Quintessence

Can't believe we're engaging in such #lesbaru erasure, on the week of @krisnova.net's birthday no less 😔

Random contextless question: so we have the "lolsob" emoji, is there an emoji mashup for LOL and Eternal Shriek / The Scream? 😂 😱 🤔

A funny cartoon by Dan Haskett. Gotta love the various ways he tries to open the can. Classic Sesame Street - Cat's Can

This past #caturday was having some word fun and IIUC it looks like some Germans with pets refer to themselves as "dosenöffner", or "can-openers"? (Can anyone confirm?) And I was reminded of this really, really old Sesame Street skit.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxSJ...

All of that to lead up to this (I need more characters 😅 ): what are some ways that you navigate building the framework to have conversations that will likely be devisive?

4/4

Example: if people are socialized not to talk about, say, politics and religion - then who has ample room to be the only speaker on these topics?

Before starting to have conversations that we aren't able to have, first we need to know how to have them lest the conversations lead to splintering.

3/

There is a famous quote by Mark Twain, which fully goes "do not talk about politics and religion in polite company". This is frequently echoed with "in polite company" dropped.

One of the problems with this is that it creates an opening for attacks of opportunity.

2/

As we continue to watch events unfold, in addition to discussing the events themselves there are also a lot of other conversations we need to have. One of them is: How Do We Talk About, What We Don't Talk About?

1/N

Oh also: who is enjoying some great pride events this month? It's a great time, for those who are able, to remember our joy and humanity.

Fellow Whovians: who watched the latest season????

Seeking backgrounds to use on my (many many) meetings for this month. What are people's favorite pride backgrounds? Bonus points if there are books or bookcases, cause those bring me joy

Eggcorn - Wikipedia An eggcorn is the alteration of a word or phrase through the mishearing or reinterpretation of one or more of its elements,[1] creating a new phrase which is plausible when used in the same…

Today I am a member of today's Lucky 10,000 (ref: XKCD). I finally learned word for a specific joke pattern in English: eggcorn

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggcorn...

Quote Skeet: winning example for anyone in today's Lucky 10,000.

bsky.app/profile/furi...

Annie Andrews Launch Video: "Unafraid"

Because hope is for everyone.

People are stepping up, and it's wonderful to see.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8wM...

Due to the nature of brains, I always think of posts at times I don't actually want to be posting on the internet. Testing out some old (and new) tooling to separate this a bit.

It's really easy to know if Someone Is About To Do A Thing when they say "I don't mean to sound Y, but ..." type sentences. They load the intent into the structure. But do you know enough about different hateful ideologies to recognize them unaided?

An exercise:

hachyderm.io/@quintessenc...

P.S. To say it again, Emelia also does paid contracting work if that is an interest to you or anyone you know.

Emelia's expertise is invaluable to us at #nivenly and #hachyderm and many Fedi communities (whether they know it or not). She works on highly intricate problems and creates equally intricate solutions.

Donations support her ongoing work for collective benefit. She also does contracting work. ❤️

Oh that's neat!

Watching current events and reflecting on some other things, I made a long post about disenfranchised vs enfranchised communication patterns:

hachyderm.io/@quintessenc...

So news in the United States is breaking "at the speed of information". As I watched the back and forth regarding @jennamclaughlin.bsky.social 's @npr.org article about DOGE and labor data, I thought it was great time to talk about how to validate and attribute.

hachyderm.io/@quintessenc...

H/T to @quintessence.bsky.social for showing me this video. I hadn't seen it before.

Well worth the watch. A good overview of topics I don't know enough about: agender and asexual people.

CVE Foundation FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 16, 2025 CVE Foundation Launched to Secure the Future of the CVE Program [Bremerton, Washington] – The CVE Foundation has been formally established to ensure the long-term ...

Regarding the MITRE / CVE news: this looks legit, can anyone confirm?

www.thecvefoundation.org

Job: Working Student (all genders) | Sovereign Tech Agency Our team is growing, that’s why the Sovereign Tech Agency is looking for a working student to join the Research & Policy team.

We are looking for a motivated and detail-oriented working student to support our impact evaluation efforts through data collection, analysis, and visualization. As part of our research and policy team, you'll play a key role in helping us measure and communicate the outcomes of our work. Details ⤵️

20,000 in ruby red Utah on their feet, in community, and ready to organize for a better world.

A better world is possible.

Gentle Reminder!

1 April is upon us. So please:

* Have fun!
* Don't choose pranks that are triggers to your friends or people in general ❤️‍🩹

Also since a lot of places get ... Really Into It ... be wary of any press releases, blog posts, articles, podcasts, etc. in this 48 hr window. ❤️

To note: I am talking to people outside of the tech industry, who see headlines and chatter about whether or not Signal is secure or has vulnerabilities, without having the in-tech industry (or in-security industry) understanding of these terms.

bsky.app/profile/sign...

Same! This why government communications shouldn't occur on tools that function this way. It doesn't mean that Signal isn't secure for the rest of us, it means that it's not the correct tool for that kind of communication.

☝️☝️☝️

☝️☝️☝️

Signal sends **encrypted** messages.

If your concern is:

* "but this isn't an approved communication channel!" - that's great! And encryption won't fix that.

* "but there were personal devices!" - that's great! And encryption won't fix that.

Know your main concern, and address *that*.