shadyspotlight

@shadyspotlight@mindly.social

Fan of Yibo and others, generally confused, lover of science (gimme the facts!) I also ramble about football, politics, fungi, nudibranchs, and whatever random thing piques my interest.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

georgetakei, to random

What does the road to the 2024 election look like? It's a winding path marked by redistricting battles that could reshape Congress. Get the scoop over at The Big Picture on what's happening now, a year out from this crucial election: https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/2024-redistricting-house-majority-congress

shadyspotlight,

@georgetakei I do like how just breaking Montgomery off into its neighboring district is enough to turn it blue. Meanwhile Birmingham is still in the same district as the western black belt counties instead of its own metro area. Maybe that's for the best?

jeffowski, (edited ) to random
@jeffowski@mastodon.world avatar
shadyspotlight,

@jeffowski yep. Mom took any and every opportunity to "teach" me. Even when she was ranting about somebody else, I felt like she was lecturing me. I never tell her about friends anymore because if we ever stop associating, it's somehow my fault even if we just grow apart over the years. I'm proud of myself though; I finally learned how to say "I didn't ask for advice" when she was starting in on how I do my job last week.

ludovica, to languagelearning German

So German and English both have pretty identical versions of Reinventing the Wheel/das Rad neu erfinden

But is the only English version of "Das Pferd von hinten aufzäumen" (lit "putting the tack on a horse from the back") really just "putting the saddle before the horse"?

#language #German

shadyspotlight,

@ludovica I haven't heard the tack one, but I like it! Hopping on then trying to control the beast indicates some poor planning and results that probably won't be to your liking. 😆

shadyspotlight,

@ludovica 🤣🤣🤣 nice

vagina_museum, to random
@vagina_museum@masto.ai avatar

It's a common folk belief in the southern USA that female opossums have sex and give birth through their noses (they don't).

The reason behind this belief is that male opossums have a bifurcated penis, so they were looking for double holes for the penis to "fit in".

shadyspotlight,

@vagina_museum I've literally never heard this from anyone ever and I've only ever lived in the South. Just saying.

dancinyogi, (edited ) to random
@dancinyogi@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

I typically tell people I love and appreciate them on a regular basis. I tend to say it more if someone has been there for me during a rough time. Over the years, I've noticed that most people respond very well to this. I've also noticed some who flinch and change the subject.

If someone (family, spouse/partner, close friend) tells you that they love and appreciate you, do you -

#poll

shadyspotlight,

@dancinyogi I like hearing it if it's sincere, but unless it's my mother saying it, I kind of assume they're lying/don't mean it/are trying to butter me up for something.

At some point I'll unpack what that means about me.

georgetakei, to random

Eek!
https://www.comicsands.com/australian-journalist-names-baby-meth-2665709670.html?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=infeed&utm_campaign=linkprogram

shadyspotlight,

@georgetakei The name reviewer is sitting there going "jokes on her. She's gonna be the one calling out for Meth on the playground and getting asked to leave."

BE, to random
@BE@qoto.org avatar

My wife's company had a mandatory conference for all of their over 2,000 employees last week. She did not attend, thankfully. Even though it was mandatory she rolled the dice on a Telehealth appointment and the doctor she got thought it was wonderful that she hasn't gotten COVID yet, and wrote her a note suggesting that she be exempt from all in-person meetings for the next 365 days. Surprisingly, to us, HR at her company accepted it. We went camping while everyone else went to a packed, zero COVID precautions considered, conference.

No surprise at all, she's covering for many people out sick today, including the person she works most closely with who texted her to say she's "down with the worst bout of COVID yet."

She just got off of a zoom meeting with her boss, who also has COVID today, and is suddenly COVID cautious curious, let's say. She said it's her 7th(yes, seventh) known COVID infection, she has a "bizarre autoimmune disorder" that her doctors have spent a year trying to help her figure out, and she's come to believe that it might just be COVID related.

She asked how my wife has managed to stay COVID free, and my wife went ahead and listed out all of our precautions, and here's where watching this secretly from across the room blew my mind....The hangup was restaurants. She kept coming back to "You haven't been inside of a restaurant in 4 years?" Over and over. At least 4 times in the next 20 minutes she repeated that. Like it was some Herculean feat that couldn't be accomplished by the average human being.

I just don't get it...

Anyway, it was a bridge too far, and so she will continue getting COVID.

shadyspotlight,

@aeischeid @BE One of my coworkers was saying recently that every time she goes to the beach she gets Covid. I'm sure my face wore some expression of disbelief that she hadn't figured out how to avoid it yet.
I haven't been to the beach, but have traveled, and infrequently eat indoors (outdoors when possible) and I think avoiding crowded spaces is key. I still haven't caught it despite a couple of exposures.

dangoodin, (edited ) to random

This is awesome! Full text search has come to Mastodon, and it's being rolled out in a responsible way.

I know full text search is a hot-button issue. For journalists, researchers and many others, FTS is essential. Plenty of others have good reason to keep their content unsearchable.

If you're in the latter category, you don't need to take any action. Your toots will remain unsearchable just as they were before.

For the rest, please manually change the default so your toots will be searchable. This will address a major shortcoming that has kept a huge number of fedi holdouts from joining.

To do that, go to Preferences > Public Profile and select the Privacy and Reach tab. Then check the Include public posts in search results.

*** Edit: sorry, my initial post told y'all to click the wrong box. Fixed.

shadyspotlight,

@dangoodin @haley_exe thanks, I had the same question. Not on Tusky or the official app. I guess I need to remember what my pw is and find myself a non-mobile device.

rakyat, to random
@rakyat@hachyderm.io avatar

“The fact that so many men maintain a casual interest in the Roman Empire is absolutely no surprise to any woman in classics or ancient history… his knowledge of the subject he is pontificating about will be superficial and his attitude toward it will amount to little more than a wide-eyed idolization of imperialism, military might, and powerful men. Such men are so common and such a recognizable type that women in classics even have a name for them: ‘Rome bros’.”

https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2023/09/17/why-do-men-spend-so-much-time-thinking-about-the-roman-empire/

shadyspotlight,

@rakyat I have a sneaking suspicion that the Venn diagram between these guys and the white nationalists fetishizing Vikings closely resembles a single circle.

TarkabarkaHolgy, (edited ) to folklore
@TarkabarkaHolgy@ohai.social avatar

So what would be a good hashtag for a voting game where people can nominate favorite folktale types and pick a Folktale of the Year for 2024?...

(Boosts welcome)

@folklore

shadyspotlight,

@SimonRoyHughes @TarkabarkaHolgy @folklore it has FEET!!

bkm, to random
@bkm@mastodon.world avatar

I'm holding out for the Pumpkin Spice ones.

shadyspotlight,

@ramsey @bkm @tswicegood I think you mean con-summa hot dog. 😋

SmudgeTheInsultCat, to random
@SmudgeTheInsultCat@mas.to avatar
shadyspotlight,

@SmudgeTheInsultCat I'm irrationally mad that all the ships approach at the same angle now, as if all the solar systems were on the same plane. Fuck Earthen studios with Earth gravity!

Myerman, to random
@Myerman@toot.bldrweb.org avatar

When I was a young left leaning guy they told me I’d become more conservative as i got older. 30 years later I think we need a 32 hour workweek, free healthcare, high speed trains between cities and zero cars inside them, universal basic income, and all of it paid by forcibly taking the money from billionaires and the churches until they disappear. So whatever.

shadyspotlight,

@smellsofbikes @Myerman except I do have family members who used to vote Democrat who are now Trump supporters. Coincidentally they're the same ones who tell me I'll get more conservative as I get older. I think they just want validation for being terrible people.

BrianBinh, to random
@BrianBinh@dice.camp avatar

The English suffix "-ard" (as in "drunkard", "laggard", "braggard", and "sluggard") is used to make adjectives into deprecating nouns.

"He's drunk" is just a description.
"He's a drunkard" is a moral judgment that finds the subject lacking.

The same process turned "he's wise" into "he's a wizard".

"Wizard" was the medieval equivalent of "smartass".

shadyspotlight,

@foone @flamepanther @feonixrift @BrianBinh @bluedragon I'm here to inform that I am, in fact, a liz-ass mother fucker.😉

LeslieBurns, to random
@LeslieBurns@legal.social avatar

Yatzee!

shadyspotlight,

@trollball @LeslieBurns "or an interior room away from windows."

shadyspotlight,

@trollball @LeslieBurns yeah, hallways and even closets are suitable, or barring that, a bathroom. But this does have me wondering about housing structures there... if they're built to withstand earthquakes, are they better or worse at surviving tornadoes?🤔

erikalyn, to random
@erikalyn@newsie.social avatar

No amount of voter suppression or other electoral advantages is going to make up for this. Trump is a terrible candidate, and he is going to lose.

h/t Molly Jong-Fast
#Trump #indictment #Election2024

shadyspotlight,

@erikalyn Nobody seems to be talking about him getting primaried. There are other Republican options (even if they're all equally terrible.)

shadyspotlight,

@erikalyn IMO, I see nothing wrong with his base being alienated. 🤭

erictopol, to random
@erictopol@mstdn.social avatar

It is despicable that the Covid vaccine manufacturers are going to charge more than $110/dose for the new XBB.1.5 boosters when available in mid-September.

The US government previously paid ~$25/dose, supplied free of charge, and subsidized these companies with untold $ billions.

shadyspotlight,

@erictopol What happened to pairing it with the flu vax into a single shot?

vagina_museum, to random
@vagina_museum@masto.ai avatar

OLD THREAD REPOST

Let's get together and read a scientific paper! Let's find out what Ernst Gräfenberg, namesake of the G-spot actually had to say about G-spots...

The paper in question is titled "The Role of Urethra in Female Orgasm", published in the International Journal of Sexology in 1950 by Gräfenberg. It's available online in English and the original German if you'd like to read along.

shadyspotlight,

@mrundkvist @vagina_museum men are to be kept at home, after all.

cumulus, to random

What is the best way to express that a fic is set in a properly alternate universe (that is not the one we're living in) when it's also a modern world that is already alternate to the original fantasy/historical/xianxia setting?
Like yeah, it's a Modern AU but that doesn't cut it cos it's two kinds of alternate!

shadyspotlight,

@cumulus I'm guessing time travel AU doesn't cut it either? Would multiverse AU be an option?

shadyspotlight,

@cumulus I see... that might be your tag then! Reality divergent modern AU is a mouthful, but if it's important to distinguish this particular AU from other possible AUs, that's probably what you'll need.

georgetakei, to random

The numbers of those who don't affiliate with any religion are surging in the U.S., but only 4% of Americans self-identify as "atheist." And while we may not have an official national religion, Christianity is largely baked into many aspects of our culture. With it comes stigma attached to atheism, which makes many reluctant to embrace it.

But why? Should the lack of religious belief really be looked upon any differently than belief? We unpack that question and more today in The Big Picture: https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/atheism-america-stigma-religion-christianity

shadyspotlight,

@raptor85 @trisweb @georgetakei that part. The only stereotype is the gross misunderstanding that the hyper-religious seem to have. Which they seem to have about any minority group. If the masses were better educated about what atheism actually was (not holding a belief in any particular deity) we'd see those numbers rise the same way autism and left-handedness have.

grammargirl, to random
@grammargirl@zirk.us avatar

A great article on how to spot fake images created by AI. See if you can identify the fake or real image in 5 out of 5 examples.

https://www.axios.com/ai-deepfake-trump-biden-election-2024

h/t @curtiscchen

shadyspotlight,

@grammargirl @curtiscchen 4 out of 5... I got the Harris one wrong. I suspected it might be a trick. It is concerning how realistic these images look and you can't always count on folks having too many fingers or teeth.

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