If a public agency wants to create an official Mastodon server it controls (or use one the state has set up) — that's great! They should do that. I'd love to see a dedicated National Weather Service instance, for example.
But this shouldn't happen at the expense of having their web sites actually be **useful**. So start putting all this information on the web again. Get that stuff back into those dormant RSS feeds.
Then pipe that information wherever you want (including Mastodon)!
I am continually frustrated by the number of people on social media who want to change democratic systems in a way that would be an obvious vector for abuse.
Most recent one was to require federally elected officials to pass a security clearance background inspection. They erroneously think that it would only filter out GOP demagogues like DJT and MTG. But lets be honest, would the DoD under Trump have done a fair background check or would any rumor or innuendo have been enough to disqualify all the serious democratic candidates.
Same thing with not allowing indited or convicted felons to run for office. You may thing this is aimed at Trump, but what happens when Pres. DeSantis (it could happen) convicts hundreds of Democratic candidates of illegally facilitating abortions and in that way has them disqualified from standing for office.
In Trump era of politics where honor and integrity no longer matter it is vitally important that our actions not be ones that can be turned against us by populists with no morals.
Do not seize the day. This will startle the day and may cause it to become aggressive and give you a nasty bite.
Instead approach the day calmly without making eye contact, pet it gently, and slowly enfold it in a careful embrace
If the day shows any signs of resistance to being engaged with, it is likely to turn on you. Back off and return to bed.
California AG and state senators introduce bill to ban hidden fees
Because a friend found this useful yesterday:
Before tackling a problem, figure out whether it's the sort of problem where when you've solved 80% of the problem, you've solved 80% of the problem, or the kind where solving 80% means you've solved 0% of the problem.
This is especially important in security and privacy because that last 5% might be impossible.
My favourite *practical* use of a (non-t xtbook) monad in #haskell is xmonad. What's yours?
(Boosts appreciated)
The problem is a lack of calculus for conditionals. Yes we can easily calculate values from conditional formulas, but we have no way to characterized their behavior. No way to derived proofs when there is an "if" in the formula.
There is a fields medal and 50 years worth of mathematical and scientific advancements locked up behind a calculus for conditionally branching equations. #CollantzConjecture
I think that the story of the Eastern Ohio train derailment is not getting the national coverage an even of this magnitude deserves. Ignoring events like this when they occur away from major coastal media centers feeds into the narrative that the country and the media is run by and for "coastal elites" which is not good for the health of our democracy either.
#CollegeBoard's website is so shit that I Googled the CSS Profile codes of 5 colleges in the time it took to give me a list for "New York". Google's out there literally searching millions of web pages and extracting this number, and CollegeBoard can't even do a lookup of like a thousand name to number entries in their database </rant>
#collegeapps
Ethical question: Someone I don't know but share a common interest with posted a picture of a very cool delivery he got with the address blocked out but the tracking number clearly visible. Do I tell him that the shipper gives a partial address online and will give a complete address and photo of the delivered package if contacted by email? or is someone else's OpSec none of my business.
What is your prediction on the raising the US #DebtLimit? (Boost for bigger sample)
1) #Biden caves; increase tied to spending cuts
2) #Republicans cave; Clean debt limit Increase.
3) US Government Default
#Technology, #baseball (Dodgers), #politics, #religion (#Christian)