lobster @Lobster@social.cleverlibre.org

So there has been a breakthrough in my retail price adventure.
This windy winter morning, with small flakes of snow tumbling sideways, I went for more on-sale apples at the local grocer chain. Bagged, presented, and accompanied with several yes pleases, I gently offered on-sale apples to the checkout, positioned myself at the display, facing away from the human operator. Wrong price I said aloud, and knew I only had less than a minute. Off she stormed, to the produce area to check the displayed price. I ran to keep up, asking her how I could help her solve this problem. Anger had flooded her face, I only had a few more seconds, 'maybe I could talk to a manager and get this fixed for all of us?' Then she was gone. I was sure that I had failed.
I returned to the customer chute.

She returned, lips pursed, said a few words to her colleague in groceryspeak. Without looking anywhere her fingers slammed the sequence of commands to cancel and correct. Then it happened, the other checkout turned to me and said softly, the senior manager watches Yelp closely, if you post a poor review there then we have a chance. Ok, maybe she didnt say we. Hooboy, I couldn't believe it. Yes, yes, I had a Yelp account, passed down to me by my naive-webself from twenty years ago. This could work, we could have displayed prices that match register prices.

My checkout was now smiling at me. And the store manager was approaching, I did my best ten second elevator speech about proper charges using the glowing blank register screen as a prop, unfolded my arms to virtually embrace all the people around me harmed by this careless process of putting food on sale and charging full price. A customer was staring at me. The store manager had a sort of monotone response, mumbling yes, and, I see. And away he went, the store manager, disappearing around the aisle of
beers, each with colorful, pleasant missives upon them. Later I posted my message in a Yelp bottle and threw it into the Internet sea. This might work.

Did y'all see this? It was really great to see this list!

"66 Good News Stories You Didn't Hear About in 2023"
👏👏👏👏👏

https://futurecrunch.com/goodnews2023/

#GoodNews #GoodStuff

PPB posted on their insta that they’ve been out helping people in the cold and well… LOL.

As of last night, I had heard of at least 2 confirmed deaths in PDX caused by the below freezing temperatures. Anarchists, along with community members & local mutual aid groups have been distributing warm food, water, hand warmers, blankets, tarps, medical supplies, & at least 40 hotel rooms for unhoused folks. Right before this *anticipated* snow storm, PPB forcibly displaced at least one major camp.

Part of the process of cultural genocide is continually referring to living indigenous traditions in the past tense.

There are currently over 10 million Maya living and practising their indigenous religion in the Americas in the present day. This documentary was produced by the Elected Grand Elder, Time Keeper and Spiritual Leader of the Maya of Guatemala to help correct people's misunderstandings about the shift of ages described by their long count calendar (one of over a dozen calendars in use).

https://youtu.be/8xnfgdpCpH4

"Rarely has a crime so grave been so honestly spelled out to the world by its architects. Yet many of those who rightly and passionately condemned the atrocities of Hamas have little or nothing to say about Israel’s actions, despite the direct involvement of our own rulers. This is obscene – and occasional handwringing will not scrub away the shame. Tacit acquiescence allows the horror to continue"

Owen Jones on Israel's incitement to genocide
#Israel #Gaza #Genocide

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/13/israel-hamas-gaza-war-crimes

In #Montana, #Indigenous people are 6.7% of the population but 26% of missing persons cases.

Grieving families are often left to search on their own, let down by law enforcement and the legal system.

When Haley Omeasoo's relative disappeared on the Blackfeet rez in 2017, she decided to pursue forensics to help stop the #MMIP crisis.

Now as she earns her Ph.D, she's also founding her own forensics lab to help Indigenous families. A first, as far as she knows.

https://missoulian.com/news/state-regional/ohkomi-forensics-mmip-haley-omeasoo/article_6442cdfa-a5aa-11ee-bfde-e3e4ea09d206.html

How People Learn II
https://hackscience.education/2018/12/26/how-people-learn-ii/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

Serve the People not the Power
(Peer to Peer more than Pyramid)

𝓖𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓼𝓪𝓻𝔂

Blockchain: a slow database

Crypto: an expensive slow database

NFT: an expensive slow database to store URLs

AI: a way to write slow and inefficient algorithms

LLM: a database that stores text in a slow and inefficient way

Chat GPT: an expensive imprecise query language for slow and inefficient text databases that often returns wrong results

In every story of injustice perpetrated by powerful organisations, there comes a moment when the whistleblowers are transformed from pesky annoyances who must be crushed to national heroes who must be lauded & recognised;

sometimes that happens in years, sometimes in decades & in some case only posthumously.

The #horizonIT scandal is crossing that rubicon right now with #AlanBates its hero, but there are so many other scandals that have not reached this point.

Its a sad indictment of the UK

Terrifying snow leopards

shoes will not replace me

#Caturday

The aim of tech should be to allow the most basic version of an app or stable evolution and still cater for those people, rather than face constant new mixed-in dangers of changing big steps without this kind of 'backup' plan.

Loading websites for example, many sites that haven't changed at all but have forced overlay saying "You need to upgrade your browser to continue" etc.

At least I feel like that now more than ever because we have reached enough of a level for social change etc (if some of us want it hard enough with text zoom-like chat etc...) and only need reduce talking to machines most of the day!).

I'm thinking the upgrading of things browser-based is almost as unneeded monopoly / irrational market forces and further reducing useful things by monetising even more etc.

Any new tech that doesn't incorporate the old and/or switches up a user's version often and forcibly when they don't really need to I think is doomed...

█ a) for users constantly getting rug-pulled or having to change when happier with old and still workable

█ b) dev making things with too many whistles and not focussing on human change (for example) breaking their own appeal while everyone races to breaks theirs at the same time. There is good reasons protocol have been around and still used (FTP, XMPP, Email) and perhaps good examples of being a little too overcomplicated in their evolution (deliberately)

rant over - but shout if you feel me!

BOOST IF YOU FEEL ME ABOUT UNNECESSARY UPGRADES !

AND ABOUT THE MORE FREE SHIT WE DON'T WANT / WANT TO BE ABLE TO SELECT !

So, here’s an idea. Quit (oh please!) reacting to anything Trump does as if he’s like anything other than a buffoon. Simple. He’s not Hitler, he’s not dangerous, he’s been indicted on 91 felony counts and is going to prison for the rest of his life. Any other reaction inflates the self importance of himself and his followers. Quit giving it oxygen. Please.