Notices by Marcella Francesca :verified: (bitchboss@marcella.masto.host)

In the Dutch village of Volendam, located in the province of North Holland, an agreement has been signed to ban the use of decorative fireworks in bars and restaurants. Following the massive fire at a Volendam pub on New Year’s Eve 2000, which claimed many lives, it is now considered unacceptable to set off fireworks inside a bar in Volendam.

--So no glacier bomb in my drink...

22 May, the first day of summer in the Netherlands.

Kaputt.

The World Travel & Tourism Council, an international trade organisation, estimates that the decline in tourism in the Middle East caused by the US and Israeli war amounts to at least 600 million dollar a day.

--Really, the warmongers want to destroy everything.

The 10 largest websites are seeing their traffic decline because Google displays AI summaries, making it difficult to visit the site in question. Google also prefers to keep the revenue for itself, and the ad in the summary doesn’t necessarily have to be from the site itself. Plain market abuse. By using AI, you are literally stealing the bread and butter of internet businesses/crea's for Google’s benefit by predatory capitalism.

--First it was the creatives; now they’re hijacking everything.

Trump phone may not be released after all.

The operator has amended its own terms and conditions, meaning it is not obliged to fulfil pre-orders. These terms leave open the possibility that the phone will never be released. They have also not specified a delivery date; in the rest of the world, this would quickly be called fraud.

--590,000 magats have each paid a $100 deposit, netting Trump $59 million with a 0.0% delivery obligation. I could live comfortably off the interest alone.

Happy Victory Day Putin.
--Make sure to pack some diapers...

Norway reopens North Sea gas fields.

The decision is a response to gas and oil prices, which have risen sharply since the outbreak of war in the Middle East and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. “We are living in turbulent times,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre when announcing the decision, writes The Guardian. “Reopening the fields will lay the foundations for good jobs and contribute to Europe’s energy security and safety.”

--There go the environmental targets...

Future wars will be fought over clean air and clean water.

--Combating crimes against humanity with crimes against humanity. The eternal paradox.

Barge carrying humpback whale Timmy reaches the North Sea: “He can seek his freedom”.

The barge carrying the whale that became stranded in Germany two months ago has reached the North Sea. A maritime tracking website shows that the floating aquarium passed the northernmost tip of Denmark last night.

--Humans can be great if they want to.

Microslop Nopilot...

GitHub Copilot is introducing a new subscription model with AI Credits.
GitHub Copilot is getting a revamped subscription model, requiring users to pay for AI Credits to use the AI coding service. This takes effect June 1 for all paying users. Microsoft previously stopped accepting new subscriptions because the servers are overloaded. Today a credit costs 5 cents, tomorrow 7 cents, and next month 35 cents?

--Better open your wallet, honey, and hold it upside down!

@Bubotomy

I bet that nitwit also patented aerodynamic tanks...

@aral

I didn't claim mastodon.social or any instance by name and I wont reveal sources.

@aral

You asked mastodon.social, a larger player in the federated network space. But what about your [own] self-hosted instances like mastodon.ar.al, neoaquita.es, or hachyderm.io? Many instances are having their own go. A small portion of the fediverse uses AI for content moderation. Depending on scale and available workforce, AI moderation is gaining momentum. It isn’t inherently bad if implemented justfully and if there are ways to oppose and discuss wrongful moderation with a real human.

Content moderation is increasingly being carried out using AI agents. This is also the case on Mastodon. AI-assisted suppression of posts on the timeline (or completely disabling the timeline), sending warning messages, or restricting or suspending accounts) can be seen as an algorithm designed to steer content toward a particular slant. AI-driven exclusion—ranging from the most “serious” content to things I simply don’t like or don’t fit my agenda—has become the norm.

--Facebook V2...

Meta plans to lay off 10 percent of its workforce this year.

According to multiple Reuters sources, Meta plans to lay off thousands of employees this year. The first round of layoffs, affecting 10 percent of the workforce, is scheduled for May 20, with a second round to follow later this year.

@selzero

Far-right nationalism is also present within the LGBTIQ+ community. It’s naive to think that the entire community consists solely of Democrats or left-wing socialists. It’s even more naive to believe that everyone understands politics or that ignorance reigns supreme...

Suspicious Russian activity in the North Sea; submarines driven out.

Three Russian submarines have been conducting a “covert operation” in the northern part of the North Sea for over a month. This was stated by the British Defence Secretary, Healey, at a press conference. According to Healey, British forces have been deployed to detect and prevent any “malicious activities” by these vessels.

--I would have dropped depth charges into the north sea...

For the time being, NASA astronauts are keeping their trousers on.

Following earlier problems with a toilet, there has been another fault with the sanitation system: they are unable to flush urine. The problem is likely caused by ice forming on a valve on the outside. NASA has reoriented that part of the capsule towards the sun to melt the ice, which has already been partially successful.

I am ashamed of this Israel.

When, during our weekly prayers in the synagogue, we also pray for wisdom for Israel’s leaders, all I can think is: yes, wisdom. And a very long prison sentence.

--Rosanne Hertzberger, microbiologist and former Member of the House of Representatives in the Netherlands.

P.S. Hertzberger wrote this in the NRC newspaper, and there are many, many Jewish people in the Netherlands who share her view on Israel.

All five fundamental nucleobases—adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, and uracil—have now been detected in the samples brought back to Earth by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission in 2020. These are the chemical building blocks that together form DNA and RNA. According to the researchers, this shows that key ingredients for life are not unique to Earth.