Notices by Serge from Babka (serge@babka.social)

@kolev

Airports can be overwhelming. I almost always wear headphones outside anyway, and in a noisy airport, that helps.

To get on the plane, you need a ticket, ie a boarding pass. That's either printed, or on your phone. Anything else is insufficient. You'll get the pass when you check in at the airport, with a person or at a kiosk. You'll need your ID as well.

Airports are designed to be easy to navigate. An airport with thousands, or tens of thousands of people per day can't be too complicated or it causes problems. Imagine if 1% of passengers couldn't find their gate, with 10,000 passengers. They're made to be straightforward.

As for water, you can't bring water though security, but you can either bring a bottle and fill it at the airport. Some airports have bottle refill station, or you have to pay for a highly overpriced bottle of water past security near the gate.

@kolev

Not autistic but highly sensory sensitive.

A few tips.

First, wear comfortable headphones. Wired ones should work in most modern aircraft (not like the old days).

If you're going to use a phone/computer, then I recommend bluetooth for your comfort.

Some people like noise canceling headphones. They give me a headache, but your mileage may vary.

I find it's hard to read on a plane due to space, so I prefer audio entertainment.

Bring water. Drink lots. If you don't like water, flavor the water.

Aisle seats make for being jostled, but if you have to pee a lot, it's worth it. If not, window for the sensory benefits of a wall.

Bring favorite snacks.

If it's a red-eye, take a sleep supplement like melatonin or 5-HTP.

Any other concerns?

@kolev

I'd look at a review like this one and choose from one of them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga-jBSo3Nbc

Some things I think are really important:

1. You want to have your NAS on an UPS to handle both spikes and dips

2. You need ECC RAM. This should not be optional in your mind.

3. I strongly, strongly recommend you use ZFS, which is why I use TrueNAS. ZFS has many features you want, but the big ones are that its ZFS RAID is built right into the filesystem, and more importantly, scrubbing. I think scrubbing is a crucial feature at this point.

4. You could build it yourself in terms of both hardware and software, but I think that there are enough details in both that you really do want someone else to do it for you unless you're familiar with these issues.

@kolev

Yes, but it's quite pricey. I buy it mainly to support the TrueNAS project, and because I think the hardware is OK.

If not, what I'd do is buy a <$500 nas.

If I were you, I'd buy an inexpensive NAS and use some 2.5 -> 3.5 inch adapters since I know you still have those older hard drives.

Are you looking for some possible recommendations on inexpensive hardware?

@kolev

Yes, I'm very lucky and privileged and very aware of that.

When I created Babka Social, I did so with the intent that it would be a place for Twitter and Facebook users to go.

While I think new users on the instance is great and I encourage and welcome folks, I find it hard to celebrate that people are coming here because they feel unwelcome due to antisemitism or antisemitic admins on other instances.

That's a Fediverse problem.

@darnell@one.darnell.one

Gosh, remember 20 years ago when we were all talking about kids around the world getting laptops for $100 that ran 100% Free/Open Source software that they would be able to fix themselves?

Intel worked so hard to kill that with the rise of the Netbook, and then Apple killed the netbook with tablets.

But now we have companies like Framework and MNT that are building highly fixable machines, and machines of today are far more capable than they were in 2005.

I'm not dismissing the issue of IT costs and ongoing maintenance, but I think this is a fixable problem, if we as a society cared.

@darnell@flipboard.com

I'm quite frustrated with the liberal news agencies.

I went to check on the report about the UN reducing the number of reported Gazan casualties. They reduced the number by half, *half*, and yet I only see this reported in Conservative news sources.... From a UN report!

Any casualty is tragic, but the idea that the number of women and children who have died is *half* the number they previously released is a huge deal, and brings the number of casualties to be much lower than we've seen discussed in this unprecedented, highly urban war.

I complained about Conservatives courting Jews, but I must emphasize once again that this is not on Jews to be courted, it's on Liberals and the Left to court Jews, and if they lose a generation or two of Jews to the right, I will be sad but it will be obvious why...

Left, DO BETTER. Report the news even if it challenges your narrative.

#News #Israel #UN #Gaza

@darnell@one.darnell.one @darnell@darnell.ooo

My barber would thank you for the gentle reminder for me to get a haircut too.

When I evaluate how someone feels about Jews, I don't put any weight on their support for Holocaust memorials.

I want to see how people act about living Jews, because it's well known that #PeopleLoveDeadJews

@wolfsbruder

I once worked at a company that suddenly asked me to be on call.

I said that I'd be happy to discuss a new contract that reflected this new requirement and my boss said to take the phone first. I explained that my contract said my salary is based on a 40 hour workweek, and I'd want to discuss exactly what on call terms would exist- when I'd be on call (him: "All the time") how that would effect my weekends and vacations (him: "We'll figure that out"), what the expectation for my response time would be (him: We'll play it by ear).

I said that sounded like I'd always be working, so then I'd want to take my current salary based on 40 hours a week and adjust it for now being expected to be working 168 hours a week.

He kept insisting we'll "figure it out later" and I said we'd figure it out before I accepted the phone.

I quit a few weeks later.

@BeAware

@thomasfuchs

What a different timeline!

Non-Jews and Non-Jews only,

Like and or Boost this post if you support Jews being safe.

Has anyone considered a Fediverse moderator exchange program?

Basically you'd have a moderator come onto your team and see what your moderation challenges are, how you handle them, etc.

This would be especially useful to marginalized communities which have poor representation on the Fediverse, such as Black instances, Jewish instances, and so on.

Would this be interesting to anyone else?

#Fediverse #moderation

#ChatGPT

@tokyo_0

Also, when the allies took over Germany in WW2, they didn't allow the Nazi party to take back power.

People have been trying today to attack the instance's reputation, and my own as well.

The challenge for them is that this is a high moderation server. Calls for violence and harassment (in the rare case they happen) are moderated swiftly.

As for me, my position on the Israel-Hamas war, it hasn't changed:

I deeply worry about the situation in Gaza, the human tragedy there is unimaginable, and the potential for more tragedy is there, and we're seeing it happen. More must be done to address this serious humanitarian crisis.

I also strongly support a ceasefire that includes return hostages and release Gaza from Hamas rule so that they can enjoy free and fair elections.

And lastly, no actions in Israel justify any hate speech against Jews in the diaspora. There are no ifs, ands, or butts about this issue. Using "Because Israel" as a means to discriminate, act violently towards, kill, or spread hate about Jews is hate and should be treated accordingly.

#Babka

If someone compares Jews to Nazis, the group that killed half the Jews in the world, that is Nazi Inversion, and it's antisemitic. Invoking the Nazis or the Holocaust as so called "rhetorical speech" to talk about the actions of Jews is antisemitic.

It's very clear, it's very simple, and it's not stopping anyone from criticizing anything, because the same argument could be made without Nazi Inversion, and if it couldn't be, then it's not criticism at all, but simply words used to attack, intimidate or in some other way harm Jews.

I'm happy to see that other instances are starting to take Nazi Inversion seriously and act on it when their users engage in hate speech. I strongly encourage all instances who want to stop antisemitism to do the same.

#antisemitism #FediAntisemitism #HateSpeech #NaziInversion #HolocaustInversion #FediblockMeta

Dear folks who report Babka users.

If you say antisemitic stuff in your report, such as Holocaust Inversion or Blood Libel, your report is going to get examined fairly, but we'll call you names behind your back.

#FediAntisemitism

I'm so tired of the idea that people we listen to have to:

a) Have opinions on every topic (especially those outside their expertise)
b) Opine those opinions publicly or else be accused of participation in whatever someone doesn't like
c) Parrot exactly what someone else already believes or be accused of being a plant for, not just the other side, but the furthest extreme of the other side

This is not how human beings work.

People may not have well considered opinions on all topics- I certainly don't.

People may choose to stay out of a conversation for a myriad of reasons.

People may have opinions that are right in some areas and wrong in others.

We need to get away from the idea of someone not fitting a mold exactly as a moral failure. It's not a moral failure to be a person.

#FediverseMeta #SocialMedia #SocialCommentary