Mastodon feels like the future the 1980s promised us. "Oh look, a post from my friend at hacker.space, and what a funny comment from some guy on gaysex.cloud, perhaps I should follow them, they seem witty."

It feels like you could turn a corner and wind up in a tearoom filled with furries discussing existentialism. Across the street are anarchists arguing loudly with socialists about how best to stick it to the capitalists.

Just down the way is a photographer who only takes pictures of bees.

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Well done to whoever is putting fake signs taking the piss out of the local council!

The city full of tongue-in-cheek road signs:
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crl5y2…

#News #Newstodon #NewsTooter #Essex #Sign #Signage

After paying for hotel rooms to shelter homeless people, Seattle deliberately left them vacant.

By the end of 2024, taxpayers were spending $4,200 a month per empty room at a time when thousands of residents were without a roof over their heads.
propublica.org/article/seattle…

#News #Seattle #Washington #Homeless #Housing #Hotel

Sooooo. This happened.

Crypto markets crashed after Trump threatened an extra 100% tariff on China, triggering $19.1B+ in liquidations, 10x+ the liquidations during the FTX crash

coindesk.com/markets/2025/10/1…

Quebec launches new childcare registration platform

ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/qu…

> “There’s still the issue of data security. We’ve heard about problems in the past, and while the government says it’s made the new system safe, it’s still a concern for parents and for us. We just hope they’re working really hard on it,” Peyric said.

WAAAAAT?

Shouldn't security be blocking?

Zoom just continues to impress in the worst way with their desktop screen reader #accessibility.
Here's the label for a button at the top of the calendar view on Windows. no, this is not copied speech. This is the actual label of an actual button. There is no ARIA on that button except for the label. Are you sitting down?
Okay, here goes:
"Select Calendar Date, Combo box, Today, Oct 8 collapsed, October 8, 2025".
Again. That is the *label* of a button according to NVDA. I copied that text directly off the page.
So, given that we've just been told this is a collapsed combo box, and Zoom considered this information so important that they put it in the label when they couldn't figure out how to use ARIA or semantic HTML correctly, which of the following statements do you think are true?
A. If I press the arrow keys in focus mode, the date will adjust.
B. If I press alt+down arrow, the combo box should open so I can pick a date without refreshing the page.
C. None of the above.
Yeah, it's C. This isn't a combo box at all. It's a button which pops up a standard calendar view. No combo boxes in there either, and the buttons use the words "Selected" or "Not selected" at the *end* of their labels, and the escape key won't close it.
What kind of person calls something a combo box when it doesn't have one single bit of resemblance to a combo box? The same kind of person that can figure out how to put an ARIA label on a button but can't figure out how to use roles, states, and expanded properties, I suppose?
Congratulations, Zoom. you make over a billion dollars per quarter and managed to hire a web accessibility guy who did everythin wrong and nothing right.
This entry was edited (3 days ago)

It’s Nobel Prize season again. News reports are coming out each day sharing the name of the illustrious winner of the various categories — Science, Literature, etc. But there’s one of the prizes that’s a little different. Well, that’s putting it lightly… you see, the Nobel Prize in Economics is not a real Nobel. It wasn’t created by Alfred Nobel. It’s not even called a “Nobel Prize,” no matter what the press reports say.

alternet.org/2012/10/there-no-…

Every day, I write down ten things in life I am grateful for. It’s a good practice that keeps things in perspective. I wanted to share one of those things today.
While I fund the CaneAndAble.social instance and am pleased to make that contribution to the independent social media I believe in, I don’t play much part at all in moderating. That often time-consuming, often thankless task is handled by @lynessence.
Had she not agreed to do it, I probably wouldn’t have accepted public sign-ups. Doing moderation well takes grace, skill and patience, and lately, elements who would destroy the community blind people have built on this platform across multiple instances have tested those qualities.
So, thank you, Lynette. You’re a star. You’ve ensure that our users here on CaneAndAble.social are supported and as safe as possible. And you do all these things as a volunteer.

Saviez-vous qu'il existe des CDAD (Conseils Départementaux d'Accès aux Droits) ?

Si vous avez la moindre question juridique, vous pouvez aller demander conseil gratuitement !

Il y a des points-justices un peu partout, checkez ça !

justice.gouv.fr/annuaire/lieux…

dream, mentions of male genitals

Sensitive content

Host Europe & DomainFactory are migrating their users' emails to MS 365 – and users are not happy. 🤯

GoDaddy turned trusted German hosters into a textbook case of #enshittification.

Time to switch to truly European alternatives. ✌️
👉 tuta.com/blog/european-web-hos…

in reply to Suri

Got my son the Tutanota Gift Card. What better present could you give a loved one? Firstly, they are getting a year's worth of the world's best privacy-first email. Secondly, you know you are in the best hands if you need support. Thirdly, you are helping an EU company to develop the most important infrastructure we will need in the coming decades: that is a privacy-first and secure platform where YOUR data belongs to YOU! Thank you Tuta for making this dream into a reality.

XSF Announcement

If you are interested in becoming an #XSF member your next opportunity is by 23rd November 2025.

We also have elections coming for the next phase for XSF #Board or XSF #Council. Applications are accepted by 2nd November 2025.

Read more here: xmpp.org/2025/10/the-xmpp-news…

#jabber #chat #interoperability #rtc
#opensource #decentralization #federation #messaging

The XMPP Newsletter for September 2025 is out!

Read about the latest updates in the #XMPP universe and our #standards!

xmpp.org/2025/10/the-xmpp-news…

Enjoy reading! 📰 ☕ :xmpp:

#jabber #chat #interoperability #rtc
#opensource #decentralization #federation #messaging #newsletter

By now you know that Microsoft is now defaulting to saving new Word documents directly to OneDrive. I guess Excel will be the next inline. The cynical take is that this is incredibly convenient for them, especially if they plan on using that data to train future LLMs. Imagine paying for software only to have your data automatically funneled into their cloud. Plus, what happens when you're offline and need those files? Just use the LibreOffice and just say no to all Microsoft products.

We’re not living in our new house until mid-November, giving us time to make modifications and get things moved in.
But already, we have great security, and the ability to issue keys to the house that live in Apple Wallet. It’s incredibly configurable. For example, if we have a cleaner who agrees to visit on a Wednesday from 1 to 3 PM, we can issue them a key that only works during those hours, then revoke the key entirely if needed. Talk about living the dream.
For those in MD, I’m working with a company called Project IOT. It’s a small family company and Patrick, the guy who owns it, is enjoying the challenge of geek maximization alongside #accessibility maximization. And we’ve only just begun this journey. We have a clear pathway mapped out and an understanding of how to get there.

Skim Reading in JAWS helps you quickly browse long documents by reading just the first line or sentence of each paragraph.

Use CTRL+INSERT+DOWN ARROW (or CTRL+CAPS LOCK+DOWN ARROW on laptops) to start.

Open the Skim Reading dialog with CTRL+SHIFT+INSERT+DOWN ARROW (or CTRL+SHIFT+CAPS LOCK+DOWN ARROW) to change what’s read or create custom rules.

You can also generate a summary to view and jump to key sections. Get an overview without reading every word, learn more: youtu.be/SlrhFcXw5yg?si=FUCGtc…

I’m pleased to see Vispero talking up skim reading in JAWS. People don’t often talk about it but it’s a powerful feature. Perhaps a little less relevant in a world of AI summaries, but still very powerful. For example, if you work somewhere that produces lists where activities for your department are highlighted in a certain color, you can set up a skim reading rule to present only those tasks to you.

Seeking music made with OSARA by a person who might be female, trans, nonbinary or similarly underrepresented. I'm gonna be re-recording a walkthrough of installing and configuring on Windows and I'd like to have something good playing at the end.

Asking as blatantly as this is clumsy, but I reckon it could reach someone who wouldn't have put themselves forward without knowing I'm on the hunt, that's why I'm running at representation with all the grace of a wrestler clotheslining a hatstand full of saucepans. Please note: that's not necessarily what your music has to sound like.

If you've got some music that you made using OSARA, please reply or DM with a link I can check out. Boosts and intros appreciated. Cheers!

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