Posts by sindarina@ngmx.com
 (DIR) Post #ATXjU1nkonXjBFI252 by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-03-12T07:22:36Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       This is another one in a growing collection of sort-of retrospectives about voice assistants, with most of them focusing on the fact that they're just not making any money, especially where Alexa is concerned;https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/amazons-big-dreams-for-alexa-fall-short/And nobody involved seems to be asking the tough questions, such as whether there's actually enough of a market out there for voice assistant 'skills’.It's kind of like AR/VR; a nice gimmick, useful for some people, but not the sort of tech that tech bros desperately want it to be.So they're jumping headlong into ‘AI’ assistants instead 🙄
       
 (DIR) Post #ATbMApP1Al7kuUR2Wm by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-03-12T09:27:50Z
       
       0 likes, 2 repeats
       
       Toss a coin to your admin 🎵 Oh users with plenty 🪕oh users with plenty, oh 🎶
       
 (DIR) Post #ATiWrjeJhTwtHoRtse by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-03-17T18:43:23Z
       
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       Since .lol is getting intermittent, and I am feeling increasingly certain about removing my Hachyderm account altogether, a fresh introduction is in order.Hi.I am weird. And verbose. But while some people refer to this 'annoying’, I have mostly made my peace with it.I am a Grand Purveyor of Memes, and Writer of Long Threads. This introduction will in fact be both, because I am many things, and cannot be contained in the space of a single toot.1/ 🧵#Introduction#ActuallyAutistic
       
 (DIR) Post #ATrC6er3SWuc94JxKq by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-03-14T23:11:18Z
       
       1 likes, 1 repeats
       
       Women: I cannot access reproductive healthcare, and even talking about it online might get me arrested 😟Trans people: I am afraid to leave the house, because my government is trying to legislate me out of existence 😟Black people: I might get killed by law enforcement at any time, in a country that refuses to reckon with its racist past 😟White men: Apple rejected an update to my iOS app when I tried to think different, and now I won't dare to colour outside the lines again for a long time 😟
       
 (DIR) Post #AUBjqZByRMPBtYhnjk by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-03-31T20:37:25Z
       
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       Honestly, all I want for #TransDayOfVisibility is for ALLIES, not trans people themselves, to be obnoxiously visible in their support for trans rights. Day in, day out.Like, I have seen some of you toot your support, and thank you for that, it does register.But what I really need from cis allies is for your support to be unavoidable for all others who interact with you.Make a post of your own, with the right hashtags, like #TransRightsAreHumanRights. Pin it, or put those hashtags in your profile.And then take that into the real world, too. Step off the path of least resistance, and start making people uncomfortable.
       
 (DIR) Post #AUHtKnkQx3lgGL4j4a by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-04-02T18:04:50Z
       
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       A Wired article about Microsoft's construction of hyperscale datacenters here frames it as if the farmers are the only ones worried about it;https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/03/these-angry-dutch-farmers-really-hate-microsoft/It's much bigger than that. Not only are they being built on fertile soil, they also gobble up a ridiculous amount of renewable power, all to host content that sometimes isn't even intended for the European market.It's a story of American tech giants wining and dining local councils, taking advantage of the lack of scrutiny and reporting at that level to push through plans that impact the entire country with its electricity usage.
       
 (DIR) Post #AUnIyRrAH4VikKNu7c by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-04-19T01:09:04Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       Perhaps the most worrying aspect of the whole Dominion v Fox thing, if considered in the context of discussions around the impact of ‘AI’ and its role in the lack of trust in facts, is that they did not need it.They just lied. They spread misinformation, knowingly, and just kept repeating it, over and over again. And a very large minority of Americans believe them.Almost $790M is peanuts, in that regard, if you consider what they think the stakes are. It bought them four years of Trump, a stacked SCOTUS, the overturning of Roe v Wade, a fascist government in Florida and several other states, all for less than about $7 a head.
       
 (DIR) Post #AUxUO6BcVXJ48wz9RQ by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-04-23T18:58:07Z
       
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       Towards the end of December 2019 I did a whole thread on Twitter, essentially reviewing the decade as ‘The Decade of Dishonest Technology’. It didn't start with that decade, and it hasn't stopped since, but it was the decade that got bought, and then sold everything about us under false pretenses, whether for state or corporate purposes.It was the decade of technology that wasn't only biased, but straight up lied to us. Lies that most of us didn't really care about, as long as they didn't hit our own wallet.Strap in, I am reviewing and updating the whole thread for the Mastodon Age.1/ 🧵
       
 (DIR) Post #AVwdJVkN9xKD0vPwKu by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-02-26T03:56:45Z
       
       1 likes, 0 repeats
       
       The Guardian is an important source of news in English-language Europe, but continues its practice of platforming TERF rhetoric on a regular basis. Until this stops, and they apologise for this behaviour, you should not support them financially.#DontPayTheGuardian#SindaRepost
       
 (DIR) Post #AVwdJXZoMC46gkUX9U by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-03-11T00:55:27Z
       
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       OK, time to expand on this with a thread, and explain why The Guardian has been a platform for TERF rhetoric for many, many years, and why you shouldn't give them any money whatsoever until they acknowledge it as a problem, fix it, and then make amends.1) Julie Bindel, who was a TERF before Twitter was a thing, still has a home there. Here's one of her screeds, from 2004;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jan/31/gender.weekend7#DontPayTheGuardian—This is an updated thread, since the earlier version on .lol, from mid-December of 2022, will disappear, and there's more information to add.
       
 (DIR) Post #AVwdJZAMRmtbcObElE by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-03-11T00:59:08Z
       
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       But wait, you say, that's just opinion pieces, anyone can publish those. Surely that's not the fault of The Guardian?I disagree, and think you need to go do some homework, but there's more;2) Sonia Sodha, the chief leader writer at the Observer, and also a columnist. You can find her work here;https://www.theguardian.com/profile/sonia-sodhaWith gems like;https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/nov/27/nicola-sturgeon-will-endanger-women-if-she-opens-single-sex-spaces-almost-everonehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/31/dont-buy-stonewall-line-gender-identity-cant-sack-you-nowhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/06/stonewall-risks-all-it-has-fought-for-in-accusing-those-who-disagree-with-it-of-hate-speechAnd she's not the only one, either. Here's Susanna Rustin, a Guardian leader writer;https://www.theguardian.com/profile/susannarustin#DontPayTheGuardian
       
 (DIR) Post #AVwdJbOGB5CaW57Mhc by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-03-11T01:00:46Z
       
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       Well, I hear you think, that's still just two people, publishing opinion pieces, despite being on The Guardian's payroll. Do you have anything ... stronger?3) In March of 2020, hundreds of Guardian staffers signed a letter condemning the pattern;https://www.buzzfeed.com/patrickstrudwick/guardian-staff-trans-rights-letter4) The Guardian removed part of an interview in which Judith Butler calls TERFism one of the dominant strains of fascism;https://www.thepinknews.com/2021/09/08/judith-butler-guardian-interview-terf-trans/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/guardian-judith-butler-interview-trans-terfs_n_6138d856e4b0f1b9706915be5) The former deputy editor of The Guardian, Ian Katz, was married to the co-founder of TERF forum Mumsnet, Justine Roberts;https://judedoyle.medium.com/so-a-top-guardian-editor-was-married-to-the-founder-of-mumsnet-836cddf8fdc4#DontPayTheGuardian
       
 (DIR) Post #AVwdJcwKPu31K245RY by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-03-11T01:01:58Z
       
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       So what do I want to accomplish, with a hashtag like this? Should you stop linking to The Guardian entirely, like some people are advocating?No, I don't think so. For one, none of the mainstream media sources available are innocent in this, and while I would encourage you to find other sources to link to, it's not always possible.Instead, if you are, stop supporting their 'independent journalism'. Stop paying them. That's it. Hit them in their wallet.And maybe, if you link, use the hashtag;#DontPayTheGuardian
       
 (DIR) Post #AVwdJecYAPPoXGpJtQ by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-03-11T01:43:40Z
       
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       Oh, and here's another one, from three Guardian US staffers, taking an issue with The Guardian UK's trans rights coverage, in 2018;https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/02/guardian-editorial-response-transgender-rights-uk"We should work to hire trans people on staff. And our journalism should be grounded in the principle that trans women are women, and that trans people should have the right to feel safe to live as themselves.”It's a long list, and if you are still surprised by this in 2023, you haven't been paying attention, and should ask yourself why it has escaped you for this long.#DontPayTheGuardian
       
 (DIR) Post #AVwdJgKtn0U5r6aFeq by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-04-01T16:54:16Z
       
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       For those who argue that The Guardian is one of the few left-wing news sources left, and therefore deserves their support, a reminder that platforming TERF rhetoric has been rather profitable, for them;"The Scott Trust has historically given Guardian Media Group access to a cash injection of up to £30m a year. The latest financial accounts, which cover the 12 months to April 2022, show that Guardian Media Group performed so well it instead produced a cash surplus of £6.7m."https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/jul/20/guardian-media-group-records-strongest-financial-results-since-2008Don't pay them a cent until they change their behaviour, and acknowledge harm done.#DontPayTheGuardian
       
 (DIR) Post #AVwdJhqUB3LSXMMzWy by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-04-01T17:24:29Z
       
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       “But the most noticeable missteps stem not from the news pages but from the editorial column. For it is here that readers find out what the paper thinks about the great issues of the day.”That's what they wrote at their second centennial, two years ago, listing their ‘worst errors of judgment’;https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/may/07/guardian-200-what-we-got-wrong-the-guardians-worst-errors-of-judgment-over-200-yearsTwo decades of platforming TERF rhetoric was not on the list, and still isn’t.#DontPayTheGuardian #TransRightsAreHumanRights
       
 (DIR) Post #AVwdJjPGNEl3NVeHNQ by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-04-01T17:36:26Z
       
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       They are making some progress on old harms, though;"The owner of the Guardian has issued an apology for the role the newspaper’s founders had in transatlantic slavery and announced a decade-long programme of restorative justice.”https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/mar/28/guardian-owner-apologises-founders-transatlantic-slavery-scott-trustPoint by point explainer;https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/mar/28/the-guardian-and-slavery-what-did-the-research-find-and-what-happens-nextAnd a long read by David Olusoga;https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2023/mar/28/slavery-and-the-guardian-the-ties-that-bind-usIncludes a fund for reparations, although £10m isn't a whole lot for its intended scope.#Reparations#DontPayTheGuardian
       
 (DIR) Post #AX14esB1AMguOHVQ24 by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-06-24T08:16:40Z
       
       7 likes, 21 repeats
       
       Since I keep seeing developers use ‘pretty’ IP addresses like ’1.2.3.4’ in example configurations; a reminder that you MUST NOT use publicly routable addresses that you do not control in your code.Instead, use one of the available 'TEST-NET' IPv4 or IPv6 ranges documented in RFC 6890;192.0.2.0/24198.51.100.0/24203.0.113.0/24❌ 1.2.3.4✅ 192.0.2.4and for IPv6;✅ 2001:db8::/32Pass it on to all of your fellow developers, documentation writers, and so forth.Full RFC for special purpose addresses;https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc6890/Reserved for documentation, IPv4 and IPv6;https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc5737/https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc3849/1/ 🧵
       
 (DIR) Post #AX14euFhRvcmpNiBbk by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-06-24T08:22:56Z
       
       0 likes, 6 repeats
       
       The same goes for domain names; do NOT use a public domain name you do not control in your configuration, documentation, or UI language.Instead, use one of the available reserved domain names documented in RFC 2606, such as 'example.com', 'example.net', or the .example top-level domain.❌ test.com❌ yourdomain.com✅ example.com✅ yourdomain.examplePass it on to your fellow developers, designers, documentation writers, and so forth.Full RFC text is here;https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc2606/2/ 🧵
       
 (DIR) Post #AX9klBWEOuOhW4TShE by sindarina@ngmx.com
       2023-06-28T03:30:57Z
       
       1 likes, 1 repeats
       
       Conservative billionaire acquires owner of a French newspaper, appoints new far-right editor, prompting a mass walk-out by staff;https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230627-french-newspaper-stunned-as-far-right-editor-named