Mastodon Feed: Posts

Boosted by jwz:
jef ("Jef Poskanzer") wrote:

#TACO

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

With a few exceptions (mostly towers atop downtown switching offices in populated areas), no one was trying to make any of this utilitarian communications infrastructure *beautiful*. It was form strictly following function, built to be reliable and rugged.

But there was, I think, quite a bit of beauty to find in it. I wonder if we'll look at our current neighborhood cellular towers, now often regarded as a visual blight, the same way decades after they're (inevitably) also gone.

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

The San Jose Oak Hill Tower is unique in a number of ways. This particular concrete brutalist design appears not to have been used anywhere else; it seems to have been site-specific. It sits atop an underground switching center (that was partly used for a military contract), which explains the relatively hardened design.

Today the underground switch is still there, owned by AT&T, but the tower space is leased to land mobile and cellular providers. The old horn antennas at top are disconnected.

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

For much of the 20th century, the backbone of the AT&T "Long Lines" long distance telephone network consisted primarily of terrestrial microwave links (rather than copper or fiber cables). Towers with distinctive KS-15676 "horn" antennas could be seen on hilltops and atop switching center buildings across the US; they were simply part of the American landscape.

Most of the relay towers were simple steel structures. This brutalist concrete platform in San Jose was, I believe, of a unique design.

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

Captured with the Rodenstock 50mm/4.0 HR Digaron-W lens (@ f/4.5) on a Cambo WRS-1600 camera (with about 15mm of vertical shift to preserve the geometry), the Phase One IQ4-150 back (@ ISO 50) in dual exposure mode (which preserves a couple stops of additional dynamic range into the shadows).

The tower's shape is irregular; it tapers slightly.

The wide angle and panoramic orientation give a bit of context, alone on a hill (which is being rapidly encroached by adjacent residential development).

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

AT&T Long Lines "Oak Hill" Tower, San Jose, CA, 2021.

All the pixels, none of the microwave energy, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/51261791084/

#photography

bcantrill ("Bryan Cantrill") wrote:

Over the weekend, I wrote about the surprising parallels between my son's experience as a college baseball player and my own experience raising venture capital:
https://bcantrill.dtrace.org/2025/06/15/college-baseball-venture-capital-and-the-long-maybe/

Today on Oxide and Friends, @ahl and I are going to be joined by software engineer, entrepreneur, and NCAA champion swimmer Robert Bogart to talk about the parallels between these two (very different!) worlds. Join us live, starting in just ten minutes:

https://discord.gg/QrcKGTTPrF?event=1384314510608957501

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
carloshr@lile.cl ("Carl O.S. ©") wrote:

@ChrisMayLA6 @Em0nM4stodon @pluralistic what you say is not accurate. Ads will be shown in status tab and also in channels, but not in your conversations, according to the information that was published.

https://www.theverge.com/news/687519/whatsapp-launch-advertising-status-updates

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
geekysteven@beige.party wrote:

"No society is more than three meals away from revolution"

Governments: so 2.5 missed meals is the sweet spot then

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
mondoweiss@social.mondoweiss.net ("Mondoweiss 🇵🇸") wrote:

After 23 years of service, I was fired from my position as a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, for being critical of Israel’s violence in Gaza and speaking out against the racism that leads to genocide.

https://mondoweiss.net/2025/06/uc-san-francisco-fired-me-for-speaking-out-against-genocide-but-as-a-physician-i-could-not-remain-silent/

#Palestine #Israel #Gaza
@palestine @israel

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
clive@saturation.social ("Clive Thompson") wrote:

I always find this chart by Hannah Ritchie -- of Our World In Data -- deeply informative of how disjointed is our sense of personal risk

https://x.com/%5FHannahRitchie/status/1133703638432526337

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
randahl ("Randahl Fink") wrote:

Listen up Mastodonians, because this is important:

Right now we have a unique chance to rise up and hit back against Zuckerberg and Musk. Because italian filmmaker @_elena and her friends have made an OUTSTANDING short film, which explains why people should quit the fascist social networks and come join us in the fediverse.

Hit the fascists where it hurts — make this go viral by watching it and liking it on YouTube, then hit the share button and share it everywhere!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRJHIJy5Nno

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
AltAfterDark@masto.thefword.club ("ALT After Dark") wrote:

Hey unsighted fedi-folx! When it comes to good alt-text...

Please select all that apply.

#Poll #Accessibility #AltText

Boosted by andreu@andreubotella.com ("Andreu Botella :verified_enby:"):
webhackfest@floss.social ("Web Engines Hackfest") wrote:

Andreu Botella & Luca Casonato talk about the new WinterTC and their plans related to standards for server-side runtimes @andreu @lcasdev https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elGNcCv57ZE

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
monnier@oldbytes.space ("Stefan Monnier") wrote:

@paulasimoes @molly0xfff @pluralistic @ansol Yes, before the digital copyright thingy, reverse-engineering and developing circumvention tools was definitely legal. "Reverse-engineering" just means to investigate how something works. It can be (and usually is) a necessary element to break some DRM locks, but not always, no, tho I guess you could call most other ways as forms of reverse-engineering. Also sometimes breaking DRM requires illegal acts (like going against an NDA or other contract).

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
acid@ohai.social wrote:

I just finished @pluralistic 's book "the lost cause" and I do love that it's the first catching book I know where the protagonists don't use violence to solve their problems. And I totally agree, the best way to fight the fascists (before they get into power) is by shifting the narrative. Thank you for that good book, man! 😄

Oh boy, now I have to go to bed, it's almost an hour past my bedtime 😅

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:

Maybe the real decentralization was the friends we made along the way

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻") wrote:

The punishment for virality is always the comments lol

From: @randahl
https://mastodon.social/@randahl/114693490280132879

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
cory@follow.coryd.dev ("Cory Dransfeldt :demi:") wrote:

📝 Using Signal to communicate securely #Tech #Politics #Privacy #USPol

Now more than ever it's important to keep your communications with those you know secure and private. Signal is the best available option for doing so. It is secure, private and run by a non-profit organization that makes it freely available.

https://www.coryd.dev/posts/2025/using-signal-to-communicate-securely

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
nathanlovestrees@disabled.social wrote:

a very agreeable moth indeed

#Mothtodon #Mothday #Moth #MondayMoth

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
gavin57@toot.wales ("Gavin") wrote:

@pluralistic @ubuntu Looks like they are having some issues:

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
futurebird@sauropods.win ("myrmepropagandist") wrote:

Weird Computer Contest
A contest to see the strangest computer being used to read mastodon/the fediverse. The prize is a cool drawing from me just for you.

Rules:

1. Post a reply to show your device and why it is strange. Can mean hardware and software. A photo is better.
2. You can't go *too* much out of your way to use some goofy device that you don't ever really use.
3. Winner selected by general consensus.

This is *not* just an excuse to see/post photos of strange computers.

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
drahardja@sfba.social ("Dave Rahardja") wrote:

@susankayequinn Updated for 2024:

AI CAN NEVER BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

THEREFORE

THEIR OPERATORS MUST BE
HELD ACCOUNTABLE
FOR THEIR ACTIONS

pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow") wrote:

Is anyone else having trouble reaching @ubuntu today? https://support-portal.canonical.com/ redirects to an error page that says "Sorry, Ubuntu One is unable to handle the request," and both the US and UK phone numbers are perma-busy.

ETA: Yup they're having an outage, but the workaround is to login while in incognito mode.

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us ("Emeritus Prof Christopher May") wrote:

Enshittification alert:

WhatsApp (owned by Meta) is reversing its no ads policy... over the next three months if you use WhatsApp you'll going to be seeing adverts while you're chatting.

It may be a bit later than people expected, but given the Tech Bros past record(s), surely we're not surprised.

#WhatsApp #SocialMedia @pluralistic

h/t FT

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
molly0xfff@hachyderm.io ("Molly White") wrote:

Just updated my diagram of Trump’s crypto entanglements based on his most recent financial disclosures 😵‍💫

Full-size image: https://storage.mollywhite.net/trump-family-crypto-projects.png
Disclosures: https://oge.app.box.com/s/k0hxcezgk7j1cyqoue16cillsi9srmfu

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpolitics #USpol

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
dogposting@meow.social ("dog with a blog :neodog_flag_trans: :neodog_flag_polyam: :neodog_flag_pan:") wrote:

i heard there was a secret ooze
that turned four reptiles into dudes
but you don't really care for turtles do ya

they battle crime throughout the night
as splinter taught them how to fight
and from the sewers came a cowabunga

cowabunga, cowabunga
cowabunga, cowa-buuu-ngaaa ~🎵

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

I hate to say it, but I think I have made Emacs moderately pretty.

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
paul@soylent.green ("Paul ‮etnomailgaT") wrote:

After around 4 years, I wrote down a manifesto for a project a handful of us participate in called "The Promised LAN".

NfNitLoop ("Cody Casterline 🏳️‍🌈") wrote:

@micahflee Good article -- I learned some things.

But, right after talking about being in a group with 500 members, you say:

> […] a Signal group [is] all private, and it can't be shared with law enforcement.

A conversation with 500 people isn't private. Any one of their (possibly multiple) devices might be hacked, or confiscated by law enforcement. Some of the members may BE law enforcement.

It's important not to oversell the security of the protocol w/ such a big attack surface area.