Merry Christmas! How’s your Christmas going? Here is a collection of random tweets from Indian Twitter that will do India proud. Thread 👇1/n

The run up to Christmas started with Chavhanke running his Christmas special series on conversions. 2/n

A few days before Christmas, a ‘dharmic’ influencer started a campaign about whether Hindus should celebrate Christmas. 3/n

Right-wing blog OpIndia meanwhile thought it was an opportune time to dig out a 10+ year old video of Zakir Naik on Christmas greetings. 4/n

No Christmas is complete without Indology enlightening his followers. In fact he does it every year on Christmas. 5/n

OK heres a thread I should have done a LONG time ago

HOW TO GET BACK ON TWITTER WHEN U BEEN BANNED

101

here goes

Step 1

U cannot connect Ur last account to Ur new one

meaning NEW PHONE NUMBER, NEW EMAIL.

ALWAYS have a VPN.

keep going
👇👇👇👇👇

I dont fully know wtf a VPN really is either. LOL
BUT I know that the FIREFOX browser is the BEST because it has an AUTOMATIC VPN in it if U always use a PRIVATE BROWSING WINDOW.
@CEOofgenz taught me this firefox trick, as well as VK suggested it a lot.

keep going
👇👇👇👇👇

Once U exhaust Ur main phone # on ur banned acct

then U need to create a GOOGLE VOICE NUMBER for Ur new acct.

They will allow U to make a new account with only email, but shortly in they will require U give them a phone #.

USE GOOGLE VOICE, download the app, connect it.

You are allowed ONE google voice number PER cell phone U have. So that means TWO potential twitter accounts PER cell phone U have. Once u burn thru those two #'s U have to buy a new burner phone to make a new account with a new #.

Keep going 👇👇👇👇👇

For Ur new email, its easiest to set up a new email account on

protonmail

its extremely FAST and they dont require all the vindication nonsense that the [DS] big tech email people do.

Use it.

ALWAYS WRITE DOWN ALL UR NEW #'s and emails and passwords. Keep them organized.

So - that was quite a twitter/media day for me, and welcome to my new followers; 3 threads coming up - introducing myself, explaining my background and COIs (this one); technical aspects of the new strain from my vantage; commentary on what is means for the future

(for the people who know me, skip the rest of this thread!)

A brief tweet portrait of me; I am deputy director general of @embl and co-direct (with Rolf Apweiler, not on twitter) one it's six sites, @emblebi which is based just south of Cambridge, UK.

is the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, a European treaty organisation that does science, similar to CERN. EMBL does molecular biology from high end atomic structural biology to development - and in the future, bridging to Ecosystems.

EMBL is Headquartered in beautiful Heidelberg, Germany and has 5 other sites; Hamburg (Germany also), Grenoble (France), EMBL-EBI at Hinxton (UK), Rome (Italy) and Barcelona (Spain).

What I learnt on the Twitter this week:

1. Well I know I learnt a lot more on Twitter this week than Trump did.
2. After Covid numbers skyrocket in Ontario for past four months, Doug Ford says the data modelling suggests he might have to stop his cross-province campaigning soon.

3. After the assault on the Capitol this week, the CPC finally pulls camou MAGA hats from online merch shop.
4. With pictures of the CPC's Deputy Leader wearing a camou MAGA hat circulating, Michelle Rempel expresses outrage that Candice Bergen getting more attention than she is.

5. UCP MLA Pat Rehn issues statement after return from Xmas trip to Mexico. Says he is sorry, but also very excellent.
6. Jason Kenney says he knows he's failed Albertans and that's why he moved up to the Sky Palace to help him see things from the everyday people's perspective.

7. Westjet insists Kenney government provide more notice of planned out-of-country travel next time so airline can be sure to have enough planes ready.
8. Blogger Karen Bexte travels to DC for insurrection, asks to speak to Canada's manager after he's asked to take a Covid test.

9. Trump says the crowd he got to attack the Capitol was far larger than any crowd Obama ever got to attack the Capitol. Huge crowd. Tremendous crowd of terrorists.
10. After being shut down on every major social media platform, Trump seen at Radio Shack haggling over a CB radio.

What I learnt on the Twitter this week:

1. Doug Ford declares State of Emergency. Says he doesn't understand what people don't understand about the rules. Either stay home or go to Walmart to buy essential cream cheese.
2. Ford announces his French lessons are going tray bueno.

3. Kenney announces Alberta will begin procuring their own vaccine because they only have most of the Fed's supply left now.
4. O'Toole announces he just doesn't know how to quit Ezra.
5. Freak storm in Morden, MB; MAGA hat kicked up in the wind; lands on Candace Bergen's head.

6. Canadian Conservative politicians and staffers mourn the loss of Parler which they have never heard of.
7. Kenney signs giant cardboard guarantee saying coal will be mined from Rockies without loss of a single acre of protected land unless it's accidentally delisted and sold.

8. Ford defenestrates MPP Baber from caucus after Baber complains about lockdown. Ford says he's already busy enough locking down Phillips and Oosterhoff.
9. Ontario's Minister of LTCs adheres to lockdown rules and takes three-week vacation under her bed.
10. Où est la Fullerton?

11. Just when you thought Andrew Scheer couldn't defenestrate his reputation any further, Andrew Scheer fully defenestrates himself. Like, maaaddd defenestration going on here.
12. Moments before Parler shuts down, thousands of Canadians post "What does defenderthestation mean?"

Incoming rant.

I'm pressing the "tweet" button as I type, and I'm typing as I think, so there's every possibility that this will drift into tangents and/or nowhere. Of course, that's true pretty much every time I start threading.

I know diddly-squat about physiology.

Friends and family who *do* know anything about physiology regularly mock my (apparently bizarre) theories of how bodies work.

I am not a trustworthy narrator when it comes to things like How Vaccines Work.

I know diddly-squat about epidemiology.

Unlike physiology, where I am firmly in the domain of Messrs. Dunning and Kruger, I've read enough about the subject to understand how little I know.

This is a complicated subject, where obvious truths are seldom either obvious or true.

I also know diddly-squat about public health policy.

Public *transportation* policy is way more in my wheelhouse. But this at least lets me make some useful analogies.

…I mentioned digressions? Yeah, I just started to write a very long digression about public transportation paradoxes, and it was taking away from the point I wanted to make.

I didn't drink alcohol for 2020 and now I want to talk about it in a long twitter thread that should probably just be a blog post, but here goes:

(I get into topics like alcohol abuse, mental illness, homphobia, and parental death, just fyi)

Some background first: every year I do some kind of restriction. Last year I only re-read books, another year I didn’t buy any clothes. My dad is catholic and even though I hate the religion, something about the ‘fasting’ elements of lent and advent stuck with me.

I enjoy cutting myself off from things to create space in unexpected places. It's where Innovation and creativity flourish. I did some of my best work for Momofuku Nishi, and @davidchang told me I had to create an Italian cocktail program, but nothing could come from Italy.

My family also loved wine and used connoisseurship to cast consumption in a virtuous light. Opening that 4th bottle of Chateauneuf-de-Pape was *educational*

My mom once yelled at a wine steward for not letting my then-17-year-old brother have a glass of wine with our dinner.

Wine is great though! Beer, spirits, etc. They’re all fascinating things to study on many levels. (Hello I wrote a whole cocktail book)

Plus, they’re fun to drink and usually taste delicious and accompanied most major rituals in my life: birthday, Christmas, weddings, funerals…

Twitter: "We've removed thousands of accounts linked to Qanon."

Conspiracy theory spreaders:

Happy 2021, everyone!

To kick off the new year right, here is a thread of people that I love to follow. Check them out and follow them if you can. If we follow each other and you want to be added, please let me know.

Love,
Rata

In an effort to keep myself accountable and to “build in public” as many do on Twitter, I’m going to share my training and thoughts in my build up to running the 2021 Barkley Marathons.

A thread:

1/ I’m out of shape right now.

That needs to chance quickly as the race is approximately 3 months away. If you don’t know what the Barkley Marathons is, there are some great documentaries on Amazon & YouTube you can search for.

2/ Essentially it’s a 100+ mile ultra marathon held in Frozen Head State Park in TN. It is a 5 identical looped course of unmarked trails and cross country scrambles over steep terrain.

Each loop is over 25 miles in length with +14,000 feet of climb.

3/ Just 15 people have finished the full five loops in the event’s 35 year history. You have 60 hours to finish and no one has finished under 52 hours.

Most years there are no finishers.

4/ I first toed the line at the Barkley in 2014, but I first read about it in 2005 or 2006 just as I was getting into running ultras. I found the website, read this poem and immediately added the event to my bucket list:

https://t.co/Q4HqU5GtQa

For those who are asking: Twitter froze my account for 12 hours and penalized me with "a warning" because of my reporting on a religious organization (initials E.C.) who is behind the current anti-Pornhub campaign. (1/2)

If you google public record information on the leader of that campaign (initials L.M., a public figure) plus the words "Justice Defense Fund," you can take a guess as to why I was "reported."

Twitter punished me for literally doing my job.

Religious groups are already abusing the "reporting" system WITH SECTION 230 IN PLACE.

Imagine the future of journalism once Section 230 is repealed or reformed.

(Yes, I have receip†s.)

(No, I won't be using this platform as I have been. I've been "admonished" on the word of a religious lobby.)

Thread on censorship

1) Twitter told us last night that the reason hundreds of thousands of people was removed

from the platform is because they have to confirm their phone number or email

Then those numbers would be represented in our follower count

#Twitter once again suspended our acct. Their targeted harrassment of us has never ended since day we began using 3 yrs ago under massive shadowban ever since 99% of the time. Once again they wrongly suspended us. We did a study on it to share & learn since they provide ZERO info

2/
We strongly invite @twittersupport to enter a deep dive discussion on this since they provide ZERO support, NEVER answer questions in over 100+ tweets we sent them, 8 appeals letters ignored & months & months of unlawful arbitrary suspensions without cause EVER mentioned.

3/
We have NO IDEA what they suspended us for here & of course their TOS says nothing about it nor could anyone EVER possibly discern what they could possibly be complaining about. Their TOS ALSO protects our Freedom Of Expression in the EXACT WAY we spoke the tweet under #18.

4/
Since Twitter's Dorsey has been COMPLETELY CLEAR that it is not the position of twitter to answer appeals but for ppl to languish in suspension unless they delete the tweet, & 37+ day suspensions when waiting are common & to be expected otherwise according to Dorsey on TV, Del

5/
This explanation in DETAIL is what is needed by Twitter on their website but they have REFUSED to EVER do this. They should do it for EVERY CASE have some commentary section for explanations so people can learn but they deliberately choose against this. Why? it seems obvious

I’m not a scientist, so obviously do correct me if I’m wrong. (Heck, this is twitter, I don’t need to ask that do I?)

BUT a virus doesn’t mutate in *nothing*, does it, it doesn’t mutate when it’s on the handle of the supermarket door or even in the air you’ve just breathed out.

It mutates *in a host*. And the most sure fire way for a virus to find a wide variety of hosts in which to mutate is to do precious little to control the spread of the virus. To have policies which amount to “take it on the chin”. To have an ‘acceptable’ death level.

To allow the virus to run absolutely rampant through one section of the population (children) because stopping it doing so would mean making a politically unpopular decision (closing the schools).

Seen some people (scientists, I mean, not your uncle Jim) saying this virus is now more transmissible in children and like... what did they THINK would happen if you allow the virus unfettered access to kids?

It adapts! It adapts to its fucking hosts! It becomes better at infecting them! Like, the whole fucking point for a virus is to be able to make copies of itself. It’s actually not that arsed about killing or harming you.

My friend @EduCelebrity has been doing a #YearInReview tweet thread (check it out), in which he relives some of his best tweets from 2020.

I’m opting to do a #YearInPreview thread where I predict what will happen over the next 12 months in education...here we go...

January:

Teachers come back to school (virtually or in-person) fired up and ready to implement some great new ideas and strategies as part of their New Year’s resolutions.

Mid-January:

All new ideas flamed out as teachers begin their summer countdown. #YearInPreview

February:

Valentine’s Day parties include students exchanging virtual cards with each other via their virtual Valentine’s Day boxes. Joey’s mom hires a professional web designer so Joey’s virtual box is the best in the class and puts pictures of it on Instagram. #YearInPreview

March:

Depressed that St. Patrick’s Day has been cancelled (again), teachers put Irish Cream in their morning Starbucks and get rewarded by admin for their creativity...just kidding, they get fired. #YearInPreview

April:

Test prep is in full swing. Teachers try to prepare students they’ve never actually met, and whom have never participated in online instruction for a test that doesn’t matter. Principal asks if she’s ever contacted the parents to which she replies with a middle finger.

My updated recommended follows for February 20, 2021. Let me know if you want to be removed or added. To be added, we need to be following each other.

Faves (1/1)
@AndyPopeInTheW1
@CHQM8_tx
@Dubes123
@daralynn13
@_HypoLuxa_
@KtBoBt
@kharly
@ImpeachmentHour
@liberal_elder
@LtUhura2017
@MysterySolvent
@Natgcoh
@officialHJesus
@orangepeel18
@RancidGinger
@RKJ65
@robinskyleigh
@Ronnis_Joy
@Texan_21C
@umanoid
@wendimyb
@Wikweko

The Rat follows… (1/9)
@1Angry_lioness
@admiralmpj
@AFlyover
@afrugal1
@agent_orangutan
@ALT_MyName
@american2084
@AquaVelvaBoy
@AndraDoesCare
@AreYouis
@AryaKicksButt
@AshidMapanzigan
@bamableu
@benFranklin2018
@BeyondBlonde3
@bfs2020
@BiglyPrez
@bkaydw
@Black2thBone

The Rat follows… (2/9)
@Blackbear5
@Brasilmagic
@Brian_Chovanec
@briansantacruz
@CajunSiouxsie
@Carpediem4989
@CaliPhil
@carlisamantha
@ChafedCharlie
@ChampagneSane
@ChanningStephe5
@chaturner
@Chewythewookie1
@ChrisA_425
@CIAnderson3
@ColleenHenley
@Cosette2016
@da_kotarski

The Rat follows… (3/9)
@DarbysCastle
@DarrollHough
@DawnChristine2
@dawnwc
@DeepInTheHills
@DocAtCDI
@DonPayne17
@DrEttaM1
@Eiggam5955
@elle_desylva
@fleurdeliselle
@georginapond1
@GirlNamedBoston
@GonzoBaggins
@grammytammyd
@grannieof10kids
@gypsyphototaker
@HIHKatharine