starless @starless@pixie.town

For some context on my current instance setup, it's using nothing but free tiers of various cloud services until I get a good estimate of how much resources I would need to dedicate to running my own instance locally.

So far we're capping out at 30GB of media storage. 3GB of Database storage, and comfortable use of less than 1GB of ram and 1vCPU.

I'm thinking it's feasible to self host this very soon, once I get my newly liberated thin clients set up.

Full Moon and Mars from Exeter Observatory.

wow, nice thread from @nexusofprivacy who took notes on my "Trust & Safety in the Fediverse" webinar:

https://mastodon.social/@nexusofprivacy/109479153478604828

genuine question, where are all the SWers the fediverse supposedly has?

A quick thing — can you please boost?

I'm looking for an an artist to commission a character design piece for noncommercial public use. Since this piece would depict an agender character, I would love if a trans or nonbinary artist could be the one I commission!

If you know of anyone who has commissions open that seems a good fit for this, please let me know!

No doubt the bigotry in this space is annoying. Still, in many cases, it's less annoying than Good White People™, who 'just want to understand' and badger me for information I've discussed at length, can find on their own and/or completely ignore the context of what I have already said.

The way white people just expect me to drop what I'm doing and explain the ENTIRE social and cultural context of the fedi to them FOR FREE because they are too lazy to do a shred of labor is an easy way to show me they don't give a shit.

If you want to be viewed and treated as a reasonable and intelligent person, you need to act like one.

This is not a high bar.

An awesome quote from @aurynn that I need to share, in a discussion we were having about automatic filtering/moderation:

"if your tool hasn't thought about how it will be used to create harm, and isn't built in such a way to reduce its ability to cause harm, maybe don't build the tool"

It's amazing how many people don't think like that.

Earlier this year, I was invited down to Texas by folk who asked me: "Do you think you could teach our assorted group of blind, low vision, and neurodiverse folk about lockpicking?"

Their results were terrific. 😁👍 This video was captured that day...

https://youtu.be/2tVpNzX963g

...and we are jointly publishing it as a way of sharing this lesson plan with you all in the hopes that more classes like this can be replicated by others. 🔓

"Hemp is one of the fastest-growing plants in the world and can grow 4 metres high in 100 days. Research suggests hemp is twice as effective as trees at absorbing and locking up carbon, with 1 hectare (2.5 acres) of hemp reckoned to absorb 8 to 22 tonnes of CO2 a year, more than any woodland."

Techbros: *get extatic about untested and potentially useless carbon capture tech*

Actual scientists: "yeah just go on and plant hemp, that shit can capture carbon *fast* and store it forever in clothes and building materials"

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/24/could-hemp-be-a-key-tool-in-fight-against-climate-change

#introduction
I'm Artist Marcia X, one of the og's of the fedi. Helped mod the only Blk instance onhere before it was chased off.

I longboard, I'm a visual artist, scholar, I do as much DIY content/art stuffs as possible. I write, sell prints & started ur favorite tag on here 😎

Afro-Indigenous Puerto Rican Peruvian hard femme w the tea on the fediverse. Elephant memory

www.artistmarciax.com/shop

I also have a GFM bc I'm in need of assistance

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-marcia-get-stable

little message to whoever drops and breaks the sculpture in the future

In the replies of new Black folks on here discussing the harassment they’ve faced, and slurs they’ve had thrown at them, I’ve seen white users respond with suggestions that they should move to better moderated instances – I even saw one guy say ‘you should just move to a black instance’. The usual line they take is to (patronizingly) talk about how the protocol lets you move instances, and so you can just find an instance with policies that suit you.

IMO, this behavior is (and should be more widely seen as) anti-Black; users should be reporting it, and instance admins should be banning for it.

Firstly, it shifts the blame for the abuse solely to the recipients – ‘it’s your fault for not picking an appropriate instance!’ It also makes the commenters themselves feel all smart for knowing the ins and outs of the protocol (even when they often have no idea what they’re talking about), which is honestly just annoying as fuck.

Secondly, it sweeps the fedi’s historical + continuing anti-Blackness under the rug by making racist abuse into a technical discussion rather than a cultural one. It serves to assuage the consciences of those making such comments, because they can just point to the safeguards that are *technically* there, allowing them to forego self-reflection.

Cumulatively, the effect of these kinds of comments is to push Black users off the fedi, or onto instances that can be blocked/marginalized/attacked by white users. This is segregation, plain and simple, and it’s absolutely shameful.

SO! Fellow admins, I’m gonna be reporting such behavior + suspending accounts that do it from instances I moderate. I’m gonna encourage users to report this shit too so that I can take action. How about you?

The National Museum of African American History & Culture announces “Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures” to open March 24

It will feature Octavia Butler’s typewriter, Nichelle Nichols’ Star Trek uniform, Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther suit, more

https://nmaahc.si.edu/about/news/national-museum-african-american-history-and-culture-announces-new-exhibition-exploring

#blackmastodon #blacktwitter

My grandmother began sewing ribbon skirts as part of her healing from the trauma of residential schools.
She and my mother have always been fantastic seamstresses, frequently making my Halloween costumes.

She's now moved on to making regalia, and this is her first Plains-style regalia dress.

#NativeAmerican #Regalia #Indigenous

we should hire the guy who does the voiceovers for the Chemical Safety Board youtube videos to make videos about CVEs

It’s easy for a bunch of people to sit around and theorize about growing pains when you’re not the one who has to wonder about what that noise is outside your house