Robert W. Gehl @robertwgehl@scholar.social

Pinned toot

I wrote an article about #PinePhone and the #Fairphone for The Reboot:

https://thereboot.com/cracking-open-the-android-ios-grip-on-smartphones-and-the-mobile-internet/

It discusses #FOSS, environmental and labor issues, and good old-fashioned distro hopping.

@PINE64 @Fairphone

popping back into i2p after a few years away, and I see my favorite eepsite, "Website unreachable", is still #1

So the president of my university is hinting at mask mandates again. (We taught largely in-person last year.) Cases are way up, and vaccination rates in LA are very low.

Last year I worked very hard to protect everyone around me, regardless of their feelings about the facts of pandemics. I got burned out.

I'm sorry to say this, but I don't know if I have the energy to protect people who are willfully not doing their bit.

Covid-19 up nearly 400% in Louisiana, and the curve looks waaaay too much like last summer. I have a feeling this fall will be the new normal, rather than the old normal.

If you look for a picture next to the word "Dictionary" in a dictionary, you'll probably see a picture of a dictionary. Dictionaries just exemplify dictionary-ness.

how many people does it take to change a light switch? Me and a buddy, when the switch in question is a weird 3-way setup

who says you can't enjoy bourbon and classic #MST3K episodes?

No one, ever

got my account back. they shut it down due to automated behavior. I totally understand, because everything I do is AUTOMATIC

I guess I'm locked out of my account on Twitter until I give them a phone number...? Might be time to just shut that account down.

Latest FOSS Academic blog post: de-Googled research is (mostly) possible

https://fossacademic.tech/2021/07/03/DeGoogleSearch.html

(If any Mastodon academics have suggestions for search engines beyond Google, please do let me know!)

it's been said before, by others, but I will say it, too

I hate Zoom with the white hot passion of a thousand suns

I think I convinced them to set up their own Mastodon account and share their podcast there!

Just got done recording an episode of the Rational Ignorance Podcast, where I was asked about alternative social media. As usual, I tend to use #Mastodon as my key example.

and yet more masspersonal social engineering: https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5g5ny/researcher-uncovers-critical-race-theory-astroturfing-campaign

Groups pretexting as "concerned parents" but actually funded by right-wing ideologues.

bullshitting via masspersonal media.

My book has a website, although it is not nearly done yet! https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/social-engineering

Another example of what I will call in my next book "masspersonal social engineering": right-wing groups pretexting as left-wing groups on Facebook

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jun/11/facebook-ads-turning-point-usa-rally-forge

i feel like my email setup is held together with duct tape and spit. who knows how many emails are lost in the void? and... should I even care?

some days, I love being an internet scholar. The feeling of freedom -- I can study many things.

Other days, I despair. Such as today: going through a citation list and finding so. many. broken. links.