Ethan Black @golemwire@librem.one

@ActionRetro I love this lol #SmartCar #funny

#IsItJustMe?
I've noticed that in the #Fediverse, or at least on #Mastodon, people are endlessly open about exactly the topics of conversation you've been cautioned not to talk about in polite society.

Profiles abound with indications of their owners' political leanings, sexual proclivities, religious affiliations and biases, whether they use emacs and Arch Linux, and how many cats they have.

I made up that last bit. Cats are acceptable conversation even in polite society, no matter how much they make you sneeze.

This actually started as an observation that a lot of Mastodon profiles are extremely detailed but never tell you what country the person lives in. I thought that an interesting note on the assumptions of this worldwide distributed culture.

While the topics we consider not part of polite society are listed for a reason - our emotional reactions to them are often stronger than when we are talking about other topics - they're also important. I'm glad we have a place where those can be discussed; discussions here are often, but not always, more fruitful than in other social gatherings. Sometimes keeping to the rules of polite society is worth it to maintain a functional working relationship; but it's good for us to understand one another more deeply even if we don't always agree.

Country of origin or culture or residency is also important. If you ever do any #worldTravel you will learn, if you have not already, how very alike we all are. There are many differences; but people are people the world over. What you want for your family, your kids, your future is pretty likely to be a lot like what the rest of the world wants. A lot of that is evident in the Fediverse too.

#backinmyday, video games were released ‘finished’: if there were any bugs found in them post release, they’d be in the game forevermore.

This was a mixed bag in many ways. If a game was broken or glitchy to a ridiculous extent (ET on Atari, Superman 64, etc) it was stuck like that, so that wasn’t ideal…

But it also meant many games couldn’t be released unfinished and fixed with updates either, and the devs couldn’t patch out any glitches or finds the players liked.

Since Purism, I have written and published two books, attended OpenSSF Day, FOSSY, and DEF CON, traveled 9000 miles coast-to-coast in an RV, and completely reorganized my garage.

Now I'm bored.

There's just no substitute for pouring my energy and skills into a day job and collaborating with others. I'm eager to dive back in. I've worn many hats and open to many types of roles and industries. If you know of a role you think I'd be a good fit for, DM me or email at next@kylerank.in .

When you’re used to just watching TikToks.

@julianfairfax @schmiddionmobile Not a joke, but it definitely wasn't meant as an insult either. I'm sure you're making great apps but it's a fact that libadwaita apps look out of place on anything but GNOME. That's fine for a GNOME app but stuff like Lutris or Bottles, which should really be desktop independent, also use it and thus look completely different from anything else on my desktop. It's just a shame to also see that happening in the mobile space, that's all.

The Fear Of AI Just Killed A Very Useful Tool - https://www.techdirt.com/2023/08/08/the-fear-of-ai-just-killed-a-very-useful-tool/ and it won't be the last time...

Bad news for those of us who want to own things.
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/disney-just-delivered-potential-death-blow-to-dvds-and-blu-rays-heres-whats-happening

A spectacular timelapse flying over Mexico and the United States at night in the International Space Station.

4K landscape version on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qf4a02yOsI

Just learned this morning that Bram Moolenaar, creator and maintainer of Vim, passed away recently at 62. I’ve been a user of Vim since my 20s, so even though I’ve never met Bram his work has been an important part of my life.

https://dissociatedpress.net/2023/08/05/w-gnu_bram_moolenaar-md/

New video! I love this terrible $7 digital camera

https://youtu.be/iKxfSrY8Erc