Notices by Nelson Chu Pavlosky (skyfaller@jawns.club)

For #FollowFriday, here are folks new to fedi, arriving on #Pixelfed, taking photos in #Philly. Please welcome them!

- @ShagrinaInk
- @Mich
- @huskybydesign
- @Flat_Pluto
- @rebeccatesler
- @jerkjerkson
- @theduchess
- @thetaoofmike
- @Jessicalibor

I don't know them or how good their pics will be, but I do want them to feel at home in our virtual neighborhood. Let's help everyone leave Meta/Instagram.

Also please be patient because Pixelfed.social is struggling under load.

#Philadelphia

@valhalla Ooh, I think you win the thread. This is a very good way to make the sorting decision, and it also supports the majority vote of sorting with music CDs in my collection.

@ohmu @jonah Fastmail may have a union, but they laid off 60% of the bargaining unit in the middle of contact negotiations: https://union.place/@fastmailunited/112672408714595554

So I don't know how much power the remaining union members have left, or whether I would cheer Fastmail. Ask @fastmailunited I guess.

Comic book geeks! Suppose I want a print copy of Amazing Spider-man Vol. 1 #537:

https://comicnewbies.com/2013/05/10/captain-americas-civil-war-speech/

What's the best way to get that? Should I just track down that specific issue? Is there some omnibus containing it that's a good deal? Is it worth getting all of the backstory that set up that scene?

#Marvel #CaptainAmerica #SpiderMan #CivilWar #ComicBooks

OK nerds, what's the best email client on Linux?

I'm interested in both GUI and terminal email clients. I consider them to be in separate categories, not competing with one another.

Until recently I've just been using Gmail webmail + official clients because I'm a creature of habit, but I'm trying to transition away from Google. Currently experimenting with Migadu for email hosting.

#email #linux

Which e-book reader / e-reader is the most sustainable / ethical?

I assume FOSS & open hardware / firmware is a high priority so it's easy to repair and maintain. There may be other factors.

I have an Inkplate 6 (open hardware based on salvaged Kindle parts) and supposedly it is possible to turn it into a usable e-book reader: https://hackaday.com/2021/08/20/inkplate-comes-full-circle-becomes-true-open-reader/

I haven't tried this yet, it's on my to-do list.

I find its reliance on Kindle parts concerning. Anything more independent?

#eBooks #eReaders

I bought golden #flaxseeds to eat to try to increase the omega-3 fatty acids in our diet. Now what?

Do you eat #flaxseed? How do you eat it? In what dishes? Do you grind it up first? If yes, how do you grind it?

#flax #omega3 #vegan

@janneke Yeah I'm preaching to the choir on Mastodon, but if I asked this on Facebook I'd only get responses from people who have failed to leave :P

The question isn't when you left Facebook, but how. Did you just delete it and wave goodbye? Did you try to bring other people with you in some fashion? How do you deal with the people left behind on Facebook?

I finally got back in to my #Facebook account (after months of having lost my 2FA). Obviously I've survived for months without Facebook, I don't need it.

I want to phase out all of my corporate accounts and focus on supporting communities that aren't giving money to Trump (the way Meta is). Suppose I want to start by eliminating Facebook.

Anyone have advice for leaving Facebook? I don't want to lose touch with old friends from high school, many events are only posted on Facebook, etc.

@nora Frankly I think toki pona isn't a good thematic fit for kobolds. I don't see why they'd be into simplicity.

What I know about kobolds without looking them up:

- ruled by dragons, which I take as a lack of ambition or a history of oppression, otherwise they'd rule themselves
- very social, live in large groups
- love shiny objects and collect them, like dragons or corvids

I'd expect they speak draconic, which likely has many words for treasure, or a trade language for acquiring shinies.

I take it back. My droid luggage would never survive the crush of people boarding an NJ Transit train at Penn Station, it would end up like Hitchbot.

I want motorized rolling luggage that looks like R2D2 and can follow me when I walk around the train station. It should make cute beeps occasionally, like if it lost sight of me and doesn't want to get left behind.

The upgraded model could know where my train is and guide me through the station so I don't have to look up directions.

Some options I'm aware of:

- FairCamp, by @freebliss - A static site generator to self-host your music and help people pay you for it: https://simonrepp.com/faircamp/
- Bandwagon, by @benpate - A work-in-progress federated music network, with music sales as a planned feature: https://github.com/EmissarySocial/bandwagon
- @mirlo which is a worker co-op

None directly replace Bandcamp, which depended partly on the size of its community and labor from e.g. music writers. But they could be parts of a better music world.

Today is Bandcamp Friday, where Bandcamp doesn't take a cut of sales.

If you want Bandcamp shopping recommendations, I'll mention my list of Philly music, although it could use expanding and updating: https://www.buymusic.club/list/skyfaller-philly-music

And you could browse my profile for more ideas: https://bandcamp.com/skyfaller

As you can tell, I've sunk a lot of money into Bandcamp over the years, but I've developed mixed feelings about it.

On the one hand, Bandcamp is one of the best ways to pay artists and preserve music through downloads and physical media. Streaming services like Spotify are a bad deal for musicians, and songs can disappear at any time.

On the other hand, Bandcamp laid off their union's entire bargaining unit in the middle of contract negotiations, and never experienced consequences.

https://jacobin.com/2023/12/bandcamp-music-streaming-sale-tech-workers-union-layoffs-organizing

https://union.place/@bandcampunited/111620834229102898

https://orbital.horse/@emma/112673413137379538

We need music options that don't screw over labor.

@seth probably hoping to make someone rich who sells Bitcoin to the state

@evan Qualified no. I think most open federation / blocklist servers cannot be locked down adequately to protect (inexperienced) users from seeing horrifying things, receiving harassment, and other age-inappropriate stuff. So if I interpret this as inviting your children to your existing server, I think this is generally a bad idea.

I think that island networks / allowlist servers have potential for easing children onto the Fediverse, which is one reason I'd like one for my friends and family.

@evan Qualified no. I think open registration is too big of a problem for spam, block evasion, brigading, and other toxic behaviors. I think fedi needs better moderation tools and organization to make open registration less damaging. But I think this is achievable.

I do think that volunteer-run is the best model for most servers, but I think if we attract businesses and institutions to fedi with paid employees, they should be paying for labor and computing resources.

@hannu_ikonen @cpm The problem that seems inescapable is that the AI companies are also desperately searching for any scrap of data that is AI-free, to postpone model collapse. If your cache of new books that are free from AI can be accessed by someone training an LLM, you prolong the existence/relevance of LLMs. "AI free" labels attract AI.

Avoiding AI bullshit is vital, but it almost seems like we have to kill the open web and go underground to keep human communication between humans.

@reiver There's a lot of people who have used XMPP who don't know it, like apparently Whatsapp is or was XMPP under the hood, it's just never been open to the rest of the XMPP ecosystem.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp#Technical