Mastodon Feed: Posts

xor@tech.intersects.art ("Parker Higgins") wrote:

TIL about the Audio Session API, and specifically that unless you set the audioSession.type to "playback", Safari on iOS won't play Web Audio out loud if the mute switch is on (except through headphones) https://www.w3.org/TR/audio-session/

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

Captured with the Rodenstock 50mm/4.0 HR Digaron-W lens (@ f/5.6) and the Phase One back, shifted vertically a bit to maintain geometry.

This is a straightforward composition showing the front of the Smithsonian Castle, which is not actually a castle, and, despite being part of the Smithsonian, not actually a museum, either (it houses mostly offices and a small visitor center). It sits on the National Mall, which, despite the name, is not a shopping center. Lies and deceit are everywhere in DC!

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

Smithsonian "Castle", National Mall, Washington, DC, 2021.

All the pixels, each displayed behind non-glare, museum-quality glass with a little identifying label mounted bellow, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/51221570481/

#photography

adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold") wrote:

🚨 OK, social.lol folks: this is important. I need your input.

Micro.blog’s strange ActivityPub implementation has an unfortunate and creepy side-effect. They ingest federated posts from across the social web, but their users are then able to reply to those posts in such a way that those replies are not federated back at all. The original author has no idea that there even was a reply. But those replies are fully present within the Micro.blog ecosystem, where they can be read and even spark additional discussion—though entirely excluding the people who were meant to see them. The replies even include the tagged author, and anyone looking at them would think the author could see the reply and was maybe even notified about it.

The end result is creepy in all kinds of ways. Whether this happens with any given reply ultimately comes down to the specific federation preferences of individual Micro.blog users, and there is no way to tell if any given reply to a federated post is itself federated or not. It’ll either be visible outside of Micro.blog or it won’t. It’s equally opaque to Micro.blog users, who can see a reply and assume that the person is ignoring it, when in fact they could never see it in the first place.

One of our members pointed out that there is a very real and serious issue of consent with this approach. We post things to the fediverse to engage socially, but many of us would not consent to another fediverse instance consuming our content in a way that allows people to *literally reply to us* without us ever seeing the replies or ensuing discussions. That Manton would even allow this kind of setup is baffling, given his stance on quote-tweets. This is far worse than quote-tweeting, though, because these are downright deceptive replies. They look real but simply aren’t.

I'm not aware of any other ActivityPub implementations that have this issue, or that knowingly enable users to have one-sided conversations like this. And I think it makes sense that no responsible implementation would allow this, because it’s a terrible idea and totally against the spirit of federation.

So, the question for social.lol users is: is anyone interested in having a discussion related to defederating from Micro.blog? To be clear, everyone can already individually block Micro.blog at the domain level and prevent them from ingesting your content. From a technical standpoint, everyone can protect themselves against this bad behavior pretty easily. The broader point is that no one should have to do that; responsible fediverse implementations should respect the fundamental idea that replying and tagging should always behave as expected.

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
applycoop@social.coop ("apply.coop") wrote:

apply.coop is officially released! Explore over 100 #jobs at Sierra Club, AP, EFF, Kagi, Allbirds, St. Jude's Hospital, and more. Thanks to all who helped us build a platform where good people find great jobs. We’ll be adding more features soon while keeping the site simple and fast. Read more at https://limeleaf.coop/blog/apply-coop-is-released/ #hiring #coops

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
loren@flipping.rocks ("Loren") wrote:

just stompin

adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold") wrote:

“But Adam, Micro.blog isn’t social media! It’s the *social web!* Manton built something different! It’s *different*, I swear!”

You’re fooling yourself. If you can reply to someone and push that remark into a social timeline, it’s social media. And when you shamefully left one community for calling a trans person a “jackass” and then find yourself just one year later telling that *same* person to “fuck off”, maybe you should take a moment to think about what “toxic” really is, Jason.

adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold") wrote:

Wired: Using social software to talk about real issues and bring about real change.

Tired: Complaining about social media being toxic.

Expired: Writing posts on “the social web” about social media being toxic, then telling a trans person who dared to share her opinion to “fuck off”, but also federating those very posts to social media—and failing to see the irony.

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
cavyherd@wandering.shop ("Cavyherd") wrote:

Oh yes, do I have the classic "Dogs in Elk" listed here, yet?

ht/ @pluralistic

https://web.archive.org/web/20051220005944/http://alumni.media.mit.edu/~solan/dogsinelk/

#EpicThreadOfEpicness

adam@social.lol ("Adam Newbold") wrote:

I don’t seek your approval. I don’t say or do things because they sound nice or because I think you’ll want to hear them. I’m not participating in a popularity contest.

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
nullagent@partyon.xyz wrote:

#spacex

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

Let me save anyone the embarrassment of proclaiming rap isn't real music. I will haunt you.

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

One thing I miss about Twitter is the hip-hop discourse. #Clipse is dropping bangers and I have no one to post about it with because that's not Mastodon's vibe.

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
publicdomainrev ("The Public Domain Review") wrote:

#Onthisday in 1837, Queen Victoria ascended to the throne and so began the Victorian era. Of the vast amounts of Victorian content on our site, this is perhaps our favourite — a dictionary of Victorian slang: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/a-dictionary-of-victorian-slang-1909

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
metin@graphics.social ("Metin Seven 🎨") wrote:

🧵 Following my previous human beatbox post, here's another amazing performance…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVZw7vQGR30

#music #beatbox #techno #video #dance #ElectronicMusic #live #YouTube

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

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel *Picks and Shovels*.

Catch me in #PDX with BUNNIE HUANG at Barnes and Noble TODAY (Jun 20):

https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780062183697-0

And at the #TUALATIN Public Library on SUNDAY (Jun 22):

https://www.tualatinoregon.gov/library/author-talk-cory-doctorow

More tour dates (#London, #Manchester) here:

http://martinhench.com

eof/

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

You can follow these posts as a daily blog at pluralistic.net: no ads, trackers, or data-collection!

Here's today's edition: https://pluralistic.net/2025/06/20/the-doctor-will-gouge-you-now/

--

If you prefer a newsletter, subscribe to the plura-list, which is ad-/tracker-free, and is utterly unadorned save a single daily emoji. Today's is "🧬". Suggestions solicited for future emojis!

--

You can also get a fulltext RSS feed, licensed CC BY 4.0:

https://pluralistic.net/feed/

13/

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

Recent appearances:

* FediForum Keynote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7%5FGs1t0qe78

* Science Fiction is EXPOSING Scams and AI Dystopia (Bad Faith)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlrKlp%5FIiko

* The Rideshare Guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKeoCxJWVVE

12/

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

Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* #SanFrancisco: Enshittification at Public Works (The Booksmith), Oct 20
https://app.gopassage.com/events/doctorow25

11/

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

Upcoming appearances (cont'd):

* #Manchester: Co-operatives UK Co-op Congress keynote, Jul 4
https://www.uk.coop/events-and-training/events-calendar/co-op-congress-2025-book-your-place

* Virtual: ORG at 20: in conversation with Maria Farrell, Jul 16
https://www.openrightsgroup.org/events/org-at-20-cory-doctorow-in-conversation-with-maria-farrell/

* #DC: Enshittification at Politics and Prose, Oct 8
https://politics-prose.com/cory-doctorow-10825

* #SanFrancisco: Enshittification at Public Works (The Booksmith), Oct 20
https://app.gopassage.com/events/doctorow25

* #NewOrleans: DeepSouthCon63, Oct 10-12, 2025
http://www.contraflowscifi.org/

10/

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

Upcoming appearances:

* #PDX: Teardown 2025, Jun 20-22
https://www.crowdsupply.com/teardown/portland-2025

* #PDX: Picks and Shovels with BUNNIE HUANG at Barnes and Noble, Jun 20
https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780062183697-0

* #Tualatin Public Library, Jun 22:
https://www.tualatinoregon.gov/library/author-talk-cory-doctorow

* #London: How To Academy with Riley Quinn, Jul 1
https://howtoacademy.com/events/cory-doctorow-the-fight-against-the-big-tech-oligarchy/

* #Manchester: Picks and Shovels at Blackwell's Bookshop, Jul 2
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-evening-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-1308451968059

9/

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

My ebooks and audiobooks (from Tor Books, Head of Zeus, McSweeneys, Beacon, Verso and others) are for sale all over the net, but I sell 'em too, and when you buy 'em from me, I earn twice as much and you get books with no DRM and no license "agreements."

https://craphound.com/shop/

8/

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

My last nationally bestselling novel was "The Bezzle," an ice-cold revenge story of high-tech finance crime starring the forensic accountant Martin Hench.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

Signed copies from Chevalier's Books:

https://www.chevaliersbooks.com/product-page/the-bezzle

--

My latest nonfiction book is "The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation" from Verso Books:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

Signed copies available from Book Soup:

https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245

Both are national bestsellers!

7/

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

Yesterday threads: Your Meta AI prompts are in a live, public feed; and more!

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/114710661795354899

6

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

#10yrsago What’s in the Pope’s barn-storming environmental message? https://www.wired.com/2015/06/popes-memo-climate-change-mind-blower/

#5yrsago Microsoft criticizes Apple's monopolism https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/19/art-of-the-deal/#honi-soit-qui-mal-y-pense

#5yrsago Austerity in disrepute https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/19/art-of-the-deal/#breadlines-r-us

#5yrsago Avia, c'est mort https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/19/art-of-the-deal/#avia

#5yrsago Trump's covid "test-tubes" are contaminated miniature soda bottles https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/19/art-of-the-deal/#art-of-the-deal

#5yrsago Trump wants to dismantle the OTF https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/19/art-of-the-deal/#save-otf

5/

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

Hey look at this

* Introducing the Fediverse: a New Era of Social Media https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRJHIJy5Nno

* Police use controversial AI tool that looks at people’s sex lives and beliefs https://inews.co.uk/news/police-use-controversial-ai-tool-sex-lives-beliefs-3747154

* Micro Macintosh https://www.tindie.com/products/djmason9/micro-macintosh/ (h/t Mitch Wagner)

* You don't need an API key to archive Twitter Data https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/04/you-dont-need-an-api-key-to-archive-twitter-data/ (h/t Nelson Minar)

* Talking Heads - Psycho Killer (Official Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ54eImz88w (h/t Nelson Minar)

4/

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

Oregon bans the corporate practice of medicine: Karma for Unitedhealthcare, Part II.

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/114715845544195419

3/

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

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel *Picks and Shovels*.

Catch me in #PDX with BUNNIE HUANG at Barnes and Noble TODAY (Jun 20):

https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780062183697-0

And at the TUALATIN Public Library on SUNDAY (Jun 22):

https://www.tualatinoregon.gov/library/author-talk-cory-doctorow

More tour dates (#London, #Manchester) here:

http://martinhench.com

2/

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

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Oregon bans the corporate practice of medicine; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2025/06/20/the-doctor-will-gouge-you-now/

#Pluralistic

1/

Boosted by pluralistic@mamot.fr ("Cory Doctorow"):
jef ("Jef Poskanzer") wrote:

It's the Solstice! Summer officially begins this evening at 7:41pm PDT. Here in the SF Bay Area, today will have 14h 43m 46s of daylight, tomorrow one second less. Earliest sunrise was a week ago, latest sunset will be on June 27/28 at 8:35:11pm.