Notices by Stefan Bohacek (stefan@stefanbohacek.online)

"In 1966 [...] five megabytes of data—a relatively small amount by today's standards—required an astounding 62,500 punched cards."

https://www.vintag.es/2025/02/5-megabytes-of-computer-data.html

#technology #history #TechHistory #VintageTech #VintageComputing #data #PunchCards

In case anyone was doubting the importance of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB):

As a result of its lawsuit, Chase will make it harder to use their Zelle app for scams.

"The company also says it may request more information when you add a payment recipient to Zelle, including the purpose of your payment, how you contact this person, and “other details [...]""

https://www.theverge.com/news/614311/chase-zelle-block-social-media-transactions

#news #USNews #banks #chase #zelle #cfpb #finance #scam #MoneyScam

@HistoPol Ah, I am so sorry, yes, my answer applied to the other tools that use Mastodon's API.

For the posting history, yes, that tool does require uploading the file to my server for the time being (this is only to be able to unzip the archive), but I should be able to remove that requirement, apparently there is a library that lets you do that in the browser.

As an alternative in the meantime I'd recommend https://s427.github.io/MARL/dist/index.html (it was from its author I learned about this library, which it uses).

Sorry about the confusion!

@HistoPol

1) The reason why the tool is so slow is because of Mastodon's limit on how many posts you can request per second. I just did a quick test and the tool fetches 2k posts in about 1 minute and 40 seconds, so if my math is right, it could be up to 50 minutes total?

I recall someone suggesting I add settings for how many posts/how far back to go, so that might help, I just have to find the time for that.

2) This is all happening right in your browser, and all connections are directly between you and your server.

If you know how to use the network developer tool in your browser (https://support.iterable.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001674223-Developer-tools-in-Chrome-and-Firefox#network-tool), you can actually watch it make the requests, it will all go straight to mastodon.social.

The processed data is saved in your browser for an hour, so that you can refresh the page or come back within that time and still see the results without having to redo everything.

@HistoPol Thank you!

Do note that for accounts with a large number of posts, it may take a bit longer to load all of them.

Either way, hope you'll enjoy!

If you enjoy my work, yes, I do have a Patreon (I think), but perhaps consider supporting any of the good folks posting with the MutualSupport hashtag.

It's a particularly difficult time of the year for many. Thank you!

Reddit is apparently planning to introduce a paywall this year, affecting newer communities, not existing ones.

"Reddit may have a harder time getting volunteer moderators to wrangle discussions on paid-for subreddits—if it uses volunteer mods at all."

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/reddit-plans-to-lock-some-content-behind-a-paywall-this-year-ceo-says/

#news #reddit #SocialMedia #paywall

A quick tip for removing the "Upgrade" button that just started popping up in GMail.

If you use a browser plugin like https://stylebot.dev, you can use the following selector:

[data-action-behavior*="Upgrade"]

(Or whatever label this button uses in your language.)

Otherwise the classes here are pretty random and might easily change in the future. Hope this helps!

#gmail

On this day in 1920, the Negro National League was formed.

"Baseball gave you a sense of belonging. The umpire ain’t white. It’s a black umpire. The owner ain’t white. Nobody’s white. This is our thing … and we have our everything – until integration, and then we don’t have our nothing."

Here's a 2020 article celebrating its 100th anniversary: https://daily.jstor.org/100th-anniversary-negro-leagues-look-back-what-was-lost/

More about NNL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negro_National_League_(1920%E2%80%931931)

#BlackHistory #BlackHistoryMonth #history #OnThisDay #OTD #sports #baseball #NegroNationalLeague

And yes, this is just https://challenges.stefanbohacek.com repurposed, so I might still need to clean up the code in a few places!

The context for this is, of course, the recent decision from Google to drop these holidays from their own calendar.

https://stefanbohacek.online/@stefan/113982104046458953

This is very much work in progress and will work best as a group effort.

Either contribute directly at https://github.com/stefanbohacek/holidays, or let me know which holidays should be added!

A list of inclusive holidays to remember, commemorate, and celebrate our diverse culture and history.

https://holidays.stefanbohacek.com

#holidays #diversity #culture #history #celebration

@ricmac Nice! @botwiki @simon @tchambers @internetarchive

Ah, I did notice that Black History Month somehow disappeared from my calendar.

Now I know why. Incredible.

https://www.theverge.com/news/608858/google-calendar-missing-events-holidays

via https://mamot.fr/@Khrys/113982030692186300

#news #TechNews #technology #google #diversity #erasure

Also relevant.

"I think people really have to figure out, “How can I be aware and experience outrage while also grounding myself in local communities?” Because I think local community politics is how you can build a kind of feeling of safety and understanding among a group, like, “Oh, actually, there are concrete things I can do, or we can do, to organize and think about how we challenge the status quo we disagree with.”"

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/outrage-fatigue-is-real-heres-why-we-feel-it-and-how-to-cope/

#SocialMedia #outrage #OutrageFatigue

Happy Friday, and positive thoughts and solidarity to you all, fediverse! ✊

#friday

A special edition of #BandcampFriday, pass it on!

"On February 7th, from midnight to midnight PST, Bandcamp will donate 100% of its proceeds to MusiCares to aid those affected by the devastating Southern California wildfires."

https://bandcamp.com/lafirerelief

#music #bandcamp #LAFires #LAWildfires #relief #musicares #musicians

I'm with @annie!

"Who knows how a blog post or a comic or an essay or a zine reminds you that you’re not alone? That the big terrible things are not all that exists.

Goodness lives and grows with every small thing we make and give of ourselves. Creating is power. Giving what we create is power multiplied."

https://anniemueller.com/posts/im-gonna-keep-making-shit-and-i-hope-you-will-too

@iftas, an organization that's been helping make the fediverse a safer place by supporting admins, moderators and community managers, is asking for our support.

"[...] despite our best efforts to secure sustainable funding, IFTAS is now facing a critical financial shortfall. Without immediate support, we will be forced to severely curtail our activities in the next 60 days."

https://about.iftas.org/2025/02/06/funding-challenges-and-the-future-of-our-work/

#IFTAS #moderation #TrustAndSafety #fediverse #funding #FediMods #MastoMods

"Federal health workers are expressing fear and alarm after a website called “DEI Watch List” published the photos, names and public information of a number of workers across health agencies, describing them at one point as “targets.”"

These threats and intimidations against civil service workers are absolutely disgusting. Yesterday I shared a link with resources for supporting them.

https://stefanbohacek.online/@stefan/113947097279538561

Original news article: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/rcna190711

#CivilServants #CivilService #CivicTech #GovTech #USpol #government #GovernmentWorkers