I've been using @Flipboard's new @surf app—it provides a fresh look for discovering content across the #Fediverse. Here are my thoughts on why it's useful for those looking to break free from Big Tech + how it better connects decentralized communities.
Tatort Saarbrücken: Clans, welche Clans? tichyseinblick.de/feuilleton/m… Saarbrücken ist schön. Besonders dann, wenn alle schlafen, lässt es sich hier offenbar prächtig Spazierengehen. Kommissarin Pia Heinrich (Ines Marie Westernströer) kann mal eben zur Nachtapotheke schlendern, um dort ihre verschreibungspflichtigen Tabletten (250 Euro für die Packung) abzuholen. Den Hinweis der Apothekerin (Sophie Roßfeld) „aufpassen mit dem Zeug“ und
Gerne, hier ist eine Alt-Text-Beschreibung des Bildes:
Das Bild zeigt eine große Halle, die mit vielen Menschen gefüllt ist, die in Reihen sitzen und auf eine Bühne blicken. Im Vordergrund stehen mehrere brennende Kerzen in Glasbehältern. Im Mittelgrund stehen einige Personen, die scheinbar an einer Zeremonie teilnehmen. Im Hintergrund ist ein großes Publikum zu sehen. Die Atmosphäre wirkt würdevoll und andächtig. Das Bild könnte eine Gedenkveranstaltung oder eine ähnliche Zeremonie zeigen. ― Hier ist eine Beschreibung des Bildes für Menschen, die es nicht sehen können:
Das Bild zeigt eine Gedenkveranstaltung, die in einer großen Halle stattfindet, vor dem Hintergrund eines Nachbaus des Eingangs des Konzentrationslagers Auschwitz. Die Halle ist mit zahlreichen Menschen gefüllt, die in Reihen sitzen und stehen. Im Vordergrund ist ein Sarg zu sehen, um den herum mehrere Personen stehen. Die Atmosphäre wirkt würdevoll und still. Die Architektur des Nachbaus des Konzentrationslagers ist deutlich erkennbar und bildet einen düsteren Hintergrund für die Veranstaltung. Große Bildschirme sind an den Seiten der Halle angebracht. Das gesamte Bild vermittelt einen Eindruck von Trauer und Erinnerung.
Over the weekend, I saw some discussion of Deepseek and it's limitations around Chinese political topics. I decided to have a play around with it to start to map out its boundaries and it's susceptibi
If Elon Musk wants to cut $2t from the US federal budget, there's a pretty straightforward way to get there - just eliminate all the beltway bandits who overcharge Uncle Sucker for everything from pharmaceuticals to roadworks to (of course) rockets, and then make the rich pay their taxes.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
There *is* a ton of federal bloat, but it's not coming from useless programs or overpaid federal employees. As David Dayen writes in a long, fact-filled feature in *The American Prospect*, the bloat comes from the private sector's greedy suckling at the government teat:
Zeroing out the entire federal payroll would save $271b/year (while beaching the US economy!), a mere 4% of the federal budget.
On the other hand, zeroing out the budget for federal *contractors* would save over a trillion dollars - the US spends 4 times more on private sector contractors than it does on its own workers.
Some of those contractors are honest folks giving good value for money, but the norm is for contractors to pick the public's pocket and use the proceeds to lobby for more fat contracts.
One key job we ask our federal employees to do is root out private sector fraud in federal contracting. We should hire more of these people! Private contractors steal $274b/year from the public purse - nearly enough to pay for all the employees in the federal government:
Musk doesn't know any of these, and he doesn't care to know. As Dayen writes, he's doing "policy by anecdote." Take Ashley Thomas, the director of climate diversification for the US International Development Finance Corporation. Musk sicced a mob on her, decrying her for doing a "fake job" that was somehow related to "DEI." But Thomas's job isn't employment diversification - it's *crop* diversification.
If Musk wanted to run DOGE as a force for waste-elimination, he wouldn't be attacking the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS (whose budget accounts for 0.012% of federal spending). He wouldn't be attacking federal fiber subsidies (he's mad that he can't get more subsidies for his dead-end satellite service that caps out at one ten-millionth of the speed of fiber). He wouldn't be attacking high-speed rail (which competes with his Tesla swasticars).
He wouldn't be fighting with the SEC (which defends the public from costly stock swindles, which is why they've been investigating Musk for seven years).
He could, instead, go after private sector Medicare waste. 33 million seniors have been suckered into switching from federally provided Medicare to privately provided Medicare Advantage.
provided Medicare Advantage. OOverbilling from Medicare Advantage (whose doctors are ordered to "upcode" patients to generate additional bills) costs the public $83b/year:
Medicare Advantage patients are, on average, healthier than Medicare patients (Medicare Advantage giants like Unitedhealtcare cream off the cheapest-to-service patients).
Yet, this healthy cohort costs *more* to treat than their sicker cousins on the public plan - the fraud costs us about 11-14% of the total Medicare bill, and we could save $140b/year by zeroing that out:
Zeroing out Medicare Advantage overbilling would pay for "an out-of-pocket spending cap, a public drug benefit, and dental, hearing, and vision benefits" for every Medicare patient with tens of billions to spare.
Of course, as Dayen points out, the guy in charge of Medicare is Dr Oz, who has spent years shilling for Medicare Advantage, while holding massive amounts of stock in Unitedhealthcare, the nation's largest Medicare Advantage provider, and the worst offender for Medicare Advantage overbilling.
Then there's Medicare itself. Rates for Medicare doctor reimbursement are set by committees of specialists,
They award themselves sky-high rates while paying rock-bottom wages to the frontline general practitioners who do the heavy lifting. Lowering specialists rates to match the rates paid in Canada and Germany would save the federal government $100b/year:
Then there's Big Pharma. For years, Congress legally forbade Medicare and Medicaid from negotiating drug prices, which is why the US government pays the highest rates in the world for drugs developed in the US, with US federal subsidies. US drug prices are 178% more than other wealthy countries, and many drugs are sold at 20-30x the cost of production:
A few of these drug prices are going to come down in the coming years, thanks to timid, but long overdue action from the Biden administration. To really tackle a source of government waste, the US government could use its "march in rights" to federalize production of the most expensive drugs:
One possibility floated by economist Dean Baker is for the US government to invest $100b/year in clinical trials, keeping the patents for itself and licensing multiple manufacturers to compete to produce these publicly owned drugs, which would save an estimated $500b/year:
Then there's price-gouging, useless middlemen like Group Purchasing Organizations who soak the public purse for $20b/year - a "moderate" enforcement action could cut that to $10b.
Speaking of eliminating middlemen, community health centers are a *way* cheaper source of care than big hospitals - $2371/year cheaper per patient, per year. By subsidizing these, the US government could save another $20b/year:
The DoD firehoses money over private sector contractors, like the $3.6b it hands over to Musk's Spacex every year - a number Musk hopes to grow through Spacex's participation in a new consortium:
Military contractor wastage is the stuff of legend, like the $2t F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a lemon that has over 800 outstanding defects and was just greenlit for another year's worth of full funding:
This kind of wasteage isn't merely shameful, it's illegal. The Nunn-McCurdy Act requires that these large-scale boondoggles be reviewed with an eye to shutting them down. But when beltway bandits like Northrop Grumman’s produce expensive lemons like Sentinel, the DoD continues to hand public money to them, citing "national security":
On Jan. 18, 2024, the Air Force notified Congress that the Sentinel program exceeded its baseline cost projections, resulting in a critical breach under the Nunn-McCurdy statute.
It pays contractors and subcontractors to produce parts for its systems, but has no way to know if those parts have actually been produced. Meanwhile, private equity rollups like Transdigm have merged every single-source aerospace supplier and jacked up the price of spare parts for existing military systems, pulling down 4,500%+ markups:
The freshman congressman asked the Defense Department’s inspector general to look into Transdigm, a defense contractor with a monopoly over spare parts.
To estimate the *easy* military savings - the ones that won't require shutting down jobs programs scattered in every key Congressional district - Dayen takes the CBO's estimate and cuts it in half, to get an annual savings of $150b/year.
Then there's general prodcurement, where the GAO estimates the US loses $150b/year to bid-rigging and another $521b/year to fraud (the USG also spends $70b/year on management consultants who do no discernible useful work).
Dayen estimates the annual savings from "stringently enforcing fraud and abuse, insourcing operations, and no longer paying for bad advice" at $150b/year.
Then there's tax cheating. The IRS estimates that it undercollects about $606b/year in taxes. The top 1% account for $163b/year of that (Elon Musk's own effective tax rate is just 3.27% as of the five years precedent 2021, the year for which we have his leaked tax return; he paid no taxes in 2018).
Every dollar the IRS spends on auditing brings in $2.17 in tax, and every dollar the IRS spends auditing the wealthy generates $6.29 in tax. A dollar spent auditing the top 10% brings in $10:
Between all the talk of fiscal commissions and efficiency agencies, it seems like the question of the day is how to make the U.S. government operate more proficiently.
The GOP zeroed out Biden's IRS increases. CBO estimates a fully funded IRS could easily increase the taxes it collected by a net of $200b/year.
There's also new sources of tax. Dayen likes Dean Baker's proposal for taxes on stock returns: add dividends and stock appreciation at the end of the year, then multiply by the tax rate. Baker says this is a loophole-free way to bring the effective corporate tax rate up from 20% to 25%, generating $65b/year:
This would be especially hard on heavily financialized companies with "impossibly high stock price/earnings ratios" - e.g. Tesla.
Dayen also proposes rejigging the tax rate on retirement and health insurance plans, where nearly all the tax breaks are scooped by the highest earners. The Tax Policy Center has $1.12-$1.38t/year worth of other tax reforms that would shift the tax burden from working people to the idle rich:
Add it all up and you're saving $1.4215t/year without even breaking a sweat, just by tacking (some of) the country's worst looting and tax evasion. Dayen points out US expenditures will fall even more than this, because it won't be paying as much T-bill interest if it doesn't spend this money. We could also just make the Fed stop using the blunt, expensive tool of interest rate hikes to manage inflation.
There's plenty of scenarios where interest payments result in the remaining $580b/year in savings, bringing the total up to $2t.
Now, sucking $2t/year out of the US economy all at once - even $2t in waste and fraud - would *not* be good for America! That kind of economic shock would bring the US economy to its knees, for years to come. All that money still fuels the demand side of the economy.
But a slow rampup, and more public spending on *useful* programs (say, climate resiliency and retrofitting), would strengthen the economy while still bankrupting the fraud sector.
DOGE is wildly unpopular with the American electorate - even large pluralities of Republicans think its stupid. Campaigning on cutting fraud and profiteering would be a wildly popular way for Democrats to separate themselves from Republicans. Few Democrats are rising to the occasion, though.
*Picks and Shovels* is a new, standalone technothriller starring Marty Hench, my two-fisted, hard-fighting, tech-scam-busting forensic accountant. THIS IS THE LAST DAY to pre-order it on my latest Kickstarter, which features a brilliant audiobook read by Wil Wheaton:
At TED today, discussing: - Making Twitter Open Source - With More Freedom of Speech - His obsession with truth - Humanoid Robot Armada - Manufacturing at Scale (growing battery production 1000x) From dinner last night and my photo of his TED inter…
i have seen stats bandied about (that i find wholly believable) that every $1 spent on fraud prevention yields ~$10 of ROI as contractors that are being scrutinized adjust to the fact that there will actually be enforcement
"eliminate all the beltway bandits" (which of course includes all the techbro billionaires)
God, yes. That answer is sitting right out there, with a giant "Over here!" flag on it, which is probably why the various billionaires went so hard for installing The Orange Inadequate. Prevention, they heard somewhere, is better than cure.
Aqui está uma descrição de texto alternativo para a imagem:
A imagem mostra uma página web da documentação do gerador de sites estáticos "Marmite". Há uma barra de pesquisa com "github" digitado. Abaixo, há seções com informações sobre opções de formatação Markdown, paginação, contribuidores e um texto indicando uma página sem conteúdo principal. Há também uma seção "Getting Started" com informações sobre a instalação e o uso do Marmite, mencionando que é escrito em Rust. Finalmente, há uma seção descrevendo a interface de linha de comando do Marmite. A data é visível: quinta-feira, 24 de outubro de 2024. ― Aqui está uma descrição de texto alternativo para a imagem fornecida:
A imagem mostra a página inicial de um gerador de sites estático chamado Marmite. A página tem um design limpo e escuro, com texto branco. Ela apresenta seções sobre como começar, a interface de linha de comando do Marmite, e as razões para usar o Marmite. Cada seção inclui uma breve descrição e um link "ler mais". A página também inclui informações sobre os colaboradores, tags, arquivos, autores e repositório GitHub do projeto. O tema geral é a simplicidade e facilidade de uso do gerador de sites. ― Aqui está uma descrição de texto alternativo para a imagem fornecida:
A imagem mostra a página inicial do site do Marmite, um gerador de sites estáticos. O topo da página apresenta o nome "Marmite", sua descrição como um gerador de sites estáticos, e links para contribuidores, tags, arquivos, autores e o GitHub. Há um depoimento de um usuário sobre a facilidade de uso do Marmite. Abaixo, há seções com títulos como "Começando", "Interface de linha de comando do Marmite" e "Por que usar Marmite?", cada uma contendo uma breve descrição e um link "Leia mais". As seções incluem datas de publicação e a hashtag "#docs". A página tem um tema limpo e minimalista. ― Aqui está uma descrição de texto alternativo para a imagem:
A imagem mostra uma interface de usuário escura, possivelmente de um site ou aplicativo, com o nome "Marmite" e a descrição "Static Site Generator" no topo. Há uma barra de busca com "github" já digitado e um menu suspenso mostrando opções como "Markdown Formatting Options", "Pagination", "Contributors", "about" e "Hello Streams". Abaixo, há um pequeno trecho de texto com instruções e links. A data "Quinta-feira, 24 de outubro de 2024" também é visível. A cor predominante é um verde-escuro.
According to the DistroWatch newsletter they have received multiple reports of Facebook users having their accounts suspended for talking about Linux.
I predict that this is just the beginning of a US government crack-down on people who want to break away from the corporate-controlled propaganda, and the surveillance technology built-in to Apple, Microsoft, Google (Alphabet), Facebook (Meta), and Amazon products, or who want to run their own federated web services. It is only a matter of time before ActivityPub is classified as “terrorism.” TikTok was only the beginning.
Starting on 2025-01-19 Sun Facebook’s internal policy makers decided that Linux is malware and labelled groups associated with Linux as being “cybersecurity threats”. Any posts mentioning DistroWatch and multiple groups associated with Linux and Linux discussions have either been shut down or had many of their posts removed.
We’ve been hearing all week from readers who say they can no longer post about Linux on Facebook or share links to DistroWatch. Some people have reported their accounts have been locked or limited for posting about Linux.
The sad irony here is that Facebook runs much of its infrastructure on Linux and often posts job ads looking for Linux developers.
Unfortunately, there isn’t anything we can do about this, apart from advising people to get their Linux-related information from sources other than Facebook. I’ve tried to appeal the ban and was told the next day that Linux-related material is staying on the cybersecurity filter. My Facebook account was also locked for my efforts.
We went through a similar experience when Twitter changed its name to X - suddenly accounts which had been re-posting news from our RSS feeds were no longer able to share links. This sort of censorship is an unpleasant side-effect of centralized communication platforms such as X, Facebook, Google+, and so on.
In an effort to continue to make it possible for people to talk about Linux (and DistroWatch), as well as share their views and links, we are providing two options. We have RSS news feeds which get updates whenever we post new announcements, stories, and our weekly newsletters. We also now have a Mastodon account where I will start to post updates - at least for new distributions and notice of our weekly newsletter. Over time we may also add news stories and updates about releases. Links for the feeds and the Mastodon account can be found on our contact page.
the feds can f themselves. i got iso's from 20 years ago. they take away linux, they can come pick up this p.o.s. laptop with it. never using windows. never.
Might be good to download a copy of everything you think you’ll need.
@hardleft yep, I just bought 4TB more space for my home computer a few days ago and intend to do a lot more local caching going forward. I have always made sure I can do all of my computer-related things without Internet access, but I intend to be more diligent about keeping backups of things from the Internet that I used to take for granted.
Twitter need to focus on removing content such violent content such as the video the idiot in southport watched before killing 3 children, and attempting to murder a further 8 more children and two adults.
I am going to be upgrading my server within the next couple of months and am trying to do some prior planning. My current setup is as follows: - Case: Fractal Define R5 - Mothberboard: Gigabyte Z170X-Designare-CF - CPU: i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz - Memory: 32 GiB DDR4 - Storage: 15TB spread across 4 HDDs (10x2x2x1) + 1HDD at 10TB for Parity. - OS: Unraid 🧡
While this setup as served me well, I am completely hooked on these mini-racks(Rackmate T1) and am thinking of getting one eventually. Fortunately I'll be getting my hand on my first mini-pc soon, a ASUS ExpertCenter PN52. This little badboy has the following specs: - CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX - Memory: 32 GiB DDR4 - Storage: Comes with one NVMe SSD 1TB
From my little cpu knowledege this one is superior in almost all ways, so it feels like an easy choice to swith out the old one. This leads me to my question. I need an enclosing for my 5 HDDs that connects to this minipc. What are your suggestions?
::: spoiler Pictures of the mini-pc for those interested:
Descriptions: 10-inch 4U rack External dimensions: 280mm*200mm*274mm Internal dimensions: 222mm*200mm*241mm The maximum installation depth of this 10-inch rack is 20cm Easy to install: 4U rack is shipped assembled, saving you the trouble of installat…
DeepSeek has reported a large-scale cyberattack, limiting new user registrations as its R1 AI model makes news by challenging industry leaders like OpenAI and Meta.
I am going to be upgrading my server within the next couple of months and am trying to do some prior planning. My current setup is as follows: - Case: Fractal Define R5 - Mothberboard: Gigabyte Z170X-Designare-CF - CPU: i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz - Memory: 32 GiB DDR4 - Storage: 15TB spread across 4 HDDs (10x2x2x1) + 1HDD at 10TB for Parity. - OS: Unraid 🧡
While this setup as served me well, I am completely hooked on these mini-racks(Rackmate T1) and am thinking of getting one eventually. Fortunately I'll be getting my hand on my first mini-pc soon, a ASUS ExpertCenter PN52. This little badboy has the following specs: - CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 9 5900HX - Memory: 32 GiB DDR4 - Storage: Comes with one NVMe SSD 1TB
From my little cpu knowledege this one is superior in almost all ways, so it feels like an easy choice to swith out the old one. This leads me to my question. I need an enclosing for my 5 HDDs that connects to this minipc. What are your suggestions?
::: spoiler Pictures of the mini-pc for those interested:
Descriptions: 10-inch 4U rack External dimensions: 280mm*200mm*274mm Internal dimensions: 222mm*200mm*241mm The maximum installation depth of this 10-inch rack is 20cm Easy to install: 4U rack is shipped assembled, saving you the trouble of installat…
* cycle of violence/oppression intrinsic to Israeli settler-colonialism * Israeli military-industrial complex * destabilization grave threat to region/ world peace, security * violates self-determination/ justice enshrined in international law
Lancet study: Israel's war on Gaza killed 65k+ people in 9 mo. | Amnesty report finds Israel committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza mastodon.social/@persagen/1138…
Lancet study: Israel's war on Gaza killed 65k+ people in 9 mo.
https://www.salon.com/2025/01/10/israels-on-gaza-may-have-almost-65000-people-in-under-9-months-lancet-study-suggests
* London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
* deaths exceed offic…
"Gaza is interesting. It's a phenomenal location, on the sea. The best weather, you know, everything is good. It's like, some beautiful things could be done w. it, but it's v. interesting" - Trump
* wants Jordan, Egypt to take more Palestinian refugees f. Gaza Strip * "just clean out" devastated area * ended Biden admin. hold on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel
Trump State Dept. Reportedly Halts All Foreign Aid — Except to Israel and Egypt
https://truthout.org/articles/trump-state-dept-reportedly-halts-all-foreign-aid-except-to-israel-and-egypt
Poss. related?
https://mastodon.
* Palestinian survivors return to devastated landscape * defiance of ethnic cleansing by Israel 1950s+ * Trump: “clean out” Gaza * Palestinian Arabs sh. be ethnically cleansed into Egypt/Jordan
As survivors in Gaza begin to return to their homes during the first ceasefire in over a year, we speak to Sharif Abdel Kouddous of Drop Site News about the future of those who have been displaced.
* Trump favors ethnic cleansing of Palestinians f. Gaza * Trump2 already taking steps to try to remove more Palestinians * motivations? Follow the money * Trump 2025-Jan-20: Gaza ideal site for real estate development
President Trump's Middle East policy took a dark turn on Saturday when he announced on Air Force One that he favored the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.
NUOVO COMPRENSORIO SCIISTICO COLERE-LIZZOLA: NUOVE INIZIATIVE IN PROGRAMMA E SUCCESSO DELLA RACCOLTA FIRME CONTRO radiondadurto.org/2025/01/27/n… #News
"E' un progetto anacronistico, fortemente impattante e devastante dal punto di vista ambientale in un contesto naturalistico pregiato e unico - sostengono i contrari - inoltre sperpera risorse che...
We are closing the voting on this topic a couple of days early as the result is already conclusive., Our threshold for passing the motion was for 2/3 of voting members in favor. We have far exceeded that threshold (see below) and have a good number of overall responses, so the proposed policy change has now been approved and takes effect immediately.
Our new policy on Xitter links
No Xitter links are to be posted on this instance from the date of this announcement.
Workarounds such as link shorteners and alternative front-ends that resolve to Xitter posts are also banned.
Screenshots will still be permitted as per the overwhelming number of comments in support of this option.
Exception: In rare cases there may be a need to verify the veracity of a Xitter post. If this need arises, then you may post a xcancel.com/ version of the link. Please note this option should only be used sparingly and exclusively for fact-checking purposes.
We will begin communicating this instance policy change to all our users today.
Please try to be helpful to anyone who accidentally posts a Xitter link who may not yet be aware of the policy change, and/or feel free to report in the usual way.
N.B.: For the loopholers - by "Xitter links" we mean any links to content hosted on X (formerly Twitter). Alternative Xitter front-ends are also banned under this policy, unless exception #4 applies. Edit: The ban also applies to other Xitter-owned domains such as their photo blobstore (pbs) domain at pbd.twimg.com
Thanks to everyone involved for participating in the vote!
**The final tally is as follows: **
For: (2), (7), (5), (3), (2), (1)
Against:
Local Community: +2.6
Outsider sentiment: Very Positive
Total: +22.6
Percentage: 100.00%
To break this down a little differently:
Home instance users voted 93% in favor of the proposal (284/307)
External instance users voted 97% in favor of the proposal (70/72 note: these are not counted, but good to know)
Donating and vouched for users voted 100% in favor of the proposal (20/20 votes).
Community vote on banning X/Twitter links aka "Twitter in the shitter?"
Ahoy me hearties!
We were thinking this might be a good test run topic for instance voting in our !div0_governance@lemmy.dbzer0.com community. Please be patient with us if anything breaks or isn't working properly. Feedback is welcome.
The voting topic
Given the current political backdrop and recent video of Elon Musk performing clearly identifiable Nazi salutes at the Presidential inauguration, some communities have started banning all links to X/Twitter. A couple of examples I noticed yesterday:
The vote is on whether our instance should follow suit and implement an instance-wide ban on X/Twitter links in posts and comments.
I've noticed some people suggesting allowing screenshots to still be used (e.g. for memes). Feel free to drop a comment if you have an opinion on that.
How to vote
Simply upvote or downvote this post. The /0 Bot will automatically calculate and update a tally of votes every 15 mins or so according to the voting rules (so don’t expect instant updates). An upvote is counted in favour of the resolution. A downvote is counted as against the resolution.
Note regarding crossposting: please be aware that only votes on the original post in !div0_governance@lemmy.dbzer0.com will be counted.
When to vote
Voting starts as of now. We'll close voting once the flow of votes stops - not sure exactly when that will be yet, but I'd like to keep the topic open for at least 2 or 3 days (maybe a week?) to give everyone a chance to vote.
Who can vote
TLDR here is that anyone can vote, but your votes will be weighted differently depending if you are a financial supporter, local instance member or external instance member.
As discussed in the announcement post, the initial plan was that only stakeholders can vote and open threads. That now includes everyone who is supporting us with any monthly donation amount.
Voting rights have also been extended so that votes of other local instance members who otherwise have no voting rights will be accounted at a rate of 1/100 from a random sample of up to 1000 of their votes. This means that a vote can go up to max +/- 10 from local community votes and it’s a fractional count (i.e. +1.1, or -0.7) which should make the local community sentiment an excellent tiebreaker, without overwhelming the people who are directly supporting the instance. Furthermore, I decided to display the “outsider sentiment” which is votes from non-valid-voting users from other instances. The outsider sentiment is only flavour (“Positive”, “Negative” etc) and is disregarded from the total. This is just shown for reference of the outsider sentiment which I think might be useful.
What constitutes a successful vote on a topic?
We are totally open to debate on this. I was thinking for this topic, a 2/3 majority vote would be a good target to aim for so we can be certain the community vote represents a clear majority of our users' opinions.
My thinking here is that if some topics are split close to 50/50 then achieving a 51% vote for example does not produce a clear mandate and may simply cause unnecessary division.
Having said that, I acknowledge a 2/3 majority is an arbitrary choice, but unless we implement a more complex voting system hopefully it is "good enough" to indicate a clear majority. As mentioned previously, feedback is very welcome and we will review and make adjustments where necessary.
Community participation
I strongly encourage all our instance members as well as subscribers from different instances to vote on this topic. If we only get a small handful of votes it's not going to be very representative of overall sentiment. This is a test run, so if things don't work out in terms of participation we will re-assess and perhaps revisit the topic.
Meet young redperson Isaac Kearney. Forget us adult supporters, I can't imagine a stronger motivation for the men's team than doing their very best to make Isaac happy.
The image is split into two parts. On the left, a photo shows a man in a Liverpool soccer jersey holding a young boy, also in Liverpool gear, in his arms. On the right, a different photo shows the same young boy sitting on a patterned floor, smiling, and playing a dark-blue ukulele. The boy is wearing a white Liverpool soccer shirt. Behind him is a fireplace and a mantelpiece with family photos and decorative items.
Chatbot development is becoming essential for businesses looking to enhance user engagement and streamline customer service. With AI advancements, chatbots now offer more than just basic responses—they can help automate customer interactions, process transactions, and provide real-time support, improving both customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
If you're considering integrating a chatbot into your business, Glorium Tech provides an excellent resource for understanding the full scope of AI chatbot development. Their Complete Guide to AI Chatbot Development covers everything from the basics of chatbot technology to advanced implementation strategies, ensuring you get the most out of your investment.
Whether you're a startup or a well-established company, embracing AI chatbots could be one of the best decisions you make for enhancing user experience and improving customer support. Highly recommend checking out the guide for deeper insights and step-by-step implementation!
The video opens with a close-up of a red Ferrari racing jumpsuit. The logos of several sponsors are visible, including HP, IBM, Shell, and the Ferrari logo.
The camera then pans to two silhouetted figures standing back-to-back against a red background.
Next, the video shows various shots of Charles LeClerc and Lewis Hamilton, both wearing Ferrari racing suits. The video intersperses close-ups of their faces with shots of their suits, and other shots of them in what appears to be a photoshoot.
The names “LECLERC” and “HAMILTON” are visible on the backs of their respective suits.
The video includes several quick cuts and transitions, with some shots having a slightly distorted or glitchy effect.
The video ends with both LeClerc and Hamilton standing side-by-side, arms crossed, in their Ferrari racing suits. No audio is present in the video.
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.
Redox enzymes are proteins that catalyze oxidation-reduction reactions, which involve the transfer of electrons between molecules. Redox enzymes are crucial in bioelectrochemical devices, such as biosensors or biofuel cells.
apparently there was a Schengen Entry ban put into effect by Germany. And as you might know the Cantonal Security Director of Zurich is M.F. who among Zurich Migration experts has a very well known bias against all Arabs and is an avid non-reflective Israel supporter. So it comes as no surprise that he was eager to arrest him and follow the entry ban despite airport police letting him in.
#Meta tracks your activity across millions of #websites and #apps, regardless of whether you use its #platforms, and profits from that data through targeted ads. Here’s what you need to know if you want to limit the company’s ability to harvest and profit from your #personaldata.… eff.org/deeplinks/2025/01/mad-… #privacy
If you’re fed up with Meta right now, you’re not alone. Meta tracks you across millions of websites and apps and its business model relies on your data.
What I love about Mastodon is that how it scales. Our user count has doubled in a very short time period. Despite of this, there is virtually no effect in performance.
It's all about resource optimization though. Server clustering is the key.
@Ric For me here the clustering means a group of servers. Very early I moved my database to another server, then elasticsearch etc. Only sidekiq jobs and web are on one front server.
@Kata_Pultti Ole hyvä! Kääntämistoiminto on instanssikohtainen, eikä oletuksena päällä, mutta meillä on tosi toimiva ja tarkka koneoppimiskäännösmoottori DeepL 🥰
“It grieves me deeply to see [...] Nazi-style uniforms and slogans openly paraded at marches, proudly proclaiming themselves nationalists and identifying themselves with the Nazi ideas, with the ideology … that murdered millions who were considered subhuman; this ideology which proclaims hostility and hatred towards others, sees racism, antisemitism, and homophobia as virtues.“ – Auschwitz survivor Leon Weintraub theguardian.com/world/live/202…
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Altbot
in reply to Rant_ifa 🎗️ Rant_ifa • • •Gerne, hier ist eine Alt-Text-Beschreibung des Bildes:
Das Bild zeigt eine große Halle, die mit vielen Menschen gefüllt ist, die in Reihen sitzen und auf eine Bühne blicken. Im Vordergrund stehen mehrere brennende Kerzen in Glasbehältern. Im Mittelgrund stehen einige Personen, die scheinbar an einer Zeremonie teilnehmen. Im Hintergrund ist ein großes Publikum zu sehen. Die Atmosphäre wirkt würdevoll und andächtig. Das Bild könnte eine Gedenkveranstaltung oder eine ähnliche Zeremonie zeigen.
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Hier ist eine Beschreibung des Bildes für Menschen, die es nicht sehen können:
Das Bild zeigt eine Gedenkveranstaltung, die in einer großen Halle stattfindet, vor dem Hintergrund eines Nachbaus des Eingangs des Konzentrationslagers Auschwitz. Die Halle ist mit zahlreichen Menschen gefüllt, die in Reihen sitzen und stehen. Im Vordergrund ist ein Sarg zu sehen, um den herum mehrere Personen stehen. Die Atmosphäre wirkt würdevoll und still. Die Architektur des Nachbaus des Konzentrationslagers ist deutlich erkennbar und bildet einen düsteren Hintergrund für die Veranstaltung. Große Bildschirme sind an den Seiten der Halle angebracht. Das gesamte Bild vermittelt einen Eindruck von Trauer und Erinnerung.
Bereitgestellt von @altbot, generiert mit Gemini