@jamey Neat, thanks.

@mos_8502 yeah, I'm almost certainly gonna end up losing some contacts I've been peacefully shooting the shit with for years on here, simply because I don't believe the base technology itself is inherently evil. I probably already have.

also, I wonder how many people mad about the copyright angle spent the last 10, 20, 30 years pirating media hand over fist. but that's different.

In case you missed it:

Excellent policy that makes food affordable for all of us, announced today. 🍲
Plus reinstating Ka Aro Ka Ako, the OG school lunch programme. 😋

Greens vow to break up supermarket duopoly, set up publicly owned 'KiwiMart' https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/1271645/greens-vow-to-break-up-supermarket-duopoly-set-up-publicly-owned-kiwimart

#NZPol #voteGreen

The US recently published guidance that children of foreign diplomatic officers are now qualified to apply for green cards. It was presented as a plus, but from my understanding of it, lower level foreign officers who had children born here always got automatic citizenship like everyone else.

Yet another poorly understood reduction of people’s rights.

Join a scientific expedition on a sailboat in Asia? We study ocean health on yachts. its a great way to get to places that big research ships can't get to. We often do university teaching trips but when they are not on we can't afford to use the boat (we don't own it). Grants only run so long. We were thinking of having people on board to help us do dive reef surveys, water quality, ocean and atmospheric microplastic. We are gauging interest. please boost for reach #science #ocean #climate

Went for a walk along the canal yesterday, now that the summer heat is waning, and saw a surprising number of creatures.

This grumpy little soft shell turtle was doing it's best impression of a rock in the middle of the footpath along the top of the canal. I relocated them off the path, down next to the water.

#turtle

#BloomScrolling #WaterLilies

@silverpill @cavallette ...looking a bit closer (at the Intercept article, since I haven't been paying attention to current events for a few weeks) it seems that this problem is indeed boiling down to lack of decentralized solutions for 1. online payments and 2. DNS.

I'm very interested in solutions to 2 that don't involve sketchy sharing of un-memorable onion addresses or similar.

@deutrino It's reached a point of irrational Pavlovian rage on some people's part when they so much as suspect you may have once been in a room with someone who used ChatGPT.

Intriguing ...

"Flicket is not a consumer app competing for eyeballs. It is a B2B platform that hands event organisers control over the customer data, revenue streams and fan engagement that the traditional intermediary model captures for itself. That is the whole play, and it targets a genuinely hated part of the events economy."

https://b2bnews.co.nz/news/flicket-processes-350m-from-bay-of-plenty-base/

#Flicket #TicketSales

@lauren
depends on public money

@deutrino That and IA used an open weight model to demo climate change stuff.

People are Big Mad™ about this stuff. Still, at least I'm not the only one in the barrel now.

@cpkimber @franco_vazza His particle physics book is also great.

@mos_8502 oh boy.

this is because of the copyright thing, isn't it.

Blocked my first #crochet doily today! It’s actually way easier to starch and block a doily than I thought.

@irene @silvermoon82 Wow! This is amazing work! 🤩

Kannur Public Library, India 📚💜

#books #library #Architecture

@ajroach42 I love "Human Fall Flat". It's very casual 3D puzzle-platforming where failure is usually not only easy to recover from but also funny. It supports both two-player couch co-op and online multiplayer, and is available on platforms including SteamDeck and PlayStation. (But I recommend the Steam version because it supports creating your own levels and sharing them with others. I haven't actually tried unofficial levels, I'm just assuming it's awesome.)

I've enjoyed playing "Sky: Children of the Light" with people. It doesn't support split-screen play but does do online play across a variety of platforms, including mobile, Steam, and PlayStation. It's free-to-play with in-game purchases for cosmetics, but remarkably respectful of players for a game with that funding model: it has a bunch of design decisions to discourage playing overly long and to keep online play friendly. I think it's worth studying even just from a game design perspective.

I really liked "It Takes Two" but most people I've suggested playing it with have been hesitant about a cooperative game with a theme of building stronger relationships in the context of a marriage falling apart? They've come out with a new game, "Split Fiction", which has the kinds of gameplay mechanics I loved but a story that may be more broadly appealing, of novelists taking on a tech CEO. Both games are exactly two-player, local co-op or online, and cross-platform including both SteamDeck and PlayStation.

One reason I like having my own little corner of the Fediverse is that I can decide what kind of content I want around me.

And personally?

I don't want AI-generated art filling my timeline.

I don't want AI spam.

I don't want automated engagement farms.

I don't want my feed becoming a content factory.

I just want people posting their own stuff.

@ATLeagle My pleasure.