Withdrawing from a conference I was supposed to be speaking at later this year. The line-up currently shows that out of a total of 73 speakers, a grand total of 8 are women.
People and blogs involved with and about the IndieWeb community, the fediverse, and/or the open web in general.
2023: "If they really want to prove their love for the open web, if they aren't just trying to lull us to sleep while they steal yet another market from the open web, they should do something that helps the web more than it helps them."
Liberals should support truly open technology that doesn't have a Zuckerberg who can sell us all out. Get involved.
IndieWeb Secret Gregory (Spring Secret Santa) 2025 Participation
sarajaksa.eu/2025/01/indieweb-secret-gregory-spring-secret-santa-2025-participation/
Ben Werdmuller
• Ben Werdmuller
Meta’s Free Speech Grift
Jason nails what the supposed focus on free speech by Meta and others is really about:
"What Zuckerberg and Meta have realized is the value, demonstrated by Trump, Musk, and MAGA antagonists, of saying that you’re “protecting free speech” and using it as cover for almost anything you want to do. For Meta, that means increasing engagement, decreasing government oversight and interference, and lowering their labor costs (through cutting their workforce and strengthening their bargaining position vs labor) — all things that will make their stock price go up and increase the wealth of their shareholders."
It's a grift, pure and simple. One that happens to help them curry favor with the incoming President and his fan-base.
[Link]
Ben Werdmuller
• Ben Werdmuller
Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors
[Arno Rosenfeld at the Forward]
The Heritage Foundation is out to "identify and target" Wikipedia editors, using antisemitism as a cover:
"Employees of Heritage, the conservative think tank that produced the Project 2025 policy blueprint for the second Trump...
For carry on luggage….2 or 4 wheels? Go.
Ben Werdmuller
• Ben Werdmuller
46 books
Previous birthday posts: 45 wishes, 44 thoughts about the future, 43 things, 42 / 42 admissions, 41 things.
One. I lie in bed as Ma read Dodie Smith’s The Hundred and One Dalmatians to me. It was the fifth, and last, straight time; after this, she would finally put her fo...
Trying to pay some old fee from a car lease that I returned 7 years ago, stuck on the phone, dropped calls, terrible finance websites, and generally just a complete waste of time… But this typo on their website maybe hurts me the most:
Please note that it may take upto 15 minutes to receive.
Chris Aldrich
• Chris Aldrich
I often find things inside typewriters… LEGO (multiple), a chicken leg from a Calico Critters playset, a tiny 70s photo of a child, the stub of a pencil, glitter, a pocket knife, a mini clothespin… And naturally lots and lots of eraser bits, loose screws, loose springs, dust rhinoceroses, dried white out, dirt, cobwebs, even … Continue reading
The audio narration works for very short posts too. Me reading this post about Mark Zuckerberg earlier today gives the post a whole new “I’m so tired of this” feeling.
I added audio narration to my latest blog post. You’ll see a little “listen” play button near the top. This is a Micro.blog feature that I forget exists sometimes! There’s a help page about it.
Tuesday session
Tuesday session
Chris Aldrich
• Chris Aldrich
AI prompts vs. agents
If you’re already sick of hearing about AI now, it’s going to get worse in 2025. The next trend is so-called AI agents. Software that can go off and accomplish more tasks on your behalf, with less supervision.
Sam Altman in a blog post this week:
We are now confident we kno...
I wish the Ecmascript committee had put more effort into real soul-saving enhancements like comments in JSON instead of coming up with contorted ways to do the same old contortions we got used to dealing with ten years ago. And they could have removed features from the language instead of piling on more and more random reinventions. End of editorial, now on with the new Bingeworthy.
The new Bingeworthy
Last night while watching a basketball game, checking my iPad, and all of a sudden new items started appearing in the RSS feed for the new Bingeworthy.
I thought oh geez there's some kind of bug, last thing I need now, but quickly realized someone was using it and it was wo...
Progressive enhancement brings everyone in - The History of the Web
thehistoryoftheweb.com/the-inclusive-web-of-progressive-enhancement/
This is a great history of the idea of progressive enhancement:
It is an idea that has been lasting and enduring for two decades, and will continue.
Has anyone come up with a variant of JSON that allows comments? I've started using names like "comment1" etc to shoehorn comments in. A complete hack, impossible to maintain over time. The idea of not being able to put notes in your config.json files is absolutely ridiculous.
Ben Werdmuller
• Ben Werdmuller
Mark Zuckerberg: Fact-Checking on Meta Is Too "Politically Biased"
[Alex Weprin at The Hollywood Reporter]
I don't think this is a great thing at all:
"Meta will also move its trust and safety and content moderation teams out of California, with content review to be based in Texas. “As we work to promote free expression, I ...