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In my quest to keep all my possibilities open in the world where all of the operating systems seem to get worse in different ways in accessibility, usability and privacy, I decided to also set up my mac as secondary system, complementing my main Windows setup.
So last night, I nuked my mac drive and reinstalled macos. its definitely running way smoother than before, when it was running a setup from 2015, most likely riddled with gunk from the intel era. On boot, VoiceOver was stuttering, virtual machines failed to run properly and in general the m1 system wasn't as snappy as it should've been. The current goal is to set up parallels with windows 11, as we all know, VoiceOver can't be used seriously for many text processing or web tasks, things which I do a lot.
There are definitely oddities. Don't know if its because apple is vibecoding MacOs now, but for example, the option to disable function row and return it to f1 f2 f3, is only findable via the system settings search, nowhere in the settings itself. You will have to search for "function keys" which is when the option pops up in results.
And I am not envying first time macos users. I mean most of the time it fails to focus the setup screens properly, so you have to use the VO F1 command to find the window. A command I bet most first time users have no idea about.
I had to set up dropbox 5 times, because the first 4 times, dropbox decided to crash when a system permissions dialog showed up.
still, windows does equally stupid things, so its not like there's something better around.
This entry was edited (6 days ago)

mastodon - Link to source
I was today years old when I figured out that the Windows 9x SB16 OPL3 MIDI driver is tuned to 437.5 Hz. In the replica source code that is part of the user mode Windows OPL3 drivers, there are two notable constants in opl3midi.h. These are opl_samplerate = 50000.0 and opl_tune = 440.0. As the actual OPL3 sample rate is 49716 Hz, setting this value as a constant results in 440 Hz tuning. I gradually reduced the tuning constant by .5 until I got null tests with the original code to result in total silence.
in reply to Tamas G

mastodon - Link to source

Tamas G

new: SoftVoice NVDA Driver (softvoice-2025.nvda-addon) version 2025.3.3: Adds "use abreviations" checkbox.
Since SoftVoice itself does not have a way to toggle or control this, we hack around it by splitting all-capital letters to have spaces for the engine. It's a crude hack, not ellegant, but I'll call it for "it works."
eurpod.com/softvoice-2025.nvda…
This entry was edited (6 days ago)

mastodon - Link to source
SoftVoice (mostly) modernized for NVDA 2025 versions. The only pesky problem I can't get rid of is pauses during say-all, but "pause factor" does improve pauses mid-utterance, which is nice.
Pitch, variants all work. Slight speed boost with wrapper as we now capture Wave output ourselves and pipe to NVDA.
eurpod.com/softvoice-2025.nvda…
This entry was edited (6 days ago)

Andre Louis reshared this.

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Minnesota state says the FBI is blocking it from investigating the killing of Renee Good.

& while Vance said Good had aimed her car at the officer, "the NYT published a slow-motion analysis showing how her vehicle was turning away from the officer" when he shot her.

Mayor Jacob Frey said “Kristi Noem watched the videos & doesn’t want an impartial investigation, because she knows her narrative about domestic terrorism is bullshit.”

democracynow.org/2026/1/9/head…

#ICE #USPol #Europol #ReneeGood .


The Killing of Renee Good: Minnesota Officials Fear Cover-Up After FBI Halts Cooperation with State Investigators

Protests continue across the country over the killing of Renee Good, the mother of three shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Good was shot inside her car after she dropped her 6-year-old son off at school.
Democracy Now!
#uspol #ice #europol #reneegood

mastodon - Link to source
Motif folks, got a question about the John Mellos or however his name is spelled, motif editors. I have a Rack XS module and a 3I3 midi interface. I assume the module needs to be plugged in to an in and an out to take care of rreading data from the user banks so I can browse/play sounds. But I need one of those ins on the midi interface for my wind controller. Can the librarian or whatever program you use to browse/play sounds let you select more than 1 midi in?

mastodon - Link to source
I was registering for an account on my new health plan. one of the questions asked me what agency I worked for. I had to pull down a to find fmy agency and for some reason mine wasn't listed. Ice and CBP were listed though, and my body had a physical feeling of nausea when I read just their names. They are needed agencies, and in the past, I would still be proud to work near there little umbrella. Now, it sickens me that I work within the huge governmental system that includes them. I do good work for my customers, war fighters and those who support them who need assistive technology. I have pride in what I do. Maybe I should lean into my feelings that I do good for some and that I don't work for the tiny percent that do not help others or treat them like we are distant brothers and sisters. I pledged that I would protect and support the constitution, and that I would reject enemies and wrong both foreign and domestic. I am proud of that oath and what it means to me. Still sad we're where we are at these days, dealing with polarization, politicization at all levels, and untruths that tell us not to believe what oour eyes and ears are sensing. Deep down, I know that I do right in all that I do at work and at home. My integrity is core to what and who I am. That is all. Thank you for your attention to these matters.

mastodon - Link to source

#eduroam has been named one of the 13 Dutch brilliant breakthroughs by the Dutch Research Council (NWO)

Created in 2002 by Klaas Wierenga, eduroam started as a simple idea: make Wi-Fi secure, easy & free for students and researchers, wherever they go.

Today, eduroam connects people at almost 40,000 locations in 106 countries. In 2024 alone, it recorded over 8.4 billion authentications.

👏 Congrats to all its contributors from the R&E community for building a service with such global impact.

global map of eduroam hotspots
#eduroam

mastodon - Link to source

The scale of the unrest now gripping Iran is the largest since the demonstrations of 2009;

Some veteran Iran-watchers reckon the protests are the biggest since the overthrow of the shah in 1979.

What began as scattered demonstrations on December 28th
swelled over 12 days into crowds of many thousands by January 9th.

Protests that first flared in provincial towns and villages spilled into Iran’s biggest cities.

All 31 provinces have been affected.

Women, the middle-aged and middle class
—who until now had stayed on the sidelines
—joined the young and jobless men.

economist.com/middle-east-and-…

mastodon - Link to source

Hot take: good riddance. I dislike the middle click thing. Trips me up all the time as someone who accidentally clicks it when scrolling.

I think the right move is to make this (undoubtedly useful to some) behavior opt-in, not opt-out.

A lot of the gripes I see are just people being mad because GNOME makes choices they don't like. I don't understand why people write like this about GNOME, if you don't like it don't use it, your emotions make you look petty, etc etc.

theregister.com/2026/01/07/gno…


GNOME dev gives fans of Linux's middle-click paste the middle finger

Opinion: Proposal targets long-standing behavior as 'an X11ism'
Liam Proven (The Register)
in reply to Veronica Explains

mastodon - Link to source

Nix Inch Nails🐀

This is unfortunately expected from Liam Proven, same guy who gave us an "amazing" article lying that KDE/GNOME/Wayland developers, as a whole, do not care about accessibility, whos whole output to the Linux community has been shitty ignorant article after shitty ignorant article

He is, in the nicest way possible, a hack writer and one of those "anti-DEI" assholes, But what do I know, im just one of those evil GNOME devs making linux evil and woke for my own profit

This entry was edited (1 week ago)
in reply to Nix Inch Nails🐀

mastodon - Link to source

TheEvilSkeleton 🇮🇳 🏳️‍⚧️

@zoeyTheWitch don't forget about the blatant ageism

> As we have said before, we suspect this disconnect between younger, keener developers who don't know or care about late 20th century user interface standards or accessibility concerns, but who strongly want to junk what they perceive as legacy baggage, are behind the moves to deprecate and remove X11

theregister.com/2025/06/10/xli…

@vkc


Forked-off Xlibre tells Wayland display protocol to DEI in a fire

Updated: Project to modernize the X.org X11 server seems to actively court controversy
Liam Proven (The Register)
@Veronica Explains @Nix Inch Nails🐀

mastodon - Link to source

RE: mastodon.social/@verge/1158672…

So shall these companies (executives) now be found complicit of CSAM production and any other related felonies?

The Verge

2026-01-09 21:30:05

mastodon - Link to source

Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are cowards theverge.com/policy/859902/app…


Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are cowards

Apple and Google have left X in their app stores, despite its AI-generated images that violate their own rules. There are no principles left in Silicon Valley.
Elizabeth Lopatto (The Verge)

mastodon - Link to source

The vacancy rate has increased b/c rent is UNaffordable.

Montréal landlords should be ashamed of themselves...

thesuburban.com/news/city_news… #polMTL #MTLpoli #unhoused #homelessness #greed #cdnpoli #polcan


Housing remains unaffordable in Montreal: CMHC

Renting continued to be unaffordable for tenants in the Greater Montreal area in 2025, even as the vacancy rate here increased, says the latest report from the Canada Mortgage and
The Suburban Newspaper
#cdnpoli #homelessness #polmtl #polcan #mtlpoli #greed #Unhoused

mastodon - Link to source

🚨ON JANUARY 20 –– JOIN THE NATIONWIDE SHUTDOWN!

On the one year anniversary of Trump taking office for the second time, millions of people across the country will walk out of work and school in opposition to the Trump administration's racist, billionaire program. Trump has employed ICE and the military as his personal army against the working class at home and abroad in places like Venezuela. We refuse to allow Trump, ICE and the racist deportation machine to operate with impunity!

mastodon - Link to source
Location list/map for tomorrow's nationwide "ICE Out for Good" protests endorsed by the ACLU: mobilize.us/?tag_ids=29132&utm…

Volunteer Opportunities, Events, and Petitions Near Me · Mobilize

Create change in your community. Find events, petitions, volunteer opportunities, and fundraisers in your local area, organized by charities, campaigns, political organizations, grassroots groups, and other volunteers! Together, we'll help make the w…
Mobilize

mastodon - Link to source

A federal judge ruled Friday that the #Trump admin cannot block #federal money for #childcare subsidies & other programs aimed at supporting needy #children & their #families from flowing to 5 #Democratic-led #states for now.

#California, #Colorado, #Illinois, #Minnesota & #NewYork argued that a policy to freeze funds for 3 grant programs is having an immediate impact on them & creating “operational chaos.”

#law #RevengePolitics
apnews.com/article/social-serv…

#Trump #law #Children #california #newyork #colorado #families #federal #illinois #democratic #minnesota #childcare #states #revengepolitics

mastodon - Link to source

Hey y’all, hope you’re doing well. Quick question: I’m trying to use Tweezcake on my Windows computer. I can open it and hear sound effects, but NVDA doesn’t seem to detect the actual window at all. Has anyone run into this or have any suggestions?

Thanks so much.

#Accessibility #Blind #NVDA #Windows #AssistiveTechnology

#Accessibility #blind #Windows #nvda #assistivetechnology

mastodon - Link to source
If you're on the East Coast, tune in 1110 kHz AM at night to hear WBT from Charlotte, NC playing non-stop "lounge" music. They moved their Talk format to FM, so this is a filler until they unveil a new format on AM. WBT's 50,000 watt signal covers "Maine to Miami" at night via skywave. Here's a sample of it, as received here in NJ.

mastodon - Link to source

This via @wdlindsy deserves underlining:

The behavior you are seeing from ICE and from the Trump regime is the behavior of people who are scared.

Their bluster is fear. Their threats are fear. Their aggression is fear. Their defensiveness is fear. Their scrambling to keep their faces hidden and their actions secret is fear. Their desperate stream of liearrhea is fear. Their panic is fear.

They are acting tough, but they are not acting like people who are winning.

Keep them afraid.
toad.social/@wdlindsy/11586611…

William Lindsey :toad: (@wdlindsy@toad.social)

"Despite the hateful language and tough-guy posturing, administration officials are running scared—as they should be.
toad.social
@William Lindsey
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
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