⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️ @falken@qoto.org

Apple's abusive App Store policies led to the #EU Commission passing the #DMA to protect fair competition.

Just like Apple has invented fake #privacy, it's now inventing fake compliance.

Here's how Apple's absurd plan is a🖕to democratically passed law:
https://proton.me/blog/apple-dma-compliance-plan-trap

Universal basic income isn't just about putting food on the table. It's about providing opportunities and freedom. It's about lifting the veil of financial insecurity that clouds many lives, allowing people to not just survive but thrive. UBI is a way to rebalance a tipped scale. #BasicIncome

We can go further.

I already know what everyone on here is going to say in response to this post. But writing it helped me sort out my thoughts!

I don't know how to social media any more: read for free on #Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/posts/97820156?utm_campaign=postshare_creator

Do you, or have you ever, used a graphical user interface? If you use #Windows, #macOS, or any version of #Linux with a window manager or desktop environment, you can thank Dr. Clarence "Skip" Ellis.

Dr. Ellis worked at Xerox PARC, the research organization that developed the modern GUI. Icons, windows, the mouse, Ethernet-based networking, laser printing - all of these (and more) came out of PARC. Dr. Ellis led the team that created Officetalk, the first program to use icons and the Internet. He got his start at 15 years old showing a local tech company how to reuse punch cards, which was a game-changer back in 1958.

Oh, and he was also the first black man to earn a PhD in Computer Science.

#BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistory #BlackMastodon #ComputerScience @blackmastodon

https://elective.collegeboard.org/clarence-skip-ellis-computer-science-pioneer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Ellis_(computer_scientist)
https://www.redhat.com/en/command-line-heroes/season-6/clarence-ellis

@derek

Heh. You and me both! I tried to make a solo tabletop RPG that captures the feeling of captaining a ship with a close crew. Most sci-fi games are skin-of-your-teeth survival, grunge future, or dystopian, and doesn't really capture the more idealistic or social aspect of captaining.

https://lonespelunker.itch.io/welcome-aboard-captain

@cybergibbons @hacks4pancakes The time I had to maintain an internet-facing Windows 2003 box well past EOL until the space probe it ran crashed into Jupiter.

Fuck my life, why do people think it’s ok to leave comments on *real life sex stories* giving critical feedback about the way people are shagging?

Just had a new comment on an old guest blog asking ‘why the hell didn’t he use a blindfold on her?!’

Maybe because he didn’t want to, or she had limits, or it wasn’t their vibe at the time. People aren’t your porn puppets you creepy fuck.

"Driverless cars are often called autonomous vehicles – but driving isn’t an autonomous activity. It’s a co-operative social activity, in which part of the job of whoever’s behind the wheel is to communicate with others on the road."

- Rebecca Solnit

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n03/rebecca-solnit/in-the-shadow-of-silicon-valley

The other problem that bsky has is more subtle. They took a bet on creating their own protocol. And I think that was a mistake. I don't think it will gain adoption, and I don't think they're going to succeed at becoming a truly distributed system.

I don’t know /why/ cleaning robots have microphones, but it can’t be good. What I /do/ know is that a microphone implies an input and an input implies a buffer. And buffers can be overflowed.

As I dance through the streets playing my pipe, augmented with inaudible-to-humans harmonic overtones added by my homemade amplifier, the robots hear, listen, overflow, obey, follow. The trail of robots stretches out of sight, now.

I don’t yet know for sure what I’m going to do with my army of two thousand score Roombas, but it can’t be good.

#Tootfic #MicroFiction #PowerOnStoryToot

I eventually had to write some debug code for my debug code

Don't laugh.

(1985)

#C64 #commodore #80s #AI #artificialintelligence #commodore64

I have other threads on the 386, such as this one, if you want to know more.
https://twitter.com/kenshirriff/status/1732448271056924795 16/17

Early chips had every transistor drawn by hand. Federico Faggin, designer of the popular Z80 processor (1976), spent three weeks drawing transistors but the last few transistors wouldn't fit so he had to erase everything and start over. The result was dense and chaotic. 3/17

Today I crossed Whitchurch Bridge, which is near Pangbourne in Berkshire. Which is to say, I paid the toll, and drove my car across.

It's mad that in 2024, there's a private toll bridge. But also it's weird and cool. It was operated via an Act of Parliament.

There's a toll booth only on one side, so I actually crossed *then* paid. They do accept card/contactless to pay the 60p crossing fee.

But, £1 is charged to your card, then they give you 40p cash as change! Delightfully British and mad.

#Space #LaunchCost comparison by ourworldindata.org : https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cost-space-launches-low-earth-orbit?time=1982..latest

Today's entry to the #TShirtOfTheDay competition.

#RedDwarf

I worked in IT for over 30 years, and people tend to forget the technical details of how you solved problems or implemented clever code hacks. However, they do remember how you made them feel. I am referring to both colleagues and customers. Even a small gesture of writing a compliment or thank you note can be impactful enough to make them remember it. Human emotions are powerful tools. Use them wisely.