I think I read an Onion article about this sort of thing 10 years ago…
America’s Secret Ice Base Won’t Stay Frozen Forever
Climate change is turning a Cold War project into an environmental hazard.
Category: Mastodon.Social
Thinking about social media timelines, cloud storage for digital photos, contextual identity, global newsfeeds vs …
Thinking about social media timelines, cloud storage for digital photos, contextual identity, global newsfeeds vs topic-based forums, and the spread of hoaxes alongside more trustworthy information…
It’s ALL about information overload. And what tools you use to organize, curate and filter it. And who those tools benefit.
The last time I read about the city of Laredo and books, it was about …
The last time I read about the city of Laredo and books, it was about the last bookstore in town closing.
Now they’re starting a digital library.
Not a fan of screen-based menus above the fast food counter that *change* while you’…
Not a fan of screen-based menus above the fast food counter that *change* while you’re trying to read them.
It’s the IRL equivalent of a web carousel, only you can’t even click to freeze it.
Finally reread Saucer Country & read Saucer State. Weird to look at the 2012 story …
Finally reread Saucer Country & read Saucer State. Weird to look at the 2012 story in the context of 2016, and the ways reality of 2016-2017 influenced the sequel.
And dammit, I was not expecting a cliffhanger ending!
What the Count of Monte Cristo Can Teach Us About Cybersecurity
What the Count of Monte Cristo Can Teach Us About Cybersecurity
In 1844, Alexandre Dumas described a telecom hack based on insider threats and social engineering
Funny how the biggest reasons to “own your own data” with social networking are …
Funny how the biggest reasons to “own your own data” with social networking are opposites:
1. Limit access to data you don’t want shared too far.
2. Preserve access to data you don’t want to disappear.
I’m trying to place a scene from a movie or TV show…
I’m trying to place a scene from a movie or TV show that a moment in last night’s Flash reminded me of.
It’s a jailhouse visitation, and the prisoner has super powers that make the glass shatter so they can touch one last time before he’s pulled away.
Maybe Dark City?
The bad UI that fueled Hawaii’s missile false alarm.
The bad UI that fueled Hawaii’s missile false alarm. via @NNgroup
I’m reminded of the Far Side cartoon with the airplane passenger accidentally hitting the “Wings Fall Off” switch next to his seat.
Saw several links to this article on Facebook deliberately ignoring the fact that people present …
Saw several links to this article on Facebook deliberately ignoring the fact that people present their identity differently to different groups (family, friends, work, interest-based groups, etc.) & how that impacts social interaction. https://boingboing.net/2018/01/22/facebook-is-sad.html
It got me thinking about exploring other Mastodon instances again, and an article I read ages ago on a contextual identity project at Mozilla. Looks like I should check out Firefox Containers. https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Contextual_Identity_Project/Containers
Go home JavaScript, you’re drunk
Go home JavaScript, you’re drunk
JavaScript: Can (a==1 && a==2 && a==3) ever evaluate to true? Yes!
…
Regardless of how the comparison is made, it’s ridiculous that comparison is allowed to alter the value.
There’s enough complexity in programming without adding the uncertainty principle to it.
Interesting analysis of Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi
Interesting analysis of Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi (major spoilers)
Luke Skywalker Isn’t Supposed to Be “Nice”
Spam fallout
Interesting thread on the unintended consequences of fighting the spam wars. [dead link] via @gcupc
I would personally like to apologize for the antispam movement of the late 90s and early 00s. We did more harm than good. Nothing we did reduced the amount of spam significantly, and we created the centralization of email…
Good to know: Raspberry Pi is not vulnerable to Meltdown/Spectre…
Good to know: Raspberry Pi is not vulnerable to Meltdown/Spectre because they use processors that don’t do speculation.
Also a nice, clear explanation of how the vulnerabilities work.
Scuttlebutt
Interesting idea: Secure Scuttlebutt, a totally decentralized social network that syncs through mesh & LAN connections & can handle being off-grid.
The Nomad Who’s Exploding the Internet Into Pieces – The Atlantic
An Off-Grid Social Network – André Staltz
Via A Plan to Rescue the Web from Internet – André Staltz
Totally forgot that AIM is shutting down tomorrow…
Totally forgot that AIM is shutting down tomorrow. I remember the talk about these new “buddy lists” that were going to change communication.
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/12/14/2122217/psa-aim-will-be-discontinued-tomorrow
Weirdly enough, ICQ seems to still be around.
Driving around with a giant cardboard Minecraft spider
It turns out I’ve been driving around with a giant cardboard Minecraft spider in the back of the car all week. Yes, including the day I went to Downtown LA for jury duty.
Spoilers for last night’s #supergirl & building up to Reign…
Spoilers for last night’s #supergirl & building up to Reign
I liked the way her journey to Earth and discovering her past paralleled a mirror version of Clark’s, but i would have rather watched the fortress holo slowly convince her over several episodes to become a villain instead of just activating latent programming. Flipping the villain switch is boring.
It seems like such a waste of the build-up. Something like Morgana’s journey or even Anakin’s would have been a lot more interesting.
What if an actual fire breaks out during the test?
The building is testing the fire alarm system. I found myself wondering: What if an actual fire breaks out during the test?
This year’s Mexico City quake hit the same day as an earthquake drill. At least in that case you can tell immediately that it’s the real thing.
The biggest roadblock to adoption and the key feature
I’m kind of reminded of XKCD’s initial response to Google+
Ultimately, though, I think the separate instances are going to be both the biggest roadblock to adoption and the key feature that distinguishes Mastodon from Twitter.
Wait, is there a taboo against naming that other microblogging site? that other microblogging site. Should I call it “You-know-where” or “That which must not be named?”
(I will admit I was amused to see someone refer to it as “The Bad Place” yesterday.)
…and I just noticed the editing error in this toot. :facepalm:
I do wonder about permanence, though: How often do Mastodon instances shut down? How much notice?
Data Export seems to only cover follow/block/mute lists so far. I suppose I could hook up my atom feed to IFTTT or something.
Or I can just do what I do with “the bird site,” and if I really want to make sure I keep something I’ve written, copy it over to my blog.