Posts by Haste@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #AujkADTetgB8xfnWxE by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-06-03T00:16:48Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@Garwboy Howdy fam; investigative journalist here. I’m really sorry this happened to you, it sounds fucking awful.Would you be willing to forward that email to me, and link to your original? I’m unfamiliar with the sender and very much outside of academia, but you’ve got me curious.I’d like to see how widely this is occurring, and if I can identify the humans behind the AI that are using it to obfuscate their involvement.Bonus points if you self-host and have a list of scrapers
(DIR) Post #Av35TInaWN5dpO1aCm by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-05-17T01:52:28Z
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Today I was stopped by a grocery store rent-a-cop to check my receipt for a single 20oz bottle of Coke.As best as I can tell, there is now a mandatory queue for every customer leaving the building.I remain skeptical that the QFC is really suffering that much shoplifting loss, but even if they are, we’re talking about food. They probably need it more than your shareholders do.
(DIR) Post #Av35TJtISdFbDNhek4 by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-05-17T01:55:22Z
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Also, as if I need another reason not to shop at brick and mortar stores? You have no checkout lanes but you can afford to staff every door with two to three mall cops each?(They were also watching the elevator; I had to ask one to move in order to reach my drink coke in the freezer behind them.)Fuck it, let’s go all the way and set up a TSA queue for entrance, too.
(DIR) Post #Av35TKscmcJ6HaOdKi by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-05-17T01:58:13Z
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There was a sticker on the self-checkout machine (which is constantly malfunctioning) that asked “HAVE YOU SEEN BOB”? They had at least two per machine.I asked the overworked line monitor if that was a benefits program (I’m really sorry for bothering you by the way), and no, it’s a corporate-veiled threat reminding shoppers to check under their cart, and a reminder they’re being surveilled.(Apparently it stands for some variation of “buried under buggy”, which requires explanation to obey)
(DIR) Post #Av35TLXOL2uuK1TBsO by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-05-17T02:01:57Z
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This is to say nothing of the flat screen tv’s above every checkout lane demonstrating that a recording is in process, or the individual screen attached to every self-checkout machine with an unflattering upper-nostril camera feed of the person using it.Or the common self-care items that are locked behind cases; you now need to find one of those elusive, phantom employees and ask them for permission to buy that razor or bottle of shampoo.
(DIR) Post #Av35TMODAfASxqBNCq by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-05-17T02:04:37Z
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Even if you don’t care about your neighbors, and think this won’t affect you because you’re monied and can afford to Instacart your lunch everyday or whatever, this has knock-on effects for you.Did you notice you usually can’t buy those locked products on Instacart to begin with? It’s not that they’ve stopped carrying intuit razor refills or whatever; it’s that another app company decided to delist them so shoppers don’t have to spend the extra time.
(DIR) Post #Av35TNCY9VQxTxjZfU by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-05-17T02:08:17Z
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I feel like I’m damned either way. I’m at the point I would rather order online because they’ve made it such an intimidating pain in the fucking *ass* to pick up toilet paper, but then I know there’s another underpaid gig employee on the other end who has to do it on my behalf.It boils my blood to see earnings reports bemoaning falling profits or whatever when the error is entirely unforced.
(DIR) Post #Av35TNkw5ewJCbp2GW by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-05-17T02:10:34Z
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I hate feeling like I’m a Rikers inmate because I’m out of toothpaste.And more than anything I hate that there are people literally starving outside of these establishments, every day, without fail.Literally behind the rent a cop, within fifteen feet. Every minute of every day.But no, they keep their back to them and strip search grandma to make sure she rang up all her saltines correctly.
(DIR) Post #Av35TOMVpwzt59P2ps by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-05-17T02:12:52Z
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Nobody had to radicalize me. I walked outside with my fucking eyes open, and wasn’t afraid to talk to strangers.That’s ALL it takes for it to be plainly obvious how callous and sick we’ve become.
(DIR) Post #AxiUJUGYBFJ3VYTkJM by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-08-31T03:43:35Z
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@futurebird oof. Nicely done
(DIR) Post #AzPyYMqaOTDsi8cQeO by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-10-21T00:58:24Z
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I’ve been doing my job all wrong. Apparently all the cool journalists have their stories accidentally texted to them by idiots now?What’s a girl got to do to get some nuclear launch codes in the group chat?
(DIR) Post #Azl8RxEdsi7mWxlRBo by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-10-30T22:48:55Z
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As we feared, all previous versions of #Affinity have been deprecated and replaced with a new freemium version— and a funnel to Canva, which acquired developer Serif over a year ago.Up-sales are AI features, and the functional, pay-once versions have been removed from stores for Apple products. No details on how long the license activation services for V1 and V2 will remain, so even if you bought it, someday you won’t be able to install it.Was my favorite tool, I’m devastated. :(#art
(DIR) Post #Azl8RyR5PvfmFqatE0 by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-10-30T22:54:32Z
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I’m sure @pluralistic is already tracking this, but something I haven’t read much about is how consumer attempts to “vote with their wallets” can be thwarted like this, thanks to DRM.If you decided to leave Adobe’s walled garden years ago, surprise, one has just been constructed around you. Even an investment in single-purchase tools that have values you agree with, can be thwarted by future acquisitions you have absolutely no way of anticipating. Those things can be taken away.
(DIR) Post #Azl8RzeatC4W21vBuy by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-10-30T22:59:02Z
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Years ago, I made the conscious decision to migrate to the Affinity suite, because I wanted to be in control of my tools. I was not interested in paying digital rent via subscription.I thought that investing in single-purchase software would give me that agency.I now realize I made a mistake.I forgot to consider license activation. It didn’t occur to me that an acquisition could press undo on my behalf.So, lesson learned. Now I need to update my mental model of what makes software safe.
(DIR) Post #Azl8S0GWcAPfvffU2a by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-10-30T23:03:00Z
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By the way, I reached out to the Affinity team for a statement immediately after their October announcement. They never responded.It is now clear why they left the community in limbo, with the suspension of their storefront and cryptic communications. They knew they had bad news.Anyway, here’s their new announcement. You can decide for yourself if it’s a grift.Once I’ve recovered what I can, I imagine I’ll be moving to an open-source alternative. https://www.affinity.studio/get-affinity
(DIR) Post #Azl8S1UO475zixA4Ho by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-10-30T23:29:38Z
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@FeloniousPunk @noondlyt What’s the landscape look like today? I’ve seen Krita and Inkscape thrown around, but I haven’t learned to use either and am not sure what they’re capable of in terms of parity.
(DIR) Post #Azl8S2x8chgiGPcXjs by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-10-31T00:11:10Z
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@FeloniousPunk @noondlyt that’s okay, I asked the forbidden question of “what’s good”. The fediverse is probably triangulating my location as we speak
(DIR) Post #B0D5Xq40jz3A1gewWO by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-11-13T17:20:41Z
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@Nonilex unfortunately, this seems likely. Shortly after the Associated Press published this, CBS reported that the administration is actively considering escalating conflict with Venezuela.Extralegally, of course.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-venezuela-military-options/
(DIR) Post #B0HEZMszrzKiKf9S3E by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-11-15T17:07:07Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
When I was a teenager, I was active in the warez scene, because I was broke but passionate about technology and art.At some point, probably after Steam but before Spotify, there was a tipping point in the cost and ease of buying digital goods— and I stopped pirating software for literal, actual decades.It’s rare to look back on your childhood and think, hey maybe she had a point actually. I have a feeling a lot of people are having similar thoughts right now.https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/disney-ceo-says-ai-is-an-engagement-engine-and-disney-is-soon-gonna-be-crammed-to-bursting-with-it/
(DIR) Post #B1efsZvh0bEhGzsogi by Haste@mastodon.social
2025-12-26T23:02:44Z
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@futurebird my entry for number three would be “It Still Fits (My Pikachu T-Shirt)”, which is too silly to share with most people but delightfully earnest. My partner and I sing it around the house regularly.