Credits: GMS, GOES-8, Meteosat, SSEC, NCDC, U. Wisc, NOAA
#nature #space #astrophotography
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Bird poop or moth?
Spoiler: it’s the moth known as Macrocilix maia!
Some might also see two flies eating bird droppings. Why the fecal pattern? It may help to deter predators from coming near. This species can be found widely across Asia from India, to China, to Malaysia.
American Museum of Natural History
@AMNH #moths #museums
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@natmuseumrn and RB Textile Conservation are currently cleaning the sole surviving sail from the #BattleofTrafalgar.
Measuring at over 3000 feet, the sail bares the marks of this ferocious battle, peppered with some 90 shot holes.
The National Museum of the Royal Navy
@NatMuseumRN
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An x-ray was taken of Tutankhamun's golden mask.
The Golden Mask of King #Tutankhamun as it appears in the x-ray until recently archaeologists believed that the mask was made from one piece but it was quite a surprise when the mask was subjected to an x-ray examination. The surprise was that the mask contains more than one part that was welded with very precise welding that is not visible to the naked eye. Ancient Egyptian civilization clearly had the knowledge of alloys and the gold industry.
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When a male anglerfish encounters a female, he bites into her skin.
After biting the female, the male releases an enzyme that dissolves the skin of his mouth and the female's body, fusing them together at the blood vessel level.
Once fused, the male becomes entirely dependent on the female for nutrition. Over time, the male's body degenerates, and he essentially becomes a living sperm bank #fish
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Galley of the aircraft carrier Saratoga at Bikini Atoll.— with Gennifer Hesseling.
Underwater Wreck Photography ·
Eric Hanauer. #WWII #photography #USNavy #Underwaterphotography
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The Great Grocery Squeeze.
How a US federal policy change in the 1980s created the modern food desert.
"Although poverty and ruralness have been with us forever, food deserts arrived only around the late 1980s. Prior to that, small towns and poor neighborhoods could generally count on having a grocery store, perhaps even several."
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… #food #groceries
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The Surprising Allure of Ignorance.
Aristotle taught that all human beings want to know. Our own experience teaches us that all human beings also want not to know, sometimes fiercely so. This has always been true, but there are certain historical periods when the denial of evident truths seems to be gaining the upper hand, as if some psychological virus were spreading by unknown means, the antidote suddenly powerless. This is one of those periods.
nytimes.com/2024/12/02/opinion… #humanities
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Associated Press 100 Photos of 2024: An epic catalog of humanity
apnews.com/associated-press-10… #photography #Press #Media
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Once a month, I post an updated list of upcoming virtual events for Austen and the Bronte sisters. Lots going on in December and January! You can find the updated list here: open.substack.com/pub/excessiv…
#AmReading #AmWriting @bookstodon #books #Bookstodon
#WritingCommunity #ReadingCommunity #Regency #Georgian #EmilyBronte #CharlotteBronte #AnneBronte #Victorian @romancelandia #JaneAusten
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If you have any questions about Mastodon or the rest of the Fediverse, please feel free to ask!
This is a human being typing this, it's not a bot account. I mainly set this account up to help people directly.
Any question is fine, don't be afraid of it sounding too basic or silly 🙂
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Obviously spamming a bad idea, but specific rules about what exactly is spam would depend on the server.
For example some servers forbid any kind of self-promotion, even for indie artists trying to make a living by selling art. Other servers would be fine with this as long as they're not spamming other people's threads with it or using irrelevant tags etc.
yeah this is a case that came up recently.
Indie artists advertising into an unrelated hashtag!
It's kind of difficult to comment without seeing the specific example in question?
Yeah, this is a problem as people are encouraged to use hashtags as much as possible, but also told not to use too many.
My personal take is that it's okay to use lots of tags which relate to your post, but others might prefer to have a maximum number of tags.
The maximum number of tags is sort of unclear, maybe partly because it depends on what the post is about? Some posts might cover a lot more topics than others.
Sorry I can't help more! 😦
Yes! Each device gets its own access token when you log in with it.
(You can also be logged in with multiple apps on the same device, or multiple accounts on the same app.)
Pretty much all Mastodon apps let you log in with multiple accounts at once, usually using an account switching button (on the official apps this in the bottom right corner).
You can also use PixelFed accounts via Mastodon apps, although the PixelFed-only features wouldn't be accessible.
So, you should be able to log in on Ice Cubes with your PixelFed account while also be logged in with your Mastodon account?
Hmm... 🤔
First, you could try logging in with your Pixelfed on the official Mastodon app. If that works, then the problem is with Ice Cubes.
If there's the same problem on the official Mastodon app too, then the problem may be on the Pixelfed server.
That particular Pixelfed server is running a slightly older version of the software (v0.12), maybe it needs to update to the latest release version (v0.12.4)?
EDIT: Also worth updating the apps too, just in case.
I'm really sorry, I'm not sure what you're asking? 😦 Could you explain a bit more?
Would you kindly point me to a tutorial (with examples!) for using markup on Mastodon?
All searching has gotten me is that markup is supported (sometimes), but not *which* markup.
I'm not even sure if my server supports it.
Standard Mastodon (aka "vanilla Mastodon") will display rich text in other posts but doesn't let you create it.
Variations of Mastodon such as Glitch and some non-Mastodon Fediverse servers do let you create it, which is why you can sometimes see it on your timeline.
Your server runs standard Mastodon so it doesn't support creating it.
There's a complete guide to the situation of Mastodon and rich text / markup / markdown here:
Ah, okay, that!
I'm not sure what the trick used is, maybe you should message them directly? Sorry I can't help more.
Yeah it will be a trick with some kind of character I think?
However, it may cause accessibility problems if you use it a lot. It might be best to just use it in one-off posts rather than usernames?
People who use screen readers hear awful gibberish when the reader app tries to interpret unusual characters used for visual effect.
Filtered word: nsfw
@uri
Usually server rules either ban NSFW or allow it behind a content warning.
If the unwanted content is coming from a small number of accounts I'd suggest muting or blocking them. If they're posting content that is problematic, it would be a good idea to report it by clicking ⋯ below the post.
If the unwanted content is coming from many accounts from a single server, you might want to let your server admin know as they may be able to silence or block it.
Really excellent point. If they tag it NSFW this would indeed be the best way to filter it out, yes!
I was assuming it was irresponsible posting, but yeah responsible posters of NSFW would do this!
It looks like those are just custom emojis they put in their names. You should ask your admin to add it to your instance if you want that too.
Fedi is people, Bluesky is a corporation.
Almost all Fedi servers are owned and run by ordinary people and grassroots non-profits. Fedi servers are fully independent and anyone can start one.
Bluesky is owned by a for-profit corporation run by cryptocurrency people. Bluesky doesn't have independent servers, it has a centralised corporate infrastructure through which everything flows. It's structured to prevent servers being independent.
Servers on Bluesky cannot communicate with each other at all. They can only communicate with relays, and then the relays (if they feel like it) will pass it on to other servers. Relays are very expensive to run, AFAIK there is only one relay at the moment, which is owned by the Bluesky corporation.
On the Fediverse, it's much simpler: servers communicate directly with other servers and don't need to connect to any kind of relay. Fedi servers are independent.
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The public feed, yes! Usually if you go to a server's website you can click on "🌎 Live Feeds" and it will show you the server's public feed.
Some apps also let you follow the live feeds of other servers. More info at:
If a server goes down, other servers will wait and retry later if they can't get a response now. When it comes back online the server will start catching up on the posts it had missed. (This is also how email servers work, by the way.)
If it's down permanently then that's a problem, but that's why it's important to join a server which promises to give lots of warning if they intend to close down. This gives time to move your account elsewhere.
More info at fedi.tips/what-if-a-server-clo…
Thanks for the feedback.
I've tweaked the article a little bit to hopefully make it appear in searches for the topics you raised.
That sounds like you're looking for a peer-to-peer distributed network rather than a federated network?
Scuttlebutt and its spin-off project @manyver_se are based on that idea, but due to technical and privacy barriers they still need to use servers to connect people. You can find out more at manyver.se
They're not part of the Fediverse as they use a very very different protocol, but it sounds like a better match for what you're asking about?
Ah okay, maybe we are talking at cross purposes? 🙂
On the Fediverse, the term "server" and "instance" mean the same thing, so a single-user instance would be the same thing as a single-user server.
At a technical level there wouldn't be any difference between a server/instance owned by one person or several people.
If you're asking about lightweight server/instance Fediverse software, something like GoToSocial is very lightweight? There's more info at gotosocial.org
@spacepatriot
I think what you're looking for is how to set up a single-user instance: an instance for one person, using a custom URL, so they are in total control of content and moderation.
If so then you're in luck. First, this isn't difficult; in fact it's very popular.
You're also in luck because I believe @feditips (using a different account) offers managed instances where an admin does all the technical stuff, letting you focus only on the content:
Oh, I'm so sorry! I hope I haven't caused any confusion. Thank you for pointing that out!
And thank you for being so dang helpful too. Your q&a posts are my favorite. I read read those top to bottom. You provide a fantastic and unique service to the whole Fediverse and I hope people show their appreciation for you!
No no, don't worry! 🙂
And... heck, thank you so much for the really kind words! It makes it feel worthwhile if these posts and guides are useful 😊
Are you wanting to set up your own server, so you have control over moderation? Here are some reasons why it's a good idea:
growyourown.services/why-growi…
There are some tips on organisations running their own server here:
fedi.tips/how-can-organisation…
There's also a more general guide to making your own server here:
growyourown.services/making-yo…
"Org is a child-focused NFP, so moderation is an issue""
Sorry if I'm misunderstanding, but I wouldn't recommend kids being on social networks?
Oh no, we don’t want kids there!! The ideal user would be described as “Donor”.
(…and thank you!)
There isn't an account as far as I know. However, the text on my site is available under creative commons and there have been a couple of French language guides published based on the text:
I think it would be similar in visibility whether you're starting your own or joining one. Most of your potential audience will be on non-PeerTube Fediverse platforms, especially Mastodon.
If you want to promote your PeerTube videos, it's a good idea to boost them from your existing account on piaille.fr. Most of the popular PeerTube accounts have main non-video accounts on Mastodon etc where they post about their topic as well as promoting their videos.
p.s. Let me know if you do publish tutorials, I run an account at @FediVideo and a site at fedi.video which promotes nice content on PeerTube.
I understood that an instance gets federated as soon as a user from another account has interacted with some of its content (liking it for example), so I guess ultimately visibility mostly depends on sharing the content through other networks like Mastodon.
The federation on Mastodon etc depends on people from other instances following your PeerTube account (not the channel, it has to be the account people follow to trigger federation).
So, as a first step encourage your existing followers on Mastodon to also follow your PeerTube account, and then after a few people have done this you can upload your first videos.
If you upload videos before anyone has followed your PT account, they will not be visible anywhere on Mastodon etc.
I was annoyed by the "load more" feature to put my reading position at the top of the newly loaded toots.
So now I use megalodon, which works fine.
Question: why do I need to click to load more? Can't the client click fo me?
If this message is at the top of the screen, it could be you're in slow mode.
You can switch this off by going to ⚙️ Preferences > UN-tick slow mode > Click Save Changes
Ahh okay, I thought you meant you were using the website. Which app are you using that you had the problem on?
To keep instance costs low, instances only notice remote posts and accounts that have some kind of connection to your instance.
There are things you can do to increase the number of posts and accounts your instance has noticed. Some of these can be done by users, others require action by your instance admin:
@afif
Mastodon is apparently the favourite band of the lead developer - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodon…
(I think they somewhat denied this later though.)
Is it okay if I cite Feditips on Threads and Bluesky?
Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa (Mound of Shards), a historical archaeological site located in Alexandria, Egypt. The site is also known as the 'Hill of Treasure', regarded as a huge necropolis and royal cemetery that dates back to 2nd Century AD. The necropolis has a unique mixture of Roman, Hellenistic and pharaonic art elements reflected in paintings on the wall and style of statues, funeral objects and tombs. It is considered as one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages.
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A 73 year-old man dressed as an ancient Greek warrior, runs an entire marathon barefoot to honor his ancestors...
Heraklion native Idomeneas Avramakis once again amazed spectators and fellow runners at Athens Authentic Marathon. At 73 years old, this retired employee, renowned for running in full ancient Athenian hoplite attire, completed grueling 42km race in 8 hours and 47 minutes. This marked his 18th consecutive year honoring legendary journey of Pheidippides in this historic costume.
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I can see Caroline saying a variation of this in a snooty voice.
#AmReading #AmWriting @bookstodon #books #Bookstodon
#WritingCommunity #ReadingCommunity #Regency #Georgian #JaneAusten @romancelandia
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Tower of silence, Zoroastrian burial site near Yazd-Iran.
It dates back to ancient Sassanid Persia (3rd-7th Century CE). Zoroastrianism was the predominant religion of Ancient Persia.
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Esslar2
in reply to Global Museum • • •