SpainCo @phil@social.spainco.net

For #history & #archaeology nerds in the #WinterStorm’s path (stay safe!)
(meme credit: David Anderson)

My thoughts go out to the IT/security teams at The Guardian and Okta, and anyone else who was hoping to have a quiet holiday break....

There was a young man
From Cork who got limericks
And haikus confused

THIS IS A BABY EEL. Many eels live in the open ocean when young & are barely recognizable (this may be a conger eel). They're at the mercy of the currents, never sure what will happen. Their lives are mysterious, perilous, & beautiful.
Video: Fan Zhang http://bit.ly/2sfG7gH

Are you sitting down? Here goes!

44% of all websites that exist right now run on WordPress.

Right now, connecting a WordPress site to the Fediverse is just a matter of installing this plug-in.

If just a fraction of WordPress sites connect to ActivityPub, then the network effect of the Fediverse will eclipse Big Social.

https://wordpress.org/plugins/activitypub/

@rysiek @axbom This is super exciting! I see I can start a blog with WriteFreely and have it naturally interact with Mastodon, through this fediverse system.

I've been waiting for this kind of thing since forever! We have been stuck with corporate bubbles for so long. And now finally.. what a time to be alive :)

#Mozilla just announced they are joining the #fediverse

"In early 2023, Mozilla will stand up and test a publicly accessible instance in the Fediverse at Mozilla.Social"

they will start with Mastodon, but are "looking forward to working on the challenges that crosscut the Fediverse"

https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/mozilla-launch-fediverse-instance-social-media-alternative/ #FediNews

Me: Do you want me to quit?
My boss: Please.
Me: Fine. Someday I will quit. You win.

Please consider writing your hashtags in upper camelcase so screen readers have a chance at figuring them out.

#whyistayonmastodon sounds like an giant undecipherable mess of sounds.

#WhyIStayOnMastodon reads out "Why I Stay On Mastodon" 😄

(Reason #44 I stay here: my previous requests like this have been generally well-received, proving that most people are awesome.)

Last laser project of the year complete. Just need to apply oil to the box.

I show this bug every year to my intro entomology students to see if they can figure out what body part all that undulating spiny weirdness is.

Heteronotus sp. treehopper, Ecuador.

#Entomology #Insects

The Star Tribune's holiday weather story is outside the paywall

https://www.startribune.com/a-christmas-week-blizzard-could-put-holiday-travel-on-ice/600237238/

This is the first time in ~17 yrs that the majority of the people in my network are talking to each other in public via an open protocol on community-run servers rather than a startup's service.

It's really nice to have gotten here, in a way that's entwined not only with nostalgic feelings, but also their optimistic underpinnings that were the reason I was interested in all this in the first place.

I heard there was another look-at-me antic on the old site, and it was my pleasure not to care.

There were three men came out of the West
Three kings both great and high
And they have sworn a solemn oath
John Mastodon must die.

They took a tank and ran him down
With bullets in his head
And they have sworn a solemn oath
John Mastodon was dead

But when the Spring came kindly on
And showers began to fall
John Mastodon got up again
And did surprise them all...

When I open my Mastodon and Twitter timelines, the quality has gone way down on Twitter, and way up on Mastodon. Also, finding a good Mastodon app helped solve a lot of the issues I was having. Really regretting not doing this sooner.

For anyone wondering, I'm still unable to access Twitter until I delete this tweet, which is factual journalism that doesn't even break the location rule Twitter enacted a few days ago. The account isn't marked as suspended anymore, but I can't use it or see tweets from people I follow. Using Mastodon exclusively for now and actually really enjoying it.

Published an update today on my investigation into private policing in St. Louis. https://www.propublica.org/article/some-talk-little-action-private-policing-st-louis
It's the latest story in my series about policing in St. Louis. https://www.propublica.org/series/policing-in-st-louis

I'm seeing folks on here i haven't seen on my twitter feed in years.