@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.

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TexasObserver, to ukteachers
@TexasObserver@texasobserver.social avatar

Governor Greg Abbott has called lawmakers back to a special legislative session starting this coming Monday, October 9. His message to them: Pass school —or else.

McHam Investigative Reporting Fellow @josephinelee shares the latest follies from our Capitol ...
https://www.texasobserver.org/from-bullying-legislators-to-co-opting-church-pulpits-the-governor-and-the-billionaires-behind-him-are-determined-to-defund-public-schools/

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@TexasObserver @josephinelee
Every election, I pray for a blue tsunami. It may not get here in my lifetime, but I refuse to give up hope.
🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

itnewsbot, to random
@itnewsbot@schleuss.online avatar

Microsoft Needs So Much Power to Train AI That It's Considering Small Nuclear Reactors - An anonymous reader shares this report from Futurism:

Training large language mod... - https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/2130220/microsoft-needs-so-much-power-to-train-ai-that-its-considering-small-nuclear-reactors?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@itnewsbot My god...I don't trust Microsoft to sit straight on a toilet seat, let alone competently manage even a very small nuclear power device. This world is getting crazier by the hour.

stux, to random
@stux@mstdn.social avatar

Greg Abbott is literary messing with human lives for his political goals.. How can such a "human" even be in power, jail seems far more appropriate

"Shipping" migrants to cities where democrats are in power

Sorry but if you vote for such a demon you just wanna see the world burn..

Disgusting :blobfoxsignforbidden:

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@stux The Texas GOP has trashed our state. They wage war on poor folks, people of color, women, children, the LGBTQ community--anyone who isn't a white male with money. They play dirty politics because in a fair fight, they'd lose. Yet there are a lot of Texans who support them because the GOP plays to their fears and insecurities, never realizing they're being played, bigly.

breadandcircuses, (edited ) to science

I haven't posted about this for a while, but holy hell, ocean temperatures are absolutely insane right now.

Of course, given how quickly human industry is altering the atmosphere — on a scale that Nature never accomplished — it’s really no surprise to see the ocean responding this way.

More than 90% of the excess heat trapped in the Earth system due to human-caused global warming has been absorbed by the oceans, which currently store 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere and 20 times more than land plants and soil combined.

It’s not certain, however, how long this ratio can be sustained. As the ocean continues to heat up like the rest of the planet, its waters are projected to become less efficient at taking in carbon dioxide and may release it back into the atmosphere more rapidly.

Also, the more CO2 the ocean absorbs, the more acidic its chemistry becomes. After years of working overtime to take in some of the excess carbon we’ve pumped into the atmosphere, ocean acidification has already increased 30% compared to pre-industrial levels, and could increase an additional 120% in the decades ahead. That, in turn, could lead to severe disruptions in the worldwide food chain, followed by famine and starvation such as we’ve never seen.

I wish I was exaggerating. But I’m not. We are in grave danger.

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@breadandcircuses Most people aren't paying attention, but more homeowners are getting hints of pain to come, since home insurance rates are starting to skyrocket. Folks don't understand that the insurance companies taking hits from hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes in other states pass these costs to consumers in unaffected areas. Maybe when the pain is shared by more people, costs parceled out more widely, the issue will take on greater urgency and we'll see more calls for substantive action.

Chron, to news
@Chron@newsie.social avatar

While ERCOT begged Texans to conserve power, the state paid $31 million to Riot, a bitcoin miner, to cut its energy use, leading to record profits for the company.

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/texas-bitcoin-riot-ercot-grid-energy-18352398.php

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@Chron Vote the GOP out, y'all. Please. 🌊🌊🌊

dancinyogi, (edited ) to random
@dancinyogi@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

In the last three months, have you suffered from insomnia?😩

Please boost for a wider demographic 🙏

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@dancinyogi When women in my family reach their senior years, our circadian rhythms go wonky. Our bodies want to be up all night, sleep till noon or later. Trouble is, the business of the world wants to start rumbling early in the morning. It's hard to do anything productive when you're exhausted from lack of sleep. I wonder if this is some evolutionary thing, from the days when grandmas helped with their grandbabies so moms and dads could get some sleep and do their day-time work. 🤔

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@dancinyogi I feel ya, and I agree. Businesses haven't twigged to the fact that allowing employees to work with, not against, individual biology would boost productivity and morale, and likely improve employee retention, lower employee health costs, and reduce outages. Yet we're locked into this cray-cray, 8 to 5, commute-or-die pattern, which seems to be a manifestation of management angst. What to do with themselves if they can't hover over and micromanage staff? Frustrating.

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@dancinyogi Um, yeah. It's a trigger for me, too. 🙄😬

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@dancinyogi Oh, geez, HR, no wonder! Not sure which concentric circle of hell it's in, but good on you for escaping and surviving. Well done! 👏👏👏

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@dancinyogi Now I have brainlock. How can a company shed its entire HR department? So many essential functions and services, documents and processes--I can't get a grip on that. I think Musk did that at Twitter, but I also believe his intent from the get-go has been to kill that platform. (Also that whatever legitimate claim to genius he may possess doesn't make up for his utter lack of emotional IQ/people savvy, but that's a rant for a separate soapbox.) You were fortunate to get out.

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@dancinyogi Outsourced! 🤣🤣🤣 Explains so much. Yes, the magic phrase that bewitches and enthralls inexperienced management. "We'll cut costs and improve service!" What malarkey. The poor employee victims don't deserve that, but I hope it will bite the responsible parties in their collective southern hemispheres. Can't believe people still fall for that. It's right up there with, "Privatizing will save taxpayers money." Balderdash. 😤

Skepticat, to random
@Skepticat@mstdn.social avatar

boss: Why are you late?
[flashback to me trying to find a show the cat would like]
me: Traffic

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@Skepticat I was bemused to discover Hubby had bookmarked a couple of ad-free, long-playing YouTube videos of relaxing music for cats, which I like as much as the cat does. He likes to put one on when I fall asleep in my chair (as if I were a dragon best not disturbed, lol!). Unlike our previous cat, Bella doesn't like classical music, but does also like light jazz and classic rock.

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@ixi @Skepticat "Gnawing on yer arm relaxes me best of all." :nkolul:

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@Skepticat Bella likes to watch birds, but not on TV. She likes to crouch with her head between the vertical blind slats, tail twitching, glaring at the doves at our patio feeder. I know she's plotting murder, should she ever get the chance. The doves like to tease her, which is understandable, but poor sportsmanship.

CatherineFlick, to random
@CatherineFlick@mastodon.me.uk avatar

PSA to people still posting on Twitter: Twitter no longer shows replies or threads to non-logged-in users - just the individual tweets you link to. It also doesn't show profiles with all your recent tweets. I'm not sure this is widely known, especially for those in charge of brands etc. It really cuts down on the usefulness of Twitter IMO.

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@CatherineFlick Musk is administering slow poison to Twitter/X. Make your own choice, but my health has dramatically improved after killing my account.
He can slay that platform, but if the need left by its demise is unmet, we'll see the rise of a successor. Right now, we of the Twitter diaspora are seeking, testing various candidates. The shake-out is in progress, but I suspect the final platform is still a concept in the ether, looking for the right mind to grasp and materialize it.

stux, to random
@stux@mstdn.social avatar

"Here's a clip from today's hearing where the Twitter exec explains why sharing child sexual abuse material isn't an automatic ban. And then an Australian senator explains why that's idiotic"

Via https://twitter.com/paleofuture/status/1689489799349207040

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattnovak/2023/08/09/twitter-exec-defends-restoring-account-that-shared-child-sex-abuse-material/

The court against Twitter

Cotopaxi, (edited )
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@stux Last week, my doctor wanted to know what I did to lose 15 lbs in 10 weeks, lower my cholesterol, and improve other health markers. In addition to changing diet, getting more exercise, and improving my sleep hygiene, I told him I killed my Twitter account. The constant barrage of negativity, fear, hostility, and stress were spiking my cortisol, which adversely impacts blood sugar and cholesterol. The withdrawal was hard, but better physical and mental health is so, so worth it.

itnewsbot, to news
@itnewsbot@schleuss.online avatar

AI-Powered War Machines: The Future of Warfare Is Here - The advancement of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) has paved the way for... - https://readwrite.com/ai-powered-war-machines-the-future-of-warfare-is-here/

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@itnewsbot Didn't want to accept it, but I'm getting more certain that The Terminator was prophecy. Yikes.

itnewsbot, to random
@itnewsbot@schleuss.online avatar

‘SHUT IT OFF!!' Disruptive new 'X’ logo removed in San Francisco - Twitter HQ's X sign is being taken down in San Francisco after complaints - https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/31/twitter-x-sign-headquarters-logo-taken-down/

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@itnewsbot When Elon bought the bird site and everyone freaked, I thought they were overreacting. Boy howdy, was I wrong. The speed and range of this train wreck are almost too much to process. When one thinks of the potential humanitarian good that four billion bucks might have done... 🤯

Kjl, to random
@Kjl@zeroes.ca avatar

To my COVID cautious folk, I'm beyond grateful to all of you for opening up and being vulnerable and honest about your experiences. I've felt less alone and like I'm part of something, an important, meaningful movement where we protect our family and our neighbours and strangers. I'm so thankful to everyone. I know it's not easy to share such personal struggles in this timeline but I appreciate it beyond words.

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@Kjl You're not alone. There's nothing wrong with being cautious in an age of pandemics. 😷

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@Kjl Alone, vulnerable (ironically), alienated--yep, got these on our Covid Prevention Bingo card. Hubby and I get stares, rolling eyes, and have each been verbally harangued. But we're both long-time nerds who gave up caring about the conform-or-die set over 40 years ago. Covid is on the rise again, so don't let people bully you or tell you who you are. Even my doctor agrees that we're living through an age of pandemics, so play the long game. Keep masking, being cautious, and hang in there. 😷

Cotopaxi, to random
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

Following a six week break, I checked into Twitter today, scrolled for three minutes, then deactivated my account. Break brought clarity. Twitter feeds a spiraling addiction to unhealthy self-righteous outrage, fear, and anger. Continuing exposure spikes cortisol to levels as destructive to the body as they are to the mind. I've been so much better without that barrage of vitriol. I miss aspects of it, but not the toxicity.
Wishing all here peace of mind and happy endorphins today.

georgetakei, to random

Happy federal indictment day to all who celebrate! And we should all celebrate.

Cotopaxi,
@Cotopaxi@mstdn.social avatar

@georgetakei
Oo, the ketchup bottles will be a-flyin' into walls this night!

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