@acarson@babka.social avatar

acarson

@acarson@babka.social

Laying the groundwork for an insanity defense since 1980. Web developer since 1998. WordPress user since 2005 and core contributor since 2012. Web accessibility enthusiast constantly in a state of improving my craftsmanship, jazz lover and book lover. And finally, proudly and unapologetically Jewish.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

This whole Voice Dream subscription discussion is a perfect reminder of why we can't have nice things and also of why pretty much every single one-man development shop that starts out making things for the blind community eventually quits.

wiljames, to random

This is wrong on so many levels. Not only does it do away with separation of church and state, students with disabilities are left in the cold. Private schools do not have to acommodate students with disabilities. | Billions in taxpayer dollars now go to religious schools via vouchers - The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/06/03/tax-dollars-religious-schools/

acarson,
@acarson@babka.social avatar

@bryansmart @wiljames These vouchers pull from property taxes don't they?

acarson,
@acarson@babka.social avatar

@bryansmart @wiljames No we object to tax payer funds being used for religious schools, which take advantage of religious freedom in order to avoid abiding by laws intended to ensure they don't discriminate against students with disabilities.

acarson,
@acarson@babka.social avatar

@wiljames @bryansmart Honestly I think a lot of parents are sending their kids to religious schools because, aside from the disability issue, the education the students get is miles better when it comes to secular subjects than they will get in their local public schools, and anyone who wants to ensure their tax dollars don't go to religious schools is going to have to start stepping up and doing things like becoming active in local schoolboard meetings and such in order to make public schools provide better.

acarson,
@acarson@babka.social avatar

@wiljames @bryansmart That's not how taxes work.

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

The WordPress site editor is making me want to have a cigarette. Which I haven't had since last March.

It's not that you can't use it with a screen reader, you can. It's just that activating/clicking eight different things to accomplish a single task is nightmarishly inefficient, and I honestly can't fathom why anyone would consider this preferable to, say, banging your head repeatedly against a wall.

feedback, to Jewish
@feedback@babka.social avatar

Shalom, I'm Feedback! I'm a #Jewish musician, photographer, and techie currently working in cybersecurity. Like a lot of online Jews, I've been feeling a much stronger pull towards Jewish community spaces in the wake of current events, and was extremely excited to learn about the existence of #mazeldon ! Looking forward to getting to know people here! #introduction

acarson,
@acarson@babka.social avatar

@shekinahcancook @feedback I love jazz too I will absolutely check this out.

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

How about we not do this.

"The voices of kids killed in school shootings are being recreated by AI to lobby elected officials for gun control.

The WSJ’s Joanna Stern reports on The Shotline, which uses AI from a company called ElevenLabs to recreate the voices of kids murdered in school shootings and have them call elected officials."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3VZjuttZbQ

bryansmart, to random

In the last 2 months of selling and buying a house, I've created more accounts than in the last 4 years. Everyone, from agents, to lenders, to inspectors, to appraisers, to insurance and tax whatever have a portal. They all seemingly use different E-document providers. Everyone loves sending secure messages, only delivered via different secure e-mail portals. Everyone wants to setup 2FA. Everyone is a fucking special snowflake. I'm so burned out on it all.

acarson,
@acarson@babka.social avatar

@bryansmart I hope it all results in something positive.

rochelle, to random
@rochelle@fenetre.dev avatar

This is so aggravating. The museum is now closed because their staff walked out.

Seattle museum staff walk out over exhibit about antisemitism they said ‘conveyed Zionist perspectives’

https://www.jta.org/2024/05/28/united-states/seattle-museum-staff-walk-out-over-exhibit-about-antisemitism-they-said-conveyed-zionist-perspectives

acarson,
@acarson@babka.social avatar

@dukepaaron @tjcasser @rochelle Which is still giving a green light to bigotry. But I suppose either way you slice it, they're just going to say that anti-Jewish bigotry and conspiracy theorizing is the acceptable form they'll still keep around so there's a societal release valve.

drew, to random

I'm old enough to remember when Chrome rolled out automatic alt text descriptions, in the ancient past of 2019. https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/accessibility/get-image-descriptions/

So controversial! We faced immediate backlash. "How dare you?" they said. "Google is taking all the good alt text production jobs!" they said. Nevertheless, we persisted, in the face of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

Wait, I'm sorry. Actually, nobody said anything like that. Man! That would've been so stupid, right?

acarson,
@acarson@babka.social avatar

@drew @matt There's some really scary "AI" shit going on right now, (looking at you Microsoft with your recall project), but FF using AI to do automatic image descriptions isn't part of it. Unfortunately a lot of AI-skeptical arguments are pretty lazy at this point though, and I'm sure that's part of the dust-up.

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

We have the windows open because it's nice outside. I am sleepy and John is taking a nap, there's more beans left so I will likely eat some of that for dinner, and I'm doing my best to get the rest of today's work done. Shabbat can't come fast enough. #today

acarson, to Jew
@acarson@babka.social avatar

From the "It Was Never About Antisemitism" Dept.:

"Conservatives see a chance to remake college campuses"
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/donors-alumni-helped-take-down-an-ivy-league-president-is-this-a-moment-or-a-movement-a7b98273?st=rgkver1zhsguf6a

Let's stop pretending people like Elise Stefanik care anything about antisemitism just because the left has its own problem with antisemitism. Stefanik can wear the ally badge when she demonstrates the moral clarity she demands of others by forcefully and unequivocaly calling out the antisemites in her own party, starting with its leader.

#antisemitism #Jew-hatred

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

Evening #babkans and other #fedizens. I am here to tell you that food poisoning sucks, and that while I'm definitely feeling better after being very sick yesterday I'm still pretty wrung out Hoping tomorrow is better. #today

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

The ‘Criminal Immigrant’ Canard:

Republicans selectively highlight cases like Laken Riley’s to promote malicious lies.

https://open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark/p/the-criminal-immigrant-canard

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

Me: Sends long email answering all the questions in as much detail as I can at this point.

Them: "sounds good. Does $time work for you?"

Me, in my head: "You little moron, why are you still trying to turn this into a meeting there is literally nothing I can tell you in that meeting that I didn't already say in an email and I really can't stand it when people waste my time just because they need to have a security blanky or whatever."

Sheesh.

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

I can't wait until Dune II becomes available for streaming with description. The first one was so enjoyable. OK, I'm biased because I'm a huge Dune fan, but still.

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

I just noticed that a tab in my browser was using close to a gig of ram and honestly browser makers if you want people to not use adblockers then do whatever is in your power to help hault the adtech industry's fuckery because this is ridiculous.

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

Well this is awkward! "New 9/11 Evidence Points to Deep Saudi Complicity. Two decades of U.S. policy appear to be rooted in a mistaken understanding of what happened that day." Also this is really going to mess up the Biden Administration's plans for that grand deal. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/september-11-attacks-saudi-arabia-lawsuit/678430/

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

Get in #fedizens we're doing Thursday.

We're also doing the winter solstice, so happy and blessed solstice to my pagan pals.

It's a lazy day for John and I. He's sleeping in, and I'm watching Israeli news while scrolling my home timeline.

Also, I think I may have figured out how to break Send To Braille with a large file. We'll see if it ever translated, since Braille Blaster, old or new version, doesn't support US braille and only supports UET, which I hate. #today

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

Hey blind hive mind. Does anyone have any tips and tricks for pairing an apple watch while blind? I've tried holding the watch to the camera with no luck and when I try to use Seeing AI to get the 6-digit code after choosing the watch name, which I can get, I'm having no luck before the process times out. Reasonable light, but not ideal Not sure if that's part of the problem. Pairing with iPhone SE 2022, iOS 17 latest build. Thanks in advance.

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

Great job team MAGA I hope stabbing Israel and Ukraine in the back was worth it.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has drafted plans to release thousands of immigrants and slash its capacity to hold detainees after the failure of a Senate border bill that would have erased a $700 million budget shortfall, according to four officials at ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/after-border-bill-failure-ice-considers-mass-releases-to-close-budget-gap/ar-BB1igLBK

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

Next time you're tempted to attribute some sort of vast conspiracy to Google, remind yourself that somehow an office, where people needed to use wifi, was designed in such a way that the whole thing would obstruct radio propagation, and then it got built, and then Google put workers inside it, and finally they figured out why wifi wasn't working. These are not the masterminds of any vast conspiracy, I promise.

https://arstechnica.com/?p=2009247

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

I think I may have finally figured out how to efficiently clean up the trash fire within a tire fire that is my iCloud contacts.

acarson, to random
@acarson@babka.social avatar

Everyone keeps talking about bringing back the old web, and honestly maybe I'm missing something, but it never went away. I'm still using it thanks to an RSS reader and a personal website.

Granted, it's way less popular than it was when it was in its hayday, but it's still here. So go use it.

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