CJ Mallard @duck57@mastodon.social

Thirsty in the more traditional sense of the word

I love finding 1995 style hand-coded HTML mad scientist web sites that are still actively maintained in 2019.

"Here's my extremely niche thing that I'm into and tinkering with and learning about and thinking about all the time, and I am compelled to share my knowledge with the internet via this un-navigable web site that makes no goddamn sense anymore"

A True Story Of 'Copyright Piracy': Why The Verve Will Only Start Getting Royalties Now For Bittersweet Symphony

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190525/00140242276/true-story-copyright-piracy-why-verve-will-only-start-getting-royalties-now-bittersweet-symphony.shtml

so youre thinking about making your own programming language. i made you a handy flowchart to help you decide if you should

https://v2.jacky.wtf/post/9a3f803a-9482-43b8-b8f4-1dbff7a13178

Stop using Google Chrome.

Google Chrome is moving to remove autonomy from Web users. Excuse me while I purge it from my machines. Please remember - it’s a “open source” “project” (commerically provided product) whose goal is to not to “affect our [Google’s] ability to customize ads and/or could block ads online, which would harm our business” (from their SEC 10-K filing).

Google Chrome is not built for people; it’s built for Google, by Google. You are their bank.

this post is sponsored by squarespace. need a website that looks like every other fucking website in the world? have we got the deal for you. it's microsoft frontpage as a service, baby.

Mastodon is my protest song against Twitter, but honestly, shouldn't a protest song be fun to sing? Shouldn't it feel more like a foot-stomping gospel song, and less like a funeral march?

I have yet to really come to terms with my extreme disappointment with the tech industry. Not just with the "techlash," but with many more personal things:

- burning out on being an open-source maintainer
- realizing that the browser industry is brutal and uncompetitive
- noticing how many tech influencers are just seeking out social media validation through Twitter or GitHub
- realizing that the frontend JS community is largely fad-driven rather than evidence-driven

I could go on

Facebook wants up to 30% of fan subscriptions vs Patreon’s 5%

https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/26/facebook-vs-patreon/

Fuck Facebook. Do not use this

IMPENDING/GOATS

@ajroach42 In this case Brexit might work in my favor. The chances of me pushing all uploads through some centralized EU filter are actually zero, whatever corporate mandate the eurocrats decide to rubber stamp.

If it came to the worst I would go Tor only. I could still have sites in the onionspace, and I'd go pseudanonymous rather than using squish name. But to remain relevant I think we should try to avoid this type of outcome at all costs. Once the only venue is underground then you become trivial for the mainstreamers to demonize.

@ajroach42 @saxnot The critical thing is that in any sort of e-commerce the customer should be the end user and not any other party. Once the end user is not the primary focus then it all goes sideways.

@bhtooefr Fully agree and understand.

The larger point is to make sure that whatever software is required in order to use the network is simple enough that it will run on a large variety of existing platforms.

In practice, if it will run on a c64 or a ZX Spectrum, it will *sing* on the lowest powered modern devices available.

@ajroach42 This is dovetailing into an interest I'm picking up lately - a segment of heavily "Galapagosized" Japanese consumer electronics, that in some cases never really left the late 90s/early 2000s gadget mindset.

...and as a result, has avoided the bloat of modern technology, even as it benefits from it. So, you get things like a digital notepad that flies on a 96 MHz ARM7, when modern tablets struggle to do the same with multi-core multi-GHz ARM Cortex-A9001s.

It’s amazing that any of this shit works at all.

My Birdsite feed right now:
* Climate change
* Coup in Venezuela
* Capitalism grinding down labor and the American dream
* The death of privacy and its impact on future culture
* Fresh hell from the White House
* THE DRESSES AT THE OSCARS ARE GLITTERING AND COST MILLIONS (promoted)

boost this and I'll assign you an rpg trinket* until I can't think of any more trinkets**

* a simple item lightly touched by mystery

**as above, but plural

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/2/20/18232960/google-nest-secure-microphone-google-assistant-built-in-security-privacy Google "forgot" to tell customers about the unadvertised microphone in Nest Secure. In other news, the Greeks "forgot" to tell Troy about the unadvertised soldiers in that big wooden horse. Adtech IoT devices are not your friend.