Mastodawn

Sweden goes back to basics, swapping screens for books in the classroom
Sweden is bringing back books amid declining test scores.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/04/sweden-goes-back-to-basics-swapping-screens-for-books-in-the-classroom/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

Twan van Elk 13h ago

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Elena Rossini ⁂Mar 20

Mike Masnick, who sits on the board of #Bluesky, claims the team was too busy to announce the series B funding (see screenshot).

But something is fishy.

Even the VC firm - Bain Capital Crypto - isn't listing Bluesky anywhere on their website: https://baincapitalcrypto.com/portfolio/

Why the mystery? Was Bluesky afraid of a public backlash & asked to keep the information under wraps?

Sorry if I keep repeating myself but I will forever be skeptical of Bluesky and think of the tale of the scorpion and the frog.

Twan van Elk 13h ago

LibreOffice 14h ago

Euro-Office: sovereign in name only, or in reality too?

The announcement of the Euro-Office is welcome news. The coalition is credible, the governance is sound and the timing is perfect. Europe needs office software, and we are delighted to see such significant players allocating resources to make it happen.
However, we have a question. It is not meant to be hostile, but it is the only question that matters.

What is the native document format of Euro-Office?

https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/04/01/euro-office/

Twan van Elk 16h ago

In Nederland moet je oppassen als Amerikaan, blijkbaar.

@randahl https://mastodon.social/@randahl/116327503372473056

Twan van Elk 2d ago

Appels, peren...

@ibestuur https://mastodon.nl/@ibestuur/116317091426639052

iBestuur (@[email protected])

In de politiek wordt gesproken over Ai die moties schrijft, amendementen formuleert en zelfs antwoorden van bestuurders genereert. Ondertussen zitten wij in het stemhokje nog altijd met een rood potlood, vindt Max Ruiters. Alsof we in een Tesla stappen om vervolgens met een paardenkar naar huis te rijden. #verkiezingen #digitalisering #politiek Lees de opinie: https://ibestuur.nl/overheid-in-transitie/politiek-en-beleid/hightech-politiek-lowtech-verkiezingen

Mastodon.nl door Stichting Activityclub

Twan van Elk 4d ago

Jeff Jarvis 5d ago

Some hero renamed the White House on Google Maps as Epstein Island. Bless you, whoever you are.
Post reporters called the White House. Their phones showed ‘Epstein Island.’ https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2026/03/27/white-house-google-database-epstein/

Post reporters called the White House. Their phones showed ‘Epstein Island.’

Washington Post journalists who called the White House switchboard using Google Pixel Android phones saw “Epstein Island” on their screens Thursday.

The Washington Post

Twan van Elk 4d ago

flexghost.5d ago

Try to unsee it

Level: impossible.

Twan van Elk 4d ago

LibreOffice 4d ago

As Open Document Format (ODF) is more widely adopted, it's becoming clear: THIS is the future. A fully open, documented and standardised format – unlike Microsoft's "Transitional" OOXML: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/03/27/odf-is-the-future-ooxml-is-the-past/

ODF is the future, OOXML is the past - TDF Community Blog

Whenever a user, a government, a school or a business chooses the format in which to store and exchange its digital documents, it is not merely making a technical decision, but is placing a bet on the kind of digital infrastructure on which it will depend in the future. In this sense, ODF and OOXML are not two equivalent options on the same shelf, but two radically different solutions: one geared towards a future of openness, interoperability and digital sovereignty, and the other towards a past of defending a vendor’s dominant market position through user lock-in. ODF: designed to be open and transparent Open Document Format was conceived from the outset to be an open standard. It was designed and developed by the community under the auspices of OASIS, and subsequently ratified by ISO, to be implemented by anyone, on any platform, without royalties, without hidden dependencies and without the permission of any single company. These are not trivial technical details, but a statement of political and economic strategy embedded within the format itself. ODF is based on a clean XML schema, easy to read even by non-technical users and reusable. Colour naming follows standard web conventions, and its architecture

TDF Community Blog

Twan van Elk Feb 27

Mark Jardine

Feb 27

How I feel about my interests compare to other people my age. 😅

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Twan van Elk Feb 27

@lowqualityfacts Aaaaah.... smart.