Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

You should be mindful of the degree to which vendors can remotely control the hardware and software you buy.

Even if you are privileged enough to live in a country where the government doesn't force vendors to push features that squash public dissent and protests, or aid government surveillance, there is no guarantee it will always be that way. If the capability is there, some will be tempted to (ab)use it. #privacy #surveillance

Then he posted some words designed to get engagement,
Around fediverse that triggered enragement.
Abuse! Politics! Violence! Trolling!
Eye contact! Food! The Grinch kept on going.
And he fired up bots, Then the Grinch, as he roused them,
Liked all his posts, one by one, by the thousands.
Then he slunk to his profile, to watch what he loosed,
He'd get more engagement, he'd get all the boosts!

Project use-up-the-rest-of-this-warp is well under way. I decided to weave enough fabric for another tote so the warp doesn't go to waste and this time I'm going with a color scheme inspired by leaves (brown, green, orange and red). I don't have any plans for this tote so I'm actually just going to weave the fabric and then set it aside so I can get to the other weaving projects in my queue. #weaving

"This is task number one," The old Grinchy man hissed,
And he followed all people on that timeline's list.
Then he slid down the timeline, the app was a cinch.
If FOSS geeks could do it, then so could the Grinch.
He got stuck only once, for a moment or two,
When he wanted to thread, didn't know what to do.
Then he drafted some posts all lined up in a row.
"Content warnings," he grinned, "are the first things to go!"

THEN he loaded some tabs, and he made a domain,
On a ramshackle instance, and he gave it a name.
Then the Grinch said, "First post!" and his posts started down,
Toward the timelines where Toots lay asnooze in their town.
All their windows were closed. No new posts filled the air.
All the Toots were all dreaming sweet dreams without care.
When he came to the first instance down on the square.

My tote is done! This one went quite a bit faster than the previous ones (16 hrs start to finish), and the basic leather punch kit I bought was well worth it. I'm really pleased with how the color combination worked out, it made the tote a cool-toned version of the original warm-toned tote (also pictured).

#weaving

And he chuckled, and clucked, "What a great Grinchy fate!"
"With this RoR app I can now federate!"
"All I need is sysadmin..." The Grinch looked around.
But, sysadmin were scarce, there was none to be found.
Did that stop the old Grinch? No! The Grinch simply said,
"If I can't find sysadmin, I'll make one instead!"
So he called up his app. Then he started a thread,
And he found someone who'd use their desk as their bed.

Over a year ago I got this antique porcelin shaving mug, but only recently started using it (I had to use up my other soap first). Most mugs I've seen have a single bowl you put soap in and lather from.

What is pretty unique about this mug is that it has a lower bowl you can fill with hot water and soak your brush, and an upper bowl for your shaving soap. Before this, I had been soaking my brush in a separate container.

#shaving #antique #wetshaving

And the more the Grinch thought of this new fediverse,
The more the Grinch thought, "I must now make it worse!"
Why for two or three weeks I've put up with it now!"
"I MUST stop Fediverse from coming! But HOW?"
Then he got an idea! An awful idea!
THE GRINCH GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!
"I know just what to do!" The Grinch laughed till he fell.
He would make his own Mastodon instance from hell.

We are all aware that many surnames are derived from professions (Smith, Cooper, Weaver). In the course of my research into the history of weaving I didn't realize how many others derived from cloth production:

* Fuller - someone who fulls woolen cloth (works cloth in water to shrink/fluff it)
* Walker - derived from Waulker, someone who Waulks, or fulls, fabric
* Shearer - shears sheep, or removes excess nap from cloth
* Draper - weaver/seller of cloth
* Dyer - dyes cloth

#weaving #fiberarts

BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!
They would boost local timelines, fediverse timelines too.
Which was something the Grinch couldn't possibly do.
And THEN they'd do something he liked least of all!
Every Toot down in Tootville, the tall and the small,
Would see the full timeline, not one paid post or ad.
They'd get more engagement, more good and less bad.
They'd reply! And they'd reply! And they'd REPLY!
REPLY! REPLY! REPLY!

Then he growled with his Grinch throat nervously crowing,
"I MUST find some way to stop Fediverse from growing!"
For Tomorrow he knew the Toot folks of all kinds,
Would wake bright and early. They'd post to timelines!
And then! Oh, the toots! Oh the toots!
Toots! Toots! Toots!
That's one thing he hated! The TOOTS!
TOOTS! TOOTS! TOOTS!
Then the Toots young and old would sit down to their boosts.
And they'd boost! And they'd boost! And they'd BOOST!

While following people's boosts and hashtags is enough for me, I understand why some people new to chronological timelines are fearful they will miss out on popular posts.

It might be interesting if each instance had a "trending" account you could follow that routinely boosted the latest popular posts. That would be opt-in and it doesn't mask the rest of your timeline.