Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

@wion@writing.exchange Thank you!

My table runner is finished! I practiced my hand sewing and used a felling stitch to secure the rolled hem and after a press it's ready to decorate my table. ⁨#weaving⁩ ⁨#sewing⁩

@PeterWyrm This one ticks 4x a second, and that rapid ticking does seem to be harder to ignore than a standard pendulum-based tick-tock.

Behind it is an #antique barometer in a bakelite case.

I wound this #antique alarm clock and put it in my office next to the adding machines from a similar era. I can't tell whether the mechanical ticking in this otherwise quiet room will end up being endearing, ignorable, or infuriating.

I finished ⁨#weaving⁩ my overshot table runner! I had some extra warp at the end to play with so I experimented with a darker brown cloth weft and lime green pattern weft.

You look at me, you got nothing left to say
I'm going to tweak this code until I get my way
I won't use, spyware things
I just want a doorbell
But I will not install Ring

Well there's nothing I can do
I only wanna be with GNU
You can call me a fool
I only wanna be with GNU

You and me, we come from different worlds
I like to laugh at you when you pipe to bash from curl

Your apps are crazy and you wonder why
I'm such a baby `cause closed software makes me cry
Well there's nothing I can do
I been looking for some code like GNU

I’ve been in many “Linux on the Desktop” debates over the years and my stance today is largely the same as two decades ago: if you want free software to succeed, it must be pre-installed on hardware where all hardware features work, with a hardware vendor that supports it. https://puri.sm/posts/free-software-support-is-critical-to-its-success/

@Wildbill Yes, and as always, there's a Linux Journal article (series actually) about it: https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/libreboot-x60-part-i-setup
https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/libreboot-x60-part-ii-installation
https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/libreboot-x60-part-iii-modify-boot-menu

@Wildbill No particular reason, I was just curious after remembering the story.

Hey @Wildbill I was just telling someone the story of you winning that SUSE-branded Thinkpad X series at Linux World Expo and announcing you were going to install Ubuntu on it. Do you still have that laptop?

@BernieWonIowa@mastodon.social What's interesting is that you start to develop a rhythm during the weaving process and it becomes somewhat automatic. While you do still focus on what you are doing, it's not the same kind of mentally-taxing focus that I need for parts of my day job. I actually listen to podcasts sometimes while I do it.

I don't find myself mentally exhausted after weaving, but actually the contrary, it lets my mind relax and wander, which is one of the reasons I like it.

I have finished the third volume of Durant's Story of Civilization. This volume covers the history of the Roman Empire and Christianity up to the fourth century. Eight more volumes to go, but first a break to read some other books on my list. ⁨#history⁩ ⁨#reading⁩

I worked on this more over the weekend, but as it's a repeating pattern, it will look basically like the last picture up to the point I take it off the loom.

@ajmartinez@fosstodon.org I often get asked "Should I use a VPN?" and my answer is some form of "Do you need to connect two trusted networks over an untrusted network? It's great for that."

When I find out they want privacy instead, the threat modeling discussion that follows tends to lead into re-implementing Tor poorly over three nested VPN services and it becomes clear that what they really want is Tor, not a VPN.

The best time to protect your #privacy was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. https://puri.sm/posts/the-second-best-time-to-protect-your-privacy/

@yaelwrites Thank you for sharing your story and I'm glad to hear that you are starting to feel a bit better (swollen feet would be pretty scary indeed!)