keverets @keverets@librem.one

We're looking for help to build a wireless, solar-powered chat network across the Philly area! Are you interested in learning about off-grid solar power? Do you have a sunny place on your roof, in your yard, or near an upstairs window where you can leave a small radio transceiver? This workshop may be for you!

Each participant will receive a free kit with all the parts needed to build a solar-powered LoRa radio node. You'll assemble the kit, mount it in a weatherproof enclosure (provided by you), and use the Meshtastic app to start sending encrypted text messages.

Registration opens Monday, April 3rd at 8:30 p.m. You can sign up on our site:
https://iffybooks.net/event/solar-chat-network

Supplies for this workshop are provided by a grant from the Engaged Humanities Studio at Swarthmore College. Many thanks to @pixouls for helping plan the event!

Pine64's $70 RISC-V Computer Goes on Sale April 4 https://www.omglinux.com/star64-is-a-risc-v-single-board-pc/ #opensource #hardware #riscv

"What on Earth!"

A 1966 animated short from the National Film Board of Canada which looks at car culture from the POV of Martians, who conclude that automobiles are Earth's true inhabitants.

Nominated for an Academy Award.

#TheWarOnCars #WhatOnEarth #animation #cars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFaHArkYLsM

The thing that drives me nutso about climate change is that many of the necessary changes could be awesome. A society with more leisure time, cleaner air, closer connections to friends and family who live nearer to you, more exercise, more technological innovation, more jobs, more fairness, more nature… most people would benefit from these changes.

A few weeks ago I wrote about how viral Mastodon posts get hundreds of replies, but most people can see only a small fraction of those replies, and bad UX results. Here’s a solution for folks running smaller Mastodon servers. https://fedi.aeracode.org/@andrew/110029009466041431

@eighthave that sounds nicely put: Android used open source as a TOOL to get developers on board, and now that everyone is on board, is increasingly hostile to open source and has largely abandoned AOSP apps and functionality that they can replace with the Google Mobile Services "ecosystem". Additionally, SafetyNet (now Play Protect) lets developers "optionally" lock out people who exercise their right to modify free software (such as their OS)... and still actually run it.

An analysis of 100+ studies finds that social media is a major cause of mental illness in teen girls, not just a tiny correlate, especially after 2012 (Jon Haidt/After Babel)

https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/social-media-mental-illness-epidemic
http://www.techmeme.com/230223/p14#a230223p14

The bundling video streaming services are rapidly becoming indistinguishable from the cable services' behaviors that inspired so-called "cord cutters" cancelling cable TV services in preference for Internet-only services.

Prices keep going up as they include more and more "niche" channels with small viewerships, that nobody would pay for if they weren't forced to as the price of receiving the channels that they actually want to see. This often includes forcing sports channels on people who loathe sports channels.

For a recent story, instead of Mapbox, The Post used OpenMapTiles, Maputnik, PMTiles, and MapLibre to produce interactive web maps.

https://www.kschaul.com/post/2023/02/16/how-the-post-is-replacing-mapbox-with-open-source-solutions/

From a discussion on a major #HigherEd forum by a senior campus leader,

"We are a #Google school…"

If the comment was, "We are a Coca-Cola school," I suspect we'd hear concerns: marketing products to students, corporate influence in #HigherEducation, even health & safety/quality (all BTW applicable to Google).

If you believe Google (or #Microsoft, #Adobe) is a "global standard," the same case can be made for Coca-Cola (Pepsi). I doubt stating such an alignment would be so promoted.

#EdTech

"How dare you ask me who asked developers to buy tickets for my daughter's pre-wedding party?" says the premier of Ontario https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-ford-stag-doe-1.6749487

Metro.co.uk headline "Tesla goes down across Europe leaving some drivers unable to charge cars" https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/14/tesla-goes-down-across-europe-leaving-some-drivers-unable-to-charge-cars-18282364/

DID YOU KNOW? You can actually design electric cars that can charge their batteries WITHOUT AN APP or any computers of any kind? Kind of like how gasoline pumps used to work? Sure, a battery pack with a microcontroller tends to be more efficient, but it is not strictly necessary. The electric motors of the car must be fully computer controlled, but these computers need not be tied to apps either.

Electric cars all being designed to become useless without an app controlling them is not inherent to electric car technology itself. It is a result of modern day #consumerism (capitalism) where every single business on the face of the Earth gathers data about you, and earns money from selling #ads to you. IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. This is what @pluralistic calls #enshitification .

And I can't wait to hear people argue with me about how gasoline-fueled cars are better and more reliable because their engines work just fine without apps or cell phones. Electric cars could be this way too, but due to the way businesses make money nowadays, they do not.

It occurs to me I haven’t done a #myfavoritethings for awhile, so let me share with you the work of Ken Isaacs. I first discovered his “How To Build Your Own Living Structures” in my hippie-school library when I was 13, and it blew my mind (in the parlance of the times). It’s a book of DIY recipes for brilliant, idiosyncratic modular structures that saddle the gap between furniture & architecture; to this day I dream of building myself a Superchair. Get yr own copy here! http://letsremake.info/PDFs/k_isaacs.pdf

Me: Write a TED talk about the bullshit of TED talks. Include anecdotes and statistics. Also include a humourous aside about a mule with a spinning wheel. End with "Thank you for attending my TED talk."

ChatGPT:

"Nobody can opt out of paying for parking. People who walk, bike, or take transit bankroll those who drive. In so doing, they are making driving cheaper & thus more prevalent, which in turn undermines the quality of walking, biking, & transit."

Discovered during the week I was unable to access a Kindle book purchased in 2013. Reason? The order was “too old”, and refund issued to buy again. Which was pointless as the book is now more expensive than when I bought it.

Subsequently discovered 66(!!) other ebooks no longer available for download.

Currently 40 minutes in to a support chat with Amazon.

About to learn, I think, whether we purchase ebooks, or rent them…

California has implemented some new permanent COVID-19 regulations. The regulations require that employees shall receive training regarding COVID-19, must be informed of COVID cases in the workplace, and be protected with air filtration through MERV-13 or higher filters. Regulations like these implemented at the state or national level would help to ensure safer workplaces, events, and commercial environments.
https://www.fisherphillips.com/news-insights/10-key-things-new-calosha-permanent-covid-19-regulation.html

Just what I needed: some good news about the #climate impact of the #EU. The EU has probably contributed the most to #ClimateChange so we should also be staying on top of the solutions. "Wind and solar were EU’s top electricity source in 2022 for first time ever" https://www.carbonbrief.org/wind-and-solar-were-eus-top-electricity-source-in-2022-for-first-time-ever/