@nprofile1q... The Chicago World's Fair didn't have a cardboard Arc de Trump though.

@nprofile1q... I think that the evidence that the ants are responsible for the graffiti, even given their warlike nature and sketchy name, is circumstantial at best.

@nprofile1q... Was the alien insectoid? One wonders. Also, this story set me off to wondering about the political implications of a joy detector. Imagine what awful things an authoritarian regime could do with that. "Citizen! Why are you not deliriously happy in the brave new world that Dear Leader has provided for you?" Or the contrary, "Citizen! You are suspiciously joyful in the midst of your poverty and squalor. What thought-crime are you committing to be in this state?"

OK, I'll go back to thinking blissfully about the happy ant. It's a good story.

@nprofile1q... I think one problem is that nearly every pundit is saying, "You can't do regime change without boots on the ground," so Trump is going around saying, "I need boots on the ground." In that sense the pundits are escalating the war.

@nprofile1q... It's disinformation.

@nprofile1q... @nprofile1q... Or maybe Gitanes.

@nprofile1q... @nprofile1q... @nprofile1q... @Fediverse News @nprofile1q... @nprofile1q... @nprofile1q... I joined Mastodon in late 2022, I think it was when Elon bought Twitter. I found a list of servers, some of which were closed to new users because of the mass migration. I ended up applying to social.linux.pizza because I was running Linux Mint and it was open. I was accepted, then I started figuring out how to work it. After a while, I started using Phanpy.

Some of the things you say are defects or omissions might actually be features. I have been using computers for a long time, though I am not professionally involved with them. My first online experiences were on the GEnie BBS. I also don't use any of the typical social media. I had a Twitter account (no longer), but I only used it to follow the Ukraine war. I didn't mind having to figure out Mastodon. It meant that the users had to have a certain level of commitment and curiosity. I think it cuts down on the trolling and blathering. The necessary information is out there, if you look for it.

@nprofile1q... Didn't Beatrice Potter write a screenplay for "The Lichen that Digested the Earth" before she wrote Peter Rabbit? Maybe I'm remembering that wrong.

@nprofile1q... DEI is an anti-scapegoating program that is now being scapegoated.

@nprofile1q... Those examples are dead metaphors that continue as idioms. Good luck battling against them. The language has a mind of its own.