⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️ @falken@social.cleverlibre.org

Adding to the list of phrases of which I never expected to utter...

"My hat just sent me an email, yay!"

The GPS logger now does email as an alternative to http/https POST. This will be simpler for some people, I am sure.

https://www.aa.net.uk/etc/circuit-boards/gps/

I'm having a conversation with a designer about icons. Making a screenreader read "camera" or "microphone" when an icon is shown is trivial with aria-label. But screenreader users are massively outnumbered by sighted users who might be confused by the meaning of a tiny image/ icon. The mighty Paul Annett explains more:

“Using a panel of 709 volunteers [..] Consumer Reports found that a total of 186,892 companies sent data about them to the social network. On average, each participant in the study had their data sent to Facebook by 2,230 companies.“ https://themarkup.org/privacy/2024/01/17/each-facebook-user-is-monitored-by-thousands-of-companies-study-indicates

Meanwhile, 33 years ago

I don't think I have ever been this disinterested in an Apple product category launch before.

The tech and all is neat and it's better than whatever crap their competition is making, absolutely no question about it.

On the other hand, people do not want to strap computers to their faces (uncomfortable and make you look like a dork); and many people get nausea and headaches from these headsets (yes, even the high-end ones).

"It took Israel and the US approximately 35 years to talk to what was then seen as the terrorist PLO, just as it took years for the ANC and IRA to be recognised as partners to a resolution. All those threatened or rightfully concerned about what may happen next, simply cannot afford the price of waiting that long"

An excellent article from former Palestinian negotiator Ahmad Samih Khalidi in today's UK Observer
#Israel #Gaza #Palestine #Hamas

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/21/israels-plans-for-gazas-future-will-only-keep-the-flame-of-hamas-resistance-burning

😂

"ESA's Mars Express orbiter discovers ice water deposits at the Red Planet's equator"

DOI: I worked on Mars Express spacecraft flight dynamics during the mission planning stage.

#Mars #water #MarsExpress #ESA #FlightDynamics

https://www.euronews.com/next/2024/01/20/esas-mars-express-orbiter-discovers-ice-water-deposits-at-the-red-planets-equator

As has been noted elsewhere, the real problem this raises (the 2023 awards can be addressed by a future Retro Hugo vote if WSFS deems it necessary) is "what do we do about worldcon venues with poor human rights?" Eg. Florida/Texas have book bans that specifically target LGBTQ+ content (never mind the human rights of attendees/voters). Glasgow in 2024 and Seattle in 2025 worldcons are probably safe, but future worldcon bids in progress include Saudi Arabia, Tel Aviv, and Uganda …