You prob know this already, but if you duck-search, you can go to a slightly different entry point at https://noai.duckduckgo.com to do web searches without AI slop dumping on you.
I see they've dressed up the landing page there! Now more obviously non-AI. I mean, it's a selling feature, so yeah, go to town guys.
(if you still google things, consider the duck search! it's worked well for me for years, and the non-ai version is a nice step forward).
Mastodon is proving what's possible.
Respectful public discourse shouldn't be a radical concept; but today, it is.
Stand with us for a social web where kindness and freedom of expression thrive together. Donate to power the change. #SupportMastodon
We’re thrilled to be bringing you a upcoming feature to help you find your people on Mastodon: Packs. (Or something… we’re still figuring out the name.)
As always, we want to build this important feature for the community WITH the community.
Read this blog post about our approach and let us know what you think!
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/10/our-ideas-about-packs/
Latest comic on the convenience of making less ethical choices
General rule of thumb: Every time an organization updates their terms of service and/or privacy policy, it is never because they have your best interests at heart.
Specific thoughts on this latest Mozilla action (https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/firefox-news/firefox-terms-of-use/)
Setting aside the "worldwide license" bullshit, the privacy policy appears to have broadened both the classes of data Mozilla aims to collect, and the situations in which they collect them.
These are not the actions of an org that cares about your privacy.
Why do we talk about walled gardens?
That implies something beautiful, something worth defending.
It conjures images of beautifully maintained flowerbeds protected from the outside world.
But that’s not what Facebook built, what Instagram built, what Twitter built.
They built paved, unshaded, barren hellscapes, trapped us in them, and surrounded us with guard towers and razor wire, intended to keep us in, not protect us from anyone else.
There's no "garden" here.
https://www.joanwestenberg.com/why-personal-websites-matter-more-than-ever/
I don’t know why we talk about walled gardens. That seems to imply something beautiful, something worth defending. It conjures images of beautifully maintained flowerbeds protected from the outside world. But that’s not what Facebook built, what Instagram built, what Twitter built. They built paved, unshaded, barren hellscapes,
The revolution toward digital democracy won’t wait for perfect tech or perfect timing—it begins now, with the imperfect tools we already have.
Digital feudalism or democracy: the choice is ours, and history won’t forgive our apathy.
https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-revolution-will-be-decentralized/
Power once flowed directly from “divine right”. Medieval Europe operated under a simple premise / lie: God appointed kings, kings appointed nobles, and the rest served. This hierarchical system persisted for centuries until merchants began accumulating wealth that rivaled aristocratic fortunes; the rise of banking houses like the Medici in Florence
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