Notices by Mick 🇨🇦 (mick@cosocial.ca)

Among all the advertising, privacy invasion, AI slop and algorithmic manipulation endemic to the modern Web, it is still the sort of place where someone will take it upon themselves to curate a bunch of excellent photos of owls in towels.

For all its problems, the Web is still worth fighting for.

https://owlsintowels.org/

@owlsintowels

@codinghorror @Daojoan understanding that we’re all in a very real sense totally fucked by the circumstances of our birth is the basis of compassion. This allows us to relate with each other from a place of shared experience and humanity.

When a fascist Nazi is making fascist Nazi noises you incorporate the understanding that they didn’t choose to be a Nazi any more than you chose to be the sort of person who think Nazis should get a punch in the face.

@codinghorror @Daojoan with this frame of reference, you then consider how this is true for literally every human being alive - and whoever has lived.

The degree to which our minds, opinions, and the actions that we undertake are driven by who we are at this fundamental, unchosen level proves to be a useful framework for understanding how others experince and respond to the world.

@codinghorror @Daojoan well…

The first step is recognizing with deep humility that you and I did not choose who we are at all.

You did not choose your parents, where you were born, and consequently you had no say in how you would experience the world as your ideas about it were formed.

Having recognized your tremendous luck in the genetic lottery, you start to consider the gazillion ways things might have turned out differently for you.

@evan the only game in which my character has been killed by self doubt… I’m still just a few hours in and it is incredible, unlike anything else.

Dunno if anything compares, but this one is rapidly moving up my “to play” list: https://youtu.be/ejgW-upPMgk?si=tE4Rx-FBBbijMc4f

@evan is the year half full or half empty?

"Cultivating an impression of working-class relatability is key to Poilievre’s political brand.

However, DeSmog’s map shows that the Conservative leader and his party are linked to a constellation of corporate lobbyists and industries far removed from the day-to-day interests of ordinary Canadians."

Interesting one that jumped out for me: Koch Industries is a client of a lobbying firm associated with Steven Harper.

#CanPoli

https://www.desmog.com/2025/03/25/poilievre-mapped-his-inner-circle-of-lobbyists-and-right-wing-activists/

2nd amendment: inviolable

1st amendment: 🤷

Got it.

#uspol

@evan holy shit Evan I’m glad you’re on our side. ✊

Parents, talk to your kids about the importance of not being a stooge for a billionaire Nazi.

“I would regard Mr. Musk as a problem," said Ward Elcock, who headed CSIS for a decade including during the 9/11 attacks and also served as national security adviser. "I think that's on a number of fronts."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trump-annexation-destabilizing-canada-1.7479890

“We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong ideas and opinions, and I think we’ll state those opinions now,” is a statement that really captures the essence of the moment.

'The question now is not a million miles away. Who will support? Who will collaborate? Who will decide that they are “not political” and look away as millions of people are harmed? Who will make excuses for it all? Who secretly welcomes the push for theocracy, for in-groups and out-groups, for “traditional” values that prioritize rigid gender roles, segregation, and oligarchy? Who, in other words, is safe?'

#uspol

https://werd.io/view/6793aa35e6c2fc33600f1b22

@GottaLaff @emd @coop while this is more of a question for our Trust-and-Safety team, I can say that we keep an up-to-date blocklist and our T&S people are really on the ball. Tagging @timbray @evan @johannab

Mastodon.social has oodles of bots itself… you might find anywhere else better for that reason alone.

@bobjonkman enjoy!

Each is an absurd masterpiece.

I don’t think I can pick a favorite, but the scale of the the Bezos creation really stands apart.

The #fediverse and #CoSocialCa continued to grow and be excellent.

#GoodThingsFrom2024

New Bobby Fingers dropped:

https://youtu.be/NF4VJJKTjy8

@homegrown
@pluralistic has a cautionary tale to tell you, here: https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/10/dead-letters/#more-6162

The actual operation of a server is nbd.

Ensuring that everyone you want to reach from that server can be reached from that server can occassionally become impossible for reasons entirely out of your control.

Participating in annual reviews this year, and it occurs to me that the process now mostly consists of groups of employees using various vendors’ LLMs to populate another vendor’s database.

@futurebird @pluralistic sells his through https://libro.fm.

They don’t have the selection of Audible, but the artists and authors get a fair(er) share of the books you buy.

And they sell some without DRM encumbrances.

@0xabad1dea a colleague just got a new dog who’s name is also Odin and I asked for a photo of him to share. Blender for scale. 😂