... Civic groups can do their part by encouraging voters to request absentee ballots now, instead of waiting closer to the election. Getting your request in early also aids in the production and mailing of ballots, which can be more effectively managed by mail vendors. #BeReady2020

boosting Frederike Kaltheuner
@`F_Kaltheuner
Now this is an exciting new possibility: a German town is running their own @`jitsinews
server so that schools and local choir groups don’t have to rely on @`Skype
and @`zoom_us

Video conferencing as public infrastructure

Cc @`thenewpossible
#newpossible

boosting @`JeremyKonyndyk thread at https://twitter.com/JeremyKonyndyk/status/1261131371189342208
Alright. There is a LOT of chatter on this website bashing those who are saying most of the country still isn't ready for a safe reopening.

So, as we approach what would normally be summer pool season, here's a short analogy about pooping and accountability.

boosting @`DavidSpinks [conversation ensues at https://twitter.com/DavidSpinks/status/1259854525558652928 ]
What value can you offer to power-users / ambassadors?

Love the SNAP framework from @`hollygfirestone :

Status - badges, titles, reputation
Networking - connections with curated peers
Access - to product managers, execs, beta testing
Perks - trainings, tickets to events, swag

boosting thread https://twitter.com/jidk1187/status/1228326139283824640 by John Kaminar
@`jidk1187
THREAD. Folks, bear with me for a minute, please. I want to address a point that is often made by gun rights advocates, but which is a fallacy that civilians may not realize. In the interest of full disclosure, I served 30 years in the Army and Army Reserve, I’ve taught

boosting Nicole Sanchez
@`nmsanchez https://twitter.com/nmsanchez/status/1267470756654399488
A thought for this Monday, for ppl with white collar jobs and are still employed... That feeling that you have, “How can I just act like everything is normal?” Pay attention to it. It is your conscience talking to you

boosting @`scottros
Debating "reopening" in tech is less a straight red/blue, D/R sort of thing than a technocrats vs. libertarians schism. My latest for @`axios

https://www.axios.com/reopening-debate-opens-tech-rift-silicon-valley-ceos-libertarians-53283565-65cd-45e1-9cc2-ea3d6e672415.html

boosting thread https://twitter.com/rahaeli/status/1229140137826713603 that ends with

An educated workforce is necessary for economic prosperity, but educated or not, a workforce carrying punishing debt from doing exactly what we told them to do cannot drive a prosperous economy.

boosting https://twitter.com/AAT_transcribes/status/1268121127915859968/
Academic Audio Transcription
@`AAT_transcribes
Are you an anti-racist organisation mobilising urgently against racism in its various forms and who is creating video or audio content with no budget for transcription or closed captioning?

We will do this for you for free until further notice.

boosting request for advice from Greg Wilson (not me) from https://twitter.com/gvwilson/status/1268178876884299777/

"Greg Wilson
@`gvwilson
What's the best book on Linux systems administration for people with data science backgrounds? Nemeth et al (https://amazon.ca/UNIX-Linux-System-Administration-Handbook/dp/0134277554/
) is too much, Ray & Ray (https://amazon.ca/Unix-Linux-Visual-QuickStart-Guide/dp/0321997549/) is more user-oriented than admin-oriented. Pointers?"

boosting thread https://twitter.com/PeterClines/status/1230199784109006848

Okay, look, I know I've ranted about Michael Bloomberg a few times because he’s an out of touch billionaire idiot.

And he absolutely is, don’t get me wrong.

But I wanted to take a moment to explain why I think that’s a very bad thing for you and me and everyone you know.

boosting https://twitter.com/BadAstronomer/status/1230519464417849346 thread

Normally when it comes to cosmic dangers to Earth, I’m in the role of debunking people who overstate the danger.

Now I find myself trying to convince people that some dangers are real, and we need to take them very seriously.

Like, say, solar storms.

boosting thread https://twitter.com/LeeFlower/status/1232058269801291778

This principle also applies to things like budgeting: a lot of people assume that poor people just need to be taught how to budget/save money, and nope. Folks who've lived lives where their liquid assets are insecure often make the smart decision not to amass liquid assets.

boosting https://twitter.com/LeeFlower/status/1232058269801291778

Also whenever I hear about the marshmallow study I think about a friend I had growing up whose mom was constantly lying to her face. "you can have a brownie if you clean the kitchen," so she'd clean it and her mom would say "no, I'm angry at you, you don't deserve a brownie."

boosting thread https://twitter.com/shananaomi/status/1240129879259131905

I have been thinking, even more often than I usually do, about the folks on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic. The doctors and nurses and researchers who brought epidemiology (and the CDC) into a new era. The public health officials who did (and didn’t) push science over fear.
...

...
If you are self-quarantined with roommates or a “cousin but not really a cousin” or someone from your family’s hometown - or your partner or boyfriend or anyone you are not (or could not in the 1980s be) legally married to - you are continuing this reinvention of family....

I'm reflecting on this. Thread from birdsite is https://twitter.com/AlexandraErin/status/1244482662435340289

Throw out copyright as a concept and the big money fight goes from who controls the content to who controls the platforms.

Can't really see that being the downfall of something like the House of Mouse, personally. Money still wins, and they still have the infrastructure.

boosting https://twitter.com/thieman/status/1005167009552887808 from June 2018

Travis Thieman
@`thieman
I'm in rural Pennsylvania and can't stop thinking about the middle story in this local newspaper [image of a news story regarding a mysterious Project X relating to a rural police station]

boosting Karen Healey @`kehealey

The universe doesn't care about us, so we need to care about each other. Justice doesn't exist as a substance, but as a process we engage in.

thread: https://nitter.net/kehealey/status/1293686704499392515#m

boosting https://nitter.net/EssayMnktl/status/1296252961509855232#m [humorous threats of violence but no onscreen violence]

This is how all my fights go

"THAT'S CONSIDERATE OF YOU"
...
"AND YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT SMALL BUSINESSES!"

https://nitter.net/TheKaranMenon/status/1296180741550702592

How school bullies are expected to act now.

boosting Dustin Ingram @`di_codes

[see charts at https://nitter.net/di_codes/status/1298754797529694209#m ]

Hello! If you are the proud owner of a Golang script currently scraping the hell out of @`pypi, you might notice that it has stopped working!

@`EWDurbin and I would like to have a chat with you! Email us at admin@pypi.org k thx!

boosting thread https://nitter.net/luis_in_brief/status/1298122482549833728#m by Luis Villa:

If you're an individual developer who wants to have an independent community whose voice is heard at the decision-making table, figure out how to get paid by many companies, not just one. We're here to help you with that @`tidelift .

boosting @`baconandcoconut

Did you know that this year's @`seagl CFP is looking for "Performance ART?" We are, or it is! If performance art for FOSS audience is the invitation you've been waiting for to be your best self, this is 100% your moment. https://seagl.org/news/2020/07/14/CFP-open.html

boosting Luis Villa
https://nitter.net/luis_in_brief/status/1299144360441782272#m

Thread. Kudos to James for having the guts to shut it down. (This didn't start as a subtweet of all the enablers at Facebook, but 🤷‍♂️)

boosting https://nitter.net/sethmlarson/status/1289302542355062784#m

👉 Important thread for Python users:

The Pip team is shipping a new dependency resolver and needs *your* help to find issues. Everyone who tries it will know their projects are future-proof and issues can be fixed before they're shipped. That's a win-win!

So how can you help?

boosting Zen Cho @`zenaldehyde

Are you an aspiring creator/freelancer? As someone who's occasionally in the position to make recommendations, let me BEG you to make a website. All you want is a simple professional place on the internet that shows
- what you've done
- what you can do
- how to contact you

boosting Zen Cho some more:

I know people are like "I haven't done anything worthy of putting up a website yet", but it is most helpful if you're just starting out. I can't tell you how annoying it is when I'm like "commission this brilliant short story writer" and all they have is a defunct Tumblr

Boosting @`bernardtyers

Are you a #PythonProgramming #pip user?

Do you have to deal with dependencies? What about conflicting dependencies?

If so, the pip UX Team want to hear from you: fill out this survey:

https://bit.ly/pip-ux-dependency-conflicts

and sign-up to our UX studies:

https://bit.ly/pip-ux-studies

#Python

boosting Christie Koehler @`christi3k 1h ago @christi3k @christi3k@toot.cat

FYI Portland folks - As of yesterday lowes.com had furnace filters in stock and we just got a notification they'd shipped. Still gonna be a bit before they get here. But an option to consider, esp since this smoke is gonna stick around for a while yet.

boosting https://twitter.com/pbkalra/status/1306373719225503745

I hate to say it but I think spaCy does better POS tagging (not to mention entity tagging) than nltk, but it is easier to install.

As in I'd like to install spacy but I'm having trouble if anyone wants to help me...

boosting https://nitter.net/recursecenter/status/1286020186643070977#m

A Skynet Simulator, by Ed Burnett. Seems harmless! skynetsimulator.com/

Source here if you want to confirm for yourself: https://github.com/edisgreat/skynet-simulator

boosting https://nitter.net/LeaKissner/status/1303707723142365191#m It's time to register for PEPR, you folks who want to do privacy engineering or bolding with respect. Because building better requires a deeply diverse group of us doing this work, there are grants available for students and those traditionally underrepresented.

boosting thread https://nitter.net/whitecoatcapxg/status/1300610989445054464

Somebody needs to design a streaming platform that is designed to incorporate live captioning. @`youtube used to work, but it literally is useless now. They have abandoned and forsaken the idea of human-produced live captioning. @`zoom works...1/ But some events want a different sort of platform for their events. New platforms are springing up like mushrooms during the pandemic, but NOT ONE OF THEM

boosting https://nitter.net/TWiT/status/1301570224030846976

What changes are coming to PIP, the most popular package installer on the @`pypi?
@`dsearls & @`aaronnewcomb talk with PIP project manager @`brainwane (who is also a comedian!) and release manager @`pradyunsg.
Listen & subscribe to FLOSS Weekly.
https://twit.tv/shows/floss-weekly/episodes/594

boosting https://nitter.net/whitecoatcapxg/status/1306028441511264258

I don't know who needs to hear this, but captioners are in extraordinarily high demand right now. Chances of you getting something set up in one day, or same week, or often even same month, are slim. We'll try, but *please* start planning for your captioning needs far in advance!

...This brings up something that separates White Coat Captioning from some other companies:

... We don't take a job unless we are sure we have coverage and we know exactly who's covering it. As opposed to the way of doing business where a company takes every job that comes...
...through the door and then scrambles to find any old body to fill it. And often can't. And leaves the client hanging.

That is crappy, and we don't do that.

@brainwane

Yeah, this is, as the line goes, about who controls the infrastructure.

@brainwane It was a copyright abolitionist who convinced me not to be one. He was convinced that if copyright were abolished private actors would contract for the rights they really needed. And I thought of all of the awful platform terms of service I've read (even that I'd read ~10 years ago when I heard this), and... nope.

@brainwane well crap, that's one more thing for me to worry about ;)

@brion yeah :[