Mastodon Feed
jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:
If you approach any tech from Meta without the assumption that it is an absolute nightmare for your privacy and security, well, that's on you
Mastodon FeedMastodon Feedjscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:
"We failed to convince you to abandon your privacy and become a virtual snitch with a bunch of sunglasses, but, look! Tamagotchi!"
Mastodon Feedbaldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason") wrote:
Reading and social media
The reason why it's so hard to discuss audiobooks, print books, and ebooks online is that the platforms strip all nuance from the debate.
See the full video, "Why is social media so humourless?" that talks about the effects of context collapse in social media at
(And the essay version, if you're so inclined https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2026/03-why-is-social-media-so-humourless/ )
Mastodon FeedtimnitGebru@dair-community.social ("Timnit Gebru (she/her).") wrote:
@Meron At a personal level, most of the people who lost their lives, including the mother and baby who passed away while the mother was giving birth while drowning, are Eritrean refugees, just like me.
I think about how we have all gotten accustomed to devaluing our own people's lives daily
Mastodon FeedtimnitGebru@dair-community.social ("Timnit Gebru (she/her).") wrote:
We're grateful to have @Meron, Selam Kidane, Omer Shatz, and Hyab Yohannes joining us as panelists.
You can also read Meron's Possible Futures entry where she imagines a future in which tech supports our refugees families instead of killing them💔
Mastodon FeedBoosted by glyph ("Glyph"):
hynek ("Hynek Schlawack") wrote:
love reading email
They used to sign it as “agent on behalf of X” but I guess the reply ratio sucked. Is there a Pangram for GitHub with FOSS subsidy?
Mastodon Feedjscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:
Look, depending on circumstances, I could have the shit kicked out of me by one of my cats, sure, Sugar here looks sweet as pie, but try to get her into a pet carrier to go to the vet and she will open a goddamn vein. So, no, I'm not winning against an actual friggin' lioness
Mastodon FeedtimnitGebru@dair-community.social ("Timnit Gebru (she/her).") wrote:
On October 3, 2013, 368 people lost their lives in the Lampedusa shipwreck. On the 13th anniversary of the tragedy, join DAIR’s "Refugees, Migrants, and AI" project for an event commemorating those who died and asking why Lampedusa keeps happening.
Bringing together refugee advocates and experts in international law, psychology, and forced migration, the conversation will connect the human consequences of border regimes with the growing use of surveillance, data and AI in migration control.
Mastodon FeedtimnitGebru@dair-community.social ("Timnit Gebru (she/her).") wrote:
🔇🔇🔇 I want to announce a
@dairinstitute.bsky.social
virtual event concerning the ***REAL**** impacts of "AI" on the most vulnerable of populations, refugees.Everything you see is first experimented on them.🧵
⏰ October 1 at 6-8pm CET/9am PDT on Zoom.
✴️ Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/5517888860006/WN%5Fu2VZxx2RSciVPe2wu039wA#/registration
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
victorvonvortex wrote:
"House Republicans Pitch a Plan to Cut Social Security to Billionaire Donor Harlan Crow"
"Republicans wanted to keep the hearing quiet, so they held it far from Washington DC. This was a 'field hearing,' held all the way in Dallas, Texas. Specifically, it was held at Old Parkland, a 'business campus' owned by none other than Harlan Crow."
"...several members of the House Budget Committee, including Arrington, have received substantial donations from Crow."
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/republicans-cut-social-security
Mastodon Feedbaldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason") wrote:
Also heard that Pressbooks laid off Steel Wagstaff and is all-in on microcredentials now? As in Pressbooks is basically withering away (and was always kinda awful) while all of their effort goes into a microcredentials platform?
WTH is a microcredentials platform.
Steel was the last person of the old Pressbooks gang that I genuinely liked. Hope he lands on his feet.
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
thevhswizard@retro.pizza ("The VHS Wizard 🦝📼🧙") wrote:
I don't know how to get the eyes or ears of any big #Fediverse movers or shakers, but if someone out there who is good with code wants to jump on a golden opportunity, one is presenting itself.
A couple of days ago, Tapas warned all their creators that they were going to be shutting down. If you're not familiar with it, Tapas is a webcomics platform, and basically the only decent-sized alternative to Webtoon.
If we could throw together some sort of ActivityPub-backed Webcomics platform, we could use it as a way to get a lot more people using Fediverse-adjacent technology.
I don't have the time or energy to do any of this myself, and I am not good at coding, but I have been doing webcomics since the 1990s, and have watched the rise and fall of Keenspot, Drunk Duck, Wordpress and the RSS era, and now the modern "Walmart for Webcomics" era. This is a huge opportunity to present the Fediverse as a viable alternative.
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
ProPublica@newsie.social wrote:
For decades, the Smithsonian Institution, which draws some 15 million visitors every year to its assemblage of 21 museums, has managed to stay mostly above the political fray. But that institutional exceptionalism is now imperiled as never before.
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-smithsonian-museum-american-history-became-target-trump-culture-war?utm%5Fsource=mastodon&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fcampaign=mastodon-post
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
tomgauld.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy ("Tom Gauld") wrote:
My latest @newscientist.com@bsky.brid.gy cartoon.
many more here: www.newscientist.com/author/tom-gauld/
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
f800gecko@mastodon.online ("Kyle Memoir 🍉🐧") wrote:
All signs pointing to a violent mess should the Dems perform as expected in the midterms.
President Donald J. Skidmark-Rapist cannot abide criticism, even via democratic voting, and no lie is too big to tell, no weapon too big to fire at his own populace, should his frail snowflake ego feel threatened.
#uspol #politics #trump #epstein
14-day gift read
Mastodon Feedbaldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason") wrote:
Just heard that a CEO I know (or used to know back in the day) is using a ghostwriter for their linkedin posts.
Which I honestly kinda respect. Still fake as hell but at least a step up from slopping the posts yourself. Outsource the slopping to somebody else, FTW.
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
dangillmor ("Dan Gillmor") wrote:
Susan Collins isn't just a pretend-moderate Republican who's supported almost every catastrophic Trump policy and nominee (including all the current radical-right Supreme Court "justices"). She's also corrupt as hell. https://www.propublica.org/article/fbi-susan-collins-navatek-campaign-donations-investigation?ref=levernews.com
Fine reporting, as usual, from ProPublica.
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
joeinwynnewood@mstdn.social ("Grassroots Joe") wrote:
"McCrery warned that Trump’s design did not have enough emergency exits or measures to contain a fire, which could spread quickly from the kitchen below the ballroom to the event space above it, and pointed out that the design was not up to code.
Trump waved off his concerns. “I am the code,” he said."Of course he did. The malignant narcissist Criminal in the White House destroying the US in service of his massive vanity.
September 23, 2026 - by Heather Cox Richardson
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-23-2026
Mastodon Feedjsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
RE: https://mastodon.me.uk/@pikesley/116328233201132075
perfection: “Shambolic Regex”
Mastodon Feedjsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
Mastodon Feedjsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
RE: https://fediscience.org/@petersuber/117326307895183640
yay
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
newsguyusa@flipboard.social ("Steve Herman") wrote:
Today’s Trump–Xi meeting is being boycotted by US TV networks in the White House pool—and it won’t reach hundreds of millions of people in 100+ countries who once relied on the Voice of America, according to #SaveVOA. https://savevoa.com/
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
The_Whore_of_Blahbylon ("The Whore of Blahbylon") wrote:
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
gclef@vivaldi.net wrote:
California solar panels tower over canals in Turlock, proving a win-win that saves water, produces clean energy, and improves local water quality.
#Environment #Energy #Water #Southwest #California #Drought #Aquafers #Solar #GreenEnergy #Climate #ClimateDiary
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
wehpudicabok@kind.social ("flower bathed in light") wrote:
YOU USED TO BE ABLE TO FIND INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET. i sound insane right now because the internet is a store but it used to be a library
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
SharonCrockett@toot.community ("Sharon 🤦🏾♀️ Persists") wrote:
#freepress #destruction from Michael DeAdder.
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
cdarwin@c.im ("Chuck Darwin") wrote:
If Republicans want to cut our earned benefits, the American people deserve for them to tell us that to our faces,
rather than weaseling around the job they were elected to do, and for which they earn a handsome salary.This Monday, House Republicans held a hearing focused on creating a closed-door commission to cut Social Security and Medicare.
The hearing was for an audience of one: billionaire donor Harlan Crow.That’s the same Harlan Crow who infamously treated Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to lavish vacations,
along with donating millions of dollars to Republican candidates and causesRepublicans wanted to keep the hearing quiet,
so they held it far from Washington DC.This was a “field hearing,” held all the way in Dallas, Texas.
Specifically, it was held at Old Parkland,
a “business campus” owned by none other than Harlan CrowNormally, when Congress holds a field hearing, they are seeking testimony from members of the general public.
But when I showed up with Texas seniors and people with disabilities,
they refused to let us in.Medically vulnerable people were forced to wait outside in 100°F heat.
Republicans claimed that there were only three chairs available for members of the public.
That was a lie.
When I finally made it into the room, there was plenty of space.
And while there were
“no seats available” for seniors and people with disabilities,
guess who got one?Harlan Crow.
I called out the hearing for what it was:
a farce designed to cut Social Security,
even though Social Security doesn’t add a single penny to the debt.I reminded Republicans that the real driver of the debt is tax breaks for billionaires like Harlan Crow.
I was promptly escorted out by police
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/republicans-cut-social-security
Mastodon Feedjsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
RE: https://newsie.social/@ZhiZhu/117323479095745705
oh FFS ppl, why is he not removed?
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
dianea@lgbtqia.space ("diana 🏳️⚧️🦋🌱") wrote:
Me watching all the other cats on the Fediverse
Mastodon FeedBoosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
Bubotomy wrote:
Me on the first day of autumn:
