In the Starfleet Technical Manual, there is a throwaway detail of the LCARS user interface that when it is upgraded, users can still utilize the previous several versions. This is because their work is mission-critical and it is unacceptable to compromise the mission by forcing unfamiliar changes; eventual retraining is part of their job, but the flexibility allows them to take the retraining at their own pace.

I think about this from time-to-time and how this is still a sci-fi idea that is seen all too rarely in how we do actual computer UIs.

#StarTrek #LCARS #UI

EMAIL WRAPPED 2025

This year, you received too fucking much email!

Number of emails that found you well: zero

Number of emails that you printed, even though you didn't consider the environment: zero

Number of times an "out of office" autoresponder was immediately followed by the person answering your email: all of the times

Your favorite email was: none of them

Next year, you are considering: are there any countries where email is illegal, and what are their immigration laws?

Máte s tím někdo zkušenost? V chatu jsou zmiňované i alternativy jako Nextcloud a Matrix. Nějaký názor?
#opensource #chats #jsemlama

@neil mastodon.neilzone.co.uk/@neil/…

Neil Brown

2025-12-08 09:08:05

Today's #FreeSoftwareAdvent is all about XMPP.

Snikket (snikket.org/) is an easy-to-install, and easy-to-administer, XMPP server. It is designed for families and other small groups. The apps for Android and iOS (based on Conversations, I think) are great.

Dino (dino.im/) is my desktop XMPP client of choice.

Profanity (profanity-im.github.io/) is a terminal / console XMPP client, which is incredibly convenient.

Why not have a fun festive project of setting up an XMPP-based chat server for you and your family and friends?

#XMPP #FOSS #SelfHosting

Dino. Communicating happiness.

A privacy-friendly messaging app for the desktop. It uses the XMPP protocol and provides a clean UI with modern features.

^dino.im

I'm the kind of guy who would probably call up WFDD (local public radio station in North Carolina where I grew up) and ask if anyone who currently works there remembers that very specific instrumental version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer you played on December 17, 1989, because I wanna hear it again, and I only ever heard it once in my life.

I'm not actually going to do it, but those numbers are accurate, and I do kinda want to know what version it was for absolutely no reason.

Thanks for bringing that nearly 36-year-old memory to mind, you weird brain.

For fun: partially implementing the Moisac Windows concept by @tbernard.

blogs.gnome.org/tbernard/2023/…

#GNOME

Any time, and this is no an exaggeration, any time I stumble upon a piece of code, a translated string, a design, or a text that looks "off" I always ask the author "did you use any sort of LLM to make this?" and the answer is always "yes".

This shit is wrong, it produces wrong things, it gives the illusion of efficiency and productivity but it's just wrong.

Today is day 8 of 25 Christmas Songs in 25 Days. The year is 1963. The artist is Johnny Cash. The album is The Christmas Spirit. The label is Columbia, although my copy is a European release on the DOL label.

As much as I love this album and want everyone to hear it at least once, I’m enough of a realist to know that it is definitely not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. There are two reasons for this. For one, this is by no means your cheery Christmas album with bouncy songs. For another, this album leans heavily on the religious aspects of the holiday. However, if that’s your thing, and you somehow haven’t heard this album yet, I totally recommend it.

Track List

A1

The Christmas Spirit
Written-By – J. Cash*
A2

I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
Arranged By, Adapted By – Johnny Cash
Written-By – H. W. Longfellow*, J. B. Calkin*
A3

Blue Christmas
Written-By – B. Hayes*, J. Johnson*
A4

The Gifts They Gave
Arranged By – J. Cash*
A5

Here Was A Man
Written-By – J. Bond*, T. Ritter*
A6

Christmas As I Knew It
Written-By – J. Howard*, J. Carter*
B1

Silent Night
Arranged By, Adapted By – J. Cash*
B2

The Little Drummer Boy
Written-By – B. Simeone*, H. Onarati*, K. K. Davis*
B3

Ringing The Bells For Jim
Written-By – J. Howard*, J. Carter*
B4

We Are The Shepherds
Written-By – J. Cash*
B5

Who Kept The Sheep
Written-By – E. J. Carter*, J. Cash*
B6

The Ballad Of The Harp Weaver
Written-By – E. St. Vicent

More than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacenters

theguardian.com/us-news/2025/d…

More than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacenters

Exclusive: Congress urged to act against energy-hungry facilities blamed for increasing bills and worsening climate crisis

^{Oliver Milman (The Guardian)}

Werewolf Wrapped 2025

​​ You transformed on every full moon. Not like you have a choice there.
​​ You traveled a distance of 2158 km. Where the hell were you going??
​​ You awooed 147 times. We can't blame you, awooing is fun.
​​ You successfully kept your secret. Here's to another year!

When I moved in three winters ago I noticed a pattern during snowstorms: everyone would shovel their own section of walkway and nothing else -- sometimes just from the door to the street and not the public crossway or they'd just shovel their driveway and nothing else. This lead to there being a 20 foot section of sidewalk that was clear, then 20 foot not clear, then maybe another clear section down and on and off again all the way down the street, forever. The sections that were not cleared would freeze and become impassable, school kids would wipe out on them, the mail carrier would have to navigate through yards, etc. And through all of this I was watching some people clear their short sections of walkways with gas powered, self-propelled blowers.

So I started shoveling the entire block each and every snow. Sometimes my idiot self would use an actual shovel so I could be a total dork and do it while partialing (gets lots of car honks, cheers, and photographs. I apparently made the village Facebook group a few times with people thanking whoever it was doing this anonymous work), other times I'd use a handheld electric snow thrower thing and just wear my tail so that anyone viewing security cam footage to see who did the work was a weirdo. But I always went from one corner all the way to the other. Then last winter I started doing both sides of the street as well as the block south of mine because I expanded my arsenal of batteries to two. I did this over and over again regardless of how much snow or time or took - sometimes it needed several clearings in a day/night - because it was a decent replacement for my gym and actually resulted in something tangible I could see -- a clear path three blocks long with no interruptions. A thing of beauty. Each time I'd be sore as hell but feeling wonderfully accomplished.

Now and then my neighbor would see me doing his portion and would tell me that I didn't have to do that, he'd handle it later, etc. Did it anyway. And then it started to click for others. Last winter I noticed someone up the street from me began clearing half of the block to widen the path I'd created. Then my neighbor began to clear the south side of my block to complete it. Across the street someone now widens my path for a row of five houses. With the storm yesterday I did my paths and then returned home to find someone had cleared the south block after more snow accumulated. This morning, I did it again. A few hours later: engine noises. Four snow blowers out there making sure the path was completely clear block to block, end to end including cross streets. Someone has taken to start clearing up to some people's doors as well. It's incredible.

I did this because some people don't care but also I know some people simply can't due to age or physical ability and it's cool as hell because now I feel like we have an secret, unspoken group of Guardians of the Neighborhood thing going. I freaking love it.

Hey everyone else: 3200-3300 Maple Ave blocks are putting you all to shame. Step up.

Antisemitism in the U.S. has hardened into a "durable" new normal as fewer Americans feel any obligation to push back, according to a sweeping new survey shared first with Axios.

The survey also reveals a widening empathy gap amid rising hate incidents and a public increasingly convinced antisemitism is either exaggerated or not their problem two years after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

The big picture: Around 3 in 5 U.S. adults think antisemitism is a minor problem or not a problem at all, the 2025 Antisemitism Landscape Survey released Thursday by the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate found.

#Antisemitism

archive.is/tvnfy