Thinking about the bad user experience around this emergency alert I got last night:
Emergency alert: Extreme
ENDANGERED MISSING ADVISORY. Details at https://bit.ly/EMA0022025
I was a bit suspicious, especially in light of the recent inaccurate evacuation alerts that went to all 10 million residents of Los Angeles County. A bit.ly link for an official government alert, really?
I used the bit.ly preview tool to see where the link would go before clicking (add a + after the bit.ly link). It showed the destination was the @CHPAlerts Twitter account, so it was legitimate after all.
I get that Twitter is still a good way to get out emergency alerts and you want links that pop up on phones to be short, but it would probably be better if they used a short link on ca.gov so it looks official.
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2025-01-13 11:59-0800",
"url": "https://gregorlove.com/2025/01/thinking-about-the-bad/",
"content": {
"text": "Thinking about the bad user experience around this emergency alert I got last night:\n\n\nEmergency alert: Extreme\n\nENDANGERED MISSING ADVISORY. Details at https://bit.ly/EMA0022025\n\n\nI was a bit suspicious, especially in light of the recent inaccurate evacuation alerts that went to all 10 million residents of Los Angeles County. A bit.ly link for an official government alert, really?\n\nI used the bit.ly preview tool to see where the link would go before clicking (add a + after the bit.ly link). It showed the destination was the @CHPAlerts Twitter account, so it was legitimate after all.\n\nI get that Twitter is still a good way to get out emergency alerts and you want links that pop up on phones to be short, but it would probably be better if they used a short link on ca.gov so it looks official.",
"html": "<p>Thinking about the bad user experience around this emergency alert I got last night:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n<p><b>Emergency alert: Extreme</b></p>\n\n<p>ENDANGERED MISSING ADVISORY. Details at https://bit.ly/EMA0022025</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I was a bit suspicious, especially in light of the recent <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/los-angeles-wildfires-evacuation-alerts-genasys/\">inaccurate evacuation alerts</a> that went to all 10 million residents of Los Angeles County. A bit.ly link for an official government alert, really?</p>\n\n<p>I used the <a href=\"https://bit.ly/EMA0022025+\">bit.ly preview tool</a> to see where the link would go before clicking (add a + after the bit.ly link). It showed the destination was the <a href=\"https://x.com/CHPAlerts/status/1878686769643999399/photo/1\">@CHPAlerts Twitter account</a>, so it was <strong>legitimate</strong> after all.</p>\n\n<p>I get that Twitter is still a good way to get out emergency alerts and you want links that pop up on phones to be short, but it would probably be better if they used a short link on <a href=\"https://www.ca.gov/\">ca.gov</a> so it looks official.</p>"
},
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"type": "card",
"name": "gRegor Morrill",
"url": "https://gregorlove.com/",
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"_id": "43531498",
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As a social web building block, #Webmention was designed to work with various other building blocks. Small pieces, loosely joined. Every year developers find new ways to work with Webmention, and new subtleties when combined with other building blocks.
The primary uses of Webmention, peer-to-peer comments, likes, and other responses across web sites, have long presented an interesting challenge with the incorporation and display of external content originally from one site (the Webmention sender), on another site (the Webmention receiver).
There are multiple considerations to keep in mind when displaying such external content.
Two examples of external content are images (e.g. people’s icons or profile images from the author of a comment) and text (e.g. people’s names or the text of their comments).
For external images, rather than displaying them in full fidelity, you may want to compress them into a smaller resolution for how your site displays the profile images of comment authors.
If you accept Webmentions from arbitrary sources, there’s no telling what might show up in author images. You may want to pixelate images from unknown or novel sources into say 3x3 pixel grids of color (or grayscale) averages to make them uniquely identifiable while blurring any undesirable graphics beyond recognition.
For external text, one thing we discovered in recent IndieWeb chat¹ is that someone’s comment (or in this case their name) can contain Unicode directional formatting characters, e.g. for displaying an Arabic or Hebrew name right-to-left. Text with such formatting characters can errantly impact the direction of adjacent text.
Fortunately there is a CSS property, 'unicode-bidi', that can be used to directionally isolate such external text. Thus when you embed text that was parsed from a received Webmention, possibly with formatting characters, you have to wrap it in an HTML element (a span will do if you have not already wrapped it) with that CSS property. E.g.:
<span style="unicode-bidi: isolate;">parsed text here</span>
Though even better would be use of a generic HTML class name indicating the semantic:
<span class="external-text">parsed text here</span>
and then a CSS rule in your style sheet to add that property (and any others you want for external text)
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2025-01-12 21:23-0800",
"url": "https://tantek.com/2025/012/t1/eight-years-webmention",
"category": [
"IndieWeb",
"Webmention",
"100PostsOfIndieWeb",
"100Posts",
"socialWeb",
"openSocialWeb"
],
"content": {
"text": "\ud83c\udf89 Eight years ago today, the #IndieWeb Webmention protocol was published as a W3C REC https://www.w3.org/TR/webmention/\n\nAs a social web building block, #Webmention was designed to work with various other building blocks. Small pieces, loosely joined. Every year developers find new ways to work with Webmention, and new subtleties when combined with other building blocks.\n\nThe primary uses of Webmention, peer-to-peer comments, likes, and other responses across web sites, have long presented an interesting challenge with the incorporation and display of external content originally from one site (the Webmention sender), on another site (the Webmention receiver).\n\nThere are multiple considerations to keep in mind when displaying such external content.\n\nTwo examples of external content are images (e.g. people\u2019s icons or profile images from the author of a comment) and text (e.g. people\u2019s names or the text of their comments).\n\nFor external images, rather than displaying them in full fidelity, you may want to compress them into a smaller resolution for how your site displays the profile images of comment authors.\n\nIf you accept Webmentions from arbitrary sources, there\u2019s no telling what might show up in author images. You may want to pixelate images from unknown or novel sources into say 3x3 pixel grids of color (or grayscale) averages to make them uniquely identifiable while blurring any undesirable graphics beyond recognition.\n\nFor external text, one thing we discovered in recent IndieWeb chat\u00b9 is that someone\u2019s comment (or in this case their name) can contain Unicode directional formatting characters, e.g. for displaying an Arabic or Hebrew name right-to-left. Text with such formatting characters can errantly impact the direction of adjacent text.\n\nFortunately there is a CSS property, 'unicode-bidi', that can be used to directionally isolate such external text. Thus when you embed text that was parsed from a received Webmention, possibly with formatting characters, you have to wrap it in an HTML element (a span will do if you have not already wrapped it) with that CSS property. E.g.:\n\n<span style=\"unicode-bidi: isolate;\">parsed text here</span>\n\nThough even better would be use of a generic HTML class name indicating the semantic:\n\n<span class=\"external-text\">parsed text here</span>\n\nand then a CSS rule in your style sheet to add that property (and any others you want for external text)\n\n.external-text { unicode-bidi: isolate; }\n\nPreviously: https://tantek.com/2023/012/t1/six-years-webmention-w3c\n\n\nThis is post 7 of #100PostsOfIndieWeb. #100Posts #socialWeb #openSocialWeb\n\n\u2190 https://tantek.com/2025/004/t1/micro-one-onramp-open-social-web\n\u2192 \ud83d\udd2e\n\n\nGlossary\n\nHTML class name\n\u00a0 https://tantek.com/2012/353/b1/why-html-classes-css-class-selectors\nIndieWeb chat\n\u00a0 https://indieweb.org/discuss\npixelate\n\u00a0 https://indieweb.org/pixelated\nsmall pieces, loosely joined\n\u00a0 https://www.smallpieces.com/\nUnicode directional formatting characters\n\u00a0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidirectional_text#Explicit_formatting\nunicode-bidi CSS property\n\u00a0 https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/unicode-bidi \u00a0\n\n\nReferences\n\n\u00b9 https://chat.indieweb.org/dev/2025-01-05#t1736092889120900",
"html": "\ud83c\udf89 Eight years ago today, the #<span class=\"p-category\">IndieWeb</span> Webmention protocol was published as a W3C REC <a href=\"https://www.w3.org/TR/webmention/\">https://www.w3.org/TR/webmention/</a><br /><br />As a social web building block, #<span class=\"p-category\">Webmention</span> was designed to work with various other building blocks. Small pieces, loosely joined. Every year developers find new ways to work with Webmention, and new subtleties when combined with other building blocks.<br /><br />The primary uses of Webmention, peer-to-peer comments, likes, and other responses across web sites, have long presented an interesting challenge with the incorporation and display of external content originally from one site (the Webmention sender), on another site (the Webmention receiver).<br /><br />There are multiple considerations to keep in mind when displaying such external content.<br /><br />Two examples of external content are images (e.g. people\u2019s icons or profile images from the author of a comment) and text (e.g. people\u2019s names or the text of their comments).<br /><br />For external images, rather than displaying them in full fidelity, you may want to compress them into a smaller resolution for how your site displays the profile images of comment authors.<br /><br />If you accept Webmentions from arbitrary sources, there\u2019s no telling what might show up in author images. You may want to pixelate images from unknown or novel sources into say 3x3 pixel grids of color (or grayscale) averages to make them uniquely identifiable while blurring any undesirable graphics beyond recognition.<br /><br />For external text, one thing we discovered in recent IndieWeb chat<a href=\"https://tantek.com/#t5a01_note-1\">\u00b9</a> is that someone\u2019s comment (or in this case their name) can contain Unicode directional formatting characters, e.g. for displaying an Arabic or Hebrew name right-to-left. Text with such formatting characters can errantly impact the direction of adjacent text.<br /><br />Fortunately there is a CSS property, 'unicode-bidi', that can be used to directionally isolate such external text. Thus when you embed text that was parsed from a received Webmention, possibly with formatting characters, you have to wrap it in an HTML element (a span will do if you have not already wrapped it) with that CSS property. E.g.:<br /><br /><span style=\"unicode-bidi: isolate;\">parsed text here</span><br /><br />Though even better would be use of a generic HTML class name indicating the semantic:<br /><br /><span class=\"external-text\">parsed text here</span><br /><br />and then a CSS rule in your style sheet to add that property (and any others you want for external text)<br /><br />.external-text { unicode-bidi: isolate; }<br /><br />Previously: <a href=\"https://tantek.com/2023/012/t1/six-years-webmention-w3c\">https://tantek.com/2023/012/t1/six-years-webmention-w3c</a><br /><br /><br />This is post 7 of #<span class=\"p-category\">100PostsOfIndieWeb</span>. #<span class=\"p-category\">100Posts</span> #<span class=\"p-category\">socialWeb</span> #<span class=\"p-category\">openSocialWeb</span><br /><br />\u2190 <a href=\"https://tantek.com/2025/004/t1/micro-one-onramp-open-social-web\">https://tantek.com/2025/004/t1/micro-one-onramp-open-social-web</a><br />\u2192 \ud83d\udd2e<br /><br /><br />Glossary<br /><br />HTML class name<br />\u00a0 <a href=\"https://tantek.com/2012/353/b1/why-html-classes-css-class-selectors\">https://tantek.com/2012/353/b1/why-html-classes-css-class-selectors</a><br />IndieWeb chat<br />\u00a0 <a href=\"https://indieweb.org/discuss\">https://indieweb.org/discuss</a><br />pixelate<br />\u00a0 <a href=\"https://indieweb.org/pixelated\">https://indieweb.org/pixelated</a><br />small pieces, loosely joined<br />\u00a0 <a href=\"https://www.smallpieces.com/\">https://www.smallpieces.com/</a><br />Unicode directional formatting characters<br />\u00a0 <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidirectional_text#Explicit_formatting\">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidirectional_text#Explicit_formatting</a><br />unicode-bidi CSS property<br />\u00a0 <a href=\"https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/unicode-bidi\">https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/unicode-bidi</a> \u00a0<br /><br /><br />References<br /><br /><a href=\"https://tantek.com/#t5a01_ref-1\">\u00b9</a> <a href=\"https://chat.indieweb.org/dev/2025-01-05#t1736092889120900\">https://chat.indieweb.org/dev/2025-01-05#t1736092889120900</a>"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Tantek \u00c7elik",
"url": "https://tantek.com/",
"photo": "https://tantek.com/photo.jpg"
},
"post-type": "note",
"_id": "43524575",
"_source": "2460"
}
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2025-01-04T20:42:51-08:00",
"url": "https://aaronparecki.com/2025/01/04/17/",
"category": [
"365"
],
"photo": [
"https://aaronparecki.com/img/620x0,q30/2025/01/04/17/photo.jpg"
],
"content": {
"text": "Today I:\n\nfound a buyer for all the Hue lights I decommissioned\nworked on the slides for the OAuth meeting on Monday\nupdated IndieLogin.com and dependencies to work with PHP 8.2\nfixed the paper jam in Lily's printer",
"html": "<p>Today I:</p>\n\n<ul><li>found a buyer for all the Hue lights I decommissioned</li>\n<li>worked on the slides for the OAuth meeting on Monday</li>\n<li>updated IndieLogin.com and dependencies to work with PHP 8.2</li>\n<li>fixed the paper jam in Lily's printer</li>\n</ul>"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Aaron Parecki",
"url": "https://aaronparecki.com/",
"photo": "https://aaronparecki.com/images/profile.jpg"
},
"post-type": "photo",
"_id": "43517856",
"_source": "16"
}
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2025-01-01T18:10:21-08:00",
"url": "https://aaronparecki.com/2025/01/01/10/",
"category": [
"triplex",
"bikemove",
"365"
],
"photo": [
"https://aaronparecki.com/img/620x0,q50/2025/01/01/10/photo.jpg",
"https://aaronparecki.com/img/620x0,q50/2025/01/01/10/photo-1.jpg"
],
"content": {
"text": "Built the entry closet in Unit A, and had a bike move to get everything out of storage!"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Aaron Parecki",
"url": "https://aaronparecki.com/",
"photo": "https://aaronparecki.com/images/profile.jpg"
},
"post-type": "photo",
"_id": "43517857",
"_source": "16"
}
1. Neutrality in ethical or policy matters is insufficient, empty, and cowardly. Especially when you know better, neutrality in action is not ethical, it is negligent and wrong, like a lie of omission.
2. Building community for collective action is required for resilient resistance
Aaron helped inspire and drive numerous acts of resistance against foes better funded and connected, many acts which succeeded to some degree or completely such as preventing the passage of SOPA.¹
Similarly he built community for collective action, such as co-founding the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and the Demand Progress political advocacy group² which remain active to this day.
One of the best ways to honor Aaron’s memory is to build on the good examples he set that succeeded and continue to succeed.
The only neutrality that Aaron supported was net neutrality, prioritizing those that use the internet over those that build & serve it, a priority of constituencies strongly aligned with the W3C’s official Ethical Web Principles.³
If you too reject neutrality and instead embrace allyship & action, some of those actions will require resisting the status quo with the intent of changing it.
If resistance with the goal of actual change is your primary objective (rather than recognition), build community to bring about that change, resist collectively not alone, both in the near term, and sustainably into the future.
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2025-01-11 23:23-0800",
"url": "https://tantek.com/2025/011/t1/remembering-aaronsw-twelve-years",
"category": [
"aaronsw"
],
"content": {
"text": "remembering losing #aaronsw twelve years ago today, and drawing connections with:\n\n* Lawrence Lessig\u2019s https://lessig.tumblr.com/post/56888930628/on-the-emptiness-in-the-concept-of-neutrality\n* Ben Werdm\u00fcller\u2019s https://werd.io/2025/building-an-open-web-that-protects-us-from-harm\n\nTwo points of connection:\n\n1. Neutrality in ethical or policy matters is insufficient, empty, and cowardly. Especially when you know better, neutrality in action is not ethical, it is negligent and wrong, like a lie of omission.\n\n\u201cAllyship demands more than neutrality \u2014 it demands action.\u201d \u2014 @werd.io (@ben@werd.social)\n\n\u201c\u2026 there are obviously plenty of contexts in which to be \u2018neutral\u2019 is simply to be wrong. \u201d @lessig.org (@lessig.tumblr.com @lessig@mastodon.world @lessig)\n\n2. Building community for collective action is required for resilient resistance\n\nAaron helped inspire and drive numerous acts of resistance against foes better funded and connected, many acts which succeeded to some degree or completely such as preventing the passage of SOPA.\u00b9\n\nSimilarly he built community for collective action, such as co-founding the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and the Demand Progress political advocacy group\u00b2 which remain active to this day.\n\n\nOne of the best ways to honor Aaron\u2019s memory is to build on the good examples he set that succeeded and continue to succeed.\n\nThe only neutrality that Aaron supported was net neutrality, prioritizing those that use the internet over those that build & serve it, a priority of constituencies strongly aligned with the W3C\u2019s official Ethical Web Principles.\u00b3\n\nIf you too reject neutrality and instead embrace allyship & action, some of those actions will require resisting the status quo with the intent of changing it.\n\nIf resistance with the goal of actual change is your primary objective (rather than recognition), build community to bring about that change, resist collectively not alone, both in the near term, and sustainably into the future.\n\nStill miss you Aaron.\n\n\nPreviously:\n* https://tantek.com/2024/013/t1/remembering-aaronsw-eleven-years (links to prior posts)\n\n\n\u00b9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#Opposition_to_the_Stop_Online_Piracy_Act_(SOPA)\n\u00b2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#Progressive_Change_Campaign_Committee\n\u00b3 https://www.w3.org/TR/ethical-web-principles/#noharm",
"html": "remembering losing #<span class=\"p-category\">aaronsw</span> twelve years ago today, and drawing connections with:<br /><br />* Lawrence Lessig\u2019s <a href=\"https://lessig.tumblr.com/post/56888930628/on-the-emptiness-in-the-concept-of-neutrality\">https://lessig.tumblr.com/post/56888930628/on-the-emptiness-in-the-concept-of-neutrality</a><br />* Ben Werdm\u00fcller\u2019s <a href=\"https://werd.io/2025/building-an-open-web-that-protects-us-from-harm\">https://werd.io/2025/building-an-open-web-that-protects-us-from-harm</a><br /><br />Two points of connection:<br /><br />1. Neutrality in ethical or policy matters is insufficient, empty, and cowardly. Especially when you know better, neutrality in action is not ethical, it is negligent and wrong, like a lie of omission.<br /><br />\u201cAllyship demands more than neutrality \u2014 it demands action.\u201d \u2014 <a href=\"https://werd.io\">@werd.io</a> (<a href=\"https://werd.social/@ben\">@ben@werd.social</a>)<br /><br />\u201c\u2026 there are obviously plenty of contexts in which to be \u2018neutral\u2019 is simply to be wrong. \u201d <a href=\"https://lessig.org\">@lessig.org</a> (<a href=\"https://lessig.tumblr.com\">@lessig.tumblr.com</a> <a href=\"https://mastodon.world/@lessig\">@lessig@mastodon.world</a> <a class=\"h-cassis-username\" href=\"https://twitter.com/lessig\">@lessig</a>)<br /><br />2. Building community for collective action is required for resilient resistance<br /><br />Aaron helped inspire and drive numerous acts of resistance against foes better funded and connected, many acts which succeeded to some degree or completely such as preventing the passage of SOPA.<a href=\"https://tantek.com/#t5_z1_note-1\">\u00b9</a><br /><br />Similarly he built community for collective action, such as co-founding the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and the Demand Progress political advocacy group<a href=\"https://tantek.com/#t5_z1_note-2\">\u00b2</a> which remain active to this day.<br /><br /><br />One of the best ways to honor Aaron\u2019s memory is to build on the good examples he set that succeeded and continue to succeed.<br /><br />The only neutrality that Aaron supported was net neutrality, prioritizing those that use the internet over those that build & serve it, a priority of constituencies strongly aligned with the W3C\u2019s official Ethical Web Principles.<a href=\"https://tantek.com/#t5_z1_note-3\">\u00b3</a><br /><br />If you too reject neutrality and instead embrace allyship & action, some of those actions will require resisting the status quo with the intent of changing it.<br /><br />If resistance with the goal of actual change is your primary objective (rather than recognition), build community to bring about that change, resist collectively not alone, both in the near term, and sustainably into the future.<br /><br />Still miss you Aaron.<br /><br /><br />Previously:<br />* <a href=\"https://tantek.com/2024/013/t1/remembering-aaronsw-eleven-years\">https://tantek.com/2024/013/t1/remembering-aaronsw-eleven-years</a> (links to prior posts)<br /><br /><br /><a href=\"https://tantek.com/#t5_z1_ref-1\">\u00b9</a> <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#Opposition_to_the_Stop_Online_Piracy_Act_(SOPA)\">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#Opposition_to_the_Stop_Online_Piracy_Act_(SOPA)</a><br /><a href=\"https://tantek.com/#t5_z1_ref-2\">\u00b2</a> <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#Progressive_Change_Campaign_Committee\">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#Progressive_Change_Campaign_Committee</a><br /><a href=\"https://tantek.com/#t5_z1_ref-3\">\u00b3</a> <a href=\"https://www.w3.org/TR/ethical-web-principles/#noharm\">https://www.w3.org/TR/ethical-web-principles/#noharm</a>"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Tantek \u00c7elik",
"url": "https://tantek.com/",
"photo": "https://tantek.com/photo.jpg"
},
"post-type": "note",
"_id": "43517143",
"_source": "2460"
}
{
"type": "entry",
"author": {
"name": "Jared White",
"url": "https://jaredwhite.com/",
"photo": null
},
"url": "https://jaredwhite.com/20250111/is-ignorance-bliss",
"published": "2025-01-11T19:21:57-08:00",
"content": {
"html": "<p>One of the most distressing things I am challenged by as 2025 kicks off is the realization that a significant percentage of people <em>enjoy</em> being deceived and <em>want</em> to keep being deceived.</p>\n\n<p>There\u2019s that pivotal moment in <em>The Matrix</em> where Cypher is commenting on the fake nature of his unreality:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>You know, I know this steak doesn\u2019t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? <strong>Ignorance is bliss.</strong></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Just as Cypher is yearning to return to eating fake steaks and living a fake lifestyle of fake comfort and adulation, many people seem to yearn for fake news and <a href=\"https://jaredwhite.com/tag/generativeai\">#generativeAI</a> slop and the ceaseless noise of scorched-earth online <a href=\"https://jaredwhite.com/tag/politics\">#politics</a>. They think nothing of the technologies and platforms actively engaged in <strong>mass deception</strong> as well as industrial-scale theft. Who cares if you have to strip mine the Internet in order to make a \u201cfunny\u201d meme featuring fictionalized people concerning an event which likely didn\u2019t even happen but whatever because you\u2019re owning the libs?</p>\n\n<p>In times past, we would worry about singular governmental officials such Joseph Goebbels becoming a master of propaganda for their cause. Today\u2019s problem is massively scaled out in ways Goebbels could only dream of: now <em>everyone</em> can be their own Goebbels. Can someone please tell me what the difference is between an \u201cinfluencer\u201d holding a smartphone and\u2026a propagandist? <strong>Because I simply can\u2019t see the distinction anymore.</strong></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/10/24341039/meta-apple-mark-zuckerberg-trash-talks-joe-rogan-interview\">Mark Zuckerberg has claimed</a> \u201cThere isn\u2019t a physical world and a digital world anymore. We\u2019re in 2025. It\u2019s one world.\u201d</p>\n\n<p><em>Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!</em></p>\n\n<p>In the film world of <em>The Matrix</em>, humans were able to escape the Matrix and experience true reality. We seem not to be afforded that same luxury today, because in this reality, <strong>The Real World and The Matrix are one</strong>.</p>",
"text": "One of the most distressing things I am challenged by as 2025 kicks off is the realization that a significant percentage of people enjoy being deceived and want to keep being deceived.\n\nThere\u2019s that pivotal moment in The Matrix where Cypher is commenting on the fake nature of his unreality:\n\n\n You know, I know this steak doesn\u2019t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss.\n\n\nJust as Cypher is yearning to return to eating fake steaks and living a fake lifestyle of fake comfort and adulation, many people seem to yearn for fake news and #generativeAI slop and the ceaseless noise of scorched-earth online #politics. They think nothing of the technologies and platforms actively engaged in mass deception as well as industrial-scale theft. Who cares if you have to strip mine the Internet in order to make a \u201cfunny\u201d meme featuring fictionalized people concerning an event which likely didn\u2019t even happen but whatever because you\u2019re owning the libs?\n\nIn times past, we would worry about singular governmental officials such Joseph Goebbels becoming a master of propaganda for their cause. Today\u2019s problem is massively scaled out in ways Goebbels could only dream of: now everyone can be their own Goebbels. Can someone please tell me what the difference is between an \u201cinfluencer\u201d holding a smartphone and\u2026a propagandist? Because I simply can\u2019t see the distinction anymore.\n\nMark Zuckerberg has claimed \u201cThere isn\u2019t a physical world and a digital world anymore. We\u2019re in 2025. It\u2019s one world.\u201d\n\nLook on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!\n\nIn the film world of The Matrix, humans were able to escape the Matrix and experience true reality. We seem not to be afforded that same luxury today, because in this reality, The Real World and The Matrix are one."
},
"name": "Is Ignorance Bliss?",
"post-type": "article",
"_id": "43513640",
"_source": "2783"
}
Recent events online have been truly sucky, but as always the one shining light has been the #openweb (and by extension, the #fediverse—run by independent operators of course).
Virtually everything I hate, hate about the modern Internet has less to do with the design and featureset of the Web technically-speaking and much more to do with the fact that increasingly people are only accessing a mere handful of domain names as filtered through a mere handful of apps. I’ll go a step further: even while online spaces dominated by Big Tech slide further into hellscape territory, it’s never been easier for plucky individuals to build amazing experiences for the Web. The capabilities of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and a plethora of cheap/free hosting options are so incredible today, my brain would have melted 10 years ago—certainly 20 years ago—if I’d been shown this kind of raw power.
And therein lies the disconnect…never before has The Indie Web been such a glorious platform for building anything you might dream of and sharing it with anyone you like, yet never before has The Corporate Web been so awful and damaging to the body politic.
I wish I knew how to deal with this cognitive dissonance, and how to convey to mere mortals out there that The Indie Web is alive and kicking and that The Corporate Web doesn’t have to define their experience of being online. This seems to be the challenge of 2025, and not a single day goes by when I don’t think deeply about this problem. It’s mentally and emotionally taxing—but again, I’m grateful to know there are others out there in the same boat. We’ve got our work cut out for us, that’s for sure!
{
"type": "entry",
"author": {
"name": "Jared White",
"url": "https://jaredwhite.com/",
"photo": null
},
"url": "https://jaredwhite.com/20250108/the-open-web-has-never-let-me-down",
"published": "2025-01-08T19:51:51-08:00",
"content": {
"html": "<p><a href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/7/24338127/meta-end-fact-checking-misinformation-zuckerberg\">Recent events</a> online have been <a href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/7/24338125/meta-mark-zuckerberg-fact-checking-censorship-brendan-carr-trump\">truly sucky</a>, but as always the one shining light has been the <a href=\"https://jaredwhite.com/tag/openweb\">#openweb</a> (and by extension, the <a href=\"https://jaredwhite.com/tag/fediverse\">#fediverse</a>\u2014run by independent operators of course).</p>\n\n<p>Virtually everything I hate, <em>hate</em> about the modern Internet has less to do with the design and featureset of the Web technically-speaking and much more to do with the fact that increasingly people are only accessing a mere handful of domain names as filtered through a mere handful of apps. I\u2019ll go a step further: even while online spaces dominated by Big Tech slide further into hellscape territory, it\u2019s <em>never</em> been easier for plucky individuals to build amazing experiences for the Web. The capabilities of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and a plethora of cheap/free hosting options are so incredible today, my brain would have melted 10 years ago\u2014certainly 20 years ago\u2014if I\u2019d been shown this kind of raw power.</p>\n\n<p>And therein lies the disconnect\u2026never before has <strong>The Indie Web</strong> been such a glorious platform for building anything you might dream of and sharing it with anyone you like, yet never before has <strong>The Corporate Web</strong> been so awful and damaging to the body politic.</p>\n\n<p>I wish I knew how to deal with this <em>cognitive dissonance</em>, and how to convey to mere mortals out there that <strong>The Indie Web</strong> is alive and kicking and that <strong>The Corporate Web</strong> doesn\u2019t have to define their experience of being online. This seems to be <em>the challenge</em> of 2025, and not a single day goes by when I don\u2019t think deeply about this problem. It\u2019s mentally and emotionally taxing\u2014but again, I\u2019m grateful to know there are others out there in the same boat. <em>We\u2019ve got our work cut out for us, that\u2019s for sure!</em></p>",
"text": "Recent events online have been truly sucky, but as always the one shining light has been the #openweb (and by extension, the #fediverse\u2014run by independent operators of course).\n\nVirtually everything I hate, hate about the modern Internet has less to do with the design and featureset of the Web technically-speaking and much more to do with the fact that increasingly people are only accessing a mere handful of domain names as filtered through a mere handful of apps. I\u2019ll go a step further: even while online spaces dominated by Big Tech slide further into hellscape territory, it\u2019s never been easier for plucky individuals to build amazing experiences for the Web. The capabilities of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and a plethora of cheap/free hosting options are so incredible today, my brain would have melted 10 years ago\u2014certainly 20 years ago\u2014if I\u2019d been shown this kind of raw power.\n\nAnd therein lies the disconnect\u2026never before has The Indie Web been such a glorious platform for building anything you might dream of and sharing it with anyone you like, yet never before has The Corporate Web been so awful and damaging to the body politic.\n\nI wish I knew how to deal with this cognitive dissonance, and how to convey to mere mortals out there that The Indie Web is alive and kicking and that The Corporate Web doesn\u2019t have to define their experience of being online. This seems to be the challenge of 2025, and not a single day goes by when I don\u2019t think deeply about this problem. It\u2019s mentally and emotionally taxing\u2014but again, I\u2019m grateful to know there are others out there in the same boat. We\u2019ve got our work cut out for us, that\u2019s for sure!"
},
"post-type": "note",
"_id": "43483945",
"_source": "2783"
}
{
"type": "entry",
"author": {
"name": null,
"url": "https://herestomwiththeweather.com/",
"photo": null
},
"url": "https://herestomwiththeweather.com/2025/01/08/hockey-trivia/",
"published": "2025-01-08T16:03:05+00:00",
"content": {
"html": "<p><img src=\"https://coffeebucks.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/happily_married.png\" alt=\"Happily Married Season 1\" /></p>\n\n<p>As I just registered for a new season of beer league hockey starting this weekend, I thought about an episode of <a href=\"https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%27est_comme_%C3%A7a_que_je_t%27aime_(s%C3%A9rie_t%C3%A9l%C3%A9vis%C3%A9e)\">C\u2019est comme \u00e7a que je t\u2019aime</a> I recently watched which is set in 1974 <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Foy,_Quebec_City\">Sainte-Foy, Quebec City</a>. Nearly all the 1974 Quebec cultural references are new to me and in this episode, there is an adventure in a hockey arena and you can pause the video in a few places and see signage in the background for a junior hockey team called <a href=\"https://www.hockeydb.com/stte/ste.-foy-couillard-10999.html\">Ste. Foy Couillard</a> that only existed from 1972-1974.</p>\n\n<p>You can watch it at <a href=\"https://ici.tou.tv/c-est-comme-ca-que-je-t-aime\">ICI Tou.tv</a> (in Canada) or <a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0CXRS7C6S/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r\">Amazon Prime</a> (in U.S.).</p>",
"text": "As I just registered for a new season of beer league hockey starting this weekend, I thought about an episode of C\u2019est comme \u00e7a que je t\u2019aime I recently watched which is set in 1974 Sainte-Foy, Quebec City. Nearly all the 1974 Quebec cultural references are new to me and in this episode, there is an adventure in a hockey arena and you can pause the video in a few places and see signage in the background for a junior hockey team called Ste. Foy Couillard that only existed from 1972-1974.\n\nYou can watch it at ICI Tou.tv (in Canada) or Amazon Prime (in U.S.)."
},
"name": "Hockey Trivia",
"post-type": "article",
"_id": "43481995",
"_source": "246"
}
Finally deleted my Facebook (and Instagram and Messenger) accounts. It hurts to feel like I’m cutting off one of the few ways to find and be found by long-time family and friends, but I just cannot be part of these so-called social networks anymore.
Y’all can follow me on my website and places I can still syndicate like Mastodon and Bluesky. You can also converse with me via email, Signal, or IRL.
{
"type": "entry",
"published": "2025-01-08T15:54:21-0500",
"url": "https://martymcgui.re/2025/01/08/155421/",
"category": [
"facebook",
"instagram",
"silo-quits"
],
"syndication": [
"https://fed.brid.gy/"
],
"content": {
"text": "Finally deleted my Facebook (and Instagram and Messenger) accounts. It hurts to feel like I\u2019m cutting off one of the few ways to find and be found by long-time family and friends, but I just cannot be part of these so-called social networks anymore.\nY\u2019all can follow me on my website and places I can still syndicate like Mastodon and Bluesky. You can also converse with me via email, Signal, or IRL.",
"html": "<p>Finally deleted my Facebook (and Instagram and Messenger) accounts. It hurts to feel like I\u2019m cutting off one of the few ways to find and be found by long-time family and friends, but I just cannot be part of these so-called social networks anymore.</p>\n<p>Y\u2019all can follow me on my website and places I can still syndicate like Mastodon and Bluesky. You can also converse with me via email, Signal, or IRL.</p>"
},
"author": {
"type": "card",
"name": "Marty McGuire",
"url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
"photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
},
"post-type": "note",
"_id": "43479792",
"_source": "175"
}
