Notices by Erik Moeller (eloquence@social.coop)

Is there any decent open source weather app on Android? I don't mind throwing 2 bucks a month at Weatherbug, but I'd rather support a nonprofit/open project if there is one.

@dphiffer @3wordchant @flancian

Would one of you be able to have a look at the #socialcoop queue backlog? I get these sense that some jobs are running way behind; e.g., I'm still waiting on an automatic follow migration on some accounts I follow to come through more than 24 hours later.

@dphiffer @3wordchant @flancian

This post is from 2022 but looks like it's been updated for Mastodon 4.0 and may still have some good pointers:

https://thomas-leister.de/en/scaling-up-mastodon/

If you're in the US, please use this tool to call your Senator's office and tell them to pass the PRESS Act in the lame duck session. It's super-easy. Barely an inconvenience.

"Journalists should be able to do their jobs without facing jail time or being surveilled by the government."

https://www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/tell-your-senator-pass-the-press-act-now/

Not sure how many times I'm going to have to unsubscribe from Kamala Harris' fundraising list ...

(I'll continue to give, but at this point I'll shift any donations to more left/progressive leaders in the party.)

#AaronSwartzDay 2024 is live now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ-PQjP-XRo

First guest: Ryan Shapiro, #FOIA expert and co-founder of the national security transparency non-profit Property of the People (https://propertyofthepeople.org/).

#AaronSwartzDay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ-PQjP-XRo

Ryan Shapiro not holding back: "It's not just the malignancy and greed of these people, it's how unfettered they're going to be in enacting their odious plans."

#AaronSwartzDay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ-PQjP-XRo

Ryan Shapiro recounting his early career: "The FBI tried to put us in prison as terrorists for doing things like undercover investigations of factory farms.."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ-PQjP-XRo

#AaronSwartzDay

"I started submitting thousands of [FOIA] requests and it started to work. Started to map out the FBI's strategies for noncompliance." - Ryan Shapiro explaining his use of Freedom of Information Act requests.

#AaronSwartzDay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ-PQjP-XRo

"We were able to show that years before the JSTOR investigation and prosecution [of Aaron Swartz], the FBI had been preposterously looking at Aaron in the context of an al Qaeda anti-terrorist investigation" - Ryan Shapiro on his investigative work using the Freedom of Information Act (#FOIA)

#AaronSwartzDay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ-PQjP-XRo

"At its core, the FBI is a political force that primarily targets the left, ignoring or outright aiding the right". - #FOIA expert Ryan Shapiro at #AaronSwartzDay

Watch live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ-PQjP-XRo

Inevitably, there'll be folks arguing that they have to "re-engage" with people on X or other far-right sites because libs are out of touch with people and need to rebuild a majority.

This is a nonsensical argument, and it cedes the Overton window of discourse (and, crucially, all controls on speech) to the far right.

The 2024 election had a ~65% turnout. The real opportunities to engage are with folks who feel the political system has failed them, not with right-wing Twitter trolls.

Many people have been saying this for a while. Universities, it's well past time to get off X:

https://blog.edtechie.net/higher-ed/universities-need-to-leave-x/

Dark days ahead. Hold on to each other. ❤️

We (@freedomofpress) are hiring a full-time Senior IT/Infrastructure Engineer based in #NewYork. You'll lead IT/infrastructure needs for our small #Brooklyn office and our remote workers, and help with general infra maintenance tasks.

If you're based in NY, or willing to relocate from within the US, please consider applying:

https://grnh.se/2a150e355us

Salary range $105-$130K commensurate with experience, with generous benefits including 401(k) match.

#NonprofitJobs #GetFediHired

"Harris/Trump locked in tight race in <swing state>" barely qualifies as journalism.

Cover Trump's corruption, incompetence, malice and lawbreaking. Cover the many schemes to undermine democracy. Cover the lack of credible pathway to peace in Gaza or Ukraine from either party.

Horse race stories are the laziest, dumbest forms of coverage; it effectively renders many news sites useless.

It's really okay to stop sharing screenshots from X dot com. That website is weird

@rbos

Interesting, thanks for pointing that out.

Yeah, for a space that's fundamentally about providing safety, selective federation towards only safe instances may be the only option, but I agree it would be interesting to explore.

I do think they missed an opportunity to call it the Trevorverse.

I quite like this graphic Terre des Hommes Germany (@tdh, a humanitarian organization focused on children's rights) made as part of their #twittermigration.

It's straightforward: we're leaving X because of hate speech & misinformation; you can find us on Threads and Mastodon.

Suggestions for anyone creating similar graphics:
- Include the handles in the graphic (some users will only share the graphic)
- Describe Mastodon/fediverse as "social media that belongs to the public" or similar.