@eff increasingly true within the open software community too. It's heart breaking to see projects like freedesktop become the corporate giants they used to be distinguished from.
I recently read an open letter decrying the modification of graphics within certain FOSS projects on the grounds that such customization "hurts the brand".
If you use Signal, Discord, or any other messaging app and you DON'T want Google or Apple monitoring/reading/learning from your messages, follow these steps.
Android:
1. Open Google app
2. Tap your profile photo
3. Settings
4. Google Assistant
5. "Your Apps"
6. Choose the app (e.g., Signal)
7. Toggle "Let your assistant learn from this app" off
iPhone:
1. Settings
2. Apps
3. Choose the app (e.g., Signal)
4. Toggle Apple intelligence or Siri settings to off (“learn from this app”)
I find this website fascinating. It seems most scientific papers that are retracted are for silly reasons like "We didn't realize there was a small raccoon family living in the chicken coup during the study" or "We found out about another, better paper"
Elizabeth Blackwell was born #OTD in 1821.
Her inaugural thesis on typhoid fever, published in 1849 in the Buffalo Medical Journal and Monthly Review was the first medical article published by a female student from the United States. She founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children with her sister Emily Blackwell in 1857, and began giving lectures to female audiences on the importance of educating girls.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Blackwell
Before Trump: The long US history of tariff wars with Canada and the world
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/4/before-trump-the-long-us-history-of-tariff-wars-with-canada-and-the-world?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub
Posted into US & Canada News @us-canada-news-AlJazeera
Altadena native Rebecca Latta, biologist & certified arborist: “I’m concerned that people are vilifying the trees,” Latta said. “Houses are concentrated fuel sources, and what we saw here is that the trees got burned by the houses next to them burning, not vice versa.”
Latta’s biggest concern now is that well-meaning people may start cutting down singed oaks and conifers without realizing they’ll likely survive. “There’s so much angst in the community right now about all the people coming in and doing stuff that might not be carefully considered,” she said. “Those trees are part of Altadena’s identity, and we shouldn’t be hasty about removing them unless they’re clearly gone.”
Enfys J. Book [they/them]
Project Gutenberg
Al Jazeera
Hippy Steve