Mastodon Feed: Posts

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
ben@werd.social ("Ben Werdmuller") wrote:

"I propose we promote a simple rule for these uncertain times: Those who saw the danger coming should be listened to, those who dismissed us should be dismissed." #Democracy https://werd.io/2025/trump-alarmists-were-right-we-should-say-so

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

The truth hurts.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/24/social-media-is-trying-to-make-me-cry/

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Let me just mention that I’m not asking for advice about how to block, report, use blocklists, or whatever. Nor am I attacking Mastodon or federation or emacs or Linux or anything else that you feel obligated to defend. I’m just noting a recent phenomenon that I observed in my mentions.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

@ai6yr At least these are easy to spot and block. But I assume that for every easy to spot idiot troll, there are five or ten others that are better at blending in or seeming “reasonable”.

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

Burnout: the weeping, screaming, slow-torture killer.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/24/its-a-race-to-the-end/

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

@mark Yes, I am aware of how Mastodon works. I am just reporting my recent personal experience and observations. I am not condemning the concept of federation, or asking anyone to defend it.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Starting to see an uptick in overtly racist, fascist trolls (using the n-word, calling for genocide, etc) in my mentions. Mostly from instances I’ve never heard of, but some from mainstream places.

Blocking and reporting as usual, of course, but the increased volume seems to be a recent phenomenon.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

I use the National Academies report as the main text for my election integrity and technology course. It's a really good, highly accessible overview. Definitely recommended.

Finally, if you're at DefCon in August, stop by the Voting Village.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

- My top suggestion: Become an election day poll worker! It's an important service and you'll learn a ton!

- This National Academies report is the best overall summary of election security which I'm aware, and despite being published in 2018 is still current: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25120/securing-the-vote-protecting-american-democracy

- Here's a paper outlining the technical issues and solutions: https://georgetownlawtechreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/4.2-p505-522-Blaze.pdf

- I gave a talk at Columbia last year on the state of election security: https://www.cs.columbia.edu/distinguished-lectures/2024-Fall/Matt%5FBlaze.mp4

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Election security is back in the news, and it's easy to be taken in by confident but specious claims of "hacked elections". There *are* technical vulnerabilities in US election infrastructure, but fortunately so far there's no credible evidence they've been exploited to alter an election outcome. I know that's frustrating, but it's the reality we live in.

Want to learn more? Read on.

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
robb@social.lol ("Robb Knight") wrote:

Blocking AI bots (https://rknight.me/blog/blocking-bots-with-nginx/) might be a bit harder than adding llms.txt (https://llmstxt.org) but it's way more satisifying.

As if I'm going to put effort into helping LLMs understand my work without compensation. Fuck you, pay me.

∞ https://rknight.me/notes/202504241319/

chipotle@mstdn.social ("Watts Martin") wrote:

Vibe check: how do people feel about Apple News+ now? Worth a subscription?

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

This capture made extensive use of view camera tilt movements. The depth of field is quite shallow here, so the lens was tilted forward to keep the stems and leaves in focus from the front to the back.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Captured with a Sinar P camera. a 240mm/5.6 APO Symmar lens, and a BetterLight scanning digital back.

This is a minimalist studio still life, so it's all about lighting and geometry.

Illuminated by a single hard light placed at the left of the frame, yielding well defined shadows. The background was a white sweep table, creating the illusion of an infinite background. The fruit looks evenly spaced, but actually the rear one had to be much farther back than the center one to create that effect.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Three Persimmons, 2008.

Too many pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/2207576183

#photography

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

@Heinzenstein I would injure my spine if I bent over that far backwards to give them that much benefit of the doubt. From the article I linked to:

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

Common mistake: my flavor isn't bitter, it's my personality.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/24/what-do-you-think-i-am-vernonia-amygdalina/

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

Ihre Papiere, bitte.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/24/that-isnt-ominous-at-all/

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
broadwaybabyto@zeroes.ca ("Broadwaybabyto") wrote:

Disability is not a moral failing. It’s not a punishment. It’s not karma.

It’s part of the human experience. Our bodies are frail, and given enough time most people will experience disability.

The idea that we’re lazy, choosing not to “try hard” or want to be sick is a fallacy born out of ableism.

#ableism #eugenics #disability #chronicillness #disabilityrights

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

who needs these agencies like FEMA anyway?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/sarah-sanders-arkansas-storms-b2738058.html

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
lapcatsoftware ("Jeff Johnson") wrote:

Employers: Everyone must return to the office, because we work best when people collaborate face-to-face.

Also: We're going to replace everyone with A.I.

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold"):
stephaniewalter@front-end.social ("Stef Walter") wrote:

Do people starting an email with "Hey Stéphanie Walter" really expect me to reply?
2025 and you still can't encode my name properly? Why should I even bother?
So, here we go again: hello my name is St�phanie – a talk on “special characters”, inclusive design and user experience
https://stephaniewalter.design/blog/hello-my-name-is-stephanie-talk-encoding-special-characters-issues-poor-user-experience/
https://stephaniewalter.design/blog/hello-my-name-is-stephanie-talk-encoding-special-characters-issues-poor-user-experience/

isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:") wrote:

So this year you can watch the #snooker world championship on wst.tv (from US). Very happy to catch the opportunity this time after having to use some shady services before.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

@tankdigital @whybird @BlueDot

I don't know. I've never thought about any of this stuff before.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

If you (somehow) need more evidence that the anti-DEI stuff is just plain naked racism, look no further this latest set of executive orders, in which schools NOT punishing minority students more severely than white kids is now considered a form of "discrimination".

https://apnews.com/article/trump-executive-orders-education-9fb7e1f707f0df93e3b28d4eff984d04

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

@petergleick I am proud that every university with which I've been affiliated, as either a student or as faculty, has signed this.

At this point, one must wonder about the priorities of those that haven't.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
petergleick@fediscience.org ("Peter Gleick") wrote:

Now up to 363 university/academic signers -- more than 60 added in the last few hours.
Still silence from Dartmouth, Stanford, and the entire state of Texas.

"We must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses."

https://www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-call-for-constructive-engagement

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
Teri_Kanefield ("Teri Kanefield") wrote:

I just realized that it's April 23.

That means it's the anniversary of the Farmville, Virginia Motion High School student strike.

What? You don't know about that?

Well, in 1951, Barbara Johns was fed up with the deplorable conditions in her segregated school, so she organized a strike. She was inspired by labor strikes.

After she and her classmates turned the rural town of Farmville upside down, she called in the NAACP.

1/

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

@whybird @BlueDot So, you want to tell the people of the United States that they should switch their system of government so that they can have simpler ballots when they vote once a year.

Have fun with that.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

@whybird @BlueDot You might be tempted to say, "Well, just have fewer things on the ballot" Which is basically saying, "Just completely change how federal, state, and local government is organized".

Maybe it's not so simple after all.