leinir @leinir@computerfairi.es

Bills like the UK's so-called Online Safety Bill and the just re-introduced EARN IT Act undermine safety by attacking end-to-end encryption. #noearnitact #makedmssafe

QT signalapp: Our position remains clear. We will not back down on providing private, safe communications. Today, we join with other encrypted messengers pushing back on the UK's flawed Online Safety Bill.

Lifehack:

Instead of wondering if something is normal, ask if it's harmful.

Dressing up as an anthropomorphic animal character isn't normal, but it makes a lot of people smile.

Being exceptionally talented isn't normal, but it sure offers a way to enrich your life as well as the people you care for.

To hell with normal. To hell with being afraid of being called weird. Furries figured this out decades ago. Many anime fans and gamers, too.

Yet, I hear people ask things like, "Is it normal to feel the way I do?"

I dunno.

Does it make your life harder? Then you might want to do something about it. Does it cause harm to others? Definitely do something to correct it.

But to cry when you watch movies? Or to want to cuddle so much that you lose any interest in actually having sex? Or to hate the world we inherited so much that it hurts, and so you channel it into helping others suffer a little less?

Who gives a shit about normal. That's human.

Are there any #linux people who do #musicproducion on #OpenSUSE? With a low latency kernel and all that jazz? Preferably with #bitwig and VSTs and all that crap. That's where I'm headed in the future so I want to know how much faff there is. Back in the day I used Ubuntu Studio which was great.

KDE Telemetry collects data on you, if you opt-in, and it has a clear description of what is collected, why, what the retention policy is and how you can switch it back off.

It's off by default, and distributors of binaries (e.g. distro's) can disable it entirely at compile time.

That's how it should be (policy is here: https://community.kde.org/Policies/Telemetry_Policy )

What an unforgettable #Akademy2023! Thank you to our sponsors, attendees (in-person and online), University of Macedonia, Akademy Team, and volunteers for making it a success.

For updates about #Akademy, keep an eye on https://akademy.kde.org/!

#event #opensource #floss #foss #tech #Akademy2024

“Tech experts are starting to doubt that ChatGPT and A.I. ‘hallucinations’ will ever go away: ‘This isn’t fixable’”

More accurately, AI researchers have always said that this isn’t fixable but y’all were too obsessed with listening to con artists to pay attention but now the con is wearing thin. https://fortune.com/2023/08/01/can-ai-chatgpt-hallucinations-be-fixed-experts-doubt-altman-openai/

The Times is right — e-bikes are a scourge and we must do everything we can to protect our fragile SUV-driving elites from these teen terrors. I propose we construct a nationwide network of separated e-bike enclosures to segregate these monsters from god-fearing motorists.

I’ve attached one such example from a European petrostate that has spent years valiantly protecting cars from the ravages of cycling. With work, we may be able to reduce the number of cyclist-on-motorist deaths to zero.

This week, I went over to Bluesky and asked people who'd left Mastodon why they left, and lots of people told me. I grabbed the replies and crunched them and wrote up a summary. I think it's really interesting and often kind of wrenching.

https://erinkissane.com/mastodon-is-easy-and-fun-except-when-it-isnt

#meta

I just wanna put this out there. If you're reading this, are AMAB, and have like any sort of feelings like a "feminine" side, or you find that you use mainly female characters because it feels more comfortable, you should explore the possibility of being trans/non-binary ASAP

When I was younger I started making female characters more than make characters and it like completed something in me, kind of. But it wasn't enough, there was always this feeling of "but Im not actually female". The idea of me being attract as a feminine person was impossible

But that was just society LYING TO ME, like it does to all of us. Because I am attractive, and I would have been even more attractive back then if I had known it was possible. I could have not wasted so much time STRIVING TO BE MASCULINE. I regret it now.

If I knew that I could be trans and it would be okay and I would be attractive and feel as good as I do now, I would have done this years ago. If I could have gotten on puberty blockers I would have. Society stole a huge portion of my life with these lies. Don't fall for it.

#transvisibility #transgender #nonbinary #lgbtq #amab #furry

I remembered that I made this cutie last year. I have a bad habit of making something then immediately moving onto the next thing without really reflecting on it or showing it off more than once.

This was floating around somewhere and I had the urge to remake it at a higher resolution and with a more appropriate font.

This is scary. It's (strong) SafetyNet for websites.

Every now and then I run into another Android app I can no longer run because someone decided my phone, running an official build of my choice of OS, that isn't even rooted, is "not trustable".

Now they want to start doing that for websites.

This kills open Linux on the desktop (including Asahi Linux). It kills alternative browsers. It is a backdoor to kill ad blockers.

No. Just no. Please.

https://github.com/RupertBenWiser/Web-Environment-Integrity/blob/main/explainer.md

Mocking Google for their totally-not-an-attempt-to-DRM-the-Web is the right thing to do.

Open issues on the proposal repo and let them know what you think.

Politely.

But, don't be fooled. Even if they take this back, it doesn't change how they think. This is their intention. They just failed to slip it by this time.

The answer is to take power away from Google. Stop using their stuff. Build alternatives. It's not easy, but it's the only way.

And mock them. That's always fun.

Here's the thing. I do think that meat based agriculture as it is now is wildly unsustainable, however this kind of framing makes it seem like our individual choices are what's going to fix climate change. And that's just not true. I can bike to work and eat vegan all I want, but it's not going to stop private jets from flying across the country. If you want to tackle environmental concerns with diet, I love that; but the facts are that governments would have to stop subsiding animal agriculture and instead subsidize common vegan alternatives. Meat is cheap, and people are broke. If 10 beyond burgers were $10, then that's what people would eat, but it's not fair to frame this as a matter of personal choice.

@BegoniaArizona https://montereybay.social/@BegoniaArizona/110748760025301647

This is a credible proposal for DRM for websites in general. It would enable unbeatable adblock-blocking. It would prevent user customization for not just convenience but also accessibility.

I do not say this lightly: Enabling the forfeiture of control over the browsing experience is a fundamentally evil idea that must be rejected now, as it has been in the past, and we must remain vigilant against its reemergence in the future.

https://github.com/RupertBenWiser/Web-Environment-Integrity/blob/main/explainer.md