Lost my apple watch while on the road, today doing errands. Noticed it was missing. This “find my” said it was near the car, but I was finding nothing on the ground. Finally took my family out to CVS, and I continued looking while they went in to the store. Found it. Forgot about the magnetic strap.
Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper was first published in 1962 and was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1963. It’s not hard to understand its popularity: The titular “Fuzzies” are an adorable alien species, the story travels along at a good pace, and the clash between big business and the little band of pro-Fuzzy prospectors and naturalists is entertaining and ultimately satisfying. But the book is also thought-provoking in its exploration of what it means to be sapient and how humans interact with other sapient species.
As one character notes, “Anything that talks and builds a fire is a sapient being, yes. That’s the law. But that doesn’t mean that anything that doesn’t isn’t.”
The Fuzzies are silken-furred, large-eyed, and doll-sized in appearance and curious and childlike in their behaviour. They arouse in their first human friends a protective (and possessive) instinct, particularly in Jack Holloway, who has the honor of being their first contact with homo sapiens. Jack is in his seventies, living out in the wilds of Zarathustra and mining for valuable sunstones. There are hints that he’s come to the planet to escape some messy mistakes (and possibly a drinking problem), but he’s an intelligent, if idiosyncratic, character with a formidable reputation who takes great delight in interacting with his visitors, Little Fuzzy and family, and they quickly make themselves at home with him.
However, Zarathustra is a class-III uninhabited planet owned by the Zarathustra Company, which is farming, mining, and settling the planet at an incredible (and lucrative) rate. Should a sapient native species be discovered there, the planet would be reclassified and the company’s ownership would be made void. So when the first news of Jack’s visitors reaches the company, they’re quick to send their own scientists out to disprove any claims of significant intelligence.
The picture of Fuzzy intelligence is built up by degrees within the story, largely through Jack’s interactions and observations, but human treatment of the potentially sapient race remains questionable throughout the book. They are intelligent tool-makers capable of surviving in a dangerous eco-system in which they appear to be food for a number of larger predators (not least of which are the imaginatively named “damnthings” and “harpies”). They are inquisitive, and it is thanks to this quality that they learn that humans (as represented by Jack) are generally a safe bet—Jack gives them food, new tools, and toys and tolerates them bedding down in his cabin, so what’s not to like? They are treated, however, like little children at best and, at worst, like pet dogs. Early on, even Jack catches himself putting a bowl of water down for Little Fuzzy “as he would for a dog” and instead supplies a cup. There is an element of consternation in almost every interaction between humans and Fuzzies, perhaps more so because the argument for their sapience occurs at the same time that Fuzzy dolls and hats are being made and people are owning and naming their Fuzzies as if they are the “fur-bearing animals” that the company claims them to be.
Little Fuzzy remains an entertaining story that encourages the reader to question how humanity sees and behaves towards other intelligences. Since 1962, we have been surprised again and again by what we have learned about the intelligence of the animals we share our planet with, from elephants and octopuses, to crows and bees—reminding us, hopefully, to continue to challenge our assumptions and justifications.
The initiative calling for the ban of "conversion therapy" in the European Union has collected enough signatures (around 1 180 000 as I type) 🎉
But you still have till the end of today, May 17, to add your signature and support putting an end to hateful practices that have been described as torture by the United Nations.
Wouldn't that be a suitable thing to do on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia?
Saturday. With only 4 workdays left until we fly off on our weeklong vacation to a hopefully warm Greek island, the wife opens one of her underwear drawers and pulls out her 2nd generation Victor Reader Stream. "Can you make sure the books I want are on here for the holiday," she asks?
"Ah," I say. "I'm getting a memory. It's very faint ... hang on ... thinking, thinking ... Yes. it's deja vu."
WE had the exact same conversation before jetting off to Malta during last year's vacation (I hesitate to call them annual, as we've only had 2 in a row for the last 15 years). Not only the exact same conversation but the exact same books, as she didn't crack a single one open during the entire fortnight we were away last year.
Victor's battery has long-since died, of course. DO I even have a Micro USB cable that does data to hand? The one I've just plugged in seems to only do power. Bloody thing. Unless there's some key combo for USB mode I'm missing. In the old days I'd whip the SD out and do it native, but neither of our new laptops has an integrated reader.
Gosh. I've enjoyed Mp3tag ever since you demonstrated it to tag an audiobook ripped from CD on your podcast I've forgotten the name of. Technalish? Technilish? Technicalish? Tech... something.
@jscholes That's going back a bit isn't it? I still use it for renaming swathes of things at once, and producing nice html summaries of complex collections.
@jscholes LOL I actually have a lot of those sounds, I don't know how many there were, but I kept reloading the page to see what would play, then grabbed them from the Temporary Internet Files\content.IE5 folder inside my Windows directory on Windows 98! Remember those days?
@jaybird110127 @jscholes I remember getting hacked off at having to modify the pHP to up the number the first few times I added to the folder. I'm sure I have a backup on an old hard drive someplace, but my NAS only goes back to postchildbirth.
I think I need to look into Blake's 7. Any character who says "I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid, and I'm not going," is right up my street. @jaybird110127
@jscholes @jaybird110127 Avon was a great character. Paul Darrow voiced him, and it's really interesting to compare the way he sounded in his TV debut in 1978 to his performance in the audio drama's in the late 1990's. one of my verbal masters, Darrow.
@jscholes @jaybird110127 Avon was great. I had no idea there were other B7 audio dramas other than the Big Finish ones which was my introduction to the series.
@jscholes @jaybird110127 I will dig out the hard drive when we get back from our hols and see what else I can find you. Pretty sure we were up to 30-some before the site died.
Not sure the wife will need more, she has 42 days and 19 hours of play time on the card as is. It's literally impossible for her to do all that in a week. Bonus points if she finishes a single novel, I'd say, given the fact that this is the second time she's asked me to load up the exact same files.
I'll be doing a goodly chunk of rereading, personally. I like the fact that I can find little details I missed in a book last time around, whilst knowing that if I'm distracted I'm not missing anything vital. I do have a few new books as well, of course. One never knows, does one? In particular I'm intrigued by the new Emily Tesh, and the debut by Evan Leikam.
I do that with rereading. But I too have endless content on my player. Sometimes I feel like a new book. I've actually taken in about... 6 books in the last week or so. Which for me is not usual. I usually jump from thing to thing.
Had to look at the Stream user's manual because I had zero memory of how to turn off the damned keypad lock. Has the wife ever used it? Nope. Might she? Possibly. Is it vital info? NO, but I used to just *know* this sort of thing.
Keylocks with different on and off patterns annoy me generally, but a device for the blind that requires you to press 3 different buttons sequentially without a mistake seems harsh for a simple software keylock. I wonder if it's bothered anyone with physical or motor issues.
Sunday. The Child (will have to stop calling her that soon) has asked for a digital camera to snap fun pics on vacation. She has decided she wants one of these new cheap-ish things. I have no idea how suitable this will be, but it wasn't terribly expensive.
The grind of laundry both to wear and to pack and catching up on everything that needs to be abandoned for a week is tiresome, but there is light at the end of the tunnel!
Ryanair flights on Friday. I downloaded the app today. The check-in process isn't overly screen reader friendly on iOS. They made over £8.5 billion in 2022, you'd think they could employ a few accessibility testers before putting shitty apps out in public!
@jyarbrough hahaha yes, that'd be about right? unlock a week of more accessible app use for just £4.49! But if you're going to use 2 hands and take up more room on the screen with Braille, you'll have to pay the extra large accessibility accommodation fee.
that sadly applies to most airlines. I've encountered a few, where the ticket purchasing is sort of accessible, but the check in is an absolutely inaccessible mess. I mean maybe its deliberate, they have my money already so why bother.
At Eurovision, Swedish-speaking Finns are representing Sweden
The three members of KAJ, the band selected to represent Sweden in the 2025 edition of the music contest, hail from a Swedish-speaking minority on Finland's West coast.
In a context of hostility toward this second national language and rivalry with their Scandinavian 'big brother,' this is a notable event in Finland.
@talon @FreakyFwoof I found this in my home timeline for some reason, and did not see what it was replying to. Needless to say, I desperately needed context
”A pair of trials covering 1.3 per cent of the Icelandic workforce revealed that slashing weekly hours led to better employee #wellbeing, with less stress and burnout, while #productivity stayed the same or improved. The positive results sparked union pressure in Iceland, and now 86% of Icelandic workers either work shorter weeks or have the right to ask to do so.“
For 90% of working Icelanders, a 36-hour week means less stress, more job satisfaction and time to enjoy life beyond work, says teacher María Hjálmtýsdóttir
Only one thing on everyone’s mind? The genocide being carried out by Israel against the Palestinian people? No? Oh, a song contest sponsored by Israel that Israel is using to whitewash its genocide. Ah, my bad, sorry.
Attached: 1 image
Are you ready for the most fabulous, glitzy, glamorous #geoweirdness thread of all time? 🕺💃🎤
Here in Europe there's only one thing on everyone's mind this week: the annual Eurovision Song contest.
What about October the 7th? Yes, Netanyahu is a criminal and he uses his power and this war to avoid being put in prison, but why no one remembers about October the 7th absolutely horrific attack where this girl survived hiding under a pile of dead bodies of her neighbors?
@menelion That's not a justification for committing genocide and you know it. Two wrongs don't make a right. You should have learned that in kindergarten.
@BernieDoesIt I do know it, of course, and I started my reply with it. Everyone knows that he will be immediately in prison if he finishes this war. My point was just not to accuse this girl personally, that's it.
@menelion @BernieDoesIt Who’s accusing “this poor girl?” We’re accusing Eurovision for giving a country – Israel – a platform to whitewash itself as it commits genocide. Not surprising, of course, given that their main sponsor is an Israeli company.
Happy Global Accessibility Awareness Day everyone. The third edition of Personal Power: Getting The Most from iOS as a Totally Blind User is ready for your enjoyment free to all. If you want to use an iPhone without looking at it other than to show it your face, this is how it's done. michaelfeir.blogspot.com/2025/… #GAAD
@cachondo Thanks. I appreciate your saying so. It always feeels strange since nobody in my closer circle of friends and family really benefits directly. For the most part, they have an incomplete sense of what I've done. They know I've worked hard on it and that the book really helps other people. I can usually help with any tech troubles my family and friends might experience, but that's about as far as it goes. (1/2)
My family are like that, my wife's only so involved because she's a screen reader user herself. My grandmother goes as far as saying something's "like JAWS" (which she saw me unbox in the 1990's) and that's as far as we get.
This release lets you further tweak the barcode size in the fullscreen view and slightly improves barcode finding reliability when scanning or loading a barcode from an image or PDF file. It also fixes a crash when trying to load a pkpass file without a barcode in it.
Add ability to choose barcode width in fullscreen view
Remove confusing import from app function
Various scanning fixes
Fix crash when loading a pkpass file without barcode
@martin hlavne tim, ze ma nemovitosti hodne a nevyuziva je zpravidla to byva pravnicka osoba, s vyznamnymi prijmy plynoucimi prave z obchodu s nemovitostmi predpokladam, ze odbornik by to dokazal definovat mnohem lepe
@martin obavam se, ze momentalne nikdo kdyby byl problem s bydlenim opravdova priorita, mohl by to mit na starost treba katastralni urad nebo socialka a mohly by tlacit na majitele, aby se nemovitosti pouzivaly (treba zvysujici se dani z nemovitosti o inflacni prirustek ceny nemovitosti) jenze nase velkomozne pany z Prahy bydleni netlaci, naopak maji vsichni hezky zainvestovano
@albi @martin Stačí oživit původní prvorepublikový zákon a trochu jej zmodernizovat. Máš volný byt? Obec má právo ti tam dát za garantované nájemné nájemníka a zároveň má povinnost ručit za škodu, kterou by ti mohl způsobit. Obec by tedy platila pronajímateli nájem odpovídjící místně příslušnému průměru, nájemníka by si kontrolovala a majitel by měl jistý příjem a garanci náhrady případných škod. A pokud to nechceš, navýšit obec daň z nemovitosti.
Klidová tepová frekvence odráží kondici srdce a celkové zdraví 🔹 Nižší hodnoty bývají známkou lepší kondice, vyšší mohou signalizovat riziko 🔹 Důležitější než jednotlivé číslo je sledovat dlouhodobý vývoj hodnot
https://vtm.zive.
@archos Já v té tabulce vůbec nejsem. Taky když se dostanu do rukou novému lékaři, tak hned měří znovu, případně zkouší, jestli přístroji nedochází baterky. A já vysvětluji, že 44 je normální stav. Byl jsem na kardiologii a tam to konstatovali taky. Akorát mě štve, že hodinky při sportu pořád píší, že jsem v zóně zahřívání a jen občas se dostanu do jiné. 🙂
I love stuff like this so much because , like, to the eels these are just cozy tubes to hang out in. They know not of the context that makes these funny.
"Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents lied to federal judges about the reasons they needed warrants to enter the homes of Columbia University students and arrest them, according to attorneys investigating the matter."
According to the allegation, the warrant application was a "pretext" so they could "try to arrest two students, including one green card holder, in order to deport them."
I just published my new instrumental called "Sea Time, the Sound Waves of Marbella" (for now on Youtube only). Hope you like it! youtu.be/sxgSjdoMvbQ #music #acoustic #instumental
This tune was written during my trip to Marbella, Spain, while staying at the fabulous sea side there.Two years and many instrumental iterations later I have...
It's almost time for Global Accessibility Awareness Day and I can finally share my thesis in an accessible format 🎉
Due to the mandatory template used, the thesis PDF is not accessible. So there was no way I was going to share it with the world. It took a year, but I managed to create a website with an #accessible #version of the 160-pages thesis on #AccessibilityOverlays, and some additional content!
This thesis, published in 2024, investigates the impact of accessibility overlays on the usability and user experience (UX) for individuals with permanent visual impairments.
Yes feed your 20 pound baby 11g of sugar per serving. Why are American children so fat? Who knows. Trust the Gerber RT: friedcheese.us/objects/9b8a3c7…
Human breast milk (HBM) is essential for the infant’s growth and development right after birth and is an irreplaceable source of nutrition for early human survival. Various infant formulas have many similarities to HBM in many components, but there .
consider that lactose is 5-6x less sweet than sugar and is digested more slowly. Our bodies react differently to different types of sugar. This is an extremely important detail that should not be overlooked
edit: also different sugars affect the dominant colony of bacteria in your gut
@Jamie Teh Damn! It sounds brilliant. I've listened to it from the begining to the end in one go right away. It's your and Michael's style and at the same time you have something unique in there. I like the song "It'll Be Alright" the most. Do I hear correctly you have some guest vocalists in this song? I find "Scourge" something you have very likelly taken off. And also "Smoke and Splinters" is very nice too. It's all great and heartening.
Thanks to both of you including your close friends and families. My all time nth degree favorite piece is "CruelToBeKind".
@pvagner Thanks Peter. Really appreciate the kind feedback. The two guest vocalists in It'll Be Alright are my two sons, first my 12 year old in the orchestral section, then my 10 year old right near the end. What do you mean when you say "you have very likely taken off" regarding Scourge? I didn't quite get it, haha. Wow, Cruel to be Kind is a blast from the past! I have a special place for that song, even if it's from a previous era. I feel like you've followed our music since the very beginning. Thank you for that. :)
@Jamie Teh Regarding sourge I wanted to say it's kind of special, mixture of genres, a bit of electronic at the start, then metal, and that unusual singing immediatelly before the last chorus. I hope you had fun while arranging that.
Very cool. Thanks for sharing! Love the melody and the chord changes all around! BTW, I think I recognized the string quartet from Native Instruments in one of the songs! :)
I am all over the place as far as NI instruments go. Love their "Session" series though. BTW, I am using Shreddage Fretless here: youtube.com/watch?v=sxgSjdoMvb…
This tune was written during my trip to Marbella, Spain, while staying at the fabulous sea side there.Two years and many instrumental iterations later I have...
@vick21 Oooo very nice! I do particularly love the thick, lush, layered, spacious character in this and your other work. It's a lovely immersive ear treat. :)
As much as I admire the work of the LetsEncrypt team, making a policy change that effectively raises the cost of competitive and independent agency at the behest of a browser team that's at risk of being split off from their corporate sponsors specifically because of anticompetitive behavior in the domain of that agency... this might be technically justifiable, but it's not the right decision for an organization being run for the public's benefit.
Let’s Encrypt will no longer include the “TLS Client Authentication” Extended Key Usage (EKU) in our certificates beginning in 2026. Most users who use Let’s Encrypt to secure websites won’t be affected and won’t need to take any action.
In honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), we’re excited to invite you to share how JAWS has made a meaningful difference in your life. GAAD is a global movement that celebrates digital access and inclusion—and we want to shine a spotlight on the impact JAWS has had in your journey.
Your story can inspire others and raise awareness about the power of accessible technology: surveymonkey.com/r/insertjclub
Join us on Thursday, May 22 at Noon Eastern for a live webinar featuring the Amigo by Enhanced Vision. We will discuss Dynamic Contrast, Edge Effects, and how the Amigo can be your companion for healthy vision. ACVREP credits available during live webinar. Register now: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regist…
Join us for a step-by-step webinar and dive into the Amigo portable video magnifier by Enhanced Vision. Learn how Amigo can be your companion for healthy vision and get answers to the most frequently asked questions.
NASA engineer Ed Smylie, who helped keep the Apollo 13 astronauts alive using a combination of a spacesuit hose, sock, plastic bag, cue cards and duct tape, has died at age 95. Four hours after the explosion that tore through Apollo 13 in 1970, Smylie became concerned that the crew would suffocate due to the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the air. He and his team of 60 came up with a plan, tested it and explained to Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert how to build it during their emergency trip back to Earth. Smylie, who died in late April, received a Presidential Medal of Freedom for his service to the space program. Here's more from @Spacecom.
What is my stance on the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses? It's good, helpful, and a more affordable assistive technology device than what's currently available... but it has it's challenges... I have never thought of connecting it to WhatsApp and using ChatGPT with it! Thanks Tim Dixon for sharing lots of insights! ⬇️ timdixon.net/blog/2025/04/blin…
rostundrad
in reply to Debian • • •Quatsch immer noch bockstabil.
linuxer
in reply to Debian • • •🐜
in reply to Debian • • •Richard Bejtlich
in reply to Debian • • •Néhémie
in reply to Debian • • •Sergio
in reply to Debian • • •❤️
#debian #gnu #linux