nazgul

nazgul , 12 days ago to random

This is a really weird Mastodon bug/interaction. Why would one instance only have year-old stale data about a user on another instance? And I can’t reply to anything newer.

Someone sent me a link to someone else’s post on another instance. I can view that post.
But when I try to reply to it, I get an error from Mona saying it can’t find the post on the server, try again later. Using the web to reply gets a similar error.

When I go to the persons profile via Mona. I see about a dozen posts, but all from over a year ago.
When I tell Mona to load the profile from the remote server, I can see much more recent posts, including the one I wanted to reply to.

nazgul OP , 11 days ago

@BeAware That was in fact the problem. They apparently blocked infosec.exchange a while back.

nazgul OP , 11 days ago

@BeAware At the very least it would be nice if the error messages gave some indication of the likely cause. “You instance is not allowed to access …”

jerry , 23 days ago to random

I am so, so, so terribly sad that I will not be around for my employer’s migration to MS Teams 😢

nazgul , 22 days ago

@jerry @research Oh dog.
Two jobs ago the company I was at went through a series of acquisitions and in quick succession we went through three different conferencing systems.

I will say, I think Teams has the best UI of any Microsoft office product.
But that’s not a compliment.

briankrebs , 1 month ago to random

TIL you can quickly find your own posts by including "from:me" in the search box and then a key word or phrase you're searching for. Yes, it took me this long to figure that out.

nazgul , 1 month ago

@j3j5 @OkieSpaceQueen @briankrebs Well that woke me up. I’ve wanted to re-find things I’ve interacted with a lot. Looking around I see that @FediTips has a nice list of search operators and other features here:

https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-search-for-stuff-on-mastodon/

This all assumes your instance is running at least Mastodon 4.2.0 and has the ElasticSearch feature.

This is the current operator list the article provides for Mastodon 4.2.0. Read the full web page for more details.

• has:media – Only shows posts with an attachment (images, audio, video)
• has:poll – Only shows posts with a poll
• has:embed – Only shows posts with a link that produces some kind of embedded media (such as a YouTube or PeerTube link)
• language:fr using language codes – Only shows posts using that language, the example would filter for posts in French. Click here to see a complete list of language codes on Mastodon.
• is:reply – Only shows posts that are replies
• is:sensitive – Only shows posts marked as sensitive
• from:(FEDIVERSE ADDRESS HERE) – Only shows posts by that particular user, for example from:@FediTips
• from:me – Only shows posts you have made yourself
• in:all – Searches all posts visible to you
• in:library – Only shows posts you have interacted with or written yourself
• before:date, during:date, after:date – Filters for posts before, during or after the selected date. Dates are written in the format YYYY-MM-DD, so for example posts after 1st June 2023 would be after:2023-06-01

MikeDunnAuthor , 2 months ago to random

The history of American Union Busting and the Pinkertons go hand in hand. The Pinkerton Detective Agency, created by Allan Pinkerton in 1850, plays a prominent role in my novels, particularly Anywhere But Schuylkill. The powerful Reading Railroad, which owned most of the Schuylkill County coalfields, hired them to keep their workers in line. The Pinkertons planted spies and agents provocateur in the miners’ union. Together with the Coal & Iron Police, they stoked sectarian violence between the ethnic groups that made up Pennsylvania’s mining workforce. And their agents provided the bogus evidence and perjured testimony that resulted in the executions of twenty innocent Irishmen in 1877. John Dos Passos portrayed the brutality of both the Pinkertons, and the Coal & Iron Police, in his USA Trilogy.

Knowing this sordid history, one would be forgiven for thinking that Allan Pinkerton was nothing but a one-dimensional bull dog for the plutocrats. But his history was much more complex, and interesting. Prior to his role as a union buster, he was friends with abolitionist John Brown. He helped several enslaved people escape into Canada. He was also friends with Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War, Pinkerton created the Secret Service. He also served as a Union spy, providing exaggerated troop numbers that undermined Union war efforts. And in his youth, Pinkerton was a vandal, arsonist, and armed insurrectionist, in Britain’s radical Chartist movement. In fact, the only reason he came to the U.S. was to avoid prison.

Read the complete essay here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

#LaborHistory #workingclass #Pinkertons #police #civilwar #slavery #abolition #espionage #books #author #writer #fiction #historicalfiction #AnywhereButSchuylkill #MikeDoyle @bookstadon

nazgul , 2 months ago

@MikeDunnAuthor @cdarwin Undermined Union war efforts? Or Confederate? (Very interesting though!!)

breadandcircuses , 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago) to random

Upon retiring from work at age 58 (lucky me) in 2012, I chose to leave the United States in favor of Europe, where I ended up staying in Budapest, Hungary, for six years. I rented a studio apartment near the city center, bought a used bicycle, and enjoyed a modest, inexpensive, yet comfortable lifestyle.

Since my return to the U.S. in 2018, I’ve found there are many things I miss. When I lived in Budapest, there were three different small independent bakeries within a five-minute walk from my apartment. Also in that same radius were a couple of almost literal hole-in-the-wall fruit and vegetable shops offering delicious fresh produce. And although the nearby area held no chain restaurants, it was home to several quite good local eateries.

There were clothing stores selling both new and used goods, as well as shoe stores, all of them small and independent, not necessarily carrying a wide selection, but providing high quality items at surprisingly low prices, and with friendly trustworthy service. Plus, within a five-minute walk was a practically free public transit system than made frequent stops and could take me almost anywhere I wanted to go within the city, safely, reliably, and quickly.

So I wonder, why is it that — at least in my current neighborhood in suburban Virginia — the only options for baked goods or produce or clothing or home furnishings or hardware or almost anything else are chain stores? Well, that, or freaking Amazon. Why are all other choices so limited, so few and so far between? Why does virtually everything depend upon — no, actually demand the use of a car to get there?

Most United Statesians, I suspect, have no idea that people in other countries live so differently than the way we do here. We have been sold on the idea, taught from an early age, that ours is the best way, indeed the only sensible way to do things. Anyone suggesting that a less car-centric and hyper-capitalistic culture is not only possible but desirable, that it could be much more pleasant and satisfying, not to mention safer and more friendly to the environment, well, they plainly don’t know what they’re talking about. It makes me sad and angry.

#USA #Europe

nazgul , 3 months ago

@breadandcircuses @vaughnsc You’ve just described several of the reasons that I like living in Guanajuato Mexico. And before Americans say that’s inefficient, I can walk to (and buy from) a dulcería (sweet breads and cakes), a bread street vendor, a carnicería (butcher) , a frutería (fruit and vegetables), a farmacia (drugstore), and a tienda (general store) to do all my shopping and be home in less than the time it takes me to drive to the nearest grocery store, park, shop the aisles, and get back.

America destroyed true convenience in the name of profit.

nazgul , 3 months ago

@vaughnsc @econads @breadandcircuses Absolutely. I’ve been here two months and I’ve already dropped a notch on my belt. Of course, living in a city at 2000 meters where everything involves stairs doesn’t hurt either.

And you didn’t mention the community that these small walkable cities engender. Everyone in our neighborhood says good morning/afternoon/evening. After you’ve done that a few times to the same person, they stop to chat. It’s wonderful.

futurebird , 5 months ago to random

These farmers have smartlocks on the barn and BLE tags on each cow. So maybe we should say:

"till the cows all log back in to the barn node"

nazgul , 5 months ago

@futurebird @courtcan A friend visited a farm where the cows could wander in to get milked any time, and the system would reject them if it was too early, or milk them if the time was right, and the feed them. All automated.

futurebird , 5 months ago to random

What is something you have learned you wish you could have told your younger self... but, you also know your younger self would never believe you?

Here are mine:

• Even if you are a smarty pants you still need to study, probably a lot.
• Brush your teeth twice a day. Not once. TWICE.
• The few things about your appearance you have (some) control over are not very important in romance.
• No, you really do need to sleep.
• Don't just study what's hard & impressive study what fascinates you.

nazgul , 5 months ago

@futurebird * Floss. Really. Floss.

• Be intentional about picking partners. Don’t just say yes because someone says they like you.
• Don’t panic and sell stock on a downturn. (I might have listened to that one).