Heard of matrix - the encrypted chat equivalent of the fediverse - but no idea how to get started? Here's a simple intro I just stumbled on:

https://joinmatrix.org/

#HatTip to @austin who created it.

#decentralization #federation #chat #matrix

#HatTip to Waikato Hospital. I was in there today for help with a relatively minor injury that's stubbornly refusing to heal. The staff were all prompt and professional, but at the same time, friendly and good-humoured. A real achievement given the strain the public health system has been under, since long before the pandemic.

That building sure is a labyrinth though! It curves spacetime so intensely it took me 3 days to find a way out, but when I got there only a couple of hours had passed : P

An overview of search engines (mainly English language ones for now:

https://seirdy.one/posts/2021/03/10/search-engines-with-own-indexes/

#search #WebSearch #SearchEngines

#HatTip to @indieterminacy for the link in a matrix room.

Hey USAmericans, your govt is trying to wreck the internet for everyone. Please make them stop.

"On July 20, we’re launching a week of action to get loud about our opposition to legislation like #KOSA and #EARNIT and demanding that Congress focus on passing badly needed comprehensive privacy legislation to actually protect us from the harms of big tech companies and data brokers ..."

https://www.badinternetbills.com/

#US #TechRegulation #privacy #DataFarming

#HatTip to @bstacey for the link.

#HatTip to @yantar92 for the link to this #FOSDEM conference talk about...

"... interoperability between decentralized networks and how we mapped Matrix and ActivityPub concepts."

https://fosdem.org/2023/schedule/event/bridging_ap_with_kazarma/

#decentralization #ActivityPub #Matrix

#HatTip to @nu for putting me onto Tropical Fuck Storm! Best band name since Fat Freddy's Drop and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Just finished listening to their first album from 2018, A Laughing Death in Meatspace:

https://tropicalfstorm.bandcamp.com/album/a-laughing-death-in-meatspace

Particularly enjoyed the last track, Rubber Bullies.

#music #rock #TropicalFuckStorm

#TIL that the excellent Pinafore web app has been forked and continued as #Semaphore by Nick Colley:
https://nickcolley.co.uk/

You can see it in action at:
https://semaphore.social

Tell them how cool it is at @semaphore.

#HatTip to @mxv for the tip.

#FediApps

A #HatTip to #KrispyKreme for #ShowingLove to tomorrow’s leaders- #Graduating #ClassOf2023

#Graduation 2023: Krispy Kreme gives #graduates a #free dozen #donuts

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2023/05/22/graduation-2023-krispy-kreme-free-dozen-donuts/70238166007/

#Hattip @Alice
Here’s where you can make your own Mastodon Circle of friends who interact with you the most. (I think that’s what it does.)
https://
circle.grasserisen.de

#HatTip to the authors of Theses On The Fediverse And The Becoming Of Floss:

https://test.roelof.info/log/seven-theses/index.html

... for referencing my 2017 blog piece on the history of the fediverse. This is both gratifying and a bit embarrassing. That piece had two goals, the first being to explain to the newbies of the first Titter exodus that Mastodon owed it's existence to years of pre-existing protocol and implementation work. Clearly I didn't do a great job, because that point is missed entirely by these authors.

The EFTPOS system for electronic payments in Aotearoa is a duopoly of two overseas-owned corporations; Verifone (US), which has owned EFTPOS NZ Ltd. since 2012...

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/anz-sells-eftpos-business/WJYGBURMZOP7YWA22BFXZXL5DU/

... and Ingenico (France), which bought the other provider Paymark Ltd. in 2018:

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2019/01/banks-sell-eftpos-provider-paymark-to-french-company.html

#HatTip to the Wikipedia article for the news links.

@pezmico
> saw passenger numbers top 20 million in 2017

I assume the authors meant that *journey* numbers topped 20 million that year? 20 million passengers using trains in one year would be very impressive in a region of less than 2 million people ;)

#robertmclachlan #paulcallister #publictransport #rail #climate #hattip

"When good services are on offer, people tend to use them. In Auckland, the then rundown suburban train service was used by only one million people each year in 1994. But a range of improvements saw passenger numbers top 20 million in 2017, with further growth expected once the City Rail link is completed."

#RobertMcLachlan, Massey University, #PaulCallister, Te Herenga Waka — VUW

https://theconversation.com/why-restoring-long-distance-passenger-rail-makes-sense-in-new-zealand-for-people-and-the-climate-199381

#PublicTransport #rail #Climate#Change

#HatTip to @pezmico for the link.

#NewMusicMonday

Departed by The Bridge City Sinners https://open.spotify.com/track/3wjQMrjXyV1tSR2foYBBbI?si=c1176a1f4b5e499a

Funnel of Love by SQÜRL & Madeline Follin https://open.spotify.com/track/4ECNz6fw2rbJl9e7hPrU9V?si=92c3590ce1304cc9

#hattip @sunpig

#HatTip to @catvalente for understanding this, writing about it so articulately and with such passion, and sharing it freely with us via the web.

#HatTip to @norightturnnz for publishing a consistently well-informed blog on NZ politics for about 20 years.

#HatTip to @thethinkpool for the link, which I found in their short blog piece here:

https://thethinkpool.com/2023/01/06/online-advertising-tracking-and-data-sharing-at-stake/

Stop your video calls from stuttering. Here's a comprehensive DIY troubleshooting guide. https://www.benkuhn.net/vcnet/ #hattip ben.s.kuhn AT gee email. #awesome

"Good @delong and @noahpinion podcast on #GDP in the #InformationAge or maybe the advanced #Information Age" (as per @J_F_X9) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hexapodia-is-the-key-insight-by-noah-smith-brad-delong/id1552990332

Concur—it is good (listened when first posted).

Without recreating *that* site, has to be a better way to indicate #hattip (#h/t) here.

@jimhightower @TexasObserver Well, hell, Jim - you just made mastodon the place to be in under 500 words. It's good to see you here. #hattip #Texas