Alex Vranas @Alex@vran.as

If #Mastodon existed in the 1980s! Please boost this one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV8Q0WOYoag

Hi everyone,

As of right now, I've identified 18 members of Congress/ committees/ office on #mastodon, of which 8 are confirmed as authentic.

The list is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1egupogzhZgPgcM1NcIxBC4iW2xgvs1qJPAG568YaCuY/edit?usp=sharing

#legislatures

Remember What They Took From You.

One of my favorite images in the category 'Future of Work'. From 1930!! 😳

"The futuristic world as envisioned by Echte Wagner advertising cards, 1930. Wireless Private Phone and Television."

Source: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/futuristic-visions-cards-germany/

#futureofwork #work #tech #innovation

How much public space we've surrendered to cars (Swedish artist Karl Jilg)

IN DEPTH: We previously reported that the GNU Image Manipulation Program would be renamed to LIGMA, as a result of long-standing controversy over its name. This article from our sister publication Fast Developer World covers the story in more detail. https://www.wpfastworld.com/11/23/open-source-graphics-editor-gimp-will-be-renamed-ligma-small-tech-news/

This video of people insisting on driving their #cars through a deep #river crossing in the UK is surprisingly amusing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPWEqi6tik8

In the few weeks since I've returned to both Tumblr and Mastodon (following the slow death of the bird app), both of my timelines have been a veritable tapestry of what I tend to call the "weaponization of white weirdness"

specifically the fear of white folks who dominate specific subcultural spaces that the inclusion of more people who weren't already part of a subculture will somehow alter the cultural aesthetics, mores, etc

very "there goes the neighborhood" syndrome

While following a lot of people can populate your Home feed significantly, sometimes people (like me) end up boosting a lot and that can unexpectedly hinder your own experience.

So if you like someone's specific posts and don't want to follow their boosts, you can go to their profile under the [...] button, and select the "Hide boosts from account" button.

There is no algorithm on Mastodon. You have ownership and control over every filtering decision instead of some robot.

#TwitterMigration

Notable that Marc Andreessen backed Elon’s Twitter takeover and is now also backing Post.news, Twitter’s main competitor outside Mastodon. Once again, you think you’re given a choice but the rich get richer either path you take!
#technology #tech #twitter #elon #musk #twittermigration

If you a running a Mastodon instance and are looking for a good way to take donations/recurring donations, I can help you avoid the Patreon 10% Venture Capital tax via a site running Ghost and Outpost. Not a biz offer, we will run this for free as a way to give back to #fediverse.

And if you already have a patreon, we can help you gracefully switch to something better without upsetting what you have set up now.

“Everything is a file”

Computing: Paradigm that underlies the incredibly successful Unix operating system

Woodworking: This is the worst workshop ever

Twitter was never a healthy "public square" for most of us. Let's not rewrite history while eulogizing the hellsite.
Twitter was a frightening battleground where we managed barely to claw out an uneasy existence amidst the worst violent neo-Nazi extremists who constantly published our home addresses, threatened our kids' lives, and sent hordes of racist trolls into our mentions.
The same principles that allowed us to survive uneasily on Twitter will be required here in the #fediverse. Community defense, thoughtful pressure on moderation policies, and eternal vigilance.
There are no safe spaces but those we make safe through constant effort. We keep us safe.