@MichaelTBacon@social.coop avatar

MichaelTBacon

@MichaelTBacon@social.coop

Day job: #geospatial #datascience
Academic research: #LandReform #STS #Scotland #Ecology #Landscape #CommunityOwnership

STS, planning geography, ecology, geospatial data, stuff.

I live and raise a fuss in #Durham #NC

MA Geography
Ph.D. Constructed Environment

He/him http://git.io/vxjC7

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jonny, (edited ) to random
@jonny@neuromatch.social avatar

Dear computer friends - as information workers on strike at , im trying to think of some digital picketing strategies. Ways of incurring additional costs and disruptions to operation that are within the bounds of the law. One of the biggest levers we have is grading, and UCLA uses a fork (?) of Canvas (bruinlearn). Does anyone have any bright ideas for how to run up a cloud bill? Something along the lines of uploading enormous files to course pages, asking students to download a directory with millions of files as a .zip, that kinda thing. Something thats an arms length shy of CFAA but something that could let our students and remote colleagues help with the strike. Any ideas? Boosts welcome. (I do not speak for or represent UAW 4811 in any way as a rank and file member)

Edit: dm me for my signal if you are curious about such a topic and are not necessarily volunteering any information in the affirmative or negative

MichaelTBacon,
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop avatar

@jonny It depends on how their install is configured. Storage usually isn't that expensive and neither is networking. However, large numbers of instances running are. Thousands of simultaneous logins might do the trick.

MichaelTBacon,
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop avatar

@jonny Generally apps are scaled to handle average load, and the thing that has broken apps since time immemorial is sudden simultaneous use of by lots of users.

GeePawHill, to random
@GeePawHill@mastodon.social avatar

People advise one not to use Chrome -- I don't -- but they also advise to use Firefox, instead -- I do -- but for the record, it is not clear to me that any of these browsers can be trusted.

It feels more like Chrome is just a chapter ahead, and the others will soon catch up.

MichaelTBacon,
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop avatar

@GeePawHill

It's never going to be a pure experience, but I find that Firefox with Privacy Badger installed and a generous use of account containers to segment your life a little bit is at least considerably better than many of the alternatives.

sue, to random
@sue@glasgow.social avatar

Folk using "algorithms" to refer to everything that's wrong with the web the way folk believed "miasma" caused the spread of disease pre sanitation

MichaelTBacon,
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop avatar

@sue

It's an ongoing frustration for me that federation is seen as the end goal, instead of something that opens other possibilities for improvement.

Federation could be a really good first step, but we need to follow it up with assemblages of federated instances that collectively make agreements on rules and norms that provide safety.

And we keep, you know, not doing that.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Friends: Who are you listening to right now?

Me, very hip: Oh, you wouldn't know them.

This is a song playing the piano and howling and barking, and legit, he sounds pretty good. I've heard much more insane Mingus albums

MichaelTBacon,
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop avatar

@KydiaMusic @pattykimura @latelesley @stevenray

Yeah, I was into it at first but the uncanny valley of there being too many actual chords and the tones being off threw it off.

I honestly like the original audio better. Mostly because the dog is clearly into it.

https://social.coop/@Carnivius@masto.ai/112529858734038207

MichaelTBacon, to random
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop avatar

The headline on @404mediaco 's podcast about how Google just got worse again with AI (which I didn't listen to because I almost never listen to podcasts but anyway) just made me hit upon a question:

Is Google the new GM?

This would have seemed ridiculous just a few years ago, but the combination of rent seeking, incompetence, and chimera-chasing is starting to seem, well, familiar.

amcasari, to random
@amcasari@hachyderm.io avatar

Sam Altman may not be able to eat in SF, but Bernie Sanders can waltz in your froyo shop in Vermont and no one blinks an eye.

MichaelTBacon,
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop avatar

@amcasari I saw Bernie in a Columbia SC hotel getting breakfast from the hot bar. Apparently the staff said he was a dick to them. But it was still low key.

inquiline, to random
@inquiline@union.place avatar

It's not an ethics crisis; it's a structural, corruption-by-design crisis

#SCOTUS #uspol

MichaelTBacon,
@MichaelTBacon@social.coop avatar

@inquiline We should openly talk about the Federalist Society as a successful decades-long conspiracy to corrupt the judiciary.

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