First paragraph I knew :)

Second paragraph was news to me - thank you!

I don’t know enough about how lemmy (or any fedi software come to that) differentiates between the two or even that it did to be honest - isn’t an instance tied to a domain?

For UK, Which.

Here’s the list that your instance (lemmy.world) blocks.

As an atheistic Satanist, ceremony and ritual matters. They can be used to mark events or share community and the science behind their benign effect is substantial.

They don’t have to be long and drawn out. The collective I’m with (not CoS or TST) offer unbaptisms to help those who might have theist trauma for example and those last just a few minutes. Its what they can do that matters, not how long or expensive they are.

I think photon’s don’t have mass but they do have energy and that can mean they act in the same way? In that they are subject to gravity. That could be very wrong though, I’m going off my own non-scientist memory of a popular science book.

https://www.ivpn.net/ maybe?

Oligarchs, frustrated with dealing with their political sockpuppets, start just buying countries.

Mr Martin skilfully manages to destroy all sense of intrigue in what the climax of the series might be about and who it might be between by calling his series ’ A Song of Ice and Fire '. Perfect for those book fans who don’t really want to be surprised or witness a multi-book arc unfold on its own terms.

In fact, these are books written for people who seemingly can only feel emotion when it is screamed through a megaphone painted in pink fluorescent stripes. Martin carefully assembles ideas of subtlety, empathy, letting the reader do the work and throws them all away with the satisfaction of a man who only has a hammer in his toolbox and therefore everything is a nail.

Martin develops plot points mostly by taking a disturbingly large amount of pages to highlight the sexual torture of several female characters who sometimes then end up falling in love with their torturer - nobody knows how to write women quite like a middle aged man after all.

His other main method of developing plot is to throw in thousands of characters who do ‘good’ things (like, not rape their partners/sisters/mothers I guess) and then kill them off. Forty years ago Martin would’ve been in his element as the lead script editor for shows like Dynasty or Dallas as he displays much the same level of talent and care for developing well rounded characters and plot points that make as much sense as Bobby Ewing emerging from a shower a year after he died.

It comes as no surprise that these books were optioned by Netflix, a company that encourages its showrunners to produce content that can be “on in the background” and that doesn’t really require much more than a passing commitment from its audience. Just as this is a show you don’t really have to pay much attention to, these are books that require no reader investment, just a lack of desire to enjoy reading.

Algorithms push emotive ragebait at people. Then, when they’re angry and not thinking rationally, they push bullshit-merchants at the same people. As its now something they’re motivated to believe, they don’t check. Then they share the story to their contacts/friends/followers and now you have a big group of angry misinformed people who are now all also following the original account - and then lo and behold - MAGA. Or Reform. Or AfD and all their associated podcasters, youtuber ‘citizen journalists’ and tiktok flagshaggers.

Just finished reading Bloom by Delilah S Dawson for the podcast which is a sapphic horror. My teen offspring tells me its called ‘cottagecore’ whatever the fuck that means. I’ll reserve verdict until we record the episode!

Currently dipping in and out of The Real and the Unreal , which is Ursula K LeGuin’s short story collection. Brilliant as you would expect. Just about to start King Sorrow by Joe Hill. Got mixed opinions on his previous stuff so we’ll see how this one pans out.

No. I think he’s just the most visible psychopath in the room.

The true horror of Trump is not just the things he’s done. Its that everyone now knows what he’s done - and seemingly quite a lot of people don’t really care.

You’re measuring ‘success’ by quantity not quality, oblivious to the fact that 95% of that quantity of content is bot-driven ragebait.

The people here have who successfully managed the transition from Reddit never denied there was some good content on Reddit, they just got sick of having to wade through a river of shit to get to it.

If your Lemmy/PieFed experience so far is not what you hoped - make your own place with your own rules. Literally no one can stop you.