mastodon - Link to source

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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mastodon - Link to source

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


Chelmsford tongue-in-cheek signs must end, says Essex Highways

A council says the prank signs could "mislead residents and cause confusion".
Elliot Deady (BBC News)
#News #Newstodon #sign #newstooter #essex #signage

mastodon - Link to source

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


Seattle Paid for Shelter Beds That It Left Vacant Despite a Massive Need for Housing

Early last year, the city signed a $2.7 million lease extension to continue using a hotel’s rooms as shelter space. Yet despite committing to pay the rent, the city stopped sending people there.
ProPublica
#News #seattle #homeless #housing #washington #hotel

mastodon - Link to source

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…


Crypto Price Drop Continues: $16B in Longs Liquidated as BTC, ETH Sell-Off Extends

Trump’s 100% tariff warning on China ignited a global sell-off that wiped out $16 billion in leveraged crypto longs and pushed Ethena’s USDe to a rare sub-$1 print.
Sam Reynolds (CoinDesk)

mastodon - Link to source

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?


Quebec to launch new government-run childcare registration platform

As of the beginning of November, the Quebec government will launch and administer a new platform for childcare registration in the province.
Marisela Amador (CTVNews)

mastodon - Link to source
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.
#Accessibility
This entry was edited (5 days ago)

mastodon - Link to source

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-…


There Is No Nobel Prize in Economics

It's awarded by Sweden's central bank, foisted among the five real prizewinners, often to economists for the 1% -- and the surviving Nobel family is strongly against it.
AlterNet (Alternet.org)

mastodon - Link to source
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.
@Lynette

mastodon - Link to source

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…

Conseils départementaux d'accès au droit

Les conseils départementaux de l'accès au droit (CDAD) sont des groupements d'intérêt public qui définissent et mettent en œuvre la politique publique de l'accès au droit dans leur département respectif.
Ministère de la justice

iceshrimp.net - Link to source
dream, mentions of male genitals

Sensitive content

#fedidreams

mastodon - Link to source

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…

Screenshot of a tweet - “After over 15 years as a customer with #Hosteurope, canceled, after they said that all email accounts had to be migrated to Outlook without being asked and against an extra fee. Was a sack full of work having to move 18 websites and domains...” - with the title #enshittification

How GoDaddy hollowed out Host Europe & DomainFactory (plus better European web hoster providers) | Tuta

Have two of the best European web hosting companies become an example of "enshittification" on the internet?
Tuta
#enshittification

mastodon - Link to source

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 XSF Announcement Banner

XMPP

XMPP - The universal messaging standard
xmpp.org
#opensource #Jabber #federation #chat #interoperability #decentralization #messaging #xsf #rtc #council #board

mastodon - Link to source

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

The XMPP Newsletter Banner

XMPP

XMPP - The universal messaging standard
xmpp.org
#xmpp #opensource #Jabber #federation #chat #interoperability #decentralization #newsletter #standards #messaging #rtc

mastodon - Link to source
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.

mastodon - Link to source
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.
#Accessibility

mastodon - Link to source

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…

JAWS Feature Spotlight; Skim Reading. Along bottom of image; dark blue shark fin and blue wavy line.

Clear the Clutter: Skim Reading Tool

Listen as Cathy demonstrates how to quickly find the content you're looking for by using the Skim Reading Tool in JAWS.Are you looking for ways to quickly lo...
YouTube

mastodon - Link to source
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.

mastodon - Link to source

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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mastodon - Link to source
Paperback 0.5 is out, sporting the largest changelog in Paperback's history thus far! We even had a new contributor majorly assist in adding a new document format! Full changelog:
* Added Microsoft Word document support!
* Added support for PowerPoint presentations!
* Fixed certain menu items not being disabled with no documents open.
* Fixed the orientation of the go to percent slider.
* Fixed the table of contents in Epub books with URL-encoded file paths and/or fragment IDs.
* Fixed whitespace being stripped from XHTML headings in weird ways.
* Fixed whitespace handling inside of nested pre tags in HTML documents.
* HTML and Markdown documents now support the table of contents feature! When you load an HTML/Markdown document, Paperback will build its own table of contents out of the structure of the headings in your document, and it will show that to you in the control+t dialog.
* HTML documents will now have the title as set in the title tag, if it exists. Otherwise, they'll continue to use the filename without the extension.
* Switched from UniversalSpeech to using a live region to report speech. This means no screen reader DLLs are shipped alongside the program anymore, and more screen readers will now be supported, such as Microsoft Narrator.
* Switched zip libraries to allow for opening a wider array of epub books.
* The dialog asking you if you want to open your document as plain text has been completely redone, and it now allows you to open your document as plain text, HTML, or Markdown.
* The go to percent dialog now includes a text field allowing you to manually input a percentage to jump to.
* The HTML parser will now recognize dd, dt, and dl as list elements.
* The table of contents in Epub books will once again be preserved exactly.
* The Unicode non-breaking space is now considered when stripping blank lines.
* You will no longer be asked how you want to open an unrecognized file every single time you load it, only the first time.
Zip: github.com/trypsynth/paperback…
Setup: github.com/trypsynth/paperback…
PayPal donation link: paypal.me/tygillespie05
GitHub sponsors link: github.com/sponsors/trypsynth
Enjoy!

Sponsor @trypsynth on GitHub Sponsors

Fully blind software developer who loves making their own tools to solve problems. Primarily known for Paperback, an accessible and lightning fast ebook/document reader.
GitHub

bridgy-fed - Link to source

Elon Musk, together with LibsOfTikTok call for a nationwide boycott of Netflix and mass cancellations over a single cartoon character coming out as trans. This is picked up and massively promoted by a host of right-wing influencers, As a result, Netflix stock... is up 2%. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

Netflix Stock Up As Elon Musk'...


Netflix Stock Up As Elon Musk's Anti-Trans Boycott Fails To Materialize

Last week, conservatives tried to cancel Netflix to force the carrier to remove transgender characters.
Erin Reed (Erin In The Morning)
@Riki Wilchins

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