Notices by Jay Baker (mediaactivist@todon.eu)

" Nigel Farage is a multi-millionaire who is out for himself and working for the interests of his super-rich friends." DeSmog reveal how fascist Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has banked more than £2 million in earnings and gifts since becoming an MP: https://www.desmog.com/2026/05/06/nigel-farage-has-accepted-2-million-since-becoming-an-mp/

"A photograph celebrated for its apparent spontaneity that was actually staged. An image honouring ordinary working men that was also a monument to the ambitions of America's richest family. And a picture recognised by virtually everyone on the planet whose maker remains, after 90 years, unknown." https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/photography/books/this-famous-photo-of-new-york-workers-eating-lunch-on-a-steel-girder-has-been-seen-by-billions-but-the-daredevil-story-of-how-it-was-photographed-can-only-now-be-told #photography #LunchOnABeam #LunchAtopASkyscraper

Wow, the responses to this! Seems like folks need Steiner Math.

"'A dream technology': Japanese scientists might have unlocked the next generation of solar panels that stay cooler and last longer thanks to 'spin-flip' material that achieves 130% energy conversion efficiency": https://www.techradar.com/pro/a-dream-technology-japanese-scientists-might-have-unlocked-the-next-generation-of-solar-panels-that-stay-cooler-and-last-longer-thanks-to-spin-flip-material-that-achieves-130-percent-energy-conversion-efficiency-and-heres-how-it-works #solarpunk

@DoomsdaysCW @MaQuest @BrambleBearSnoring @Broadfork I didn't even know this was a thing! I'm definitely interested.

"On Christmas Eve, residents of Roxbury, New Jersey, a township 50 miles west of Manhattan, learned from a Washington Post article that the Department of Homeland Security had plans to purchase a vacant warehouse on the outskirts of town and convert it into an ICE detention facility. ...By mid-January, Roxbury’s Township Council, an elected body of seven people, all Republicans, passed a resolution affirming that it 'unequivocally opposes' modifying town warehouses for ICE use." https://boltsmag.org/ice-warehouse-detention-facility-roxbury-new-jersey/

This World Press Freedom Day, American journalists are under attack: https://freedom.press/issues/this-world-press-freedom-day-american-journalists-are-under-attack/

Brazil’s cooperatives show how local communities can drive the climate transition: https://www.resilience.org/stories/2026-05-01/brazils-cooperatives-show-how-local-communities-can-drive-the-climate-transition/

@syhr @alxd My partner and I were just today saying how cool it'd be to have solarpunk network, maybe including events and meetups both (Covid safe!) in-person and online, with mutual aid initiatives woven into it.

@alxd @SolarpunkConference Kudos to everyone involved for recognising when rest is needed! Well done on the previous conferences and hope to catch it sometime in the future!

@alxd @SolarpunkConference Oh, just saw this: https://mastodon.world/@SolarpunkConference/116461424737723791

@alxd @SolarpunkConference I only recent found out about it so was really hoping for one this year!

May Day rallies sweep the United States, demanding reforms for working-class rights with calls to tax the rich and abolish ICE: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/5/1/may-day-rallies-sweep-us-demanding-reforms-for-working-class-rights

"The British monarch can receive ovation after ovation in the Capitol as he asserts the two nations’ supposed shared commitment to ‘democracy’, but the reality is the US is becoming a fascist dictatorship whilst its British cousin is a nightmare of passive-aggressive authoritarianism." https://freedomnews.org.uk/2026/04/30/the-king-and-the-emperor/

@klausblog It's costing me about a quarter of that just for one site with GoDaddy haha good grief.

@klausblog @be @steter @trouble @carpetbomberz @jalefkowit They sound like my kind of thing, thank you for sharing this. And they have a guide on switching from GoDaddy. I wonder if the prices are comparable.

The UK Parliament continues to pursue an approach to online safety that doesn't work.

The Australian under-16 social media ban has failed to make any difference and people have sought ways around it.

Digital ID age checks come at the cost of everyone's privacy and free expression. The math ain't mathing.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/most-australian-teens-admit-social-111400429.html

#ageverification #digitalid #socialmedia #socialmediaban #freedomofexpression #childrensbill #privacy #ukpoltics #ukpol

The huge, untapped potential of planting rooftop gardens in cities https://grist.org/cities/the-huge-untapped-potential-of-planting-rooftop-gardens-in-cities/ #solarpunk

@Bit_form Just checked out the Ko-fi - wow, you may have outdone yourself with this selection. I doubt I'll be able to resist snagging some soon!

Electricity-powered heat pumps - which draw air from outside of homes and transfer it into heating - are a key part of Europe’s aims to reduce its reliance on volatile, planet-heating gas. Studies show that this low-carbon technology is up to three times more efficient than gas boilers, and can halve households’ heating bills. This investigation by DeSmog and Politico found Paris-based PR firm Digital Tellers is linked to a web of connected Facebook groups and accounts spreading false claims about the cost, noise and reliability of heat pumps: https://www.desmog.com/2026/04/23/french-pr-executive-behind-facebook-network-spreading-heat-pump-hate/