@ambulocetus@qoto.org
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

ambulocetus

@ambulocetus@qoto.org

Nemo me impune lacessit

Voted Best Psychic Of 2026

Non-practicing intellectual

https://www.metafilter.com/user/99809

Certified freak, seven days a week.

謙虚だが弱くはない、自信に満ちているが誇りに思っていない、神秘的だが不魔法ではない

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ambulocetus, to random
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

The "Good Cop, Bad Cop" trick is a popular technique because it works even when you know they are doing it. The contrast between the 2 operators makes the less extreme one look mild in comparison, even though they would appear anything but mild in another context. But it doesn't work only with police. It can take the form of "good pope, bad pope" or "good Supreme Court Justice, bad Supreme Court Justice", or even "good media outlet, bad media outlet". Now that you are aware of this trick, you will see it everywhere.

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

:: When broadcast media from Earth reached these aliens, due to their unique psychology, they did not react as we might have anticipated. They failed to understand (they could not imagine) that the strange sounds & images were produced by some other kind of life— some other group of thinking beings like themselves, but different. Another culture that lived in their own way somewhere else. No. The aliens understood our media to be their own. They assumed it was for and about them. 1/

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@futurebird @Altreus Not many science fiction novels from 1952 still hold up these days, but The City by Clifford Simak certainly does. It features a civilization of ants, and I can't tell you more without spoilers, but it is definitely an under appreciated classic. If there is one book mentioned here today that you simply must find, it is this one. The audio-book will keep you enthralled, if you can find that format.

ambulocetus, to random
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futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

There is a new CPBBD up. He mentions ant seed dispersal and there is a shot with a bunch of butterflies. No ant cameos sadly.

There is a turtle shell. But the best part are the baby cactus.

As always he's way too excited by drought tolerant agave family plants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzJfn4R4TRg

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@futurebird Love that show. His accent reminds me of home.

LibertyForward1, to random

I've said it before and I'll say it again; why can't anyone wear a hairnet on cooking shows?

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@LibertyForward1 I didn't have my glasses on, and I thought you said "helmet" instead of "hairnet", and I was like "yea, full contact kitchen!"

ambulocetus, to random
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

Film idea: A re-telling of the Jesus Story, but told in the style of Rashomon with each account giving a very different perspective of the events. All with complete faithfulness to the source material, so that the religious can't accuse us of shenanigans.

jeffowski, to random
@jeffowski@mastodon.world avatar

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@jeffowski It's great that anti-billionaire sentiments are getting more common, but talk without action is potentially counter-productive. The more we "telegraph" our intentions, the more they will fund the increase in fascism to keep us so busy fighting for survival, that we don't have time to "eat the rich".

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

The press worldwide are using the word "libertarian" to describe a FASCIST in Argentina.

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@StillIRise1963 Words don't mean what they mean anymore, words mean what they tell us they mean.

ambulocetus, to random
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ambulocetus, to random
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

Everyone likes to shine, but nobody likes to polish.

dangoodin, to random

It's beyond exasperating to see @rsf_en calling out the very real threat Twitter poses to democracy even as is continues empowering and legitimizing the platform. This seems absolutely bonkers.

If you're not willing to stop using the site, shut the hell up about Twitter.

@rsf_en account showing many current posts

ambulocetus,
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@mastodonmigration @dangoodin Personally, I think it's very cool, and I do it as often as possible.

ambulocetus, to random
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ambulocetus, to random
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

Knowledge is knowing that Frankenstein wasn't the monster. Wisdom is knowing that Frankenstein was the monster.

ambulocetus, to random
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar
futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

If you see little brown ants with extra junk in the trunk during these cold months they could be winter ants. (Prenolepis imparis) On tumblr yourselfcola spotted some of these girls enjoying some sugary cereal.

https://www.tumblr.com/plenty-of-spirals/731657554362531840?source=share

These ants are called "false honey pot ants" since deep in their nest they have extra fat ants that store fat for the lean times. They are most active in fall and spring, they like cool weather.

Their nests are very deep.

A plaster cast of the nest of Prenolepis imparis next to a man who is looking up at the 11 foot long slender totally vertical tunnel. Near the bottom are pancake like chambers where the queen and fat storage ants live.

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@futurebird
I don't think I've ever encountered those. Their appearance is distinctive. Usually if I get a call about ants in the winter, it's because they are living under a slab house where the ground is a little warmer. usually Lasius or Tetramorium.

ajroach42, to random
@ajroach42@retro.social avatar

I believe that Youtube's warnings about adblockers are the beginning of the end for Youtube as a citizen of the Open Web, and the latest volley in the fight that will end with the death of youtube-dl, invidious, etc.

This road leads to DRM powered by EME, and that would be the fulfillment of the promise made by EME when it was launched.

https://ajroach42.com/the-grim-future-of-youtube/

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@ajroach42 I'm interested, but I'm old and I can't even change the clock on my VCR. How does this work?

pluralistic, to Charleston
@pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar

My next novel is The Lost Cause, a hopeful tale of the climate emergency. As with all my audiobooks, Amazon refuses to sell this one, so I made my own indie audiobook and I'm pre-selling it right now through Kickstarter:

http://lost-cause.org

--

Today (Oct 19), I'm in , WV to give the 41st annual McCreight Lecture in the Humanities:

https://festivallcharleston.com/venue/university-of-charleston/

Tomorrow (Oct 20), I'm at Charleston's from 12h-14h:

http://www.taylorbooks.com/

2/

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@pluralistic I heard the free chapter, and now I'm hooked. I can't wait to hear the rest.

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

So, the Melon Husk wants to charge $1 for new twitter accounts.

Therefore I just created a new twitter account before his flying monkeys could implement that feature.

Hint: it's called @cstross_exit for now. When I delete @cstross on November 6th, I'll immediately rename the new account to @cstross, thereby hopefully stopping folks seeing all the should-be-deleted-but-probably-aren't tweets from the old account.

Because fuck you, Dilbert Stark.

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@cstross LOL Dilbert Stark hahahahaha

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Crime is out of control. This "ant queen kidnapper wasp" has been spotted in New York State!

All my colonies are upset.

https://www.inaturalist.org/listed_taxa/44730775

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@futurebird We don't have those around here, but she looks like she's related to Cicada Killers.

sponsorblock, (edited ) to random
@sponsorblock@fosstodon.org avatar

Stop using random anti-adblock fixes you find on the internet, these are almost always out of date and interfere with the actual anti-adblock features in uBlock Origin. YouTube is changing their anti-adblock code multiple times per day.

Simply do the following:

  1. Use uBlock Origin and no other adblocker. This includes disabling adblocking in "Enhancer for YouTube", and any built in browser blocker
  2. In uBlock's settings, purge caches and update filters

More info: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/issues/19976

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@sponsorblock Also I would recommend using an Alt account, because we don't know what Google will do next.

JenLucPiquant, to random

Review: "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a gloriously Gothic horror delight. Mike Flanagan knocks it out of the park with his last limited series for Netflix. https://arstechnica.com/culture/2023/10/review-the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-is-a-gloriously-gothic-horror-delight/

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@JenLucPiquant I might watch the first episode to see if I like it, but I've been disappointed so many times, that I won''t get my hopes up.

hankg, to random

Oh good CNN is getting in on the "why good jobs reports are bad news" thing too. Outlets like the NYT, CNN, etc. may be better than the literal propaganda organs of the right of Fox News, etc. but that is such a low bar. It is ironic that the country that pioneered having freedom of the press and freedom of speech in their constitution has a media closer to what you see in a banana republic.

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@hankg Somebody once said "figures don't lie, but liars can figure"

MattBinder, to random
@MattBinder@mastodon.social avatar

Twitter / X is serving users with a new ad format that can't be blocked or reported

the ads aren't even actual X posts & aren't connected to any X accounts. they do not disclose that they are ads

it appears the ads are connected to clickbait ad networks

read more: https://mashable.com/article/twitter-x-new-clickbait-ad-format

image/jpeg

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@MattBinder https://www.reddit.com/r/TheDeprogram/comments/15d6k2h/if_youre_still_on_twitter_please_dont_be/

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

What is the point even anymore? If it's not ad free why pay? (I guess they will have ad free if you pay more??)

Well I waste too much time watching stuff anyways. I got rid of youTube for this and others will follow. Not paying OR watching unless I can avoid ads.

Ads are a huge and harmful force on my quality of life. I will go to great ends to avoid them. I also use blockers, naturally, but blockers aren't perfect. (YouTube still has "mid roll" ads even with the best.)

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@futurebird I'm thinking about trying Nebula. I've heard good things about it.

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I had to see it so you do too.

I would be troubled, but... no normal child would read this. (We all know which children this soothing fairy tale is really for.)

And is there perhaps an admission, a confession, in the creation of this strange artifact? That it is all really is just a fairly tale meant to sooth a childish mind?

Kash stood up and addressed everybody. “Everybody! | am Kash, the | Great Wizard and the Distinguished Discoverer. | have discovered that the | king, King Donald, is innocent! He did not work with the Russionians, and he did not cheat. You chose him, so he | became king, fair and square. Hillary wrote that paper and had her y sneaky slugs slide it into the steel box for the shifty knight to find.

ambulocetus,
@ambulocetus@qoto.org avatar

@futurebird OMG, is this really real?

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