Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Just not in that order.

Vote for her, of course, but do be aware of what you're getting. If Harris wins it will be because Trump is so terrible, not because she's so great. And if we continue insisting that Harris actually is great, despite all evidence to the contrary, we probably shouldn't wonder overmuch about why conditions in this country and around the world seem to just keep getting worse. Acceptance is the first step to recovery, after all.

WTAF Secret Service?

"...But later that afternoon, another security camera, pointing at the door from the inside of the building, spotted four other people over the course of nearly two hours. 2 people wearing emergency medical services uniforms and one person in a camouflage law enforcement uniform walked in. The 4th person, wearing a dark suit and white shirt like a Secret Service officer, stood by the door. The salon's security alarm rang the whole time..."

https://www.businessinsider.com/secret-service-busted-salon-use-bathroom-owner-2024-8

https://kpfa.org/episode/against-the-grain-november-3-2020/
"[The] conventional narrative places a lot of importance on the ability of the movement to win over the white majority, particularly in the north. But if we look more closely at how the movement [succeeded], the story is very different."

"[W]e found... that the movement in Birmingham succeeded because it was able to disrupt economic power centers in Birmingham itself, namely the downtown merchants and the folks who comprised the Chamber of Commerce in Birmingham."

Paris Agreement thresholds crossed

"Note that neither the 1903-1924 base (image top) nor the 1991-2020 base (above image) are pre-industrial. When using a genuinely pre-industrial base, the temperature anomaly has over the past thirteen months also been above the 2°C threshold that politicians at the 2015 Paris Agreement pledged wouldn't be crossed.

"Meanwhile, the IPCC keeps downplaying the danger, e.g. by claiming that we're still well below the 1.5°C threshold."

https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2024/08/paris-agreement-thresholds-crossed.html

Do you have any plans for next weekend yet?

#FrOSCon is a coming and there is lots of interesting talks, workshops and conversations to be had 🚀

Even if you can't attend in person,
you can join remotely using our #matrix channel #froscon-linux-mobile:matrix.org

https://matrix.to/#/#froscon-linux-mobile:matrix.org

Don't forget to

#apt #install #confy to follow the conference

#froscon2024 #chatty

I realize it isn't fashionable these days, but I really think that discourse is improved when conversation focuses on good vs. bad behaviors rather than good vs. bad people.

More specifically, *avoiding the use of nouns* to refer to groups of people (even people who do very bad things) helps with all of the following: 1. clarity of thought about where the problems lie, 2. remembering that humans have the capacity to change, and 3. facilitating strategic alliances.

AI's toast. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2024/8/9/2261833/-Cartoon-Sam-Altman-s-AI-bubble-burstin-blowout

Why the push for more #NuclearPlants? Blame it on #BigTech (and #AI and #cryptocurrency)

Tech companies want #NuclearPower. Some utilities are throwing up roadblocks

Story by Spencer Kimball
August 9, 2024

"Tech companies are increasingly looking to directly connect data centers to nuclear plants as they race to secure clean [sic] energy to power #ArtificialIntelligence, sparking resistance from some utilities over the potential impact on the #ElectricGrid.

"#DataCenters, the computer warehouses that run the Internet, in some cases now require a gigawatt or more of power, comparable to the average capacity of a nuclear reactor in the U.S.

[...]

Amazon's nuclear agreement

"Co-locating data centers next to nuclear plants already faces controversy.

"In March, Amazon Web Services [#AWS] bought a data center powered by the 41-year-old #SusquehannaNuclear plant in #Pennsylvania from #TalenEnergy for $650 million. But the agreement to directly sell power to the AWS data center from the nuclear plant already faces opposition from utilities American Electric Power and #Exelon, who have filed complaints at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)."

Read more:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/tech-companies-want-nuclear-power-some-utilities-are-throwing-up-roadblocks/ar-AA1oyZCH

Microsoft’s Copilot Studio AI leaks your business info internally and externally
https://pivot-to-ai.com/2024/08/10/microsofts-copilot-studio-ai-leaks-your-business-info-internally-and-externally/

Three important points here ⤵️

⓵ Scientists from across academic disciplines are extremely concerned about climate change

⓶ Scientists do NOT believe that "advances in technology will largely solve climate change"

⓷ Fundamental changes to society, politics, and economics ARE required

The takeaway: Unless we have system change, climate change will destroy us.

LEARN MORE ➡️ https://phys.org/news/2024-08-scientists-climate-extreme-high-engagement.html

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

#libobscura #logo/icon contest!

which one do you like the most?

Poll in comments.

Weather forcast: High 101
My brain: 🎶 According to the Kinsey Report / every average man you know / prefers his lovey-dovey to court / when the temperature is low / but when the thermometer goes way up / and the weather is sizzlin' hot / Mr. Pants, for romance, is not 🎶

I don't know what the answer is, but I'm feeling sad about the nature of this platform.

I've been finding myself quite frustrated with Mastodon lately.

I'm hooked on the multi-column interface and genuinely like a lot of the people I engage with on here, but I'm really feeling the ways in which the all-or-none privacy levels induce low-grade nastiness and a lack of genuine social connection.

Margaret Kimberley not pulling any punches here (not like she ever does). I don't think she's wrong though. Thus has it always been, in my experience.

@mindstalk has posted a few thoughts on Dreamwidth about pricing for delivery apps vs. traditional food delivery by restaurants.
https://mindstalk.dreamwidth.org/2024/08/04/delivery-over-time.html
"Pizza: multiple orders carried a short distance by an employee, with a fixed charge to encourage you to go big for efficiency's sake. Apps: outside driver going to random stores and waiting to pick up your food and carry it a longer distance, with percentage charges that defeat any impulse to be efficient."

Thinking that Threads is ok to use because Twitter has been taken over by a fascist seems similar to thinking Bush was an ok president because Trump was so terrible.

if you believe everything undergone by marginalised & oppressed people in society is good by virtue of being undergone by them, then you believe oppression is good, and should be continued

A family member upgraded their car recently so I got a closeup look at the new Subaru Ascent. Lots of cool features but it's 1) huge, and 2) has a massive tablet where the console controls should be. At least the stereo controls are analog, but everything else is just a big screen. I don't like it at all, and this video confirms what I've suspected: all this "advancement" is making things demonstrably more dangerous and less robust.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S7GU9lDpq8