Well, here's my #introduction to Mastodon. I'm a literary fiction writer and occasional journalist, currently travelling in #Oceania. Would love to connect with other writers, readers and anyone who cares about #books, and I'm up for some political and environmental discussions too. Happy to have found a corner of the web that feels something like what the web was meant to be.
@andrewblackman One thing I should have mentioned yesterday is there is a group @bookstodon where you will run across many readers and writers. You can follow the group (and assorted hashtags of your specific interests), and add the group to your bookish posts.
I believe there is at least one writers group out there too.
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Please, I would like this night to be special. I would like to be able to find the help I need to be able to leave this horrible city. I feel like everyone hates me. My family turned their back on me and many people in this place want to hurt me. Please friends help me escape, from this place and be able to start a new life in a safe place. I hope you can save my life. I appreciate what you can do for me💔😭 #MutualAid@mutualaid@vantablack
Re: authentic & fake #Jews: the tragic #Gaza war has predictably led to bad #history going viral:. European Jews are descendants of medieval #Turkic converts--#Khazars-- thus have no #historical & #genetic connection to the land of #Israel
A myth, promoted by a combination of the cynical or stupid, sadly embraced by the naive & uninformed
Sadly relevant, as I will give a virtual talk about this at Indiana Uni this week.
Good to be cautious about that source (I am a fan of Wikipedia: it's just that one needs to know how to evaluate it, esp. when controversial subjects provoke editing wars). Anyway, I spend way too much time reading about genetics, but that is a basically accurate characterization. A prominent interpretation is that, although both males and females came to Europe, male intermarriage with local females created the genetic profile. Main point here, tho, is Mideast ancestry
@CitizenWald@Podophyllum@histodons though I will note a trend in recent years that when I do refer to the genetic data disproving the Khazar myth, the reply is along the lines of “so now you’re validating Hitler by using race science, huh?” #headsiwintailsyoulose
A post from February:
Charles Henry Turner was a pioneer in entomology - and he couldn't get a job in higher ed, so he taught high school biology.
"Across his distinguished 33-year career, Turner authored 71 papers and was the first African American to have his research published in the prestigious journal Science."
His simple but elegant experiments in public parks revolutionized understanding of bees.
I love this study. It emphasizes how vital written communication is to autistic people. (If your business or service requires a phone call or an in-person interaction, it's not accessible to us.)
Also, it's the kind of research we need more of: not about how to "fix" us, but about what we want, and who we are. There are still people out there who think that we can't even have our own opinions, that we're just parroting what we've been told. There are still people out there who believe autism is a learning disability or a disease!
Loved the British Library's 'Fantasy: Realms of Imagination' exhibition. Looks at different aspects of modern fantasy by contextualising them historically. See the handwritten notebook for Coraline by @neilhimself sitting next to C S Lewis's original ideas for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. There is the manuscript of Beowulf, Gandalf's staff from the Lord of the Rings films, and much more. A great celebration of books and fantasy.
I wrote a short piece on safe #menstruation tracking apps, expanding on a few tweets I posted at the time #RoevWade was overturned. Incidents of testing women for abortion drugs in the UK prompted me to turn it into an article:
This coin was minted circa 206 CE, during the reign of Caracalla. The obverse depicts the laureate head of Caracalla facing right. The reverse type features #Mars, naked save for cloak hanging from his shoulder, holding a branch and spear.