Posts by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
(DIR) Post #AQPdt2jHsOscCkqOMC by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2022-12-08T20:11:50Z
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@johnefrancis I think the per-user cost probably goes down as the number of users goes up. mstdn.ca (if I recall correctly) was running at a bit over $1,000/month to support 22,000 users, or about 5¢/user/month (note that that's just infrastructure; if we added in the market value of the time @chad and the moderators volunteer every month, it would be many times that). If the number of users doubled, the costs probably wouldn't double with them, so the per-user cost would fall even further.
(DIR) Post #AR9VCWlwRQiivZsp7Y by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2022-12-31T02:23:18Z
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I would love it if the #fediverse had a convention for identifying bot accounts, and #Mastodon had a feature for optionally blocking them.If this already exists and I don't know about it, go ahead and make my day! 🙂
(DIR) Post #AT3cHpWtPfuSzraKCu by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-02-23T23:11:44Z
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@mekkaokereke That's an important point. We've seen in #Canada, too, how you can't separate #sexism from #racism.For example, Nellie McClung — the best known of the Famous Five who successfully pushed for women's suffrage — was also a eugenicist.After she was elected to the Alberta legislature, she helped push through the Alberta Sexual Sterilization Act, which resulted in the forced sterilisation of more than 1,000 indigenous women.
(DIR) Post #AU1h75hVYDSagFasRE by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-03-24T11:25:38Z
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The calm takeaway from this #TikTok panic should be "mobile #apps collect way too much surveillance data; I'll uninstall most of them and use the #browser."That applies to apps from companies based in the U.S. or E.U. as much as those based in China or Russia.#security
(DIR) Post #AXDtUAaiGzlXw5N6ie by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-06-30T16:31:51Z
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@worldsendless Great post! It's a good reminder that #journalism used to be capital-intensive, and that served as a barrier to entry that allowed the newspaper oligarchs to become wealthy.Once upon a time, daily #newspapers required the boxes you mentioned, a dedicated printing plant, a fleet of trucks, expensive wire services, and 100s of employees.Then radio came along. Then TV. Then cheap printing. Then desktop publishing. Then 24-hour cable news. Then the Web…
(DIR) Post #AY1aiI9qTbwgtbCxQu by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-07-24T16:19:40Z
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@itnewsbot "Better" depends on your perspective. If you have other Apple stuff, #iOS is still better for you for interoperability; if you're not stuck in their ecosystem, then most of the benefits vanish.For me, #Android was "better" when I was in hospital after my spinal injury, unable even to sit up for the first 2+ months: I installed a full Linux dev environment in #Termux and was able to work on ourairports.com on my phone, lying flat on my back.As I wrote, there are many perspectives.
(DIR) Post #AYCSqOduzgxBsyOJc0 by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-07-29T13:10:26Z
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Today is System Adminstrator Appreciation Day.Let's send some love to the people who tirelessly head off threats before we know they exist, protect our personal information, and are awake at 3:00 am to make sure our sites keep running. https://sysadminday.com/#SystemAdministratorDay
(DIR) Post #AYV8OTcTMkyOuwjI6C by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-08-05T13:19:43Z
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What would be a fair #copyright period, balancing the rights of creators and the public?I'd suggest 25 years or to the end of the creator's life, whichever is longer.
(DIR) Post #AYV8OpUm23t2lRIS9Y by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-08-07T12:18:20Z
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@Aknorals I understand your PoV — when it's my choice, I release code, data, and documents as public domain, b/c I consider even FOSS/CC licenses too restrictive (they still involve a #copyright claim).But I'm a white guy born into the professional class, child of a teacher and a lawyer, and I earned a decent income as a consultant before I was sick. I recognise that there is a strong racial and gender component involved in the ability to make a living from code, data, or art, even with #UBI.
(DIR) Post #AYV8OqhvWe0CWWSTIG by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-08-07T12:31:57Z
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@Aknorals White people who grew up in economic security (even if money is tight at the moment) find funding sources like #Patreon a bit light-hearted—cf links like "Buy me a coffee on X"—but they might feel too much like charity or panhandling to racialised ppl or to ppl who haven't always been food- and shelter-secure.#Copyright isn't a good solution, but with tighter limits it might be the least bad one, until we figure out a way to pay #creators that doesn't depend on passing a virtual hat.
(DIR) Post #AZFwws9dI49qyc6jCq by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-08-30T12:27:00Z
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@Wolven The thing about vaccines (if Dr Williams will excuse a layperson pontificating) is that they're largely a public good (like parks or clean water), not personal protection.Vaccines (like masks) don't usually provide 100% protection: you need the people around you also to be vaccinated, and the people around them to be vaccinated, etc, for them to work.That's why even fiscal conservatives should support free vaccines: they make for a healthier, wealthier population.#publicHealth
(DIR) Post #AZiUtlenaxQAxdBRxI by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-09-12T14:08:22Z
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I wonder if the CBC would call parents talking to kids about cis gender identities "a sensitive discussion."#gender #news
(DIR) Post #AbQkeLzf3VBreknVA0 by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-11-03T13:15:20Z
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@hn50 kindly sharedApple: Android is a tracking device🤦♂️ Oh, c'mon Apple! All connected mobile devices — including Apples' — are tracking devices as far as state actors are concerned.Modern "intelligence" services have started to take that too much for granted. For example, there's speculation the Hamas terror group defeated Israel's multi-billion-dollar surveillance industry simply by leaving their cell phones at home when they met up.#privacy #surveillance
(DIR) Post #AbdbsB3GA2CHF4Taym by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-11-09T15:43:05Z
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@jd Imminent Death of the Canadian Economy Predicted?The Globe is a bit neo-liberal: I respect their news coverage but I take their editorial with a grain of salt.S&P still gives Canada a AAA credit rating with "stable" outlook. Those are hard to get; only 10 other countries have one (the U.S. and U.K. are not among them).U.S. mean income is higher, but U.S. median income is almost the same as ours (plus we get free healthcare); the U.S. uber-rich skew their mean.#Canada #economy
(DIR) Post #AbsvPTGHXup3Pc0jWC by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-11-17T01:45:39Z
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After a few tries, I'm getting more confident with my whole wheat bread. I don't remember who suggested pre-soaking the flour before adding other ingredients, but that seems to have made a big difference — thanks!#bread #food
(DIR) Post #AcL2Fi3RpZUoV8B6wK by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-11-30T16:44:03Z
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@mttaggart Exactly. I'll stop blocking ads when ads stop trying to spy on me and scam me. Until then, I see no ethical problem with using #adBlockers; in fact, just the opposite.
(DIR) Post #AcXWLqApsyFHwQzbHM by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-12-06T17:29:26Z
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My perspective on hot beverages:Tea - delicate joy in a cup.Apple cider - sweet spicy treat.Hot chocolate - sweet rich treat.Coffee - caffeinated mud that people gulp to force themselves awake in the morning.YMMV 🙂 #drinks #food #tea #coffee
(DIR) Post #AcrwNLxxeuNotL6oGO by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-12-16T13:36:01Z
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Bad headline: "Fediverse 'purists' reject Meta's Threads"Good headline: "Meta's Threads fails at federation — unable to moderate abuse and hate speech"My dad the judge taught me that it's not enough for justice to be done; it needs to be seen to be done. The world needs to see that problem is Meta.(I recognise that we risk weeks of rising abusive behaviour before the defederation happens, and I respect the opposing arguments from people who want to prevent that.)#Threads #fediverse
(DIR) Post #AcwsHsQubf0Jp2aDYm by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2023-12-18T22:56:35Z
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@RikerGoogling askswhat percentage of replicator food is made from poop?It hardly matters, because the next time I use the transporter I'll be blown apart into atoms anyway, and be replaced with an exact reproduction that thinks it's still me.#StarTrek
(DIR) Post #AddtTnE43K4ad4Wz2m by david_megginson@mstdn.ca
2024-01-08T16:48:50Z
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@lilithsaintcrow Just so.I've worked with large text corpora since the late 1980s. Of course it's possible to train a LLM on ethical sources (some free, some $$$), but then ChatGPT would end up sounding like newspapers, legal rulings, academic research papers, and/or old novels in Project Gutenberg, and people wouldn't be nearly as excited about using it. Investors won't plop down billions for a chatbot that sounds like Charles Dickens.#AI #LLM #copyright