***** Google's plans to restrict sideloading on Android are an authoritarian wet dream come true *****
Let me be really clear about how horrifically dangerous #Google's plans are to restrict #Android sideloading to "verified developers" (that is, entities for which Google has full verified identity and associated information that they could hand over to authorities on demand).
This means that even though you own your Android device, you cannot install apps obtained from ANY source (except perhaps apps you build yourself that will only be permitted to run on your own device) unless Google knows pretty much everything about who created that app.
The ways that this could be abused are so numerous I won't even start listing them here, other than to note that it is absolutely horrific overreach by Google and at least appears to be Google bending over for abusive government demands, and could put already vulnerable individuals and groups at even more risk.
@rzeta0 @GrapheneOS For rooted phones all bets are off (but expect rooting to become more difficult over time). But this doesn't help 99.999% of people who don't root their phones, they are the ones I'm concerned about who are at risk.
I agree with your focus on the vast majority of non-techie people.
I feel sad about it but that 99.999% are easy victims of surveillance and control.
I sometimes think there must be a gap in the market for secure tech that is usable by that 99.999% ... but on thinking further, I think the established interests have the capability to kill any such venture quite easily.
If democracy depends on everyone being a PhD in electronics and software then that democracy is broken.
@rzeta0 GrapheneOS is gradually working towards making the out-of-the-box experience better, overhauling or replacing the legacy AOSP apps and also launching phones with official support for GrapheneOS with an OEM. It's not at all intended for only technical people. We aren't going to take problematic shortcuts which massively sacrifice privacy and security though. We're only willing to launch a device with an OEM able to meet our official requirements (grapheneos.org/faq#future-deviβ¦).
@GrapheneOS @rzeta0 Ordinary, non-techie people are not going to unlock their bootloaders and screw around with this stuff, especially when they find that key apps they depend on (for example, financial) will not run outside of the official Android environment. I have over the years run many nonstandard systems on Android and unlocked the bootloader on many of my devices, but these are not fixes for the vast numbers of people who could impacted by Google's pro-fascist sideloading decision.
The image is a social media post featuring a meme with four panels, each containing a photograph from a movie and a text box with a statistic about average income in the United States. The top panel shows a woman sitting outside a house, with the text stating, "The average income in the United States is $74,500." The second panel features a woman with a concerned expression, with the text, "Excluding the top 10 American, itβs only $65,000." The third panel shows a woman in a factory setting, with the text, "Excluding the top 50, it drops to $48,000." The bottom panel depicts a woman holding a sign that reads "UNION," with the text, "Excluding the top 1,000, it drops to $35,500." The meme uses these images to illustrate the disparity in income levels among Americans.
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The image features a humorous text on a light green background with a vintage-style illustration. The text reads: "There are two kinds of Republicans: billionaires and suckers. Check your wallet to see which one you are." The words "billionaires" and "suckers" are highlighted in red, emphasizing the contrast. Below the text, there is a black-and-white illustration of a man in a suit pointing to the right, with his finger extended. The overall design is simple, with a focus on the text and the illustration.
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The rushed integration of half-cooked automation into the already broken U.S. journalism industry simply isnβt going very well. Thereβs been just countless examples where affluent mediaβ¦
The image features two individuals dressed in glamorous attire, suggesting a drag performance context. The person on the left is wearing a red, sequined dress with a V-neckline and has blonde hair styled in a voluminous manner. The person on the right is dressed in a teal dress with a wrap-style neckline and a purple feather boa. Both individuals are wearing earrings, and the person on the right has a subtle smile. Text overlays the image, with "IMA INDA FILES" above the person on the left and "GILL TEA" above the person on the right. The text "PERFECT DRAG NAMES" is displayed at the bottom. The background is a plain, neutral color, focusing attention on the subjects.
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The image shows a screenshot of a Twitter conversation. The first tweet is from Jim Banks ([@]RepJimBanks), a verified account, posted at 8:14 AM on August 25, 2022. The tweet reads: "Student loan forgiveness undermines one of our military's greatest recruitment tools at a time of dangerously low enlistments." The tweet has received 54 retweets, 656 quote tweets, and 276 likes. Below this tweet is a reply from Brendel ([@]Brendelbored), posted 15 minutes later, which reads: "It's wild you'd just admit this man." Brendel's tweet has 3 replies, 5 retweets, and 439 likes. The background of the image is black, and the text is white, with the Twitter interface elements visible, including the time, date, and app used to post the tweet.
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The image shows two tweets. The first tweet, from Dr. Allison Wiltz, states, "To be clear theyβre talking about ethnically cleansing black communities." The second tweet, from Media Matters, quotes Benny Johnson as saying, "Entire neighborhoods, probably, need to be emptied, need to be bulldozed." The second tweet includes a screenshot of Benny Johnson, a man in a suit and tie, speaking at a desk with a backdrop featuring an eagle and the text "BENNY SHOW." The timestamp on the tweet indicates it was posted 1 day ago.
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Ukraine is celebrating its 34th Independence Day on Aug. 24, 2025. To mark the occasion, weβve asked the staff of the Kyiv Independent to share their favourite fact about Ukrainian history, culture, their hometown, or a famous Ukrainian β some of whoβ¦
The image is a screenshot of a webpage from the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) website, specifically the "Books Unbanned Initiative" page. The top of the page displays the URL "bklynlibrary.org" in black text, with a padlock icon indicating a secure connection. The main heading, "Books Unbanned Initiative," is in green text. Below the heading, there is a paragraph of text in black, providing information about the initiative. It states that teens and young adults aged 13-21 outside of New York State can apply for a free "Books Unbanned eCard," which provides access to BPL's entire digital collection. The text explains that the initiative aims to connect young people facing censorship and book bans with materials that explore a wider range of topics. The page also encourages visitors to support the initiative by making a donation, with the word "donation" underlined in blue.
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The image features two side-by-side photographs of individuals, with text overlaid. The top text reads, "Trump: 'San Francisco, you know, is, was a great city 15 years ago.'" Below, the text states, "I guess Trump doesn't realize that 15 years ago Gavin Newsom was the Mayor of SF and Kamala Harris was the DA!" The individual on the left is wearing a dark suit with a tie, standing in front of a building with columns. The individual on the right is wearing a dark blazer with a pearl necklace, standing in front of a bookshelf. The background and attire suggest a formal setting.
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The image features a black background with text in various colors, primarily yellow, white, and orange. The text is arranged in a block format, with each line centered and separated by spaces. The content of the text is historical, detailing the treatment of homelessness in Nazi Germany. It begins by stating that homelessness was criminalized, with homeless individuals referred to as vagrants and tramps. It mentions that social services were limited or discontinued. The text then highlights that in 1933, large-scale roundups began targeting homeless people in Germany, and in 1938, a "cleaning operation" sent 11,000 homeless people to labor camps, with most never returning. The final line, in orange, reads, "IF IT SOUNDS FAMILIAR, IT IS."
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The image shows a tweet from a verified account named "Bob Chipman" with the handle "[@]the_moviebob." The tweet contains a statement about violence against Nazis, arguing that there can be no "unprovoked" violence against them because their philosophy is based on violence. The tweet suggests that adopting a Nazi identity implies a declaration of violent intent, and any response to such individuals is considered self-defense. The tweet is presented in a standard Twitter format with a profile picture, username, and verified badge. The text is in black font on a white background, and the overall layout is typical of a Twitter post.
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If you're in Iowa, make sure to vote in the special election on Tuesday. There's a good chance to overturn the supermajority in the state senate. Every vote is important.
Got an email from Canada Post re: Shipping physical products to the US.
"Goods valued at US$800 or less that are shipped to the United States through the postal network will be subject to an ad valorem duty. This duty will be equal to the effective tariff rate applicable to the product's country of origin under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). For Canada, the current IEEPA rate is 35% for most goods.
"What this means for your business
"Starting August 29, 2025, every package shipped from Canada to the U.S. must show proof that duties have been prepaid before the shipment can be accepted for delivery."
So I won't be shipping jewelry to US customers for the foreseeable future, partly because of that 35% tariff, and partly because that number could change at any moment.
I found this great piece about #AcornBread -- written by a friend who I learned to make acorn bread from!
by Chris Knapp
"In autumn, all over the world, something wonderful happens: The acorns fall.
"The oak seed, which once sustained the bulk of human civilization, is now largely ignored as a food. Not so at our #Koviashuvik Local Living School (in #TempleME), where every fall my family, friends, apprentices and I spend three wonderful mornings crawling around in the nearby red oak grove picking up acorns. We are not playing; we are making a living and playing.
"This article offers a practical guide to processing acorns, a glance at the cropβs agricultural implications, and a chance to change the world β for as with any food or product, its conscious production and consumption create powerful opportunities for social and environmental change.
Using Acorns
"My family eats acorns in a variety of ways and uses 200 pounds of acorn flour a year. All our acorns come from the red oak, Quercus rubra, as that is our local oak. All acorns β whether from red or white oaks β are edible and all acorns contain enough tannin that leaching is a necessity.
"Our daily bread is a delicious blend of 60 percent acorn and 40 percent sourdough #spelt from the Webb Family Farm in #PittstonME. We make #AcornOatmeal #porridge twice a week for breakfast with 50 to 75 percent acorn. My kids, ages 4 and 2, eat it right up!
"We make biscuits and cookies. I like a dense, 95 percent acorn flat bread held together with 5 percent soaked ground #flax. For a basic biscuit recipe that will please anyone, combine 2 cups of acorn flour with 1 cup of oat flour, add 2 tablespoons of good fat and 1/2 teaspoon salt. (For fat we use Maine-grown sunflower oil or lard.) Add water to make a moist but not runny batter. Form the batter into biscuits and bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 375 F. Will Bonsall ate a whole bowl of these crackers when we shared them with him."
Processing acorns in a Davebilt nutcracker. Photo courtesy of Chris and Ashirah Knapp. By Chris Knapp In autumn, all over the world, something wonderful happens: The acorns fall.
The image is a meme featuring a social media post with a humorous twist on a news broadcast. The post is from a user named "Godzilla" with the handle "Bennett Seacrist," posted 4 hours ago. The post reads, "He's our only hope." The image shows a dramatic scene with two large creatures in the water, resembling Godzilla and a giant shrimp. The text overlay reads "BREAKING NEWS: WALMART RADIOACTIVE SHRIMP ATTACKS U.S." with a timestamp of "10:24" and a note "GODZILLA DISPATCHED TO SAVE US, MORE AT 11." The scene is presented as a live news broadcast, complete with a "LIVE" indicator in the top left corner. The meme humorously suggests that Godzilla is being called upon to combat the threat of radioactive shrimp from Walmart.
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I think it's absolutely unfortunate that in everything in society, anything less than being number 1 at anything is looked down upon and diminished in value.
Sports? Gotta win. Fortnite? Gotta win. Pokemon? Gotta be the very best like no one ever was. Money and power? If you're not the richest straight white man alive, what are you even doing with your life?
It's so bad that it creeps into stuff like art and music and even stereotypical nerd arguments about whether Superman could beat Goku in a fight.
I struggled with this when learning guitar and piano. I could never even come close to the piano skills of David Lanz, so why even try!? It took me too long (and a drum circle) to understand the joy of playing music isn't the same as listening to it. And the realization that if Lanz doesn't practice practically _every day_ his skills deteriorate. He had to devote his life to the piano to get that good.
It still meant I gave up on music though... I wasn't willing to practice.
@raven iβve definitely moved from both music and visual art being Serious Endeavors to just doing art seriously and keeping music as a fun pastime, because I couldnβt maintain both to the level I wanted.
Yeah, it's kind of sad we can't have the time to do everything as well as we'd like.
Someone on r/GenX said they'd just retired at 52 (police pensions are nice), and now he needed to find a hobby to occupy himself.
And I'm thinking like, "Dude... I've been wanting to retire since I was 18 to have time for all my hobbies! What have you been doing outside of work for all these years?"
Which makes the possibility I might not be able to retire at 65 really, really sad.
...an iron curtain has descended across the Continent"
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. ---Winston Churchill, March 5, 1946, Fulton, Missouri, USA
Now, thanks to Trump, a literal Iron Curtain has descended across North America. Trump is the Stalin of the twenty-first century.
Multiple postal services around Europe say they are suspending the shipment of many packages to the United States amid a lack of clarity over new import duties.
blocking "this service doesn't want you to know who it is" network traffic.
If a webpage wants to talk directly to an IP rather than a named host, whether that's directly or "because there's some JS that fetches from a bare IP", I don't want that page to succeed.
And if it turns out a page I *actually* care about needs to, then I can always flip that switch. If that switch exists.
@udob The internet is fine, you just need to remember that there's more than just "two newspapers, and seventeen social media platforms". Lots of great internet to be enjoyed if you ignore those =)
And yeah, the whole reason I'm on FF is because if it can't run NoScript and Adblock, it's not a real browser.
![The image shows a screenshot of a Twitter conversation. The first tweet is from Jim Banks ([@]RepJimBanks). The tweet reads: "Student loan forgiveness undermines one of our military's greatest recruitment tools at a time of dangerously low enlistments.". Below this tweet is a reply from Brendel ([@]Brendelbored), posted 15 minutes later, which reads: "It's wild you'd just admit this man." The background of the image is black, and the text is white, with the Twitter interface elements visible, including the time, date, and app used to post the tweet.](https://blog.taursnd.haus/photo/162917010468acfeb71cb63136939443-0.jpeg "The image shows a screenshot of a Twitter conversation. The first tweet is from Jim Banks ([@]RepJimBanks). The tweet reads: \"Student loan forgiveness undermines one of our military's greatest recruitment tools at a time of dangerously low enlistments.\". Below this tweet is a reply from Brendel ([@]Brendelbored), posted 15 minutes later, which reads: \"It's wild you'd just admit this man.\" The background of the image is black, and the text is white, with the Twitter interface elements visible, including the time, date, and app used to post the tweet.")
![The image shows a tweet from a verified account named "Bob Chipman" with the handle "[@]the_moviebob." The tweet contains a statement about violence against Nazis, arguing that there can be no "unprovoked" violence against them because their philosophy is based on violence. The tweet suggests that adopting a Nazi identity implies a declaration of violent intent, and any response to such individuals is considered self-defense. The tweet is presented in a standard Twitter format with a profile picture, username, and verified badge. The text is in black font on a white background, and the overall layout is typical of a Twitter post.](https://blog.taursnd.haus/photo/195759480868abb4ac88694421126035-0.jpeg "The image shows a tweet from a verified account named \"Bob Chipman\" with the handle \"[@]the_moviebob.\" The tweet contains a statement about violence against Nazis, arguing that there can be no \"unprovoked\" violence against them because their philosophy is based on violence. The tweet suggests that adopting a Nazi identity implies a declaration of violent intent, and any response to such individuals is considered self-defense. The tweet is presented in a standard Twitter format with a profile picture, username, and verified badge. The text is in black font on a white background, and the overall layout is typical of a Twitter post.")
Luna chan
in reply to Lauren Weinstein • • •rzeta0
in reply to Lauren Weinstein • • •does this mean alternative OS's like @GrapheneOS won't be possible on Pixel phones?
(I realise there's a difference between side loaded apps and side loaded OSes)
Lauren Weinstein
in reply to rzeta0 • • •rzeta0
in reply to Lauren Weinstein • • •@GrapheneOS
I agree with your focus on the vast majority of non-techie people.
I feel sad about it but that 99.999% are easy victims of surveillance and control.
I sometimes think there must be a gap in the market for secure tech that is usable by that 99.999% ... but on thinking further, I think the established interests have the capability to kill any such venture quite easily.
If democracy depends on everyone being a PhD in electronics and software then that democracy is broken.
GrapheneOS
in reply to rzeta0 • • •GrapheneOS Frequently Asked Questions
GrapheneOSLauren Weinstein
in reply to GrapheneOS • • •Just Bob βπΊπ²πͺπ§
in reply to Lauren Weinstein • • •I've been saying that for years even before I read Edward Snowden's book.
I just wish I was brave enough to nuke my phone with a real Linux OS
ΕΔ cze
in reply to Just Bob βπΊπ²πͺπ§ • • •Edward Snowden recommended GrapheneOS
Pxl Phile
in reply to ΕΔ cze • • •@Lacze @bob Currently, GrapheneOS works basically ONLY on ...
*drum roll, Windows 95 tadaaaa*
Google Pixel phones.