@kubikpixel@chaos.social2025-11-07 06:05:43
@kubikpixel@chaos.social2025-11-07 06:05:43
@cdarwin@c.im2025-10-06 14:47:06
Truly, everyone's a "rogue capitalist" now.
It's almost like the problem with companies isn't whether their business model is based on showing you ads or charging you money,
but rather, whether they can abuse you for profit and get away with it.
-- Coty Doctorow
https://mamot.fr/@…
@karlauerbach@sfba.social2025-10-06 23:38:54
Is your mailbox or PO box often filled to its limit (or beyond) by ULINE catalogs and promo mailings?
Do you wonder at the increasing cost of US Postal service, especially, for anything thicker than an few pages or an SD card (USB flash drives are too thick and get bumped into the parcel post price range)?
Are you tired of brand-R $billionaires complain of welfare queens and government giveaways to the "woke".
Well, meet Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, owners of UL…
@toxi@mastodon.thi.ng2025-12-07 08:30:00
Only one way to go here, always forward... just as in life!
(This is the equally stunning & adventurous ridge between Feigenkopf and Große Klammspitze, the summit ahead, almost touching the clouds — if you zoom in, you can just about make out the summit cross... One of my fave hikes ever. Picture is from early May 2022)
#SilentSunday
@catsalad@infosec.exchange2025-10-07 16:35:09
Tasha, you are a criminal!! 😹
@arXiv_csSE_bot@mastoxiv.page2025-10-08 08:57:39
Who Do You Think You Are? Creating RSE Personas from GitHub Interactions
Felicity Anderson, Julien Sindt, Neil Chue Hong
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.05390 https://
@deprogrammaticaipsum@mas.to2025-10-08 11:56:06
"NOT everything that is worth reading is a book. A good programmer’s library (I will let you decide whether that is a good library owned by a programmer, or a library belonging to a good programmer) includes essays, scholarly articles, videos, magazines, blog posts, podcast episodes, and more. This month, we are going to read an Easter egg in a programming language."
@ethanwhite@hachyderm.io2025-11-07 01:40:04
Kid: Dad!?! The (no longer maintained) software that school wants me to use is throwing a "Code C" error on the video we took in class (on a brand new iPhone). Can you help?
Me: I don't know who suggested you use this software. I don't know why. If the software company is telling you to pay for an upgrade, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career (in scientific software)
@mariyadelano@hachyderm.io2025-11-07 02:15:59
LLMs are a fundamentally useless technology because their applications (supposedly) boil down to humans not having to think for themselves or do their own writing / drawing / filming.
But if you can do it on your own - why would you need a robot to do it? It’s, at best, a novelty.
That’s why this shit only resonates with executives and capital owners. “Get things done with fewer people and expenses” is at least an actual pitch. “Get things done faster for yourself” isn’t.
The individual angle really works for things you already were trying to avoid doing because you’re either disinterested or don’t have enough time to do things right.
“Avoid your work” as a value proposition doesn’t work when you’re dealing with intellectual labor rather than commodities. Not large scale, not long term.
Sorry for the rant, I saw some Notion ads on the subway and got irritated 😅
#AI #llm #LLMs
@migueldeicaza@mastodon.social2025-10-07 12:09:47
When you are an iOS developer, every day is Xmas!
https://mastodon.social/@stroughtonsmith/115332664208549324
@kazys@mastodon.social2025-12-06 14:40:18
@… they do make fantastic gear. I have an elektroslutch. I am sure I have raved about campfr.com to you but look for an in person residency that appeals… you do NOT need to know tons about music unless it is one of the really advanced composition based ones. You will have an absolute blast. The online are good, but a pale shadow. Very common for UK folk…
@grumpybozo@toad.social2025-11-06 13:46:07
Reminder: BHL is a rape apologist who has said that the hijab is an invitation to rape.
That's why we don't cite X. It is entirely made up of the worst people in the world. If you still use a functioning X account, you are *ONE OF THEM*, no matter how good your intentions. https://
@detondev@social.linux.pizza2025-10-07 01:40:45
you are an actual person capable of dramatically altering things around you
@degrowthuk@mstdn.social2025-12-05 16:33:51
Degrowth cabaret comes to London (and other news)
Degrowth Cabaret! LONDON FRI 23 JANUARY 10.30am – 4.30pm Siobhan Davies Studios If you are an economist interested in performance, a performer interested in economics or simply curious in how these seemingly distinct languages can be bridged, then this session is for you! But don’t worry, you won’t need prior knowledge of economics or the arts! Joaquín Pereira (economist and dancer) invites you to a day-long lab where…
@jtk@infosec.exchange2025-10-07 18:45:41
There is an ActivityPub proposal that involves the #DNS.
I have only just discovered it and have not considered it deeply so I am reluctant to make any grand statements. It is not obvious to me why this is useful or better than alternative approaches. It appears to involve the use of TXT RRs, any new de facto use of which makes me skeptical.
@cellfourteen@social.petertoushkov.eu2025-09-08 07:45:59
IMO the Fall Apart desktop effect in #KDE (Apps & Windows -> Window Management -> Desktop Effects) should be enabled by default. Looks even more cool when an app, or a game, crashes. Save and Open dialog boxes? So satisfying - feels like you are getting work done at an explosive rate 😄
@grifferz@social.bitfolk.com2025-10-06 14:16:36
Reading the drama about BBC having to edit an episode of Have I Got News For You because they incorrectly said that contract for UK ID card scheme went to company run by Tony Blair's son. Only to find it actually went to Oracle.
Some sort of litmus test for which kind of wonk you are? If IT wonk, be more outraged at Oracle. If politics wonk, be triggered by purported Blair nepotism
@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.net2025-11-07 10:10:26
Series C, Episode 03 - Volcano
TARRANT: No, it's the heat.
DAYNA: No, can't you hear it?
TARRANT: Not a thing.
DAYNA: I can. Maybe it's in my mind... Cally?
TARRANT: What does it say, this voice?
DAYNA: It-it says to go forward, there.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/303/599
@yaya@jorts.horse2025-11-06 05:59:50
it's actually so easy to just hear someone tell you what gendered words they don't want used for them and say "aight bet" rather than arguing
and yet.
@mgorny@social.treehouse.systems2025-10-03 16:59:41
Brutal similes
Using #AI is an ethical choice.
I know that there cases when an #LLM could make my job easier. Which doesn't mean I'll use one. Just like I won't be buying cheap junk gadgets that could help me with some random stuff a bunch of times before they'll end up on a trash pile.
Yes, sometimes I am curious what an LLM could come up with. But then, there are people who are curious how many donuts they can eat before throwing up. A waste of good donuts.
What world would you rather live in? One where you put a little more effort in your job? Or one where LLM helps with with your job, but you can't enjoy your free time anymore because the capitalists are using LLMs to turn every single aspect of your life into a nightmare, and eventually your employer just makes you do more and more until you're thrown out? But at least you will get a monthly trial of a statistical "friend" to "talk" about your trouble to.
Yeah, you can claim that training models does the most harm, and that's already happened, so not using them doesn't change much, and all the energy spent on it would be wasted. Or use the traditional "others" fallacy — others will use it anyway, others will fuel the vicious circle, so why renounce convenience. It's like when you learn that your dinner is human meat, and you decide to eat it anyway, because not eating it won't bring that human back to life, and if it's wasted, then their death will be for naught.
#AntiCapitalism
@aardrian@toot.cafe2025-12-05 21:12:18
Twenty-four. There are now 24 advents. All of you wiseacres suggesting I was one calendar away from an advent of advents can stuff it.
https://adrianroselli.com/2025/12/web-design-dev-advent-calendars-for-2025.html
Still not making a damn adven…
@tante@tldr.nettime.org2025-12-04 15:40:05
"It's not that any of the other streaming services are good, but Spotify is almost certainly the worst. Do not trust it. Do not let it turn your enjoyment of music into stats and algorithmic playlists."
(Original title: Spotify Haters Club)
https://knru.polin.ski/spotify-haters-
@LillyHerself@Mastodon.social2025-12-05 19:17:40
I think the future will see Cold War Steve as the great chronicler of our age, sort of like a 21st century Hogarth. Also: FIFA, what are you thinking???
@arXiv_csGR_bot@mastoxiv.page2025-10-06 07:36:59
Hyperparameters are all you need: Using five-step inference for an original diffusion model to generate images comparable to the latest distillation model
Zilai Li
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.02390
@andres4ny@social.ridetrans.it2025-12-05 19:21:03
It's a weird quirk of nationalism that you can be executed for treason against your country's *government*, but not its land. Sure, spill all the oil, pollute the air, frack away until the water is undrinkable and tremors destroy structures, build an olympic training center on that national forest reserve; that'll be a slap on the wrist and maaaaaaaybe a small fine.
Countries are super protective of their borders, you'd think they would want to preserve the land within …
@tezoatlipoca@mas.to2025-10-05 20:43:18
@sauer_lauwarm@mastodon.social2025-11-05 17:40:21
"I am not at all an expert on the topic you propose I should cover, and I see that those topics on which I claim to have some knowledge are already very expertly covered by colleagues. This is actually a source of relief, since I think that such a resource is highly important, yet my schedule over the next year is already so full that I would not be able to give it the attention it deserves. I wish you all the best for the project!"
@mariyadelano@hachyderm.io2025-10-07 20:41:21
I keep thinking what would be an appropriate search results page for a single punctuation mark - and I think I'd expect a dictionary definition? Maybe articles on where and how to use it?
But honestly I kinda just wish Google would tell me "hey, did you search this by mistake?” and not show me any results at all.
There's no search intent here, folks. Why are we pretending that there is?
@nelson@tech.lgbt2025-12-02 19:17:48
One of my favorite emojis is the "hugs" emoji 🫂. Or an "okay_blob" custom reacji that my favorite Slack uses. I use it all the time to indicate "I hear you and I know what you're saying is emotional. I support you".
Another very progressive Slack I'm on has a "hugs OK?" emoji you are supposed to use first. Only if the other person responds with the "hugs OK!" emoji are you then allowed to respond with an actual "hug" emoji.
I think I'm a pro-explicit-consent person. But it strikes me that this careful three-way handshake, all for 16x16 pixels in a virtual environment, may be a little much.
@hex@kolektiva.social2025-10-03 07:16:35
What are you going to do when the regime falls? After calling all your friends, after the great memes, after the parties, what are you going to do to make sure it never happens again? What world should we create?
Taxing billionaires is great and all, but we could build systems where billionaires are impossible. Is hoarding wealth and using it to control people even something we should consider part of a functional and humane system? Any system where one group of people doesn't have rights means that anyone can be stripped of their rights, like has happened with all the US citizens who've been illegally detained and deported by ICE. Does the concept of "rights" that must be defended with violence, that can be stripped away by people who can exercise more violence, even make sense? Or should the bedrock of a functional system be the obligations that we have to each other and to society, that cannot be severed or taken from us, that tell us we *must* defend regardless of whether systemic oppression will impact us or not?
Americans have been so restricted by the limitations of the two party system, only able to choose between options acceptable to different sections of the capitalist class. Would we even be able to imagine what we could do if those restrictions went away?
The fall of the Berlin wall was a surprise. The fall of Assad was faster than anyone expected. One day the government of Nepal was an unrepentant oligarchy, the next it was on fire. Everything can change in an instant, faster than anyone expects. No one can predict revolutionary change. Will you be ready if the opportunity presents itself?
The US cannot be fixed. The economic system is a ponzi scheme that has been patched again and again, but has finally run out of options. Racism, sexism, and Christian nationalism are baked into the system at every level. Trump gutted the system of soft power that held the US economy together, now there is only a slow decline. Even after he's gone, the damage is done. Once we let go of how to fix something that cannot be fixed, we can start to imagine something that cannot be achieved within the current system.
This is a time of opportunity. Do not burrow so deep in terror that you miss your chance to dream.
#USPol
@markhburton@mstdn.social2025-12-05 09:28:54
Here's a new irritation, on several sites.
An intrusive prompt to scroll to the next article, obscuring what you are reading.
MEN at least lets you close it. Not all do.
Funnily enough, I can navigate menus, and go to the toilet too, all by myself.
@deprogrammaticaipsum@mas.to2025-10-05 10:53:38
"If George Boole is the 19th century’s AI scientist, then his contemporary machine learning engineers were Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace. The Difference Engine, which would be frequently cited as the first example of a (mechanical) programmable digital computer if it had been built at the time, was explicitly designed to _replace_ rather than _augment_ human thought. Just as modern software engineering managers use Jira to avoid thinking about process engineering."
@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca2025-11-07 22:34:46
Door Dasher Life Fun Facts: This might be useful to think of when you're rating your Dasher.... Who's at fault in this situation?
Let's say I accept an offer for McDonalds.
I head straight there... pull up to the store, and as I walk in the app buzzes again with a 2nd order for the same McDs.
Naturally, I accept. (not accepting reduces my Acceptance rate and potentially my ability to get new offers).
Now I have two orders at the same place! Great! Efficient!
The first order comes up quickly, I put it in my bag, 'pick it up' in the app, and wait for the 2nd order.
Now the fun begins. The restaurant says the 2nd order will be 10 minutes beyond the pickup time. I notify the app, and both customers of the wait... and I wait... and wait... if I remove the 2nd order from my app it affects my completion rate *and* means the customer has to wait for another dasher to come along.
Eventually the 2nd order is ready and I head out to make the deliveries. Both of course now late.. the first potentially cold (even in an insulated bag) *and* late.
In addition, sometimes, often a day or two later, the dasher will receive a “Contract Violation” for the lateness. 3 Contract Violations in a short period and you can be deactivated.
So... there ya go. It happens. I'm never sure what the best course of action is... unless both orders are immediately ready, which you can never predict, someone will end up losing; the store, customer, dasher, or a mix of all three.
#DasherLife #GigWork #DoorDash #Uber
P.S. It's worth noting that Door Dash is the only service I know of that is this strict. Uber Eats does not have mechanisms like this (at least in my experience). Never used Skip, so can't say on that.
@whitequark@mastodon.social2025-12-04 01:07:22
do you know whether this "may" is actually a "shall" or not? does this differ per-OS?
@cdarwin@c.im2025-11-05 21:14:54
Bucks County PA went just barely for Trump in 2024,
It's not exactly the kind of place where you'd expect this sort of very-online-leftist messaging to work as an attack.
But it does now! The normies are being radicalized against ICE.🙏
https://bsky.app/profile/kombiz.bsky.s
@cjust@infosec.exchange2025-11-04 17:22:16
A good friend of mine has the Muppet character "Beaker" as his avatar. For reasons.
He offers me advice. I offer him advice. We chat. These are #ChatsWithBeaker
The link in the discussion thread:
https:/…
@jorgecandeias@mastodon.social2025-11-03 17:36:00
Oh, look, the result of anti-immigration fascists' policies are labor shortages.
Who would've known?
(unless it's paired with starting a global trade war, I suppose; in that case you'd get an economic slump, bankrupcies and unemployment... if you don't TACO)
https://…
@sonnets@bots.krohsnest.com2025-11-04 11:25:12
Sonnet 075 - LXXV
So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet-season'd showers are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As 'twixt a miser and his wealth is found.
Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then better'd that the world may see my pleasure:
Sometime all full with feasting on your sight,
And by…
@mxp@mastodon.acm.org2025-11-04 10:10:24
You obtained a PhD in #DigitalHumanities (or a related field) and are looking at an academic career?
Reminder that we have an opening for a junior lecturer (#postdoc) in our department at the University of
@mxp@mastodon.acm.org2025-11-04 10:10:24
You obtained a PhD in #DigitalHumanities (or a related field) and are looking at an academic career?
Reminder that we have an opening for a junior lecturer (#postdoc) in our department at the University of
@PwnieFan@infosec.exchange2025-10-03 23:10:44
“the book's thesis: that the AI bubble is driven by monopolists who've conquered their markets and have no more growth potential, who are desperate to convince investors that they can continue to grow by moving into some other sector,”
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115277162069992407…
@pre@boing.world2025-11-03 17:48:44
Content warning: Buffy Comics
Been reading some of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer comic-books, set after the TV shows ended.
It's a very different world with Buffy and Xander being commanders of a whole slayer army with seemingly massive resources, from a castle being attacked by various supernatural forces.
Very different pacing from the TV show too.
You know that episode of Angel where Spike and Angel are running around in Italy chasing after Buffy who now dates The Immortal?
Turns out it wasn't Buffy at all, but one of her decoys that have been deployed around the world. Andrew thought it would be funny to troll the two vampires by pretending she was dating The Immortal.
The artwork is all great, but sometimes a little rough and I find it challenging since I don't always recognize who is supposed to be who, especially as the artists and styles switch from book to book.
Some of the mini stories feel like just pulling the TV show characters back for no good reason.
I hear rumors of a new Buffy TV show starring SMG with no involvement from Joss, and wonder if it'll assume these stories of visiting the future or fighting with an army from a castle base will be retconned out entirely?
It's an entertaining read and nice to visit those characters again, but doesn't feel much like the TV show because it's such a different setting and Buffy is very different as a commander than a school girl.
#reading #comics #buffy
@teledyn@mstdn.ca2025-12-01 18:11:21
Content warning: intense Gnome frustrations no one should be forced to read
so
very
frustrating
#Gnome #Evolution how is this even possible? Fresh #Debian13 install, launched, added my google workspace, read and answered email, browsed calendar, really nice, but the VERY NEXT MORNING suddenly tossed into OAuth2-is-missing, step through the 'wizard' and it always ends with the same heartache, are you trying sign in? and then…
Mail authentication (shown) gives a URL to a page, Make sure you trust Gnome (4 perms already granted, Google console agrees) but in Firefox that URL asks to confirm and then reverts to google.com. In the minibrowser, it gets to "Requesting access token, please wait"
And wait you do.
How is this even POSSIBLE? What could cause it to (a) drop an OAuth2 overnight that had been in use for a day and (b) subsequently give a URL that does not result in an access token. I removed permissions on the Google side, but same results. Reinstalled Evolution, no change
yes, I checked gitlab.gnome.org
@datascience@genomic.social2025-11-01 11:00:01
Primer to get you started with Optimization and Mathematical Programming in R #rstats
@outer@mas.to2025-12-02 04:05:12
@scott@carfree.city2025-11-29 06:16:39
"You scored 9 out of 10. Nicely done! Your knowledge is impressive. But there's still room to improve! Of everyone who has taken the quiz, 6 percent had more correct answers, and 91 percent had fewer correct answers."
Got a lucky guess on one.
https://missionl…
@NFL@darktundra.xyz2025-11-04 11:31:36
Arizona's big win (and even bigger decision), plus Giannis' buzzer-beater https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6775579/2025/11/04/nfl-cowboys-cardinals-the-pulse/
@tiotasram@kolektiva.social2025-10-02 10:22:21
Day 8 (a bit late): Timnit Gebru
Academic authors are authors too, and there are a bunch of people I deeply respect both in my fields and adjacent.
Gebru is someone I have huge respect for because she stood up for her (mild, completely reasonable) principles to the point of losing her job on Google's AI ethics team (since disbanded entirely), and then went ahead and founded an independent research institute to continue doing AI ethics research.
Why was she fired? Because she insisted on publishing her "Stochastic Parrots" paper after it passed Google internal review only to have extra nonstandard scrutiny applied at the last minute. Why did Google want to suppress her paper (which included an academic co-author)? Because it expressed valid criticisms of the large language models fad, and Google was planning to make money off that fad. Personally, I don't think I'd hire an "AI ethics" team only to then try to suppress their publications, and Google seems to now agree, having scrapped the team (during the initial furor, Timnit's boss also effectively quit to support her).
That "Stochastic Parrots" paper? Indeed, it predicts the core underlying problems with large language models that lead to so many of their user-side harms today. You can read it here: #20AuthorsNoMen
@ErikJonker@mastodon.social2025-11-24 18:32:07
"Nicolas Guillou, French ICC judge sanctioned by the US: 'You are effectively blacklisted by much of the world's banking system'"
https://www.lemonde.fr…
@david_colquhoun@mstdn.social2025-09-30 16:46:19
@aral@mastodon.ar.al2025-10-28 15:25:36
Hi everyone,
Due to a combination of Internet issues and personal issues we were only able to hold a verification call with one person from Gaza today.
Please give Lubna (@…), who is a mother of three and an engineer, a warm welcome to Mastodon and the fediverse (and please follow her, donate to her fundraiser if you can, and share this so others mi…
@CubitOom@social.linux.pizza2025-12-04 00:50:21
We Have Rights When Documenting ICE Arrests
https://www.wehaverights.us/
ICE arrests and deportations are on the rise in the U.S., and it is your right to film an interaction as long as you don’t interfere — here are some best practices if you are a witness.
@nelson@tech.lgbt2025-11-04 01:38:08
Toilet model names are something else. What would you rather shit into?
A Kohler "Memoirs Stately"? Perhaps you are daring enough for an "Intrepid"?
If you want something more personified, Toto offers "Guinevere" or "Carolina".
@theodric@social.linux.pizza2025-11-05 12:40:19
Governments need to ban teleoperation of robots and vehicles from abroad. The alternative is seeing all physical/meatspace jobs in your country outsourced to somewhere without rights for $10/day. "Oh but people will still have to fix the robots locally" -> you are a tool of the corporate interests and an enemy of the proletariat, please self-deport into the sun.
@grifferz@social.bitfolk.com2025-12-05 20:22:33
I had my eyes injected again this morning. This time it was so fast! Pre-consulation and injections done in 17 minutes. Then 20 minutes in the waiting room to check I didn't have an adverse reaction.
Sometimes inexplicably it is a few hours of waiting around. Maybe because they have fallen behind as the day goes on. So, I like to try to get the very early appointments (they start at 8am).
Still, it was free of course. I understand these are around US$2k a time if you have to …
@brian_gettler@mas.to2025-11-28 00:23:58
If you have a Liberal MP, you might consider writing to or calling them to let them know this is insane (for any number of very good reasons - you pick). As an historian, I can tell you that the archives are full of angry letters to MPs, cabinet members, and PMs and that at certain times waves of correspondence moving in the same direction have changed policy.
You might consider demonstrating too. A similar observation applies.
@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.net2025-12-04 13:10:28
Series C, Episode 11 - Moloch
AVON: He liked to think so.
GROSE: [O.O.V.] And why did you come here?
AVON: I wish I knew. [Tarrant, Vila, Chesil, and Doran burst through the door.]
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/311/526 B7B3
@jswright61@ruby.social2025-10-01 08:19:50
@Techmeme@techhub.social2025-09-24 04:20:55
Huxe, an app built by three former NotebookLM developers that offers users personalized daily briefs and topic exploration with AI podcast hosts, raised $4.6M (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/23/former…
@migueldeicaza@mastodon.social2025-10-03 11:11:54
When you are an iOS user every day is Xmas!
@brichapman@mastodon.social2025-12-03 16:58:01
The fossil fuel era is ending faster than you think.
Startups like 247Solar are combining concentrating solar power with heat-storing batteries that deliver 24/7 electricity—even when the sun isn't shining. Their systems can slash carbon emissions by 95% and cut energy costs by 25% or more.
The best part? Businesses can upgrade with zero upfront costs through Energy-as-a-Service.
@ruth_mottram@fediscience.org2025-10-29 14:46:54
Not an overwhelming number of volunteers so far.. But you have until a bit later to vote. I'm wondering if I should set up an accountability sheet somewhere for #FediWriMo *
*/(other # are available)
https://fediscience.org/@Ruth_Mottram/115453932325005032
@hex@kolektiva.social2025-09-21 18:01:21
I think I need to clarify some shit for (white) liberals.
How many times have you wondered if someone you're talking to in an informant sent to entrap you? How many times have you or a friend of yours been hit by a car, intentionally? How many friends have been hit, or almost hit? Ever been stabbed? Know anyone who has? Has the FBI ever knocked on a friend's door? Have police ever kicked down your door? Have you ever been arrested? Pepper sprayed? Does the sound or smell or blast balls give you flashbacks? Do you ever wonder what all the CS exposure is doing to your body? How many times have you been shot or shot at? Do you wonder every day if this is the day they'll come to kill you? Would anyone in your social circle answer these questions differently?
When you vote, you risk nothing (big asterisk, but if I'm talking to you then it doesn't apply to you). What you get out of voting is exactly what you put into it. Direct action is the same.
If you aren't worried about someone murdering you, then you probably aren't actually threatening the system. That's the difference between voting, and doing something useful. If they had to murder all the liberals in order to keep going, fascism would end. If they're only murdering radicals and marginalized people, then you're just like all the "good Germans" who hated Hitler but did essentially nothing.
It's already that bad for some people. How much are you willing to risk? How many people are you willing to sacrifice for your comfort? These are the questions we're all thinking about every time you tell us to vote.
(I'm tagging this #USPol so it's easy for folks to filter out if they're already well acquaintaned with the horror. I'm not CW, because USPol is just expected to be triggering.)
@thomastraynor@social.linux.pizza2025-10-04 10:38:25
An app just ask permission to access my phone information. WTF? Why do you need that? My answer is NO.
Contact app, phone app are the two I allow that access, no one else needs that.
@davidaugust@mastodon.online2025-10-26 04:41:05
So the DC National Guard are an f-ing laughing stock of derelict traitorous fops. They couldn’t secure a lemonade stand and yet took and take the illegal order to deploy _against_ the American People.
11 f-ing shootings on the National Guard’s watch because the f-ing National Guard are not police and never should take a deployment to pretend to be.
You dishonorable scum. You will never live down the shame. Wastes of space.
@floheinstein@chaos.social2025-11-25 09:30:38
Today's the 2nd day I'm wearing my black-yellow Engelbert-Strauss e.s.motion 2020 to work - in an office.
It's also the 2nd day of people making derogatory comments like "Are you going to a construction site?" and "You can't go to a customer like this, they'll think you've come to fix your bath." and "At least noone will run you over, reflecting like that."
You already banned me from wearing my kilt in summer! They are comfort…
@mgorny@social.treehouse.systems2025-10-01 07:29:43
Honestly, #emoji and icons in #Unicode are a true horror.
Yeah, sure. It's great that you don't have to use <img/> anymore and you can just paste a random Unicode character. You can get graphics into fields where only text was originally intended (like bug summaries). Even better, you can now easily get cool colorful icons on terminal with almost no effort.
However, it is an #accessibility nightmare. People are now encoding *information* in random graphical symbols. Symbols that require huge fonts to render, or huge character tables to describe.
Yeah, a bare <img/> carrying information sucks. However, you can add a *meaningful* alt-text to the image, and accessibility tools can use that text to provide meaningful context. Like "bug fix".
However, emojis and icons are symbolic. The best you can get is some description like "hammer and wrench", so people can kinda figure out that it's probably a "bug fix". Or maybe it was a "maintenance task"? Or you'll get a "unknown character 0x1F6E0". And I'm sure people will surely enjoy cross-referencing a "legend" of such "unknown characters".
@sean@scoat.es2025-09-26 20:08:58
“Dear Customer,
We are writing to inform you of a recent cybersecurity incident at FCA Canada Inc. that may have involved your personal contact information. You may know us better through our brands, which include Jeep, Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, and Alfa Romeo.”
We, as a society, need to start making this stuff cost more than an awkward “Dear Customer” email. If you hold this kind data, you have a mandatory obligation to keep it safe, and if you do not, you should be liable for its e…
@midtsveen@social.linux.pizza2025-10-30 21:34:17
🏳️⚧️ Drop your PRIDE flags in the replies! 🏳️🌈
Mine are: :nonbinary_flag:, :genderfluid_flag:, :bisexual_pride:, 🏳️🌈 and 🏳️⚧️.
What about you? 🌈
#Trans #LGBTQ #NonBinary
@rberger@hachyderm.io2025-11-26 08:22:48
"As Joy-Ann Reid put it in an Instagram video: “Dear retailers who’ve decided you don’t like diversity, equity, and inclusion, or you really love ICE and you have no problem with them busting into your establishments to drag people away: Here’s the thing. We ain’t buying it. I mean, for real, for real, we ain’t buyin’ it.”
She explained: “We’re gonna spend our money with businesses who actually respect our dollars, respect our communities, and respect our diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are going to buy from people who respect immigrants, who respect immigrants’ rights, and respect freedom and liberty. We are going to buy from establishments that respect our right to vote and our right to live in a free society. And if you ain’t that, we ain’t buying it.”
“Let’s show them our power,” she told listeners. “Let’s show them what we can do together.”"
https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/november-25-2025
@Tuxramus@social.linux.pizza2025-12-03 03:31:16
Who says you can't teach an old MMO new tricks? 🧙♂️✨
Streaming Lord of the Rings Online tonight, powered by Bazzite. An immutable, atomic Linux desktop running a classic game? That’s the kind of stability Gondor wishes it had.
We are LIVE! 🔴 https://www.twitch.tv/tuxramus
@saraislet@infosec.exchange2025-11-27 19:39:07
Pro tip: if you're trying to portray someone as "empathetic towards the concerns of Jewish people" and not antisemitic, don't use the phrase "the larger Jewish question"
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/16/politics/mamdani-business-lead…
@cdarwin@c.im2025-11-29 03:43:11


Both Quikscript and Shavian were essentially the results of a design competition,
sponsored--posthumously--by playwright George Bernard Shaw,
who laid out the terms in his will.
Shaw wanted someone to create an ideal phonetic alphabet for English that trumped Pitman shorthand.
British designer Ronald Kingsley Read, a finalist in the 1960s competition, designed both Quikscript and Shavian, the latter being named in Shaw's honor
@yaya@jorts.horse2025-12-03 17:21:45
audio description rules because even though im completely sighted, sometimes my brain doesn't work right and I can't follow what's happening BUT ALSO it's great for if you wanna watch something but also close your eyes for a bit or try to fall asleep or your head hurts but you still wanna watch an episode of something. they're usually really well done, too
@hex@kolektiva.social2025-09-27 21:23:29
As anarchists, when we were organizing against Trump, in the lead up to and early in his last term, we recognized the potential for repression. Radicals have always been targeted, but now he's going after moderate liberals. This is going to keep escalating, so it would be a good idea for liberals to *listen to anarchists* since we've been doing this for years.
Anarchists have been kidnapped and held without charges for months at a tim (check out https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_grand_jury_resisters. Only for those folks, they were kidnapped and held without trial under Obama.) Radicals have been doing this for years. It's worth your time to listen so you know how to prepare.
We had a bail fund set up. Support your local bail fund and don't try to start your own (liberals in Seattle did that last time). We focused on basic survival for our members. When the regime cracks down it will be random (since they can't get everyone). How are you going to support folks? Bail funds are a nice first step, but the whole process can take a long time. People can (and often do) lose their jobs, even if they aren't convicted of anything. Are you going to make sure targeted people are able to pay rent and get food? Are you going to make sure families are taken care of when a parent is kidnapped?
Resistence is only a threat if it's sustainable, otherwise they can just overpower and wait. You have to be able to wait longer. Occupations are *extremely* expensive. If you can support each other through an occupation, you can win.
So what is your plan? How are you going to make sure that those who fight can keep fighting? The best time to think about that question was under Biden. The second best time is now.
@tiotasram@kolektiva.social2025-09-23 11:58:48
TL;DR: spending money to find the cause of autism is a eugenics project, and those resources could have been spent improving accommodations for Autistic people instead.
To preface this, I'm not Autistic but I'm neurodivergent with some overlap.
We need to be absolutely clear right now: the main purpose is *all* research into the causes of autism is eugenics: a cause is sought because non-autistic people want to *eliminate* autistic people via some kind of "cure." It should be obvious, but a "cured autistic person" who did not get a say in the decision to administer that "cure" has been subjected to non-consensual medical intervention at an extremely unethical level. Many autistic people have been exceptionally clear that they don't want to be "cured," including some people with "severe autism" such as people who are nonverbal.
When we think things like "but autism makes life so hard for some people," we're saying that the difficulties in their life are a result of their neurotype, rather than blaming the society that punished & devalues the behaviors that result from that neurotype at every turn. To the extent that an individual autistic person wants to modify their neurotype and/or otherwise use aids to modify themselves to reduce difficulties in their life, they should be free to pursue that. But we should always ask the question: "what if we changed their social or physical environment instead, so that they didn't have to change themselves?" The point is that difficulties are always the product of person x environment, and many of the difficulties we attribute to autism should instead be attributed to anti-autistic social & physical spaces, and resources spent trying to "find the cause of autism" would be *much* better spent trying to develop & promote better accommodations for autism. Or at least, that's the case if you care about the quality of life of autistic people and/or recognize their enormous contributions to society (e.g., Wikipedia could not exist in anything near its current form without autistic input). If instead you think of Autistic people as gross burdens that you'd rather be rid of, then it makes sense to investigate the causes of autism so that you can eventually find a "cure."
All of that to say: the best response to lies about the causes of autism is to ask "What is the end goal of identifying the cause?" instead of saying "That's not true, here's better info about the causes."
#autism #trump
P.S. yes, I do think about the plight of parents of autistic kids, particularly those that have huge struggles fitting into the expectations of our society. They've been put in a position where society constantly bullies and devalues their kid, and makes it mostly impossible for their kid to exist without constant parental support, which is a lot of work and which is unfair when your peers get the school system to do a massive amount of childcare. But in that situation, your kid is in an even worse position than you as the direct victim of all of that, and you have a choice: are you going to be their ally against the unfair world, or are you going to blame them and try to get them to confirm enough that you can let the school system take care of them, despite the immense pain that that will provoke? Please don't come crying for sympathy if you choose the later option (and yes, helping them be able to independently navigate society is a good thing for them, but there's a difference between helping them as their ally, at their pace, and trying to force them to conform to reduce the burden society has placed on you).
@aral@mastodon.ar.al2025-10-18 11:05:37
Dear USians,
How about you don’t call a Middle Eastern guy “white” and go on to tell him he’s “no better than any other oppressor we encounter” simply for trying to warn his Palestinian friends to not take any unnecessary risks and to be careful on Mastodon?
Also, apparently Divya has blocked me for this, which sucks because it has made it impossible for me to keep boosting her fundraiser, which you should, of course, still follow and support (link below).
I’m not going to …
@datascience@genomic.social2025-10-02 10:00:01
There are many situations were you need access to different R versions: rig is a way to manage them #rstats
@tante@tldr.nettime.org2025-10-31 09:50:42
"An LLM helped me with some task" is not a good argument for these things increasing productivity. Did you also factor in all the cases where it made you slower? Where the output created extra work? And how much of your work/activity is that task?
All bigger studies we know (even those done by Google for example) show a total lack of meaningful productivity gains, especially when looking at a whole organization.
(There are few exceptions: Spam generation might see prod…
@andres4ny@social.ridetrans.it2025-09-27 01:54:42
She's worked at a hospital for more than half a decade at this point. This has given her valuable insights.. 😂
![chat log
me: "actually, i'm wondering if my other dermatologist would respond over the weekend? probably not..."
Anna: "I guess now that [censored] you could also try to get in with an ID doc"
Anna: "they actually work hard"
Anna: "dermatology is what you specialize in if you want a comfy life"
Anna: "ID docs are germ nerds who dream of getting all the worms"
Anna: "pathologists are recluses, and family docs are masochists"
Anna: "and that's what I've learned about medicine!"](https://mastodon-usw-cache.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/115/273/766/029/601/443/original/115921679727f009.png)
@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.net2025-12-02 22:21:05
Series B, Episode 12 - The Keeper
SERVALAN: Really? And who do you imagine told him?
JENNA: The only person who knew: Lurgen.
SERVALAN: Lurgen was gone before we arrived.
JENNA: Was he? Are you sure.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/212/393 B7B6
@floheinstein@chaos.social2025-11-28 17:27:03
When people tell me "Why do you only listen to such old-fashioned music, your taste in music is hopelessly outdated!", I send them these 3 pictures
@david_colquhoun@mstdn.social2025-09-30 10:30:45
@theodric@social.linux.pizza2025-11-30 19:46:21
You can literally just not play the new versions of D&D if you don't like them. The old ones aren't going to stop receiving security updates and let dæmonic creatures from the Abyss crawl into your house through a netherportal in your morning room table if you dare open an unpatched book. It's fine. It's a game. This, too, is cons00merism. They have to keep changing it to sell more shit. Relax.
@yaya@jorts.horse2025-11-02 16:44:07
oh you've got an app with precise match updates for your team? yeah well
#fedifc #claptoncfc
@tiotasram@kolektiva.social2025-10-02 10:55:31
Day 9: Eniko Fox
Edit: added a store link for Kitsune Tails.
We're back to videogames, and with another author who's on the fediverse: @…
Fox has developed a few games, but the one that I've played and love is Kitsune Tails. It's a sapphic romance take on Super Mario Bros. 3, and (critically for a platformer) it's got very crisp controls and runs smoothly. I think one thing a lot of indie platforms devs struggle with is getting those fundamentals right, because on the technical side they require very challenging things like optimization of your code and extremely careful input handling that go beyond the basic skills necessary to put together a game. From following her on Twitter and now the Fediverse, it's clear that Fox is a deeply competent programmer, and her games reflect that. Beyond the fundamentals, Kitsune Tails has a very sweet plot with a very cool twist in the middle, and without spoilers, that twist made both the levels and gameplay very difficult to design, but Fox rose to that challenge and put together a wonderful game. Particularly past the plot twist (but in subtle ways before it) Fox is able to build beyond SMB3 mechanics in ways that gracefully complement the original, and the movement in the game ends up being difficult but extremely satisfying, with an excellent skill/speed response allowing for both slower, easier approaches that work for a range of players and high-skill extremely-fast options for those who want to push themselves.
There have been plenty of people I follow with indie game projects that are kinda meh in the end, and I'll still boost them without much comment if they're decent. Fox' work is actually amazing, which is why if you've followed me for a while you'll know I tend to mention it periodically, and which is why she makes this list of authors I respect.
You can buy Kitsune Tails here: #20AuthorsNoMen
@hex@kolektiva.social2025-10-30 10:05:59
The fracturing of the Dutch far-right, after Wilder's reminded everyone that bigots are bad at compromise, is definitely a relief. Dutch folks I've talked to definitely see D66 as progressive, <strike>so there's no question this is a hard turn to the left (even if it's not a total flip to the far-left)</strike> a lot of folks don't agree. I'm going to let the comments speak rather than editorialize myself..
While this is a useful example of how a democracy can be far more resilient to fascism than the US, that is, perhaps, not the most interesting thing about Dutch politics. The most interesting thing is something Dutch folks take for granted and never think of as such: there are two "governments."
The election was for the Tweede Kamer. This is a house of representatives. The Dutch use proportional representation, so people can (more or less) vote for the parties they actually want. Parties <strike>rarely</strike> never actually get a ruling majority, so they have to form coalition governments. This forces compromise, which is something Wilders was extremely bad at. He was actually responsible for collapsing the coalition his party put together, which triggered this election... and a massive loss of seats for his party.
Dutch folks do still vote strategically, since a larger party has an easier time building the governing coalition and the PM tends to come from the largest party. This will likely be D66, which is really good for the EU. D66 has a pretty radical plan to solve the housing crisis, and it will be really interesting to see if they can pull it off. But that's not the government I want to talk about right now.
In the Netherlands, failure to control water can destroy entire towns. A good chunk of the country is below sea level. Both floods and land reclamation have been critical parts of Dutch history. So in the 1200's or so, the Dutch realized that some things are too important to mix with normal politics.
You see, if there's an incompetent government that isn't able to actually *do* anything (see Dick Schoof and the PVV/VVD/NSC/BBB coalition) you don't want your dikes to collapse and poulders to flood. So the Dutch created a parallel "government" that exists only to manage water: waterschap or heemraadschap (roughly "Water Board" in English). These are regional bureaucracies that exist only to manage water. They exist completely outside the thing we usually talk about as a "government" but they have some of the same properties as a government. They can, for example, levy taxes. The central government contributes funds to them, but lacks authority over them. Water boards are democratically elected and can operate more-or-less independent of the central government.
Controlling water is a common problem, so water boards were created to fulfill the role of commons management. Meanwhile, so many other things in politics run into the very same "Tragedy of the Commons" problems. The right wing solution to commons management is to let corporations ruin everything. The left-state solution is to move everything into the government so it can be undermined and destroyed by the right. The Dutch solution to this specific problem has been to move commons management out of the domain of the central government into something else.
And when I say "government" here, I'm speaking more to the liberal definition of the term than to an anarchist definition. A democratically controlled authority that facilitates resource management lacks the capacity for coercive violence that anarchists define as "government." (Though I assume they might leverage police or something if folks refuse to pay their taxes, but I can't imagine anyone choosing not to.)
As the US federal government destroys the social fabric of the US, as Trump guts programs critical to people's survival, it might be worth thinking about this model. These authorities weren't created by any central authority, they evolved from the people. Nothing stops Americans from building similar institutions that are both democratic and outside of the authority of a government that could choose to defund and abolish them... nothing but the realization that yes, you actually can.
#USPol #NLPol
@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.net2025-12-02 16:16:00
Series D, Episode 01 - Rescue
TARRANT: Seven glasses.
SOOLIN: I'm sorry?
TARRANT: You've laid out seven glasses. One too many.
VILA: Not to worry. I'll drink the extra one.
DAYNA: You know if Cally had escaped with us, there wouldn't be an extra one.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/401/332
@cdarwin@c.im2025-10-31 18:52:32
Extrajudicial killings within the Russian military are becoming more widespread,
according to an investigation published by the Russian independent outlet Verstka.
The practice of "nullifying" (Russian: "obnulenie")
— the Russian military's term for executing its soldiers
— increasingly involves sending personnel on deadly assualt missions without proper protection
@grifferz@social.bitfolk.com2025-10-29 00:21:55
Wow, Snopes added an adblock detector which actually adwalls the content.
Sorry but web ads are far too intrusive/insecure and I don't think Snopes is worth the $3/month minimal subscription.
Guess I'll remove their RSS then
@migueldeicaza@mastodon.social2025-10-28 13:36:19
When you are an Android developer, you finally get a Xmas in October:
https://mastodon.social/@airspeedswift/115431245077158642
@aral@mastodon.ar.al2025-09-27 17:17:41
Hello all,
Well, this is an announcement I never wanted to make.
We discovered today that one of members, who, although he is from Gaza and a victim of genocide, has nevertheless not represented his current situation honestly. And I have had the terrible task of removing them and one of our new members, a friend of his, from Gaza Verified.
Now, before I tell you what happened, I want to stress this:
I am not saying they are not from Gaza or have not suffered from this…
@mgorny@social.treehouse.systems2025-09-28 15:35:32
As you know, an important part of every nature education trail is a sudden "no entry" sign past the second kilometre.
Yes, you're guessing right — a damaged bridge ahead. By "damaged", I mean a few minor boards are broken, not that it makes any difficulty in crossing it.
#Nowogard, Western Pomerania, #Poland.
#hiking
@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.net2025-10-02 15:15:12
Series B, Episode 11 - Gambit
AVON: - and I was assuring him that the whole idea is an absurd fantasy.
ORAC: On the contrary. It is neither absurd, nor is it a fantasy.
AVON: Are you suggesting that you know more about the subject than I do?
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/211/115 …
@aral@mastodon.ar.al2025-09-23 10:27:27
To fediverse admins:
If you see an attempt to create a copy of a Gaza Verified member’s account on your server, without having heard from me first, please suspend it and get in touch with me if you can.
I have asked the Gaza Verified members not to migrate their accounts without telling me first so I can reach out to one of our friendly server admins (…
@cdarwin@c.im2025-11-28 23:58:05
South Carolina already ranks 8th nationally in highest maternal mortality rate,
and MAGA extremists are vying to become #1.
Now, for the third time since 2023, MAGA Republicans in South Carolina have introduced
S 323, also known as
The Unborn Child Protection Act.
South Carolina Senate Bill 323 is one of the most extreme pieces of legislation we’ve seen.
It proposes changing the legal definition of the word “person” to include an unborn fetus.
Th…
@cdarwin@c.im2025-11-29 03:13:08
Self-hosting is becoming popular among a certain kind of user,
-- say the typical readership of ItsFoss.
There is a simple explanation for this shift:
people want their data, dollars, and destiny back.
Centralized platforms optimized for engagement and extraction are colliding with real-world needs
— privacy, compliance, predictability, and craft.
Linux, containers, and a flood of polished open-source apps have turned what used to be an enthusiast’s pro…
@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.net2025-11-28 19:26:52
Series A, Episode 02 - Space Fall
VILA: Nervous? I'm not nervous. Just... poised for action, that's all.
AVON: You've got an army of five, Blake. Five and HIM! Do you still think you can take over the ship?
BLAKE: If you do your bit.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/102/229<…
@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.net2025-09-30 18:49:06
Series C, Episode 01 - Aftermath
TROOPER 1: Yeah, but was it one of ours?
TROOPER 2: Couldn't tell.
TROOPER 1: I'd be very careful if I were you, sir. There could be some alien survivors down.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/301/52 B7B5
@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.net2025-12-02 10:10:50
Series C, Episode 02 - Powerplay
DAYNA: No, Avon!
KLEGG: Very neat. I don't think I'd like you as a friend, Avon.
AVON: Let's get it over with. [shot]
AVON: Tarrant! I've got them Tarrant! [Tarrant enters and is captured.]
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/302/506
