My dad, being the avid Fox News reader he is, mentioned he thinks the warming climate is "maybe" because the Earth is just closer to the Sun -- it isn't, it reached its furthest point in its orbit a few days ago, and it's also a yearly cycle, which wouldn't affect things over the course of multiple years.
After I pointed that out to him, he mentioned some crazy conspiracy theory (which he doesn't buy into, I think) about sunspots being portals to Hell, which prompted me to look into sunspots a bit more, and now I'm realizing we're in a variable-but-roughly-decade-or-two-long solar cycle, the maximum of which we're expected to reach by the end of the year now. That solar maximum, if I remember correctly, is primarily magnetic, and might cause some radio issues (the NASA page says stuff like satellites and GPS mostly) and maybe, if we're lucky, it could maybe bring the aurora further south, but probably not.
I just remembered ntfy's server-sent events implementation, mistook it for websockets, and thought, man, that could be useful for server-executed TUIs and interactive CLIs!
Turns out, cURL has Websockets support but not in the CLI. It's planned to eventually, and when it does, I kinda hope there's an option that sends a few CLI/TUI-related convenience headers when starting the socket, so one could run i.e. curl wss://calckey.foo/curl --tui-headers and get a full blown network-oriented TUI!
Despite being anti-car-dependence, I do still like cars and stuff, they're pretty neat (but why the fuck do you need a grocery hauler that big?!).
I'm not in the market for anything over a hundred bucks, or anything that requires a monthly payment of over $10, so yeah no cars or houses or anything like that...
it is kinda fun to shop though. local classifieds has one $900 listing of a 91 junker, which might or might not work, who knows... there are also some fairly cheap (~$8000) new-ish Nissan Leafs, which are ugly and electric (which is both an upside and a downside to be fair), which if I could get loans (nobody will let me, for some reason they won't tell me) I might actually be able to afford the car, but I'd need to get a charger installed and that's its own expensive hell.
This bill, chiefly designed to deny rights and endanger trans students, reached the governor's desk on June 29.
Now Governor Cooper, a Democrat, is likely to veto it, but if he doesn't do so in time, the bill becomes law anyway.
If (hopefully when) he vetoes the bill, the General Assembly will reconvene, as required by law and under the Governor's direction, to discuss whether to override the veto. This will be harder than passing it in the first place, so there's still some hope.
I'm on vacation in the mountains this week. Of course we've all noticed just how much quieter and more peaceful it is here. As I pointed out to my mom earlier (is this from NotJustBikes?), it's not that cities (or the suburbs) are loud, it's that cars are loud. In my neighborhood the noise is mostly from the various AC units — it gets really quiet when the power goes out; there is still quite a bit of car noise though, and when the highway opens, there's going to be a lot more.
Like at home, there's not much of anywhere to go from the house on foot. There's a general store across the street, which is a highway (in the mountains, it's not like a city highway) on the top of a hill, so you can't see the cars coming up the hill until it's too late, and there's a lake/pond and park accessible to neighborhood residents and their accompanied guests.
While park access sure is nice, I wouldn't like to live here. Biking from the house is unforgiving on these curvy, hilly mountain roads. I'm also surrounded by idiots here — it's the kind of place people fly Confederate flags and decorate their houses and yards for the 4th of July, where the only big box stores are Dollar General and Walmart, and where the only — the ONLY! — plausible way to get anywhere is by car (even more so than at home!), not to mention the weather I'm just not ready for.
I read a bit of @timkmak 's most recent (?) Counteroffensive newsletter, and the story about estrangement over wild conspiracy theories, propaganda, and outright lies reminds me of something much closer to home, and I think it was actually Tim Mak's article I read about it! Of course I'm talking about the situation with American far-right propaganda outlets like Fox, Newsmax, and friends; how (even without TV!) they spread hate, lies, and convince people to vote, advocate, and boycott against even themselves...
It's really funny how authoritarian regimes all act alike. I bet if they could get that pesky Constitution out of the way, Republicans here would leap onto the opportunity to mandate only their narrative, only their "news," only their views...
Something my dad said a while back, which he says is from a video he watched where a guy went around and asked... he said, what has Trump done as President to make you hate him? What policies did he enact, or what orders did he sign?
I have the world's worst memory so I can't list any off the top of my head although I'm sure that question can be answered as is, despite it being a loaded question and a Ben Shapiro arguing technique.
You can say someone deserves to go to jail for their conduct before becoming President-- I'm talking things like Trump's own grooming and pedophilia yet to be discovered in a legally-holdable capacity (but due to his ties to Epstein, it's all but certain). You can absolutely say you hate a guy because he's vocally misogynistic, bigoted, a white supremacist, a fascist, a wannabe dictator... And you have every right to say he shouldn't be President, he shouldn't have any kind of money or power, he shouldn't have command over the military or nuclear systems, and/or he shouldn't be representing us on the international stage.
People like my dad also like to pretend the January 6 insurrectionists were totally justified, that (at least) if they were right, that would be the thing to do. The key problem there is, they weren't right or justified, there's no way in hell they could have been. The lies that caused them to interrupt the transition of power as a result of a valid election, one of the most protected elections in the country's history, were completely baseless, solely inspired by their candidate losing, and had been tested thoroughly, yielding no substantial changes. Out of hundreds of lawsuits, only six of them succeeded. There were many more instances of out of court examinations and recounts as well, very few of which yielded any changes.
Maybe the "policy decision" you can say you hate Trump for is not declaring the insurrectionists domestic terrorists, which they were, and many of them are being criminally charged for it (and treason), but not enough.
When do "aiding and abetting a traitor against the United States" charges come in?
I suspect (I sure damn hope) that a lot of instances will move to block pretty quickly when (not if!) Threads gets caught with data it should not be keeping, or using non-Threads data for advertising purposes, or something like that.
My position therefore is: give them a chance. Not the company; no fucking way. The people: for my (and others') friends and family, for government officials, and for various feeds and offices that publish important messages (weather alerts, travel delays, school closings, etc) on platforms like Twitter, #Facebook, and #Instagram, but don't here.
If you want to block #Threads, go for it. That's your loss. If you want to block anyone who interacts with Threads, I mean that's your right and all but that's an awful idea, because it'll probably split the Fediverse into two.
However: I want to know who signed the NDA. Those instances do need to be blocked or actioned against. Their admins cannot be trusted, if they're going to meet with #Meta (!!) and go "all is good"; there's no way all is good when you're talking about Meta.
The only way I'd trust Threads is if they publicly signed a legally binding contract that basically said, we're gonna follow your lead, we aren't going to interfere with development, and we're going to interoperate as well as is reasonable. That would allow them to be sued for breach of contract; although given the money they have, it would have to be an incredible amount, written in the contract, that would kill their business.
cc @stux (this would ping you if you weren't on mastodon)
boosts welcome, respectful disagreement also welcome
I'm not shy about being in support of basic human rights. Fuck Nazis, fuck bigots, and fuck anyone who sides with them. It seems to be the position he takes, too, although to a less involved/invested degree.
Linus has always been a bit of a spicy dude, although he's not as spicy as RMS, not as aggressive about it, and usually (all the times I've seen) totally justified and sane; keeping things in order, working with each other instead of against anyone, etc.
He makes a comment stating his opinions-- he's entitled to those opinions, right or wrong. At least his opinions are based in honest-to-God facts, and not complete lies. And he's almost¹ factually right about the commenter being a "moron of the first order": in a related ItsFoss post, the Moron commented, calling the post's author a "woke communist" too, citing that his comment was apparently not included; someone else replied to that, saying "you're just calling everything you don't like 'communist.'" Clearly it's just a stock phrase for this person, with no bearing on what the words mean ("you probably couldn’t actually explain what either of those words actually mean, could you?").
¹ "Moron" is technically a medical term, alongside idiot, stupid, and lame. These terms have come to refer to those who make unwise decisions or think or say things that reflect such a mental capacity. The colloquial use of the word applies aptly, but maybe not the dictionary or DSM definition.
I guess the auto industry isn't absurdly dominant over public policy in the UK. If they were, they'd be getting irresistible pushes to move to right-hand driving so they don't have to produce as many variations of cars (and therefore they can save a tiny bit).
I think there's an extra danger, a first-amendment kind, in trying to pull kids off the internet. Especially in America, where third places for anyone under 21 simply don't exist anymore (and all the 21-and-ups have left are clubs and bars, which aren't comfortable for people who don't want to drink). The way youths communicate with each other nowadays, spreading information and completing the rather inadequate education this country has (in areas like identity, mental illness, finances, and history), is via the Internet, primarily through platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok.
If you kick kids off the Internet with nowhere else to go, you're silencing them. You're walling them off, which causes its own set of consequences for the child and for the next generation at large.
Plus, it's not like they aren't skirting around age verification on 21+ sites and trading nudes at 16 (for better or for worse).
the Wikipedia page I linked says a school is an example of a third place. I'd argue it's actually a second place (like work) most of the time, but it can act as a third place when it's being used for extracurricular activities (like when a school is closed and the playgrounds and fields are open for public use).
It also directly conflicts with the page's criteria for a third place, which includes "no obligation to be there." At least in North Carolina, you're required by law to be in school (or have been expelled, maybe?) until age 16.
I made the mistake of reading the comments on the article, and I found a control-crazed parent in there... I swear we're gonna start needing parenting licenses, because some people can't behave...
I've said it once and I'll say it again; louder for those in the back: Fediblock and quick instance blocking are going to be the downfall of the #Fediverse. It's going to be why people go to #Nostr and #Bluesky.
We've formed our own little culture here and while some parts are great, we've really got to be more receptive to people with different needs and different tolerances.
Fedi has existed with these options in place for the entire time I've used the space. So... at least six years.
People who want a porous free-for-all can use the other services you mention.
I'd already given up on or been chased off of countless platforms and boards where moderators were either unable or unwilling to their job, year after year. Space after space.
I should absolutely have avoided browsing the Fediblock tag.
I ran into a lot of disgusting stuff in there as well as someone claiming the Newsie admin is running even more instances than he probably actually is, without proof that it's actually him and not an imposter.
Granted, Jeff has always been suspicious to me.
Someone else should post about the dangers of defederation if one remains on Newsie.
I feel like the incident this morning in Cary is still unresolved. I'm still hearing that there were three kids with guns, yet only one was found.
Who's to say they're not going to have another scare tomorrow when the other two go back for the guns they stashed? Or, how would we know that there was only one individual involved in the incident?