Lyndsy Simon @lyndsysimon@mastodon.social

I’d like to see a feature where users on an instance can mark toots as CW, and from then on that post would be marked as CW for everyone else on the instance.

I carry a firearm not to coerce others, but to ensure that others cannot coerce me.

We're taught from an early age that authorities are there to help, and to call upon them in times of need. That's all well and good, but I believe that view makes it all too easy to fall into the belief that those authorities should be responsible.

In short, guns are power. Power over others, certainly, if there is evil in your heart - but also an acknowledgement of the power you already possess, of self-control and self-determination.

Finally, in my experience there is something that's much harder to define that happens when someone first gains competency with firearms. Their fear of them is replaced with respect for the power they represent - but more importantly, wielding that power changes the way they see themselves. There's the realization that they are ultimately responsible for themselves and *that can be trusted with that responsibility*.

As a practical act, firearms are equalizers. I have two daughters, ages four and nine, and I am responsible for their safety. Carrying a handgun is the single most effective thing I can do to ensure that.

My daughters will likely never be more than 5'8" or so, and no amount of training will allow them to defend themselves against a man my size unarmed. For them, they are the difference between being at the mercy of those larger and stronger than them and being able to defend themselves.

Sure!

The bottom line for me is that firearms ownership is a powerful political act, symbolically and practically.

As a political symbol, it means that I am living in a society of peers, not one of rulers and subjects. It's a matter of self-determination. From an historical POV, the authors of the US Constitution saw the (then recent) failed Jacobite risings in Scotland as something they wished to avoid - they wanted the citizenry to retain arms so such rebellions would not be easily put down.

I need an idea for an open-source project...

@xeb Greetings! This may be an odd question, but do you have any idea where I could find people on the opposite side of the political spectrum from you? I saw one of your toots in my feed, and browsing your timeline it looks like you and I are pretty much diametrically opposed politically.

If you're the type that keeps a blacklist, that would probably be a good place for me to start.

Anyone know of a decent macOS native client for Mastodon? The only one I've found thus far is just a webview, and is obviously a toy project.

@noelle Wait a sec... I just realized, you're active in the development of Mastodon, aren't you?

@wervenyt 👋

@mykola I'm thinking maybe there's a way to aggregate interesting users outside of Mastodon itself, and add them as "known users" via API? If so, that might be a useful standalone service that other instance admins could subscribe to.

@mykola My biggest problem so far is content discovery. No one wants to join a social network with no users and no posts.

Chatting on Mastodon is way more fun than work.

@LN Are you near Montreal, by chance? If so, there's a great little pen shop across from the cathedral that I loved the last time I was up there. "Papeterie Casse-Noisette", on Rue Saint-Sulpice. The shop owner barely speaks English but was super nice and helpful. Based on your profile I'm guessing you won't have that language barrier, though!

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Is it possible to search across instances? #mastodon #help