@JohnShirley2023@mastodon.cloud
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JohnShirley2023

@JohnShirley2023@mastodon.cloud

Writer of novels in several genres, and story collections; also nonfiction; movie and animation scripts, song lyrics. Speaker (TEDx and elsewhere). Futurist. Blogger. Interests in science, spirituality, the arts. Writer of science-fiction, horror, techno-thrillers, thrillers, westerns. One of the original cyberpunk novelists. Vocalist, records albums, eg "Escape from Gravity" with Jerry King. Has worked in TV and movies: Co-wrote The Crow. New novel: SUBORBITAL 7. https://john-shirley.com

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JohnShirley2023, to random
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Republicans in Montana’s House of Representatives voted Wednesday to ban a Democratic transgender lawmaker from the chamber

https://helenair.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/house-gop-votes-to-ban-democratic-lawmaker-from-chamber/article_8a0c2588-e43d-11ed-8183-27aa67ece12c.html

JohnShirley2023, to random
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Montana Transgender Rep. Zooey Zephyr faces vote to Expel or Discipline Her

She was prevented by her Republican colleagues from debating a bill about gender-affirming care. The Democratic lawmaker has been blocked from speaking on the state House floor since making a speech last week in which she said legislators would have “blood on [their] hands” if they voted in favor of the bill.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/zooey-zephyr-trans-montana-lawmaker-faces-disciplinary-vote

WillRobinson, (edited ) to random

FIGHT THE RIGHT: NEA President @BeckyPringle discusses how education is a winning issue for candidates who unabashedly show up for public education and the freedom to learn - unlike the GOP's book banning, attacking of transgender children, and restrictions on what American history can be taught.
https://twitter.com/TheDemCoalition/status/1651170969271107586?s=20

JohnShirley2023,
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@WillRobinson Most reassuring indeed!

JohnShirley2023, to random
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Researching hydraulic mining for novelistic purposes, surprised to read that the Romans used it: "Water was used on a large scale by Roman engineers in the first centuries BC and AD . Using a process later known as hushing, the Romans stored a large volume of water in a reservoir immediately above the area to be mined; the water was then quickly released. The resulting wave of water removed overburden and exposed bedrock. Gold veins in the bedrock were then worked"...a destructive process...

JohnShirley2023,
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@mrcompletely It's dramatized a bit in the Clint Eastwood movie Pale Rider.

JohnShirley2023, to random
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"The failure of the SpaceX launch can be directly linked to a personal decision that Elon Musk made 3 years ago to not install flame diverters on the Starship launchpad."

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1649443447164776450.html

And because of this decision, the launchpad was blasted apart and debris slammed into the engines at the bottom of the booster, damaging them.

JohnShirley2023, to random
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Charlie Parker.

An electrifying session.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXP84ijiLbg

JohnShirley2023, to random
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Gun Violence Is Actually Worse in Red States. It’s Not Even Close.

America’s regions are poles apart when it comes to gun deaths and the cultural and ideological forces that drive them.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/04/23/surprising-geography-of-gun-violence-00092413

JohnShirley2023, to random
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This older live album of the Blue Oyster Cult has four songs I wrote the lyrics for, The Cold Gray Light of Dawn, Demon's Kiss, Power Underneath Despair, and an apocalyptic number, the Horsemen Arrive. It's a good live album altogether. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaZ90t0Txmc

JohnShirley2023,
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@Wraithe what do you think of their new album, The Symbol Remains?

JohnShirley2023,
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@Wraithe You can listen to it on youtube. It's a really fine piece of work and got great reviews. I am only a little prejudiced by having written the lyrics for five of the songs, including the two singles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPW7KhN_ZM4

JohnShirley2023, to random
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The movement to strip child labor law protections can be traced to one group

The conservative campaign to rewrite child labor laws

The Foundation for Government Accountability, a Florida-based think tank and lobbying group, drafted state legislation to strip child workplace protections, emails show

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/04/23/child-labor-lobbying-fga/

JohnShirley2023, to random
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Should you be optimistic or pessimistic? People publish books with the theme: Be optimistic! Others publish "the value of pessimism" books. Do we have to choose? Should we?

Brock Hinzmann holds forth on the subject at our new website INSTANT FUTURE: Perspectives on the Future of Our World

https://instantfuture.org/optimism-optimized-pessimism-parsed/

JohnShirley2023, to random
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[made me laugh aloud]

Tucker Carlson baselessly claims Biden is getting 'Black people to sell more weed in the cities'

https://www.alternet.org/tucker-carlson-2659895544/

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I was going to feed her to the ants but this little jumper was too cute so now she lives outside in the moss garden.

A closer view, she is the size of a pea.

JohnShirley2023,
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@futurebird err...how big is it?

JohnShirley2023,
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@futurebird I tend to be a bit arachnophobic (though I tend to carry spiders out of the house rather than kill them) but those little jumpy guys are indeed kind of cute somehow

JohnShirley2023, to random
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[The simple truth is that Elon Musk is not old enough to play with big boy toys.]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/04/21/spacex-starship-launch-debris-shrapnel/

SpaceX didn’t want to blow up its launchpad. It may have done just that.

Videos shared on social media showed debris slamming into a van several hundred feet away and striking the nearby beach and the shoreline as if they were a war zo

JohnShirley2023, to random
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AI copyright in spotlight after platforms pull "fake Drake" song

By the numbers: The song that was played 600,000 times on Spotify and attracted 275,000 views on YouTube was widely shared on social media, with one clip posted to Twitter that has since been disabled garnering 20 million clicks.

https://www.axios.com/2023/04/19/ai-fake-drake-weeknd-song-streaming-services-removed

JohnShirley2023,
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This AI that faked out Drake is appalling but I wonder if an AI was initiated to do a fake Rolling Stones song could really make you think that was the Stones. Fans of Drake --millions--evidently thought this was Drake. But could that work for Stones fans? For fans of Drake, yeah I can see it. For fans of Harry Styles, easy to fake I bet., How about fans of Lou Reed or, say, Johnny Cash or Waylon Jennings? No way they'd fall for that stuff. Drake is easy to fake because he's cookie-cutter.

JohnShirley2023,
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I mean, can we fake Drake because Drake is fake?

JohnShirley2023, to random
@JohnShirley2023@mastodon.cloud avatar

PILLOW GUY MUST PAY FOR FALSE ELECTION CLAIMS says panel

Mike Lindell ordered to pay $5M for losing 'Prove Mike Wrong' election data challenge

An arbitration panel found Robert Zeidman had proven that data Lindell said was from the 2020 election was not, and ordered the MyPillow founder to pay up.

[of course he's trying to wriggle out of paying, saying he's going to court, this isn't fair, wah wah]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/mike-lindell-ordered-pay-5m-losing-election-data-challenge-rcna80644

stux, to random
@stux@mstdn.social avatar

20 years of pickup truck design progress in one photo

JohnShirley2023,
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@stux "progress"

JohnShirley2023, to random
@JohnShirley2023@mastodon.cloud avatar

"Is Florida’s Blogger Registration Bill Inspired by Viktor Orbán?

"It wouldn’t be the first time Florida looked to Hungary. Orbán’s authoritarian government is in vogue on the American right and its illiberalism has already served as a template for Gov. Ron DeSantis and fellow Florida Republicans. The state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay Law” was reportedly modeled in part on similar Hungarian legislation."

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/03/is-floridas-blogger-registration-bill-inspired-by-viktor-orban/

JohnShirley2023,
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@cstross yes it's a regime thing. DeSantis is doing a Putin!

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