John Mark Ockerbloom
@jmarkockerbloom.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
A Philadelphian with professional interests in libraries, technology, copyright, and culture, and nonprofessional interests that include singing, reading […]
🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://mastodon.social/@JMarkOckerbloom, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://mastodon.social/@JMarkOckerbloom, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released a delayed #jobsreport for November, after none for October. Their new numbers say U3 went up to 4.6%, and U6 went up to 8.7%: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm. Labor participation ticked up to 62.5% […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 17, 2025 at 1:32 AM
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released a delayed #jobsreport for November, after none for October. Their new numbers say U3 went up to 4.6%, and U6 went up to 8.7%: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm. Labor participation ticked up to 62.5% […]
I recently ran across some #wikipedia articles flagged for having "AI upscaled" photos in them, and request untampered originals instead.
The problem with these pictures is that the supposed "upscaling" often fabricates details not in the original picture (as noted in a recent Reddit thread […]
The problem with these pictures is that the supposed "upscaling" often fabricates details not in the original picture (as noted in a recent Reddit thread […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 15, 2025 at 9:52 PM
I recently ran across some #wikipedia articles flagged for having "AI upscaled" photos in them, and request untampered originals instead.
The problem with these pictures is that the supposed "upscaling" often fabricates details not in the original picture (as noted in a recent Reddit thread […]
The problem with these pictures is that the supposed "upscaling" often fabricates details not in the original picture (as noted in a recent Reddit thread […]
I've enjoyed every Rob Reiner movie I've seen, especially This is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride, both of which I've seen multiple times and not infrequently quoted from. He will be very much missed. I'll leave it to John Scalzi to say more: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/15/rob-reiner-rip/
Rob Reiner, RIP
I don’t have much to add about Rob Reiner and wife Michelle Singer’s shocking death that other people haven’t said better, likewise any more to add about his career and political …
whatever.scalzi.com
December 15, 2025 at 6:53 PM
I've enjoyed every Rob Reiner movie I've seen, especially This is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride, both of which I've seen multiple times and not infrequently quoted from. He will be very much missed. I'll leave it to John Scalzi to say more: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/15/rob-reiner-rip/
"Last week, the Library sent its staff a newsletter acknowledging the precarious financial situtuation faced by many of its workers - not to offer support, but to encourage workers to forego Christmas presents this year."
Grace Blakely reports on striking workers at the British Library, who are […]
Grace Blakely reports on striking workers at the British Library, who are […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 13, 2025 at 11:46 PM
"Last week, the Library sent its staff a newsletter acknowledging the precarious financial situtuation faced by many of its workers - not to offer support, but to encourage workers to forego Christmas presents this year."
Grace Blakely reports on striking workers at the British Library, who are […]
Grace Blakely reports on striking workers at the British Library, who are […]
A compilation of Associated Press stories on Pope Leo's trip to Lebanon, his first official visit to the Middle East. He met with Catholics, Orthodox and Muslim leaders, supporting Christian youth and religious and encouraging peaceful coexistence of people of many faiths […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 6, 2025 at 3:45 PM
A compilation of Associated Press stories on Pope Leo's trip to Lebanon, his first official visit to the Middle East. He met with Catholics, Orthodox and Muslim leaders, supporting Christian youth and religious and encouraging peaceful coexistence of people of many faiths […]
New Amnesty report out: "Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human Rights Violations at 'Alligator Alcatraz' and Krome in Florida". Not yet in any libraries I know of, but I've put a note in my requests queue to check for it in a few weeks […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 5, 2025 at 11:19 PM
New Amnesty report out: "Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human Rights Violations at 'Alligator Alcatraz' and Krome in Florida". Not yet in any libraries I know of, but I've put a note in my requests queue to check for it in a few weeks […]
RE: https://mastodon.social/@richpuchalsky/115669095758170152
Yup; all legit legal processes I've been involved with have either communicated in person or by mail (using certified mail when required). If your address isn't a secret (and it wouldn't be for most people) there's no reason for a […]
Yup; all legit legal processes I've been involved with have either communicated in person or by mail (using certified mail when required). If your address isn't a secret (and it wouldn't be for most people) there's no reason for a […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 5, 2025 at 9:39 PM
RE: https://mastodon.social/@richpuchalsky/115669095758170152
Yup; all legit legal processes I've been involved with have either communicated in person or by mail (using certified mail when required). If your address isn't a secret (and it wouldn't be for most people) there's no reason for a […]
Yup; all legit legal processes I've been involved with have either communicated in person or by mail (using certified mail when required). If your address isn't a secret (and it wouldn't be for most people) there's no reason for a […]
Got a message on my answering machine from someone claiming to be a process server, referring to an address that is not ours (but is in our neighborhood). It appears to be a phishing scam. Such robocalls are also going out to many other numbers. Here's more on it from the BBB […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 5, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Got a message on my answering machine from someone claiming to be a process server, referring to an address that is not ours (but is in our neighborhood). It appears to be a phishing scam. Such robocalls are also going out to many other numbers. Here's more on it from the BBB […]
RE: https://social.vmbrasseur.com/@vmbrasseur/115665120408527573
If Code4lib is continuing its scholarship program after it was banned from Carnegie Mellon, that will get the alumni donation I usually send to CMU around this time of year. If not, I'm thinking the United Negro College Fund might […]
If Code4lib is continuing its scholarship program after it was banned from Carnegie Mellon, that will get the alumni donation I usually send to CMU around this time of year. If not, I'm thinking the United Negro College Fund might […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 5, 2025 at 12:58 PM
RE: https://social.vmbrasseur.com/@vmbrasseur/115665120408527573
If Code4lib is continuing its scholarship program after it was banned from Carnegie Mellon, that will get the alumni donation I usually send to CMU around this time of year. If not, I'm thinking the United Negro College Fund might […]
If Code4lib is continuing its scholarship program after it was banned from Carnegie Mellon, that will get the alumni donation I usually send to CMU around this time of year. If not, I'm thinking the United Negro College Fund might […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 3, 2025 at 11:02 PM
"Everything that is wrong in museums starts with wall labels": A thought-provoking talk by Aaron Straup Cope on how collections are managed, all that's missing in their metadata, all the documentary records institutions have on collection items that *don't* make it into structured or public […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 2, 2025 at 5:28 PM
"Everything that is wrong in museums starts with wall labels": A thought-provoking talk by Aaron Straup Cope on how collections are managed, all that's missing in their metadata, all the documentary records institutions have on collection items that *don't* make it into structured or public […]
Dept. of Defense Law of War Manual: https://media.defense.gov/2023/Jul/31/2003271432/-1/-1/0/DOD-LAW-OF-WAR-MANUAL-JUNE-2015-UPDATED-JULY%202023.PDF
Excerpt: "18.3.2.1. The
requirement to refuse to comply with orders to commit law of war violations applies to orders to perform conduct that is […]
Excerpt: "18.3.2.1. The
requirement to refuse to comply with orders to commit law of war violations applies to orders to perform conduct that is […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
December 2, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Dept. of Defense Law of War Manual: https://media.defense.gov/2023/Jul/31/2003271432/-1/-1/0/DOD-LAW-OF-WAR-MANUAL-JUNE-2015-UPDATED-JULY%202023.PDF
Excerpt: "18.3.2.1. The
requirement to refuse to comply with orders to commit law of war violations applies to orders to perform conduct that is […]
Excerpt: "18.3.2.1. The
requirement to refuse to comply with orders to commit law of war violations applies to orders to perform conduct that is […]
(Note on LB: The new exorbitant National Parks charges will only apply to nonresident noncitizens, and not to permanent residents. But not only do they send a clear "go away" message to would-be visitors from abroad, but they mean *any* visitor to those national parks can be stopped to have […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
November 26, 2025 at 12:50 AM
(Note on LB: The new exorbitant National Parks charges will only apply to nonresident noncitizens, and not to permanent residents. But not only do they send a clear "go away" message to would-be visitors from abroad, but they mean *any* visitor to those national parks can be stopped to have […]
Reposted by John Mark Ockerbloom
FFS. For the first time, non-citizens will be charged a hefty surcharge to enter US national parks (an extra $100/person, and annual passes for noncitizens will cost $250 instead of $80).
Our national parks are absolute jewels, and a significant contributor […]
[Original post on federate.social]
Our national parks are absolute jewels, and a significant contributor […]
[Original post on federate.social]
November 26, 2025 at 12:20 AM
FFS. For the first time, non-citizens will be charged a hefty surcharge to enter US national parks (an extra $100/person, and annual passes for noncitizens will cost $250 instead of $80).
Our national parks are absolute jewels, and a significant contributor […]
[Original post on federate.social]
Our national parks are absolute jewels, and a significant contributor […]
[Original post on federate.social]
According to this report, the Lunar and Planetary Institute is not only requiring presenters at its upcoming conference to not mention of diversity, equity, and inclusion, but they're also retroactively censoring past abstracts […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
November 25, 2025 at 10:32 PM
According to this report, the Lunar and Planetary Institute is not only requiring presenters at its upcoming conference to not mention of diversity, equity, and inclusion, but they're also retroactively censoring past abstracts […]
Reposted by John Mark Ockerbloom
"Court permanently blocks Trump’s executive order to dismantle federal agency for America’s libraries."
https://www.ala.org/news/2025/11/court-permanently-blocks-trumps-executive-order-dismantle-federal-agency-americas
"Today Nov 21], the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island […]
https://www.ala.org/news/2025/11/court-permanently-blocks-trumps-executive-order-dismantle-federal-agency-americas
"Today Nov 21], the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island […]
Original post on fediscience.org
fediscience.org
November 22, 2025 at 7:38 PM
"Court permanently blocks Trump’s executive order to dismantle federal agency for America’s libraries."
https://www.ala.org/news/2025/11/court-permanently-blocks-trumps-executive-order-dismantle-federal-agency-americas
"Today Nov 21], the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island […]
https://www.ala.org/news/2025/11/court-permanently-blocks-trumps-executive-order-dismantle-federal-agency-americas
"Today Nov 21], the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island […]
Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a delayed #jobsreport for September. It says U3 ticked up to 4.4%, while U6 ticked down to 8.0%: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm Labor participation ticked up to 62.4% […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
November 20, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a delayed #jobsreport for September. It says U3 ticked up to 4.4%, while U6 ticked down to 8.0%: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm Labor participation ticked up to 62.4% […]
RE: https://dragonscave.space/@MostlyBlindGamer/115581708440097061
A post from a visually impaired reader on why it's better to write your own alt-text for images you include in posts than having AltBot or another "AI" tool do it for you.
(You know what you wanted the image to convey, and you […]
A post from a visually impaired reader on why it's better to write your own alt-text for images you include in posts than having AltBot or another "AI" tool do it for you.
(You know what you wanted the image to convey, and you […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
November 20, 2025 at 2:13 PM
RE: https://dragonscave.space/@MostlyBlindGamer/115581708440097061
A post from a visually impaired reader on why it's better to write your own alt-text for images you include in posts than having AltBot or another "AI" tool do it for you.
(You know what you wanted the image to convey, and you […]
A post from a visually impaired reader on why it's better to write your own alt-text for images you include in posts than having AltBot or another "AI" tool do it for you.
(You know what you wanted the image to convey, and you […]
I don't know if it was deliberately timed in the hopes of hitting sites who'd taken down Cloudflare protection after today's outage, but my site's form got hit this afternoon with one of the larger injection/DOS spam attacks I've seen in a while. About 20,000 submissions in spurts over the court […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
November 18, 2025 at 10:03 PM
I don't know if it was deliberately timed in the hopes of hitting sites who'd taken down Cloudflare protection after today's outage, but my site's form got hit this afternoon with one of the larger injection/DOS spam attacks I've seen in a while. About 20,000 submissions in spurts over the court […]
Listening to Mike Furlough giving his annual "state of the union" address for HathiTrust, and appreciating all the work and care that's gone into creating and preserving this collection of online books and making it available to a broad reading community.
November 18, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Listening to Mike Furlough giving his annual "state of the union" address for HathiTrust, and appreciating all the work and care that's gone into creating and preserving this collection of online books and making it available to a broad reading community.
Reposted by John Mark Ockerbloom
Ohio University Press quadruples open access titles with support from University Libraries, partners https://www.ohio.edu/news/2025/11/ohio-university-press-quadruples-open-access-titles-support-university-libraries
Ohio University Press quadruples open access titles with support from University Libraries, partners
Over the past few months, Ohio University Press has significantly expanded its open access (OA) publishing program, growing its collection from just over two dozen titles to more than 100.
www.ohio.edu
November 17, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Ohio University Press quadruples open access titles with support from University Libraries, partners https://www.ohio.edu/news/2025/11/ohio-university-press-quadruples-open-access-titles-support-university-libraries
Reposted by John Mark Ockerbloom
RE: https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/115569820207257167
One of the things we don't talk about enough is how to secure the peaceful transition of power in open source projects.
We've all seen BDFLs turn into mad kings.
There are innumerable projects which have collapsed when the founder left […]
One of the things we don't talk about enough is how to secure the peaceful transition of power in open source projects.
We've all seen BDFLs turn into mad kings.
There are innumerable projects which have collapsed when the founder left […]
November 18, 2025 at 9:28 AM
RE: https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/115569820207257167
One of the things we don't talk about enough is how to secure the peaceful transition of power in open source projects.
We've all seen BDFLs turn into mad kings.
There are innumerable projects which have collapsed when the founder left […]
One of the things we don't talk about enough is how to secure the peaceful transition of power in open source projects.
We've all seen BDFLs turn into mad kings.
There are innumerable projects which have collapsed when the founder left […]
Google stopped letting owners of early Nest themostats remotely control their devices last month. But it's still remotely collecting extensive surveillance data from them: https://www.theverge.com/news/820600/google-nest-learning-thermostat-downgraded-data-collection #privacy
Google is collecting troves of data from downgraded Nest thermostats
The thermostats may no longer connect to Google’s app, but they still transmit your data.
www.theverge.com
November 17, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Google stopped letting owners of early Nest themostats remotely control their devices last month. But it's still remotely collecting extensive surveillance data from them: https://www.theverge.com/news/820600/google-nest-learning-thermostat-downgraded-data-collection #privacy
Updated the Wikipedia article for the World Digital Library, which among other things had pointed to a domain that's now been taken over by squatters. (Update any wdl.org links in your catalogs or websites!).
I'm assuming the WDL is now just a static collection (and I appreciate that LC is […]
I'm assuming the WDL is now just a static collection (and I appreciate that LC is […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
November 14, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Updated the Wikipedia article for the World Digital Library, which among other things had pointed to a domain that's now been taken over by squatters. (Update any wdl.org links in your catalogs or websites!).
I'm assuming the WDL is now just a static collection (and I appreciate that LC is […]
I'm assuming the WDL is now just a static collection (and I appreciate that LC is […]
Adding on to LB: If you have a choice between using a public library's electronic copy (such as a streaming movie or an ebook) and a physical copy (such as a DVD or print book), I'd recommend borrowing the physical copy if you can easily do so. The #library has already paid fully for it, but […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Adding on to LB: If you have a choice between using a public library's electronic copy (such as a streaming movie or an ebook) and a physical copy (such as a DVD or print book), I'd recommend borrowing the physical copy if you can easily do so. The #library has already paid fully for it, but […]