toolbear

toolbear, 10 months ago to random

I gave @elk a try for a few days. I like it.

I imagine it'll work best once hosted by your own instance. Sharing links to posts is wonky when using #Elk through their elk.zone domain. I'm sure this is out of necessity, otherwise you'd constantly be breaking out of the Elk UI and back on your instance's web UI (which for most is probably vanilla Mastodon).

The layout was a little dense and busy for me. Probs needed more time to adjust. The inline quote posts and superior threading UI were nice.

toolbear, 5 months ago to random

Does there exist already OR is there interest in a forming a #ConsumerUnion for folks who collect domain names and use domain name registrars or their resellers?

1/2

#DomainNames #DomainRegistration
#Domain
#Consumer #Union

toolbear, 7 days ago to random

#Boeing is killing whistleblowers like they're #Russian dissidents, so please DO keep with the #guillotine imagery. The oligarchs are afraid. That's why they're killing us. They need to be more afraid, though.

As far as #Boeing executives go, we're past the point of intimidation. Some Boeing execs and probably some #shareholders need to die to make this right. They aren't going to stop killing us otherwise.

toolbear, 3 months ago to random

Mutual aid at scale probably looks like dues, tithes, or taxes (same thing, right?) so in healthy communities you ought pay your dues. But…TAXES aren't inevitable. You don't have to pay. Yet you probably should.

DEATH then. Only death is inevitable. Unless you're invincible, eternal, or immortal. You're always coming back, always picking up the pieces of the last turn.

So LIVING is the only thing we cannot escape. There is nothing we have to do. Except we cannot avoid living, even when we try.

toolbear, 10 months ago to Facebook

I've decided to block the #Universeodon domain for myself because the admin Byron Miller is, frankly, an absolute asshole and exactly the kind of tech bro that makes me hate my industry right now. Plenty of bad vibes from this guy BEFORE his backroom dealings with #Facebook .

Feels bad cutting off the many decent folks on universeodon[.]com. I don't have the headspace to wonder what Fediverse fuckery Byron is using his server for or the extra vetting I find myself doing with folks in his orbit.

toolbear, 4 months ago to Unions

#ConsumerUnions are a complementary way to help more companies unionize and to support existing worker #Unions, right? Is this common knowledge?

I don't see a lot of chatter like organizing folks to buy goods & services from union shops and to lobby the non-union companies they do business with to unionize (or get out of the way — or BE SUPPORTIVE — when the workers finally do). But this seems to make so much sense, I assume it's happening and I just haven't read enough or found my people.

toolbear, 3 months ago to random

Robotexts from Rep. Porter where there's never a human on their end are dehumanizing. An automatic bullhorn spouting "send monies" and "vote harder".

"Hi there! It’s Katie Porter, progressive Democrat…".

No one replies when I respond like it's the start of a genuine conversation. It's not her. It's a machine that wants to trick me into thinking it's the human Katie.

The real human Katie endorses this. That's sad making. I am sad. The sadness is kept fresh by the neverending robotexts.

#USPol

toolbear, 10 months ago to random

I will migrate to another instance in a few days. I've enjoyed #UnionPlace.

I disagree with a wait & see approach to Facebook. I understand the reasoning around access, but it's misguided. There are safer ways to achieve those aims. Allowing FB in is a contradiction of "LGBTQ: Safe Space". In deciding to favor access & reach over upholding that server rule, it feels like I will be made unsafe here.

I'm disappointed that a union instance chose to sit out the FediPact / FaceBlock virtual picket.

toolbear, 1 year ago to tv

I'm rewatching #Fringe.

I don't think it's fair that J.J. Abrams used up all the lens flares. Is that even a renewable resource? Do lens flares grow back?

---

#TV #Cinematography #LensFlare #OMGMyEyes

toolbear, 1 year ago to random

> Altruism stops for a child crossing the road.
>
> Effective Altruism keeps going so as not to
> delay the hundreds of people in traffic behind.
>
> "Longtermism" swerves to hit the child so no
> one will ever again be delayed by them or
> their descendants.
>
> Hope that helps.
>
> — Rúnar @runarorama, Sep 2022

#EA #EffectiveAltruism
#Longtermism
#TESCREAL

toolbear, 10 months ago to fediverse

Boosts welcome. ISO of a #Fediverse community where a NB tech-savvy person with ASD would feel safe & welcome. I'm asking for a friend; this is someone who has been feeling isolated and is looking for their people.

Recommendations can include, but aren't limited to Mastodon or microblogging instances. This will be their first time on Fedi, so sustainability & safety are important. I've suggested https://tech.lgbt/about to them. As an outsider looking in, their instance seems like a match to me.

toolbear, 10 months ago to FediPact

#WelcomeToMastodon fellow misfit loser zealots!

#FediPact

toolbear, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago) to Facebook

Do the celebrities on #Universeodon realize that they're about to effectively leave the Fediverse and rejoin #Facebook unless they migrate to an instance which blocks #InstagramThreads

I know George Takei and Elvira are there.

EDIT: Don't harrass those decent folks. It's their choice. This is about knowledge. I wouldn't expect them to be keeping up with the latest developments anyway.

toolbear, 3 months ago to Netflix

If you're a Netflix employee and are comfortable connecting me with either the Trans or LGBTQ ERGs regarding a collective action thing, please reply or DM.

I would like to discuss a visit to Los Gatos campus on Leap Day (Thu, Feb 29th, 2024) to talk with anyone interested about Netflix workers forming a Tech Union. I'll give you a copy of Ethan Marcotte's book if you give me an assist getting in touch with an ERG representative ✨

https://bookshop.org/p/books/you-deserve-a-tech-union-ethan-marcotte/20400532?ean=9781952616600

#Netflix #Union #TechUnion #LeapDay2024

toolbear, 4 months ago to random

Disappointed to report that the glory days of #AgileBits (aka the makers of #1Password who have abandoned AgileBits and just become 1Password the Company) are over.

1Password had been showing early signs of #Enshittification with the update from version 7 to version 8.

As of today I can tell it's turning into nagware: treating the UI as a billboard for advertising, and most obviously & predictably boiling the frog via a rentier capitalism subscription model, despite prior assurances.

Bummer.

toolbear, 1 year ago to random

I gave up on Neal Stephenson in 2022 and I'm still bummed because I love a lot of his stories.

But…

⚠️ thinks the mafia is good, actually

⚠️ sympathetic portrayal of U.S. domestic terrorists (i.e. separatist militias)

⚠️ Bezos bestie IRL

⚠️ legitimized geoengineering

⚠️ thinks ethno states are good, actually

⚠️ intellectual elitist

⚠️ unrepentant libertarian vibes

⚠️ vagina dentata

His work contributed to and kind of validated my techno-optimist blind spots.

toolbear, 10 months ago to mastodon

This can’t be right?

I blocked someone awhile ago. They moved to a new server. They are no longer blocked. They are in my timeline. When I view their profile, my private note field for them has been helpfully 🥴 updated with a system message telling me that I used to have them blocked.

I’m sorry, but WUT?!

#Mastodon #Safety #WTF

toolbear, 3 months ago to random

It'd be kinda cool if on May 1st, 2028 we kicked up the General Strike even MORE:

• Release all the blueprints

• Share the secret formula

• Openly distribute all the "closed" source code

• Send all the financials to Bloomberg and Business Insider and Yahoo!

• Give away the intellectual "property"

• Talk about the executive sex-pests; share that photo of Mr. CEO Grabhands from that compulsory company holiday party

No More Secrets. SNEAKERS style.

#GeneralStrike #Jubilee

toolbear, 10 months ago to HashtagGames

Eyes SHOW MORE Shut (1999)

#MastodonAMovie
#HashtagGames

toolbear, 1 month ago to random

Does anyone have a list of instances run or taken over by "The Fourth Estate" folks or that Jeff character?

I didn't have journa(.)host blocked on this account until just now and it reminded me that Jeff had tried a few other Masto instance shell games.

toolbear, 2 months ago to random

My impassioned voicemails left for California representatives Adam Schiff and Katie Porter sharing my extreme disappointment that they ran opposite Rep. Barbara Lee for U.S. Senate will surely get Adam and Katie to see the light, step out of the race, and endorse Rep. Lee. That is how good a wizard I am 🙄

I DO feel better about myself. I'm also joining a Rep. Barbara Lee #GOTV phone bank tonight.

https://www.mobilize.us/barbaralee/event/592869/

#uspol #USSenate
#BarbaraLeeForSenate
#BarbaraLeeSpeaksForMe

toolbear, 2 months ago to mastodon

A big #Mastodon problem is that things appear broken and we're told "it's by design" and then later things appear broken and we're told "it's because decentralized" and then later things appear broken and we're told "it's an outage or DDOS" and then later things appear broken and we're told "it's folks got defederated by a rogue admin during some drama" and then later things appear broken because they are.

It is a fucked system and impressively it's better than the alternatives in many ways.

toolbear, 1 month ago to random

GOOD COPS QUIT

toolbear, 1 month ago to internet

The "Low Data Mode" features to the contrary — NO the tech companies don't actually care NOR did they actually solve the problem for folks on metered connections. They checked a compliance box and called it done. The assumption that bandwidth and data are so cheap and limitless as to be free permeates my industry. Always on is assumed and folks who try and deviate suffer.

A single misconfigured device autodownloading an OS or app or game update will blow through a monthly #Internet allotment.

toolbear, 23 days ago to Russia

#Trump routinely has enemies killed, enabled by the #FBI. #Boeing unexisted a whistleblower. Deans of journalism at universities who decry attrocities are silenced.

This is what living in a #mafia state feels like. #Russia had it worse in the '90s than we'll have it, but it's the same gameplan: mob corruption, dismantle everything, sell it for parts.

There's no escaping a lot of suffering now. We've been abdicating democracy to unworthy champions. Time to buckle up and do the work ourselves.