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US mulls travel ban on citizens from 43 countries, including Russia — reports

euronews.com/2025/03/15/us-con…


US mulls travel ban on citizens from 43 countries, including Russia — reports

US President Donald Trump's administration is considering banning all travel to the country from 11 countries, the so-called "red list". The other countries are in the "yellow and orange" lists, US domestic media reported.
Euronews (Euronews.com)

mastodon - Link to source
AFSA - The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) strongly opposes the administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and its removal of all Foreign Service members from their positions under the pretext of administrative leave. Unilaterally stripping a congressionally established agency of its core functions amounts to an affront to the constitutional balance of powers. afsa.org/afsa-statement-disman…

AFSA Statement on the Dismantling of the U.S. Agency for Global Media | American Foreign Service Association

For Immediate Release March 15, 2025 Contact: Communications Director Nikki Gamer | Cell #: (978) 884-0003 | gamer@afsa.org Washington, D.C. – The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) strongly opposes the administration’s dismantling of the U.
afsa.org

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My colleagues and our broadcasts, devoted to telling America’s story to the world — honestly, fairly and with an unwavering commitment to the truth​, are being silenced this weekend. open.substack.com/pub/newsguy/…

Requiem for the voice that carried a nation’s conscience

VOA's signal for 83 years crossed borders and ideologies—now its silence will speak volumes.
open.substack.com

reshared this

mastodon - Link to source

Google are breaking my mittens - Sonofa. Twelve years ago I knitted a pair of “self-replicating mittens” (web-goddess.org/archive/14046) with a QR code that pointed you to the pattern for the mittens, and I entered them in the Sydney Royal Easter Show. I was pretty proud of my cleverness. In the blog post (web-goddess.org/archive/11192) where I talked about making the mittens, I said:

I wanted my code to be as simple as possible, so I needed to use a URL shortener to mask my intended address. I settled on using Google‘s, reasoning that it was likely to be around the longest. (Though who knows these days, right?)

You can guess what’s happened, right? Google URL Shortener links will no longer be available (developers.googleblog.com/en/g…) as of August this year.

Bastards are breaking my mittens. Perhaps I’ll have to add some embroidery. web-goddess.org/archive/56383

A knitted pair of mittens with a QR code. "404" is written over the image in red marker.

Google URL Shortener links will no longer be available

Understand how you will be impacted by our decision to turn off the serving portion of Google URL Shortener.
Sumit Chandel (developers.googleblog.com)

pixelfed - Link to source

There was flat, uninteresting light in my room, so I decided to imagine my own dramatic lighting. (A really fun exercise!) If you look closely, you'll spot the shadow of a penguin; Feathers McGraw is standing in the hallway... waiting for me.

#aquarelle #watercolor #watercolour #feathers #wallaceandgrommit

A dark, messy room with a small beam of light coming from an open door somewhere to the left. If you look closely, you'll spot the shadow of a penguin; Feathers McGraw is standing in the hallway... waiting for me.
#watercolor #watercolour #aquarelle #feathers #wallaceandgrommit

mastodon - Link to source

get library cards and use them often (online e-book and audiobook rentals count!). sign up to volunteer at your local library. donate money to your library’s general fund. run for a spot on the library board.

join and participate in your local “friends of the library” group. donate books (if your library accepts book donations). set up your own little free library. vote for library funding when it’s on your local ballot.

#libraries

A sparkly vinyl sticker reading “vigilante librarian” in blackletter font
#libraries

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The Rust ecosystem, or at least the subset of projects that have stringent standards for their dependencies as enforced by tools like cargo-deny, recently lost a small but useful little library: paste (crates.io/crates/paste). The reason is that David Tolnay announced that paste is no longer maintained, and as a consequence, RustSec issued this advisory about a week ago: rustsec.org/advisories/RUSTSEC…

So as a result, some code in AccessKit has to be more repetitive. I'm sure we're not the only ones.

RUSTSEC-2024-0436: paste: paste - no longer maintained › RustSec Advisory Database

Security advisory database for Rust crates published through https://crates.io
rustsec.org

mastodon - Link to source

Something major happened to @altbot #altbot:
It's no longer using Gemini (or any other proprietary model), now it's running completely local on @micr0's hardware 🎉🎉🎉

Also a big update re consent, for more info:
fuzzies.wtf/@micr0/11416256496…

This has been in the works for a while now, I really appreciate @micr0 sticking to it!

Micr0byte (@micr0@fuzzies.wtf)

# 📣 Announcing Altbot 2.0: The Privacy & Green Update 🔒💚 **Exciting news!** After months of development, **Altbot 2.0** is officially launching with major improvements to privacy, efficiency, and description quality. ## What's new in Altbot 2.
Fuzzies: What the Fuzzy!
#altbot @Micr0byte @Altbot
This entry was edited (9 months ago)

mastodon - Link to source

#AndroidAppRain at apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid today brings you 1 added and 18 updated apps:

* Androoster: a comprehensive root tweak toolbox 🛡️

RB status: 522 apps (41.2%)

3 #Magisk modules were updated at apt.izzysoft.de/magisk

Enjoy your #free #Android #apps with the #IzzyOnDroid repo :awesome:


IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repository

This is a repository of apps to be used with your F-Droid client. Applications in this repository are official binaries built by the original application developers, taken from their resp. repositories (mostly Github, GitLab, Codeberg).
IzzyOnDroid App Repo
#android #free #apps #AndroidAppRain #magisk #izzyondroid

pixelfed - Link to source

A friend of mine, Amy Paris, has decided to speak out after being fired from DHHS, where she oversaw the safety of organ donations across the US. As a high-performer and one of the highest-ranking trans people in the US government, it’s hard not to see this as politically-motivated.

19thnews.org/2025/02/amy-paris…

#USPol #transgender #trans #19thNews

Screenshot of the 19th News. Header says “We're an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.” Headline says “She pioneered change over five presidencies. The Trump administration just fired her.” Subheading says “Amy Paris, a transgender official who worked at the highest levels of the federal government, suspects her termination was politically motivated.” Followed by a photo of a blonde woman with black glasses in a black shirt, silver necklace, and tan cardigan. The caption says “Until last Friday, Amy Paris worked as a Deputy Digital Services Lead in the Department of Health and Human Services. (Lexey Swall for The 19th)”

She pioneered change over five presidencies. The Trump administration just fired her.

Kate Sosin (The 19th)
#transgender #trans #uspol #19thNews

mastodon - Link to source
I am unhealthily fascinated with Suno. I've found a lot of ways to make interesting stuff out of stuff that already exists without setting off the copyright detector. And thanks to things @jaybird110127 and @BorrisInABox have posted, I know Suno can add singing to a track and follow the lead melody of it, as long as the syllabels match exactly.
So, I used a MIDI file of Scarborough Fair from my old Yamaha keyboard, fed it to Suno, and tried to ask it to cover the song using the original lyrics. In theory, this should make a cover of the song with the original melody and original lyrics.
Unsurprisingly, this didn't work, because Suno checks lyrics to see if they match. So, I typed in my own very stupid lyrics to see if the singer would follow the piano melody of the original demo. In short, it worked. This has insane parody potential.

@Jayson Smith @Borris

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iceshrimp.net - Link to source
While I'm talking about games: #stardew Access is so, so close to being actually fun, with a good time freeze and autofishing addon. Unfortunately, I just can't get past the way pathfinding fails sometimes, and the way crops that are watered randomly don't update to show they're watered, and the way NPCs run around like pixies when you want to talk to them, so by the time pathfinding finishes they're already gone, and the way getting into bed is still a matter of trial and error. It makes things that would otherwise be fun into a chore. But, like, the mod itself is done well enough that it makes Stardew feel like a native #audiogame, if it wasn't for the weird bugs and issues. And the game is fully playable, from what I can tell. I just can't get into the relaxing cozy vibe when I'm trying to figure out the exact direction to approach my bed at night, or wondering why the plants aren't getting watered when I'm using my watering can right on the tile, or chasing an NPC across the map who keeps walking away from me when I wanna talk to them. github.com/stardew-access/stardew-access#a11y

GitHub - stardew-access/stardew-access: An accessibility mod for Stardew Valley with screen reader and keyboard only support!

An accessibility mod for Stardew Valley with screen reader and keyboard only support! - stardew-access/stardew-access
GitHub
#a11y #AudioGame #stardew
This entry was edited (9 months ago)

Tamas G reshared this.

in reply to 🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦

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LucileDT

I think the watering plant is also a visual bug. It's possible to toggle a settings to see a rectangle showing where the tool will be used (it's supposed to designate the tile on which the tool will do something) but it often shows a tile which is not the one where the tool is used! It's a problem in the vanilla game I encounter each time I play. Those problems totally may be linked.

mastodon - Link to source

I didn't expect my post about Swedish Television mistakenly labeling Vladimir Putin as "president USA" yesterday to blow up the way it did. What I *really* didn't expect was #Hachyderm's admins deleting my post just as it was approaching a thousand boosts. This because someone allegedly reported it as "misinformation", and that what I saw on TV "does not appear to have actually happened"... which ironically is about as Putinesque a statement can be.

So how would you fact check this? A few people commenting on the post had already done that, the way people normally do — by asking for the source. And they got it. I even boosted the link to SVT Play, where the broadcast can be streamed by anyone. It's still there svtplay.se/video/jAM5B9o/aktue…

The Hachyderm "fact checking" process doesn't ask for a source though. In fact, they didn't ask me for anything. Since there were no news headlines mentioning this blunder, it must not have happened.

I appreciate the lecture for me to "fact check my posts before posting", but the assumption that I'd want to post anything on this instance again could certainly need some fact checking.

To the rest of you, enjoy this last screenshot of Putin definitely not getting labeled as "president USA" on SVT2 News on Swedish Television. And for those of you who can't get enough of things that never happened, I'll post a video in a comment below too.

Message from the Hachyderm admins stating "Some of your posts have been found to violate one or more community guidelines and have been subsequently removed by the moderators of hachyderm.io. Hello, Your post was reported to us as it contains incorrect information. Although we do not believe this was intentional (and thus are not categorizing this as "misinformation"), we are removing the post as it does not appear to have actually happened. We fact checked this post by researching if there were any news headlines, in the US or elsewhere, that a major European news network had labeled Russia's president as the president of the United States. In future, please fact check posts before posting / reposting them. Misinformation is spreading rapidly with the current political situation both in the United States and internationally, and it is important to not to contribute to it when and where that can be avoided. Thank you, The Hachyderm Mods"
Screenshot from SVT (Swedish Television) picturing Vladimir Putin with the title "president USA" next to his name.

Aktuellt – Tor 13 mar 21:00

Utspel från Putin: Öppnar för vapenvila - med villkor • Utredningsförslag: Skolorna ska bli mobilfria • Nya utmaningar för kyrkan: AI och existensen
SVT Play
#hachyderm

iceshrimp.net - Link to source
audiogame by a Russian developer

Sensitive content

#a11y #blind #audiogames
in reply to 🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦

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JamminJerry

audiogame by a Russian developer

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in reply to Victoria

iceshrimp.net - Link to source

🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦

audiogame by a Russian developer

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@Victoria
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iceshrimp.net - Link to source

🇨🇦Samuel Proulx🇨🇦

audiogame by a Russian developer

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@Nikola Jović @Victoria
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Nikola Jović

audiogame by a Russian developer

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Nikola Jović

audiogame by a Russian developer

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Nikola Jović

audiogame by a Russian developer

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Victoria

audiogame by a Russian developer

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@Nikola Jović
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Nikola Jović

audiogame by a Russian developer

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So... how do you make a language 10x faster? Rewrite it using another language!

Microsoft have just announced a 10x speed improvement to the TypeScript language, by rewriting tsc using the Go programming language.

youtube.com/watch?v=zBCBf-zfue…

#gamedev #indiedev #typescript


TypeScript in Go == 10X Faster Compiler!

Microsoft have just announced that the TypeScript compiler is now... 10x faster. Not fake benchmark 10x faster, but actually 10x faster. And how did they ...
YouTube
#typescript #gamedev #indiedev

mastodon - Link to source

The view from Canada. Important reading for Americans who haven’t bothered to look at all the annexation rhetoric in one coherent timeline.

defcon.social/@tprophet/114150…

TProphet (@tprophet@defcon.social)

A Canadian friend's perspective on US behavior since the Trump regime was installed: ---cut here--- One thing I've learned over the past few weeks, and it's been a bit of a sobering lesson, is that a lot of Americans I know don't actually know what…
DEF CON Social

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Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney ordered a review of Canada’s contract with the US’s Lockheed Martin Corp for 88 F-35 fighter jets, in response to tariffs and expansionist rhetoric from President Donald Trump.

The top choice is the Swedish-built Saab Gripen, who promised that assembly would take place in Canada and there would be a transfer of intellectual property, which would allow the aircraft to be maintained in Canada - unlike the F-35 that has to be maintained in the USA.

CBC News headline: Canada reconsidering F-35 purchase amid tensions with Washington, says Minister

mastodon - Link to source

Become an irreplaceable 10x developer in 30 seconds flat

Why learn actual skills when you can just look impressive instead?

Introducing rust-stakeholder - a CLI tool that generates absolutely meaningless but impressive-looking terminal output to convince everyone you're a coding genius without writing a single line of useful code.

github.com/giacomo-b/rust-stak…


GitHub - giacomo-b/rust-stakeholder: Generate impressive-looking terminal output to look busy when stakeholders walk by.

Generate impressive-looking terminal output to look busy when stakeholders walk by. - giacomo-b/rust-stakeholder
GitHub

mastodon - Link to source

Another week. Another museum. This week the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm. I came here largely to see this one tool chest.

It's the Mästermyr toolchest. A 1000 year old chest filled with blacksmithing and woodworking tools. It's an incredibly important find. Beautifully preserved in the bog. The tools are wonderful. I'd seen pictures and read about these tools, but to see them up close. That hack saw is exquisite.

I wonder how the chest ended up discarded.

#Making #Tools #History

A viking era tool chest in a museum display case. The chest is open revealing a selection of tools including a small hacksaw, spoon auger, saw, nail plate, etc.. around the chest are various other tools including tongs, hammers, and a chain made iron. A key is laying to the left of the chest.
#history #tools #making
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