Things go from bad to worse for Elmo, the incels' favourite crush.
"French Tesla customers file lawsuit over brand becoming 'extreme-right' symbol. A group of Tesla customers in France are demanding that their lease contracts be terminated and legal costs be reimbursed over the "direct and concrete" damage suffered from the brand's association with Elon Musk's activities in the Trump administration and his support for far-right parties in Europe."
france24.com/en/live-news/2025…
French Tesla customers file lawsuit over brand becoming 'extreme-right' symbol
A group of Tesla customers in France are demanding that their lease contracts be terminated and legal costs be reimbursed over the "direct and concrete" damage suffered from the brand's association with Elon Musk's activities in the Trump administrat…FRANCE 24
🌴 Seph 💭 👾 likes this.
reshared this
reshared this
.
But only after I've grabbed some popcorn, please
I'm happy to announce I've entered into the Fediverse with a Mastodon account here at mstdn.ca
I've been learning about the fediverse for a few years and I knew I had to break away from corporate run social media.
I publish a regular column every two weeks so from now on, I will share it here in addition to everywhere else I get published and use this publicly controlled forum more often.
reshared this
Check your facts. Don't believe everything you see on the internet.
- FactCheck.org factcheck.org/
- Reuters Fact Check reuters.com/fact-check/
- AP Fact Check apnews.com/ap-fact-check
- Snopes snopes.com/
- Politifact politifact.com/
NordVPN Link Checker: nordvpn.com/link-checker/
Project 2025 Tracker project2025.observer/
Snopes.com
The definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.Snopes
reshared this
🌴 Seph 💭 👾 reshared this.
I need some #Fiction Author perspectives / opinions / feedback on a #writing question. Please boost in the community so I can increase sample size.
I want to prepare a previously-written novella for publication (Through Blood and Tears 15K). It is a side-story for an unpublished fantasy trilogy (300K+). I don't expect to field the trilogy in the near term; it requires rewriting. The story is a completely standalone origin story of characters in the trilogy.
The question is:
- Do I write out (i.e., remove) the few references to the trilogy from the story?This provides the cleanest manuscript.
- Do I gloss over the references, but leave hints in so future trilogy readers can still glean them?
- Do I simply leave the references in? They serve as history and provide backstory. They do add flavor.
Feel free to reply to leave opinions about what you would do.
#writer #author #writingCommunity #writersOfMastodon
- Remove all reference to the unpublished trilogy (9%, 2 votes)
- Reduce the references to hints (33%, 7 votes)
- Leave the references in (57%, 12 votes)
reshared this
I'm not positive what *I* would do... but I know what one fantasy author *did* do, when he had a ton of background lore that he hadn't published yet:
He left all kinds of references to Gondolin, Varda, et al. in _Lord of the Rings_, didn't bother to explain them, and just let them be mysterious flavor. Until _The Silmarillion_ came out and we finally learned what those things were.
And we all know how that worked out for him.
I never got through any of the Tolkien books, including the Hobbit, though I did like the movie (the Hobbit, NOT The Lord of the Rings) and did play Middle Earth Role Playing. I learned enough playing for ten years that I recognized places and themes in the movies. That said, I am almost an anti-fan (boring books) so I will interpret "we all know how that worked out for him" as the estate earned a lot of money but everyfan complained? 🤪
I get the gist that completely unexplained stuff isn't that much different from unneeded junk. One bit in the novella is a statue of a woman that is worshipped by people, but the people look nothing like the statue. The person looks remarkably like the MC who is sucked back into a fantasy world in the trilogy. I'll make sure it isn't more than color and not particularly emphasized.
Oh, I'd better clear this up, then! No, when I said "we all know how that worked out for him," regarding something he did in LotR, what I mean is:
His book became such a smashing success, it effectively *created an entire genre*. (While there had been fantasy *novels* before LotR, there wasn't really a fantasy *genre*. Certainly not in the form we know it today.)
Basically I'm saying, "it could not possibly have worked out better." By all means, put in lore references!
I would leave the references alone unless they interfere with the flow of the story -- and if they do interfere, I'd still say to leave them in, just polish them up with enough context to remove the rough edges so readers don't get stuck on them as they go past.
I like stories that flash little hints the world is a large place with a complex history, even if it's not relevant" to the particular plot.
🌴 Seph 💭 👾 likes this.
reshared this
reshared this
#NoKings #Protest #Solidarity #Immigrants #MassDeportation #EndICE #StopICE #Project2025 #Trump #MAGA #ThisIsFascism #ThisIsWhatYouVotedFor #ElectionsHaveConsequences #TrumpParade #SaveDemocracy #USConstitution #DueProcess #FirstAid #JustFollowingOrders #NationalGuard #OathToDefendTheConstitution #FreePress
people.com/journalist-hit-expl…
Journalist Shot with Explosive Device While Wearing Press Badge at L.A. Protest Shares His 'Surprise' at Officers' Escalation
Journalist Nick Stern was shot with an explosive device while wearing a press badge at the L.A. protest on Saturday, June 7.Sarah Jones (PEOPLE)
reshared this
«The Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization which hosts and develops Wikipedia, has paused an experiment that showed users AI-generated summaries at the top of articles after an overwhelmingly negative reaction from the Wikipedia editors community.»
It's nice to see places where community can help course correct!
404media.co/wikipedia-pauses-a…
Wikipedia Pauses AI-Generated Summaries After Editor Backlash
“This would do immediate and irreversible harm to our readers and to our reputation as a decently trustworthy and serious source,” one Wikipedia editor said.Emanuel Maiberg (404 Media)
🌴 Seph 💭 👾 likes this.
reshared this
🪶 Four Ukiah High School students have become stewards of a once-dormant Indigenous language native to California after completing an intensive four-year course of study centered on Northern Pomo language and culture.
mendovoice.com/2025/05/ukiah-h…
#mendocinocounty #indiancountry #language
Ukiah High students revive endangered Northern Pomo language marking milestone in language preservation
The last fluent speaker of the Northern Pomo language died in 2005. Twenty years later, four Pomo students are helping to revive their endangered native language.Sarah Stierch (The Mendocino Voice | Mendocino County, CA)
🌴 Seph 💭 👾 likes this.
reshared this
🌴 Seph 💭 👾 doesn't like this.
What you see entering my house
So, over the weekend, I finally got around to putting up my M2 car collection mounted, which was not easy.
The picture doesn't show it well, but we live in a split level, so those are on the wall above the stairs leading to the basement level. That took some fun ladder settings which was still janky as hell. The shelves are an older Ikea picture ledge mounted upside except for the bottom one that I scored off of marketplace at an awesome price, 7 for... I think $30, something around that. A quick check on eBay, and people were selling NOS ones for over $100, so... I already have some figures on the newer model of picture ledge, those cost about $12 each, so it was a no brainer to snap these up, especially as they were nearby and I could pic them up while working.
I do have a thing for cab overs, which is why the vast majority are VW vans and pickups or 60's era American pickups and vans. I do have a few other things, but those were mostly bought before I found that I could get these at WalMart, when my choices were slimmer, stuff I like, but don't love.
And yes, those two cars with the orange background are Batmobiles, the Adam West one as well as the one from Batman Adventures, my two favorites.
RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist likes this.
Judge Denies California’s Request for Immediate Block on Trump’s Use of Military in Los Angeles - Democracy Docket
California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked a federal court to issue an emergency order to block President Donald Trump’s use of California National Guard troops and Marines within Los Angeles.Democracy Docket
It's black letter law. A hearing to document their lying claims & the legal response to get it on the record formally can be useful. Perhaps that is his thinking. It gives them a couple of days to continue their outrageous behavior, & risks a blowup they will then use to rationalize it. But if it is a given they will take it to SCOTUS anyway, get the basics documented. Maybe SCOTUS can then decline to consider, giving the fascists on the SC no chance to dissent.
Y'all, I need help. I can't get my deleted emails off my MacBook Air. I have watched the YouTube videos, gone on all the forums. I've deleted the trash, the archives, the ultimate trash. Waited 48 hours (it's been weeks). My storage setting won't move, and it's all email. Suggestions?
UPDATE: After a talk with Apple Support, I managed to find thousands of 8 year old emails in my Recovery folder, deleted them, and finally cleared up some storage.
Tx to all who responded!
reshared this
everything is so fucking stupid and dangerous right now and i'm at my emotional limit
ARGH
@RiaResists @fgbjr @FrancoisPrague @TheNovemberMan @lritter @MarvClowder @welkin7
The rise of #Trump radically shifts the meaning of "#treason": in this new era, resisting spectacular authoritarianism risks being labeled as betrayal. Defenders of #democracy and #freedom may now be branded as "traitors" by the regime. A textbook case of how #power redefines who is the enemy—and who is the true patriot.
#Authoritarianism #Resistance #Politics #USA #liberty #USPolitics #TrumpEra
Always frustrating when people talk about immigrants being a drain on the UK. Jim Ratcliffe recently bought a cycle team, a yacht team, a ski lodge, a Swiss football team, Manchester United, the Mercedes F1 team and sponsors New Zealand rugby - largely funded by tax avoidance. He owns not one but two superyachts aswell as two hotels. He is a Brexiteer and Eurosceptic who for tax purposes says he lives in Monaco and owns an estate on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where he relocated his business in 2010 to avoid tax. His vast thirty billion wealth comes from petrochemicals, oil and plastic. Jim wants fracking and doesn't care about the consequences.
Assuming the cost of one migrant is c.£12000 per year (and assuming that person gives nothing back to the economy, which we know to be wrong), just in money that Jim avoids paying the country he contributed to being cut off from our neighbours whose hospitality he enjoys so much, that would easily fund half a million immigrants per year. And they're not pumping oil and plastic into the environment.
Jim is one man.
reshared this
The majority of peope who arrived on small boats, which they only did because there are no legal means to apply for alylum abroad, would also mainly be able to contribute as well but they are held, at our expense, in cheap hotels and ramshackle camps and unable to work because we are slow in processing their claims, the majority of which are clearly valid.
@marjolica @hedders Right. Study after study shows they contribute more in taxes and use public services less. Assuming a tax-to-spend model of public finance (which the media typically does), that's actually *reducing* the cost-per-head of services such as the NHS.
Asylum seekers, in particular, wouldn't have risked life and limb to languish on benefits. They come here to make better lives for themselves, keep their noses clean and work hard to support their families.
[Undocumented immigrants pay taxes and their IRS employment data is being used to track them down.]
Yeah, not only is tax revenue going to spike downward, business tax revenue is going to go down due to a labor shortage. The spouse needed to use a shredding service, but the trucks aren't available because the labor that preps and empties them are staying home thanks to the ICE raids. Lots of people aren't leaving their homes. I expect many businesses may fail, if not ultimately the economy.
SherBeareth
in reply to iamBullivant • • •