Once, we thought antibiotics & public health campaigns had eliminated syphilis. Now, Alberta is in the grips of a full-scale syphilis crisis, which is killing babies & leaving newborns with congenital syphilis. How has this happened? In this Senate speech, I provide a disturbing history lesson. In the wake of the Covid pandemic, when public health itself is under political attack, how do we fight back? youtube.com/watch?v=o-PMyu9ChC… #SenateofCanada #syphilis #Alberta #ableg #cdnpoli #publichealth
"An Israeli attack on Oct 25 killed cameraman Ghassan Najjar and engineer Mohammad Reda, who worked for Al Mayadeen, and Al-Manar TV’s camera operator Wissam Qassim" Human Rights Watch found “no evidence of fighting, military forces, or military activity in the immediate area at the time of the attack”...“the Israeli military knew or should have known that journalists were staying...in the targeted building”.
Jean L’Hommecourt Wants You to Know What the Oil Sands Are Doing to Her People and Their Land Jean L'Hommecourt is a Dene member of Treaty No. 8. And she has a lot to say about the #oilsands and local pollution. #abpoli #landbackalbertabeyondfossilfuels.ca/je…
With just days before the fishery opens in the Georgia Strait, W̱SÁNEĆ hereditary chiefs say federal fisheries department hasn’t responded to their assertion of Treaty Rights
By switching your providers to renewable sources, ones that are actually increasing renewable capacity not just trading credits.
I'm already on that! My electricity provider is Alberta Co-operative Energy where for a small premium I can redirect those funds to a premium for their renewable producers many of which I think are just householders with solar panels feeding back into the grid.
Before this I used Bullfrog Energy, which is a way anyone in Canada can green their electricity, natural gas, and even vehicle fuel use by making contributions which Bullfrog uses to fund solar, wind, methane capture, and biofuel projects equal to an equivalent amount as your usage. I'm still using Bullfrog for heating and vehicle fuel.
Just like organic food, I as a consumer pay a premium to support what just should be the norm anyway, while the polluters for the most part do not pay for their "externalities", but I think it's very much money well spent.
I live in a province where the government is actively legislating to sabotage the renewables energy, which was leading
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By switching your providers to renewable sources, ones that are actually increasing renewable capacity not just trading credits.
I'm already on that! My electricity provider is Alberta Co-operative Energy where for a small premium I can redirect those funds to a premium for their renewable producers many of which I think are just householders with solar panels feeding back into the grid.
Before this I used Bullfrog Energy, which is a way anyone in Canada can green their electricity, natural gas, and even vehicle fuel use by making contributions which Bullfrog uses to fund solar, wind, methane capture, and biofuel projects equal to an equivalent amount as your usage. I'm still using Bullfrog for heating and vehicle fuel.
Just like organic food, I as a consumer pay a premium to support what just should be the norm anyway, while the polluters for the most part do not pay for their "externalities", but I think it's very much money well spent.
I live in a province where the government is actively legislating to sabotage the renewables energy, which was leading the nation before the current premier came to power. She is a former fossil fuel industry lobbyist.
Smallholder farmers on Brazil's agrarian reform settlements are restoring the Amazon, showing proving how food production can coexist with healthy landscapes.
An injured girl is pulled from the rubble after an Israeli attack on a home in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City, Gaza, early on Wednesday morning [Hasan N H Alzaanin/Anadolu]
85,000 students across #Quebec are slated to strike tomorrow, according to the federation CRUES. It's the first student strike for #Palestine we're aware of since the current wave of solidarity actions began in North America.
How was it organized? Students called general assemblies, mostly at the level of their academic department, where strike motions were put forward and voted on. Strike committees are organizing to picket and disrupt classes that may try to go forward anyway.
In response, some institutions including Dawson, a major junior college, have closed for the day tomorrow for "safety" reasons. Elsewhere, admins have sent threatening mass emails, and tensions will rise with zionists, scab professors, and security as the strike is put into effect.
Keep your eyes on Concordia University, where over 10,000 students will be on strike. Security there have called police onto campus several times since the start of the semester to arrest students.
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85,000 students across #Quebec are slated to strike tomorrow, according to the federation CRUES. It's the first student strike for #Palestine we're aware of since the current wave of solidarity actions began in North America.
How was it organized? Students called general assemblies, mostly at the level of their academic department, where strike motions were put forward and voted on. Strike committees are organizing to picket and disrupt classes that may try to go forward anyway.
In response, some institutions including Dawson, a major junior college, have closed for the day tomorrow for "safety" reasons. Elsewhere, admins have sent threatening mass emails, and tensions will rise with zionists, scab professors, and security as the strike is put into effect.
Keep your eyes on Concordia University, where over 10,000 students will be on strike. Security there have called police onto campus several times since the start of the semester to arrest students.
Quebec's longstanding culture of combative student associations helps make student strikes like this one possible. But in many striking schools and departments, there was no recent precedent to build on, and autonomous organizing was key.
When successful, student strikes force people to choose sides, reveal the violent underpinnings of society and its education system, and, when prolonged, free up time for militant activity.
Thursday morning update! The Concordia admin's intimidation tactics have proven a resounding failure, as most profs in striking departments have canceled class or refused to cross picket lines. Security guards appear wary of escalation, and pickets are proceeding as planned.
A social media post showing an urgent callout for community members to assemble at the Human Rights Monument. The image shows several police officers in discussion with civilians, with text overlay emphasizing the urgency of the situation and the need for community support. The post claims Ottawa Police are refusing the right to peaceful assembly.
Fedi exclusively. I’ll never trust a corporate/venture capital funded platform again. A profit motive immediately compromises their users even if they are well intended in the beginning.
Mastodon is great, but to make it even better for professional use it might help if something like the "top-links" in the "catch-up" (Beta) window of #phanpy (phanpy.social/ ) is the home page by default for all users. These top-links are sorted by the number of times boosted by the ones *you follow*. This could be useful for #science, to highlight most important developments (e.g. publications) in your network. Now you easily miss them, causing some colleagues to leave.
@geertaarts > Mastodon is great, but to make it even better for professional use
Using Mastodon is only one way to participate in the fediverse. It wasn't even the first. There have always been a range of apps you can use, many of which have features Mastodon lacks;
@michaelcoyote I think keeping Mastodon as a main account and also building a community on BS that could be ported here if the enshitification of BS hits, might not be an awful idea. it might also be a way to educate people about the fediverse. #Mastodon #BlueSky
@Bam > I just wish the bridge operated by opt out rather than opt in
AFAIK it was. Then the Mastodon Homeowners Association dogpiled @snarfed.org until he made it opt-in. What I'd like to see him do is make the opt-in itself opt-in. So it's up to server admins to decide whether they want BS interop with their server to be opt-in or opt-out.
I suspect our server's community would prefer opt-out.
@alexisbushnell > the reason quantity over quality is important on other platforms is because of the algorithms on them
That explains how the habit develops. But not why people pick replacements that supply the habit, rather than liberating them from it.
While I'm glad you shared this, your reply is somewhat out of context. I was referring more to some people choosing a Xitter replacement on the basis of total population to be reached (quantity), over the values encoded in the tech (quality).
@alexisbushnell > when your business model depends on reaching the most people, the decision is made for you based on where the most people are
That logic makes sense in a broadcast world, where channels have fairly consistent audiences. But it totally breaks down in social media.
Total population tells you nothing useful. FarceBook still has a higher total population that anywhere. But there's no guarantee anyone will see your stuff there - even if they follow you - unless you pay to play.
Speaking here as an activist, writer and advocacy journalist for about 3 decades. If you think I don't want lots of people to read and share my stuff, you're imagining someone much more enlightened than me ; )
I first got active on the fediverse on Quitter.se. They ran a GNU social server, which could automatically crosspost to a Titter account. I set one up for that purpose.
Every now and then I'd login to respond to any comments that merited a reply, and compare the level of engagement with what I was getting in the verse. Despite the total population of Titter being massively higher, both the quantity and quality of engagement here was consistently higher.
@alexisbushnell > an amazing Fedi following won't get you paid
I beg to differ. I recently got my first paid subscription from a shameless self-promotion here. I regularly see people posting jobs wanted and jobs offered ads. As well as begposts along the lines of 'can't pay my rent this week, please drop cash money in this digital bucket'.
Will an amazing BlueSky following get you paid in similar ways? Probably. But it has nothing to do with the relative size of their total population.
@alexisbushnell > I meant in the way influencers make money - by selling ad space on their content
Is it mean to say that I simply don't care what happens to people who make money that way? Just like I don't care about what happens to any bacteria on my hands when I wash them?
Like the bacteria, this style of "influencer" floods the zone with shit simply by existing. If BlueSky is keeping away from the fediverse for a bit longer, that's the best argument I've seen so far for BS existing ; )
#Plastic rubbish on beaches, from space. "The satellite imagery tool developed by RMIT University scientists picks up differences in how sand, water and plastics reflect light, allowing plastics to be spotted on shorelines from more than 600km above" The Beached Plastic Debris Index is now a thing. rmit.edu.au/news/all-news/2024… Thanks to rafaelatiengo.substack.com/p/e… for this news item
I'm a bit skeptic on anything that uses very hi-res worldview imagery, or any other vhr imagery. Availability and lack of a constant acquisiton configuration makes this type of analysis too costly to have any real application. It's fun that's for sure.
the only way I think it would be feasible is if you have free access to a very big catalogue, like some public institutions, but then again, each image would have a very different acquisition angle and/or GSD, and you won't be able to repeat the analysis frequently.
VHR imagery has too many limitations when your are not the DoD or a very very big company.
fionag11
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