I see people are going on Bluesky. May try it but with DU anda couple of others not sure I need another, but will check it out thanks

.... turn Tesla into a Tonka toy factory.

Amazon has Project Kuiper which will require about 3,000 satellites. Starlink has about 6,000 in orbit now with about 6,000 more planned and a possible expansion up to about 30,000 total.

Other alternatives include OneWeb, Telstra, ViaSat and TeleSat and they will all require large numbers of satellites to succeed.

See the problem? Is there enough room in low earth orbit for all of these? If collisions occur, the high speed debris will cause more collisions and could lead to a catastrophic situation where getting any spacecraft beyond LEO would be quite risky for people and machines.

Kessler Syndrome:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome

by the thousands of shiny things flying around in space.
Getting in the way of telescopic viewing.

These kinds of communication systems will only accelerate the destruction of earth's remaining wilderness areas.

Universal communications, those that blanket the earth's entire surface ought to be reserved for emergency services only.

Routine communications can be served with fiber optic cable and cellphone towers, even in rural areas.

My great grandparents ranch, which is about as far away as you can get from a Wal-Mart in the 48 contiguous states, got electric and phone service as part of FDR's New Deal. Accomplishing the same with high speed internet over fiber would be easy in comparison.

but it seems like immediately after he got control of twitter the comments were just full of trolls and spamming .

IIRC, Twitter when if first started was a platform for reading local breaking news before local or national news could get to it.

It was like crowdsourced news. If a fire broke out at a stadium during a game, Twitter had it first, as an example.

As it expanded, the initial applications included researchers sharing thoughts and observations as they went about their business.

Only later did it develop into what you've described.

I was never on Twitter. I get early news stories, plus no trolls and bots...they get quickly blocked and bounced.

I'm raycing on BS.

I was never on X/Twitter, thank god, but Bluesky is quite impressive. I highly recommend it.

We need a DU-er starter pack.

Because Twitter still is a vitally important site for communities which can't meet in person - especially some portions of the disability community - I have been reluctant to abandon it entirely. It's sort of like public school - for decades, private schools have been stealing resources, students, faculty, etc from public schools, shifting the population to largely those who can't afford to go elsewhere, leaving public schools a deteriorated shell of their former selves, for those without the means to escape to greener pasture

My child went to public school, because I didn't want to contribute to the destruction of public schools for those who had no other choice. (We did move into a district that was not failing, however.)

Many in the disability community don't have the spoons to move (especially not repeatedly), find their people, and feel safe in another platform.

I decided to kill my Twitter account last night, in part in response to an active discussion among many in the disability community that it may be time to move, regardless of the cost.

** Spoons, in case you aren't familiar with the term: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://lymphoma-action.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/documents/2020-05/Spoon%2520theory%2520by%2520Christine%2520Miserandino.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwijie3Fm-aJAxV2MlkFHfV-KloQFnoECAgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0QfE85w899zKX7suJrWZBo

and increasing my understanding.

yesterday. Also had a Threads account never used, so am barely trying both now. Same with Reddit, not using but there.

* Have not posted, yet in Bluesky I've suddenly got 5+ not known and not solicited Followers? How did they find me and why?

* Blue/Threads lots of pictures. Seem to have "words to the wise" encouragement posts. Shocker to see a porn dude's near x-rated pic.

* DU's format is perfection for me, not used to the endless random scrolling on those two.

* How to bring posts from there to here? And how to post pics?

I think people there are actively trying to support small accounts. There's even a popular post to boost dems to 1K followers.

for all. So far, no badgering or ugliness.

It allows you to completely shut down trumpers

But it is funny how things "blow up" all of a sudden through the media. Bluesky hasn't changed anything today (I've had an account for months), but all of a sudden now to all the media it is the bestest newest thing around. It's dominating all of my news feeds. Up to now, the media reporting has treated the exact same thing as just "Meh".
Better late than never though.

There is no algorithm ramming what it "THINKS" you want down your throat (or as it is used on X, to promote Nazi propaganda). you control your feed, and blocking/muting is totally up to the user. not like X where people call still read your posts even if you block them.

There are also moderated lists you can sign up for to block Nazis en masse. i even signed up for one list that automatically blocks anyone with "MAGA" in their user name or bio.

...defund the Cons!

Come and join. cathybrabant.bsky.social

Looking forward to conversations with sane people. I'm sure there will be trolls, but I doubt they'll last too long.

@skywatch.blue is a good place to start.

A number of BlueSky accounts are dedicated to blocking the worst of the worst, and they'll do the blocking for you, if you subscribe to their accounts. If you encounter a bot or a nazi, you report them, and they'll be added to the blocklist. It's essentially crowdsourcing safety.

Imagine that. A tech company headed by two young women. It just FEELS safer.

on Hal's "morning " show today. You can hear it on his YouTube page, under the title "Hal Sparks Monday Megaworldwide." Which means you can go listen to the whole thing later, if you can't listen now. Lots of ins and outs of both platforms, as well as other, how to best exit Twitter, and even how to fuck with Twitter/Grok. It's a must-listen.