Arthur Dent @ArthurDent@unxpnx.farm

This is absolutely infuriating. Overdrive should lose their contracts and be replaced by a publicly-funded system. https://karawynn.substack.com/p/the-coming-enshittification-of-public-libraries

One of the creepier tech-related incidents I remember was many years ago when I wanted the Sam's Photofacts (a third-party creator of device specs and schematics, etc.) for a very old portable TV. Way out of date, but I was trying to help someone with it.

I mentioned to a friend that I was looking for old Photofacts, but I did not say anything about the TV. He scribbled an address on a scrap of paper, an address locally here in L.A. "Try him," he muttered.

I drive over. It's a small unmarked storefront. I go in, the bell on the door rings. Sitting inside, like the caterpillar in "Alice in Wonderland", is this little guy perched on a stool, with immense stacks of paper surrounding him everywhere. Total mayhem.

I walk up to him -- knowing that this was a waste of time and really wanting to get out of there -- and asked if he had the Sam's Photofacts for that specific very old TV model.

Without saying a word, he reached over to the pile of papers right next to him, took the TOP item off the pile, and silently handed it to me. It was the ancient one I needed. Stunned, I paid him the amount marked on the item, and left with it, not completely sure what had just happened.

When I drove by there a month later that storefront was something else entirely. He was gone.

This is a credible proposal for DRM for websites in general. It would enable unbeatable adblock-blocking. It would prevent user customization for not just convenience but also accessibility.

I do not say this lightly: Enabling the forfeiture of control over the browsing experience is a fundamentally evil idea that must be rejected now, as it has been in the past, and we must remain vigilant against its reemergence in the future.

https://github.com/RupertBenWiser/Web-Environment-Integrity/blob/main/explainer.md

If you really want a Barbie and Oppenheimer crossover, it was made in 1995 and it's called Tank Girl.

🖨️

I want working mass transit.

just a lil reminder from our pal Garak

Would anybody mind doing me a quick favor? My instance isn't very federated right now.

Please help by boosting if you see this.

Say hi, if you want, as well!

This one is wheelie good. #StarTrek #JellicoTrek

The MiniDisc was a significant advancement in digital audio technology, offering superior sound quality and greater durability than cassette tapes. While the format faced challenges in the marketplace, Sony's continued investment in the technology helped to push the boundaries of portable music players and paved the way for future advancements in digital audio recording and playback.

"For Mastodon to succeed..."

I'm going to stop you right there. When I look around Fediverse, I see people chatting with friends, making new ones, connecting with old ones, people sharing their fun, their fears, their anger, their sadness. I see people asking for help, offering to help, wondering if they need help. I see a microcosm of humanity.

I don't need to wait for Fedi to succeed, because, in my view. It. Already. Has.

#StarTrek #JellicoTrek Serving up something for the 4th

"Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.
But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.
A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said."
We are at our best when we serve others. Be civilized.

“Back in my day, memes were made in Macromedia Flash.”

“What’s Macromedia Flash, Grandpa?”

“Well it's like HTML5 except it puts malware on your computer."

As a hardcore punk band, you had to be able to endure a lot. Every evening could escalate

Dead Kennedys on Broadway, San Francisco, June 27, 1982. Photos by Greg Gaar

#punk #punks #punkrock #hardcorepunk #deadkennedys #jellobiafra #history #punkrockhistory

a "root vegetable" is a vegetable with administrator privileges

@markarayner
Don't let that stop you.
Become ungovernable.

Made a thing

If you're concerned about the billionaires but can't have the slightest amount of compassion for refugees drowning at sea, you're the problem.

I'm looking at every nation, media outlet, and yes, Billionaire, that gives this amount of coverage, money, and international resources to this rescue operation but contribute to the opposite to migrants fleeing oppression and violence.

3/3

I'm furious about the money & international effort spent on both the causes of the desperate migration of refugees, and the money & effort spent to block and punish rescuers & refugees alike, and to force rescuers to leave thousands of people to die.

A couple billionaires drown on an $$$ and ill-advised tourist trip and it's tragedy. Thousands of refugees die and it's punishment for their crime of what? Color of their skin? Location of their birth? The amount of capital they don't own?

2/3