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Weird. It seems that sometimes Windows will just dump out of a batch file if there's an if statement that contains a REM, even if there are other valid commands in the statement. I'm experiencing in Server 2019 specifically.

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“We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services.”

wethebuilders.org/

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just a reminder i have some freebies in my kofi, ranging from emoji sets to sticker designs and wallpapers:

ko-fi.com/s/07fcd09c1a - neoghost emojis
ko-fi.com/s/cd7f51acbb - set of wallpapers
ko-fi.com/s/91b56c5da6 - kitty pride sticker designs
ko-fi.com/s/ab784d36d5 - neobun emojis

please boost and/or grab them (optional donation on for all the things)

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I was thinking about turning in for the night, since tomorrow is going to be a long day with a big server upgrade, but Window of Opportunity came on, so it looks like I might be up for another hour.

#Stargate #StargateSG1 #PlutoTV


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He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.

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Unknown parent



I forgot the dongle for my Jabra Evolve2 75 at the office, so I had to hook up my Skullcandy Riff bluetooth headphones. Dang I forgot how good they sounded.


So I finally got around to finishing Section 31 ... eh.

#StarTrek



My wife and I have really been enjoying Paralino for (supposedly) private family location sharing. Now that the client has been released for iOS the kid is running it as well.

Sadly, as it's not deGoogled (yet) I had to change the way I use my Private Space on GrapheneOS by allowing location access, but only allow it for certain apps. I plan on doing a write up soon, after we've put the iOS client through its paces.

paralino.com/



I still don't understand side tabs and workspaces in a browser ... not sure I could ever get into that workflow.

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Accepting preorders for my forthcoming book entitled, "Everything I know about running an antifascist underground resistance cell I learned from Deep Space Nine"

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Blog Questions Challenge: TV Shows

stevenbrady.com/blog-questions…

@Jcrabapple @Blog Questions Challenge Bot #IndieWeb #Blogger

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when nanobots get common enough

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Great troubleshooting website for connectivity issues. Accurate diagnosis every time.

isitdns.com/

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🔒 Privacy matters – even if you think you have "nothing to hide"! 🔒

Your data is valuable – to advertisers, hackers, and even governments. Lack of privacy can lead to tracking, manipulation, and identity theft.

✅ Block tracking & use privacy-friendly browsers
✅ Only enter necessary info in forms
✅ Encrypt your data before storing it in the cloud

Take control of your privacy! 🛡️

#PrivacyMatters #Encryption #OnlineSecurity

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IMPORTANT ACTION in response to the illegal firings of scientists and public health workers at HHS, NIH, CDC, and other federal agencies by the Trump administration.

Rally at HHS this Wed, Feb 19 at 12 pm.

If you are near DC, please show up in solidarity and support of federal workers!

RSVP here: docs.google.com/forms/u/0/d/e/…

@nihfellowsunite

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I highly recommend using Signal for your DnD group chat, Tor to look up hummus recipes and an encrypted email for your wedding RSVPs. The more people are using this sort of thing for completely innocuous stuff the less suspicious it becomes, and as a bonus you feel like you're doing something helpful while you're working out minicabs and compiling your Auntie Mary's dietary requirements.

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in reply to Jules

I use Signal for my DnD group chat and it's an excellent tool for this purpose.

Also an excellent tool for sharing photos of cats :d20: :neocat_aww:

in reply to Jules

Yes, *definitely* use Signal for your DnD group chat!


The fact that the @Q4OS for Windows setup documentation tells you how to get into the boot menu on systems includes Packard Bell makes me laugh.

q4os.org/dqa014.html

@Q4OS

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Since ScriptFTP (one of the easiest ways to script remote file transfers on Windows) decided to disappear I guess I'm moving everything to WinSCP.

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Apparently some tech bros are having to learn the hard way that the creator of #Linux is a leftist

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BOOKFACE BIG UPDATE!


Bookface for Friendica Frio header

First of all thank you for all the interest in this “Frio” theme scheme. I was concerned that people might have so much animosity toward Meta that a scheme to make Friendica look more like Facebook would be ill received. I originally made “Bookface” as a user content script just so I would feel more “at home” on Friendica. And I’m still using it that way myself because the instance I’m on does not offer this scheme as an option yet.

Version 1.3 represents a massive rewrite with the introduction of new features, like support for Profile Cover Photos and an “Auto” version that can detect if your operating system is set to Light Mode or Dark Mode and automatically apply the correct mode to Friendica, plus a completely New Mobile View for phones and tablets that aims to make it look and function a lot more like an mobile app. The user content stylesheets for client-side use have also been updated with the same changes, if that’s how you use Bookface. I have incorporated a ton of your feedback into this update, which I thank you for! There are also over 30 tweaks and fixes in this update.

While this is still a work-in-progress (but what on the web isn’t?) Bookface is already being used in production on some Friendica instances so I’d say it’s generally probably safe to use, but there could be issues I haven't anticipated, particularly with whatever add-ons are enabled on any given server.

Keep in mind “Bookface” is intended for recent browsers. By which I mean those that were released in the last year or two. Because I want to leverage some of the more advanced things CSS can now do. But if you have a mobile device that’s stuck running an old browser I’ve added some fallbacks so it’s still at least usable, but I’ve intentionally ignored any browser that nobody should really be using anymore for anything (like Internet Explorer). Presumably if you choose to roll with retro gear you probably don’t care about making Friendica look modern anyway.

I’ll do more detailed posts about each of these new features, but here’s an overview:

BETTER MOBILE MODE!

You may have noticed there isn’t an “official” Friendica mobile app and the webapp feels pretty clunky and outdated. You could, of course, use Relatica or Raccoon for an actual native mobile app experience, but I’ve notice a lot of people (myself included) are trying to use the webapp. And it needs improvement.

Portrait and Landscape orientation of Bookface Mobile View light and dark modes

I redesigned the mobile view to look and function a lot more like people expect a mobile app to work these days. One specific thing that was asked for was a way to get the toolbars out of the way in landscape mode, particularly on phones with small screens. The mobile landscape view now hides the toolbars and presents you with a limited set of buttons down the left and right sides of the screen if, in landscape orientation, the viewport is less than 400 pixels high. That’s going to be the majority of phones on the market today. Need more controls? Just rotate your phone back to portrait.

I’ve extensively tested this new UI on more than a half a dozen actual mobile devices, including an iPhone 5s, iPhone 8, two different recent Samsung phones, and older iPad Mini, two Android tablets, and two old Android phones.

EDIT: Post with more details about the new Mobile UI

AUTO VERSION!

More than one of you specifically asked for a version that would automatically switch between Light or Dark depending on which mode you have set on your device. It was tricky to implement given all the colors that are set server-side in PHP variables, but I came up with a pure-CSS way of doing it. It doesn’t even need to set a browser cookie. Enjoy going over to the Dark Side. Or Light Side. Whichever.

Unfortunately there is no auto version of the user content stylesheets for the client-side. The client-side styles require the underlying “Frio” theme be set to Light, Dark, Black, or Custom (which is based on Light). There is no way for a client-side stylesheet to automatically switch the server-side theme scheme, so there will never be an auto version of the user stylesheets.

LOCALIZATION & CUSTOMIZATION

Under the Settings > Display > Theme Customization options you could previously only set the Accent Colors. There was a "Link Color" box below that but it didn't do anything. Well, now it does. You can set almost any color you please ("almost" because it does error-catching to make sure you don't set it to the same color as the background).

I’ve moved as much as possible into CSS variables at the top of the stylesheets, so modifying Bookface to your liking is easier than ever. Just change the variable in that one place and everything else follows suit.

One thing in particular I’ve noticed from people’s screenshots is the engagement counts on Action Buttons being changed to match the button color or made black, etc., to make them less distracting. Personally I like them being in my Accent Color so I can quickly see which posts/comments are getting engagement and check them out. But I can also understand that all those colored “dots” could be distracting while scrolling. So I added CSS variables for “count-color” and "count-bg" that let you change the engagement count tex and background color to whatever you want.

But I took it beyond just the colors. Bookface sets a bunch of labels as pseudo-elements, and they are in English because that’s the only language I know. I saw a comment the other day from a German user on a German server that has implemented Bookface note that the labels were in English and thought they should be localized. Well, yes, they *should* and now I made it super easy for server admins to do that!

Just change the CSS variables for the labels at the top of the stylesheets to your language!
Bookface Action Button labels localized to Danish

Bookface Action Button labels localized (if the translation is laughably wrong blame Google Translate, I don't know any other languages)

COVER PHOTOS!

Screenshot of Friendica Profile with Cover Photo backdrop image

Every other social media platform seems to have a “Cover Photo/Header Picture” for your profile page. But not Friendica. :( Until now! You can add images to your profile description and/or custom profile fields. You can also put things inside “class” containers. So I coded Bookface to detect a class container named “coverphoto” and treat whatever image(s) are in it as your big, bold cover picture.

You can also decide, depending on where you place it, whether it’s only visible on your actual “Profile” page or if it’s visible on all your profile pages, or if you want to show different cover photos on your profile and the other profile pages. If you’re really indecisive you can place up to 4 images in the container and Bookface will turn them into a striped collage.

As for what that looks like to other people who aren’t using Bookface? Well, they still see a thumbnail of your image(s) in your profile, it just won’t look really cool to them.

EDIT: Post with more details about Cover Photos

PRETTY TAGS!

What is social media without hashtags right? And it’s cool that in the Fediverse you can follow a hashtag like you follow a person. But Friendica’s tags look...kinda bad. A bit distracting. Too small. Too hard to read. And some people really go wild with a wall of tags in their posts. I’m apparently not the only one who thinks they could use some improvements. There are discussions about this in Friendica’s GitHub issues going back several years.

First of all, I don’t think we need the little lightning bolt or person icons on them anymore. It’s 2025, people know what a tag and a mention are. I also replaced the “(x)” on categories with an “X” icon. Next I made the tags the same size they are on Mastodon, which is also makes much better touch-targets on mobile devices. To make them less distracting I gave them an “open” design, and recoded them so only the tag you are hovering/focused on switches to a “filled” design. For consistency I kept similar colors to the existing “Frio” tags, but adjusted them for better contrast against either the Light or Dark mode versions.

Image showing how tags and mentions appear in both Light and Dark modes and against the different background colors

The image shows how the tags appear in both Light and Dark modes and against the different background colors for posts and comments. The first row for each background color is how they normally appear, the second is the rollover effect when you hover on them.

GO GET IT!

12 Feb 25: LINKS BELOW UPDATED FOR VERSION 1.4

Server-side: If you run a Friendica instance.
Bookface v1.4 Scheme Files (gitlab.com/randompenguin/bookf…)

Client-side: If the Friendica instance you're on doesn't offer Bookface.
Bookface v1.4 Userstyless (gitlab.com/randompenguin/users…)

Everything is well-documented in the README files.


Bookface Mobile UI


The mobile UI has been completely reworked to look and act a lot more like a modern native mobile app. It is not a native mobile app, of course, and there are limits to what I can do with just re-skinning the website. But I hope people like it and find it easier to use.


Mobile View light mode portrait and landscape orientations.

Mobile View dark mode portrait and landscape orientations

The Channels overflow and other drop-downs, along with the Notifications Menu now pull down to fill the screen, as one would expect them to do on a phone.

For those who aren't using Frio, or at least haven't used it on a mobile device, here's a side-by-side comparison of Frio Light with Frio Bookface Light:

Side-by-side comparison of default Frio mobile vs Bookface mobile

One piece of feedback I received was about how much of the screen was taken up by the toolbars in landscape orientation on phones. I was asked if they could be hidden or something. Well, yes, they can be and something. The landscape view now hides the toolbars and limited controls are shown, pushed out to the left and right sides.

diagram explaining the limited controls in landscape orientation on small screen devices

The normal number of controls includes a logo button to the home page, your profile pic to open the main menu, a sidebar button, and the search button.

The maximum number of controls adds the "Compose" button, a scroll-to-top button, and a bulk-delete button. On search screens the “Compose” button is replaced with a “Save” icon, to save the search/follow a tag.

screenshot with markup showing how mobile buttons with labels spill off the screen and push other elements out of alignment

You may have noticed that the Action Button labels disappear on phones in portrait orientation. This is because, if all possible buttons are being shown, there simply is not enough room to also have labels under each of the buttons. They spill out the right side of the posts!

Initially I thought about just targeting button bars that had too many buttons and not show labels in that circumstance, but it made the UI inconsistent and, frankly, like something was broken. There was also no way to differentiate a button bar with all the buttons from one with fewer on older browsers. So the best solution was to just hide the labels in portrait for all phones.

I tested this mobile layout extensively, not just in emulation but on a number of actual devices including: an iPhone 5s, iPhone 8, an old LG phone, two recent Samsung phones, an iPad Mini, and two 7” Android tablets.

Tablets may get the phone UI or a "hybrid" UI in portrait mode, it really depends on the viewport size. Here's a screenshot of what it should look like on an iPad Air in portrait orientation:

Emulation of iPad Air in portrait orientation

On my iPad Mini, however, I get the phone UI in portrait because the viewport is 768x1024. Also, my iPad Mini is stuck on an old version of iOS which means the Safari Mobile browser on it doesn't understand newer CSS things like ":has()" so it doesn't drop Event response buttons to a second row even in landscape orientation (where it gets the Desktop UI) so it just shows them in a column, which looks a little weird but at least the buttons don't mess up the layout.

Obviously this is not as good as having an actual native mobile app, and it still has all of the performance issues the Friendica progressive web app and "Frio" theme have. I just gave it a facelift and pushed some buttons around. The HTML for the Friendica "Frio" theme is pretty code heavy because it needs alternatives in it and javascript-triggered stuff so older browsers and devices can use it. If it were focused on only targeting current browsers and devices I think the code could be streamlined considerably. And I may tackle the templates next, if I can find the time and energy. In the meantime you've got the Bookface scheme.

However, if what you really want or need is an actual native mobile app, you could try Relatica or Raccoon.


This entry was edited (1 month ago)

ANDREQ 🇷🇺 doesn't like this.

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in reply to Pygoscelis Papua

The goal of the mobile application is largely determined by the fact that every time you do not redraw the already heavy interface of Friendica... We are invited to use it through the browser as well.... pwa, are you seriously happy about such perversions of the interface like fB? I stop understanding people🤔

don't like this

in reply to Pygoscelis Papua

Thanks for the effort. It works as advertised in my Firefox browser. I think it definitely could help FB users to migrate to Friendica.

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So, since Google open sourced PebbleOS, think someone could put some pressure on Microsoft to open source Visual FoxPro?


Once again a piece of proprietary closed source software that I paid for has just blipped out of existence. Is there any wonder why I prefer open source?


A couple weeks ago I got around to finally hanging curtains in my office. Today I finally got around to opening them.


What's the Debian (not Ubuntu) based distro with the most up-to-date KDE Plasma?


I just learned about the tldr command. There's no going back to man pages now!

tldr.sh/

samuel_l_jackson_long_kiss_goodnight_not_going_back.gif




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Via my son:

#pinky #brain

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What borders on stupidity?

Mexico and Canada.

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in reply to R.L. Dane 🍵

@R.L. Dane 🍵 Regardless, the verses were describing John, a wild man, and not a directive on how we should all eat. Maybe they'll also sell camel hair tshirts with their brand logo? It's crazy what people pull from the Bible and try to apply to their own lives.

Even the footnote in my Bible says "probably Locust beans."

in reply to Steven

Yeah, this is the cult of all-form-no-substance.

Repeat the same sermons over and over again and never once touch the One who Spoke it.




How my day progresses ...
Time of Day: Morning -> Noon -> Afternoon
Streaming radio: ChristianPowerPraise.net -> ChristianRock.net -> ChristianHardRock.net
Volume: 25 -> 40 -> 70


So one of my goals is to start blogging more. I have two blogs right now, and will have a third soon. Many of these blog posts will be geared toward my Facebook and LinkedIn followers. This is the first of those. I was busy at the end of January and first of February, so I didn't get around to writing a post about Global Switch Day until earlier this week. I just shared it on those awful platforms. I'm also sharing it here.

stevenbrady.com/february-1-was…


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CW: "USPOL" (yes, read it, anyway 100%)

Sensitive content

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in reply to R.L. Dane 🍵

UKPol, divisive language?

Sensitive content


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the enemy does not arrive by raft
he arrives by limousine

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There is nothing illegal about naming inexperienced people currently accessing sensitive government data at the behest of Elon Musk.

They are:
Akash Bobba
Edward Coristine
Luke Farritor
Gautier Cole Killian
Gavin Kliger
Ethan Shaotran

This is a major security breach.

SPREAD

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in reply to 2600 Magazine

The security breach was a direct result of any of this data existing in the first place. Instead of government control should be in the hands of each individual and the resources coming from ones own labor going towards each owns individual purgatives. Those resources should be spent as each of us sees it, not via wealth redistribution schemes of the democrats and republicans whose programs are promoted via special interests of all kinds. If you want to drop bombs on children in the middle east it should come from the money you have worked to earn, not some general pot that is derived from violence (taxes) 60% of the population doesn't agree on.
in reply to 2600 Magazine

every single one of those names sounds like it came from a newspaper article where they got arrested for a punch up with security guards at a club attempting to throw them out after cornering women all night


Spent the evening getting backups running on the new servers. Phew. Also reworked some home networking.

#ProxmoxBackupServer