Alex Vranas @Alex@vran.as

Today in Labor History November 30, 1999: Thousands of activists, students, union members, environmentalists and others shut down the World Trade Organization (WTO) summit in Seattle. It was the first large-scale demonstration in the United States to protest the “corporate agenda” and “globalization” and the beginning of many similar protests. The WTO protest raised awareness of corporate greed while simultaneously promoting the delusion that, with a few reforms, capitalism and democracy would serve the needs of the people.

#wto #seattle #capitalism #corporate #union #workingclass #labor

Club Q in Colorado Springs is running a gofundme for staff and community members responding to the mass shooting hate crime which killed 5 and injured 18... It needs much more attention, only 27 people so far have donated a total of less than $2000! https://www.gofundme.com/f/official-club-q-fundraiser

✨Hey vis.social✨
I just moved to this instance and I want to say hello!
I'm a creative technologist and love generative stuff of all sorts! I make them into bots ( @beetlesbot ), stickers, fabrics, light installations, pcbs, pen plots or whatever weird idea comes to my mind.

To keep track of my progress, I started a video series ("Work in Progress") to document a bit of behind the scenes stuff of what I do: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSV1FvtNZeQED6m0KWv3JkMzfJ_gfYr0F

Thanks for having me here!

Apropos of nothing…

"Yes, but where are you REALLY from?"

We've all had this question. All of us.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/30/buckingham-palace-aide-resigns-black-guest-traumatised-by-repeated-questioning?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

a reminder that rail workers’ wild demand is simply to get a few paid sick days and *not be penalized* for taking time off for illness… during a pandemic.

Not one of the 33 companies participating in a big trial of a 4-day workweek (with no loss in pay) is returning to a standard 5-day schedule. Productivity went up. Revenue went up. Absenteeism and turnover both went down.

"The benefits are significant."
https://www.livemint.com/companies/people/want-a-four-day-work-week-show-the-results-of-research-to-your-boss-11669783677563.html

“The entire Twitter information security community has moved to Mastodon.” https://theintercept.com/2022/11/29/elon-musk-twitter-andy-ngo-antifascist/

Since Mastodon saw its initial popularity circa 2017, I've noticed that most users and those reporting on it either don't think about the Fediverse as anything more than Mastodon, or treat its history as beginning with Eugen Rochko and the beginning of Mastodon. In fact, Mastodon is the latest in a long line of federated social networks going at least back to Identi.ca, and though I wasn't around for all of it, I find this history pretty interesting. (Thread; boosts welcome!)

Hey, I made a bunch of weird, quarter-scale retrocomputers. This is a thread, so feel free to share.

Or check out the documentation in non-mastodon form:

https://bbenchoff.github.io/pages/BeBox.html

stolen from elsewhere

Meanwhile on Twitter:

#seattle! don’t forget we’ve got a toot-up this weekend! sunday @ 330p in cal anderson park or rachel’s ginger beer depending on weather. boost the heck out of this. <3

Hot-takes on how "bad" fedi is by people who joined a week ago remind me of this seminal piece of deep insight:
https://mashable.com/article/mastodon-wont-survive

> Six reasons Mastodon won't survive

It was published 5.5 years ago (and counting).

I want David Cronenberg to design the new USB standard, so all the ports and plugs sigh and moan and writhe before finally accommodating each other’s anatomy in a blissful, disturbing union that allows charging and data transfer to occur effortlessly between all equipment.