I asked ChatGPT to write a heat pump rap song.

It's pretty good, don't you think?

“At the precise moment when music was becoming synthesised and digitised and sampled, he insisted on its traditions of heavy lifting. (‘Anyone who has ever played a piano,’ he liked to say, ‘would really like to hear how it sounds when dropped from a 12th-floor window.’)”
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/20/tom-waits-frank-trilogy-reissues-swordfishtrombones-rain-dogs-franks-wild-years #tomwaits

Comparing and contrasting app privacy policies for Threads, Bluesky, Twitter and Mastodon:

Summer reading guide. 🪓
#kafka #books #bookstodon#summerreading

🚙 A car is parked 92% of the time.
🚗 A car spends 20% of its driving time looking for parking.
🚙 Its 5 seats only move ø 1.5 people.
🚗 86% of its fuel never reaches the wheels.
🚙 A road at peak throughput is only 10% covered with cars.

Sounds efficient ?

"Natural" gas or methane: which would you choose?

Great video from Canadian Physicians for the Environment, StopFossilFuelAds.ca

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KESKdyJaOps

It's ok to be angry about climate change.
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/

Zing.
https://youtu.be/kEEcYzRIDhw

Twenty years ago, an Israeli bulldozer crushed Rachel Corrie to death as she protected a Palestinian home. She has since become a global symbol for those seeking justice. Israel may have killed Rachel, but she lives on in us.

https://mondoweiss.net/2023/03/twenty-years-later-rachel-corrie-lives/?utm_content=bufferb0564&utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=buffer

#Palestine #Israel

Even “a pointy security organ of the Canadian state” is sounding the alarm:

"Put simply, climate change compounds all other known human security issues and serves as an accelerant towards negative security outcomes. No country will be immune from climate change or associated risks."

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/politics/climate-change-threatens-canadian-security-prosperity-warns-stark-spy-agency-brief/article_c990e7f7-ffa1-5637-8ab2-10158eac88bc.html #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateEmergency #ClimateAction

“Today, Drukpa nuns not only practice Kung Fu but also lead prayers and walk for months on pilgrimages to pick up plastic litter and make people aware of climate change.

“…’When I look at them, I want to become a nun,’ said Ajali Shahi, a graduate student at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. ‘They look so cool, and you want to leave everything behind.’”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/26/world/asia/nepal-kung-fu-nuns.html #GoodNews #ClimateAction #Buddhism #Feminism #KungFu

#World’s biggest four-day working week trial ends in #success
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14qL_ol_zec

“Across a wide variety of sectors, wellbeing has improved dramatically for staff; and business productivity has either been maintained or improved in nearly every case.” #4DayWeek

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/feb/21/four-day-week-uk-trial-success-pattern

Fantastic article by @ross that perfectly captures the potential of not just #mastodon but the entire #ActivityPub protocol to replace the centralized web that is largely controlled by a few massive companies with something much better.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/02/breadth-fediverse

#decentralization

In 2021, the world produced around 8 billion tonnes of coal, 4 billion tonnes of oil, and over 4 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.

#StopDrilling
#KeepItInTheGround
#climate

"Our devices around us serve to pull value from us. And the value they give back seems increasingly marginal, I think, and increasingly less a centre of joy and excitement in our lives," said Vallor.

"Many of us don't feel anymore like technology is for us. It's for a company that's trying to extract some value from us. We're no longer the beneficiaries of technology, or at least not the primary ones. We're the product itself."

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/technology-change-philosopher-1.6703933?

Today. Tomorrow. The day after that.

An astounding image of our moment at the precipice:

Climate activists standing against the inhuman-scale machinery of the open-pit Lützerath brown coal mine, with a wind farm visible in the distance.
#climate #LützerathLebt #coal #renewable

"All Canadians should be concerned about the #Saskatchewan government’s Bill 88. Known as the #SaskatchewanFirstAct, it has already passed second reading with unanimous consent. It sets dangerous precedents and has serious implications for climate change policy in Canada. After it passes third reading, the federal government should send it to the Supreme Court of Canada for a ruling on its constitutionality."

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/01/20/opinion/latest-dangerous-instalment-scott-moe-crusade-against-ottawa
#skpoli #cdnpoli

New report: “The Breakthrough Effect: how tipping points can accelerate net zero”

‘A tipping point, in this context, happens when a zero-carbon solution advances to a point where it outcompetes the existing high-carbon solution. Once reached, self-reinforcing “feedback loops” drive exponential growth in the adoption of the new solution and a rapid decline of the old.’

https://www.systemiq.earth/breakthrough-effect/