Notices by RolloTreadway (rollotreadway@beige.party)

@icedquinn Most countries manage just fine with having rules that control money in politics and consequences for breaching those rules. I'm sorry that the US has political courts that don't want such rules to exist.

Whatever sentence may emerge, whatever may happen on appeal (I'm assuming there's a right to appeal, perhaps wrongly, I know nothing about the French judicial system), I still want to congratulate France because - if nothing else - there's a willingness to see 'using excessive money to distort elections' as a bad thing that should be stopped.

We could all do with more of that attitude, I think.

Okay, having looked into it a bit more thoroughly: beta.argyle.social is full of copied accounts, exact - save for the lack of pictures - and I presume unconsenting copies of real people and organisations who have accounts elsewhere on fedi.

All the accounts appear to have lots of follows and followers, because they all follow each other.

You might want to look to see if there's an account in your name on that server? Although I'm not sure what you can do about it if there is.

There's also an alpha.argyle.social and a gamma.argyle.social - no other Greek letters as far as I can see.

Whatever it is, it's dodgy as hell and worth blocking the instances entirely.

Every tv show should come with an option to explain who everyone is, what they previously did, and what happened in the past, in case you forgot. Because I always forget.

If some bloke walks into the scene and the main character suddenly looks unhappy, I want to be able to click a button and it says 'this is Bob, the main character's ex-husband, who had an affair in s01e03. As a direct result of this, the main character was in a car crash which led to the death of a harmless old lady and a secret crack addiction.'

@RickiTarr One of the most remarkable things about Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy is that she managed to make a coherent story, despite the fact that all the male characters are called Thomas, Edward or Henry, and all the female characters are Elizabeth, Anne or Mary.

@TheBreadmonkey I know this is a bit niche and parochial, but from personal experience, I have felt like it's a good comparison: using fedi instead of the big corporate social media is like supporting your local non-league football club.

You're not one of millions of people all talking about the same kind of thing. You don't have a vast audience with which to say celebratory things when it all goes well or sympathetic things when it doesn't.

People don't care about your club. Many don't know it exists. It's not visible, it's not prominent, it's not conveniently accessible through every possible medium. Things go wrong, quite often, and you have to expect that as part of your lot in life. Nothing is ever entirely easy.

But what you get in return from supporting your local non-league club is a community that genuinely cares about you and wants to be your friend. You get a club that sees you as a human being, who are glad you're there, who value your opinion, who want you to be happy. If you're not happy, you won't be alone, and if you protest then you're not easy to ignore. The people running the club are probably just ordinary locals who care and don't mind wasting their time and money.

You don't get exploited as purely a commercial resource. You're not lost and irrelevant among millions of identical customers. You don't have to worry about funding a murderous dictatorship or a monstrous capitalist. When people complain about everything that's wrong with modern football, they don't mean you.

And sometimes, you get a degree of joy that people who attach themselves to Liverpool or Man City etc will never experience: the joy of seeing the little guy achieve way beyond expectations, and actually being part of that.

@dalias @ChrisMayLA6 No. By all means, blame the right-wing media for spending generations stoking the flames - of course that's true.

But you can't simply pretend that it doesn't exist. You can't simply ignore how a lot of people genuinely feel because you feel differently. That would only lead to the problem growing out of control.

@ChrisMayLA6 Anti-immigration sentiment usually rises in line with inequality and weakened public services. The answer is to combat the causes, not the symptoms.

With South Korean President Yoon having been narrowly elected thanks to the votes he got from incels and misogynists, then turning out to be - surprise! - a terrible president who tried to launch a coup yesterday, and with similar leaders being much the same in other countries too: is it time we stopped giving men the vote? Perhaps the male brain is just too emotional and irrational to understand the important issues.

And more recent music that I like, albums from this year that I've enjoyed, and that I hope can at least provide a pleasant distraction to someone in these difficult moments.

40. Electric Taal Band - S/T
https://electrictaalband.bandcamp.com/album/s-t
(also available on all your favourite streaming sites)

A combination of vintage synths with Punjabi folk music, made in Ontario. It's a lot of fun.

#NewMusic #2024Albums #music

@RickiTarr Did you see the other day, it was announced that malaria has been completely eliminated in Egypt? That's a fantastic achievement.

I don't normally say anything about the terrible things happening in the Middle East right now. This isn't because I don't care, I care very much. It's because other people have far more useful things to say, I have nothing worthwhile to contribute. And also, I don't want to have to deal with replies.

But this particular matter is something that's been bothering me and I have to get it off my chest, sorry. It's this:

In the media, I overwhelmingly see Israeli attacks on Beirut and other Lebanese cities described as attacks on Hezbollah.

An attack on Beirut is an attack on Lebanon. Hezbollah is not Lebanon. Hezbollah is not the Lebanese government. Hezbollah is not the Lebanese people. An attack on Lebanon is an attack on Lebanon. An invasion of Lebanon is an invasion of Lebanon. Lebanon is an independent, sovereign state - yes, one in which some terrorists live and operate, but that is true of many countries.

During the Troubles, there were many supporters and funders of the IRA in parts of the US. Does that mean that Britain should have invaded America and have it described as an operation against the IRA? I'm sure nobody would think that makes any kind of sense at all.

If Israel invades a sovereign independent state, then it should be reported as that. Lebanon is not Hezbollah. The Lebanese people are not Hezbollah. They are being punished, killed, because they happen through no fault of their own to live in the same country as some terrorists.

I'm just really pissed off by this, it's not okay at all.

Okay, that's off my chest, I'll go back to talking about music and rain and sandwiches and stuff. I just had to say something somewhere. Sorry.

The #TuneTuesday topic this week, from @SimoRavens19 via @Kitty, is #AreWeThereYet - for songs about transport.

It's a grim Tuesday morning here, so let's add a bit of energy. Here's King Boy D and Rockman Rock in their ludicrous, world-bestriding imperial phase. Altogether now: MU MU. MU MU.

The KLF - Last Train to Trancentral (Live from the Lost Continent)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC_zffOenk8

Here's a new album. It's by a band from Niger, Etran de l'Aïr, and it's called 100% Sahara Guitar.

I don't think I really need to describe it; it's by a Nigerien band and it's called 100% Sahara Guitar. The cover has four guys with guitars and drums on a tuktuk in the desert. You know exactly what you're getting. If it's your kind of thing, I recommend it, it's a very enjoyable album. If that's not your kind of thing, probably not worth your while.

https://etrandelair.bandcamp.com/album/100-sahara-guitar

#music #NewMusic

#Eurovision Yes Nemo! Very much appreciating them marching out with the non-binary flag during the flag parade. :blobcatenby:

Blimey! Barry the sandwich guy made a Wigan kebab! https://youtu.be/ROzIqKLcyS0

Went to the library. Aren't libraries great? FREE BOOKS.

@selzero I know we're not sticking to 1989 songs exclusively (given your own choice), but as 'all music up to 1989' is an impossibly huge thing, I'm going to stick to 1989 anyway.

And I'm putting on Pacific State.
https://youtu.be/Tv0UiQ5n7SM

A first #bloomscrolling of the year from my own garden. The little sweet box bush that I planted towards the end of 2022 is doing quite nicely, and there's snowdrops blooming too.

#gardening