Mastodon Feed: Posts

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

Arguably, given the health and environmental effects of things like power plants, perhaps they *should* be ugly. But ugliness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

In any case, if you like this kind of stuff, let me strongly recommend the work of Hilla and Bernd Becher. https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/bernd-and-hilla-becher

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

Power plants are often regarded as utilitarian eyesores, and are rarely (generally under public pressure) built to look beautiful or interesting, (London's Battersea Power Station was an exception). Generally, like here, any beauty to be found is accidental, a direct consequence of interesting form happening to follow from function.

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

I shot several versions of this, with exposures that kept the moving train sharp or blurred it to varying degrees. I think this was the most successful attempt, with the train blurred enough to suggest motion, but not so much that it's unrecognizable.

Motion can be a central part of a still photograph.

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

This was captured with the Rodenstock 70mm/5.6 HR Digaron-W lens and the Phase One IQ3-100 back. A bit of vertical shift was used to keep everything straight. A 1/2 sec exposure provided just the right amount of motion blur for the passing train.

The power plant generates electricity (now oil fired, converted from coal) as well as steam for Philly's Center City steam loop. The rail bridge extends the former Pennsylvania Railroad's "High Line" into south Philly's Greenwich rail yard.

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

Schuylkill Co-Generation Plant and Arsenal Bridge, Philadelphia, PA, 2018.

All the pixels, none of the electricity, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/42660696454

#photography

Boosted by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
davatron5000 ("Dave Rupert") wrote:

The Perplexity Comet prompt injection attack that Brave demonstrated is pretty shocking. Visit a Reddit thread, hidden instructions make the browser log into a different site, then it checks gmail to get the OTP, and then it posts the email address and OTP back in the Reddit thread.

https://brave.com/blog/comet-prompt-injection/

And this is the "good guy" security researcher version of the attack. It could be infinitely worse.

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

Another option, and the best option if you don't live in the US, is to order a signed book from Subterranean Press, which is happy to ship internationally:

https://subterraneanpress.com/scalzi-tsp/?searchid=916414&search%5Fquery=The+Shattering+Peace

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

Remember also that I am on tour here in the US, and that even if you can't come see me, you can call these bookstores, ask them to have me sign the book for you, and then they'll ship it to you (usually within the US): https://us.macmillan.com/tours/john-scalzi-the-shattering-peace/

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

Today's the day that The Shattering Peace, the new book in the Old Man's War universe, is out in North America (UK, you have two more days). I wrote it to be enjoyable to new readers as well as old hands to the series. I hope you'll pick it up at your favorite bookseller!

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

(3) I think it looks better with the "background" enabled, not as much because it's more familiar but because it looks crisper and, in some ways, feels more honest: windows can't go under the menu bar in either mode, and with the background enabled there's a clear border that makes it obvious why.

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

Three observations about the macOS Tahoe transparent menu bar: (1) It's actually quite usable. (2) Turning on menu bar background makes it clear there *is* a background effect applied all the time; the "transparent" look just smears the background color down into your wallpaper.

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
lrhodes@merveilles.town ("⁂ L. Rhodes") wrote:

The Torment Nexus is bound to solve torment, once we've gotten the nexus big enough.

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

I think the hypothetical social platform that Herman describes already exists… as group chats (or even chat rooms). They check all of the boxes:

- Often slower; pace set by the group
- Focused on connection and friendship
- Authentic conversation
- No followers, no influencers, no ads

Maybe the group chat on your phone really is as good as online “social” gets.

https://herman.bearblog.dev/slow-social-media/

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
ufwupdates@union.place ("UFW") wrote:

We honor the leaders of the 2 unions, including Cesar Chavez, Larry Itliong, Dolores Huerta, Peter Velasco, Gilbert Padilla, Andy Imutan, Julio Hernandez and Philip Vera Cruz for joining together and forming the United Farm Workers. 2/2

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
ufwupdates@union.place ("UFW") wrote:

9/16/65: Eight days after heroic Filipino grape workers struck Delano-area vineyards & began the Delano Grape Strike, members of the National Farm Workers Association voted to join the picket lines. That solidarity helped produce victory in 1970. Viva la Causa! Mabuhay! 1/2

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

this happened at about the same time on the same day as Charlie Kirk was murdered. we seem forget this tide of violence knows no political bounds, when the victims are not famous.

https://www.denverpost.com/2025/09/11/evergreen-high-school-shooting-colorado-updates/

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

Learning to love toes while not succumbing to despair.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/09/16/still-falling-apart/

Boosted by ChrisWere@toot.wales ("Chris Werewolf ⁂🐧🌱☕ 🎃💀🕸🐺"):
ehtelescope ("Event Horizon Telescope") wrote:

Hello Mastodon!

We’re the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) - a global network of telescopes working together to study black holes and other extreme cosmic phenomena.

In 2019, we captured the first image of a supermassive black hole (M87*), followed in 2022 by Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.

Follow @ehtelescope for scientific updates, behind-the-scenes looks at our worldwide collaboration, and the latest discoveries from the edge of space and time.

Boosted by jwz:
QasimRashid ("Qasim Rashid, Esq.") wrote:

Remember:
•1 million seconds is about 11 days
•1 billion seconds is about 32 years

Nobody earns or needs a billion dollars. We should return to our tax rate of 1940-1980, where the super wealthy paid 94% marginal tax.

Billionaires are the only minority destroying our country, and our world. Abolish billionaires. Invest in working people. Save our democracy.

Boosted by jwz:
mainframed767@infosec.exchange ("Soldier of FORTRAN :ReBoot:​") wrote:

To celebrate Hackers 30th I present Plymouth boot screens

https://github.com/mainframed/Hackers-Plymouth

#Hackers #hackers30th #hacktheplanet

Attachments:

• gifv: aa034121e3cda3b6.mp4
• gifv: fd31258538445a31.mp4
• gifv: 609b12b9203f97a8.mp4
• gifv: de58148491572d9a.mp4

Boosted by jwz:
Stevenheywood@mastodonapp.uk ("Steven Heywood") wrote:

@tschenkel @ChrisMayLA6
"You've joined a march organised and led by a convicted football hooligan with a criminal record of race-hate violence, fraud, passport fraud and drug use and his equally racist and fascist mates."
"They're a small minority. We have legitimate concerns."
"I have legitimate concerns that your racism has led you to hold hands with the sort of people your grandad was shooting at in World War Two."
"That's a disgusting thing to say!"
"That's a disgusting thing to do."

I've found that, after decades of hearing the same old guff, over the past week I've finally run out of patience with "legitimate concerns," they can fuck off.

Boosted by jwz:
FlohEinstein@chaos.social wrote:

Why use a URL shortener when you can use a phishy URL extender?

https://phishyurl.com/

Keep your security people alert and awake, generate phishing-looking redirecting links

#infosec

Boosted by jwz:
InternetEh@dads.cool ("Sid🇵🇸") wrote:

I'd hate to live in North Korea, where you get punished for not mourning friends of the ruling party publicly and sincerely enough

Boosted by jwz:
mel@jorts.horse ("mel!") wrote:

the punishment is a bit medieval but i appreciate the enthusiasm

Boosted by ChrisWere@toot.wales ("Chris Werewolf ⁂🐧🌱☕ 🎃💀🕸🐺"):
nedhamson1 ("Ned Hamson") wrote:

Elon Musk accused of ‘inciting violence’ in UK, as four police officers seriously injured during protests

Oh well, at least we locked up all those grannies and sign-holders the other week. Not a peep from Elon Musk about their free speech, mind. — Read on www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/elon-musk-unite-the-kingdom-tommy-robinson-violence-397891/

http://nedhamsonsecondlineviewofthenews.com/2025/09/14/elon-musk-accused-of-inciting-violence-in-uk-as-four-police-officers-seriously-injured-during-protests/

db@social.lol ("David Bushell 🪡") wrote:

db@social.lol ("David Bushell 🪡") wrote:

not even Apple uses compact tabs they're completely broken in Safari 26

(does it works for you? how nice)

Attachments:

• gifv: Safari 26 compact tab button functionality like refresh and close tab does not work

Boosted by adele@social.pollux.casa ("Adële 🐁"):
rl_dane@polymaths.social ("R.L. Dane :Debian: :OpenBSD: 🍵 :MiraLovesYou:") wrote:

You are kidding me!

This is the coolest way to view markdown files I've ever discovered:

lowdown -stman somefile.md |man -l -

#markdown #man #mandoc

Boosted by adele@social.pollux.casa ("Adële 🐁"):
rl_dane@polymaths.social ("R.L. Dane :Debian: :OpenBSD: 🍵 :MiraLovesYou:") wrote:

@kkremitzki

That's right, I also use lowdown to convert my blog into gemini: gemini://tilde.pink/~rldane/gemlog

It's not a perfect conversion by far, but it gets the job (mostly) done. ;)

Boosted by adele@social.pollux.casa ("Adële 🐁"):
kkremitzki ("Kurt Kremitzki") wrote:

@rl_dane Very cool! Just to share for others, from `apt show lowdown`, "Lowdown is a Markdown translator producing HTML5, roff documents in the ms and man formats, LaTeX, gemini, and terminal output."