The long-running Fedi server mstdn.social (not to be confused with mastodon.social 🙂 ) has just received a takedown request from the Russian government for hosting @Bellingcat, a news site which has long been critical of Putin:

https://mstdn.social/@stux/113652461647125214

Thankfully mstdn.social isn't in Russia so Putin has no power over it.

If anyone wants to turn this into a Streisand Effect kind of thing, you might want to follow @Bellingcat and slip a donation to @stux at https://mstdn.social/@stux/113623791580168625

A reminder to all who may have Visa, AmEx, or Master Card gift cards now and in the future. Often you'll wind up with a small balance on them that doesn't make it worthwhile to make a purchase with it online or in a store. Something like US$1.60 or less.

Go to Wikipedia, Archive.org, your local animal shelter, or just about any worthwhile nonprofit and donate that odd amount on their web page.

#donations #nonprofit #giving #Holidays #Christmas #Kwanza

💭 Your data is clearer than clear — but your chart still feels muddled?

Not for long! Our writer Rose shares solutions in the newest edition of Datawrapper's data vis advice column.
🛠️ https://blog.datawrapper.de/fix-my-chart-simple-data/

Microsoft just released a tool that lets you convert Office files to Markdown. Never thought I'd see the day.

Google also added Markdown export to Google Docs a few months ago.

https://github.com/microsoft/markitdown

We are DELIGHTED to announce that our repository, KCWorks has been selected as the designated public-access repository of the National Endowment for the Humanities! 🎉

The KCWorks team will collaborate with the NEH on a one-year build process, in which we will connect KCWorks with eGMS, the NEH’s grants management system, enabling NEH grantees and staff members to upload papers resulting from funded research projects, attach key metadata, and remotely deposit them to KCWorks.

Read more about this amazing initiative on our team blog: https://about.hcommons.org/2024/12/10/kcworks-named-designated-public-access-repository-of-the-national-endowment-for-the-humanities/

I love @[email protected] I have heavily relied on it for all my bike trips & long travels, I have modestly contributed to it over the years & I have used tons of apps for navigation, layers, drinking water, etc.

Never would I have guessed that one day I would design a PLAY MAT with OSM data and cartoonist layers and objects.

Well here it is, a play mat of my hometown. I hope my kids enjoy their Christmas present as much as I enjoyed designing it 😄

DIY: https://kinderkiez.net

Mastodon isn't perfect.

But the fact a social network exists that is completely free to use

has no venture capital investors

has no shareholders to answer to

has no growth targets

with a web interface with zero tracking cookies

and mobile apps with zero trackers at all

with ten thousand server administrators who donate their time for user safety

is - in my opinion - mindbogglingly cool, given the state of the world we live in. Not everything has to be shit. People make things better.