It’s ok to be afraid.

Just don’t stay there.

There’s work to be done.

📷 8:46 PM

#FediversalPIctures

As the tech transbian of the family, I'm trying to get my mother to regain some of the independence blindness (add an overprotective partner to the mix for maximum effect) took away from her by re-teaching her to use the computer. When she lost her sight she used JAWS or NVDA (I can't remember which one) and she even wrote a couple of books with that, but a fatal update broke compatibility with the program and neither her nor her partner knew how to deal with that situation, so she started relying on other people for computer stuff.
So, fedi people with disabilities, I'm asking for pointers on this. Accessibility software of any kind, if there are updated versions of either JAWS or NVDA that run on modern Windows (don't tell her to delve into Linux, that ain't happening in the near future. One baby step at the time.) or any alternative software to those programs, voice controls, resources for learning, anything. All info is welcome. Thanks in advance!

#blind #software #accessibility #lowvisiontech

Even if “AI” worked (it doesn’t), there’s many reasons why you shouldn’t use it:

1. It’s destroying Internet sites that you love as you use chat bots instead of actually going to sources of information—this will cause them to be less active and eventually shut down.

2. Pollution and water use from server farms cause immediate harm; often—just like other heavy industry—these are built in underprivileged communities and harming poor people. Without any benefits as the big tech companies get tax breaks and don’t pay for power, while workers aren’t from the community but commute in.

3. The basic underlying models of any LLM rely on stolen data, even when specific extra data is obtained legally. Chatbots can’t learn to speak English just by reading open source code.

4. You’re fueling a speculation bubble that is costing many people their jobs—because the illusion of “efficiency” is kept up by firing people and counting that as profit.

5. Whenever you use the great cheat machine in the cloud you’re robbing yourself from doing real research, writing or coding—literally atrophying your brain and making you stupider.

It’s a grift, through and through.

https://archive.is/20250704073057/https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02081-0

Ms. FoC responded to this survey and just sent me the link to the write up in Nature.

Literally every other country in the world allows married couples to have different names, yet for some reason, it requires endless mulling, discussion, and consideration in Japan.

It is doubly stupid because you can already have separate married names if you do one simple trick (marry a foreigner), and it is fine. Ms FoC keeping her professional name has not caused the world to end

Monterey Bay Sandpipers 💙 #SilentSunday #art #nature

🎨 https://1-elizabeth-kennen.pixels.com/featured/monterey-bay-sandpipers-elizabeth-kennen.html