Siderea, Sibylla Bostoniensis / is on Nostr

Psychotherapist-programmer musician-historian outsider-anthropologist healthcare-blogger science-explainer social critic essay-essayer and soothsayer. Professional wisewoman and amateur wiseass.

#PsychiatricNosology #HistoryOfScience #AnthropologyOfMedicine #EarlyMusic #EvenEarlierMusicThanThat #Galliards #Goliards #LoGaiSaber #Pestilence #TheSoCalledUSHealthcareSystem

Last Notes

2024-08-14 07:39:47

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So, what happened this spring was the CDC belatedly announced boosters for the vulnerable, and then extra belatedly expanded the criteria for whom they were recommending them for. They fumbled it really badly, and uptake was really poor.
They have already announced a fresh formulation will be coming out this fall.
My recommendation to Americans is that, unless and until you hear otherwise, you should plan on getting yourself whatever booster is available in April and October every year. If you wait on the CDC to announce it, you may find yourself in a mad scramble at the last minute.
To the best of my knowledge, it is still the case that each vaccination wanes in effectiveness after about 4 or 5 months. A shot in October will get you through the holiday season; a shot in April will get you through the inevitable "surprise" surge sometime May to July.

2024-08-14 02:25:49

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Apple only supports the common subscription model that is widespread among payment processors and crowdfunding platforms. They do not want to have to support the innovative things that Patreon was doing, so they told Patreon that to be compatible with Apple, it could only offer the same thing all the other platforms offered.
At least on the iOS app.
To be absolutely crystal clear: Patreon presumably could have complied by, instead, simply making it such that users of the iOS app cannot access or subscribe to or manage their subscriptions to creators that used non-compatible services, and allowed the creators to go on using them.
But instead, it paved its own orchard to give Apple a place to park.
This is not a surprise, in that at least one of the two offerings it is canceling is something those of us who use it have long suspected Patreon was just itching to get rid of.
2/n

2024-08-14 02:18:38

A lot of people are unclear why so many #PatreonCreators are quite so upset at the recent news about #Patreon. This is largely because what is being reported in the news is the business with the 30% Apple tax, which only affects iOS users.
The thing creators are upset about is that Patreon is SHUTTING DOWN two of its three offerings. Creators which were using one of those two are now screwed. How screwed they are depends on how and why they were using the services being discontinued, and ranges from "extremely inconvenienced" right on up to "existential threat to their creative endeavor".
One of the services Patreon offered – the one I use – basically has no alternative. None of the other crowdfunding platforms support it.
Indeed, a lot of creators were stuck using Patreon *because* it did things differently other crowdfunding platforms, and it is BECAUSE it did things differently, that Apple is requiring them to give up those services.
1/n

2024-08-13 03:31:48

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If you, too, are a #PatreonCreator or #PatreonPatron who would like to complain to #Patreon, you can do it at this web page:
https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

2024-08-13 03:30:19

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[continued from above]
I don't know what I will do long-term, but right now the default plan is for me to stop using #Patreon altogether simply because it will no longer meet my needs. Obviously, I hope it doesn't come to that and Patreon will reevaluate its decisions. But it's not clear to me why I would allow Patreon to take 5% above and beyond payment processing, when I can just get subscription service from PayPal for the price of payment processing. What I am here for is the by-creation model. If you don't offer me that, then I can get what you're selling for much cheaper elsewhere.
I understand that Patreon corporately thinks it has a variety of other offerings, but almost none of them are relevant to my interests, and the ones that are, are too poorly implemented for me to rely on them. As far as I am concerned, it's the by creation mode which is worth the 5% Patreon charges.
2/2

2024-08-13 03:29:19

What I just wrote to #Patreon:
Hi, team. Just wanted to reach out to you to add my voice to the no doubt many others raised in complaint about today's bombshell announcement.
I just wanted to point out that we are at odds. While maintaining the presence of an iOS app in the Apple Store is in Patreon's financial interest, it is not in my financial interest. It would be considerably more advantageous to me for Patreon to drop the iOS app rather than force my account to convert to a subscription model which is incompatible with my business model.
1/n

2024-08-09 09:09:53

Heads up, massholes, if you have recently registered to vote or plan to register to vote soon.
I just moved earlier this year, and I finally got around to doing my re-registration to vote. I did it a few weeks ago through the Secretary of State website.
There was apparently a glitch.
After a week or two, I got a boilerplate letter from the municipality I had left saying, "Hey we understand from the Secretary of State that you are registering to vote somewhere else, so we're taking you off the voter rolls here." But I didn't hear anything from the municipality I had moved to. Odd.
So I got around to calling them up and asking what was going on with my voter registration, and they were like, "huh, we have never heard of you, nothing here from the Sec'y of State about you, you want we mail you a voter registration form?"
So I called up the Sec'y of State to notify them of a problem.
Two days later, voila, I was registered to vote with no further effort on my part.
#Massachusetts

2024-08-06 02:00:08

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A lot of us have advocated for this, but it's a very minority opinion and seen as extremely antithetical to how the fediverse functions. People get reeeeal upset when you mention it.
The problem is, it's those of us with larger readerships for original work who need tools like this. We're an edge case from the designers of ActivityPub and Mastodon and other parts of the fediverse.
To put it crudely, most people identify with *being* audience, and only a few people have to deal with *having* an audience. People who identify with being audience want to have all the freedom in the world to shoot their mouths off to whomever they want whenever they want however they want; too often they slide into valorizing complete liberty from moderation as "not being censored".
People who have audiences have to worry about getting killed.
@npub1dml…x796 [@mos_8502](https://studio8502.ca/@mos_8502 ) @npub10je…3zd3

2024-08-05 22:31:43

Hello left wing of the US. I feel you are missing something delicious and enjoyable, so allow me to point it out.
I just observed someone noting something I expect is nigh-universally true: Harris's pick of a VP has absolutely zero effect on whether or not they'll vote for her. Of COURSE they'll vote for her, regardless of who she picks as a VP. Everyone who doesn't want fascist takeover of the US is going to vote for her, regardless of who she picks as a VP. So why all the attention on who she picks?
Answer: because her press strategists are goddamned geniuses.
This whole picking a veep thing? It's *drama*. It's a *spectacle* (fistbump Guy Debord). And omg the media is eating. it. up.
Yo, her political opponent GOT SHOT. NOT EVEN A MONTH AGO. And now *nobody cares*. Her campaign managed to suck all of the oxygen out of the room that is the media like an out of control house fire.
This is some of the most masterful PR I have ever had the pleasure to witness.
In summary:
https://media.universeodon.com/media_attachments/files/112/911/769/093/997/244/original/72ce8700add68393.jpg