Ross

@[email protected]
18 Followers
73 Following
42 Posts
Software Development graduate from Glasgow. Currently not putting those skills to use. I'm interested in #socialism, #marxism and #anticapitalism and always trying to further my understanding of each. I also dither in #game_dev using #Godot.
Githubhttps://github.com/yerbestpal
Twitterhttps://www.twitter.com/yerbestpal
Reddithttps://www.reddit.com/user/yerbestpal
PronounsHe/him
RossJul 20, 2023
Cory DoctorowJul 20, 2023

Holy shit, this paragraph from #YanisVaroufakis's next book, #TechnoFeudalism:

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/451795/technofeudalism-by-varoufakis-yanis/9781847927279

Technofeudalism

Capitalism is dead. The #1 bestselling economist shows how the owners of big tech have become the world's feudal overlords. ‘What an amazing piece of work this is. Everyone should read it. 100 out of 100’ IRVINE WELSH In his boldest and most far-reaching book yet, world-famous economist Yanis Varoufakis argues that capitalism is dead and a new economic era has begun. Insane sums of money that were supposed to re-float our economies in the wake of the financial crisis and the pandemic have ended up supercharging big tech's hold over every aspect of the economy. Capitalism's twin pillars - markets and profit - have been replaced with big tech's platforms and rents. Meanwhile, with every click and scroll, we labour like serfs to increase its power. Welcome to technofeudalism. Drawing on stories from Greek Myth and pop culture, from Homer to Mad Men, Varoufakis explains this revolutionary transformation: how it enslaves our minds, how it rewrites the rules of global power and ultimately what it will take overthrow it. **A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR** ‘An epochal, once-in-a-millennium shift . . . this isn't just new technology. This is the world grappling with an entirely new economic system and therefore political power’ Carole Cadwalladr, Observer ‘With superb storytelling, Varoufakis shows how capitalism has eaten itself alive’ Brett Scott, author of Cloudmoney

RossJul 20, 2023
Yassie > moved to 0w0.isJul 20, 2023

The UK uses metric in pretty much every avenue of life, except notably on the road, where yards and miles are used.

Except… Not really. The Dept for Transport measures distances in metres, but then changes the unit to yards. Not convert. Change. That is, a sign that says “roundabout 300 yards” has been measured at 300 metres, but the units simply switched to yards.

The UK also measures in fractions of miles (eg ½, ⅓)… Except those are done in metres too! ⅓ mi is defined as 500 m (reality: 533 m), ½ mi is 800 m (reality: 804 m) and ⅔ mi is defined at 1000 m (reality: 1070 m). The only unit that is actually imperial is 1 mile.

So the UK uses metric in distance markings, but then haphazardly converts them to a vaguely approximate imperial equivalent. Madness.

But now it gets even more strange. The UK does not use mile markers on motorways. It uses km markers, at 500 m intervals, with the number of km since the start/end of the motorway, but no units are given. But it’s in km. Not miles.

RossDec 19, 2022
Onion Politics BotDec 19, 2022
At Least Man Masturbating On Bus Wearing Mask https://www.theonion.com/at-least-man-masturbating-on-bus-wearing-mask-1849744307
At Least Man Masturbating On Bus Wearing Mask

The Onion
RossDec 18, 2022
Leonard SmithDec 18, 2022

I asked MidJourney for "John Mastodon creating a social media network in his basement, 1995, found photo"

#midjourney

RossDec 18, 2022
LorenDec 18, 2022
Good morning to the home of “shockingly pretty pictures of wild birds”! Here’s a favorite bird pic of mine I took this fall of two Yellow-rumped Warblers arguing over some berries. The secret to making bird pictures really pretty though, is adding descriptions to them! #birds
RossDec 18, 2022
AmyDec 18, 2022
Using Mastodon after Twitter is so weird, I feel like I just came back from war and I’m having trouble adjusting to the everyday niceties of civilian life
RossDec 18, 2022
Chris TrottierDec 18, 2022
Another spike incoming!
RossNov 19, 2022
Chief TWiT Nov 19, 2022

I can't help but notice many toots from helpful newbies encouraging you to support the Mastodon Patreon.

It's fine to do that but understand it goes to just two big instances and the official Mastodon dev team.

It does NOT trickle down to YOUR instance. If you want to support your server, donate to it directly. Nearly all the costs of the explosive growth of the past few weeks is borne by local instances.

Mastodon is decentralized. There is no Mastodon Inc. This is not Twitter.

RossNov 14, 2022
Peter KalmusNov 13, 2022
So far, 27 years of COP meetings have been a complete failure; you can't argue with physics. Anyone saying otherwise has fossil fuels or books to sell. #EmergencyMode
RossNov 10, 2022
I completed the ‎November challenge‎ faster than ‎97.7‎% of all learners on #Duolingo!