about.

I just saw this:

"People who argue that it isn’t the time to deal with structural, constitutional issues because the country is in crisis never seem to consider that the country might be in crisis because we’re in desperate need of structural and constitutional reform."

Is this guy trying to rationalize Trump?

Probably not. He's Scottish. Reads differently now! 😅

# orderedItems[].object.content
@Richard_Littler @actuallyautistic

I think it's more that ASD folk may have a tendency to have very unusual senses of humor. We find things funny that neurotypical people don't (perhaps because they don't know the subject matter of the humor).

Meanwhile, we're more likely to consider the literal interpretation of things that NT people find funny.

NT people sometimes ask rhetorical questions that they think don't have answers, but then I may know the actual answer (or at least AN answer).

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
@Richard_Littler @actuallyautistic

I think it's more that ASD folk may have a tendency to have very unusual senses of humor. We find things funny that neurotypical people don't (perhaps because they don't know the subject matter of the humor).

Meanwhile, we're more likely to consider the literal interpretation of things that NT people find funny.

NT people sometimes ask rhetorical questions that they think don't have answers, but then I may know the actual answer (or at least AN answer).

# orderedItems[].object.content
@derek

"Strange things are afoot at the Circle K, Jiji"

#MovieBowl

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
@derek

"Strange things are afoot at the Circle K, Jiji"

#MovieBowl

# orderedItems[].object.content
A lot of people seem to get quite bent out of shape over the lack of a "quote retweet"-like feature in Mastodon.

The developer of Mastodon is very much against this.

But this is the FEDIVERSE you are on, not "Mastodon". If you don't like Mastodon, don't use it. There are other choices!

Some other Fedi software DOES have a displayed-quote feature. For example, here's what a "quote-renote" looks like in Misskey:

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
A lot of people seem to get quite bent out of shape over the lack of a "quote retweet"-like feature in Mastodon.

The developer of Mastodon is very much against this.

But this is the FEDIVERSE you are on, not "Mastodon". If you don't like Mastodon, don't use it. There are other choices!

Some other Fedi software DOES have a displayed-quote feature. For example, here's what a "quote-renote" looks like in Misskey:

# orderedItems[].object.content
I think if you are a brand new user on Mastodon, the best way to understand Federation is

✨ It's MAGIC! ✨

Because, really, to understand it in detail is kind of complicated. But it's also not really that important to getting a good start.

After awhile, you'll want to understand the details, of course, but don't rush it. And there are plenty of people who will get excited and geek out about explaining it to you when you're ready.

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
I think if you are a brand new user on Mastodon, the best way to understand Federation is

✨ It's MAGIC! ✨

Because, really, to understand it in detail is kind of complicated. But it's also not really that important to getting a good start.

After awhile, you'll want to understand the details, of course, but don't rush it. And there are plenty of people who will get excited and geek out about explaining it to you when you're ready.

# orderedItems[].object.content
@ajroach42 @thatonecalculator @ItsMeChrisWade

I have SO MANY BAD VIBES about that platform. Would not touch with a ten-foot pole. It's basically MADE of red flags. 😒 🚩🚩

And I only heard about it last week, but lots of mainstream media is talking about it? Somebody is pushing this.

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
@ajroach42 @thatonecalculator @ItsMeChrisWade

I have SO MANY BAD VIBES about that platform. Would not touch with a ten-foot pole. It's basically MADE of red flags. 😒 🚩🚩

And I only heard about it last week, but lots of mainstream media is talking about it? Somebody is pushing this.

# orderedItems[].object.content
Soyuz on the pad, just after sunrise.

Because launch vehicles tend to launch towards the East to take advantage of the Earth's rotation, the Gagarin-Start pad in Kazakhstan does 'face' eastwards, with the support equipment on the west side, which makes this shot work out nicely.

From "Lunatics!" ep.1 "No Children in Space".

#LunaticsProject | https://lunatics.tv
CC By-SA 4.0

#MastoArt #OpenMovie #Animation #CreativeCommons #Blender3D #NPR3D

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
Soyuz on the pad, just after sunrise.

Because launch vehicles tend to launch towards the East to take advantage of the Earth's rotation, the Gagarin-Start pad in Kazakhstan does 'face' eastwards, with the support equipment on the west side, which makes this shot work out nicely.

From "Lunatics!" ep.1 "No Children in Space".

#LunaticsProject | https://lunatics.tv
CC By-SA 4.0

#MastoArt #OpenMovie #Animation #CreativeCommons #Blender3D #NPR3D

# orderedItems[].object.attachment[].name
View of a Soyuz launch vehicle on the launch pad, from the West looking East, as the Sun rises, low in the sky in what is evidently a telephoto image (that makes the Sun look large, compared to the gantry).

The "cosmotrain" support vehicle with the "Transporter-Erector" is in frame, with the erecting arm still attached to the rocket, but the retaining gantries have been locked to hold it. This is right before releasing the arm and pulling away.

There is also a tanker car in the foreground.

There are workers standing on the gantry, presumably preparing the rocket and gantry for launch the next day.

Art by...
Mech Models: Chris Kuhn
Character Models: Keneisha Perry
Set and Sky Models: Terry Hancock

Released to the public under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, version 4.0.

Attribution to:
"Lunatics Project | lunatics.tv"

# orderedItems[].object.content
Media coverage I've seen strongly suggests corporate media does NOT like to see non-corporate media succeed.

Just saw an article in Forbes that seemed to be going out of its way to dismiss Mastodon as an alternative, favoring some tiny private silo platform I'd never heard of before, run by two people.

"Mastodon is too complicated"
Really? 🤨

I mean, as I see it, the little company is either going to federate, or they're doomed.

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
Media coverage I've seen strongly suggests corporate media does NOT like to see non-corporate media succeed.

Just saw an article in Forbes that seemed to be going out of its way to dismiss Mastodon as an alternative, favoring some tiny private silo platform I'd never heard of before, run by two people.

"Mastodon is too complicated"
Really? 🤨

I mean, as I see it, the little company is either going to federate, or they're doomed.

# orderedItems[].object.content
@atomicpoet

I think what it is is "more fair". So long as there are costs to running a server, we cannot physically provide "free and equal access for all".

But running a small server is not really THAT expensive -- I'm looking at budgeting about $20/mo for this, for managed hosting.

So it's already not MUCH of a barrier.

And the alternative is a "free service" provided at the cost of your soul, from a corporate provider. So...

Okay, yes, not perfect, but _better_.

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
@atomicpoet

I think what it is is "more fair". So long as there are costs to running a server, we cannot physically provide "free and equal access for all".

But running a small server is not really THAT expensive -- I'm looking at budgeting about $20/mo for this, for managed hosting.

So it's already not MUCH of a barrier.

And the alternative is a "free service" provided at the cost of your soul, from a corporate provider. So...

Okay, yes, not perfect, but _better_.

# orderedItems[].object.content
I like Mastodon quite a bit, but don't get TOO attached to it. It's just a software server. The IMPORTANT part is that it is federated and interoperates with other software.

Some of the people you are chatting with on here aren't using Mastodon.

For example, I'm actually on a "Hometown" instance. Further afield there are choices like Pleroma, Misskey, Friendica, etc.

You're not locked-in, so you might move to different software in the future.

Takes some of the pressure off!

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
I like Mastodon quite a bit, but don't get TOO attached to it. It's just a software server. The IMPORTANT part is that it is federated and interoperates with other software.

Some of the people you are chatting with on here aren't using Mastodon.

For example, I'm actually on a "Hometown" instance. Further afield there are choices like Pleroma, Misskey, Friendica, etc.

You're not locked-in, so you might move to different software in the future.

Takes some of the pressure off!

# orderedItems[].object.content
Last chance to get in a #Caturday post... Pirate supervises a construction project (or deconstruction -- I was taking apart the kids' old playset, as it had become unsafe. Planning to reuse the lumber).

She's the eldest of our cats, and basically regards herself as The Queen of our household.

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
Last chance to get in a #Caturday post... Pirate supervises a construction project (or deconstruction -- I was taking apart the kids' old playset, as it had become unsafe. Planning to reuse the lumber).

She's the eldest of our cats, and basically regards herself as The Queen of our household.

# orderedItems[].object.attachment[].name
A long-haired black cat with white "boots" -- our elder cat "Pirate" -- stands on the end of a treated lumber board, tail raised high, as if looking over the work.

# orderedItems[].object.content
I designed this set of posters in 2018, for my daughter, and had extras printed. They present the worlds of the solar system in tiered scales with relevant facts.

They are a collection of five 19x27" posters that can be displayed together or separately.

For sale from

https://books.anansi.space

(via Gumroad).
$60 for the set, or $15 individually.
Shipping is $12-USA, $16-Canada, $25 elsewhere.

And until I run out, you get a free "Lunatics!" character poster as a wrap.

Boosts appreciated!

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
I designed this set of posters in 2018, for my daughter, and had extras printed. They present the worlds of the solar system in tiered scales with relevant facts.

They are a collection of five 19x27" posters that can be displayed together or separately.

For sale from

https://books.anansi.space

(via Gumroad).
$60 for the set, or $15 individually.
Shipping is $12-USA, $16-Canada, $25 elsewhere.

And until I run out, you get a free "Lunatics!" character poster as a wrap.

Boosts appreciated!

# orderedItems[].object.attachment[].name
Two posters showing the inner solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, and Mars, as well as some significant asteroids.

The left poster features a NASA radar image of the surface of Venus, emphasizing the surface features, rendered in a yellow-orange color, which is complemented by the orange/yellow rendering of the Sun's disk, is shown as an incomplete limit in the frame.

Notes indicate the correct scale, and there are four surface images at the bottom with surface images from Venus, Moon, Earth, and Mars.

The right poster is dominated by the Earth, with the Moon and Mars at the same scale. An inset shows some notable belt asteroids, including Ceres and Vesta.

Along the top of the posters, there are images at a smaller scale that will match the giant planets in the remaining three posters.

# orderedItems[].object.attachment[].name
Three posters showing the bodies of the Outer Solar System.

The first is mostly dedicated to the Jupiter system (though it also includes some information about the Trojan Asteroids and comets).

There are no surface photos, but insets show some close-ups of the landforms on the Galilean moons.

The second poster is dedicated to the Saturn system., with an extra inset about the Centaur minor planets, which orbit between Saturn and Uranus.

There is an inset showing landforms and the one surface picture we have of Titan, taken by the Huygens lander on the Cassini mission.

The final poster gathers best-available imagery of Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, their moons, and the known Trans-Neptunian Objects, which is an ongoing exploration at this point.

The imagery is taken from public domain imagery sources -- mainly NASA.

# orderedItems[].object.attachment[].name
Lineup of the characters from "Lunatics!" on a concept-art poster from our 2012 Kickstarter (left-to-right):

Allen Emerson - Resident Metaconceptual Artist

Rob Lerner - Engineer / Project Founder
Hiromi Lerner - Medic/ Nutritionist
Georgiana Lerner - Student

Tim Farmer - Student, But Older
Anya Titova (m. Farmer) - Business Manager
Josh Farmer - Agricultural Scientist ("In Fact, A Farmer")

Sarah Allison - Resident Lunar Geologist and EVA Expert

I have a number of these left over, so I've been using them (rather than craft paper) to protectively wrap the Solar System posters. They are 13x19", so they just cover the rolled-up 19"x27" posters, if I roll them long-ways!

# orderedItems[].object.content
I am so glad to be on a small instance right now. The tsunami is coming. The MastodonUserCount bot reports over 25,000 new users in the last 2 hours.

Presumably because of the mass resignation at Twitter and that "RIPTwitter" is now trending on Twitter?

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
I am so glad to be on a small instance right now. The tsunami is coming. The MastodonUserCount bot reports over 25,000 new users in the last 2 hours.

Presumably because of the mass resignation at Twitter and that "RIPTwitter" is now trending on Twitter?

# orderedItems[].object.content
Bear in mind, that while Twitter only lost maybe 1% of its userbase, Mastodon approximately doubled its total users and "active users" went up by a FACTOR OF FIVE.

Scaling up, that would be like Twitter absorbing another BILLION users. And I suspect we'd be seeing a WHOLE LOT OF "FAILWHALE" at that point.

I do NOT think the notion that a centralized corporation can outrun a distributed network of volunteer organizers is borne out by the data.

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
Bear in mind, that while Twitter only lost maybe 1% of its userbase, Mastodon approximately doubled its total users and "active users" went up by a FACTOR OF FIVE.

Scaling up, that would be like Twitter absorbing another BILLION users. And I suspect we'd be seeing a WHOLE LOT OF "FAILWHALE" at that point.

I do NOT think the notion that a centralized corporation can outrun a distributed network of volunteer organizers is borne out by the data.

# orderedItems[].object.content
Listened to a podcaster spreading the narrative that the "volunteer network" of Mastodon (obviously) couldn't keep up with the extra load of users from the powerful corporation of Twitter.

Because of profit incentives and market theory, see?

EXCEPT....

Observe this load metric: "average users per node across the fediverse":

Jun 27 - 670
Oct 27 - 755
Nov 11 - 852 (peak)
Nov 12 - 748
Nov 16 - 774

We seem to be adapting okay. When the load hit, people started deploying more instances.

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
Listened to a podcaster spreading the narrative that the "volunteer network" of Mastodon (obviously) couldn't keep up with the extra load of users from the powerful corporation of Twitter.

Because of profit incentives and market theory, see?

EXCEPT....

Observe this load metric: "average users per node across the fediverse":

Jun 27 - 670
Oct 27 - 755
Nov 11 - 852 (peak)
Nov 12 - 748
Nov 16 - 774

We seem to be adapting okay. When the load hit, people started deploying more instances.

# orderedItems[].object.content
My source on this is linked below. There are several choices for what to graph, as there are a number of useful metrics.

MAU is a popular metric for "real" users -- as opposed to abandoned or never-used accounts.

In this case, it's measuring the whole Fediverse, not just the Mastodon network, but Mastodon is by-far the largest Fediverse application.

https://the-federation.info/

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
My source on this is linked below. There are several choices for what to graph, as there are a number of useful metrics.

MAU is a popular metric for "real" users -- as opposed to abandoned or never-used accounts.

In this case, it's measuring the whole Fediverse, not just the Mastodon network, but Mastodon is by-far the largest Fediverse application.

https://the-federation.info/

# orderedItems[].object.content
#introduction
My main creative work is a #FreeCulture #OpenMovie #Animated #ScienceFiction "series" https://lunatics.tv for which I am still finishing a pilot episode.

I also spend a lot of time on exploring, testing, and promoting #FOSS tools, like #Blender , #Inkscape , #Kdenlive , #Audacity , #Ardour , #PapagayoNG , #ResourceSpace , #Gitea , and #PeerTube .

In the past, I've been an #Astronomer with an interest in #BioAstronomy .

Texas. Married. 3 adult kids.

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
#introduction
My main creative work is a #FreeCulture #OpenMovie #Animated #ScienceFiction "series" https://lunatics.tv for which I am still finishing a pilot episode.

I also spend a lot of time on exploring, testing, and promoting #FOSS tools, like #Blender , #Inkscape , #Kdenlive , #Audacity , #Ardour , #PapagayoNG , #ResourceSpace , #Gitea , and #PeerTube .

In the past, I've been an #Astronomer with an interest in #BioAstronomy .

Texas. Married. 3 adult kids.

# orderedItems[].object.content
Well, that was a lot rougher than I was hoping, but I just completed the migration from mastodon.art.

Going to wait awhile to see if all the CSV data gets imported properly.

I'm afraid some follower accounts didn't come over, but if you're seeing this, you are not one of those. I left a note on the other side for them.

I think that's the best I can do.

# orderedItems[].object.contentMap.en
Well, that was a lot rougher than I was hoping, but I just completed the migration from mastodon.art.

Going to wait awhile to see if all the CSV data gets imported properly.

I'm afraid some follower accounts didn't come over, but if you're seeing this, you are not one of those. I left a note on the other side for them.

I think that's the best I can do.