Andy Lowry @AndyLowry@qoto.org

Fox News Loses Bid To Shut Down Voting Tech Company's Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit | Smartmatic accuses the conservative network of spreading lies that it helped “steal” the 2020 election from Donald Trump.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-news-lawsuit-voting-tech-company_n_63ec97a6e4b02c2573799946

#trump #conservative #foxnews

Apropos everything, I’m reminded of this from Douglas Adams:

1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.

2. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.

3. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.

The most talked-about recent technological innovations are:

1) Social media, which empowered fascists, & gave everyone else the attention span of a gnat.

2) Cryptocurrency, which enriched a handful of rich grifters, & impoverished people who really couldn't afford to lose the money.

3) "AI", which looks set to "flood the zone" with a novel kind of bullshit, & destroy once & for all our ideas of what is real or true.

I'm pro-tech, but it's all starting to look like a bit of a mixed blessing.

Nice proof-of-concept, this search index for Mastodon, totally opt-in. Please boost.
#Search #Tootfinder https://www.tootfinder.ch/index.php?join=1

Twitter people are apparently, probably inevitably, using the implosion of Mastodon.lol as an example of why Mastodon doesn't work.

In my opinion, the end of Mastodon.lol is a good example why only one guy shouldn't be in charge of something important.

You'd think Twitter people would get that.

Well one is at my place! Lynx in France face extinction with population down to 150 adults at most https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/13/lynx-france-face-extinction-population-150-adults-at-most-aoe?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Margaret Atwood responds to the banning of "The Handmaid's Tale" from a high school library.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/margaret-atwood-handmaids-tale-virginia-book-ban-library-removal/673013/

"How dare I question the school board’s motives? I do dare. After all, it has questioned mine."

Dear journalists who persist in supporting a company whose sociopath CEO loathes you: Here's his latest expression of contempt.

OK, back to business as usual...

You like dogs? Name three of their deities.

People don't fake depression, they fake being okay. Remember that and be kind.

Hi ! New to Mastodon, and flailing around a bit. I am totally blind and still adjusting even though it has been over 4 years. Previously I lived aboard my boat for over 10 years. I am a civil engineer/creative writer/Moth Storyteller.
#introductions #blind #liveaboard

There is a political dynamic we all get, but that the mass public does yet understand.

Mastodon has cleaved from the monopoly sites a small but significant userbase. And here, we are able to *organize*. Because of the size of the community.

On ALL of those other sites, whether #Peertube #PixelFed #Lemmy, etc ... there simply aren't enough users to reach critical mass.

But there are here.

Here on Mastodon is a PURPOSE that has attracted a large user community.

Timeline of a new Mastodon user:

Day 1: this sucks servers are confusing and why is my feed empty

Day 2: why is there no quote tweet this is dumb

Day 3: mastodon better make some changes if it wants to compete with tw_tter

Day 7: hm, people are really nice here

Day 10: loving the no ads and real conversations

Day 15: THE WORKERS MUST SEIZE THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION AND EXECUTE CAPITALISTS

#TwitterMigration

"I don't need luck, I have you"

Ok. I’m 51 years old. Love language. Love learning etymology.

I just learned that what I’ve always thought of as “craft paper” because it’s used for crafting (as many kids learn to use it) is in fact “kraft paper” so named because it is the resulting paper from the “Kraft” paper pulp process, which produces a stronger product than other methods.
Butcher’s paper, paper bags, & so forth, all kraft paper.

Leading me inexorably to some questions regarding the production of Kraft Dinner…🤔​

Terrific reporting by Rebecca Ellis at The Los Angeles Times on the scope of the card skimming fraud targeting people who receive state food and other financial assistance via debit cards (a.k.a Electronic Benefits Cards or EBTs).

The story makes clear again that the organized crime groups involved will wait until funds are deposited by the state onto these EBT cards. That happens early in the morning, and the fraudsters are hitting the ATMs with the cloned EBT cards just as soon as the funds are there.

From the story:

"Skyrocketing theft amounts
In 2019, Los Angeles County saw $25,227 in EBT benefits stolen, according to the Department of Public Social Services. In 2020, $340,891 was taken. In 2021, the number began to skyrocket: $914,003 was stolen, most of it in the last few months of the year."

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-08/ebt-fraud-la-county

I covered EBT skimming in a couple of recent posts:

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/10/how-card-skimming-disproportionally-affects-those-most-in-need/

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/11/lawsuit-seeks-food-benefits-stolen-by-skimmers/

I enter the Library of Books You Read As A Child.
"Do you have... er. It was green, and there was a girl and a dog, and..."
The librarian nods.
"Of course. Which version do you want?"
"Version?"
"The one you read, with all flaws you didn't notice, or the one you remember loving?"
#MicroFiction #SmallStories #TootFic