Every April, we celebrate Independent Bookstore Day to remind us how vital indie bookstores are to our communities and society. It’s a day of joy and solidarity, and significant financial impact for these bookstores. This year, Amazon is undercutting that with a “Book Sale” on the same day—a calculated move by a company that has already put half the bookstores in the country out of business, controls over 60% of the market and sells far more books than all indie bookstores combined. The people at Amazon responsible for the timing of their "Book Sale" should be ashamed, but they are shameless.

Man, this is a pretty fucking gross move from Amazon, huh? Good on @bookshop.org for not mincing words, though:

Had a fab night at The Stand comedy club last night to watch @herring1967.bsky.social on his ‘Can I Have My Ball Back?’ tour and it was hilarious. Profound and heartwarming as well as silly, I loved it. I’ll never look at a Sainsbury’s till scanner the same way.

bsky.app/profile/herr...

What Really Happened With the DDoS Attacks That Took Down X Elon Musk said a “massive cyberattack” disrupted X on Monday and pointed to “IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area” as the source of the attack. Security experts say that's not how it works.

MUSK: A sophisticated cyberattack from Ukraine took out Twitter's servers

REALITY: Twitter's servers were not secured properly and were publicly visible

Great explainer here from @lhn.bsky.social

www.wired.com/story/x-ddos...

Rich men starving poor children and their families.

I really enjoyed this piece by @20thcenturymarc.marcburrows.co.uk on Terry Pratchett's legacy of "militant decency" and how his books charge us to stand up against injustice, bigotry and treating people like things. And all with humour and anger combined.

GNU Sir Terry Pratchett
"No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away..."

#Discworld #DiscworldConvention
#GNU #GNUTerryPratchett #TerryPratchett

He loves it! ☺️

Oh wow, that looks amazing! I’ve not seen it. I was just reading a story about how a beaver naturally making a dam in Czechia saved them a fortune because they didn’t have to build one - nature knows best!

Wait until you see my beloved NASA jacket 😂 I’m slightly obsessed

Seestar S30 telescope image of the Orion Nebula, 10 minute exposure.

Update on the Seestar S30 - we got a couple of clear nights around New Year so were able to get out and test it. Got this with 10 minute exposure on the Orion Nebula. It’s an easy telescope to get used to, although we found videos on YouTube better to explain the setup and the Seestar app.

Yes I think it’s using a combination of that. Doesn’t need any manual aligning which can be tricky for beginners and pros alike! It wasn’t super clear when we tested it but it still found a couple of objects easily. Now we need to understand the imaging process a bit more ☺️

Packaging of the Seestar S30 smart telescope

The ZWO Seestar S30 smart telescope set up on a wooden floor for testing - the sleek white body is opening up with the viewing arm starting to lift up.

And to complete the space theme, our pre-order ZWO Seestar S30 arrived on Christmas Eve! Wasn’t expecting it til Jan, so fingers crossed for clear skies tonight… Thank you so much First Light Optics (super knowledgeable and friendly folks) www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-tel...
#astro #telescope

The colourful LEGO Milky Way Galaxy set, with over 3000 pieces.

The perfect gift from my other half. He knows me well ☺️ #LEGO

Happy new Wallace and Gromit day! Yes, and Christmas, happy Christmas.

Very fetching! 😁

A very good choice! Merry Christmas to you all x

Wooden tree decoration hanging on a Christmas tree - the illustrated decoration depicts the famous torii gate in the sea at Miyajima. Drawn by Geri Draws Japan

A collection of 5 wooden tree decorations from Geri Draws Japan, illustrated with famous landmarks in Japan - including Shirakawa-go pitched roof houses and Kinkaku-ji golden pavilion in Kyoto.

Package from Geri Draws Japan including a handwritten thank you note

The delightful @gericoady.bsky.social decorations are the centre of my travel-themed tree ☺️ Especially loved this year’s Miyajima gate, one of our favourite spots in Japan.
#Japan #Christmas #Art

Glad to see you over here! Just had a quick Q about the Christmas decorations, have they shipped yet?

I never had one as a kid either! At the time they launched it was just too expensive I guess; our first console was a Sega Master System though and me and my brother and sister had to “share it and not argue” 😂 That didn’t always work.

Well I do now.

Circumstances led me to dig out this video of a great bustard grunting and belching.

So here it is, in the hope that great bustard belching will improve your Monday by a solid 18.7%.

Sound up!

Very handsome black and white tuxedo patterned short hair cat, lying with his front paws tucked under, facing the camera with his ears pricked up. He’s on a grey electric heat pad which is on top of his fluffy grey cushion. Cosy little diva!

Black and white tuxedo patterned short hair cat, tucked up asleep on his side with 3 white paws visible.

She’s beautiful! And looks a little like my boy Stitch. He’s 21 and still climbs everything in the house like a mountain goat. Obsessed with food 😂

A black and white tuxedo patterned short hair cat (21 years old) stands in the foreground on a grey sofa. A long haired floof in dark brown and white (11 years old) is curled up behind him, both looking in the general direction of the camera for treats.

Yes to more cats!

A restored original GameBoy console with Tetris loading on the screen. Next to it on a wooden table is a small Apple AirPods Pro 2 case, grey silicone with details matching the GameBoy styling. Cute!

How adorable is this AirPods case, matching my lovely restored original GameBoy? #Nintendo #Gameboy #retrogaming

Very sorry to hear that. My sister was recently diagnosed with autism and that took years to be referred and confirmed. Advice can be hard to come by.

Since I’ve seen this going around:

10 TV shows to get to know me
1: Frasier
2: Ted Lasso
3: Taskmaster
4: Slow Horses
5: Blue Planet
6: Star Trek: TNG
7: The Simpsons
8: The West Wing
9: Europe From Above (or any of the other locations)
10: Stargazing Live

Go follow @alomshaha.bsky.social and buy his awesome new book ‘Why Don’t Things Fall Up?’ for Christmas! #science alomshaha.com/portfolio/wh...

Hi Scraps, you’re gorgeous! ❤️

Ah yes, Sod’s Law!