I just saw someone say that America's fettuccine alfredo is basically just mac and cheese. They aren't wrong, and I am *struggling* with this reality.

Atlanta's Ansley Mall Starbucks is closing permanently. It's been in the same space for 35 years and is constantly busy. Corporate has just decided that they don't want to renew the lease on the space.

This comes after the store recently unionized.

The workers will have the chance to transfer to another store, presumably one less unionized.

#Atlanta #AnsleyMall #SBWU #UnionBusting #Starbucks

info from an anonymous worker at the store, who asked that the info be shared

Any library folks follow me back? Are people over there talking about the disappearance of Nianli Ma from Indiana University's Wells Library, with US federal involvement? She disappeared with her husband, Xiaofend Wang, a prominent infosec researcher at IU.

An article about him that mentions her: https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/03/computer-scientist-goes-silent-after-fbi-raid-and-purging-from-university-website/
An archived version of her IU library staff page: http://web.archive.org/web/20240415200728/https://libraries.indiana.edu/nianli-ma
A fedi thread about his disappearance: https://ioc.exchange/@matthew_d_green/114246136476059749

Didn't see this from my usual US news sources yet, so I wanted to give it a bit of a boost here. Liberal sweethears Ben & Jerry's are suing parent company Unilever, who they say is trying to squash B&J's activism.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg8pk9rpx4o

ACLU is suing. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/families-and-advocates-sue-trump-administration-over-executive-order-seeking-to-restrict-access-to-gender-affirming-care

@roadriverrail I do not!

@roadriverrail "I have a question. I understand either you or your co-presenter always lies. If I were to ask her how your theory addresses the conclusions of Foucault's Crime and Punishment, would she tell me..."

@roadriverrail Yes, that's my understanding as well. Invalidating existing documents is much more difficult, both legally and bureaucratically. All of the info I've found so far indicates that the regime isn't currently threatening to invalidate current, unexpired passports with X gender marker.

This reddit thread includes information from several passport workers on how they're handling gender markers. They're still waiting for official word on some edge cases, but this thread has answered several of my own questions.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Passports/comments/1i96980/comment/m901hro/

#transgender #passport

That specifically trans feeling of when you happen to notice yourself in the mirror and what you see makes you genuinely happy.

@roadriverrail @Avcj Ha, yep, mistakes and nonsense happen. No worries either way.

I use Tusky too on the phone, though there are several client programs that people seem happy with!

@Avcj Hey, welcome! Miss y'all!

Is this your first time on mastodon? If so, I know it can sometimes be a little confusing at first, so let us know how we can help!

/ @roadriverrail

Ossoff and Warnock both voted in favor of the anti-immigrant Laken Riley Act. I'm pretty disgusted.

@roadriverrail Surprisingly, I don't think I've seen The Lost Boys. Or, just as likely, perhaps I saw it a really long time ago and have completely forgotten it. I should fix that.

And honestly, please see The Hunger. It's far from perfect, and the studio botched the ending with meddling. But even in light of all that it's basically the quintessential 1983 V:tM Toreador embrace pre-story.

Last night I got to lie in a bed and share the movie The Hunger (1984) with a metamour who's a queer 80s goth and a fan of vampires and Bowie but who somehow had never seen it before, while we both cuddled on our mutual partner; and let me tell you, if that's not intrinsically the height of #polyamory then I don't think I want to know what is.

@dixon I've never worked at CF specifically, but when I was in infosec 2001-2014 the industry was hit or miss on it. Earlier the tendency to rush was present, but either it wasn't as strong yet or else I wasn't as attuned to it yet.

The part of IBM I was in (ISS/X-Force, 2006-9 and 12-14) honestly was pretty okay on this particular point. And when I took a step away from corporate and worked at Emory University Libraries 2006-9 it felt pretty balanced. I wonder if any of those are still things.

Hey tech folks. Real talk. What companies do you know that seem to mostly avoid sacrificing long-term quality for a fast bottom line?

I'm talking about this tendency people have been noting for decades now, where companies rush for a big feature announcement and build something that barely holds together, and when it doesn't make enough money they rinse and repeat.

Who do you know that doesn't do that, or that does it less?

Please boost; I'd really love to hear broad responses.

TIL the Cocteau Twins released a Christmas EP in the winter of 1993, a few months after Four Calendar Café. Here is their cover of Frosty the Snowman. You're welcome.

https://youtu.be/e874vKfYfuU

@roadriverrail I'm pretty sure I haven't heard anyone mention that game in at least 25 years.

/ @ajroach42

Father: Well I'm exhausted, off to bed.
Me: Yeah, me too.
The Internet: Here's a flowchart for recognizing European languages that use Latin-derived alphabets based on what characters they do and don't use, except actually it has some Very Important (?) edge cases where it wouldn't quite be right.
Me: oh no.