I guess the ICJ verdict wasn't perfect, but it may have opened up a window for the world to have chance to watch the truly and ugly face of Israeli occupation and military operations.
PS. The video came out last week. It's not something new, they chose to sit on it for a week waiting for ICJ verdict to come out.
@faab64@palestine
Actually, this is not the first time CNN has called out Isreal's war crimes. I have seen them do so at least a few times before. The one that sticks with me most is the one where Isreal desecrated Muslim gravesites, scattering bones on the premise that they were looking for terrorists,🙄 then driving vehicles through the devastated cemeteries.
This is a follow-up report to the preceeding link from #CNN. This one came out today (Monday, 29 Jan 2024). The reporters are guided through a tunnel that the IDF claims is under a cemetery that they (Isreal) desecrated and destroyed, but the #IDF General does not permit the reporters to confirm the location of the tunnel to the cemetery, while on-site.
(Spoiler: At the end of the video, CNN later geolocated the tunnel entrances and the tunnel between them to an area just outside the ruins of the cemetery.)
Checking in on whether #bluesky / #atproto has become any more like a communication medium, and... nope. almost unchanged since i looked at it last in June. Bluesky is a spectator platform where a small number of accounts receive most of the visibility and smaller accounts are effectively invisible. The introduction of new feed algorithms (to the degree that happened, there aren't really many that I can find in wide use) did not change that. This is a non-normative analysis: in some cases, it is good to have a medium that promotes some very small number of posts and accounts, eg. to surface singular events, etc.
From a 25h sample of the firehose...
600k posts, 2.4m likes, 250k boosts, 350k follows
40% of posts receive 0 likes, 70% receive <= 1
accounts in the 99th percentile of likes received 44% of likes, accounts in the 95th percentile received 74%
40% of posts were from accounts within the top 95th percentile of accounts by likes received.
the maximum number of likes for a post by an account not in the top 95% is 32.
The first plot below shows the cumulative sum of likes received on the y axis against each account in the sample on the x axis - this includes accounts that didnt' post during the sample (but would still have posts that could be liked, so this also shows the extreme recency bias). The second plot is a hockeystick showing the number of likes (not cumulative sum) received on the y axis per post on the x axis.
For background, the default algorithm only cares about likes, boosts don't matter, which is why i am calculating things by likes here - they are the primary algorithmic signal.
These are the same calculations that I did back in June, but this time i'm leaving the firehose open to do a longer sample to be able to parse momentary virality from persistent effects.
There was another toot earlier this week that compared the various platforms for a given set of headlines & topics. My toot (linked below) summed up the data from that thread that I was replying replied to. I don't know if this might help your analysis or give you any ideas for how to plan one for Mastodon, but jic it helps somehow, here you are.
It certainly seems to affirm what my own experience is: My interactions, RTs, and likes have a far higher percentage here than on other platforms.
@RickiTarr
I've become lactose-intolerant in adulthood, but I do remember the days of enjoying ice cream. I used to love just a thick ice-cream-parlour chocolate shake made from chocolate ice cream with a dash of extra chocolate syrup.
Simple, but very... chocolate.
But now that I can't have that anymore, I have found a new addiction: Cookie Dough.
Near me in #Naperville Illinois, there's a little shop that sells chilled edible #CookieDough, in a bowl, like ice cream.
I don't get it often, but it's a nice substitute for the shake.
My wife is looking forward to deleting her Instagram account once she can connect with the same folks from her Mastodon account. Being able to remain in touch with over 100M people who still use Meta products out of the comfort of an ad-free, privacy-friendly platform like Mastodon is a game changer.
I'm not sure about a lot of the different things I have been hearing lately when it comes to #Threads opening up to #TheFediverse . But I do understand a lot of the trepidation and concerns.
One of the things I love best here is that there are no ads, no algorithm pushing trolls & ads into my feed, no one tracking my data, etc. And now it sounds like those are going away?? (At least partially.)
I would appreciate your authoritative and informed opinion on this RT of a toot from @mastodonmigration .
There were a lot of people on Mastodon doubting federation would happen (despite a lot of incentives for Meta to federate), but this is a very definitive statement.
Maybe this is the kind of question that only someone who is computer illiterate would ask, but...
Since #Mastodon is #AdFree and #Threads is manipulated by an advertiser-driven #algorithm, how (if at all) do you foresee ads from those other platforms showing up on Mastodon and/or the algorithms of the advertiser platforms affecting feed in the #Fediverse at large?
You would NEVER give a security-incompetent company your data if you could avoid it, right? Triple that sentiment when the data is granular genetic information -- yes, I'm talking about 23andMe, which has had a catastrophic hack.
Guess what? If a close relative gave them the DNA, you're screwed, too.
You didn't invite a breach of your most personal information, but your well-meaning relative inadvertently did.
We need laws that require your consent, not just theirs.
Your post makes some very incorrect claims about DNA testing and #GeneticGenealogy.
Yes, hackers stole the DNA information for people who tested with #23AndMe. No, the DNA data of people who did NOT test with them was NOT stolen--because it was never there.
Relationships can be deduced using #DNA (IF YOU HAVE EXISTING FAMILY TREE FILES to pair it with, and the MANY hours to group your results into family lines)....but your specific #Genetic information (hereditary diseases, eye color, etc.) is NOT in the database, because that cannot be accurately deduced based only on your relatives' DNA.
Those of us who research #Genealogy know well that #DNAtesting is not for the faint of heart. You tend to get...surprises (like "Grandpa cheated").
You're also handing your DNA results over to a company (and sometimes copying this to other websites), so you have to trust them to keep it safe, just like you do with any bank, employer, tax return prep company, big data company, etc.
my mother died over two years ago. every password to every device she ever owned has been burned and blows in the wind with her. i exhorted her while she was alive, in my nerd-fervour, to not write them down, and now i curse my former self for it.
i tell you this now: give your crucial data, in a sealed envelope, in a safe or safety deposit box, in an encrypted zip, to someone you trust.
If you don't have anyone who wants your family photos, write (gently, with special photo-writing pen, so as not to damage the photos) the names of the people in the photos on the back of them. Either hand them yourself to a local LDS #Genealogy Library or put in your Will that you want them digitized and posted to a Genealogy website. You undoubtedly have cousins who would LOVE to see them, especially if they are of Grandparents or further back. The LDS Library will post them to #FamilySearch for you, so other family can find them.
You don't have to be Mormon to use this library. Just make sure the photos have been identified as much as possible. If you don't know the names for some of them, note their possible family line and a #Genealogist can probably figure out who they are.
My mother and I have saved photos for friends who had no heirs, and matched them to some VERY grateful family members. Don't let your #FamilyPhotos die with you.
If your cousin is still alive, ask if they can share their research with you, and let them know about the photos you have. They will be thrilled to help you get started! They probably have your #FamilyTree posted on either FamilySearch-dot-org or Ancestry-dot-com, or both.
#FamilySearch is free. It’s one huge tree that is shared-- everyone can add to and edit everything, so other people can edit what you post and vice versa.
On #Ancestry, everyone has their own trees and only people who are allowed can edit them. Some trees are private, most are public to view.
NEVER trust other people's trees-- not even your cousin's. On both sites, incorrect information is posted often by other users, and too often that gets copied as if it's accurate. So just because it's on multiple trees doesn't make it true.
There are several other common mistakes that most #Genealogists make. I wrote up a quick blog to help folks avoid them.
🧵2) On Mastodon, you can follow hashtags like #Genealogy, #Genealogist, #Geneadons, #FamilyTrees and other similar hashtags. Be sure to follow and post to the group account @geneadons with any genealogy-related posts.
I always post funny memes, but I rarely see others posting humor of their own. I would love to get lots of good laughs today for my birthday and see this hashtag trend. So please reply to this post with a joke or a funny meme– and don't forget to hashtag it #HootinTootinTuesday. Thanks!
Bonus #Jokes:
I've decided I'm not old. I’m 25 plus shipping and handling,
“No matter how often I tell people I'm 39, some of them refuse to believe I'm that old.” - Jack Benny
(It's #HootinTootinTuesday again! Post some jokes or funny memes under this hashtag today, and bring lots of smiles to #Mastodon.)
NYTimes: The Tunnels of Gaza - How the subterranean maze below the Gaza Strip works. >>>
"Snaking beneath dense residential areas, the passageways allow fighters to move around free from the eye of the enemy. There are also bunkers for stockpiling weapons, food and water, and even command centers and tunnels wide enough for vehicles, researchers believe."
As a suburban Chicago resident, I can't help but wonder if anyone has considered flooding the #HamasTunnels as a means of pushing the #Hamas fighters out into the open.
It's probably not a realistic idea, and I'm sure no one will even consider it (at this point, the goal seems to be "slaughter over strategy"). But water can be a powerful tool, and I can't imagine the tunnels would be as watertight as folks might think. If one part of the tunnels is near to the ocean, then they only need to find a way to connect the two-- perhaps with digging in already-siezed territory, perhaps with one of the bombs they seem to enjoy dropping on innocent people.
It's a fantastical idea I know, but I think the situation calls for new ways of thinking & new ideas, not the old way of bombing lots of innocent people in order to damage the tunnels, yard by yard.