@jik@federate.social

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2d ago

I want to share with you the gist of a mind-blowing conversation I had with my doctor today at my annual physical. She asked about my mood, which led to a conversation about how AI is ruining everything, which prompted her to mention that she doesn’t use the AI transcription app that her hospital network is encouraging people to use, because she finds it’s too time-consuming for her to read and correct the AI transcriptions instead of just writing down her own notes. #healthcare 1/5

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 1w ago

Hello my #American #progressive and #leftist friends! I want to make sure you all understand that #MedicareForAll is just a stepping stone on the path to #UniversalHealthcare. It’s not the end goal. Medicare For All just replaces insurance companies deciding what to pay for and how much, with the government deciding what to pay for and how much. And Medicare reimbursement rates are not high enough for doctors and hospitals to survive on. #healthcare #politics #USPol 1/3

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2w ago

RE: https://floss.social/@kde/117322549131682125 This article claims that #Framework has severed its relationship with #DHH and #Omarchy. I was unaware of this. Questions I could use help answering if you know anything: 1) Can anybody point at any evidence that Framework has actually done that? I'm glad to hear it if it's true, but saying it doesn't make it so. 2) Remind me, was there anything else we were upset about regarding Framework, other than giving money to DHH and Omarchy and then being shitty about it when they were called out?

Quoting

KDE

@kde@floss.social

Nate Graham's first-hand, blow-by-blow account on what went down: https://pointieststick.com/2026/09/23/kde-and-ai-and-you-and-me/ Not to do the click-baitey thing, but some of the details my clarify some of the points. Please read through the whole thing carefully to better understand the situation and why what was done was done.

Open quoted post

floss.social

KDE: "Nate Graham's first-hand, blow-by-blow account on…" - FLOSS.social

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

But that's all over. The boomers have fucked up the U.S. economy and the world for everybody, and my kids will be the first generation of middle-class white people since WW2 to be worse off financially than their parents. If the fucking boomers think the kids entering the job market now are going to get "more conservative" as they age, they're deluding themselves. Politics are going to change for the better in the U.S. It's going to be painful to get there, but we're going to get there. 2/2

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

RE: https://mastodon.stevesworld.co/@steter/117034068064687908 I hope people understand that there are, right now, in the United States, concentration camps where people the U.S. government doesn't like or finds convenient to scapegoat are being sent to die. Because maybe if people understand that, then they will also understand that our last chance to put the brakes on this without at best a hot civil war, and at worst a world war, is FOR EVERY VOTER IN EVERY STATE TO SHOW UP IN NOVEMBER AND VOTE AGAINST THE FASCISTS. #politics #USPol #NeverAgainIsNow

mastodon.stevesworld.co

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2w ago

There's this thing I'm seeing more and more websites doing, where if you were previously logged in and you revisit the site after the login timeout has elapsed, it briefly flashes the logged-in page, including content that should only be visible to you when you're logged in, before logging you out and taking you back to the login page. Wow, what an anti-pattern. If my login has timed out I obviously shouldn't be able to see private data for even a fraction of a second. #infosec 1/2

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 6d ago

Replying to

@MaryAustinBooks@mstdn.social But who would he lose TO? Because we're a year and a half away from needing to pick a candidate who (a) can energize people enough to get them to vote, (b) doesn't have disqualifying baggage (which, IMO, Harris does, and I wish she would drop the hell out now rather than making the same fucking mistake Biden did), and (c) isn't a centrist fuckwit who is just going to try to return to the status quo if they win. So far I don't see anybody emerging who fits the bill.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 6d ago

Yet another example of why we do not want or need #GavinNewsom in 2028. https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/01/california-governor-vetoes-bill-banning-use-of-pervert-glasses-to-secretly-record-people/ No-adwall version: https://archive.ph/Q5Xif #privacy #politics #USPol #CAPol #PervertGlasses

TechCrunch

California governor vetoes bill banning use of 'pervert glasses' to secretly record people | TechCrunch

The California state bill would have penalized people who secretly recorded people in public with wearables equipped with cameras and microphones.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2w ago

Boosted by @kcarruthers@infosec.exchange

Replying to

The Jewish people have been punished repeatedly by God (so our tradition teaches us) for falling into sin and hypocrisy. Heck, the text from the prophets we read today, Yom Kippur, teaches us explicitly they God doesn't want fasting and sacrifices if it isn't accompanied by actual good deeds. Clearly, our tradition wants us to understand that we are just as vulnerable to "falling off the wagon" as anyone. But I see no understanding of that in most of my coreligionists. 2/?

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 4w ago

Boosted by @trending@homestead.social

When I was doing my "media tour" after DOGE fired me in February 2025, the people interviewing me would always ask what I was worried about DOGE doing with all the data they were gaining access to at federal agencies. I repeatedly warned that fascism requires enemies to survive, and trans people are one of the enemies for Trump Fascism™, so it's inevitable that the data would eventually be used to go after trans people. And here we are. #politics #USPol #TransRights https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2026/09/pentagon-searching-medical-records-to-identify-transgender-troops/

Federal News Network

Pentagon searching medical records to identify transgender troops | Federal News Network

Military officials are using medical and personnel data to uncover troops with current or past gender dysphoria as the Pentagon moves ahead with separations.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

RE: @thatkatharine@ohai.social

"If I had my way, that is how everyone should treat Rowling’s output in light of her pivot to full-time anti-trans crusading: as a regretfully significant cultural artifact of a moment in time, with which any present-day engagement should be treated as deeply embarrassing and problematic."
#TransRightsAreHumanRights #JKRowling #HarryPotter #TimHortons

ohai.social

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 1mo ago

Boosted by @trending@homestead.social

I'm happy for Karen Attiah and grateful to her for sticking up for what's right at great personal cost. There are a lot of positive lessons to draw from this. One of the most important is that this is why we need labor unions, and this is why the fascists are so desperate to destroy and disempower them. #KarenAttiah #WashingtonPost #journalism #unions Arbitrator orders Washington Post to reinstate Karen Attiah with full back pay and benefits https://www.democracydefendersfund.org/news/karen-attiah-secures-landmark-first-amendment-victory/

Karen Attiah Secures Landmark Victory in Wrongful Termination Case Against The Washington Post

Democracy Defenders Fund

Karen Attiah Secures Landmark Victory in Wrongful Termination Case Against The Washington Post

In a monumental defense of the First Amendment, an independent arbitrator has ruled that The Washington Post wrongfully fired acclaimed journalist Karen Attiah, ordering her immediate reinstatement with full back pay and benefits.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

Technical support reps who don't read the actual problem description you sent them, with actual, copy-pasted error messages illustrating the problem, and instead send you a stock reply which does not address what you wrote to them about piss me off.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

Everybody understands how this works, right? 1) #ToddBlanche says whatever he needs to say to allow the GOP to save face. 2) The media credulously reports it with no acknowledgment that it's meaningless. 2) The GOP confirms Blanche as AG. 3) Blanche does whatever the fuck he wants, including things that directly contradict what he said before confirmation. 4) The GOP does piss-all about it. They sure as hell ain't going to impeach him, that's for sure! #politics #USPol https://www.npr.org/2026/08/03/g-s1-136864/todd-blanche-rescinds-trump-anti-weaponization-fund

npr.org

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@karlbode.com Yes, exactly this. People aren't giving the Democrats money because the national leaders of the party have proven themselves to be useless, feckless cowards. If they want people to support the party, they need to put forward party leaders whom the people actually want to support.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

RE: https://infosec.exchange/@patrickcmiller/116909416159340074 "We cannot choose to become idiots." There it is. AI is dramatically accelerating a trend we were already seeing in society: more and more, people have been "choosing to become idiots." A population that does not know how to think is a population that can be easily manipulated and controlled. This will not end well. Heck, already it isn't middling well either. #AI

Quoting

Patrick C Miller

@patrickcmiller@infosec.exchange

Suspecting AI cheating, Ivy League prof ordered an in-person final; scores fell 50% https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/we-cannot-choose-to-become-idiots-the-ai-cheating-scandal-roiling-brown-university/

Open quoted post

infosec.exchange

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 1mo ago

New: WP+Masto POSSE — publish to both WordPress and Mastodon A few days ago, I asked the fediverse if anyone knew of a tool I could use to publish an article on my blog and publish the same article as a thread on Mastodon. I already have a way to post summaries of and links to my blog postings into my Mastodon account. I’ve also already set up my WordPress server as an ActivityPub server. These aren’t what I want. #fediverse #Mastodon #WordPress #POSSE #FOSS 1/8

federate.social

Jonathan Kamens 86 47: "I'm trying to #POSSE (Publish Own Site, Syndicate…" - federate.social

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

I sent the university an email just now bemoaning the shitty chatbot—with the examples above as well as others where it has given me useless or wrong answers—and begging them not to keep making us use it. I doubt it will do any good, but I'd rather they heard from people about how bad it is than have nobody write to them and have them assume the bill of goods CampusEXP sold them is true.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

I know this isn't productive thinking, but a thought that keeps popping into my head over and over as I read the news is, "We fucking told you this would happen."
A lot of the same dummies who couldn't understand harm reduction in 2016 also couldn't understand harm reduction in 2024, and here we are.
I will never not be mad at anyone who could have voted for Clinton or Harris and didn't.
Many of them still think they did the right thing. Shmucks.
#politics #USPol
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:bbp2b224lro3bfnzcqwwnkfo/post/3ms6ijx5psc2g

federate.social

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@blogdiva@mastodon.social This has been an Israeli propaganda talking point since I was born 50+ years ago.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 3mo ago

Oh, sure, "adobe flash reader", a program that never existed for a technology that was EOLd six years ago, is definitely what I need to download to view a "pdf". How convincing! I'll download that software and install it on my desktop right now! /s #infosec #phishing #scam

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

#FirstManufacturing now says they are investigating how the unique email address I gave only to them ended up in the hands of another merchant, #LeatherNewYork. They also continue to deny any information was leaked, which is clearly false, and I wrote back and told them so. Additional details here if you're curious:
https://blog.kamens.us/2026/07/18/first-manufacturing-co-selling-customer-email-addresses-in-violation-of-its-own-privacy-policy/#update0804
#infosec #privacy #spam #breach

federate.social

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

Yesterday I got email from MyRegistry.com offering free Ethereum. Today, I got email from them saying that email didn't come from us, this was just "an unauthorized party accessing our email marketing platform." "There is no evidence that any MyRegistry.com member accounts were compromised." Perhaps not yet, but now that they've got your user list they can do a password-spraying attack? Sounds like a breach to me. Maybe you should treat it that way. #infosec #breach #MyRegistry #MyRegistryCom

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 3mo ago

Any bank employee or contractor who is too stupid to realize that their activities within the bank's systems are being monitored deserves to be sacked and put in the dock. Any bank which doesn't have active monitoring in place to detect anomalous access within its systems is malfeasant. Kudos to Commonwealth Bank of Australia for getting this right. #infosec #banking #privacy https://www.skynews.com.au/business/finance/prime-minister-anthony-albaneses-personal-banking-details-allegedly-accessed-by-ey-graduates-on-secondment-at-cba/news-story/ad564bff4ea9dbad5ae00c6384beda70

skynews.com.au

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

The key thing to understand here is that LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS ARE WRONG ABOUT SHIT ALL THE FUCKING TIME. We used to sarcastically say, "Every time I read a news article about my area of expertise, I'm appalled by everything it gets wrong, but I'm sure the news articles about things that aren't in my area of expertise are all perfect!" It's no longer news articles people blindly trust, it's LLMs, which can produce bullshit at the speed of light. …

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

One cannot help but wonder is Trump is about to fire another Bureau of Labor Statistics Head for not making the numbers look like what he wants them to look like. 🤔 #politics #USPol #Trump

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

I would like to believe that a few GOP senators have grown enough of a spine to stop Todd Blanche from being confirmed as attorney general. But I'm not Charlie Brown getting ready to kick Lucy's football. We've seen this form of kabuki theater many times before. I'll believe Todd Blanche is out when someone else is confirmed for the position and not a moment sooner. #politics #USPol #ToddBlanche

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 3mo ago

You will find no better evidence than this that #MAGA is a cult. #politics #USPol #ClimateChange https://www.rawstory.com/trump-weather-2677157001/

rawstory.com

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

Friends, this is the time of year when I remind you that #BostonMA always needs poll-workers. You don't need to live in #Boston to be one, you just need to be a registered voter in #Massachusetts. Democracy doesn't work without elections, and elections don't work without poll-workers, so please consider signing up. Start at https://boston.gov/pollworker if you might be interested.

boston.gov

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@Crystal_Fish_Caves@mstdn.party My two rules for life for many years now are: 1) People are stupid. 2) People are assholes. (Present company excluded, of course.) So it's not that all _men_ you meet are assholes, it's that most of the _people_ you meet are assholes. And the closer you get to people (like, trying to date them, e.g.) the more likely you are to notice that they're assholes.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

The #Massachusetts legislature continues to respond robustly to the threats posed by our fascist federal government. They certainly haven't done everything I think they should, but the stuff they're doing is real and substantive. This is important legislation that was just passed and is on its way to the governor's desk for her signature: https://malegislature.gov/PressRoom/Detail?pressReleaseId=1458 #politics #USPol #MAPoli #MALeg

malegislature.gov

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 3mo ago

RE: https://beige.party/@LRRRonEarth/116881678315579225 I talked to Mitch McConnell for 20 minutes. I expounded on the benefits and joys of bidet attachments. He is eager to return home and add bidets to all of his toilets.

beige.party

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

#awkward situation of the day… the rabbi at my former synagogue (which my wife still attends, but I do not, because reasons) just emailed and said it was great seeing me on Shabbat and asking if I was interested in attending the synagogue at other times.
Except I wasn't there on Shabbat, I was at a different synagogue.
I replied and pointed that out, as well as explaining briefly _why_ I no longer attend the synagogue*, since I suspect no one filled him in when he took the job of rabbi there.
…

federate.social

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

Forgot to mention: the chatbot also provided me with the supposed phone number and email address of the university's housing & residential life office, and both were wrong.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@overholt@glammr.us

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

None of what the other models had to say was particularly wrong, but on the other hand, none of it said anything about my activism since I was fired by DOGE. At least some of the current models actually know about that and it's the first thing they mention when asked to explain who I am. 🤷 …

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 3mo ago

1) Amazing vegan ramen with dumplings for lunch from #RedWhiteBonelessRamen. 2) A bit of tooling around on the motorcycle to get to/from lunch. 3) Got something done today that I've been putting off for weeks. #3GoodThings @3goodthings@fedigroups.social

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

This is a lie, I've never worked on Apache Maven. …

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

#3GoodThings @3goodthings@fedigroups.social 1) Free street parking in #CambridgeMA before 9am (if you know where to look!). 2) Delicious chocolate croissant and hot chocolate at Paris Baguette for breakfast. 3) Breakfast with Spouse before we each go about our days.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

This is a lie, I am certainly not the developer of BibTex. wtaf …

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

#TechIsShitDispatch #AI #slop Like so many other colleges and universities, the uni my son is attending in the fall has partnered with https://www.campusesp.com to build their "family hub" site, which is supposed to be our one-stop shop for getting info we need. Like so many other shitty companies, #CampusESP has removed the search box on their website and replaced it with an AI chatbot. 😡 (1/4)

campusesp.com

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 1w ago

Today’s new, ridiculous #1Password bug which should never have gotten past QA and released (actually a series of interwoven bugs)… Background: I am on macOS. I have two 1Password accounts accessible through the app and browser extension, my work account which is authenticated through our SSO IdP and my personal account which is authenticated with a password. #infosec #PasswordManagers 1/12

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@north@xn--8r9a.com Yikes. It seems to me there are two different problems here: 1) There are people in the world who are nuts and/or extremely incompetent (Melissa S. goes into this category). 2) Wag! is not equipped to screen out nuts and/or extremely incompetent people. Unless we're supposed to believe that this was Melissa S.'s first job ever or Wag!? Which, I mean, is certainly possible, it just seems rather unlikely.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 1mo ago

#3GoodThings @3goodthings@fedigroups.social

Dropped off child #5 this morning for his first year of college. Much excitement.
Had a nice lunch with Spouse at a restaurant with outdoor seating to celebrate our last first day of college, and the rain held off just until we got home.
My new 4-PC USB 3.0 switch is working perfectly (the old switch was a bit flaky) and is a pleasantly solid little box.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 1mo ago

#3GoodThings @3goodthings@fedigroups.social

It's a beautiful day today, sunny and 80°F.
Picnic lunch date on the #motorcycle with Spouse, eating lunch and then walking by the river, culminating in…
Discovered a new ice cream place, https://www.naturalfruttiberri.com which has absolutely amazing Saffron & Rose soft serve. #Boston #BostonMA #Watertown #WatertownMA #food

naturalfruttiberri.com

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@nerdpr0f@infosec.exchange I'd be willing to be that if there is one it's on Facebook or WhatsApp, neither of which I will use. The "Family Hub" which the aforementioned chatbot is on is not a useful forum for interacting directly with other parents, unfortunately.

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik@federate.social

· 2mo ago

#TechIsShitDispatch A few days ago, I placed an order in a restaurant that uses #Toast for its point-of-sale terminals and entered my email address to receive a receipt via email. The receipt never arrived. I figured it was a one-off, maybe I typed my email address incorrectly, and shrugged it off. Today I placed an order at another restaurant that uses Toast. Again, I asked for an email receipt and it never arrived. It's not me. I checked my mail server logs. The receipts are not there. (1/4)

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