Futurology Today

cross-posted from: https://ponder.cat/post/2227015

Mobile wallpapers

Community link: !mobile_wallpaper@lemmy.dbzer0.com

Commercial fishing is destroying ecosystems around the world. Is anything being done about it?

Acromis spinifex is a type of tortoise beetle from South America. One of the interesting things about A. spinifex is this species exhibits parental care for its offspring, pictured here with recently laid eggs. This amazing photo is by @djmossoro on IG.

I was randomly banned without warning. I was posting and next thing I know, I had a message saying I've been suspended permentaly and to check my inbox. It was a generic message with "repeatedly violating multiple rules of conduct" and I was so confused. I followed their directions by checking my other account and i got nothing in it until hours later when I got that exact same message. Both appeals were denied. I've also contacted support but I hear they never respond back or it can take 2-3 months.

Has anyone been able to get their perm suspension uplifted or just create a new account and not get banned for ban evasion? How did you do it?

I've only been banned by device and email because my husband and son didn't get banned. We all share the same wi fi.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/9959466

geteilt von: https://programming.dev/post/27692275

• Post
• New Git Repo.

President Donald Trump's administration has acknowledged mistakenly deporting a Maryland man with protected legal status to a notorious El Salvador prison.

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-deportation-maryland-man-trump-error-818a0fa1218de714448edcb5be1f7347

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

Jerusalem (AFP) – Israel has been gripped by allegations linking aides of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to financing from Qatar, which hosts Hamas leaders and helped broker the release of hostages from Gaza.

Dubbed "Qatargate" by Israeli media, the reports that sparked the investigation claimed that some of the people closest to Netanyahu were recruited to promote Qatar in Israel, even though the two countries have no formal diplomatic ties.

At least two of Netanyahu's aides are suspected of receiving payments from the Qatari government to promote Doha's interests in Israel.

With the investigation ongoing, some details remain unclear.

Allegations of ties between members of Netanyahu's close circle and the Qatari government have swirled in the Israeli press since mid-2024.

The affair ramped up Monday when two aides, one current and one former, were arrested and Netanyahu was called in for questioning in a probe he slammed as a "political witch hunt".

Though the Israeli leader is not a suspect, he is separately on trial over corruption and breach of trust allegations.

"They are holding Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein hostage," Netanyahu said in an angry video post after being questioned.

Asked by AFP for comment, a Qatari government official said it was "not the first time we have been subject of a smear campaign by those who do not want to see an end to this conflict or the remaining hostages returned to their families".

The official also said Qatar would "continue our mediation efforts" on the war.

Yonatan Urich, who has been working closely with Netanyahu for most of the past decade, started out as the social media manager for the prime minister's Likud party.

Urich also co-owns a media consulting firm called Perception with Yisrael Einhorn, who has also worked with Netanyahu.

It is not the first time influential Israeli figures have been accused of receiving payments from Qatar.

According to Israeli media reports, Perception was hired to improve Qatar's image ahead of the 2022 World Cup, though Urich and the firm denied the claims at the time.

Eli Feldstein is already under investigation for leaking classified documents to journalists during the short time he worked unofficially as the prime minister's military affairs spokesman.

According to reports, Netanyahu was seeking to offer Feldstein a more permanent role but after failing to receive the necessary security clearance, he remained an external contractor.

Last month, an investigation by Israel's Channel 12 alleged that while working for Netanyahu, Feldstein received a salary from Jay Footlik, a known US lobbyist for Qatar.

Further reports on Monday said that Feldstein promoted Qatar to Israeli journalists and arranged trips for them to Doha.

Footlik owns a consulting firm, Third Circle Inc., registered under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as working for Qatar.

An Israeli court on Tuesday said suspicions were related to Third Circle and funds aimed at "projecting a positive image of Qatar" in relation to its role as a mediator for a truce and hostage release agreement in Gaza.

A final name that has been linked to the affair is Israeli businessman Gil Birger, who this month told Israel's state broadcaster that he had been asked by Footlik to pay Feldstein through his company.

Jonathan Rynhold, head of political studies at Bar-Ilan University, told AFP that the affair "ties all bad things relating to Netanyahu together in one package."

"This links Netanyahu directly to the policy of appeasing Hamas," Rynhold said, referring to Israel allowing Qatar to send millions of dollars in cash into Gaza that many now believe strengthened Hamas and enabled it to conduct its October 7, 2023, attack.

Still, the affair has piled more pressure on Netanyahu, who has clashed with the judiciary over his bid to sack Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet domestic security agency.

Bar's relationship with the Netanyahu government soured after he blamed the executive for the security fiasco of Hamas's October 2023 attack and, crucially, following a Shin Bet probe into Qatargate.

It is unclear how Netanyahu will manage the fallout from the affair.

"It is too early to say how it will develop," said Professor Gideon Rahat of the Hebrew University.

"Will he need to sacrifice these two people? If he sacrifices them, will they open their mouths?" Rahat said.

For now, he is fighting back and "framing it as though the secret service is after him because he wants to kick out the head of the secret service", Rahat added.

"In a normal country, if the prime minister had spies in his office, he would resign, but we are not in normal times."

Summary

The "Signalgate" scandal confirms the Trump administration's deep disdain for Europe, viewing it not just as obsolete but actively wanting its demise.

There are 3 major implications: an inevitable trade war where Europe must unite; continued US pressure on Greenland despite European pushback; and Europe needing to support Ukraine not just without US help, but potentially against US interests.

European leaders who stand firm against US bullying are seeing rising approval ratings.

Europe should "with firmness, courage and politeness" chart its own path forward.

Why YSK: Youtube's enshittification creates an abysmal experience. There's a list of Chrome extensions I've collected over the years that each fix an aspect of Youtube to bring back a genuine experience. I've seen in comments people mention one or two of these at a time, so this is a pack that contains everything you could need, and more.

Sample:

• My Feed
• Video View

Essential Plugins:

• Ghostery: Blocks trackers and ads
• uBlock Origin: Blocks In-video ads
• SponsorBlock: Skips in-video sponsor segments
• Return Youtube Dislike: Returns the dislike button
• DeArrow: Better titles and thumbnails, removes clickbait
• Youtube Redux: Returns youtube to the older style
• Style Bot: This tool allows you to edit CSS. With a bit of setup, you can use it to block sponsored videos from appearing in our video suggestions:

1. Open Stylebot options
2. Styles > New Style

URL: Youtube.com

CSS (copy and paste):

ytd-ad-slot-renderer,
ytd-rich-item-renderer:has(
  > #content
    > ytd-ad-slot-renderer
){
  display: none;
}

3. Save Style and Refresh Youtube

Optional:

• Dark Reader: Dark mode on any web page (and you can toggle it per page as well)
• Video Speed Controller: More control over video speed

In court, the Trump administration’s attorney, Brian Hudak, laid out the timeline, making clear that the newly-named president of USIP had not only been authorized to transfer the property, but the request had gone through proper channels and was completed by March 29. Hudak added that he believed plans were already underway to lease the building and the equipment inside, to the Labor Department.

That came the day after much of the 300-member staff was fired via email and left in turmoil over the weekend. Employees posted overseas have until April 9 to return to the U.S. The terminated employees have until April 7 to gather their belongings.

Community member @marron12@lemmy.world asked a great question about something I overlooked. We haven't had any new anatomy in a bit, and some parts of the answer I felt were too good to get buried in a comment late in the day, so now it's a post.

marron12's question:

The title picture is amazing, both the mom's expression and the fluffy chick that's all mouth. Do you happen to know what the hole in the roof of their mouth is? At least it looks like a hole.

Excellent question! I didn't know this either, I was thinking of the hole in the tongue, but what it actually is makes a ton of sense now!

The hole is called the choana, and the v shaped channel is the choanal slit. We actually have the same feature, but it's back further on us and is shaped differently. This is the internal nostril, and it connects the sinuses to the pharynx, which leads to the esophagus.

The hole in the tongue is called the glottis, and I knew that was the opening of the esophagus. This is the big reason people are told not to give water to wild birds they find. If the water goes down this hole, it's getting poured right into their lungs!

The nifty new thing I learned though, is the glottis will line up with the choana when the bird's mouth is closed, sending all that air right to the lungs! Makes perfect sense why the holes are where they are now!

The wiki for the choana has some really fascinating history on how this structure came to be. It traces back to our great fish ancestors.

Early bony fishes (~420 mya) had two pairs of nostrils, one pair for incoming water (known as the anterior or incurrent nostrils), and a second pair for outgoing water (the posterior or excurrent nostrils), with the olfactory apparatus (for sense of smell) in between. In the first tetrapodomorphs (~415 mya) the excurrent nostrils migrated to the edge of the mouth, occupying a position between the maxillary and premaxillary bones, directly below the lateral rostral (a bone that vanished in early tetrapods).

In all but the most basal (primitive) tetrapodomorphs (or "choanates"), the excurrent nostrils have migrated from the edge of the mouth to the interior of the mouth. In tetrapods that lack a secondary palate (basal tetrapods and amphibians), the choanae are located forward in the roof of the mouth, just inside the upper jaw. These internal nasal passages evolved while the vertebrates still lived in water. In animals with complete secondary palates (mammals, crocodilians, most skinks) the space between the primary and secondary palates contain the nasal passages, with the choanae located above the posterior end of the secondary palate.

In animals with partial secondary palates (most birds and reptiles), the median choanal slit separates the two halves of the posterior half of the palate, connecting the nasal cavity with the buccal cavity (mouth) and the pharynx (throat).

Here they are on a human. If you've ever had anything go from your mouth out your nose or something come from your nose and go down your throat (ick to both!), this is what allowed that. Or, I guess, just breathing through your nose. 😅