@aredridel@kolektiva.socialBeing willing to go off-script is so powerful in transforming everyday social annoyances. So many of them are the low-energy state of it could be better, but someone would have to put energy in. And it's exhausting to always be the person who does. But spending that little bit of energy can yield such nice outcomes and that leaves us all with a little more cope instead of less.
@stefan@gardenstate.social
@fanf@mendeddrum.orghmm i have an umbrella with twice as many spokes as usual
i could rebrand it as a “microtonal” umbrella
i suppose it would be better if it had 14 (instead of 16) spokes and polka dots (instead of plain black)
@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialJust finished "A Psalm for the Wild-Built" by Becky Chambers. Overall it's good but I also have some Thoughts.
First, it was very pleasant to finally read some non-trite utopian solarpunk after having read stuff like Octavia Butler recently. Both hope and despair can be poisonous on their own IMO, so getting some balance in is nice. It's definitely a very valuable thing to be able to lay out an actually desirable and in many ways imaginable future given our grim present. Chambers is no LeGuin though. I'll probably be reading more of her work and maybe she fleshes out these ideas elsewhere, but at least in this book there is no focus on either how the transition to a better society could happen nor on how the better society holds up in the face of adverse events and inclinations. Compare LeGuin's "The Dispossessed" or N. K. Jemisin's short story "The Ones Who Stay and Fight" and it feels like there's something important missing from Chambers' portrait of a future society. Of course, maybe the point is to make a cozy book, in which case fine, there's certainly a place for such things, and I can look for deeper inspiration elsewhere.
The second big thought I had was that Chambers' worldview seems not well-informed by certain indigenous perspectives, and this creates some contradictions. For example, (minor spoilers) when Dex enters the wilderness there's a whole bit about understanding humankind's place in nature and how human settlements are what we're used to but they're only a brief interruption of the vast untouched wilderness. Along the same lines, much of the world is intentionally left untouched by humans as a way to keep it pristine and natural. Later however, a character makes the point that humans *are* animals. The indigenous perspective that I appreciate would agree with that, and would further question the value in distinguishing between human influence on ecosystems and influences that others have. More sharply, one might observe that there's a bigger difference between how different kinds of humans relate to and influence their environments than between how less-disruptive humans and various animals do the same: the strip-mine-operator vs. migrant tribesperson impact difference is probably much greater than the migrant tribesperson vs. beaver gap, for example. Rather than talking about limiting human disruption, then, as if all human-environment interactions are disruptive and must be minimized, we could/should be talking about how to create human societies that have beneficial relationships with their environments and acknowledging that we actually have many positive examples of that, both historical and contemporary. Chambers' utopia is a "humans dominate nature but restrain themselves so that their disruptions are minimal and thus nature can thrive" vision, but what I'd even more like to see would be a "humans study old ways and make new ones so that they can interact positively with ecosystems again" vision, including some of "here are the places that sometimes breaks down but also the patterns and institutions that ensure repair of those breakdowns and thus long-term sustainability."
Final big thought: Chambers' utopia is too homogenous for my tastes. Of course it's hard enough and valuable work dreaming up and sharing any utopia and Chambers' transcends triteness in a number of ways, so this criticism is a bit rude. But the single shared religion, lack of mention of conflicts around shared decisions, especially historical society-defining ones, and nagging questions like "what about the people indigenous to the now-uninhabited lands?" and "what about the indigenous peoples who weren't part of the factory-building societies?" leave me wishing for more nuance in this direction.
All in all: a good book, and I'm criticizing out of a place of appreciation, not scorn. I've got there sequel out from the library as well and will probably detour to a few other books but get to it pretty soon.
Sadly I don't remember who, but I got this one because of a recommendation on here, so thanks if you're someone who recommended it!
#AmReading #ReadingNow #Bookstodon
@NFL@darktundra.xyzThe 2026 NFL Draft is over -- but the 2027 class might be even better: 32 future stars to know
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/2027-nfl-draft-prospects-32-futu…
@mikeymikey@hachyderm.ioI know that following a hashtag is part of the Mastodon protocol itself, but since I'm in @… the majority of the time - it feels like it would be cool to:
- Offer a "follow for a week" / month option
- "We'll ask you when time's up"
mechanism (maybe the ask part is configurable? maybe the client could also just handle it when next it runs?)
I hit this time and time again for moment in time events where during the thick of it, I'm invested and interested - conferences, world news, etc - but after which there's no more signal in the hashtag and it's just detritus putting load on a server somewhere.
Ideally this is something that should be in the protocol itself, but it feels like similar to quote replies that @… could bring a better user experience in advance of adoption of something like that
@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialAre you in tech and outraged about generative AI? Is it being forced down your throat at work?
Here's a nice vindictive way to get a little revenge if you want:
1. Find a project that contains slop code.
2. Optionally, identify specific files or functions that are LLM-generated. I guarantee you that on average, this code has not been adequately tested/inspected, even/especially if it contains LLM-generated test cases.
3. Make up a reason the code could be flawed, bonus points if it's subtle or hard to test. Don't put effort into this or try to actually find a flaw. Just make something up at random.
4. Report your made-up defect as a bug.
That's it. If anyone ever questions you on the incorrect report, just say "oh I used an LLM and it said there was a bug so I reported it." (Don't actually use an LLM, that would be feeding the bubble.)
Note that you are showing the creator of the code the exact same amount of disrespect that they've shown you by publishing slopcode in the first place. I'd bet odds are 50:50 or better that if a human actually follows up on the report, even though they'll find out that the bug report is wrong, they'll find and fix some other subtle flaw in the LLM-generated code, so this is actually helpful in a way.
For step 3, try to get creative. Like "logic in decideUVParameters can cause state to be inconsistent in some cases." If asked for a steps to reproduce, either make one up if it's easy to do so, or say "I forgot how I triggered this." Surely they can ask an LLM to figure out conditions that would trigger the bug ;).
#AI #LLMs #GenAI
@wraithe@mastodon.social
@cdarwin@c.imThere are three big takeaways that I think still apply.
First, recognize that people want change and are looking for candidates who will upend a political and economic system that they see as broken and corrupt.
Second, be willing to build the broadest coalition possible and work hard to persuade people who may disagree with you on some issues that we Democrats hold pretty sacred.
Finally, run on a message of hope and unity. The American people are better than our politi…
@PwnieFan@infosec.exchangeLast year I bought stateofourunion.com and I've been experimenting with making political news digestible. For the inaugural issue of "State of Our Union", I summarized 40 articles down to a 5-minute read. Also added pictures. Here's a sample of what's in the newsletter. #nokings (Could AI have done a better job for this art? Maybe. But then I wouldn’t be learning AND I’m…
@Dragofix@veganism.socialScientists uncover surprising health benefits of watermelon #plantbased
@simon_brooke@mastodon.scot"A Plaid Cymru victory in May would be “a pretty revolutionary change” for Wales, she said, but the party would first have to prove it could govern better than Labour: since devolution began in 1999, NHS and education standards in Wales have dropped below the other UK nations, and poverty has deepened."
So #Plaid_Cymru have a pretty low bar to climb, it would seem. Less incompe…
@raiders@darktundra.xyzRaiders Get Brutally Honest Take Amid Fernando Mendoza Speculation https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/las-vegas-raiders/brutally-honest-take-fernando-mendoza-speculation/
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioTo be fair, the text is article is quoting could be a whole lot worse. It’s money to “support research activities to develop educational curricula, instructional material, teacher professional development, and evaluation methods.”
Developing materials is a •lot• better than having politicians just shoving a curricular mandate down educators’ throats — though “evaluation methods” likely means it’s heading that way, developing a test that teachers have to to teach to.
3/
@shriramk@mastodon.socialReally nice piece by Simon Hughes explaining how the IPL auction was created not just to be attention-getting (they really could have chosen a better name; the Bristol comment is on-the-nose) but to overcome a key weakness in "salary cap" methods.
https://cricverse.substack.com/p/money
@Techmeme@techhub.socialiPad Air (M4) review: powerful M4 chip, good multitasking with iPadOS 26, and robust hardware, but its screen could be better, no Face ID, and can get pricey (Nathan Ingraham/Engadget)
https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/ip
@karlauerbach@sfba.socialSo, Cheato wants to convert Alcatraz, an island in the San Francisco Bay, back to a operational Federal prison.
If you've ever been to Alcatraz you know how stupid an idea that is.
But I have a better idea - there is an island just east of West Palm Beach, Florida. It is an island, like Alcatraz, and it has some buildings that could easily be converted (or bulldozed) into prisons. For instance there's one called Mar the Lago.
@kurtsh@mastodon.socialWhat if vaccines could be made to protect against a family of viruses, like influenza or coronaviruses, rather than just individual members of them?
✅ Scientists are working on “everything vaccines”
https://www.economist.com/science-and-tech
@brichapman@mastodon.socialRenewable hydrogen could be a game-changer for industries that can't easily go electric.
UC Irvine researchers mapped out where it delivers the biggest wins: steelmaking, ocean shipping, and heavy trucking. The payoff? Cleaner air, better health, and real climate progress.
The challenge is cost and scale, but this framework helps decision-makers invest where it matters most.
@hacksilon@infosec.exchangeOh, another nice thing I just saw: iOS Live Activities are finally coming to #HomeAssistant!
Roadmap entry: https://github.com/OpenHomeFoundation/roadmap/issues/52 (pu…
@khalidabuhakmeh@mastodon.socialDon't tell home builders, but their entire industry is about to be upended. Construction workers better start finding jobs at your local coffee shops.
I found this place that sells hammers and nails, so that anyone could build a house, and I mean ANYONE! No one is safe from disruption. The future is really scary right now.
@cowboys@darktundra.xyz2026 Draft: Top safety's potential injury could drop him to Cowboys https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cowboys/2026/03/03/caleb-downs-knee-issue-cowboys-draft-combine/88960390007/
@raiders@darktundra.xyz
@andres4ny@social.ridetrans.itI couldn't care less about a bunch of rich people in Brooklyn, I just read the article for the delicious drama. However, about halfway through the article, I started to see so many #FreeSoftware parallels.
1) Volunteers spend countless unpaid hours creating/maintaining something to better their community.
2) For-profit business packages it up as part of their offering.
!["It wasn't an option for us to continue the status quo, which was, I guess, [Elite Minds teachers] had a key and would come and go as they pleased," he said. "For organizations, it's a separate process, and it's not something community gardens have to do, but we chose to do it. It's been an enormous amount of work to try to get the process put together." Stead told Hell Gate that Urban Meadow and GreenThumb have been trading a draft of the new policy back and forth, but that due to time constra…](https://mastodon-usw-cache.b-cdn.net/media_attachments/files/116/506/113/345/509/029/original/71aa9447307cd8f7.png)
@callunavulgaris@mastodon.scotWoohoo! I love this film but my one, fairly large, gripe, is that I can't stand Brenda, and for all the unlikely and outrageous things I was prepared to accept, I could never believe that he would be attracted to her. *I* would obviously have been a much better choice and had the advantage of being called Heather 😄
#Highlander
@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.caI have a problem with the House of Commons floor crossers, as I think most people do.
But I havent been able to come up with a more palatable alternative or at least a different scenario.
The biggest problem, for me, is the act of poaching. The trickle of MPs.
It gives the impression, falsely or not, that these people needed just a little more time, a little more convincing, a little more... ? to eventually turn on their constituent's choice of party.
What would be more pallatable? How about a group? Rather than a trickle.
People tallk, it is naïve to think it isn't known between individuals who may be thinking of leaving or switching parties.
So if there is more than one with that thought I think it would be better for our democracy if those MPs banded together and made their concerns known privately in their caucus first, then if nothing changes, they communicate to others including the public, and make it clear this is something that could happen en masse.
Then at least it takes away the transactional nature of it and frames it more as a democratic choice, informed by whatever situation is happening and done for the benefit of constituents and Canadians.
How does this change get made? Unfortunately that's the hard part. It would be hard or maybe inappropriate to "legislate".
It would need to be an expectation, a habit, a "norm".
It could happen. Though today, politicians following "norms" seems to be a little out of vogue.
#canPoli #cdnpoli #canada #democracy #houseofcommons
https://halifax.citynews.ca/video/2026/04/13/floor-crossing-raises-questions-on-canadian-voting-stability/
@sean@scoat.esReminder that the historic Artemis II (human fly-by of the moon) mission launch is scheduled ~7.5h from now (at 18:24 EDT, which I think is UTC-4). Always subject to changes and could even scrub (this is the first opening of the launch window).
Looks like it's on, as of right now.
I'll probably watch Everyday Astronaut's coverage which is usually pretty good for these things:
@wraithe@mastodon.socialSo against my better judgment, I actually responded to this. For a moment, I thought it might actually not be a lead into a scam, but the second I saw that “can you forgive me“ I’m like yah, 80% this is a scam lead in.
@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialIn the interests of starting a more productive dialogue than yesterday's main character was interested in, let's make a #brainstorm thread about design changes to ActivityPub and/or client UI that could actually help address drive-by (often racist) harassment on the fediverse.
Feel free to discuss pros/cons but don't feel an idea needs to be perfect to suggest it. Also since this is a brainstorm don't worry about complexity/implementation cost. If you have a great-but-hard-to-implement idea someone else may think of a way to simplify it.
Note that the underlying problem *is* a social one, do there won't be a technological fix! But tech changes can make social remedies easier/harder.
I've got some to start:
1. Have a "protected mode" that users can voluntarily turn on. Some servers might turn it on by default. In protected mode, users whose accounts are less than D days old and/or who have fewer than F followers can't reply to or DM you. F and D could have different values for same-sever vs. different-server accounts, and could be customized by each user. Obviously a dedicated harasser can get around this, but it ups the activation energy for block evasion and pile-ons a bit. Would be interesting to review moderation records to estimate how helpful this might or might not be. Could also have a setting to require "follows-from-my-server" although that might be too limiting on private servers. Restriction would be turned off for people you mention within that thread and could be set to unlimit anyone you've ever mentioned. Would this lock new users out of engagement entirely? If everyone had it on via a default, you'd have you post your own stuff until someone followed you (assuming F=1). One could add "R non-moderated replies" and/or "F favorites" options to soften things; those experiencing more harassment could set higher limits. When muting/blocking/reporting someone who replied to your post, protected mode could be suggested with settings that would have filtered the post you're reporting.
2. Enable some form of public moderation info to be displayed when both moderator and local server opt-in. Obviously each server would be able to ignore federated public tags. I'm imagining "banned from X server for R reason (optional link to evidence)" appearing on someone's profile & an icon on their PFP in each post viewed by someone on server Y *if* the mods of server X decide it's appropriate *and* server Y opts in to displaying such tags from server X specifically. Alliances of servers with similar moderation preferences could then have moderation action on one server result in clear warning propagation to others without the other mods needing to decide whether to also take action immediately. In some cases different moderation preferences would mean you wouldn't take action yourself but would keep the notice up for your users to consider. Obviously the "Scarlet Letter" vibe ain't great, but in some cases it's deserved, and when there's disagreement between servers about that, mods on server Y could either disable a specific tag or disable federation of mod tags from that server in general. Even better shared moderation tools are of course possible.
3. Different people/groups have different norms around boosting. Currently we only have a locked/public binary. Without any big protocol changes, adding a "prefers boosts/doesn't" setting which would warn in the UI before a viewer chooses to boost if the preference is "doesn't" could help. This could be set per-post, but could also have defaults and could have different values for same-server or not, or for particular servers. For example, I could say "default to prefer boosts from users on my server but not from users on other servers" or "default to prefer boosting on all servers except mastodon.social." Last option might be harder to implement I guess.
#ActivityPub #Meta #Harassment
@mgorny@social.treehouse.systems
@pre@boing.worldIn my ward the greens seem to have got about a third of the vote vs Labour with the rest. 2:1
Which is a big improvement. 300 or so neighbors to turn.
In the borough we've gone from unanimous Labor to about a third Green. Which is oddly proportional to my ward. Not really sure I understand the actual counting system with the three votes I had or if it's PR or not.
Nationally its awful for Labour but also worse for the country since outside London they lost mostly to the Reform (nee Brexit) party/private-company.
Conservatives seem irrelevant, even Lib Dems more important.
I've been casting doubt upon the idea of an imminent Reform government, saying it'd be unprecedented for Reform to go from one ever elected MP to 400 MPs in a single election. But these elections feel pretty close to that kind of swing.
Starmer says he'll stay on. He has no concept of what government should do other than give tax breaks to businesses to try to get economic growth, and crack down in authoritarian ways with increased surveillance and ID checks and prosecuting protestors.
He doesn't seem to realize that government can just do things, especially after Brexit. It can just pay people to build infrastructure owned by and giving profit to the state. It does not need private investment. Isn't that supposed to be the point of a Labour party?
So things will continue to get worse and Labour will continue to chase Reform policies (and so validate them). So Reform may well win.
There is one hope. Burnham could resign as mayor, a safe-seat MP could resign, and Burnham stands there. Assuming he wins he could then stand for leadership. And then if he wins and then actually does something despite the protest of the right wing of his own party, maybe things could get better.
That's a lot of conditionals. You'd want good odds to place a bet on that.
Or the greens of course. These elections have seen hundreds of new green councilors. The momentum is good. Probably take the council here next time unless that Burnham things happens.
So good for Greens, but better for Reform, and we could do with a Labour party which wasn't failing.
Oh well. Fingers crossed I guess. Few more years till the national ones.
#ukpol
@wraithe@mastodon.socialSo I was just watching a YouTube playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 by Nyxandchill and I’ve JUST realized what’s so galling about how bad the Male romanceable characters are:
Because JACKIE‽‽ he’s fucking awesome.
I have not YET see anyone play this game and not like Jackie. (RIP Choom)
And if they could write a character like Jackie, they could have written a better male character to be a possible romance. (Yes, yes, Takamura, it’s a crime he’s not) (1/2)
@raiders@darktundra.xyzRaiders Receive Clear Message Ahead of Looming QB Battle https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/las-vegas-raiders/clear-message-kirk-cousins-fernando-mendoza/
@losttourist@social.chatty.monsterWell that was better than it could have been. Maybe we should be grateful Scott Mills got the boot and forced the BBC to give us at least one decent 1999 episode.
Have a great weekend poppers! #TOTP
@pre@boing.worldYep, as expected, out of wallpaper before even attempted the doors at all. Gonna be next weekend before I can do much more really.
It is.... Not great. Wallpapering curved surfaces is tricky and I have no idea what I'm doing.
Might re-try some large chunks of what is done once there's spare to re-try with.
Will need cualk on all the joins which will be as time-consuming as the self-adhesive wallpaper in the first place.
Most of the remaining things could use the walls being finished first ideally. Maybe I could do the carpet tomorrow. If I accept the black instead of the red.
Might be better to have things dark in there so you can't see so well how terrible much of the wallpaper is.
#diy #vanLife
@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.caVery proud and excited to vote in the NDP leadership race today!!
This is not the first time I've voted in a Federal leadership race... more on that later but first, my choices! I considered only voting for two people, but I ended up filling in all 5 choices.
#1: Tanille Johnston @…
#2: Avi Lewis @…
#3: Heather McPherson
#4: Tony McQuail
#5: Rob Ashton
Why?
You might ask why I would publicize my choices. I don’t expect others to of course. It is a privilege and a right in Canada to exercise your democratic choice freely and privately, but I also think there is value in knowing how others voted.
#1 why Tanille? #electoralReform and proportional representation myself, I didn't just want to pick my top two. I wanted to make a statement on each of these candidates an influence each one.
To be blunt, Heather is #3 because she is the middle-of-the-road candidate. She is an excellent representative as MP and has gathered the support of other MPs including my own, but while I would be OK with her leadership, I would see her as a continuation of the status quo, and that is not what the NDP needs as a party, nor is it what Canada needs as a country.
We desperately need a vigorous and clear alternative to the Centre-but-mostly-Right Liberals, and the MAGA-wannabe Conservatives. The only way to do that is to catch the attention of Canadians and inspire them. I am not sure that Heather has the ability to do that, and if we continue with the same leadership crew in the NDP, I am not confident that the policy choices will be strong enough to inspire and attract Canadians.
That is why Tanille and Avi are far better options.
#4 Why Tony:
Tony is the real deal. Honestly, I would have loved to rank him higher. He represents the true life blood of rural, socially progressive, environmentally aware, Canadians. You should go check out his platform. I am so glad that he was able to participate fully in the race and we need his voice in the NDP.
#5 Why not Rob?
I have been an active member in my Union for more than 10 years. Unionism is The Way. Rob is representing a division within the union movement that claims that working people can't have jobs if the environment is put first. This is a lie.
We need union leaders that look to the future and speak honestly to people. We need union leaders who are genuinely progressive, not ready to do the bidding of corporate masters to the benefit of a few.
Working people need honesty, and when an industry is on decline, a clear path to new, excellent, union, jobs!
#CanPoli #CdnPoli #Liberal #CPC #Canada #Democracy #NDP
