Kin Lane @[email protected]

The next time you use any navigation device, software or Google Maps thank Dr. Gladys West. Her contributions to the mathematical modeling of the shape of Earth, and her work on the development of the satellite models that were eventually incorporated into  the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. #BlackMastodon #BlackHistoryMonth

Update: moved this to my new writing site so there’s a new URL.

Every hashtag on every post on every platform should ALWAYS be pascal case. I wrote this to illustrate how screenreaders read hashtags based on their case.

It’s a small thing that all of us can do to build a more inclusive, accessible internet for all. Please take the time to use pascal case.

Read more:
https://markwrites.io/hashtag-accessibility-by-everyone-for-everyone

#Accessibility #WebAccessibility #Usability #Readability #Hashtags #SocialNetworking #Blogging #UX

#Netflix has unveiled the details of its new anti-#PasswordSharing policy, detailing a suite of complex gymnastics that customers will be expected to undergo if their living arrangements trigger Netflix's automated enforcement mechanisms:

https://thestreamable.com/news/confirmed-netflix-unveils-first-details-of-new-anti-password-sharing-measures

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/02/nonbinary-families/#red-envelopes

1/

Not going to lie, Twitter killing off free API access hits me in the feels. I remember with great affection the flood of creativity that happened after we opened up the API, and it's heartbreaking to see that unceremoniously strangled.

I'm relieved that we've got better alternatives, though. While this is perhaps the final straw for many bots on Twitter, it's been a long time coming and the API has long been hobbled compared to the early days. Open protocols or bust. ✊

Thousands of archivists and librarians over here gesticulating *yes, finally, we've been saying this for a decade+*

Company Carbon API - Bend makes CO2e emissions data programmable and queryable. Track companies as they cut carbon, and measure your supply chain footprint. - https://bend.green/

Buffer has added support for Mastodon, allowing you to schedule posts for later.

This is something I will definitely be taking advantage of when managing the various MacStories accounts, and I expect we'll see similar functionality from Buffer's competitors soon.

Details on @macstories:

https://www.macstories.net/reviews/social-media-management-utility-buffer-adds-mastodon-support/

@jeff @kin For me relays just filled up my disk/DB with things I wasn't too interested in. Plus many of them no longer work. I've been trying to come up with ways to handle discoverability, my latest one is https://fediverse-explorer.stefanbohacek.dev, if you're interested.

Ideally I'd find a way to integrate this with Mastodon more directly, maybe some sort of a tag-based relay, as someone on here suggested.

I got my personal instance up, and I'm curious–if you run one, did you add any relays to it? If so, which ones and what hoops did you jump through? Thanks!

/cc @kin

Amazing trees trying to grow in small Crack in granite.

Source, Unique Trees

Two tenacious cedar trees truly living on the edge, atop Nevada Falls June 2022. In Yosemite National Park, California USA

#trees #growth

Wrote a quick post that analyses which apps I've been using most often to post on Mastodon (some code in #Python for the #MastodonAPI) https://dev.to/andypiper/analysing-which-mastodon-apps-ive-used-30pb

Pioneering geologist & oceanographer Marie Tharp changed our understanding of the ocean.

When Tharp sought a geology job at Columbia in 1948, women couldn’t go on research ships. So, she was hired to assist male grad students.

Back then, many scientists still assumed the bottom of the ocean was featureless. Tharp figured out how to use data to create sketches of the ocean floor. Her hand-drawn maps helped develop plate tectonic theory. https://theconversation.com/marie-tharp-pioneered-mapping-the-bottom-of-the-ocean-6-decades-ago-scientists-are-still-learning-about-earths-last-frontier-142451 #science #history #HistoryRemix