👋 Hello #fediverse! I'm going into a meeting at 4ET to talk about our newsroom's social media options.

If you think our station and other #NPR stations should have a Mastodon server or a broader presence in the #fediverse, pls boost this post. If you have thoughts, please reply, I want to hear them!

#NASA's #Curiosity rover (on Mars), got a major software update, the first one since 2016. 180 changes:
https://mars.nasa.gov/news/9378/nasas-curiosity-mars-rover-gets-a-major-software-upgrade/

Big changes:
• Thinking while driving: similar to #Perseverance's AutoNav, albeit without the dedicated hardware
• Less steering, depending on rocks under the wheels: a previously rejected "nice to have" feature, now implemented
• Easier software patches
• More efficient and accurate robotic arm and masthead pointing

Image by JPL-Caltech/MSSS

#MSL #Solarocks #Space

I need your help…

NPR is leaving Twitter but they are planning to focus on Instagram

We need to tell them to join the Fediverse

Many of their journalists’ accounts, as well as their main account, haven’t been active on mastodon. Tell them how much we need them here. (In fact, they should have their own instance)

Use the link, tell NPR we are waiting for them here and spread the word far and wide:

https://help.npr.org/contact/s/

“Help,” cries the journalist, “I’m being held captive by Elon Musk!”

He calls out from the unlocked cage, door wide open, to which he holds the key in his own hands.

“Quickly,” he begs now, “I can’t bear the thought that someone might think I’m paying for this.”

He gestures to the searing blue legacy checkmark, a brand affixed not to his skin, but the cage.

Concerned passersby leave treats at the door, in the hopes he might free himself. But alas, he shall surely starve.

Historians have a word for Germans who joined the Nazi party, not because they hated Jews, but out of a hope for restored patriotism, or a sense of economic anxiety, or a hope to preserve their religious values, or dislike of their opponents, or raw political opportunism, or convenience, or ignorance, or greed. That word is "Nazi."

Historians study their motives, but there is a broad understanding: their motives don’t exonerate them.

They're not just fighting to deny the fundamental human rights of those people you don't like.

They're fighting against the very concept that anyone has fundamental human rights.

⚠️ This will one day bite you on the backside, too.

Be wary of any government trying to deny anyone their rights. It's just another way for them to put more power into their own hands.

If you think that politicians increasing their own power won't eventually impact your freedom as well, then you're a fool.