@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

Cotopaxi

@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social

Retired: "Let joy be unconfined."
Former writer, university student benefits administrator, and public servant.
We live in Texas. A cat runs our household.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

yaneerbaryam, to whn

Well over 100 scientific articles describe immune system damage caused by COVID. This provides a direct causal scientific explanation of unprecedented outbreaks of many other diseases.

The "normalization" narrative is casting around for speculative explanations. Ignore them.

Summary and Resource: COVID-19 and Immune Dysregulation, a Summary and Resource

@whn

https://whn.global/scientific/covid19-immune-dysregulation/

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@yaneerbaryam @whn Thanks for sharing article:

"Reinfection has been shown to increase the cumulative risk of death, hospitalization, and sequelae in multiple organ systems in both the acute and postacute phase. This shows the immune system is not protective enough to limit damage by further COVID-19 infections or other infections, even after vaccination. This is a serious issue if we are continually reinfected before the immune system recovers each time."

rysiek, to random
@rysiek@mstdn.social avatar

Revolution might not be televised, but apparently genocide will be mathwashed.

From the team behind "we kill people based on metadata", a new exciting project: "we kill people based on… we don't even know what, it's a 2bln parameters black box that we have no real way of actually understanding."

> The Pentagon is moving toward letting AI weapons autonomously decide to kill humans
https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/the-pentagon-is-moving-toward-letting-ai-weapons-autonomously-decide-to-kill-humans/articleshow/105420637.cms

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@rysiek If there's anything left on your bucket list, get a wiggle on and get it done.
Fry bread. It's high time I made fry bread.
Yeah, my ambitions run large.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

So, there is a group of people on Mastodon that I have a lot of trouble relating to and understanding, that I somewhat lovingly call "The Misanthropes". They do a few things that boggle my mind a bit. The first is constantly announcing how they don't like humanity, and don't really want to be around people, which is okay, I guess, I can understand that, except you're doing it on SOCIAL media. If you just want to read articles, and look at pictures there are tons of better sources than social media, so why are you here? If you really hate all of humanity so much, you have the option in this one area to avoid it completely, why don't you?

Another thing is no matter what question I ask or how innocuous it is, someone will question the validity of why I'm asking it or the entire foundation of the question. So, why?! If you read a question and it doesn't apply to you or it doesn't interest you, don't interact with it, these aren't compulsory. Or I will ask What someone's favorite color is, and someone will say purple, they will tell that person that purple is traditionally the color of royalty, and ask them Why they are supporting the Monarchy, or if someone says yellow, they will let them know that yellow is hideous, and they shouldn't like it. Most of my questions are opinion or experience based, so the answer doesn't really matter, I am just trying to learn what people are like. What do you get out of making other people feel bad about themselves over basically unimportant things? Does it make you feel better about yourself or superior in some way? I really want to understand. Overall, most people are interesting and pleasant and just want to connect, what do you want?

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@RickiTarr First, thank you for your post. Good questions, discussion, concerns. My 2$ take (inflation) is that in early twenty-teens, social media took a deeper dive into dark cynicism, sarcasm, and aggression. There are various reasons for this, but the upshot is that anger, fear mongering, and outrage have become bonding agents for some people. 'Hate who I hate' has devolved into 'attack who I attack' as a means of identity membership. Both seductive and destructive, tribalism at its worst.

Cotopaxi, to twitter
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

"There is a large graveyard filled with my enemies.
I do not wish to add to it, but will if given no choice.
Those who pick fights with me do so at their own peril, but maybe this is their lucky day..."

#X .

Cotopaxi, to animals
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

I thought Bella and I were both enjoying my Beatles playlist. But she gave me the Hard Stare, then left to go nap upstairs. So...not a fan?
(early)

RM_Transit, to random
@RM_Transit@mstdn.social avatar

deleted_by_author

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    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @RM_Transit The reality of Bluesky anticipation versus experience is like waiting breathlessly for your buddy to bring you luxurious, rich chocolates from his visit to Belgium, but instead he brings you a small, waxy Hershey bar from the American airport, with that weird white stuff on it that stale, old chocolate gets.

    RickiTarr, to random
    @RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

    One of my friends pointed out that Bible stories sound exactly like Florida Man Headlines!

    Example:

    Florida Man Starts Building Ark, Says God Is Going Flood The Whole Earth

    PLEASE, add your own Florida Man Bible Headlines for everyone's amusement!

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @RickiTarr Florida man blames own daughters after impregnating them during drunken rampage. "I feel violated!" claims father.

    GottaLaff, to random
    @GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

    I just got a private message that I was being Trumpian for using mocking nicknames, that liberals shouldn't resort to demeaning names like I've used.

    Should I stop? Is it Trumpian? Because honestly, I'm offended. My stuff is so tame. I'm hardly in his insulting league, but if I am, tell me.

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @GottaLaff I read with bias filters in mind. If commentary goes too far for me, I block it. That's what blocking is for. If someone is put off by your commentary style, they can block you. They don't have to police you. Sheesh...

    augieray, to random
    @augieray@mastodon.social avatar

    "People infected multiple times with are more likely to develop long COVID, and most never fully recover from the condition. Those are two of the most striking findings of a comprehensive new 3-year research study of 138,000 veterans."

    I dedicate this post to the three people who told I was being a fearmonger in the past week.

    https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/998107?ecd=a2a&form=fpf

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @augieray I've been trying to tell my family this for months and months. They hear me. But they won't listen. They don't really believe it--or they don't believe this affects them personally. I don't know which. Thanks for sharing. It helps some of us maintain precautions against the prevailing disregard, we who do pay attention.

    brewsterkahle, to random
    @brewsterkahle@mastodon.archive.org avatar

    "Digitizing books can spur demand for physical copies" --Academic paper

    "Their main findings: Digitization can boost sales of physical books by up to 8% by stimulating demand through online discovery. The increase in sales was found to be stronger for less popular books and even spilled over to a digitized author's nondigitized works. "

    Yup. but now academic presses are demanding people stop checking out a book a maximum of 26 times a year. 26 times a year globally.

    https://phys.org/news/2023-10-digitizing-spur-demand-physical.html

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @brewsterkahle "Yup. but now academic presses are demanding people stop checking out a book a maximum of 26 times a year. 26 times a year globally."
    Globally, y'all.
    That's crazy talk, another assault on free access to libraries, books, knowledge, and the capacity for independent thought, which they engender. Assault on our libraries and librarians must be vigorously repelled.

    itnewsbot, to random
    @itnewsbot@schleuss.online avatar

    Elon Musk Says His New AI Bot 'Grok' Will Have Sarcasm and Access to X Information - Billionaire said the first product from his artificial-intelligence startup will begin te... - https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-says-his-new-ai-bot-grok-will-have-sarcasm-and-access-to-x-information-b4e169de?mod=rss_Technology

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @itnewsbot Dread-full news. Arg.

    grammargirl, to ai
    @grammargirl@zirk.us avatar

    Thirty minutes ago in my webinar, I told people they have to watch out for incorrect AI-generated stories on sites they used to trust, and now here's another example from MSN:

    How Microsoft is making a mess of the news after replacing staff with AI

    https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/02/tech/microsoft-ai-news/index.html

    h/t @KOKEdit

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @grammargirl @KOKEdit Thank you for sharing this. It's important and also horrifying.

    GottaLaff, to random
    @GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

    Geez.

    staffer asks anti-abortion groups to float primaries against certain Republicans

    Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s spox asked anti-abortion groups to “make clear” GOP senators risk primary challenges if they support an effort to overcome his military holds over a Pentagon abortion policy..

    It’s a rare move for senators to float primaries against their own party members, and rarer still for staffers to do so. https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2023/11/02/congress/tuberville-staffers-anti-abortion-group-ask-00124994

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @GottaLaff Another GOP Russian asset.

    clive, to random
    @clive@saturation.social avatar

    “The Literary Style of Alt-Text”

    For years, I didn’t add alt-text to my online images

    But I’ve started doing it all the time now — being on Mastodon is what showed me how important it is!

    Along the way, I’ve started noticing …

    …. what an oddly literary activity it is

    Here’s an image I wrote alt-text for when I blogged a few weeks ago, below

    My essay on alt-texting: https://clivethompson.medium.com/the-literary-style-of-alt-text-9f1595cd8f0c

    A free “friend” link in case you don’t subscribe to Medium: https://clivethompson.medium.com/the-literary-style-of-alt-text-9f1595cd8f0c?sk=1d9cd685997cb08d8909da687a2d03cf

    A screenshot of a story written by the author, describing how he wrote alt-text for the attached photo. I reads: And at first I just wrote a simple description, something like "a cyclist going down the street." Then I added more details, including that the cyclist is in the center of the picture, and behind them are a bus stop and a brightly lit store, and that the cyclist is moving quickly. But as I was writing that last clause - "the cyclist is moving quickly" - I realized something curious about the composition of the photo: The cyclist is crisp, while the background is blurred. That's not an easy effect for the photographer to achieve! And it' precisely what gives the image its power. So I wound up writing the alt-text thusly ... “A cyclist going rapidly down a city street. The photo is taken from the side, and the cyclist is in the center of the image, heading towards our right. In behind the cyclist we see a bus stop and a brightly lit store. Interestingly, despite the fact that the cyclist is moving quickly, they are unblurred and crisp in the photo - while the background is blurred. The ultimate effect is curious: It's as if the store were moving quickly, while the cyclist was standing still” One could critique this alt-text for being too damn long. Fair enough! And there's something a bit narcissistic about me focusing on the internal experience I have while puzzling over how best to describe this image.

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @clive A friend who worked at National Geographic in the '90s told me they employed writers whose sole job was writing photo captions. There's an art to it.

    ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, to random
    @ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs@kolektiva.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs This is devastating. I'm so sorry. 💔

    adhdeanasl, (edited ) to random
    @adhdeanasl@beige.party avatar

    Hey friends, it’s ! Let’s see those amazing Venn diagrams! Here’s one I found - unfortunately, I don’t know the source.

    Edit: a couple friends did the legwork and let me know it’s an XKCD comic. Thanks, y’all!

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @cstross @adhdeanasl Thanks for the link, very interesting account. I look forward to the promised film with John Cleese. It has the potential for good comedy and suspense.

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @cstross @adhdeanasl
    Gad, I hadn't realized! I re-read the article, and you're right. It only references him writing, not acting. It's weird aging with one's cohort of talent. I accept my aging, but it seems like our 'legends' should defy aging. Instinctive, maybe, but not very realistic.

    RickiTarr, to random
    @RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

    Which cartoon character do you have a crush on and why?

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @RickiTarr
    The Tick. The lunacy of his responses to the existential threats he battled speaks to me. Plus, hero.

    image/gif

    kfury, to random
    @kfury@mstdn.social avatar

    The more I read about how Elon Musk wants X to be the 'everything app' that the planet uses for communication, banking, and media consumption, the more Musk sounds like the villain in a Doctor Who special.

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @kfury Pretty sure he's working on a private army of Cybermen. I draw comfort from his consistent incompetence in pulling off his grand schemes.

    augieray, (edited ) to random
    @augieray@mastodon.social avatar

    It's frustrating to be "the guy" when everyone should be COVID-aware. I had a friend ask if we could get together for the holidays on December 16. I said sure, if they could be safe for the week beforehand and wouldn't mind socializing at our home. He declined. 😢

    This is not the life I expected in my 60s. I expected concerts, professional public speaking, and fun events. But I refuse to risk my life or the lives of people I love. I'll make the best of what this world sensibly allows.

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @augieray Strong resonance, here. Partly our 60s aren't as expected due to hubby's severe back problems. But more largely due to our fierce adherence to masking and covid caution. Social isolation is one reason I cherish these Mastodon connections so much. There are people I'd like to reconnect with, but they want to meet in restaurants/think masking is unnecessary, etc. I'm helping my soon-to-be-90 Mom live independently, and even if I weren't protecting her, I'd be protecting me and Hubby.

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @augieray That said, we're both introverts who love print and visual media. We're not climbing the walls like our extroverted compatriots, for whom lockdown must have felt hellish. For introverts, lockdown was paradise.

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @augieray You have my empathy. I think the social impact of covid caution must be very hard on extroverts. You guys wilt without regular human connection. I'm glad you're finding ways to fill that need, which is essential for your good mental and emotional health (which impacts physical health). I enjoy good people contact very much, but a little goes a long way for me. Hubby could happily hole up for ages as long as me and the cat are with him. But he's also in his Grumpy Old Man years, lol!

    violetblue, to random
    @violetblue@mastodon.social avatar

    I'd just realized that I spent the last three weekends doing hours and hours of covid crisis counseling for people exposed, positive, have pos relatives, or lost someone to covid/LC, when the Whole Foods deli guy started lecturing me about how covid is over and we don't wear masks anymore

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @violetblue Hubby and I still mask up. We both have been mask harassed, irritating. We may mask the rest of our natural lives, and why anybody else cares or thinks it's their business is beyond me.

    raymondpert, to Canada
    @raymondpert@mstdn.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @raymondpert This is a monstrous act and a deadly, slippery slope.

    futurebird, to animals
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    I tried sniffing the plants to understand what the big deal is. But I still do get it. She begs to go out to do this every day!

    Cotopaxi,
    @Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

    @futurebird If you can, plant some rye grass seeds for your kitty. They love chewing it, and the grass is good for them. They also love smelling dried valerian, almost better than catnip. Smells like old gym socks, but they go nuts for the odor.

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