oldgeek

danielatafani, 19 days ago to random Italian

"Before going to a protest, demonstrators or observers should note that their cellphones may subject them to surveillance tactics by law enforcement"
"How Do I Prepare My Phone for a Protest?" @pluralistic https://themarkup.org/the-breakdown/2024/05/04/how-do-i-prepare-my-phone-for-a-protest-updated-2024

futurebird, 26 days ago to random

More seriously, can someone steel-man the case for executive power being less effective if subject to future evaluations and constraints?

I don't think I've ever looked at any singular leader of any organization and thought "the problem is they can't do what they want easily enough"

When I was younger I might have said that the director of a film or play can do better work if they are an unquestioned dictator... but I've grown to even reject that idea.

carnage4life, 2 months ago to random

Really incredible that someone can be good at running companies full of rocket scientists (SpaceX) or brain surgeons (NeuraLink) but then totally 💩the 🛏️ running a social media site.

It really makes you wonder…

GottaLaff, 2 months ago to random

As I keep saying, #GOPhypocrisy, gaslighting, lies, are a given. They use them proudly and openly, they flaunt them as a strategy.

Via Mother Jones’ Stephanie Mencimer:

Last month, #LaraTrump told cpac
that she tells her daughter, age 4: "in the United States we get ahead by merit and merit alone."

Yesterday she was elected co-chair of the Republican National Committee after being endorsed by her father-in-law. #RNC

GottaLaff, 2 months ago to random

Busted..

Via david.heath.writer on Threads:

Journalist Jonathan Katz fact checked Katie Britt’s horrific rape story from her over-the-top rebuttal.
Despite all the drama, it turns out to be a story that happened 20 years ago - and not in the U.S. but in Mexico. It’s a story that was recounted in Congressional testimony in 2015.

Katie #Britt lied when she blamed this on Joe #Biden’s border policies and when she said it happened in the U.S. #SOTU

LeftistLawyer, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to random

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lilithsaintcrow, 2 months ago to random

That moment right after “where’s my phone?” when you realise you’re holding the damn thing.

GottaLaff, 3 months ago to random

😏Via Elie Mystal:

Alabama: Embryos are babies.

Me: Oh, so we can't deport mothers carrying American citizens.

Alabama: Wait.

Me: Also dudes are on the hook for child support nine months earlier.

Alabama: No. Not like that!

mekkaokereke, 3 months ago to random

My hot take on the Vision Pro is the same as my hot take on every AR/VR/Mixed Reality headset produced in the past checks notes 20 years: "If most women can't use your product for 4 hours straight without throwing up, don't try to tell me that it's the future of anything." I said what I said.

Women can use a smartphone indefinitely without nausea. They can use a laptop indefinitely. A gaming console and TV indefinitely. But XR headsets cause motion sickness in most women in under an hour. 🤷🏿‍♂️

Teri_Kanefield, 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago) to random

I had an "ah ha" moment when thinking about the angry responses to yesterday's blog post.

(This one, if you missed it.) https://terikanefield.com/section-3-and-the-spirit-of-liberty/

First, I'll share a positive response. (Screenshot #1)

(Screenshot #2 was typical of the angry responses.)

About 5 years ago, I took the tact of responding to "there are never any consequences" by listing the consequences.

I figured, you know, facts. For example, see #3

1/

carnage4life, 5 months ago to random

The idea that charging people $5-$15 a month for an app or website is morally superior to targeted online advertising has hit the roadblock that it’s too expensive for the average consumer and quite exclusionary if you aren’t rich.

Paywalls now prevent us from sharing news with each other or even talking about the same TV shows. And it’s only going get worse over time as paywalls creep even into the apps we use to communicate with each other.

jerry, 7 months ago to random

I would like to take a moment to orient people to a brand new and highly innovative feature that was recently introduced in mastodon and many other fedi-apps. This feature enables you to not have to see posts from or interact with people whose posts you don’t like, don’t agree with, or are otherwise offended by.

I like to call it the “block button”.

Does someone on the fedi support the “other side” in the Israel/Hamas conflict? Instead of asking your moderators to figure out which side is objectively right in a no win situation, BLOCK! It’s amazing!

Did someone just say that they are frustrated that they got Covid after having gotten all the vaccines? That’s not disinformation, it’s an opinion and you can block them!

Does someone seem a little too happy that one of Biden’s staff got in trouble or that a democrat is getting charged? BLOCK! It’s amazing!

Did someone use the word Nazi in a way that offends you? Yep, you guessed it! BLOCK!

I have no idea what the median age of people on the fediverse are, but it’s disappointing that moderators are effectively having to act as camp counselors for 13 year olds who are having a disagreement. Yes, the substance of these disagreements tend to be much more consequential, but the pettiness is about the same or perhaps worse.

If someone is harassing you or otherwise violating your instances rules, please do report them, but try to apply some perspective.

DarthPutinKGB, 8 months ago to random

Not sure I have the hard currency to pay for Twitter…

georgetakei, 8 months ago to random

It looks like the special investigative grand jury in Georgia had recommended 21 other people to indict, including Sen. Lindsey Graham. That report was unsealed today. Fani Willis pared the list back considerably when she ultimately went to the grand jury sitting in regular session. But those who were on the list, including Sen. Graham, had best look over their shoulders.

mastodonmigration, 8 months ago to Starlink

Musk's sabotage of an ongoing Ukrainian offensive military operation raises more questions: How did Musk know when and where the operation was happening so as to disable communications at the critical moment such that the attack would fail and the drone assets lost? What other operations is he meddling with? Is he sharing any comms or location information gleaned from #Starlink with the Russians?

References: https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/09/07/elon-musk-shuts-down-starlink-in-crimea-to-stop-ukraines-drone-attack-on-russian-navy/, https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/07/politics/elon-musk-biography-walter-isaacson-ukraine-starlink

#Musk #Starlink #Ukraine #Russia

BlackAzizAnansi, 8 months ago to random

What is the best concert that you've ever attended?

Teri_Kanefield, 8 months ago to random

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Teri_Kanefield, 9 months ago to random

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georgetakei, 9 months ago to random

Many truth bombs here. Things are so different than when older generations of Americans were first getting their start. https://www.comicsands.com/gen-x-mom-tiktok-rant-2663036757.html?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=infeed&utm_campaign=linkprogram

mishellbaker, 9 months ago to random

If you feel like you're having a bad day, just be aware that a woman mowing her lawn was recently attacked by a snake that FELL OUT OF THE SKY.

It wrapped around her arm and broke her glasses trying to bite her face.

And then A HAWK swooped down and clawed the living daylights out of the woman with its talons trying to get back the snake it had dropped.

Just in case, you know, she wasn't already a hundred percent certain that she had pissed off the universe.

baldur, 9 months ago to random

I didn't expect it, but it's unsurprising in hindsight that the fediverse is receptive to Ursula M. Franklin's thoughts on technology.

The book of her CBC Massey lectures, The Real World of Technology, gets my strongest recommendation. It transformed my perspective on tech in so many ways.

It is an amazing book that should be required reading.

erictopol, 9 months ago to ai

An astute essay on how medical education needs to adapt to generative #AI

"The whole idea of a medical curriculum built by humans is now in doubt"

"AI questions by patients will inevitably lead to an evolution of the patient-doctor relationship"

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2304993

image/png

18+ sepdroid, 1 year ago to random

@mekkaokereke I thought this went back to integration of swimming pools and white folks losing their minds, pouring bleach on people in pools, filling pools up with cement rather than sharing them. Does it go back longer than that?