If you are in #Dewey#Oklahoma please take shelter IMMEDIATELY, this storm has destroyed large areas, has a debris ball, and 2 deaths have been reported.
PDS now for Trinity, TX in a Flash Flood Emergency
"At 1137 PM CDT, Local law enforcement reported swift water rescues due to heavy rain in between the towns of Trinity and Groveton. Between 6 and 12 inches of rain have fallen. Additional storms are
building west and is expected to move into warned area. Additional rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches are possible in the warned area. Dangerous flash flooding is already occurring.
This is a FLASH FLOOD EMERGENCY for South Central Trinity County.
This is a PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION. SEEK HIGHER GROUND NOW!"
#PDS#Tornado Warning Northwestern Johnston County
East central Carter County
South central Pontotoc County
Northwestern Marshall County
Southeastern Murray County in southern #Oklahoma...
Until 1215 AM CDT.
At 1138 PM CDT, a confirmed large, extremely dangerous tornado located near Dickson, moving northeast at 45 mph.
If anyone is interested in having a #Bluesky (#bsky) account, but doesn't want their data or their identities managed, or stored on the Bluesky corporate server, you can instead join a private server, a PDS (Personal Data Server). This is part of their "federated" architecture, similar to ActivityPub that Mastodon uses.
I run a #PDS, https://blue-ocean.social. PDS servers have no web interface, so if you use this URL it won't see anything exciting other than it telling you it's a PDS.
My Bluesky handle is jerry.blue-ocean.social. Most people have a handle like person.bsky.social
It's in beta, which means that any PDS cannot have more than 10 users, there is a limit of 15,000 events/day, and 1,500 events/hour. This is a lot of events, actually.
I cannot see other people's data or access their identity data on the server. The only moderation is that I can delete or lock an account, but I cannot block anyone or any servers. It's not like Mastodon and other Fediverse apps.
If you would like a Bluesky account that is stored away from Bluesky corporate, please let me know, and I will send you an invitation code (it's the only way to register onto a PDS).
The server is automatically backed up daily by Digital Ocean (warm backup). I take the server down for 3 minutes/week for a cold back up and to apply Linux updates. Otherwise, it's rock solid. The Bluesky software updates itself, so there's no downtime for those updates.
I can give out 8 more invite codes and can send instructions for how to get started.
Please let me know if you'd like an invitation code.
Manton from Micro.blog intends to enable the service as an ATProtocol PDS:
The long-term plan for Micro.blog is to fully support AT’s PDS — Personal Data Servers. Any blog hosted on Micro.blog would plug into Bluesky seamlessly, with data portable to other AT Protocol hosting providers.
A major difference between the #ActivityPub federation and the #BlueSky#Atproto (#Atprotocol) federation is that under AcitivityPub, used by Mastodon, all servers that need to send or receive data from other servers need to make direct connections to each other. This means many queued jobs and many connections, maybe thousands. This leads to the classic sidekiq queue problems when Mastodon instances have numerous users with numerous follows, and relays.
In contrast, in atproto, the user's PDS, Personal Data Server, doing equivalent work of a Mastodon server, for example, only makes a few connections to the relay server's fire hose to deliver and pick up messages. It never connects to any other PDS directly. Theoretically, a tiny #PDS on atproto can handle a considerable number of users. This seems to be an advantage.
Mastodon admins spend a lot of time and money fighting performance issues, database connection counts, and sidekiq queues because the server has to talk directly to other servers. But the PDS only needs to talk to maybe one, or possibly a few relays to get and send messages.
Here's a diagram of the atproto architecture. It appears quite a simple architecture.
Yesterday, I set up a #Bluesky#PDS (Personal Data Server). The domain is: blue-ocean.social.
If you visit it, you won't see much other than it saying it's a Bluesky PDS. It has no UI.
Before I go on, PLEASE do not respond about why Bluesky is a POS, evil, the best, the worst, better or worse than something else. This is a technical post for people interested in the technical aspects of Bluesky hosting/federation. I, personally, do not use Bluesky. I prefer Mastodon, for my own reasons. Please don't go off-topic.
#Bluesky just released the first piece of its federated infrastructure that uses their #atproto (#ATProtocal) network, which is similar to ActivityPub in what it wants to achieve.
This first independent Bluesky component is meant for people who do not want their data hosted on a corporate-owned server. Unlike Mastodon where data is kept inside a complete social media platform, in Bluesky the data sits in what they call a PDS (Personal Data Server). It does nothing more than serve as a repository of user data and for keeping account information about the person who owns the data on the PDS. It can do nothing more.
You can create a PDS just for yourself, your family, your friends. You can use someone else's PDS if you just prefer to keep your data on a non-commercialized volunteer-run server, exactly as it is done with Mastodon.
This PDS holds everything that the hosted account posts. All the other PDS servers, and Bluesky corporate servers talk to me. I am part of their network. My Bluesky ID is jerry.blue-ocean.social because the ID contains the PDS server name. However, internally, you are also given a DID, a unique identifier that stays with you, like your cell phone number, and shared across all the servers.
If you move your data to a different PDS, you provide the DID, and regardless of your new handle, the system knows you as the same person you were before.
While my account (identity) and my data are solely managed on my new PDS, I still need to use a separate Bluesky app to log in because this is just a data server, a repository similar to GitHub, where my data gets checked in and where my identity is stored.
I used https://bsky.app to log in with my username (jerry.blue-ocean.social) and password but could have used any Bluesky app to log in.
Setting up the PDS was quick and easy. I have it hosted at Digital Ocean on a 2GB/2CPU 60GB droplet for $18/month. Memory use is at 35% and CPU is typically at .3%.
The installation script installs Docker containers. It set up everything quickly. For now, you have to join the admin DISCORD server and give them the domain name for them to enable on the network. In the future, this won't be necessary. They just want to be in touch with early adopting Admins.
The only thing they left out of both the documentation and the set-up script is how to set up the SMTP server. This is important. The PDS is the only server that communicates with users whose identity it's responsible for, so the server needs to be able to send emails. For example, when you confirm your email address in the app, it is the PDS that sends the confirmation number.
Bluesky promises that it fixes some Mastodon issues, like moving to another instance without losing your data should your PDS go down, or the admin kicks you off, but to me, it promises a lot more than it really delivers for this.
Here is an extraordinary blog post about Bluesky that includes how they implement this promise, along with trade-offs about using Bluesky vs. Mastodon: https://lrhodes.net/social/bluesky-portability (@lrhodes)
This PDS release is the first beta, and it comes with restrictions. No PDS can have more than 10 accounts, for now, and is limited to 1,500 events/hour, and 10,000 events/day.
I have 9 more accounts available on the PDS. If anyone wants to use Bluesky without having your data hosted on the corporate PDS, and you plan to actually try using and playing with Bluesky, I'm happy to give you an invitation code. In theory, in the future, you can migrate to any other PDS if you like. So this can be your temporary, or forever home.
Remember, this is beta, and so no guarantee that something bad won't happen, and then you'll lose your data. They make this clear that this is beta software and that people can lose their accounts.
I would like to eventually be able to store data in an S3 bucket and move the database to another server, especially when the 10 account limit lifts. There will be downtime at times while I struggle to upgrade the server and maintain it. Something else to know if you want an account on this PDS.
Admin functions are currently limited to updating to a new version, creating and deleting accounts, password resets, generating invite codes, and a couple of other things. All functions are managed through CLI (command line interface).
If you know of anyone worth following on Bluesky, do tell.
The #bluesky#PDS docs say that you have to open up 443 and 80 so it can create certs. Has anyone heard if you can disable that and host it behind an existing #Nginx proxy?
#Bluesky introduces distinct features in federated social networking, diverging from Mastodon's model.
Key differences include global conversation access regardless of server, composable moderation tools, over 40,000 algorithmic feeds for a tailored timeline, and seamless account portability. These innovations aim to enhance user experience and engagement across the network. https://bsky.social/about/blog/02-22-2024-open-social-web#pds
Bluesky announces early access federation for self-hosters.
The initiative allows for broader connectivity within the #atproto network, enhancing the flexibility and scalability of personal data hosting. Key features include simplified #PDS setup, rate-limited data routing to maintain network integrity, and promising steps towards account migration capabilities. #Bluesky#OpenNetwork https://docs.bsky.app/blog/self-host-federation
Kerala won’t display PM Modi’s flex boards at ration shops, says Pinarayi Vijayan
Pinarayi Vijayan called the Union Government’s directive an election stunt and said that Kerala would consider approaching the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding this.
"ActivityPub and ATProto break #siloing in different ways. #ActivityPub is built around URLs and can "socialise" more or less anything on the Web, which is great, but they don't touch the underlying substrate—either you run your own server or you…are at the mercy of an admin. #ATProto, on its side, provides a good initial foundation for an extensible #PDS designed around user agency and credible exit.
…you can be guaranteed to be able to take your content elsewhere." https://berjon.com/ap-at/
I wounder if we'll see something with #amd64-based #Atom / #Celeron / #COREi chips similar to the NUC Extreme Kits for #Linux#PC's once the mainstream goes #ARM64 or even #RiscV-128...
Linksfraktion: Mohamed Ali und Bartsch bleiben zunächst im Amt
Die Krise der Linkspartei hat für die Fraktion eine Hängepartie zur Folge: Trotz mehrstündiger Diskussion tat sich für den Vorsitz keine Perspektive auf. Die geplante Neubesetzung wird verschoben.
@tagesschau Die #PDS konnte als #sednachfolgepartei nie das Vertrauen der Wähler gewinnen. Durch das Schlucken von Mitbewerbern aus dem linken Wählerspektrum, wollte man eine starke #LINKE schmieden. Dieser Plan sozialistischer Kader ist gescheitert. Der #Sozialismus ist in der Form vermutlich ein Auslaufmodel.