@leftsidestory@mstdn.socialCivic Museums IV - Relics🏛️
民间博物馆 IV - 残垣 🏛️
📷 Pentax MX
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@danyork@mastodon.social
@stefan@gardenstate.socialThere is both where you draw a line on spectrum and how you judge people on either side of the line.
If where you draw the line is much stricter then where other draw it then folks who do better then average but worse then what you expect become a group of people you have to make a decision about.
do you treat them the same as those who are below everyone's line? Or do you address them separately?
@tschfflr@fediscience.org"which emojis are used the least often?" - Great question, and we rarely find data on this! But luckily, we studied this at least for two corpora with German users (and admittedly only for face emojis). So: Many object or symbol emojis (from the "tail end" of the emoji list) are very, very rarely used. Overall, faces and hearts are the most frequent. Among the face emojis, we compiled the full list of usages from a huge Twitter corpus (semi-public communication, 2014-2022) and a much small WhatsApp chat corpus (private or group communication). You can find the frequencies in this table linked below (and sort by frequency by clicking on the column). The least frequent face emoji in the large corpus was the "frowning face with open mouth" 😦, which most people have never seen before. Personally, I think it's pretty ambiguous and not very useful, as there are better emojis for anything it might express. #emojis #linguistics #WorldEmojiDay
https://tscheffler.github.io/2024-Face-Emoji-Norming/ratings.html
@leftsidestory@mstdn.socialParts IV ⚙️
部分 IV ⚙️
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@dr2chase@ohai.socialLogged in to Twitter to retrieve these worthy images from a poster session long ago:
#teleportation #commute #biking
@cdarwin@c.imIn all, 57 Trump officials are worth at least $100 million,
including 17 ambassadors
and the remaining 40 in senior posts across the executive branch.
Look no further than Trump’s Cabinet.
Eight of its 23 members fit the category,
notably Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Education Secretary Linda McMahon, both billionaires.
@lpryszcz@genomic.social“Why just destroy them when we can reverse engineer them and find the secrets of those spying on us?” one of the hackers, from a collective calling itself stegan0gram, said in an interview. “We liberated hardware in the field, disarmed them, and proceeded with reverse engineering of the cameras and associated solar equipment.”
@georgiamuseum@glammr.usSummer is in full swing, and the Georgia Museum of Art has been busy with a beloved community program. Art Adventures is a free, immersive art education experience for local youth organizations. Sessions are held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in June and July and combine gallery tours, sensory experiences, games and hands-on activities to create a captivating learning experience that engages a variety of age groups.
1/
@Techmeme@techhub.socialSources: Nvidia in talks to invest up to $3B in SoftBank-backed data center developer SB Energy that aims to IPO soon and is behind a huge OpenAI campus in Ohio (The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/nvidia-talks…
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot"Part of the new shamelessness we’re seeing is just what happens when this amount of financial, mediagenic, technological and military weaponry is concentrated in the hands of this very small, unaccountable group of people. They stop trying to seduce us in any way." -- Naomi Klein
#Davos
#GazaGenocide
@aral@mastodon.ar.alOh, look, it’s a dickhead.
Hey, dickhead, how goes?
Being a dickhead, you probably don’t care that Palestinians are blocked from setting up fundraisers for themselves as part of the West’s complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide. But hey, facts don’t care that you’re a dickhead so it’s still true.
If I could GoFundMe you a fucking conscience, I would.
Dickhead. @npub1k06ctulq8rcaen067tt6z3y6gxrqtsuje5em5lcn009zfpp0t7gqf0zyu9@momostr.pink
@imprs_solar@academiccloud.socialA group of IMPRS doctoral researchers got to experience the total solar eclipse in Spain yesterday. Here is a picture taken during totality. Location: Mambrilla de Castrejón, Burgos, Spain, Photographer: Betty Tsai.
#solareclipse #solareclipse2026
@aredridel@kolektiva.socialFor those that don't know, I help run a large women in technology chat group on Slack. It's been going for 11 years now! (ask me for an invite if you want one and that's appropriate!)
It has deeply shaped how I think about technology, especially the social side. There is so much embodied knowledge in that community, it's amazing. And it's also such a window into how much the mainstream of technology writing is dominated by men. We talk about it differently! We're much more likely to be critical, and to be critical of the _structures_ in tech. Sometimes that comes off as kneejerk "Ugh BRIAN!" to some of the bullshit men to do women in the workplace, but also embedded underneath is an understanding of rarely-mapped power structures in the field. So much advice out there is written assuming that there is no dissent, no silent frustration, no quiet abandoning the job when the pressures are unresolved. And so much of the tech world, press and on social media alike, has no insight that this attrition even happens.
Women, collectively, though, understand it. We notice the patterns of promotions. We understand the way that if we're in our 40s, we're rather likely to have a manager who is a decade younger than we are, with no particular experience. We notice when men are lauded for spending time with their family instead of work on occasion, but women are expected to be present at all times and rarely seen positively for doing the exact same things.
And yet, any given instance is always shrouded in deniability. The pattern generally holds, but is this one my fault? Do I not measure up? Or is it sexism?
That's what these structures rob from us: we never have the clarity in feedback that it is accurate, that is us that must change. When we stick to our guns, are we being obstinate, or are we correct? That information is denied to us by sexism. It only becomes clear in aggregate, and even then it is very hard to find action to take on it except to acknowledge it and move on.
I don't think people talk about that ambiguity enough: we're always looking for the clear sexism, the man speaking over the women, the trading sexual favors for advancement, the clear pattern of pet-to-threat that so many women experience as they age or gain skill in the field. But the bulk of sexism that we experience is in the structural poisoning of feedback.
@shaun@mastodon.xyz @cdarwin@c.imA group of Jewish voters in Michigan
is urging support for Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the state’s Democratic nominee for Senate,
in an open letter that acknowledges concerns among some Jewish voters about his candidacy and his criticism of Israel.
The letter, signed by more than 500 people who identify as Jewish leaders or voters in the state,
says that the election of Dr. El-Sayed, a staunch critic of Israel,
is “clearly the better choice for Jews” compared with his R…
@newsie@darktundra.xyzHackers Stole Flock’s Camera Software, Revealing How the Company Tracks Cars and People https://www.404media.co/hackers-stole-flocks-camera-software-revealing-how-the-company-tracks-cars-and-people-2/
@davidaugust@mastodon.online(person hoping to curry investment) “Hey everybody, a small group of people are making machines that have a 10% chance of killing all humans.”
(everyone else) “Oh. Then I guess we better kill all the people making those machines today, as an act of self defense, right?”
(first person) “uh…um…huh.”
@hex@kolektiva.socialNow, I don't especially like the term "church" so I may use something else... like "coven." You can do what you want. But I happen to have already mapped out an example. (It is exactly that, just an example, so take if it's useful, change if you need, and don't stick to anything too closely.) Oh, this mapping also means that you would, for religious reasons, only be allowed to work under capitalism 4 days a week instead of 5.
Given the increases in productivity over the last 100 years, a 4 day work week is a completely reasonable expectation. If we have to annex Monday for the weekend by force of religion, so be it. It is rightfully ours anyway. If enough people try it, this will probably work. If it doesn't work, it just needs more people.
The Practice of Worship:
It is recommended to break down worship in to three sections: the functional, the communal, and the spiritual. It is also recommended to break these across multiple days. A common structure for some Christian churches is to take 10-15 minutes for announcements (Functional), an hour or two for services (Spiritual), followed by (Communal) coffee, tea, and cookies for an unspecified time up to two hours after. When starting or working with limited time a single compressed model like this may work, but it's not optimal.
- The Functional
The purpose of this section is to address the functional needs of the coven. Block out time (less than 90 minute blocks is recommended) to go through reports and updates from those involved in the Dispensary, Library, Works Committee (infrastructure), and Services Committee (providing services internally and, potentially, externally). Talk through any additional announcements, including those from other covens you may be federated with.
It is helpful to include unstructured communal time, such as shared meals, during or after functional meetings. As the federation grows, more time will be needed. It is recommended to break functional meetings, work parties, and such across multiple days. When a federation becomes sufficiently large, it is recommended to take every Monday, on top of Saturday and Sunday, as a third day of community and worship.
The scope of the functional spans 3 realms (which may be more-or-less fluid): the personal or family, the coven and federation, and humanity itself. It is up to each coven and individual to negotiate how to allocate the three days of the weekend once we have liberated Monday from the work week, but it is important to reserve it for one of these three. However, some people must work on weekends. Medical personnel, for example, cannot conform to a standard work week. While the work week should be universally restricted, which specific days are used will be up to the specific coven and their members.
A functional meeting can start with an agenda like the following:
Functional Invocation
Announcements
Report Backs
Dispensary
Inventory Check
What is low
What is empty
What is expiring
What is needed
Funds status
Library
Inventory Check and Items needing return
Library acquisition requests
Funds status and budget check
Works Committee
Upcoming projects
Subcommittee updates (Following the Works Committee agenda)
New committee formations
Funds status
Services Committee
New capabilities announcements
New needs requests
Subcommittee updates (Following the Works Committee agenda)
New committee formations
Funds status
Task Check
Breaking the Circle
This agenda is a suggestion for those who don't know where to start. It can be adapted or ignored as appropriate.
- The Spiritual
Spirituality is necessarily an undefined space. It is deeply personal. Each individual taking time to share their own personal spiritual experiences can help each connect with each other. This experience of connection can itself be a spiritual experience. It may also be useful to read esoteric, mystical, or philosophical texts together as type of "book club" and share thoughts. Others may draw from their own knowledge or traditions. This is something that must be defined together within a group.
- The Communal
The communal aspect of the practice of worship bind the coven and federation together. Within the community we find joy and release, connection and comfort. The coven is where we turn in times of need, and where we share our hopes and dreams.
@toxi@mastodon.thi.ng07:16 AM
What a morning and long day it was last week! Was already out & about for 3 hours when I got to this place, earlier mostly taking hundreds of images of the nearby (~500m away) Breslauer Hut and vicinity during sunrise... The first large (and loud) group of people already got up at 4AM, getting ready for climbing Wildspitze, another group left an hour later, as did I. Maintenance/repair works on the hut continued at 08:30, taking lots more pictures to document, interviewin…
@jake4480@c.im @leftsidestory@mstdn.socialCity Clouds V ⛅️
城市云朵 V ⛅️
📷 Yashica 635
🎞️ LUCKY SHD 100 (6x6)
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@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialRandom thought that goes interesting places:
There are a lot of cheap ways to spend money to drastically improve the quality of life for lots of people (UBI, mosquito nets, digging wells, etc.). Those people almost invariably become way more economically productive in aggregate when this happens, far above the costs involved, if you measure from the perspective of the affected group. So for billionaires looking for outsized returns on investments, why not simply spend on some of these programs, then invest in a broad index of socks that are going to go up as a result?
The answer could be "billionaires by their nature are too evil to think of this," which, could be true....
But I think there's a deeper answer, which is that there *is no* bundle of stocks that goes up as humans flourish. This is directly contrary to neoliberal economic doctrine/propaganda, but it also has an explanation that's obvious from the neoliberal doctrine itself: the stock market is a gambling arena for bets on corporate profits. Corporate profits are money taken in in excess of costs. But the value of a corporation is not produced abstractly by the mere existence of the organization; it's produced by the labor of humans working for the organization, with raw materials that the organization purchases. So to make a profit, an organization has to do some combination of paying its workers less than the value the create, and/or paying less for it's raw materials than they are really worth. The more it does these two things, the more profit it can generate.
Notice that these two profit-generating activities directly and indirectly immiserate humans, *and* that reducing human misery by means other than reducing these activities makes them harder. People who have other means of income won't sell their labor for less than it's worth, nor will they sell their resources below their fair value. Only desperate people will agree to terms that corporations require to be profitable.
This is not a "Marxist analysis" by the way; it's the direct application of the basic principles taught in any neoliberal introductory macroeconomics class.
In any case, once we understand that the stock market is "gambling on how much corporations can exploit their employees/suppliers/customers", it's clear why you can't make money from stock investments in companies that profit from flourishing humans: profit is by construction made of human misery.
It also explains a lot of other things, like why private US employers who pay huge amounts of payroll towards health insurance for their employees would be *against* public health insurance that would offload those costs onto all taxpayers: the amount they're able to lower wages as a result of desperation for access to health care is more than worth the direct costs.
This is the central reason why capitalism (defined as: a system where money equals power) is inimical to human happiness: it allows profits built on suffering to be converted into the power to maintain the system of suffering and even extend and intensify it, creating a feedback loop of extractive domination.
Now I'm sure some people might read this and think: what about the good companies? The ones that pay their workers and suppliers a fair wage, and sell their products at fair prices? Even putting aside the fact that such a thing seems less believable than a unicorn these days, such a company by definition does not make a profit. The fair wage for its workers is the value they add to the raw materials it buys, and the fair price for those is the selling price of the finished product minus the value the company adds. The balance sheet will read exactly zero at the end of the day if compensation is actually fair. You can still run a company like this in theory, and even grow it, but of course under capitalism it will just get bought out by an unethical company that is profitable. Could you in some kind of utopian dream world run a tightly regulated series of markets where you have most of what people think capitalism is, without the bad parts? Maybe, but it definitely wouldn't involve actual capitalism, and it wouldn't have a stock market.
#anarchy #capitalism #econimics
@geant@mstdn.social✨ Inside the Community Hub at #TNC26 ✨
With 20 sessions, 50 speakers, and over 600 people engaging with the space across three days, the Community Hub returned to TNC26 as the informal space our community has come to know and love, and this year it grew even further.
With new "Plugged-in" and "Unplugged sessions, the Open Mic and more, it was a great venue for our communi…
@UP8@mastodon.socialSmall group poses with drum and dragon by Cayuga Lake Inlet -- after this event I went to the Juneteenth celebration at Southside community center as did some of the people pictured; more pictures to come!
#photo #photography
@Techmeme@techhub.socialApple unveils AppleCare One Family, extending AppleCare coverage to every eligible device in an Apple Family Sharing group of up to 6 people for $49.99/month (Hartley Charlton/MacRumors)
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/09/09/applecare-one-family-plan/
@aral@mastodon.ar.alPlease help boost this if you can.
Thanks!
#mastodon #fediverse #fediblock @…
@pre@boing.worldI read Naomi Klein's "Doppelganger", mostly by the pool or the beach while on holiday last week.
It isn't really about her being confused with Naomi Wolf, except on a surface level. Or even really about Wolf moving from left feminism towards right wing conspiracy theory.
Really it's about how political culture has changed as the world has moved more online and suffered the consequences of a pandemic and the often wrongheaded political responses to that.
Conspiracy thinking and a whole culture concentrating on reticence and reactionary thinking instead of evidence and logic.
While reading it I was hanging out with some folks who are much more right wing than I generally do. Here's some things they said:
I don't believe in Sunscreen. Isn't it funny how skin cancer rates have gone up as sunscreen becomes more popular.
I don't believe in COVID.
Carbon Warming models don't even take into account the sun.
I thought Chemtrails were a conspiracy theory, but came to believe it.
Claiming to believe in freedom while also wanting a crack-down on asylum-seekers, thinking they are destroying society.
So it's easy to believe Klein's basic thesis here, the worry that reactionary conspiracy thinking is breaking the entire body politic.
I don't think it's that people have lost all rationality. It's that people are wearing their conspiracy theories as badges, identifying them as a member of a group. Like religious beliefs that bind a group, the more stupid and outrageous they are the more those badges work to identify the ingroup from the outgroup.
The worry is always when they decide the outgroup need punishing for not taking on those conspiracy beliefs and turn to suppression and violence.
#reading #books #worldPol
@drbruced@aus.social
@privacity@social.linux.pizzaDecentralized Social Media: What Creators Need To Know About Web3 Platforms
Most people don’t think about where their social media actually lives.
And if that doesn’t sit right with you, you’re not alone. That’s a little too much power for a small group of people to wield.
Here’s the good news: A different kind of social media is starting to grow in the background. One built on openness, transparency, and user control instead of central control.
@cdarwin@c.imA secondhand e-cargo bike has delivered me into a select but growing group of people who know how to make errands fun.
https://www.mattpedals.bike/i-joined-a-cargo-cult/?gift=DbPvJMy7Cqul_s6MKP_FwMoOvLDZsxVf
@mlncn@social.coopSupport Sudanese people still working for the promise of Sudan's 2018 revolution.
https://opencollective.com/support-sudanese-comrades
@ruth_mottram@fediscience.orgA splendid evening havibg a summer garden party (in spite of cool and showery weather) with the research group! I am fortunate indeed to have such brilliant colleagues and students. And they're all such multifaceted and interesting people too.
@imprs_solar@academiccloud.socialWait, this happened already one month ago? High time to share these pictures then:
Please enjoy these views taken during the Gänseliesel ceremony in Göttingen on July 24, when IMPRS graduates Prithwitosh Dey, Ilse de Langen, Neelanchal Joshi and Sanghita Chandra went to kiss the goose girl statue atop the fountain on Göttingen's central market square.
A Gänseliesel ceremony afternoon begins with a highly official part in the university's classical Aula building. Upon ex…
@hex@kolektiva.socialThe thing about training an #LLM on human culture and then renting that culture back isn't that it's "Intellectual Property Theft." There's nothing wrong with sharing. There is something wrong with framing LLMs as piracy. That's a completely different concept.
When a powerful group of people takes the writing, the art, the music, various parts of a culture and then make some bland reproduction that lacks all the meaning and essence in the original, then those powerful people profit off that mess while the people who made the original stuff are erased, marginalized, and made to suffer, there is a different term for that.
The term everyone is looking for is "appropriation."
I'm not saying this is the same as other forms of cultural appropriation, but there are definitely enough shared elements that we should revisit that conversation. Perhaps some folks who thought the idea was silly when the idea first came up may feel differently now.
@smashtie@mas.toRoy DeCarava
Dancers, New York 1956, Photogravure
Capturing moments from life in New York City's Black neighbourhoods, DeCarava shows ordinary people in dance halls, on the street and in the home, bringing subtle details from a black tonality.
The images were etched onto metal plates using light-sensitive chemicals and acid. The plates were then coated with ink and hand-printed onto paper.
#Tate
@katrinakatrinka@infosec.exchangeRE: https://mstdn.social/@Nshrubs/116850919292546936
And, if there is one group of people whose civil rights can be taken away, no one has civil rights.
That's the goal.
@leftsidestory@mstdn.socialMurky Air ☁️
混浊的空气 ☁️
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@cdarwin@c.imTrump issued 30 clemency grants on Thursday,
including to a drug dealer-turned-business executive,
a longtime Philadelphia union boss convicted of bribery
and a former Navy sailor imprisoned for firearms offenses.
They went to an eclectic group,
continuing Mr. Trump’s unpredictable and unorthodox use of
pardons that wipe away most consequences of convictions
and commutations, which cut short sentences.
@leftsidestory@mstdn.socialEnd of a Trip IV ✈️
旅行结束 IV ✈️
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@tarah@infosec.exchangeJust a weekend thought, apropos of nothing. There have been a lot of times I've been angry at not being included in something I was qualified for, and that anger is worse when it's clear that I've been actively *disincluded* for being a woman. I mostly convert that rage into Achievement Fuel, but it also hurts to see it happen to other women.
When some group or launch or listicle is billed as a gathering of high achievers or the stars of the industry, and it's a dozen or more white men, any woman or person of color who speaks up faces a double challenge. Are they speaking up because they're sour grapes over not being invited? Or are they not collegial or easy to get along with, as made evident by the fact that they're calling out injustice?
If you're a man who finds himself on a manel, speak up. If you're a white woman and you find yourself on a panel of nothing but white women (oh lord, ask me about the egg on my face on this one), speak up. Or better yet, check in advance that the convenor or organizer didn't make a serious mistake without realizing it.
There's room for grace over people's mistakes, but there is no room for not admitting you made one.
@Techmeme@techhub.socialGurman: as part of Vision Pro cuts, Apple is largely shutting down a team focused on gaming and reducing the size of a unit producing immersive video content (Chance Miller/9to5Mac)
https://9to5mac.com/2026/08/21/apple-lays-off-200-people-across-vis…
@cdarwin@c.imLAPD releases video of officers beating handcuffed jail inmate who later died
Los Angeles Police Department officials on Friday released security camera footage showing a group of officers piling on top of a man and beating him
before he died in a San Fernando Valley jail cell,
one of two recent incidents that prompted Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to call for an independent review of police killings of people in mental distress.
A police spokesperson said officers at…
@patrickquin@furry.engineerNot wanting genAI code in the kernel is “puritanical” now. https://bsky.app/profile/esteraxiom.mom/post/3mqrtrd24522m
This is like some evil mirror universe version of the rust in the kernel discourse.
@leftsidestory@mstdn.socialParts VI ⚙️
部分 VI ⚙️
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@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialWish inspiration hadn't struck right at 1 a.m. when I have to teach tomorrow, but we'll see if I can get back to sleep now that I'm done with a draft of this story. Glad to have my first entry in my "incredulous young historians of the future" series actually written instead of just imagined. There are surely some typos ahead...
#SciFi #Writing #Technology #ShortStory
"The Age of Progress", a short story by Tiota Sram.
"Your assignment", said the teacher, "is to describe why the progressive vision of technology that gives us the name 'Age of Progress' today failed, and why it was actually a pessimistic view of technology. Your study guides have links to a few sources, but as usual you should synthesize information from at least two knowledge systems, and one of those shouldn't be family-based."
"Ugh", said Ye'xik, "this is gonna be tricky. Wasn't the whole problem with the Age of Progress that they were too optimistic about technology?"
"Well, they did talk a lot about the end of the world and extinction, and I did almost happen, right?" said Finan.
"Yeah, that's gotta count as pessimism, doesn't it?" Gedi chimed in.
"Well..." said Hallavia, with their usual deliberate tone, "I think it's not that simple, or at least it doesn't have to be."
The four of them were walking outside to have lunch, pondering the new assignment from this cycle's history and culture teacher. A brief silence fell as they pondered the Age of Progress.
"Maybe we should look at it through another history system?" offered Finan. "I mean, we've been learning about knowledge systems and lenses, and the 'Ages' lens of just one perspective with its own distortions, right?"
"My mab is working with my omeh on an oral history right now", said Gedi, "maybe I can use that as my second knowledge system? I'll see what they have to say about it!"
"We shouldn't all use the same knowledge systems though", said Ye'xik. "I think there's a bit of a thesis/antithesis thing going on here too? Like we were learning in ideas class?"
"Wait, I missed ideas last week", said Gedi, what's an antithesis?"
"It's just an opposite, really", said Ye'xik. "You take the thesis statement and construct any statement that contradicts it. The two form a pair, and then you can try to find a synthesis that combines both ideas."
"I didn't really get that part", Finan interrupted, "like, if they're contradictory, how could they be expressed together? Wouldn't you need to pick one that's true?... wait I guess maybe if you mixed different knowledge systems? But then would they really be contradictory?"
The group fell silent for a moment in thought.
Hallavi spoke up: "Incommensurate isn't the same as contradictory, I think. That's what it would be if you had two truths from different knowledge systems that didn't fit. Plus... not all knowledge systems have a concept of truth, or of contradiction?"
The group pondered this for a bit more.
"I think maybe there's lots of ways to be contradictory, even in a very logic-hungry knowledge system", said Gedi. "Then if your thesis and antithesis contradict in one way, you could find another sort out 'axis' in which they don't, and state your synthesis from there?"
"Oh, that makes sense", said Ye'xik.
"Anyways what were you saying about the Age of Progress, Ye'xik?" said Gedi.
"Wait", interrupted Hallavi, "Did that mashes sense to you, Finan?"
Finan had been silent, looking down at their feet, but replied "Oh yeah, thanks for checking Hallavi! I think I got the part about synthesis now, thanks Gedi. I was just thinking about optimism and pessimism more. Is that where you were going with this, Ye'xik?"
"Haha, yeah Finan, you got it", said Ye'xik. "Since optimism and pessimism can be opposites, does the teacher actually want us to form a synthesis of them?"
"Oh..." muttered Gedi, "that's a good idea."
"I think..." began Hallavi, pausing to collect their thoughts, "I think the teacher would have told us that, though. Obviously it's not a wrong way to approach this assignment because it incorporates pessimism, but teachers usually aren't too tricky. I think it's okay to be literal about the pessimism thing. And I think I have an idea..."
When Hallavi remained silent for a moment, Ye'xik opened their mouth to speak, but then looked at Hallavi and closed it again. Finan and Gedi were looking at Hallavi too. They pushed through the doors out to the meadow, and settled in their usual place to sit, pulling lunches out of their bags. Hallavi finally spoke up while the others were chewing: "The Age of Progress lasted from the Enlightenment to the Dim Times, and they believed that technology would always get better, no matter what. That's the progressive vision of technology our teacher was talking about. They thought it could solve any problem, and they wouldn't have to worry about weapons or extinctions or the climate or pollution or any of that stuff, because technology would eventually come up with a solution. They looked at the technology that solved problems like diseases or overcame engineering challenges and extrapolated too broadly, basically. That's the idea they had?"
The other three were all nodding their heads, knowing Hallavi needed room to think and put words together.
Hallavi continued: "So it seems like it's optimistic, because they thought it could do anything. But they were thinking about technology like I just talked about it: like an 'it' that could 'do'. That's not what we've been learning in our technology class. Invention is a social phenomenon, and technologies have both material and social bases, not to mention communities of practice and knowledge maintenance. So I think the idea of technological progress divorced from social participation is pessimistic, because it mythologizes technology in a way that makes it seem uncontrollable."
"Huh" said Gedi and Finan while at the same time Ye'xik said "mhmm".
Hallavi looked up shyly at the rest of them, but they were all looking back with admiration.
"I think you're right, Hallavi", said Ye'xik. "Or at least, that's probably what the teacher wanted us to puzzle out. Good thing they asked us to include two knowledge systems so we can each have our own perspectives to contribute, otherwise you'd go first and our presentations would all just be 'What Hallavi said'".
Hallavi blushed but Finan laughed "Hah! You're right and that Ye'xik."
Gedi was looking at their sandwich with some intensity. They looked at Hallavi then back at their sandwich. "It's like they thought they were strapped to an out-of-control rocket, when you put it that way", they said. "It must have been scary, really, to believe that technology was almost an entity, changing in an inevitable way. That word 'inevitable' really takes all the human agency out of it, doesn't it. And even though they kept saying that technology would inevitably solve problems, look at what the technologies they invented actually did!"
Finan shuddered. He added, "Really, it was their dominators who were saying it was inevitable wasn't it? Back then it wasn't like today where historians travel and sample all kinds of ideas, so the primary sources we're reading are almost all from dominators, right?"
Ye'xik responded "Yeah, I keep forgetting to account for that. It was such a weird and horrible time, it's kinda hard to believe everything we read and hear sometimes."
Gedi picked up the thread again "That makes it worse, right? All those dominators saying the stuff they're doing is inevitable, and lying to everyone's faces about it being progress and wonderful stuff, meanwhile two thirds of it is the most awful stuff there's ever been, I mean they could have literally killed everyone and ruined the whole planet, and they almost did."
"They did actually crush a lot of cultures beyond recognition so the survivors had to rebuild with only weak ties to their old traditions", said Hallavi with a quiet intensity.
They all were silent for a moment, pondering the horrors of a bygone age.
Finan broke the silence: "That's a terrible kind of pessimism, to believe that technologcal 'progress' is inevitable, at a time when most people are dominators somewhere in a hierarchy and the ones on top constantly talk about how technologies like medicines will 'save' the world while mostly inventing new technologies of violence. Everyone must have understood what they really meant based on the technologies they were actually developing and investing into. I think I still don't understand how the Age of Progress and the Dim Times could even happen".
"Yeah, and the pessimism is only part of our assignment", signed Ye'xik. "We still have to describe why the progressive vision failed, although I think maybe you just did a lot of that, Finan".
A gloom descended briefly, until Gedi said "Well, this assignment is supposed to take a week or two, right? Thanks to Hallavi we've already cracked the crux, I think, so we don't need to ruminate too much right this moment about ancient history, and we know things turned out okay in the end. Let's finish lunch and go climb a tree!"
@joe@toot.worksIf ICE is going to refuse to obey the law, the Milwaukee PD has to start arresting them.
“Four months after the package was introduced, a small group of ICE agents from Illinois arrived − many wearing masks − and arrested 39 people during the agency's nationwide push to increase detentions from late June to early July. A federal spokesperson said its agents would not follow Milwaukee's law, describing council members as "sanctuary politicians."“
#Milwaukee #ICE #USPol
@hex@kolektiva.social- Definite and distinct ecclesiastical government
This is explicitly defined in your legal documents. It's the way in which you "govern" things that are legally owned by the "church." If you're going to start a church with some people, you need to have a way of working together. The more formal you are about writing all this stuff out, the easier it will be when you *inevitably* have conflict. (Conflict is normal, so everyone should expect it.)
I also wrote something up about this. Again, it's an example (using the term "coven", because I like it more) so take it for what it's worth:
Group agreements are collectively defined rules that describe how members should interact. They may function to simplify interactions, ensure access needs are met, or to protect against the emergence of hierarchical behavior.
You can use the following prompts, or define your own:
- How should we interact with each other?
- What are your access needs?
- What would help you feel safe and respected?
- How should we deal with conflict?
- How do we deal with unanswerable questions?
- What is the process by which we update these agreements?
Write down these agreements. Edit them until you reach consensus. If it isn't possible to reach a consensus, the group may need to break apart to form separate covens.
Keep these available to refer to as they may be needed during services. These agreements will change over time. Keep them updated and be sure to check in regularly, perhaps even through a specific yearly ritual, to make sure they all still apply and no more are needed.
@cdarwin@c.imA group of US lawmakers is sounding the alarm over
prediction market platforms that allow users to bet on wildfires,
as experts warn the emerging trend could raise the risk of arson.
Democratic senators from six states sent a letter this week to the chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC),
an independent government agency regulating platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi,
urging it to rein in the practice.
“As the United States faces yet …
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioIf you want help artists, or any particular group of people being crapped upon, then a good thing to do is to find some of those real actual people, ask them what would be helpful to them, and then listen. Shut up and listen.
It’s hard. Especially the shutting up part. I struggle with that too. That’s what it takes.
@cdarwin@c.imOn Aug. 14, Edith Golub turned 106.
A little over a year ago, Edith and her daughter Sharon joined The Beacon,
a democracy advocacy project launched in 2025 by people concerned about the rise of authoritarianism.
The group proposes pushing back through community connections and “keeping joy alive.”
“The world is not in good condition,” Edith said.
“I never spoke out for anybody or anything, but now if I can, I would like to do everything I could to help them…
@servelan@newsie.social"“Senior TPUSA leaders were ‘livid’ when they first learned the convention was scheduled to take place on the anniversary of the killing of founder Charlie Kirk, according to two people familiar with the group,” Politico’s report reads. “TPUSA was given no advance notice and weren’t consulted about the dates.”"
'Trumpapalooza' enrages as 'livid' Turning Point USA turns its back over Charlie Kirk - Raw Story
https://www.rawstory.com/charlie-kirk-2677841660/
@UP8@mastodon.socialGroup of three celebrating independence day a day early in Groton, NY
#photo #photography #groupportait #groton
@hex@kolektiva.social- Formal code of doctrine and discipline
This is just "what your objectives are." It can be as simple as ULC's "Do That Which is Right" or it can be much more complicated. You would figure that out with your group.
Personally, I would choose something like, "make life as easy as possible for caretakers." I've talked about this in the past. If you focus on care taking then you are feminist by default, you help everyone *at least once*, almost everyone twice, and most people 3 or 4 times:
- Children with supported caretakers do better
- Elderly people with supported caretakers will have a better quality of life
- Parents always need help and will do better when they have it, and the more kids the more support they need
But hey, I'm not here to tell you what to do. You can figure your own things out. (Technically, that last sentence could also be a legitimate formal code or doctrine, so we can move on.)
@tschfflr@fediscience.orgThis morning I wanted to quickly finish a data analysis, only to realize that we'd committed a stupid mistake during data collection 🙈 A stupid mistake that will be very cumbersome and kind of expensive to correct (new data collection with a hard to reach group of people) 😬 Whelp, "learning opportunity" for everyone in the lab - mistakes happen, usually they can be fixed, and DOUBLE CHECK everything #academicChatter
@tomkalei@machteburch.socialWhen thinking about what will happen to #math we can take a look at the sciences. Take biology, for example.
Who does #biology for fun and without technology? And if you do that, what level can you reach?
How many people below the level of say MPI Director do original research?
What’s the group size, ie ratio of professor to non-professor researcher?
What is the role of PhD students in a big biology lab?
Do the labs/groips cooperate or compete?
@cdarwin@c.imScott Wiener,
a gay Jewish state senator and trans rights advocate who is currently the frontrunner in the race to replace the longtime representative Nancy Pelosi in California’s 11th district,
said he felt forced to leave last week’s annual trans pride march in San Francisco
after a group of people ran up to him at a local park where the event was taking place, surrounded him and screamed at him over his positions on Israel’s war on Gaza.
“They were so physically and…
@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialI Can See the Babies
---
Whenever I see a person, my mind automatically conjures up an image of them as a baby. It's not really voluntary, nor is it the same as other mental imagery. More like I'm hallucinating a visual echo of their past self, floating in my vision near where I see the person. As if they were haunted and I could see the ghost.
It's all in my head, I'm pretty sure, and the babies aren't necessarily accurate. I checked once with a friend, and the baby I saw had curly hair even though all their baby pictures were bald. After seeing those pictures, my baby image of them changed, too, to match the pictures. So that's why... That's why I'm pretty sure...
But the babies are real, you know? I mean, my images of them might not be right, but all the people I see *were* babies. It's not like one of those stupid prophecy loopholes like "everyone was born of woman", you see, it's a true universal, no exceptions. And these hallucinations won't let me forget about that. Ever.
I tried to play a videogame once, one of those FPS games. My friends were all playing and they needed one more for their group. They didn't know about... this. I told them I didn't think I could do it, but I didn't want to tell them why, so they badgered me into it. I thought maybe I could handle it, I mean the characters were basically cartoons, right? But... well, I think I dissociated a bit and then threw up. Even if they were cartoons, all those babies, shooting and killing and dying, again and again. It's... it's not like the babies got injured, even, or played out exactly what the characters were doing. The babies just kinda floated around doing baby things, and they sort of faded out when their character died. No, what's overwhelming is the knowledge, the constant reminder, of everyone's former innocence.
The worst part, you know, the most horrible thing, is not just the innocence, it's the gap. Like, if you were to force me to watch a torture scene, I would hate seeing the victim, but it's the torturer that scares me. Everybody knows that horrible things happen to innocent people. We're all forced to think about that from time to time. But the thing almost nobody thinks about as much as me, is how innocent babies *become* monsters. How there's a hurricane of hurt and fear and apathy and indoctrination and hatred and prejudice and complicity out there that sucks in babies and twists them into racists and abusers and "business leaders" and soldiers and all sorts of people who hurt and kill others. The worst are the ones who take pleasure in that hurting, because the babies for sure don't. Like, how did that happen? And most people don't think about it, because they just label that person as "bad" and don't think about it any deeper. But you can't do that when you can see the baby right there. The baby isn't bad. The person might be, I'm not trying to say everyone's an angel or people don't deserve to reap what they sow. But the baby wasn't! Something between then and now went wrong, horribly wrong, and now you're stuck with a person that hurts others, and you need a drastic intervention just to stop them, let alone prevent them from doing that stuff again and change their future behavior. But you can *see*, or at least, I can see, that there was always some earlier point, some missed opportunity, where some much easier intervention could have headed the whole thing off. None of those babies are destined to turn into monsters, and that's the gap. The gap between the little baby that was and the monster in front of you on the screen or in real life.
Anyways that's it. That's my statement. I'm not a pacifist or anything, but I think you can see why I can't do it, I just can't. You can lock me up or punish me or whatever, but there's just no way you're gonna put a gun in my hands and give me an order and I'll just follow it, because I can see the babies.
#Microfiction
@cdarwin@c.imAbdul El-Sayed, the Democratic US Senate candidate in Michigan,
has hit back at Republican vice-president JD Vance’s onslaught against him,
saying it is “evil” to deprive people of healthcare and affordable groceries.
Vance, in a Monday speech that railed against undocumented immigrants, cast El-Sayed as representative of “terrible evil”
and as someone who fights for “one group at the expense of others”.
El-Sayed, who would become the first Muslim US senator if …
@cdarwin@c.imEight people were sentenced to prison June 23, 2026, in connection with the nonfatal shooting of an Alvarado police officer outside the Prairieland Detention Center July 4, 2025.
Authorities have called it the first-ever federal terrorism case associated with “antifa.”
From top left: Savanna Batten, Meagan Morris, Daniel Sanchez Estrada, Elizabeth (left) and Ines Soto, Zachary Evetts, Autumn Hill (left), Maricela Rueda, Benjamin Song (left)
@cdarwin@c.imTulsi Gabbard, her guru and the mysterious messages that helped shape her political career
I’d been asking people about Chris Butler,
the eccentric religious leader Tulsi Gabbard once described as her guru.
Gabbard grew up in Butler’s breakaway Hare Krishna group.
Her parents held senior positions in the organization.
Butler’s followers practice a form of Hinduism that involves devotion to a single deity,
in their case Krishna,
and certain expectations…
@smurthys@hachyderm.ioA super closeup of yoga narasimha of Kaniyooru Matha, Udupi. Not my picture.
BTW presently only nine people in this world are allowed to even touch this idol. (There'll ever be at most 16.) That's a truly exclusive and privileged group but also one with a lot of responsibility. #ama
#art #sculpture #Udupi #India
