Mastodawn

software is a mirror that reflects the times and the environment it was created in.

this is why much software created in the 1970s counterculture was joyful and humanistic, and why much software created in the 2020s capitalistic hellscape is soul-crushing malware (adware, spyware).

#retrocomputing can mean celebrating hardware limitations and creative coding, but it can also mean celebrating personal computing - computers that are tools for liberation - bicycles for the mind, not cattle trains to the slop farm.

People's Computer Company - Wikipedia

Kenneth Fortino 2d ago

Prof. Sam Lawler 2d ago

SpaceX's highly paid lawyers responded to the hundreds of comments and oppositions submitted to the FCC in one letter, that basically shows they didn't actually read our petitions to deny. And now we astronomers and dark sky advocates who are volunteering our time have to do a shitload more work to respond to their non-response. By Friday.

Fuck you, SpaceX.

Kenneth Fortino 2d ago

Massimo

Mar 12

French acrobat Bastien Dausse created a device that simulates lunar gravity.

Kenneth Fortino 2d ago

Show thread

Elena Rossini ⁂2d ago

Yesterday I wrote: "Public institutions are funded by taxpayers' money: their communications serve public interests and should be open to all - without the need of creating social media accounts on proprietary, for-profit closed systems. This is especially salient for European governmental communications: isn’t it absurd that they would require social media accounts owned and run by U.S. based companies?"

Credit goes to @samvie for suggesting I add the bit "funded by taxpayers' money" 🙏

Kenneth Fortino 2d ago

Bryan Alexander 2d ago

Paul Erlich, RIP:
https://theconversation.com/paul-ehrlich-often-called-alarmist-for-dire-warnings-about-human-harms-to-the-earth-believed-scientists-had-a-responsibility-to-speak-out-178492

Paul Ehrlich, often called alarmist for dire warnings about human harms to the Earth, believed scientists had a responsibility to speak out

Paul R. Ehrlich will be remembered as a scientist whose books about population and threats to the environment shaped the idea of limited growth in the modern era.

The Conversation

Kenneth Fortino 2d ago

Micro SF/F by O. Westin 3d ago

Every morning, the queen asked her magic mirror to show her the most beautiful person in the world.

The mirror replied "To whom?"

"The miller who made the flour for my bread," the queen would say, or "Whoever spun the thread my shawl was made of".

The mirror would show her, and she'd be amazed.

#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories

Kenneth Fortino 3d ago

Show thread

Doctor M. Popular 3d ago

You can learn more about The Human-Made project here https://thehumanmade.org/

I've also included links to any other AI-free labelling projects I could find.

Whichever label you use, I highly recommend adding a clear name or social media handle of the humans behind the work. It gives due credit and confirms your work is made without AI.