Mastodon says its flagship server was hit by a DDoS attack | TechCrunch The DDoS attack against Mastodon's flagship server comes less than a week after Bluesky was targeted with junk web traffic.

Tough Bluesky isn't the only one being attacked. techcrunch.com/2026/04/20/m...

Sam Neill has also spoken out following personal attacks by Shane Jones he’s been targeted by “supporters” of the project who have immediately escalated to threats of physical violence

NZF are the number 1 vector in this country for stochastic terrorism & there needs to be more coverage of that

Politicians leaving office or ending their campaigns when hit with a scandal.

I've been following the issue for almost 20 years and somehow it seems like there's been minimal adaptation or preparation for this situation, even though this has been the trajectory the whole time (it didn't start in 2008)

Then back to the old discussion about "non-academic jobs". Which of course you can't usually just walk into after a PhD.

This is so overt that even Goebbels would be like, "don't you wanna like...tone down the messaging a bit bro?"

What countries have academic jobs available right now? Not the US, where higher ed is under direct attack; not Canada, where unis are barely staying afloat...

I wonder how many of them have been told they can find an academic job overseas?

"Two boils for the director’s infected liver."

Time for one of my favourite McSweeney's articles www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the...

The Dishonest Online Campaign to Support Alberta Separatism | The Tyee A research group raises red flags about foreign interference in the province’s independence referendum.

A network of 20 inauthentic YouTube accounts has racked up nearly 40 million views by peddling lies, grievance, division and narratives normalizing the prospect of Alberta’s secession and annexation by the United States. @charlesrusnell.bsky.social reports. #abpoli

In the Revolutionary War, around 2/3 of all US fatalities were due to disease.

In the War of 1812, 75%.

In the Mexican War, 88%. EIGHTY-EIGHT PERCENT.

In the Civil War, around 60%.

And so it went...
247wallst.com/special-repo...

“we are deliberately killing the immunocompromised, disabled, and chronically ill”

Why can't he be deported to the late 1800s?

Rage against the machine: a California community rallied against a datacenter – and won Organizers in Monterey Park took inspiration from other US cities to fight against the construction of a giant datacenter

Led by local groups No Data Center Monterey Park and San Gabriel Valley Progressive Action, residents mobilized, and rallied the city council to overturn the approval, pass a temporary moratorium, and spurred the asset manager to abandon the project.

That victory is captured nicely here:

Can Stonewall Mark II put trans wars behind it? New chair talks of consensus but she’ll have a tough job unpicking charity’s bullying stance Kathleen Stock In the history of gay rights, there have always been fearless souls willing to face down mobs of pitchfork-wielding fanatics, but perhaps none so brave as Kezia Dugdale, incoming chair of trustees at Stonewall. In an interview with The Guardian this weekend, the former Scottish Labour leader did the unthinkable and praised JK Rowling.

If you had any doubts that Stonewall is a danger to trans people, here is Kathleen Stock praisng them in the Times.

"When the gay rights cause first got going, the ideal was toleration"

And IMO the majority of coverage of higher ed in Canada is also coming from pretty conservative publications.

I think that's a fair assessment

The EU’s Court of Justice has just ruled anti-LGBTQ+, including anti-trans, laws are ‘contrary to the very identity of the Union as a common legal order in a society in which pluralism prevails’.

This guy is going to make a great political comms case study [derogatory]

University Challenge S55E37 - Grand Final YouTube video by CosmicPumpkin

Sad that it's the final already. But this year's special guest is one of my all-time faves 😁 www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A8O...

Without starting a fight, may I just say that if you deeply and profoundly understand the need for human contact as a result of Covid, you might consider doing something to help the people still at high risk from Covid access it, instead of acting in ways that excludes and isolates them.

We need a matriarchy run by lesbians with clipboards and earpieces who do not take any shit.

Diagnostic dilemma: A woman heard voices telling her she had a brain tumor ‪—‬ and scans confirmed she did In a strange medical case, a woman suddenly started hearing voices, and they directed her to seek care for a brain tumor.

I get to write about some pretty unusual medical case reports for @livescience.com, and this one was a doozy. A woman in the UK suddenly started hearing voices urging her to get medical attention for a brain tumor, despite having no symptoms or prior diagnosis. The "voices" turned out to be right 🧪

as another cis dude, this is absolutely true. Cis men are typically not encouraged to think about gender, except in very negative ways ("you're unmanly if you have any emotions other than rage"), requiring you to walk a tightrope greased with unfollowable rules, over the pit of The Gay.

Hideous. I am so sorry.

It's jealousy. We ALL want our own private jet to go to Wawa.

Brian Lilley always just GETS it.

I'm sorry but this is hilarious & infuriating.

Here's my guess: Doug Ford overruled advisers smarter than him to buy this plane.

But they realized there was no spinning or massaging this.

Two days is *probably* too tight to privately poll. (Would need about three days, I think.) 1/2

#OnPoli

This is a global concern.

Vaccinate your kids & yourselves, if possible.

There is no longer herd immunity from MMR vaccines. Even fully vaccinated people can catch measles etc. So wear a respirator mask, especially in healthcare settings where sicknesses are in the air. 😷

interesting that some ideas need legislative support to be heard when they've continually died in the "marketplace of ideas"