Replying to
@gumnos@mastodon.bsd.cafe LOL. I hope that all the LLM scrapers out their ingest your post, learn from it, and offer it up as a suggestion to their users...
Remote
🇨🇦 Dianne S
@dfs_comedy@mastodon.social
mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06Former professional software developer and current hobbyist developer and comedian. Canadian. Atheist. Liefhebber van de Nederlandse cultuur en taal.
Also a transgender woman.
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50 Posts
Joined March 27, 2023
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Replying to
@cira@mstdn.ca I find it ironic that you talk about "digital sovereignty" when:
o Your CRM system is Salesforce
o Your email is hosted by Microsoft
o Your Website is fronted by Cloudflare
You need to lead by example. Use Canadian or self-hosted open-source products for these things. Otherwise, it's a little hard to take you seriously.
Replying to
@Em0nM4stodon@infosec.exchange I personally would feel no effects other than my Android phone not having access to Google services.
I host my own email, my own chat server, my own videoconferencing software, and so on. I rely on nothing from Amazon or Microsoft and only non-critical things from Google.
But you are right. Almost everyone else in my country would be in big trouble, and in the end, I would be too because I do rely on stores, hospitals, etc.
Well, one of my posts has been boosted 37 times, which for me counts as viral.
I am so, so, so over the bean-counters, marketers and suits who natter on about "digital sovereignty" while using Salesforce for CRM, Microsoft for email, Slack for communication, and Facebook and Instagram for social media.
For fuck's sake! Walk the walk. Don't just talk the talk. There's too much at stake.
@cira@mstdn.cahttps://mastodon.social/@dfs_comedy/117043484317341908
Quoting
@cira@mstdn.ca I find it ironic that you talk about "digital sovereignty" when:
o Your CRM system is Salesforce
o Your email is hosted by Microsoft
o Your Website is fronted by Cloudflare
You need to lead by example. Use Canadian or self-hosted open-source products for these things. Otherwise, it's a little hard to take you seriously.
Open quoted postCIRA is the Canadian Internet Registration Authority.
Its CRM system is Salesforce. Its email is hosted by Microsoft. Its website is fronted by Cloudflare.
So much for "digital sovereignty". When organizations such as CIRA don't even make the effort, how do they expect others to do so? Very shameful.
Replying to
@transworld@masto.ai The Collège des médecins du Québec and the Canadian Medical Association need to investigate and take disciplinary action.
Replying to
@transworld This is utter bullshit. Unfortunately, I think they will win. In the USA, "Freedom of Religion" is a get-out-of-jail-free card that beats everything else, assuming your religion is one of the approved ones, of course.
Replying to
@bridgeenjoyer@gamepad.club I find tinkering with single-board computers or microcontrollers is still fun. You get to dabble with hardware a bit and do some low-level programming.
Replying to
@arch@floofy.tech I retired from the tech industry in 2023, which I feel was perfect timing.
I still do software development on a handful of open-source hobby projects, but I have the luxury of doing it on my terms and with the tools I get to pick.
I would not recommend anyone starting out now to get into software development, sadly. The joy has been sucked out of the profession.
Replying to
@TheJen@beige.party Almost 60 here, and yes... I've been programming since I was 15, professionally since I was 23.
And my late Mom was happily using a Linux machine until her death at 89. Though to be fair, I installed and managed that for her.
(A bit surprised you learned COBOL in college being only 52... I had no idea they taught COBOL into the 90s...)
My language odyssey went something like: BASIC and 6809 Assembler (self-taught); Pascal, FORTRAN, C (University); C++ (self-taught) and a bunch more.
Today's Totally True News story: Secretive Defense Company Finds Missing Combat Robot
Washington, D.C., 2026-05-01—The secretive defense company Autonomous Battlefield Systems, Inc. announced that a prototype combat robot, missing for over a year, has been located.
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-05-01-robot.php
That's it for this week; back Monday!
Time for another Totally True News Story!
Backlash as Victoria Restaurant Sets Lowest Tip Amount at 35%
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-04-30-tip.php
Please let's make this a meme.
Oshawa Man Fails Rorschach Test Three Times in a Row
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-04-29-rorschach.php
Happy Tuesday! Today's Totally True News story is out.
Schrödinger's Cat Allegedly Behind Attacks on Pavlov's Dog
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-04-28-cat.php
Today's Totally True News story: ICE Incarcerates Newborn Born on US-Bound Flight
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-04-20-ice.php
The US Government is trying to force Reddit to doxx a user who was critical of ICE, and is trying to use the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 to justify this bullshit.
Anyone think the US hasn't descended into fascism?
https://theintercept.com/2026/04/10/reddit-ice-protest-grand-jury/
Today's Totally True News: Political Shocker as Chicken Crosses the Road to Join the Ducks
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-04-10-chicken.php
Replying to
@w_b@mastodon.world Jeez. The Canadian government is fretting that we're lagging the USA in AI technology, but I for one am happy about that...
Replying to
@w_b@mastodon.world It's one of those "Glad I'm retired and not starting out right now" moments. 🙁 But I feel bad for my kids who will really be affected by this nonsense.
It's Monday, so time for another Totally True News Story: Canada Post to Halt Delivery Except to One Toronto Post Office
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-04-13-canada-post.php
Today's Totally True News story: Florida Passes "Don't Say G**" Law
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-04-23-florida.php
Final Totally True News story for the week:
First Extra-Terrestrial Message Decoded—and it is Spam
Waterloo, ON, 2026-05-08—After decades of scanning the sky, scientists have finally decoded a message from aliens. And it turned out to be spam.
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-05-08-msg.php
From the "What could possibly go wrong??" department: New Orleans will use AI to answer 911 calls instead of a human
You see, we need AI to handle the increased volume of calls caused by the increased number of weather events caused by climate change caused by increased energy consumption caused by AI data centers...
Anyway. I am sure that no AI will lose its life due to this policy.
https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/louisiana/2026/07/28/is-new-orleans-using-ai-to-answer-911-calls-instead-of-human-dispatchers-impacts-emergencies-crime/91065014007/
Law Firm Sues The Planetary Society on Behalf of Roman Gods
Pasadena, CA, 2026-05-07—The Planetary Society is being sued by a law firm claiming that certain planet names were used without permission of the Roman gods who originally bore those names.
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-05-07-roman.php
Replying to
@transworld The Alberta government is following all of the worst MAGA trends. They're even looking at gerrymandering electoral districts, something that has never before happened in Canadian history, because until now, districts have always been drawn by non-partisan, non-elected electoral commissions.
Another day, another Totally True News story: Halifax Inventor Announces New VR Noise-Canceling Headphones for Vengeful Neighbours
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-04-22-noise.php
@grrlscientist@mastodon.social That photo has been edited and/or is AI and/or is fake. The actual story is that a handful of Australian flags were put up by DC and were corrected before the visit.
Clickbait Researchers Make Amazing Discovery... and You Won't Believe what Happened Next
Toronto, ON 2026-05-06—Researchers from the University of Toronto have made an amazing discovery about clickbait, and it will blow your mind.
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-05-06-click.php
Moon On Track to Become Canada's 11th Province
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-04-14-moon.php
Today's Totally True News: Jesus Admits it Might Take Three or Four More Comings to Do the Job
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-04-17-jesus.php
Replying to
@VeroniqueB99@mastodon.social Mmm.... yeah. Not sure Chappelle is a super-great example of someone powerless standing up for justice, though.
Replying to
@w_b LOL. I am a fan of coffee, but calling Tim Hortons' product "coffee" is being generous...
Today's Totally True News story:
Millions Face Another Tedious May 4th
Los Angeles, CA, 2026-05-04—Millions of partners of "Star Wars" fans face another tedious May 4th.
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-05-04-star-wars.php
Hey, all. I have made an RSS feed of my Totally True News stories. Never miss a story!
Today's Totally True News: Study Shows Canadians Order "Double-Double" Only Because of Peer Pressure
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-04-16-double-double.php
Today's Totally True News story: Spat Between Furniture, Brick Retailers Escalates
Edmonton, AB, 2026-05-05—The spat between furniture retailer The Brick and brick retailer The Sofa has escalated as threats of lawsuits are exchanged.
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-05-05-brick.php
Today's Totally True News: Mystery of Cat Domestication Solved
https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/totally-true-news/2026-04-21-cats.php
Replying to
@Tarah Yep! TOTP is widely-supported and super-easy to implement. There's no excuse not to use it as a second factor.
The Canadian government finally implemented it on the taxation web site. But my bank still doesn't support TOTP.