I've received quite a few questions about the use of AI in and around #littleFedi.

So, after discussing it within the team, we've decided to update the FAQ and make our position clear.

It probably won't come as much of a surprise to those who already know me and the projects I work on. But littleFedi is reaching people who don't know me, or us, and I think it's fair to explain where we stand rather than assume they already know.

The short version: littleFedi doesn't use AI. No ranking models, no recommendation engines, no language models deciding what you see.

The longer answer, including how I approach LLMs and code contributions, is now in the FAQ:

https://littlefedi.org/faq.html

think i might be stroking out…

My wife tried to make a healthy brownie recipe she saw on Instagram and was disgusted by the result. (It tasted like... protein powder. Also wth is sugar-free maple syrup?)

Then we had a long conversation about how the information on social media is useless. ("But it looked so tasty in the video!") And how hard it is to google anything these days. We have more information than ever but most of it is shit, so finding anything useful is harder 🙃

Just another periodic squirt of gratitude for all you lovely alt text writers. As a Blind person you send me slices of the world I'd never otherwise have, insects, mushrooms, birds, cats, graffiti, landscapes, glimpses into your homes or your art, and not because you have to or are paid to, just cause you choose to. You are the resistance.

'Bourdain’s myth – the bit that was neither rooted in reality, nor prefigurable by force of will – was that the quintessential chef’s life could just proceed without consequence'

Zoe Williams on Bourdain

'Bourdain’s writing was so vivid, his character so magnetic, his joie de vivre so complicatedly credible and so contagious, that he built the world in the act of describing it'

#gastronomy #bookstodon #food

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/aug/11/the-myth-of-anthony-bourdain-how-the-bad-boy-chef-became-a-hero-to-boozehounds-and-bullies

Cowboy Junkies Tiny Desk 2012(?)

#cowboyJunkies #music #tinyDeskConcert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1URQ0_9-Zyw&list=RD1URQ0_9-Zyw&start_radio=1

'His memo led to the successful effort to place corporate-friendly academics and economists in universities and on the airwaves, as well as drive out those in the public sphere who questioned the rise of unchecked corporate power and deregulation. It saw the establishment of organizations to monitor and pressure the media to report favorably on issues that furthered corporate interests...legal organizations to promote corporate interests in the courts and appointment of sympathetic judges to the bench'

RE: https://aus.social/@oscarjiminy/117074565921746812

'Powell called for the establishment of lavishly funded think tanks and conservative institutes to churn out ideological tracts that attacked government regulation and environmental protection'

#polycrisis #climateCrisis #socialDemocracy #strategy

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/how-the-corporations-broke-ralph-nader-and-america-too/

Maestro (2003) a feature documentary, tells the story of how #Queer people found refuge and a call for life outside the mainstream. What evolved was a scene that set the ground work for what was to come in #DanceMusic culture worldwide.
A film 4 years in the making, Maestro gives rare insight into the underground world as it was.
https://www.youtube.com/live/8ApuznGVRJQ #HouseMusic #LGBTQ #documentary #LarryLevan #FrankieKnuckles

'The Federalist Society became central to this effort. Founded in 1982 by law students at Yale and the University of Chicago, it grew into a powerful network for legal positions nationwide. Today, six of nine Supreme Court justices have Federalist Society connections...Business schools began emphasizing Milton Friedman's theories, while foundations sponsored programs embedding libertarian economics into curricula. The goal was to make free-market ideology seem natural and inevitable rather than politically constructed'

'The conservative movement's success stemmed from its understanding that sustainable change required more than policy victories—it demanded cultural and intellectual transformation. The movement invested heavily in "talent pipelines," identifying and training ideologically aligned individuals for key positions'

RE: https://aus.social/@oscarjiminy/117074308893858305

'Recognizing the power of narrative, Powell called for expanding conservative editorial presence and creating alternative media ecosystems. This presaged the development of conservative talk radio, Fox News, and today's right-wing media infrastructure'

'advocated creating legal organizations to challenge regulations and promote business-friendly constitutional interpretations

'emphasized the need for "united action and national organizations" to coordinate corporate political power'

'Within two years of the memo's circulation, conservatives had founded the Heritage Foundation in 1973, explicitly created to turn Powell's ideas into policy'

'The Cato Institute followed in 1977, creating a network of think tanks dedicated to free-market ideology. These organizations shared a common DNA traced back to Powell's strategic framework—they understood that winning required not just electoral victories but intellectual and institutional dominance'

#strategy #socialDemocracy #revolutionaryLeft

RE: https://aus.social/@oscarjiminy/117068906942521085

I had a conversation with an academic on here recently where I expressed a desire to indict post-modernism which rambled into a difference of opinion on the cultural/social impact of PM theory/thought

There's a section on media strategy from the link below on the Powell memo that crystallises a key aspect of why I think it such a corrosive development – Powell recognised the power of narrative and sought to establish a generative structural account that could re engineer the logics of social and cultural institutions, to reorient public expectations of one another and our systems and structures

I reckon it fair to argue, for example, that the widespread abandonment of coherent narratives of collective struggle and solidarity devastated the left broadly and that this problem persists today. I think we can acknowledge the inherent limitations of grand narratives without them necessarily being disqualifying.

#revolutionaryLeft #strategy #socialDemocracy

'The comparatively small footprint of subsea cable transmission may allow content delivery networks to be more strategic and sustainable...While latency and data sovereignty needs mean that this solution will not hold everywhere, there are still many instances where considerable sustainability gains follow from decoupling geography from infrastructural demand'

RE: https://scholar.social/@Aepasek/117071328036683992

'our central finding is that the climate impact of subsea data transmission is significantly lower than previously assumed, which can help recalibrate how ICT-sector emissions are calculated as global network traffic accelerates. Subsea cables contrast sharply with mobile- and satellite-based systems, whose emissions are substantially higher'

#polycrisis #carbonEmissions #technology #communicationsInfrastructure #infrastructure

The indecently wealthy owner of a local crunchy grocery store chain (think: Whole Foods for the Northeast but with way more attitude; store name is Healthy Living, known less affectionately as Wealthy Living by the locals) is now a union buster, in addition to shoving an artificial turf project down a local high school community's throat because by god he is writing the check so to hell with the expert science testimony presented to the school board.

While I dislike Healthy Living, particularly for the way they treat their employees and fawn over their wealthiest customers, they sometimes are the only local purveyor of certain specialty items.

On a rare trip there the other day, I got chatted up by an employee with a clipboard, who was standing outside in the parking lot. As you can guess, the employees had overwhelmingly voted to create a union, and "management" is opposing it. Would I sign his petition.

"Sweetie, if I could sign it ten times, I would. Give me that thing."

Afterward, I brought him a cup of coffee from the in-house cafe.

Be real special if y'all felt moved to sign their petition.

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/support-healthy-living-workers-fight-for-a-fair-contract

#Vermont

New pub! It took us 4 years but we've figured out the carbon emissions associated with all the various bits that make up a transoceanic subsea telecom cable!
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344926003332

WIN: Palestine protester found not guilty of criminal damage
Paula Akpan should never have been hit with a harsh charge for direct action opposing Israel’s genocide – two years later the court has cleared her name -Good Law Project https://goodlawproject.org/win-palestine-protester-found-not-guilty-of-criminal-damage/