Can someone lift me out of the federation hole we seem to be in?
I wanna find more people, go boost me outta here plsss.
Note: I am not new to the fediverse, This instance is just pretty young.
What's this bird? I'm going to say Ruby-throated Hummingbird, tho it is kind of late in the season for Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA. What do you think? That needle beak is pretty distinctive. Do you see anything to rule it out or in?
#birding #whatsthisbird #gimp
I'm playing a daily web game called krillion.io and it poses a handful of questions, one at a time, and you have to come up with a truly rare answer to score the most points. You get one question at a time, and only a short time to answer. Geography, literature, pop culture, etc. You can share your results without giving away the answers, so I'm now in a text-group where we all share our score. It's fun. It's like the opposite of the TV show "Family Feud."
SPOILER
If you read more, I'll give away the first question in today's game.
I could not, in the time allotted, come up with the title of a film released in 2026. That was it. I got zero points. I used to see movies every weekend-- sometimes two movies. Nowadays I don't see movie ads in TV (I skip ads, don't you?) and I don't get a newspaper delivered anymore either.
Important ahead of midterms to spread info about likelihood of Dem sweep, because Trump’s playbook includes lying about elections - and the plausibility of lies depends on people’s prior beliefs.
I just helped a young person use a land line. Way to make me feel like a dinosaur, kid!
Can anyone point me to a succinct summary of information about ebikes and scooters in Montgomery County, Maryland, particularly with regard to use on-roads, on sidewalks, on trails? Licensing and registration requirements, too? Would a bike shop be the best resource?
The county gov only has safety tips and I'm not qualified to dig into the statutes.
Tactical Error: I started Hank Green's sequel to "A Truly Remarkable Thing" at breakfast, and now I'm at work and can't read it and it's all I can think about. I didn't know it was a sequel until I opened it up. I'm looking forward to my lunch break! "A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor," by Hank Green. #bookstodon
If I can't use CTRL-f to search the on-screen text in your desktop program, then I hate you.
Economist Justin Wolfers explained: “Washington has discovered a brilliant financial strategy. Cut benefits for people who need them, cut taxes for people who don’t, and borrow the difference from people who aren’t old enough to vote.”
Is it too early to suggest a stocking stuffer?
I have been carrying my keys on a FREEkey ring for about 10 years now. It's a split-ring with a difference-- you can just squeeze it and it instantly opens the gap so you can easily slide keys in and out without risk of bending a fingernail or damaging your nail polish.
https://freekeyusa.com/products/freekey-system
A related gift idea-- go to a pet store and get an engraved pet tag-- just with the recipient's phone number on it. If they keep the tag on the keyring, finders of lost keys will have a number to call.
why do people call LLM training on public website data “AI Copyright Infringement” when “six finger discount” is right there
RE: https://mastodon.social/@AltTextHealthCheck/117467519925188493
Beige.party once again hits ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT #AltText coverage!
Now receiving AI spam in my volunteer orgs email account. That's swell.
I'm reading "Ironwood" by Michael Connelly. He's prolific, and has a whole stable of characters he's centered his LA novels upon: Bosch, The Lincoln Lawyer, Ballard, etc. At the end of chapter 9 in this novel, his Catalina Island cop, Stillwell, is told that his missing person case was connected to Ballard, and this made me grin. It was like running into a friend. #bookstodon
Bald Eagles perched on a cell tower in the Monday afternoon sun. #birding
the way to regulate AI would be to apply normal preexisting laws and standards to it so that, like, you have to pay people for using their artwork, or are liable when you publish dangerous or misleading or false information which causes harm, or have to abide by pollution regulations.
If the problem is AI-created, then we can use AI to fix it! Isn't this great?
Here's a Guardian op-ed that points out the folly of AI saving time. She doesn't mention computer programming but the parallels are obvious, I feel.
"Don’t be fooled. The AI that was supposed to save us time is doing just the opposite"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/oct/20/ai-supposed-to-save-time-opposite-government-uk?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
There's a dust-up over an AI ad from Bookshop.org. But they didn't use AI; Meta's ad platform automatically created an AI "variation" of the original, non-AI content.
I went to disable this crap in our Shiraki Press ad account, and got served a popup *demanding a reason why*.
Fuck Meta for this. Consent matters. We've just pulled all paid advertising from their platforms.
I'm not saying young blondes can't follow me, but with 0 posts, 31 followers, and following not one other account-- that's a Block, not a Follow Back.