Mastodawn

Shared by @MintSpies this morning, I'm reposting as this is one of the more thoughtful pieces I have read about becoming (or staying) sane and healthy in an insane sick world. I'm bookmarking it so that I can go back to it as necessary. https://kristie-de-garis.ghost.io/to-be-right-you-must-first-be-wrong/

Five Things I Was Wrong About (Until I Was Right)

The truth matters. But I’ve learned that getting to it usually means being wrong first. And being wrong—really wrong—is the best way to figure out what’s actually right. Because of that, I don’t get too attached to what I believe—just to the idea that

By Hand

Geert Aarts Feb 18

Cory Doctorow Feb 18

Thomas Piketty's 2013 unexpected bestseller (a 750 page economics book translated from French!) *Capital in the 21st Century*, offers a very convincing explanation of our political decay, and it continues to serve this purpose as the decay undergoes alarming acceleration:

https://memex.craphound.com/2014/06/24/thomas-pikettys-capital-in-the-21st-century/

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/18/pikettys-productivity/#reaganomics-revenge

Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century – Cory Doctorow's MEMEX

Geert Aarts Feb 15

Show thread

Martin Escardo Feb 15

Also, I foresee that UK and European universities that have relatively recently replaced their own IT systems by Microsoft may soon deeply regret this decision.
3/

Geert Aarts Feb 14

Heliomass Feb 14

📖 “Bringing Quote Posts to Mastodon” https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/02/bringing-quote-posts-to-mastodon/

The implementation strategy looks good. Keeps the control in the hands of the person who wrote the post being quoted rather than the other way round.

Bringing Quote Posts to Mastodon

Sharing our thinking and progress on bringing Quote Posts to Mastodon, with a goal to create a safe and respectful space for everyone.

Mastodon Blog

Geert Aarts Feb 14

Kate

Feb 14

Foraging seals enable scientists to measure fish abundance across the vast Pacific Ocean https://phys.org/news/2025-02-foraging-enable-scientists-fish-abundance.html 🦭 #Seals #MarineMammals #MarineLife #MarineBiology #Pinnipeds

Foraging seals enable scientists to measure fish abundance across the vast Pacific Ocean

Over the past 60 years, marine biologists at UC Santa Cruz have monitored the behavior of northern elephant seals that journey to nearby Año Nuevo Natural Reserve. With the seals gathering on the beach by the thousands to breed and molt, generations of researchers have been able to amass more than 350,000 observations on over 50,000 seals.

Phys.org

Geert Aarts Feb 13

AI6YR Ben Feb 13

AP: A humpback whale briefly swallows kayaker in Chilean Patagonia - and it's all captured on camera https://abc7.com/post/humpback-whale-briefly-swallows-kayaker-chilean-patagonia-captured-camera/15902913/ #whale #wildlife

A humpback whale briefly swallows kayaker in Chilean Patagonia - and it's all captured on camera

A humpback whale briefly swallowed a kayaker off Chilean Patagonia before quickly releasing him unharmed.

Geert Aarts Feb 2

Beach sunset on #texel (in Netherlands)
#SilentSunday

Geert Aarts Jan 28

Melissa Jan 28

Thanks to several people here! I'm ditching Google maps and switching to:
https://organicmaps.app/ for my Android phone
and
OpenStreetMap https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=4/38.01/-95.84 for laptop

Organic Maps: Offline Hike, Bike, Trails and Navigation

Fast detailed offline maps for travelers, tourists, drivers, hikers and cyclists created by MapsWithMe (Maps.Me) app founders.

Geert Aarts Jan 25

Jeff Atwood Jan 25

“Am I telling you to bury your head in the sand? Far from it. I am telling you to moderate your exposure to the bullshit.” https://buttondown.com/monteiro/archive/how-to-survive-being-online/

How to survive being online

Wee little union sign I painted in 2022, maybe? This week’s question comes to us anonymously: How do we survive being online? Erika and I bought a radio. For...

Mike Monteiro’s Good News

Geert Aarts Jan 17

European Commission Jan 17

We are committed to ensuring that every platform operating in the EU respects our legislation.

Today, we are taking further steps to shed light on the compliance of X's recommender systems with the Digital Services Act.

More info ↓
https://europa.eu/!dTNymV

Seals	Harbour and grey seal research in Netherlands and recently also Arctic pinnipeds (harp seals, ringed seals and Walrus), and also some work on harbour porpoises
Sustainability	Degrowth: If we seriously want to create a sustainable future, I believe we need to change our economic system fueling over-consumption. The #degrowth and #postgrowth vision seems most promising. Keen to pursue more research in this area