Piotr Machacz @pitermach@dragonscave.space

The game was getting intense, and then, out of nowhere, a kitten found its way onto the poker table.

Not as a prize, it just decided this well lit table with it's warm felt top was the perfect place to curl up for a nap.

"Is this one of your's?" the counselor asked the android.

"It is not," he answered.

"Well, I fold," said the doctor.

"I'll fold too," said the engineer.

No one on the starship wanted to wake the cute kitten up.

#TootFic #MicroFiction #Writing #TerylsTales #SciFi #Caturday

It's really irritating that I was looking up how to write good alt text and 100% of the results were about search engine optimization, not one single one about accessibility.

I can’t believe I’m having to write this code in a fucking web server. What a mockery of the web, human rights, and the GDPR.

Fuck you, Google!

#FLoC #Google #SurveillanceCapitalism

The day has arrived. I can finally present you all my new project.
Inspired by NewPipe, Nitter, Invidious or Bibliogram, here comes Lingva, an alternative Front-end for Google Translate.

https://github.com/TheDavidDelta/lingva-translate

It's a completely Free and Open Source project, so you can host your own instance. The directions are on the project's README.
You can also make any kind of contribution. Feel free to Pull Request.

Perfect Paul does the navy seals copypasta

a few weeks ago i posted the introductory recording from http://www.evan-doorbell.com/ , which is an archive of hundreds of hours of narrated recordings of the old telephone network in the US. i accidentally deleted my original post but you can just grab the recordings from evan's site

i wanted to share one of my favorite things i've heard in any of evan's tapes. for some context, he and a friend are experimenting with some new COCOTs - customer-owned coin-operated telephones - in the area. these are run by an independent company, not the local phone company. the way they handle long-distance toll calls is they remember whatever number the customer dialed on the keypad, then the phone will (in the background) dial a local access number to the payphone operator's network. their network provides a second dial tone, into which the phone dials the actual phone number the customer wanted to reach. the operator can then see what number the customer is calling, and ask for the money for the call.

the payphone signals coins being inserted by sending some tones down the line, and the operator can signal the phone to collect or return the coins with some other tones. this system was flawed in that you could build a device to hold up to the phone's mouthpiece, then press a button and it would send the correct signal for whatever coin denomination, essentially letting you make operator-assisted calls for free. this was known as "red boxing", google it if you're interested.

anyway, evan's friend Les is at the payphone. evan is at home with two phone lines. they're learning how the phone works using a sort of man-in-the-middle attack. evan calls the payphone, les answers, les then tricks the phone into thinking he hung up, and dials a new call. evan bridges his two lines together, providing a new dial tone to the payphone, which then dials the local access number to the payphone company's network, thinking it's on a new call, but it's actually still on the call with evan. this way they're able to see what numbers the phone is dialing, learn what tones are being used to collect and return coins, etc.

so with that context out of the way, allow me to present...
Evan Doorbell Red Boxes Using a Yamaha DX7

Saw the news that Tesla is now accepting Bitcoin payments for cars, so I looked up some figures and did some math.

According to Tesla's own figures, a Model 3 saves 30 tons of CO2 emissions over its lifetime compared to a traditional car. A Model 3 costs 0.69-1.21 BTC. Mining one BTC results in 257 tons of CO2 emissions.

For the next time someone tells you Elon Musk is saving the planet.

#Metatext 1.0.2:

- Added German localization (thanks @grimneko)
- Long press on reply / boost / favorite buttons to perform the actions from another account
- Improved accessibility actions

Now available: https://apps.apple.com/app/metatext/id1523996615?mt=8

Looks like news rags are blowing up with reports that an unspecified buyer is lining up to purchase Discord.

Who it is is speculation at this point but it doesn't matter. I'll warn again what I've been warning all along: have a backup plan for your community. It's not uncommon for a buyer to show up, things be calm for about 3-6mo then suddenly a wall of changes land out of nowhere.