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in reply to Matthew Garrett

thanks. I'm pretty sure I was there on that year. I even watched his speech, but I surely didn't have the context to read between the lines what you did.

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Link Post: Breakthrough in reading unopened ancient scrolls by scanning them scrollprize.org/firstletters

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Meta, news


I realise I have fallen out of the habit of hash tagging or cw-ing posts. Given the distressing nature of the news at the moment I will try harder to do so.
in reply to Matthew Vernon

@demoographics I think this is because the post is originally on friendica. I got confused about it a while back. Our comments here *do* end up in friendica, but the original content is a link.
in reply to kรฆt

@kรฆt @Matthew Vernon Itโ€™s confusing and I donโ€™t understand why friendicaโ€™s AP implementation does that, but ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ

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It is strange and disturbing to see so many posts on social media that deny it's a war crime to stage a surprise attack on civilians (including murders, kidnappings, and rapes) or to starve out a civilian population (by cutting off electricity, food, and water).

These are both obviously war crimes and should be discussed as such.

justsecurity.org/89403/the-sieโ€ฆ

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And there it is. A fully sorted #Amiga 1200 with a working floppy, 68060 CPU, 128mb of RAM, and a 4gb SD for storage. Really, really pleased with this thing. 2023 is the year of Amiga on the desktop. ๐Ÿ˜€

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in reply to Sarah Brown

๐Ÿ‘ If we ever adopt a written constitution, this should be the opening paragraph.


Maybe I need to dig out the several Palestinian flags I brought back home from my visit in 1994


There was a time in Palestine pre Oslo where waving the Palestinian flag was against the law and Palestinians were arrested and jailed for doing so. Apparently it became a custom to wave slices of watermelon instead. mastodon.social/@Lazarou/11121โ€ฆ


When one of the West's most ghoulish fascists in government says they have your back perhaps it's time to stop and think?
#UKPOL #Tories #SuellaBraverman #FreeSpeech
in reply to Alexandra Lanes

Incidentally, the ban is still in place in the 80% of the West Bank still under Israeli military law. Military Order 101 says: โ€œIt is forbidden to hold, wave, display or affix flags or political symbols, except in accordance with a permit of the military commanderโ€. (Source btselem.org/demonstrations/milโ€ฆ )

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Over the past decade, the Overton window has shifted so drastically that it is now considered acceptable in mainstream discourse to advocate for the eradication of Palestinians, liken them to animals and place blame on them for their own deaths

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in reply to Miriam Boosh

Seems horrible. Like First Nations being robbed by Europeans from their lands through genocide, now in real time, an occupation, theft and extermination of human beings presented as something acceptable...

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The Israeli government has cut off food, water, and fuel to 2 million people inside Gaza as part of its campaign to stamp out Hamas terrorism. Collective punishment is not only contrary to international law, it is inhumane and illogical. It is what my community once endured in World War II, all because of the actions of others who happened to share our ethnicity. Have we learned nothing? How will this possibly help deescalate the violence rather than radicalize many more? It is madness.
in reply to George Takei ๐Ÿณ๏ธโ€๐ŸŒˆ๐Ÿ––๐Ÿฝ

As well as the desperation one feels for the Palestinian people there is the immense sadness that so few in the West seem moved by it. The silence of so many is deafening.

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This is a very good time to speak carefully and attend to your language around state versus people.

The STATE of Israel absolutely engages in genocidal behavior.

But a whole lot of antisemites are trying to use that reality to sow hate by pretending that the state and the people there are one and the same.

They are not.

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in reply to Gwen Snyder is uncivil

Millenials are Killing Capitalism did a good show on this difficult topic. One main point was that there aren't just fash units fighting for Ukraine, but socialists and anarchists as well. Leftists on the front lines defending their homes. Being anti-war and avoiding western left-splaining is the challenge. Here's a link:
millennialsarekillingcapitalisโ€ฆ

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Amidst the performative cries of โ€œIsrael has the right to defend itselfโ€, it seems to be heresy to acknowledge the humanity of the few million people who get to live, in perpetuity, as Israelโ€™s ritual punching bag, and are expected to do nothing in response, nothing in prevention, and accept the blame for others doing literally anything.

And even saying this will just result in tedious wankers going, โ€œoh, you support terrorism then?โ€

The way the Palestinian people are treated is some serious Omelas shit.

in reply to Sarah Brown

@Sarah Brown The main thing I remember from visiting Gaza was how full it was, and how closed in it felt. Border fences on three sides, sea on the fourth (but restricted). Even in the heady days of 1994 just post Oslo it felt like a cage. Sometimes the electricity would go off. You had to queue in the heat to get in or out, divided families shouted news to each other across the barbed wire fence. That was probably the high point of freedom. The thirty years since have raised a generation whose hopes for the future keep getting blown up and locked down at the jailersโ€™ whim.


For UK readers desiring a sense of scale, this is the boundary of the Gaza Strip (area 365 km^2, population 2m) rotated so it can be overlaid on the Isle of Wight (area 381 km^2, population 140k).

(Map generated with thetruesize.com)



Abbreviation and handwriting have led to my Public Law notes inventing the Royal Pierogi.

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Unknown parent

@Sesquipedality Aww, but youโ€™re a proper lawyer and everything!

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Two German soldiers are hunting for a downed British airman.

"We'll never find him in this wood at night." One says, quietly.

"You're right." The other one replies, loudly. "BECAUSE I HEAR HE WENT TO ETON."

"Actually gentleman, I'm a Wykehamist." A nearby bush replies, annoyed. #histodons

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1. 'AND', the most powerful word in any language?
Sharon Astyk (a Jew by marriage) wrote the following rules for discussing #Israel / #Palestine / War in a FB group she administers.

"Hi Folks. I just want to set down rules for any discussion of Israel/Palestine/ProtoWWIII.
Here are the rules.
1. MORE THAN ONE THING CAN BE TRUE AT THE SAME TIME, INCLUDING BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY:
#Jews were mass murdered over and over again and have a justifiable fear of being murdered again AND that fear has made us do horrifying things to the Palestinians over and over again that are not justified in any way.
Jews have lived in Israel for thousands of years, and have a historic claim to it AND we use religious language and assumptions that may be mythological to most. AND real Palestinian people lost their homes unfairly. More than one people can have a historic claim to the same place.

This entry was edited (1 year ago)

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Bit pissed off with the EU for the โ€œsolidarity with Israelโ€ posts. Solidarity with the Israeli citizens maybe, but with the state? Nopenopenope. Bet they donโ€™t express solidarity with Palestine when Israel piles in and levels half the city again.

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On 8th Oct 1952 the worst civilian rail disaster in UK history happened in London. 112 would die. 340 would be injured.

That accident, and the actions of one woman from Florida have saved THOUSANDS of lives since.

Because that disaster would help lead to the creation of paramedics. /1 ๐Ÿงต #healthcare #history

youtube.com/watch?v=YU60PgAjh0โ€ฆ

Unknown parent

mastodon - Link to source
Wolf_Baginski
And since it comes out of Combat Medicine you can track so much back to WW1, with connections to ARP and Civil Defence in WW2. But my views are biased by half-remembered stories told by my parents and grandparents.

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in reply to John Bull

wow, I didn't know that the job of paramedic was so relatively recent!


Does life have to have a point or can I just mope around watching TV? I enjoy it but it confuses me that it is somehow unsatisfying.
in reply to Alexandra Lanes

@goatsarah @pseudomonas These new reality TV concepts are starting to get a bit extreme! ๐Ÿ˜„

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Itโ€™s ok to be confused.

Itโ€™s ok to not know where youโ€™re going or who youโ€™re becoming, whatever your age may be.

The honest and wise among us will say that theyโ€™re at least a little lost, too.

Everyone is.

#positivity #lifepositivity ..

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Hereโ€™s a little gift for you:

If you were actually lazy, youโ€™d be enjoying it. Youโ€™d be having fun.

in reply to Bethany Black

welp, I do enjoy procrastinating and not doing things, bad news for me then, well said nonetheless

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I see that the Rishi Sunak announcement of new local transport to use the money "freed up" from cancelling HS2 includes a new tramline in Manchester to Roundthorn. The reason that TfGM proposed that tramline is that Roundthorn is the planned location for the HS2 Manchester Airport station.

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โ€œHS2 on existing trackโ€ is not a thing. The whole point of it is to move long distance trains off existing track so more local trains can run.

With this half arsery, the Tories get the worst of both worlds: they spend most of the money and get pretty much none of the benefit.

in reply to Alexandra Lanes

@ajlanes The four track also stops at Northallerton going North from York, a heavily used route but there were plans to add a third line and platform as a short loop for stopping trains there. But trains towards Teesside have to cross both main lines

in reply to Alexandra Lanes

Maybe it started like the way 15 and 16 are sometimes written as 9+6 or 9+5 in Hebrew numerals rather than 10+5 or 10+6 to avoid a Name? This could also explain the reluctance to explain?


Vatican librarian talking about how to make your search for papal bulls hit. pouet.chapril.org/@chaprot/111โ€ฆ


Demande rรฉcurrente qui m'embarrasse le plus : "Bonjour est-ce que vous avez des bulles pontificales concernant le prieurรฉ mรฉdiรฉval de Saint-Trucmuche ?"

Alors.

Je vois pourquoi vous pensez qu'on aurait รงa hein. On pourrait croire. Oui.

Mais. Est-ce qu'on a รงa. Euh.

Peut-รชtre. ร‡a dรฉpend un peu de quand elle est, votre bulle. Et un peu de ce que vous voulez dire par "bulle". Ou de ce qu'ils entendaient alors par lร . Et mรชme si on l'a pas รงa veut pas dire qu'y'a pas nulle part. Faut voir.



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HER: You need to stop with the self-deprecating humor

ME: No can do, that is a load-bearing coping mechanism

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Link Post: How Insect Brains Melt and Rewire During Metamorphosis wired.com/story/how-insect-braโ€ฆ

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in reply to Natasha Jay ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ

Iโ€ฆ I, what is, that isโ€ฆ I'mโ€ฆ OMG ๐Ÿคฆโ€โ™‚๏ธ

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I did a long run at an easy effort this morning. About half an hour in, I encountered this graffito, a clear reminder to do most of your #running at low effort.

Happy bimbling!

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Pondering tiredness and how it seems to be working with me at the moment. I had a long day visiting Brighton on Wednesday and so it didn't seem unreasonable that I was a bit sleepy the following day. I did a bit of OU work and life admin stuff and watched TV. Today, two days on, the tiredness feels mental, as if the physical body is fine but the brain wants a time out and is kind of noping out of doing very much at all.

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Big uptick in new people here from Twitter - WELCOME PALS, I hope you enjoy it here as much as I am.

For those unfamiliar with the fediverse, the most important thing to note is that favs do absolutely nothing to help me pay my bills. Please boost my toots. Feel free to mock the way that sounds till you're blue in the face, as long as you still boost my toots.

My toots: boost them.

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in reply to Girl on the Net

i always appreciate it when you boost my stuff, and I always boost when I see yours, Molly's or anyone's.

I see those of us who are talking about sex in honest ways as conversation starters but damn it is a slog without the shares.

Unknown parent

it's because you didn't use the magic :boost_requested: mast-signal!


There are two things to know about this afternoons game of pirate crazy golf. One is this photo. The other is that I was VICTORIOUS
in reply to Alexandra Lanes

Is that the world's first practical electric railway, wot inspired tophatted folk down from London to use the electricalness underground, wot I spot in the background?
in reply to kรฆt

@kรฆt Yep! Also site of the daft โ€œdaddy-long-legsโ€ train that ran on undersea rails with overhead electrification!

in reply to Tiro Typeworks

I was drawing this is in one font and had it open full screen. Freaked me out when I opened Glyphs the next morning.




Grr. You buy a ticket with Apple Pay on your phone and it turns out to be a paper ticket like itโ€™s the 19th Century or something. So I have to collect it from the machine. Which wants the bank card with which I paid for it. Which is impossible since I used Apple Pay.

(Fortunately any bank card will do and the assistant put hers in, but but but)

in reply to Alexandra Lanes

ah, that explains something that's worried me for a while. I often buy tickets using PayPal and at the machine I offer up my Amex card (which is probably the funding source for PayPal) and the machine accepts it. I wondered how it knew ... sounds like it doesn't.


Weird dream last night that I had an adaptor that exposed the contents of my phone to GEM via the Atari ST cartridge port. My subconscious needs to get out more

โ‡ง