Loukas

JamesGleick, 5 days ago to random

TIL that—as of 1954—an original van Gogh painting hanging in the bedroom of a woman working as a telephone operator and sharing a Manhattan apartment with two others would be enough to raise suspicion that she had another source of income but not enough to suggest that she was wealthy.

[Extra credit for identifying my source.]

Loukas, 4 days ago to random

I just closed a tab that I'd had open for several days so please bear with me during this trying time.

seachanger, 4 days ago to random

#SeaweedSaturday found this massive kelp frond on the beach and carried it around, ate a few bites, took photos

Loukas, 4 days ago to random

Many people vote because they think it will create the world they want to see. I don't think that. I vote just to momentarily smack the reins of state power out of the hands of fascists.

Loukas, 3 days ago to random

Greens biggest party in Stockholm city.

Loukas, 3 days ago to random

With 87% of the votes counted it looks even worse for the Swedish far-right than the polls suggested. They're down almost two percentage points, and are behind the Greens. https://valresultat.svt.se/2024/

Loukas, 5 days ago (edited 1 day ago) to random

(🧵)I have a mystery. Who wants to help me solve it?

In the archives of the Swedish church in London they mention this person who claimed to be an aristocrat. He was a resident in a hospital on their account.

But this noble house was not part of the Swedish order any more, and I wonder if he was an imposter.

I think the text says

Nieroth A. ? Von

"Litteratör"
Kallar sig "Baron" (nyligen var in? baron Nieroth ? far? ? ej i äktenskap
Exit? journ? [Dates]
Död

Can you read any better?

Loukas, 4 days ago to random

Watching the EU election results come in.

Loukas, 5 days ago to random

In my copy of the Swedish register of the nobility (1983) it lists the Nieroth family as one that was never admitted to the Swedish House of Lords, and which only survives overseas. https://mastodon.nu/@Loukas/112580647029314206

Loukas, 5 days ago to random

This year's EU parliament election in Sweden is unusual, because it could have a major effect on national politics. If the Liberal Party gets less than 4% and fails to get a seat they may have an internal crisis and cause the government to collapse. This poll shows them just above that level.

Loukas, 5 days ago to random

It looks like someone from a Cyprus embassy has accidentally forwarded me an email. An email to help someone with a computer problem, ironically.

Loukas, 6 days ago to random

"If Britain had to adopt the euro as a condition of re-joining the EU, how would people vote if there was a referendum tomorrow?"

Stay out: 41%
Rejoin: 39%
Don’t know: 11%
Won’t vote: 9%

• Omnisis polling

Loukas, 17 days ago to random

Swedish is like Linux. It's quite obvious how the language works, and you can make your own words if you care to.

French is Apple. Try to make your own modifications and they will SEND YOU TO JAIL.

English is your grandparents' PC. We have no idea how it works. Where did all these weird plug-in words come from????

Loukas, 6 days ago to random

Oh we are so back

Graphic showing monthly active users of Fediverse and how they have been falling since December last year with a very slight rise in the last few weeks

Loukas, 7 days ago to random

I'm such a bad anarchist. What alignment are you? https://www.idrlabs.com/moral-alignment/test.php

Loukas, 7 days ago to random

"If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry."

• Ernest Hemmingway
  A Farewell to Arms (1929)

Loukas, 8 days ago to random

Hey, if you think there should be more south-east Asian news on Mastodon, or more southern African news, or more anarchism, you can make all of that happen by sharing one of these posts:

https://kolektiva.social/

https://kolektiva.social/

Loukas, 9 days ago to random

Today I learned the story of the passively boiled frogs is totally untrue.

"The 'critical thermal maxima' of many species of frogs have been determined by several investigators. In this procedure, the water in which a frog is submerged is heated gradually at about 2 degrees Fahrenheit per minute. As the temperature of the water is gradually increased, the frog will eventually become more and more active in attempts to escape the heated water."
https://web.archive.org/web/20170801123347/https://archive-srel.uga.edu/outreach/ecoviews/ecoview071223.htm

Loukas, 4 days ago to random

The people most obsessed with WW2 in Britain aren't the generation that lived through the war. They're the generation that lived through the first tranche of post-war war films in the 1950s and 1960s.

Loukas, 4 days ago to random

Something that's interesting about 'left unity' is it's easier when times are bad for the left. It's easy to agree on stuff when all you're doing is defensive work.

It's when there's surges of activity and power that gaps appear. Groups fight to be the ones who attract all this new energy - left parties get elected and then start to repress what they see as irresponsible demands and actions.

Loukas, 4 days ago to random

Boris Johnson' child.
Noun (uncountable).

Loukas, 4 days ago (edited 1 day ago) to random

Thank you to everyone who helped me work on my mystery of 'Baron' Nieroth today. I got a lot further thanks to you.