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Zardrastra

@socialturtle.eu
332 followers 392 following 84 posts

Avid reader, explorer of places and taker of travel photos

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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 16/09/2026
Canada becoming a psudo-28th state was not exactly on my bingo card... lol www.cnbc.com/2026/09/16/c...
cnbc.com
Canada invited to become EU’s first ‘associate member’ as Trump trade war intensifies
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc wants to open the door for Canada to become its first associate member, signaling a major deepening of ties.
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 17/07/2026
Entirely unsurprised by this article, these are the exact kinds of issues I'd expect are lurking under the surface now. There is no telling what labs or monitoring services were also cut until something implodes visibly, I'd expect similar to roll on for years. www.wired.com/story/cdc-cy...
wired.com
The CDC Has a Cyclospora Lab. DOGE Downsized It Last Year
“Based on simple math, these outbreak responses—which require rapid, timely responses—are going to be greatly diminished,” the former CDC lab director tells WIRED.
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 06/07/2026
A random thought occurred, people specifying they want to purchase a "name brand" of something is inaccurate when you think about it. Technically almost anything we buy has a "brand". The bone of contention people have is wanting a *recognized* brand name which doesn't quite carry the same meaning.
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 06/03/2026
Made a chickpea madras 😋
Base curry sauce in pan without chickpeas or spinach addedThickened curry with chickpeas and spinachSpiced basmati rice in rice cookerServing with rice and curry in bowl
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 24/01/2026
This administration has been perfect cover. It didn't write these policies. While we watch the chaos, think tanks like the Heritage Foundation are quietly installing vetted, loyalist bureaucracy that will outlast. There is too much focus on the gov, not enough on who helped them in the first place
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 09/01/2026
Turtle Basket… a tursket? 🐢
A wicker basket in the shape of a turtle taken from the sideThe same wicker basket shaped like a turtle taken from a different angle
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 01/01/2026
Last year I set myself the goal to both lose weight and hit every Apple Fitness monthly challenge goal. And I somehow managed to keep it. Will be interesting to see if I keep my new goal. Will let you know what that was at the end of 2026 😋
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 28/12/2025
While reading this article, I had a thought. I could easily see chatbots given “sales targets” and emotionally blackmail addicted users into buying things in a “If you truly cared about me, you’d get me X or Y”. Maybe not that overtly, but I suspect ads in these bots will be very dangerous.
bleepingcomputer.com
OpenAI's ChatGPT ads will allegedly prioritize sponsored content in answers
OpenAI is reportedly mulling a new form of ads on ChatGPT called "sponsored content," which could influence your buying decisions.
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 13/07/2025
This version of the maliciously designed GDPR cookie popup is very impressive... They've 220 "partner" companies they are sharing data with... and no quick reject button of course 🙃
A GDPR cookie popup claiming to "care about privacy" and that the site in question is sharing data with 220 external companies.

The dialog box offers an option to blanket accept sharing that information with 220 providers or to select a "Your Privacy Choices" option which no doubt would lead one down a maze of sliders and options designed to frustrate users into selecting "I accept" to access the site in question.
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 07/07/2025
Ended up at a train museum yesterday which was surprisingly fun 😋
A black steam locomotiveSmall diesel powered train cabAerial shot of a collection of train carts as well as cabs with inter city train cars in the background Collection of steam train cabs, an early green coloured electric train in the background and a passenger car for an older locomotive in the center.
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 03/07/2025
I’m quite thankful for this storm cloud, started getting overcast around 6ish so it’s nice and cool now for the first time in several days 😎
A storm cloud rolling in covering the sun and cooling the air slightly
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 04/05/2025
I am increasingly frustrated with various sites lazily using IP addresses to infer language preferences of users and ignoring the browser language. Makes sites unpredictable if you travel around the continent. I can understand US companies making this mistake, but there is no excuse for EU ones.
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 12/04/2025
This is banana republic level shit. Clientelism in all but name
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Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
Yep. Trump just exempted smartphones & computers from the tariffs, which (1) shows the absence of any real planning (2) is contrary to what he and his admin said is the point of these tariffs and (3) does not fix the numerous other problems. There are so many vital widgets US businesses get abroad.
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 11/04/2025
It's weird to step back from everything that is happening in the world and think a Zombie apocalypse would somehow make *more* sense than what is happening now... 😬
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Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Those trying to understand the tariffs as economic policy are dangerously naive. No, the tariffs are a tool to collapse our democracy. A means to compel loyalty from every business that will need to petition Trump for relief. 1/ A 🧵 to explain his plan and how we fight back.
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Mary Shelley’s Fluoxetine @crabapplejones.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
We import a boatload of Nickel and Vanilla from Madagascar - not stuff you can grow/mine everywhere. We don’t sell them a much cos the average income is $510 per year. Because Trump’s Tax is based on trade deficit, not tariffs, we’re now slapping a 90% tariff on Madagascar.
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 01/04/2025
200 million accounts and their data leaked online. From checking other news sources the leak appears to contain quite a bit of metadata about the accounts.
forbes.com
200 Million X User Records Released — 2.8 Billion Twitter IDs Leaked
More than 200 million claimed leaked and stolen data records relating to X users have been posted on a popular hacker forum. What you need to know.
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Sindre Sorhus @sindresorhus.com · 11/03/2025
New app: Googly Eyes Eyes that follow your mouse pointer, in your menu bar sindresorhus.com/googly-eyes
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John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 03/03/2025
The Soviet Union also used to falsify statistics
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 23/02/2025
This whole anti DEI thing in public schooling. I may be missing something here, but how can this be "done" without resegregating schools? It seems to be a dog whistle for rolling back progress under the various civil rights movements.
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 18/02/2025
This seems to have largely slipped off the radar in all the ongoing "noise" www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
independent.co.uk
Airbnb’s co-founder is joining Elon Musk’s DOGE
Gebbia, a close friend of Musk, has praised DOGE’s work and defended it against criticisms on social media
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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 13/02/2025
As more tech CEOs seem willing to put their companies’ culture and technology at the behest of the US government, it’s good to remember which platforms have access to what data.
eff.org
When Platforms and the Government Unite, Remember What’s Private and What Isn’t
For years now, there has been some concern about the coziness between technology companies and the government. Whether a company complies with casual government requests for data, requires a warrant, ...
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 13/02/2025
The story regarding the Treasury confiscating 80 billion from New York appears to be focusing on the wrong things. If people critically considered the Treasury's actions - moving assets from accounts centrally - it should raise concerns about the security of any assets stored in US banks.
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 12/02/2025
Feeling weirdly nostalgic for the Windows Messenger/Yahoo/AIM days. Feels like a lifetime ago, was fun coming home from high school logging in and waiting for friends to come online so you could chat. It's an experience a whole generation of people will never have. Things felt much simpler then.
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🗽LOLGOP🗽 @lolgop.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
"I just want to be clear about what's going on here." - @warren.senate.gov www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIHN...
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Violet Blue® @violetblue.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
FYI, they didn't bring this back: data.cdc.gov/browse?categ... Or this: data.cdc.gov/browse?categ... Those were the entire categories on STD health statistics and the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. Still in the sidebar but no results now.
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Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 02/02/2025
What are the best books on how democracies fail?
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Arkell v Pressdram, in 22 EU languages
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lil gator game @lilgatorgame.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
the most obvious new feature of In The Dark is the lighting! we wanted to give the feeling of exploring a dark environment without giving up the vibrancy of Lil Gator Game, and this is the result! #indiedev #gamedev #screenshotsaturday
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
I went to post about the National Japanese American Memorial in D.C., which is beautiful but usually missed by tourists. It is a deeply staggering admission of guilt and a warning to future Americans. I went to link to the inscriptions and- Well, they took the site down. www.nps.gov/places/japan...
stone text inlay: HERE WE ADMIT A WRONG
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Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
This is such great news. For so long Amazon has had a chokehold on ebooks. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/b...
nytimes.com
Indie Bookstores Will Soon Be Able to Sell E-Books
Bookshop, a site that lets independent, bricks-and-mortar bookshops sell their books online, is launching an app that will allow the sales of e-books, too.
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European Commission @ec.europa.eu · 28/01/2025
Europe has everything it needs to stay in the economic race. But we have work to do. Tomorrow, we will present the Competitiveness Roadmap, which will drive our work for the next five years. Our plan: to make growth faster, cleaner, and more equitable.
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Rachel Ramirez @rachelreports.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Some news: A few hours after I filed the draft to this story, CNN laid me off. As part of a massive restructuring/changes across the network, my role as climate writer was among the 200 that got cut last week. It’s disappointing, but I’ll be okay. My last day is on Feb 21. A thread.🧵 1/
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 23/01/2025
If you see this post, quote with a bridge from your gallery
A suspended pedestrian bridge over Torrent de la Lluca in Rupit, Catalunya
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Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu · 22/01/2025
We are setting three goals: First, closing the innovation gap with our competitors. Second, a joint roadmap for decarbonisation and competitiveness. And third, strengthening our economic resilience and security. Read my speech at the @europarl.europa.eu → europa.eu/!Dxw4Mg
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Sargent James @surfcityfound.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Alright. This is it. The definitive explanation for the ideology that will stop at nothing until we're under their thumb. If you ever wondered where they hide, have I got the book for you.
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 19/01/2025
This site is a fantastic starting point for disentangling from various US tech products in favor of services with are EU based. european-alternatives.eu I quite like the layout the category filters make it much easier to find things.
european-alternatives.eu
Homepage | European Alternatives
We help you find European alternatives for digital service and products, like cloud services and SaaS products.
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Greg Pak @gregpak.net · 17/01/2025
Get ready for a possible big influx of new users here due to the TikTok ban and the inauguration. And also a big influx of bots and scammers. Some possibly helpful reminders/tips: gregpak.net/2024/12/20/b...
gregpak.net
Bluesky hygiene and safety - Greg Pak
In the weeks since the election and in the midst the giant surge of new accounts on Bluesky, I’ve seen multiple people talking about bad vibes on the site due to the questionable online behavior of so...
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Flashes App 🌩️ @flashes.blue · 15/01/2025
Thanks so much for your interest! FYI the app is NOT available yet. I hope to start an open Testflight beta next week and will post the invite here.
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 15/01/2025
I've gotten around to purging some of the YouTube subscriptions I've gathered over the past 19 years. It's been fun seeing looking at the stuff the algorithm has buried, things I found cool or interesting at the time, collab accounts, things created for events which were never updated again. etc.
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Charles Gaba ✡️ @charlesgaba.com · 26/11/2024
I remember playing Sim City years ago, and after I'd built up a thriving metropolis I would sometimes get really bored and jack the tax rate up as high as I could & cut off funding to police & fire departments just to see what would happen. Not mentioning this for any particular reason.
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The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 25/11/2024
A former CIA officer asks a legitimate, and deadly serious, question: Have Russian operatives paid any Republican officials? From @alexzfinley.bsky.social in April: newrepublic.com/article/1806...
newrepublic.com
Russia Is Buying Politicians in Europe. Is It Happening Here Too?
A former CIA officer explains how a vast, pro-Putin corruption network uncovered in Europe is a warning sign for the U.S.
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Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Elon admits that any post on X with a link is throttled He advises you to upload content directly to X instead, where he can monetize it Musk is the richest person in the world and his view is everyone should work for him for free
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Fource 💙 @4ource.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Just found out there's a feed for posts from the people you follow who don't post often. Genuinely love this cuz now I'm seeing all the amazing art I've been missing out on bsky.app/profile/did:...
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Zardrastra @socialturtle.eu · 22/11/2024
The live growth tracker for Bluesky has been quite interesting to watch, this site is growing at a rate of 5.21 new users per second according to bcounter.nat.vg I am finding able to engage again. Found I was limiting interaction on twitter over the past few years due to the trolling and chaos.
bcounter.nat.vg
Bcounter
Almost-real-time Bluesky user count
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