The Trump regime's all-out war on fair elections -- spanning myriad tactic and agencies, often blatantly illegally -- should be a front-and-center preoccupation of every American journalism organization. At best we're getting episodic coverage. ProPublica gets it. https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-midterm-elections-takeover-takeaways
Getting tired (again) of every conversation ending up talking about “AI”. Got testy on my stream cuz someone said I was being “sensitive” about it, but it was more that I was just plain tired of talking about it. (and trying to steer the conversation to whether “AI” can be conscious did NOT help their case)
I need to start declaring “AI” as being verboten on at least some streams.
I appreciate the Mitch McConnell jokes, I do, but it appears that they’re trying to stretch this out until after an August 3rd deadline that would mean there wouldn’t be an election to fill his seat until after the midterms, which would be a pretty egregious subversion of democracy. And maybe we should be saying that a little louder.
Starting off just about as expected this morning on #DeutscheBahn... First train departed late and I will miss all of my other connections. 😩
most of the "working class" is women, POC & white men in feminized labor (gig work, care work)
PUT THESE PEOPLE IN OFFICE (if they have actual political skills and good ideas)
also: https://wandering.shop/@susankayequinn/116879364191990665
Forcing artificial scarcity concepts like proprietary licensing and DRM (Digital Restriction Management ;) on digital data feels counterintuitive. The reproduction costs are effectively zero. So bartering as a fundamental concept feels more natural. I feel there is a deeper concept of post-scarcity hiding here that we will soon uncover and accept as the better way. Yes, #AlwaysTheOptimist
2/2
ASF Maven 3.10.0-rc-1 is on vote! Next in line is ASF Maven 4.0.0-rc-6!
https://lists.apache.org/thread/7ns93p32rfd4077o3y7pnh28bt3blkpl
Dutch tax services have been ordered to put a migration to Microsoft M365 on hold and first look for alternatives.
(article in Dutch) https://tweakers.net/nieuws/249946/belastingdienst-pauzeert-microsoft-365-uitrol-tijdelijk-na-vernietigend-rapport.html
hey does anybody have a rec for a good employment lawyer based in the UK (Scotland in particular)?
got a friend in a bind out there, trying to help them out
✔️✔️
An excellent piece from Vogue about Meta's continuing attempt to make their "smart glasses" fashionable and cool that makes all of the right points about the ways in which normalizing ubiquitous surveillance creates a world we don't want to live in.
https://www.vogue.com/article/do-smart-glasses-have-a-surveillance-problem
Shel Silverstein poem published in 1981 …. Hmm does this remind you of anything topically relevant to today?
EU users are missing out on greater choice and flexibility in how they communicate and connect online because the European Commission decided earlier this year not to extend the Digital Markets Act’s interoperability mandate to social networking. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/07/european-commission-chooses-keep-eu-users-locked-behind-big-techs-gates
European digital ID wallets to be used to access services does the exact opposite of breaking the big tech monopoly and advancing European sovereignty.
"Users who want the autonomy to use operating systems without pre-installed Google software ... are forced to use Google software, if they want to use the wallet," says Danny Lämmerhirt, Senior researcher at Waag Futurelab.
If this isn't monopolisation, then what is?
Read more and learn what you can do:
https://waag.org/en/article/european-digital-id-wallets-are-gift-google-and-apple/
Fucking "app culture" drives me crazy. I got asked to install a mobile app just to look at the itinerary and accommodation information for a trip I'm going on.
Why isn't it just a web page?
So obviously I said "fuck that noise, hold my beer", reverse-engineered the app, and re-implemented it as a web page generator. It does all the same things as the "app" except now there's no tracking, no ads, and you get all the Web's features "for free" (deep links, copy-pasting, search-in-page, printing, works on anything, etc.).
Here's the full story:
🔗 https://danq.me/your-app-could-have-been-a-webpage
#appCulture #app #android #web #webPage #openStandards #reverseEngineering
#pastpuzzle en-510
🟩🟩🟩🟥 (+5)
🟩🟩🟩🟥 (+6)
🟩🟩🟩🟥 (+8)
🟩🟩🟩🟥 (+7)
x/4 🟥
https://www.pastpuzzle.com
🌟 PastPuzzle Supporter
"yeah, but that's the tiny install, what about that 20MW 100ha install you talked about?, that's bigger than your station carpark!!"
Yep. So let's use the local supermarket roof... And maybe their carpark... And some businesses... And some homes. Maybe the local school roof. That'll quickly add up. Simpler installs, no faffing in safety critical environments. No bonkers long cable runs. Power generated near to where its used.
It's just there's no VC funding for such sensibilities...
11/n
RE: https://mastodon.social/@GeePawHill/116888244114797579
well, times like this reveal who ever was an engineer and who only masqueraded as one.
Who sees his purpose in building the bridge and who only wants to have one.