Nostr notes by Now at @aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au

This is exciting: #Ghost blogs are coming to BlueSky: ...

2025-04-14T22:15:40Z

This is exciting: #Ghost blogs are coming to BlueSky: https://activitypub.ghost.org/recapping-feedback/?ref=build-log-newsletter

"Probably the next most common thing we've heard is that many of you are confused about why your posts aren't showing up on Threads / Bluesky. And for good reason. It is, in fact, confusing.

"To make your Ghost site show up on Threads: You have to first interact (as in: like, reply or follow) something on Threads. Eg: Inside Ghost, search for [@ghost](https://threads.net/@ghost/ ) and press Follow. Now, your site will also show up on Threads.

"To make your Ghost site show up Bluesky: You have to first search-for and follow [@bsky.brid.gy](https://bsky.brid.gy/ ) inside Ghost. Now, your site will also show up on Bluesky, but with a different (weird) username.

"We're going to replace the entire above process with two buttons: "Enable Threads" and "Enable Bluesky" - which you can just... click."

First, a huge personal thanks for raising the red flags on LLMs ...

2025-04-11T00:16:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…qae8
_________________________

First, a huge personal thanks for raising the red flags on LLMs and the creepy TESCREAL ideology they're based on, long before most people realised it was an issue.

I know there's been a big professional and personal cost to that. People are listening, we really appreciate your work and advocacy.

Second, the LLM wave has to be one of the greatest misallocations of resources in human history.

We're in the middle of a climate crisis. There's massive housing shortfalls in many developed countries. Huge investments are needed into health, education, and public transport.

And there are far more critical things we could be researching that would unlock far more benefit to the public.

Heck, given the growing issue of disinformation, there'd arguably be far more public benefit from using these resources to make news journalism from reputable outlets free.

I don't see how investing billions into chasing a few billionaires' TESCREAL fantasies is the best use of our resources at this time.

They certainly should in any foreign government's bid to ...

2025-04-06T13:51:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…dpj2
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They certainly should in any foreign government's bid to counter Trump's tariffs.

A 10% tax on revenues on Google ads, Facebook ads, Amazon purchases, AWS usage fees, Netflix subscriptions, all Apple products, ChatGPT subscriptions, and all Tesla products would make Silicon Valley take notice.

And then we have Australia's next great city, Parramatta. ...

2025-03-31T12:31:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…4p28
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And then we have Australia's next great city, Parramatta.

It's a city that, roughly once a year, has a harbour...

This from Parramatta City Council itself: "From the earliest days, the changeable nature of the Parramatta River, and other waterways, has brought with it the risk of flooding.

"Today, our CBD is one of the most flash-flood affected areas in the country. Our challenge is to live with the river in all its various conditions."

https://www.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/environment/connected-resilient-communities/flooding

And this from a top State Emergency Service official in 2019:

"A senior SES official has warned that Parramatta's CBD could be overwhelmed by a flash flood in as little as nine minutes, giving residents little time to evacuate.

"George Jeoffreys, senior manager for risk reduction and avoidance at the NSW State Emergency Service, cited the difficulty of predicting flash floods."

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nine-minutes-to-flee-parramatta-s-catastrophic-flash-flooding-warning-20190214-p50xtv.html

You had parts of Parramatta's CBD flood in 2020:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-10/parramatta-river-overflows-as-floods-grip-sydney/11948910

And 2021: https://www.smh.com.au/national/parramatta-river-breaks-its-banks-flooding-powerhouse-museum-site-20210320-p57ci5.html

And 2022: https://www.9news.com.au/wild-weather/weather-update-sydney-rain-smashes-summer-records-as-cleanup-from-deluge-continues/140583d2-0ea5-4fc9-a103-c9f5849da917

And 2024: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-05/nsw-queensland-wet-weather-forecast-flood-warning-live-update/103670440

And earlier this year: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-26/nsw-pseudo-monsoon-humidity-flooding-rains-qld-nsw/105095284

And of course there's pressure to put new high-rise developments right on the river edge: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-council-rejects-build-to-rent-tower-plan-over-flood-risk-20240108-p5evsm.html

#parramatta #UrbanPlanning #urbanism #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #auspol

I think we're not far off a point where banks and insurers ...

2025-03-31T11:44:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…y50t
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I think we're not far off a point where banks and insurers won't write loans or insurance policies for whole cities, because of climate change from toxic fossil fuel pollution. Lismore is well on its way.

#ClimateCrisis #ClimateChange #Climate #GlobalWarming #Pollution #Environment

Each time a person chooses not to buy a new Tesla because of ...

2025-03-24T10:45:59Z

Each time a person chooses not to buy a new Tesla because of Elon, it lands a triple blow to the company.

That's because Tesla isn't a company that just profits from selling cars.

A big part of its business is also generating emission certificates by selling EVs to legacy automakers (like GM, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, etc).

Those carbon credits "offset" the fossil fuel pollution created by the petrol cars those legacy automakers sell:

"GM purchased about 44 million credits in 2023, the EPA report said, while Tesla sold about 34 million, the largest of all transactions."

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/tesla-racked-up-greenhouse-emissions-credits-2023-other-automakers-lagged-2024-11-25/

"Tesla generated a substantial $1.79 billion from carbon credit sales last year … bringing its total earnings from such credits since 2009 to nearly $9 billion."

https://carboncredits.com/tesla-hits-record-high-sales-from-carbon-credits-at-1-79b/

So let's suppose you decide to buy a Volkswagen EV instead of a Tesla.

Tesla doesn't just miss out on the profit from that EV.

It also misses the profit from selling the carbon credits for that car to VW.

Meanwhile, VW gains the carbon certificates for that EV, meaning it needs to buy fewer offsets from Tesla for its petrol cars.

And that's likely to be extra bad news for Elon, if he's borrowed against his Tesla shares to fund other parts of his empire: https://social.vivaldi.net/@ajsadauskas/114204194057224800

#Elon #ElonMusk #Trump #Tesla #Politics #Capitalism

Question for those of you outside the US: At what point does ...

2025-03-17T06:24:14Z

Question for those of you outside the US: At what point does China become the lesser evil out of China and America?

So what would happen if Australia decided it would no longer ...

2025-03-11T05:52:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…4f47
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So what would happen if Australia decided it would no longer legally recognise US copyrights, trademarks, and patents?

Or if it passed a law declaring all intellectual property held in Australia by American individuals, corporations, and organisations is now in the public domain?

I'm just saying, we don't need to respond to tariff taxes with tariff taxes.

Also ping @npub1e9x…msz2 promoting your Pixelfed account on ...

2025-03-10T11:06:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…cvge
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Also ping Chris Trottier (npub1e9x…msz2) promoting your Pixelfed account on BlueSky 😁

What I miss, as much as BASIC itself, is the whole culture of ...

2025-03-02T21:34:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…sx5f
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What I miss, as much as BASIC itself, is the whole culture of magazines and books with type-in programs.

They'll likely use a large number of people and businesses ...

2025-02-24T12:21:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…4k8a
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They'll likely use a large number of people and businesses with Office 365 subscriptions, which became Microsoft 365 subscriptions, which became Copilot 365 subscriptions, to justify the capex.

Even if those users never use the Copilot features. Or actively avoid using the Copilot features. Or use them but wouldn't knowingly pay extra for them. Or tried switching them off but got lost in the dark patterns.

Action on global warming from toxic fossil fuel pollution: ...

2025-02-23T11:57:16Z

Action on global warming from toxic fossil fuel pollution:

Economist: The solution to global warming is for consumers to reduce their carbon footprint. If consumers care about stopping global warming, they will pay a premium for lower emissions products and let the free market take care of the rest. Governments shouldn't pick winners, let the market decide.

Consumer: I'm playing my part by reducing my carbon footprint! I just bought a bike, installed solar panels, and went vegan. It's a small impact, but every little bit helps!

Fossil fuel CEO: To grow our profits, we're investing in new oil wells. We're also donating millions to think tanks that spread climate denial, plus lobbyists, plus donations to politicians that favour our industry. And a new plastics factory too. Also, global warming is the fault of consumers for not reducing their carbon footprint and not recycling enough.

Silicon Valley VC: We're investing billions in new blockchain and LLM startups. These will require massive new data centres, with thousands of servers and GPUs. We're reopening old fossil fuel generators and building new ones to power and cool these data centres. Also, our algorithms will promote climate denial content.

#GlobalWarming #ClimateChange #CarbonEmissions #FossilFuels #Environment #Environmentalism #Pollution #Climate

To lay Mastodon/Fedi users: I know if you follow a ...

2025-02-21T05:44:11Z

In reply to nevent1q…4x43
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To lay Mastodon/Fedi users:

I know if you follow a Lemmy/KBin/MBin PieFdd group from Mastodon, that channel appears as a user that 'forwards' all the posts created in that group.

Likewise, with PeerTube (and similar services), the channels appear in Mastodon as users that forward all the posts with videos on that channel.

Are these accounts examples of group actors?

So for example if you follow Technology (npub1eys…cfal), which is the username of a Lemmy tech community, is that account an example of a group actor?

Reading through this executive order, it's clear that Elon ...

2025-02-19T12:54:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…dj6f
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Reading through this executive order, it's clear that Elon and Don either:

a) Do not intend for a Democrat to even hold the presidency again, or at the very least
b) Have executed this power grab without considering the possibility of a Democrat in the White House in the future.

I say this, because can you seriously imagine that the Republicans would've been happy with an EO giving this much power to Obama or Biden?

Can you send back an email asking if it's okay to put a ...

2025-02-11T11:44:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…5umx
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Can you send back an email asking if it's okay to put a trigger warning over words that sound like DEI words but aren't?

That way, easily offended snowflakes white billionaires can make an informed decision about whether they continue reading?

For example, an electronic engineering paper about transistors might say: "Warning: This paper contains electronics terms some readers may find confronting. Reader discretion is advised."

If this is not possible, is there a list of recommended politically correct alternative terms for words like "biodiversity" that white billionaires will find less triggering?

Yes, but cheesecake is delicious, why don't you mention ...

2025-02-10T11:26:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…78ju
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Yes, but cheesecake is delicious, why don't you mention cheesecake? 😆

I'll stop now 😁

Interestingly, Google Gemini's restrictions on political ...

2025-02-10T01:48:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…lppf
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Interestingly, Google Gemini's restrictions on political comment apparently don't extend to questions about communism...

In fairness, American LLMs don't like answering political ...

2025-02-10T01:43:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…8gaa
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In fairness, American LLMs don't like answering political questions either...

Anyone here use #WriteFreely? I've just set up a self-hosted ...

2025-01-23T23:38:33Z

Anyone here use #WriteFreely?

I've just set up a self-hosted WriteFreely blog as a first experiment with self-hosting instances and using YunoHost :neopossum_uwu: (npub129e…3cyx) (huge thanks to [@_elena](https://mastodon.social/@_elena ) for your tips! 🥰)

At least from initial setup, it looks like only the first line of the post and a link is pulling across to Mastodon.

Is there any way to make the full post text visible on Mastodon?

I can see who's following the blog, but not any comments. Any way to turn on notifications for this?

Also, is there any way to follow an account from WriteFreely? (I'm interested, because it would in theory allow me to follow BridgyFed, and make the posts visible on BlueSky.)

Are these limitations of the platform? Or is there a setting somewhere I missed?

#Fediverse #SelfHosting #FediHelp

Interesting insights, although I'm not sure I fully agree on ...

2025-01-21T05:52:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…nqf4
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Interesting insights, although I'm not sure I fully agree on that last point.

I agree the Fedi needs new and better platforms.

But it *also* needs really great versions of platforms that already exist.

As close to the existing platform's UI as possible, with good onboarding.

As in, you can put the Fedi-Facebook and he'll know how to use it, because everything looks the same, is called the same thing, works the same way, and is in the same place.

Why BlueSky has managed to notch up 20 million users is simply because it's done a really good job of looking and working like Facebook, circa 2018 or so.

The character limit's the same, quote tweets are the same, the UI is the same, it's well polished on both the web and mobile.

When you sign up, you're on the main instance. You're not given a screen of 50 possible PDS hosts or custom feeds.

And the starter packs are a great touch for on-boarding.

There's an argument in that for a Mastodon fork that's as Twitter-like as possible.

From there, people will over time branch out to the Akkomas and the Friendicas and the Hubzillas.

And on the Fedi, a rising tide raises all ships. More people using clone apps mean more people to interact with on unique apps.

How well does it support Lemmy groups? And lists? How many images ...

2025-01-18T05:20:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…0ls5
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How well does it support Lemmy groups? And lists?

How many images per post?

Sorry for all the questions. Basically, I'm looking at potentially consolidating the number of Fedi accounts I have.

I'm looking at other platforms, including Friendica, to see if there's anything that fits...

What are the advantages of Akkoma over Mastodon?

2025-01-18T05:11:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…kpw3
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What are the advantages of Akkoma over Mastodon?

Some would say Mark Zuckerberg's actions this week ...

2025-01-17T10:55:01Z

Some would say Mark Zuckerberg's actions this week accomplished little of value.

But I'd disagree.

Just look at the 138,900 cat photos that are now on Pixelfed 😹

#cats #Pixelfed #Meta

Hopefully, fossil fuel and plastic use. Depending on how the next ...

2024-12-28T00:26:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…5djc
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Hopefully, fossil fuel and plastic use.

Depending on how the next decade goes politically, our generation might end up looking like the Weimar Germans.

And also for buying into the hype of big tech before enshittification.

NES, SNES, N64, Atari 2600, and Sega Mega Drive — sorry, ...

2024-12-21T01:11:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…rnl0
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NES, SNES, N64, Atari 2600, and Sega Mega Drive — sorry, Genesis — is a very US-centric view of retro gaming.

For most of the UK and Europe, it was the Speccy, C64, Atari ST, and Amiga.

And yes, old DOS and Windows 3.1 games definitely count as retro.

Good point, but if the objective is new perspectives, then why ...

2024-12-17T04:55:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…03n2
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Good point, but if the objective is new perspectives, then why limit the search to traditional media in Australia?

Why not NPR? PBS? CBC? Deutsche Welle? The BBC? LRT? MediaCorp? Al Jazeera? France Télévisions?

There's plenty of people with experience running public broadcasters on this planet. Use the opportunity to bring in someone with best practice experience from overseas.

And likewise, why not look at people who have digital media management experience? Especially given a growing percentage of the ABC audience engages through its website and iView, rather than its legacy networks.

Why not look for an internal candidate who's a woman? Or from a non-European background?

Why not a candidate in a related profession with transferable skills, such as film or television production? Or sports administration?

The AFL and NRL are basically broadcast and digital media organisations that run live events businesses. You don't think someone like Andrew Demetriou, David Gallop, or Gil McLachlan couldn't lead the ABC? Especially with strong 2ICs who know news and radio?

And given the ABC started as a radio business, why not someone from SCA or ARN?

Even if they wanted an outsider, there were options.

And here's the kicker. Let's Imagine you really hustle. I ...

2024-12-17T00:06:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…jdet
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And here's the kicker.

Let's Imagine you really hustle. I mean, really put in the long hours. You earn $200,000 per year after tax, on average, every year. From when you're 20 to when you're 70.

That's 50 years of non-stop hustle for an average of $200k p/a after tax.

By the time you reach 70, you will have earned $10 million.

Now, let's Imagine you have wealthy parents.

You inherit $2 billion.

You invest your money in shares and properties.

Over the course of a year, the value of those shares and properties, appreciates by 0.5% above the rate of inflation.

You just earned $10 million in one year, for basically doing nothing.

Oh, and that increase in value? That's an unrealised capital gain, meaning it's not taxed in many jurisdictions.

The moral of the story?

You don't win at capitalism by working hard. You win by having rich parents.

The last ABC CEO came from News Corp, and the next one will come ...

2024-12-16T21:26:33Z

The last ABC CEO came from News Corp, and the next one will come from Nine. Is it still an independent national broadcaster? #auspol #media #ausmedia

https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/former-nine-ceo-appointed-abc-boss-20241217-p5kyvd.html

Great video by @npub1z7x…q5jf @npub1rg6…ust8 about what's ...

2024-12-16T00:02:43Z

Great video by Not Just Bikes 🇳🇱 (npub1z7x…q5jf) Not Just Bikes (npub1rg6…ust8) about what's really behind Doug Ford's bike lane ban in Toronto.

It's basically a fartlighting distraction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgFCQ7jEZxI

Janet English from Spiderbait is a criminally underrated rock ...

2024-12-15T10:43:00Z

Janet English from Spiderbait is a criminally underrated rock vocalist...

Lithuania’s law enforcement authorities are investigating a ...

2024-12-09T10:33:54Z

Lithuania’s law enforcement authorities are investigating a member of the country's main conservative opposition party, Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD), over claims they're spying for Russia.

https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2434508/member-of-lithuania-s-conservative-party-suspected-of-spying-for-russia

That's an amazing effort! Mh partner has tried to lose weight ...

2024-12-07T06:25:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…xkrk
_________________________

That's an amazing effort!

Mh partner has tried to lose weight over the past 6 months and has basically plateaued 🫤

Did you do it through diet, exercise, or a combination?

Or is it discovered, but with invented conventions? And if you ...

2024-12-01T12:01:26Z

In reply to nevent1q…2dfs
_________________________

Or is it discovered, but with invented conventions?

And if you doubt that the conventions we use to describe mathematics could be different...

Then the Dozenal Society is ready to tell you why a base-12 number system is clearly superior to base-10.

I wish I were making that up.

But no.

There's actually an organisation, with periodicals and meetings and podcasts, advocating that the world should drop decimal numbers and move to base-12 numbers.

Just think.

All those times you've tried to divide things by thirds and been left with a recurring 3 in your fraction.

And really, all you had to do was persuade the world to just completely change the numbering system for everything, and thst equation would have been marginally simpler.

I'm not quite sure if this is like Esperanto for mathematicians, or just some nutters with too much time on their not-quite-10 (in base-12) fingered hands.

The website is here: https://dozenal.org/index.html

This pattern has been repeatedly seen across the UK, Australia, ...

2024-11-09T03:35:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…lmqh
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This pattern has been repeatedly seen across the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, which went all in on privatisation in the '80s and '90s.

A variation was used across Eastern, Central, and Northern Europe following the fall of Soviet Russia.

It's a pattern Milton Friedman *explicitly* advocated for.

And it's a pattern Naomi Klein describes really well in her book shock doctrine:

"I used the term “shock doctrine” to describe the brutal tactic of using the public’s disorientation following a collective shock – wars, coups, terrorist attacks, market crashes or natural disasters – to push through radical pro-corporate measures, often called “shock therapy.

...

"The research showed that virtually any tumultuous situation, if framed with sufficient hysteria by political leaders, could serve this softening-up function. It could be an event as radical as a military coup, but the economic shock of a market or budget crisis would also do the trick."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/06/naomi-klein-how-power-profits-from-disaster

This Australian brown goshawk is outraged at your anti-hawk bias: ...

2024-11-04T06:00:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…3wrv
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This Australian brown goshawk is outraged at your anti-hawk bias:

"Birb of which Australia has the coolest type." Wait. Are ...

2024-11-04T02:50:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…m7al
_________________________

"Birb of which Australia has the coolest type."

Wait. Are you a fan of Australian native eagles or hawks 🤔

#AFL

Where the US has gotten itself unstuck strategically and morally ...

2024-11-02T10:37:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…frpc
_________________________

Where the US has gotten itself unstuck strategically and morally in the postwar years has tended to be when it has:

1) Allied itself with autocratic regimes
2) Engaged in conflicts at the behest of corporate interests
3) Acted unilaterally
4) Acted covertly
5) Attempted to force its preferred institutional and economic models on other countries by coercion or force
6) Attempted nation-building in foreign lands, often after forcing regime change
7) Not respected the sovereignty of other nations and peoples
8) Used force to shut down popular uprisings and movements for national liberation
9) Overthrown popularly elected governments it dislikes, replacing them with autocratic regimes

How a US president could address these issues:

1) Stick by its principles by only aligning with liberal democracies
2) Not engage in conflicts on behalf of corporate interests
3) Act multilaterally with allies, including reducing the number of overseas bases
4) Cut its own military spending, with other liberal democracies to spend more on defence
5) Acting transparently
6) No more wars for regime change
7) Less interference in other countries
8) Accepting that not every country is, or should be, a capitalist liberal democracy
9) Supporting genuine movements for national liberation

I thought some more about this overnight. And it's made me ...

2024-10-29T21:36:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…hp4u
_________________________

I thought some more about this overnight.

And it's made me realise just how far backwards our discourse around race has gone in the past 10 years.

Back in 2015, we could have had a conversation around the ethics of two white (or white-presenting) indie developers from the UK making a game that appears to mock Japanese culture.

Just as there was around Iggy Azalea's faux accent or Miley's twerking.

And now, the hate is just so explicit and overt, especially in the US, that something like this barely rates a mention.

The Overton window has moved a considerable way to the right.

So I did a quick search. Onion Soup Ltd is made up of two people ...

2024-10-29T06:22:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…lztj
_________________________

So I did a quick search.

Onion Soup Ltd is made up of two people from the UK. There's Andy, who's a blond guy with a man bun, and Amy, who has brown hair and green eyes.

I won't dox them here, but I was able to find both of their names and LinkedIn profiles within about 5 minutes.

At first glance, it certainly looks a little problematic.

I would imagine, if you asked them, that they'd tell you it's a loving tribute to Japan and they're the least racist people around and Amy was even an ESL teacher, and so on.

It's certainly not the most racist thing that's happened in 2025 by a longshot.

But.

Britain does have a bit of a history colonial exploration, including the theft of cultural artefacts. Not to mention racial stereotyping.

Without knowing more, I'd personally feel a bit icky playing it...

A "historic victory" for the Social Democrats in ...

2024-10-28T10:21:01Z

A "historic victory" for the Social Democrats in Lithuania's parliamentary elections: https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2399206/lithuanian-social-democratic-leader-hails-historic-election-victory

"Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, leader of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP), has described her party’s success in the parliamentary election as a “historic victory” and said that the Social Democrats are not planning any new reforms while in power.

"“We, the Social Democrats, have achieved a historic victory, something we probably haven’t seen in decades. We won both in single-member constituencies, where we secured as many as 34 seats, and in the multi-member constituency, where we took 18 seats,” Blinkevičiūtė told a post-election press conference on Monday.

"“Our party’s election program clearly states [...] that we do not plan any new reforms,” she said.

"Blinkevičiūtė reiterated that the LSDP will continue coalition talks with both the Democratic Union ("For Lithuania”) and the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union."

(As an aside, Lithuania's equivalent to the Australian Nationals is the same party as its Greens. Because why wouldn't farmers who live off the land be concerned about the environment?)

#Politics #Europe #EU #EuropeanUnion #Elections #News

Plenty of posts recently questioning whether BlueSky is actually ...

2024-10-26T14:06:03Z

Plenty of posts recently questioning whether BlueSky is actually a decentralised, federated social network like the Fediverse.

(Yes, the following description of ATproto is a gross oversimplification. I realise this. Bear with me a moment.)

Basically, under BlueSky's AT Protocol, you can opt to have your data hosted on your own personal data server (PDS). But these servers all need to connect to a central relay, and at present the only central relay is BlueSky.

Any account that follows Bridgy Fed Bridgy Fed for Bluesky (npub1pqr…2sck) also gets federated into the Fedi.

Now.

Let me introduce you to WhiteWind. https://whtwnd.com/

What's WhiteWind?

It's a longform blogging platform, where all your blog posts are saved to your BlueSky PDS.

So right now, today, you can set up your own PDS. Allow BSky access and store your BSky posts in it. And also grant WhiteWind access and allow WhiteWind to store its files there.

And any BlueSky posts replying to your WhiteWind blogs are visible — on WhiteWind.

So potentially, in the future, you could be storing data from multiple social networks and apps — including photos and videos — in your PDS.

In effect, federating across multiple networks doesn't happen at the level of BlueSky. It happens at the level of your account.

#Fediverse #BlueSky #ATproto #ActivityPub #BSky

Take a look at this quote and see if you can guess who wrote it. ...

2024-10-24T04:19:18Z

Take a look at this quote and see if you can guess who wrote it. (I'll leave the answer in a reply.)

#politics #vance #JDVance #uspol #trump #election #Election2024 #news #opinion #news #ElonMusk #GOP

Wait — what did Taylor do?

2024-10-23T02:50:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…qd64
_________________________

Wait — what did Taylor do?

Thanks for getting back to me, I appreciate it 😊 I'm using ...

2024-10-21T08:49:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…wrde
_________________________

Thanks for getting back to me, I appreciate it 😊

I'm using Android 15 on a Pixel 8a.

Screenshots below...

Do you have a Pixelfed account with the same username by any ...

2024-10-21T07:31:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…hppz
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Do you have a Pixelfed account with the same username by any chance?

What's your username on BSky? I'll follow you there...

2024-10-19T11:04:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…64ch
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What's your username on BSky? I'll follow you there...

Worth mentioning on that last point that I attempted to post ...

2024-10-19T07:25:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…7yn2
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Worth mentioning on that last point that I attempted to post while logged in through my Vivaldi Social Mastodon account.

So that could be the cause of that issue?

Giving the @npub1dad…y568 app a try. For people who used to use ...

2024-10-19T06:51:12Z

Giving the Newsmast Foundation (npub1dad…y568) app a try. For people who used to use the old Twitter for news, this seems to be a great alternative.

There's two issues I've encountered though:

1) I can't seem to find how to pin lists to the home screen. This is a shame, because I have a list of news orgs I follow.

2) I've written a post and hit publish, and it doesn't seem to have published?

Very good chance I could be doing something wrong at my end on both counts...

Now here's an experiment. Let's add 950 billion tons of ...

2024-10-17T13:20:21Z

Now here's an experiment.

Let's add 950 billion tons of toxic carbon pollution. To the air we breathe.

Then let's add another 40 billion tons. Every. Single. Year.

What could possibly go wrong?

https://www.caryinstitute.org/news-insights/blog-translational-ecology/unextractable-fossil-fuels

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #CarbonDioxide npub18y58mtesr0432awdhy460flzx8q4lydxhnwn3dgzgr2mmj30gh9qenujjf (npub18y5…ujjf) #Pollution

Thatcher was elected back in 1979. That's approaching 50 ...

2024-10-16T12:03:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…fcg7
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Thatcher was elected back in 1979. That's approaching 50 years ago now.

For nearly half a century, successive British governments have cut public services, cut workers' protections, cut consumer protections, and cut environmental protections.

And that's what we're talking about when we say "regulations" here:

Consumer, worker, public safety, and environmental protection.

If there was any fat to begin with, Thatcher and Major cut it.

By Blair and Brown, they were cutting deeper, into muscle.

Cameron's austerity packages cut to the bone.

BoJo and the other short-termite Tory office holders that came and went cut through the bone.

Britain, you're down to the vital organs here.

And what has all this neoliberalism got you?

The Thames water fiasco. The railway privatisation fiasco. The HS2 cancellation fiasco. The GFC bank bailout fiasco. The Grenfell tragedy. The Brexit catastrofuck. The Royal Mail fiasco. Crumbling schools. A destitute north and midlands. A crumbling and increasingly privatised NHS. I could go on.

You've tried it.

Repeatedly.

It's time to stop listening to Rupert the phone hacker and his son Lachlan.

It hasn't worked.

Britain doesn't need another Diet Tory government.

It needs better regulations, stronger safeguards, and more Investment in national institutions.

I recently moved to @npub19rt…adh9 (vivaldi.social). It does ...

2024-10-14T23:09:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…a0h7
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I recently moved to Vivaldi Browser (npub19rt…adh9) (vivaldi.social).

It does full support for Threads, plus the BlueSky bridge.

The added bonus is it integrates into the sidebar of Vivaldi's desktop web browser, and you can also get s WordPress-basdd blog on the Fediverse.

Can recommend 😊

Many people claim AI can help us solve climate change, so I ...

2024-10-14T11:56:57Z

Many people claim AI can help us solve climate change, so I decided to ask Google Gemini.

Well... It regurgitated the same points climate advocates have been making for over 40 years.

1. Transition to Renewable Energy
2. Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions
3. Sustainable Agriculture and Land Use
4. Climate-Resilient Cities and Infrastructure. Design cities to be more walkable, bikeable, and transit-oriented.
5. International Cooperation and Policy

So there we have it folks.

That's what AI told us to do.

So let's get on with it.

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #ChatGPT #Clkmate

Ladies and gentlemen, here's the automated self-driving ...

2024-10-13T06:22:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…rxd7
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Ladies and gentlemen, here's the automated self-driving electric pod system of the future! 🤯

These electric hyperpods arrive every 4 minutes on weekdays and every 10 minutes on weekends.

After passing through the futuristic platform screen doors, it whisks you to your destination through a tunnel at speeds of over 100km/h, including under Sydney Harbour.

I call it... The Sydney Metro!

Really interesting video here for anyone who's a retro ...

2024-10-10T12:12:15Z

Really interesting video here for anyone who's a retro computing/games nerd.

Here's a deep dive look at the 3DO's clever architecture (designed by Dave Needle and RJ Mical of Amiga fame). Contrary to popular myth, it was well designed, easy to program for, and ahead of its time.

#3do #Amiga #Commodore #RetroGames #RetroGaming #RetroComputers #RetroComputing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hfvbPH0dyY

"For soon, the ambitious Paris agreement limit turned out to ...

2024-10-09T23:53:54Z

"For soon, the ambitious Paris agreement limit turned out to be not much of a limit at all. When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (or IPCC, the world’s foremost body of climate experts) lent its authority to the 1.5°C temperature target with its 2018 special report, something odd transpired.

"Nearly all modelled pathways for limiting global heating to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels involved temporarily transgressing this target. Each still arrived back at 1.5°C eventually (the deadline being the random end point of 2100), but not before first shooting past it.

"From some corners of the scientific literature came the assertion that this was nothing more than fantasy. A new study published in Nature has now confirmed this critique. It found that humanity’s ability to restore Earth’s temperature below 1.5°C of warming, after overshooting it, cannot be guaranteed. Many impacts of climate change are essentially irreversible."

#climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

https://theconversation.com/how-mainstream-climate-science-endorsed-the-fantasy-of-a-global-warming-time-machine-225597?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=topic%2Fclimatechange

That '90s site oz still up if you want to pet some digital ...

2024-10-03T23:46:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…3mhn
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That '90s site oz still up if you want to pet some digital cats: https://that90ssite.neocities.org/

Okay, something peculiar I just noticed. It's not just my ...

2024-09-26T13:51:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…v2yd
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Okay, something peculiar I just noticed.

It's not just my account it's happening on.

I tried following [@snarfed.org](https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/snarfed.org ) (that's [@snarfed.org](https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/snarfed.org )'s BlueSky account) and the button changes to follow.

But.

When I go back to that profile afterwards, it says "follow requested". Screenshots below.

I tried following a different account from the web version, snd the same thing happens...

That's the peculiar thing. Below is a screenshot of a search ...

2024-09-26T11:50:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…l054
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That's the peculiar thing.

Below is a screenshot of a search for BlueSky Bridgy accounts on Vivaldi Browser (npub19rt…adh9). They work fine... 🧐

A few very quick questions on something I'm troubleshooting. ...

2024-09-25T15:03:17Z

A few very quick questions on something I'm troubleshooting.

I'm trying to use Bridgy Fed for Bluesky (npub1pqr…2sck) to make my BlueSky account visible from the Fediverse, and also make this Mastodon account visible on BlueSky.

Here's the link to my BlueSky account on the Fediverse: [@ajsadauskas.bsky.social](https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/ajsadauskas.bsky.social )

Unfortunately, at least from Vivaldi Browser (npub19rt…adh9) Social, I'm having a couple of issues. Namely, only a couple of posts are visible, and I seem to be unable to follow that account.

So just a few questions for people (especially on other Mastodon instances):

1) Can you view [@ajsadauskas.bsky.social](https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/ajsadauskas.bsky.social )?

2) If so, roughly how many posts are visible?

3) Can you follow that account?

4) If you click follow, go to another page and come back, does it still say following?

Thanks in advance for your help with troubleshooting this, I appreciate it 💖

#Fedihelp #Fediverse #Bridgy #BlueSky [@snarfed.org](https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://snarfed.org/about ) #Bridge #Mastodon

Thanks to ...

2024-09-25T05:16:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…sjsy
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Thanks to [@snarfed.org](https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://snarfed.org/about ), you can follow and interact with a lot of BlueSky accounts from Vivaldi Social.

Including the official BlueSky account: [@bsky.app](https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/bsky.app )

And your Vivaldi Social posts can appear in BlueSky by following Bridgy Fed for Bluesky (npub1pqr…2sck)

Screenshots below.

So yes, Vivaldi Social does play nice with BlueSky 😁

#Fediverse #Vivaldi #BlueSky

A really great example of why the Atari 7800 is (or at least was) ...

2024-09-25T03:56:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…76xs
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A really great example of why the Atari 7800 is (or at least was) so underrated is the new homebrew Dreadnought Assault.

Horizontally scrolling screen. A huge number of independently-moving sprites on screen at the same time. Broad colour palette.

With zero flicker.

#Atari #Atari7800 #RetroGames #RetroGame #Homebrew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCRiLk6wgRs

There's not nearly enough love for the MicroBee, given how it ...

2024-09-24T12:52:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…zf3z
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There's not nearly enough love for the MicroBee, given how it was the first computer so many people used.

The later models had colour.

Here's a video from around 1984 about the MicroBee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd8hRu58cB4

There was a follow-up in the works called the MicroBee Gamma that I don't think was ever released.

It had a Motorola 68k CPU (so roughly as powerful as an early Mac or Amiga), with a second Z80 CPU for backwards compatibility to CP/M.

#computer #RetroComputer #RetroGaming #RetroComputers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhbg42omvow

Here's one from left field for you: The MicroBee. ...

2024-09-24T03:25:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…76xs
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Here's one from left field for you: The MicroBee.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroBee

Ask anyone in IT in Australia who's in their 40s or 50s what their first computer was, and there's a good chance the answer will be a C64, Vic20, or the MicroBee.

The very earliest ones came in kit form, and then later preassembled.

They were an 80-column Z80 machine, that later came in colour.

Lots of love from the UK for the Speccy, barely a word for the MicroBee.

I think the poster child for underrated games machines has to be ...

2024-09-24T02:20:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…dzen
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I think the poster child for underrated games machines has to be the Atari 7800.

For many years, what was written about the system was based on the few games Atari released during its initial run.

Mostly single screen with awful sound and a slight graphics improvement over the 2600.

Turns out it's far more capable than many gave it credit for.

Most of the games for the system are homebrews.

The best games for the system (Ricki & Vicki, Crystal Quest, 1942, Scramble, EVO, etc.) are all homebrews.

And not marginally either. They wipe the floor on graphics and sound compared to many if the official releases.

Close second is the Amiga (and Atari ST) by many Americans.

In Europe and Australia, the Amiga 500 sold in good numbers and was a gaming powerhouse.

Meanwhile, in the US, it didn't sell nearly as well.

As in, for every American household that had an Amiga, there were 20 in the UK.

Conversely, the impact of the NES outside the US, particularly in the UK and Europe, I'd vastly overestimated.

It sold *much* better in the US than most of Europe. And it didn't really take off in Australia until the Super NES was out. (Master System 2 and C64 easily outsold it.)

I'll have a full new intro post up tomorrow (local time). But ...

2024-09-23T15:40:12Z

I'll have a full new intro post up tomorrow (local time). But for those wondering, yes this is my account. I've mainly switched instances to Vivaldi Social because it plays nicer with the BlueSky bridge.