Loukas

Loukas, 8 months ago to random

The normalisation of the extreme-right by the centre-right in Sweden went like this.

• we will never work with them.

• we happened to vote the same way as them.

• since we know they also like this policy, we will propose it. But we are not working with them!

• our policies are based on extreme-right support so it makes sense to talk to them

• a local council will be run with extreme-right support. But never nationally!

• YOLO national government with extreme right support, it's normal now

Loukas, 10 months ago to random Swedish

It's funny how political language is different in America and Europe, because where you say 'liberal' we'd say 'social democratic' and where you say 'conservative' we'd say 'Die Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei.'

Loukas, 9 months ago to random

🧵 Few accounts are signing up to Mastodon, despite the constant stream of apocalyptic announcements coming from Twitter.

I think this indicates that we're in a period of consolidating what we've built so far, rather than seeing lots of new people arrive.

Season One of Mastodon is over. The cast is established and most of the major plot lines are here. So where do we go?

Loukas, 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago) to random

🧵I think one problem we in the rich world face, in fixing our societies, is that we have a problem of historical memory.

WW2 obscures the social history of our time and acts as a breach in memory.

The 1950s era in USA and Europe was not some kind of natural equilibrium that we can get back to by practising stability. It was a way for the powerful to make peace with the often revolutionary movements that had been building since at least the 1880s.

Loukas, 9 months ago to random

1. Get annoyed by someone using the 'wrong word' in English.

2. Look up the right word.

3. See that it derives from exactly the same root as the 'wrong' word.

4. See that British newspapers just made an artificial division between the words in like 1927... or some English person translated the exact same Low German word two slightly different ways in 1703 for no reason at all.

5. Give up seeing them as wrong and right words.

Loukas, 11 months ago to random

🧵Sometimes friends of mine say they feel guilt they aren't recycling more, or swapping out their lightbulbs for more efficient ones.

But those aren't really very important things to do to lower your emissions.

I think it's important that we all have a basic mental map of what really are the effective consumer choices.

This chart from Kimberly Nicholas and Seth Wynes at Lund University (2017) deserves to be more widely known.

Loukas, 8 months ago to random

Twitter is collapsing as a platform, but people are turning away from Mastodon. It's a real shame. Personally I don't think Mastodon in its current incarnation will get such a favourable environment for growth. So something probably has to change for Mastodon or for federation before this works. https://botsin.space/

Loukas, 3 months ago to Autism

Is self-diagnosis valid for autism? I argue that self-diagnosis is the only valid form of diagnosis.
#autism #adhd #disability #anarchism https://kolektiva.social/

Loukas, 9 months ago to random

Since there's no algorithm on Mastodon it's also made it easier to see what kinds of rhetorical tricks people use to get their posts shared.

Which ones have you noticed?

A common one is to claim 'nobody is talking about this' (about an issue or event that lots of people are talking about)

A similar one is 'everything you know about [X] is wrong.

In both those cases it appeals to people's desire to feel part of a more-enlightened group.

Loukas, 9 months ago to random

🧵 I have an idea for a science fiction story, but it needs to be based on solid facts about ecosystems.

I'll pin this thread and update it as I find out more.

If you know about climate change, ecology and related systems I'd be happy for your contribution.

Loukas, 10 months ago to random Swedish

@anderspuck looks like this shipping data posted by @auonsson confirms what you said a few days ago - that actually enforcing a Black sea blockade will be harder said than done, since Russian navy can't actually achieve sea supremacy. https://twitter.com/auonsson/status/1685574858611077120?s=20

Loukas, 8 months ago to random

I'm not aiming this at anyone in particular, but if you want to help someone who's having a bad time, especially who's depressed, try to find another way of helping instead of saying "is there anything I can do to help?"

That offer seems helpful but it means the person who is suffering now has a new task: finding you something to do.

Instead think of a way you can help and offer that.

It takes the burden onto yourself, and crucially it shows what level of help you actually mean.

Loukas, 11 months ago to random

JRR Tolkien wrote in an English rooted in the Britain of 100 years ago. For that reason we're starting to lose touch with the language used in the book.

This is a thread of words and references that I have noticed in my current read-through, which I think might easily be misunderstood.

Loukas, 8 months ago (edited 8 months ago) to random

Hi people from BlueSky checking out this post after it was shared there. Look! You can edit posts here!

Journalists and politicians would rather be on BlueSky with 200 followers than Mastodon with 20,000 followers. This supports my point: twitter's use to journalists and politicians was as a tool for watching political and cultural interactions not about reaching a big audience per se.

https://mastodon.nu/@Loukas/110733629406665245

Loukas, 8 months ago to random

Does anyone have any insight about why Hamas is launching mass attacks? Usually it's more the fringe groups like Islamic Jihad who do this, but Hamas is more like a government of a state. Why would it risk everything now?

Replies that mock or make light of people getting hurt will get you a block btw.

Loukas, 10 months ago to worldwithoutus Swedish

On European social media we often discuss American issues and talk to Americans on social media - but doesn't it make sense for us to talk more to Nigerians, South Africans and Kenyans, and about their news, because that's who's awake at the same time as us?

Let me know if you are from these time zones, in #Africa, and I will follow you.

Loukas, 10 months ago to random Swedish

The Swedish government may have a majority in parliament, but they are polling 11 points behind the opposition.

They are polling not only below their 2022 election result, but below the 2018 election result for these parties. https://officiell-info.se/@svtnyheter/110823664196243877

Loukas, 10 months ago to random Swedish

"Why didn't anyone protest when they knew the climate was being destroyed?"

"They did. And the leader of the main leftwing party called them contemptible."

• Scene from a British history class, 2123.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/keir-starmer-just-stop-oil-labour-b2388586.html

Loukas, 9 months ago to random

A while ago I posted something about how Sweden's employment rate is at an almost 20-year high, and someone popped up in my mentions wanting to talk about crime, and how sad they were you can't talk about crime in Sweden these days without being called racist.

These days you can't even do a racism without someone calling you a racist, it's BCG gone mad.

Loukas, 1 month ago to random

The EU is abandoning its Mastodon project.

I had thought the main way Mastodon could develop into a major social media was by attracting bodies who want to respect EU law and similar regulation. If even the EU institutions themselves don't prioritise it, then that's another nail in the coffin.
https://www.edps.europa.eu/press-publications/press-news/press-releases/2024/edps-decentralised-social-media-pilot-end-successful-story_en

Loukas, 10 months ago to random

I'm seeing plenty of people respond to the recent article about how Mastodon is hard for new people by saying different versions of "well I like keeping people out unless they want to fit in with me", and it makes me sad.

Loukas, 9 months ago to random

Me watching my fellow generation-Xers become increasingly grumpy and intolerant of younger people.

Loukas, 9 months ago to random

Autistic authors writing neurotypical characters:

"They were the kind of person who read between the lines without even knowing the lines were there.

A natural smile played on the face of their un-headphoned head, and they functioned executively down the stairs."

Loukas, 10 months ago to random Swedish

Today I learned that Saturn's north pole is a hexagon-shaped storm.

And each side of the hexagon is longer than the distance around the Earth!

Loukas, 10 months ago to random Swedish

Today's question. How can I get paid to study and work more with the law and legal issues?

Let me know if you have any ideas or experiences that might help me. I'll probably study for my own enjoyment in my spare time, but it would be nice to get paid.