Notices by Flipboard (flipboard@flipboard.social)

A new documentary, “The Librarians,” premiered at SXSW last month. It focuses on librarians at the heart of right-wing culture war attacks across America. @TexasObserver’s Josephine Lee sees heroism and hope in the film. “At a moment when our institutions of learning seem to be engulfed in flames, incited by right-wing witch hunts of diversity, equity, and inclusion, ‘The Librarians’ reminds us how we got here and reveals, perhaps, how we can get out,” she writes.

https://www.texasobserver.org/librarians-movie-sxsw-book-bans/

#Health #Healthcare #MentalHealth #USA #Texas #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

April is National Poetry Month in the U.S. and Canada. Here’s a roundup from @thetyee of new Canadian collections, from an exploration of wonder to a reflection on the shared histories of Indigenous Peoples of North America and the people of Palestine.

https://thetyee.ca/Presents/2025/04/01/National-Poetry-Month-New-Canadian-Collections/

#Poetry #Poems #Canada #Culture #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

It’s #NewstodonFriday once again, and we’ve tried to find the heartwarming, inspiring and funny in this week’s tsunami of terrible (though we couldn’t find the silver lining in everything). Highlights include @ProPublica’s story about a lawyer who switched sides, @TexasObserver’s review of a film about inspiring librarians across America, and @daojoan’s story about why we’ve come to believe that you have to be an a**hole to be a genius. Plus, our @CultureDesk shared the only information you need to know about tariffs. Check out these stories and all the others in this thread, comment, like, follow their accounts and give them your money. ⤵️

#Media #Journalism #News #Newstodon #MastodonMigration #FollowFriday

Not everything on the internet is real. Case in point: Your relationship with OnlyFans creators, it turns out. Two former subscribers from Illinois are suing the company because they thought they were talking directly to the platform’s stars rather than agencies hired to manage their messages. @404mediaco’s Samantha Cole explains more [Story may be paywalled].

https://www.404media.co/onlyfans-sued-after-two-guys-realized-they-might-not-actually-be-talking-to-models/

#OnlyFans #Creators #SocialPlatforms #USLaw #Law #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Have you ever had food poisoning and subsequently been unable to eat whatever caused it? A team of neuroscientists studying mice have found the exact “memory hub” in their brain that is responsible for this reaction. Our @ScienceDesk shared the story from @PopularScience.

https://www.popsci.com/health/how-brain-remembers-food-poisoning/

#Food #Brain #Neuroscience #Health #Science #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Astonishingly, some people are still banging the “women aren’t funny” drum. @damemagazine shares sketches from the women of “Saturday Night Live,” from Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin to Cecily Strong as Goober the Clown, talking about abortion.

https://www.damemagazine.com/2025/02/14/who-is-funnier-than-the-women-of-snl/

#Comedy #SNL #SaturdayNightLive #Women #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

When @ProPublica journalist Alec MacGillis first met lawyer Andrew Rabinowitz, the latter was representing a property management company owned by the Kushner family. McGillis was writing an article about the company’s aggressive approach to tenants. Eight years later, Rabinowitz is defending beleaguered tenants against their landlords. What happened?

https://www.propublica.org/article/kushner-kushnerville-apartments-tenants-lawsuits-andrew-rabinowitz-lawyer

#Law #USLaw #TenantsRights #KushnerFamily #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

@nivenly, an organization that supports open-source services and projects, has launched the Fediverse Security Fund. This member-supported program will pay people who identify and fix security vulnerabilities that might affect fediverse services and apps. “Part of the program is…education for project leads, helping them understand why responsible disclosure practices for security vulnerabilities are important,” open source contributor @thisismissem told @Sarahp. Here's her story for @TechCrunch

https://flip.it/B-cWKk

#Fediverse #OpenSource #OpenSocialWeb #NivenlyFoundation #FediverseSecurityFund

Congrats to @johnonolan and the team at Ghost, which today announced a public beta for users to connect their publications to the fediverse. If you're in their beta, you'll be able to find, follow and interact with people and publications on platforms including Ghost, WordPress, Threads, Mastodon, BlueSky, Flipboard and more. Get details in the blogpost here. If you want to know more about Ghost's approach to decentralization and the open social web, check out John's DotSocial conversation with @mike at the second link.

https://ghost.org/changelog/social-web-beta/

https://flipboard.video/w/sQCNmXx332xi3Y3dVVjd37

#OpenSocial #OpenSocialWeb #Ghost #ActivityPub #Decentralization #Fediverse #Publishing

For us, 2024 was a year of building on the social web.
✔️ Expanded federation in the U.S., Brazil, Canada, Germany, and the U.K.
✔️ Enabled following accounts from the social web in the Flipboard app.
✔️ Announced @surf, a new browser for the social web.
✔️ Produced new episodes of Dot Social, the fediverse podcast hosted by @mike

Thanks for being on this journey with us! 🚀

Did you do cool stuff in the fediverse this year? Tell us all about it in the comments, where we'll also link to the Dot Social PeerTube account and our Surf signup page.

#Flipboard #Federation #Fediverse #Surf #ActivityPub #DotSocial #SocialWeb #OpenSocialWeb

Check out all episodes of DotSocial here, which include conversations with open social web leaders like @johnonolan, @jay.bsky.team, @kissane and more.

https://flipboard.video/c/dot_social/videos?s=1

#Flipboard #Federation #Fediverse #ActivityPub #DotSocial #SocialWeb #OpenSocialWeb

If you missed @molly0xfff's #SXSW conversation with @mike about digital sovereignty, you missed out — one audience member said it was "worth the badge alone." Luckily, it's now available on the SXSW site. Check it out here:

https://schedule.sxsw.com/2025/events/PP147154

We're working on editing all the #FediverseHouse panels and talks, and we'll post them and let you know here as soon as they're ready!

#DigitalSovereignty #Creators #DigitalLife #DataSecurity

That's a wrap on Day 1 at #FediverseHouse. Thanks so much to all who joined Flipboard and @surf to talk all things fediverse and open social. Here's tomorrow's program — among others, @mike, @miaq and the team will be talking to Rose Wang (Bluesky), Leila Brillson (The Onion), @jasonkoebler and @samleecole (@404mediaco), @oconnell (@TexasObserver) and @pluralistic. Were you at Fediverse House today? Tell us in the comments about the most interesting conversations you heard or participated in!

https://about.flipboard.com/fediverse-house/

#Flipboard #SurfSocial #OpenSocialWeb #Fediverse #SXSW #SXSW2025

Hi @wjmaggos, the best way is to join the beta and download Surf (here's the waitlist link and we'd be happy to help you get onboarded more quickly if you're interested! Otherwise, following the #FediverseHouse hashtag here is a great way to stay up to date.

https://waitlist.surf.social/

Another day, another almighty AI error. This time, @samleecole reports for @404mediaco on what Google and Amazon AI are saying about “Mein Kampf.” “Readers describe the book as a true work of art,” apparently.

https://www.404media.co/google-amazon-ai-search-mein-kampf-reviews/

#Technology #Tech #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Anti-fascism isn’t quick and easy — resistance is often slow, dogged, characterized by long periods of forced inactivity. @damemagazine looks at the struggle: what opposition politicians need to do, how to defend civil society, what to know about the legal system, and how to counter disinformation.

https://www.damemagazine.com/2025/03/06/anti-fascist-movements-have-succeeded-in-the-past-can-they-work-in-the-u-s/

#Disinformation #Misinformation #News #NewsLiteracy #Politics #Resistance #Antifascism #USPolitics #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Another busy week (maybe one day there’ll be a quiet one) in which independent publications have been doing sterling work on politics, science, tech, the environment and more. Please check out these stories from newsrooms with a fediverse presence, which cover subjects from antifascism to EVs in Zimbabwe. Oh, and Canadians, there’s a special treat for you at the end.
⤵️

#Media #Journalism #News #Newstodon #MastodonMigration #FollowFriday

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s “declaration of disaster,” on the border crisis, signed in 2021, allows him to ignore the usual protocol when handing out valuable contracts to private contractors and vendors. And it’s an expensive business: State agencies are paying for everything from zip ties and razor wire to helicopters and planes. Here’s @TexasObserver’s story on who have been the big winners, including some who have become Abbott’s campaign “patrons.”

https://www.texasobserver.org/abbott-operation-lone-star-contractors-bonanza/

#Immigration #GregAbbott #Border #Texas #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

Japanese car makers have sent used cars to Zimbabwe for decades — tens of thousands a year. They often end up in a landfill, in particular the electric vehicles, because of a lack of specialized mechanics to get them back on the road or safely recycle them. Zimbabweans have had enough. “Our township landfills are filled with batteries and other sophisticated elements from discarded EV cars, spewing toxic chemicals, because we don’t know how to recycle their parts, nor have the machinery or skill to do so,” garage manager Amos Gwada says. @thexylom tells the full story.

https://www.thexylom.com/post/aging-japanese-evs-are-giving-zimbabwe-fits

#ClimateChange #Environment #EastAfrica #IlemiTriangle #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday

You may not know the name Steve Berger, but the archconservative evangelical pastor has influence in Washington, D.C. — so much so that several Republican party lawmakers live at his nonprofit organization’s headquarters. Berger has said his goal is to “disciple” members of Congress so what “they learn is then translated into policy.” Past and present residents of his townhouse — described by @ProPublica as “what amounts to a group house for conservative lawmakers” include Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump ally Rep. Andy Ogles and Dan Bishop, a former Congressman.

https://www.propublica.org/article/roommates-steve-berger-mike-johnson-andy-ogles-right-wing-influence-townhouse

#Politics #GOP #RepublicanParty #MikeJohnson #EvangelicalChristianity #Newstodon #NewstodonFriday #FollowFriday