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

Minnesota has criminals, and Minnesota has Somali residents. Equating the two is a gross logical fallacy.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/12/30/minnesotans-have-been-following-this-tale-of-local-con-artists-for-years-its-nothing-new/

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

💃 DANCE BREAK 🕺

This thread is brought to you by Photographs & Memories: Jim Croce's Greatest Hits

Jim doesn't make "dance music" per se. More like swaying music. So, sway away. I'll be back in five minutes.

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/photographs-memories-his-greatest-hits/1509297879

Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6hA3DNhDECjwU9ZKgngqc9%5FVk-uSRR63&si=IE1T9vz80Cg6UBZU

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/17PK4yXNTBKQg5BSRIPvtd

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

If I were a betting man, I'd wager that the folks at Bluesky are asking themselves two questions:

1. Is there a large enough audience outside of Twitter for the top 100 accounts? (No)

2. Can BS distance themselves from Liberal Twitter 2.0 now that they've created this monster, and attract new voices? Younger voices? (🤷)

To recap, Bluesky used its *algorithm* to gain users, despite heavily promoting their "build your own experience" ecosystem.

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

I don't particularly love the "Bluesky is a liberal eco-chamber" argument because I think it leads to silly conclusions (imo). But, its premise isn't wrong.

Bluesky handed out microphones to all the political accounts at Twitter. Naturally, it attracted the types of people who like what those folks have to say.

But those accounts are polarizing. Not necessarily just for their politics. But because after a decade, they haven't done much to move the needle. I think people want fresh voices.

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
jasongorman@mastodon.cloud ("Jason Gorman") wrote:

Most teams don’t see the impact of "AI" code generation on systemic outcomes because THEY'RE NOT LOOKING.

https://codemanship.wordpress.com/2025/12/30/the-ai-ready-software-developer-18-productivity-you-keep-using-that-word/

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
emilymbender@dair-community.social ("Prof. Emily M. Bender(she/her)") wrote:

I enjoyed doing this interview for El Mundo, especially the last question (English translation [actually original, since the interview was in English] of that in this short thread:

https://www.elmundo.es/papel/historias/2025/12/30/6952b5bc21efa0a0388b4594.html

🧵>>

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

Now, Bluesky never outright admits that it heated posts for VIPs. But if you were on BS during and after the migration, it's not exactly a huge leap in logic to conclude that the Bluesky algorithm favored some accounts over others.

Also, this is not an indictment necessarily. I'm not yet speaking to the morality of this strategy. Just that it likely occurred.

And, perhaps, the strategy of courting liberal Twitter has, or will eventually, come back to bite them in the ass.

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

So it's safe to say that Bluesky's growth strategy was to cater to the big Twitter personalities, particularly the political accounts (whether that was intentional or not idk but that sure was the result).

The BS team parked user names for some Twitter celebrities, and when those people signed up, BS presumably used its algorithm to "heat" posts so that they'd gain back their followers fast.

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

Despite amassing over 30 million MAU, Bluesky doesn't have any homegrown celebrities. Why?

Bluesky's top 100 accounts are a who's who of late stage liberal twitter—just a bunch of bloated 40 year olds coming up with decreasingly clever analogies for orange skin and tiny red cocks. BS top 100 is also not very diverse which we may get to, idk.

I've heard Bluesky described as a millennial retirement home. Not exactly the vibe you'd hope for as a young media platform.

https://vqv.app/

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

Mastodon* is in desperate need of a rebrand and a repositioning in the minds of the general public (imo).

There's no reason why a Mastodon address couldn't come with all the cachet of a public library card, or a PBS tote bag—that is to say something that signals “I am more than just a content creation machine for a corporation.”

It could be a status symbol for all the right reasons.

*The collective brand, so much as the general public sees Mastodon as such.

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

There's so many entry points to this topic, it's hard to know where to start. But, I think the most fun and interesting start is to dissect the strategies of other microblogging platforms. Particularly during the "great migrations." Then explore why it's perhaps impossible for Mastodon to compete on those terms without abandoning its core values.

This is a freestyle, so I ask for some grace in my words and the story's pacing.

Let's start with #Bluesky

baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason") wrote:

"The Grand AI Disconnect"

> AI is running only slightly ahead of child molesters in the public imagination.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-grand-ai-disconnect

I'm sure it'll be fine and there's no chance that the public will turn on everything related to tech and software once the house of cards tumbles down. Great industry to be associated with, etc. etc.

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
uglyreykjavik.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy ("Ugly Reykjavik") wrote:

Left to rust.#Iceland #Reykjavik #photography #landscape #nature #naturephotography #landscapephotography #streetphotography #abandoned #decay #rust #trees #sky

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

They're not just evil, they're also stupid.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/12/30/are-republicans-just-crazy-pants-dingle-bunnies/

baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason") wrote:

Finally, a few of the earliest photos I've taken, at least in terms of deliberate practice. I took them on a Yashica SLR in the mid- to late-nineties in Reykjavík. #photos #film #blackandwhite

baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason") wrote:

I took these four photos in 2000, or thereabouts, my last job in Iceland before moving to the UK was as a vision mixer in a news studio. These were taken either at work or on my way home. #photos #film #blackandwhite

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

how nice of you @CARROT

Boosted by kornel ("Kornel"):
lorax@dresden.network wrote:

There's no excuse, not to make .deb files for #rustlang projects anymore with cargo-deb!
https://github.com/kornelski/cargo-deb

I know it's existed for a while, but I just found it recently and as a Debian user, would love to see wider adoption.
While some people may be able to install most programs from cargo, a lot of cool projects just can't be used by less experienced #debian, #ubuntu and derivatives users.

So if you are working on a project that not only targets #devs, make it easier for newcomers and publish a .deb file as well.
(cargo-aur also does this for #arch)

Boosted by kornel ("Kornel"):
stopthatgirl7@famichiki.jp ("Stop That") wrote:

Only two more days till we get to live on Mars, y’all!!

Boosted by ratatui_rs@fosstodon.org ("Ratatui"):
orhun@fosstodon.org ("Orhun Parmaksız 👾") wrote:

Wow, this is extremely pretty ⏰✨

🕒 **sigye** (시계) — A gorgeous terminal clock.

💯 Supports FIGlet fonts, animated color themes, reactive backgrounds & live-configurable visuals.

🦀 Written in Rust & built with @ratatui_rs

⭐ GitHub: https://github.com/am2rican5/sigye

#rustlang #ratatui #tui #terminal #clock #ascii #design #terminal

Attachments:

• gifv: 7a8808d4dadbb6d4.mp4

baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason") wrote:

The author of The Cat and I, Brynhildur Jenný, explains why she draws by hand and isn't fond of drawing with a tablet or iPad (English subs included)

Brynhildur Jenný útskýrir afhverju hún handteiknaði myndasöguna, Kötturinn og ég, og er ekki hrifin af því að vinna í tölvu #bók #myndasaga #bækur

Fáanleg í verslunum Pennans: https://www.penninn.is/is/book/kotturinn-og-eg

Attachments:

• video: A short video where an illustrator, Brynhildur Jenný, talks about how much more fun drawing by hand is, in a voiceover while her illustrations are shown on screen.

Boosted by jwz:
exador23@m.ai6yr.org ("Hippy Steve") wrote:

🤔

Boosted by jwz:
infernusgoatus@kvlt.zone (":googlyeye: Stlex :googlyeye2:") wrote:

RIP Cecelia Giménez, whose effort to restore a religious painting gave us a legend.

Boosted by jwz:
jwz wrote:

@xinit When I built DNA Lounge, we had a number of walls that were made of drywall. And over the years, someone would punch them, and then the wall would have a hole in it. But instead of patching it, my policy was, we only replace drywall with plywood. Because on the next punch, the wall will not break, it will be the hand.

This is a story about a third party provider failing you and moving to yet another third party provider instead of moving in house.

Boosted by jwz:
ckape@teh.entar.net ("Brian Danger Hicks") wrote:

Your Spiders Wrapped is in.

This year you ate 0 spiders.

This places you in the top 80% of spider eaters.

Boosted by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
Sustainable2050@mastodon.energy ("Kees van der Leun") wrote:

Although the growth rate (%) of global CO2 emissions has gone down, the increase in absolute terms is still pretty much a straight line:
On average, we're increasing the amount of CO2 that we dump in the atmosphere by around 450 million tonnes every year. Making the climate crisis worse faster.
#emissions #co2 #ClimateChange

Boosted by adele@social.pollux.casa ("Adële 🐁"):
eunews ("European News 🇪🇺") wrote:

The EU will launch the digital euro as a 100% European digital payments system to replace reliance on Visa, Mastercard, and Apple and Google Pay, with the European Central Bank issuing a digital form of cash. It will be built entirely in Europe, have zero transaction fees, instant payments, and strong privacy, giving the EU full control over its payments infrastructure.

https://www.independent.ie/business/digital-euro-what-it-is-and-how-we-will-use-the-new-form-of-cash/a165973061.html

(https://archive.ph/ERzTA)

Boosted by adele@social.pollux.casa ("Adële 🐁"):
dotmeow@hachyderm.io (".meow ∙ We'll be at #39C3 ^-^'") wrote:

We JUST hit €40,000!!! That is HUGE, thank you all SO much!

However, we are still only halfway to our goal, so make sure to share, to support, and to let everyone know about .meow!

We will throw off the yoke of digital landlords, but we still need your help :3

And for now… champagne! Catnip! Celebrations!!

https://kickstarter.dotmeow.org

Boosted by adele@social.pollux.casa ("Adële 🐁"):
cmccullough@polymaths.social ("Chad McCullough") wrote:

So, the first of the year is coming up quickly. As many of you know, I've been unemployed from full-time employment for quite a long time. I've been working part-time jobs to make ends meet but I need to do more. I've decided to start doing some consulting.

I want to start offering a few services:

1. Building websites for individuals, small businesses, or non-profits.
2. Helping individuals, small businesses, non-profits with certain Information Technology needs. Mainly, Linux, Open Source Software, and networking.

I'm really hoping that this turns into something more than just small consulting work. I would love to start doing this full-time. At nearly 59, I don't see myself ever getting full-time employment any other way.

#fedihires #fedihiring

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

Before I continue, if I continue this thread (I'm sleepy) I want to acknowledge that strategy is easier said than done. I don't often appeal to authority on here, but I do have twenty years in marketing and business strategy. I'm just chewin' the fat rn.