Notices by Paul Chambers🚧 (paul@oldfriends.live)

@LoganFive Luckily, we are nearing the point where user added alt-text will be obsolete as technology finally will meet the challenge easily and with more accuracy and clarity for our visually-impaired friends as auto generation is being baked into every browser, reader, etc, much like visual accessibility options transferred from each webpage to browsers and devices.

My web browser got autogeneration of alt-text just today and I am going to start using it to create the text to post into alt-text box. Eventually, even that won't be required as devices, screen readers, etc will automatically do it for those that needed as they browse on their devices and apps.

Until then, alt-texting we do.

@alice

@darnell The gov announcement is here:

🔗 Which platforms are age-restricted?
https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/industry-regulation/social-media-age-restrictions/which-platforms-are-age-restricted

"...the key requirement that their “sole or a significant purpose is to enable online social interaction”."

"eSafety has also informed the broader online industry all platforms are obliged to continually assess whether they meet the definition of an ‘age-restricted social media platform’"

https://newshub.medianet.com.au/2025/11/platforms-on-notice-to-comply-with-social-media-minimum-age/126929/

Main info https://www.esafety.gov.au/

@seano They just posted this issue a few minutes ago at Digital Ocean, so it's new.

@GossiTheDog

@GossiTheDog Here is the incident page

https://www.cloudflarestatus.com/incidents/8gmgl950y3h7

Never imagined a time where a President of the United States would hold a Situation Room meeting to prevent the public from confirming that the President of the United States is a pedophile.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/12/politics/trump-administration-meeting-house-effort-epstein-document-release

@selzero Maybe AOC, Hillary, Soros or the countless others MTG has put at risk and in danger, and still are, could offer her some tips on how to stay safe when a lunatic targets you like she has others.

Pocket is no more. As of November 12, 2025, user data export has been disabled, and all user data has been queued for permanent deletion. #Pocket #Mozilla

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/future-of-pocket

@ai6yr Winter storm watch issued for parts of #Ohio. 5-10 inches of snow

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Cleveland OH
1015 PM EST Sat Nov 8 2025

...WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY EVENING THROUGH
TUESDAY MORNING...

* WHAT...Heavy lake effect snow possible. Total snow accumulations
between 5 and 10 inches possible.

* WHERE...Portions of north central and northeast Ohio.

* WHEN...From Sunday evening through Tuesday morning.

* IMPACTS...Visibilities may drop below 1/4 mile due to falling and
blowing snow. The strong winds and weight of snow on tree limbs
may down power lines and could cause sporadic power outages.
Travel could be difficult. The hazardous conditions could impact
the Monday morning and evening commutes.

OHZ010>014-020>023-089-091115-
/O.CON.KCLE.WS.A.0005.251110T0000Z-251111T1500Z/
Lorain-Cuyahoga-Lake-Geauga-Ashtabula Inland-Medina-Summit-
Portage-Trumbull-Ashtabula Lakeshore-
Including the cities of Conneaut, Geneva, Painesville,
Willoughby, Roaming Shores, Burton, Streetsboro, Aurora,
Cleveland, Akron, Ravenna, Bainbridge, Middlefield, Elyria,
Brunswick, Mentor, Andover, Medina, Willowick, Kent, Jefferson,
Wadsworth, Lorain, North Ridgeville, Avon Lake, Orwell, Niles,
Ashtabula, Chardon, Eastlake, South Russell, Warren, Wickliffe,
and Chesterland
1015 PM EST Sat Nov 8 2025

https://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=OHZ021&warncounty=OHC153&firewxzone=OHZ021&local_place1=Akron%20OH&product1=Winter+Storm+Watch&lat=41.0814&lon=-81.519

@ai6yr We are getting ready for a winter weather, around a month and a half early in southern #AppalachianOhio

Northeast Ohio is getting ready for 10 inches of snow.

Google pulled the plug on Nest Thermostats, but you can now bring them back to life thanks to a community-led project that offers custom firmware to restore remote control and online functionality for these devices. #Google #Nest #OpenSource

:github: No Longer Evil Thermostat
Breathe fresh life into your bricked Nest Gen 1 & 2, now with 100% less evil!
https://github.com/codykociemba/NoLongerEvil-Thermostat

1/ Some of the most MAGA districts in #Ohio, extremely white, are the highest level of SNAP food stamp households in Ohio, where 1 in 4 are on food stamps. Interestingly, this is #OH02 Congressional district, primarily. #USPol #SNAP #FoodStamps

🔗 State of Ohio SNAP Data Map
https://data.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/data/view/snap-population-metrics

@darnell You just know they are going to hurry a nuke test along for a photo op and it probably will put a lot of people at risk. We know how things end up that the Trump Admin hurries along for a photo op for the dear leader.

The delete all dead jobs from the SideKiq morgue is missing in v4.5-beta.2 Mastodon. Anyone know how to tweak it and get that link back? #MastoAdmin I'm gonna poke around and see if it is a custom webUI change. Curious if there was a reason to remove it, also. #Mastodon

@WarnerCrocker I recently posted about the next Roku update getting AI built into it...

I don't want it and putting all this nonsense in the OS is going to slow down or make older devices and TVs obsolete.

"Roku Voice will now be powered by AI. Ask Roku Voice questions and you’ll get answers. For example, ask “Is the Barbie movie for kids or adults?” and you’ll see the answer on your screen. Roku will tell you that the movie appeals to both kids and adults, along with information about the movie and its themes. You can also ask follow up conversations. Roku Voice will keep up with the conversation"

'Roku Gets a Massive Update With New Features, AI Upgrades, & More on Roku TVs & Roku Players' link in this post below:
https://oldfriends.live/@paul/115385698180437241

@MossyQuartz for what it is worth, I've had those set to Don't Allow for a long time. Earlier when I posted I checked and they were still set to don't allow.

@maniaclives

I have had a dedicated email address literally used only for official Social Security and #Medicare since January 14, 2010 for logging in, account purposes, etc. The only email that I have received has come from .gov email accounts.

For the first time ever, I am getting commercial Medicare spam.

The Trump admin has shared that email account with Medicare Advantage plans. #USPol #Data #Privacy #HHS #CMS #SSA #SocialSecurity .

edit: to add: I logged in to my accounts, Under privacy settings, my Marketing, social media and Web Analytics settings are each marked as don't allow.

Don't take legal advice from a rando on the internet if you need it. Consult a pro in your jurisdiction.

When I see stuff like, "If you are in the US, host your Mastodon or other fediverse server in a foreign country so you are out of reach from US authorities.." Yeah, a US court may not be able to force foreign actors to take your site down, but they really aren't going to come at the site as much as they are going to gun for your personhood. Civilly or criminally, depending on the jurisdiction.

Also, if the foreign actor won't take the site down, a US judge can hold you in a cell for contempt for as long as they want, in some cases, until you do, if they order you to do so.

Don't take legal advice from a rando on the internet if you need it. Consult a pro in your jurisdiction.

This should have been major news. It wasn't. Cornelius Taylor, 46, was inside a tent in a long established homeless encampment off Old Wheat Street when he was bulldozed to death when Atlanta cleared his homeless camp, just yards away from Martin Luther King’s birthplace and the white marble tombs of him and Coretta Scott King. People tried to stop the dozer but it kept on going.

This story is horrific.
#News

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/23/cornelius-taylor-death-homelessness-atlanta

This blew my mind away.

On August 2, 1923, President Harding died unexpectedly from a heart attack in San Francisco while on a speaking tour of the western United States. Vice President Calvin Coolidge was in Vermont visiting his family home, which had neither electricity nor a telephone, when he received word by messenger of Harding's death. Coolidge dressed, said a prayer, and came downstairs to greet the reporters who had assembled. His father, a notary public and justice of the peace, administered the oath of office in the family's parlor by the light of a kerosene lamp at 2:47 a.m. on August 3, 1923, whereupon the new President of the United States returned to bed. #History

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_inauguration_of_Calvin_Coolidge

@jeffowski Not from our government. An article from a couple days ago: RFK Jr. wants to end mental health screenings in schools. Experts say it's a bad idea

"U.S. Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and Education Secretary Linda McMahon want schools to do away with mental health screenings and therapy. Instead, they argue in a Washington Post opinion piece that schools "must return to the natural sources of mental well-being: strong families, nutrition and fitness, and hope for the future."

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/09/16/nx-s1-5543271/rfk-jr-mental-health-screening-schools-stigma