Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Next time you hear someone say, "We have a shortage of ____" (teachers, nurses, a particular STEM role, whatever), think about the first time you heard someone say that about that role.

If it was longer ago than the time it takes to train a new entrant, get a certification, or complete a relevant degree, then there is no shortage of personnel; there's a shortage of willingness to pay people what their work is worth.

I can't believe we decided "databases, but make them worse" was a bad technological underpinning for our industry. I'm five years, hopefully I'll be equally surprised that "what if we wrote a bunch of code without caring if any of it was correct or secure or good or useful" isn't a core skill.

#Doonesbury by #GarryTrudeau on GoComics

https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2025/06/01

#Humour #Cartoon

The vibe-coding trend is going to end up being one of the biggest national security risks we've seen in the software industry

https://flipboard.com/@semafor/semafor-qhf227ugz/-/a-Rkaq4LdoR7y9sCQ38tqofQ%3Aa%3A3943444710-%2F0

I just discovered the superb https://powrss.com by @enocc - a site that aims to "make it easier to discover independent sites."

And thanks to it, I found this inspiring blog post by @sylvia: "Do Nothing" https://sylvia.studio/do-nothing/

Aw the magic of the internet (as it was originally intended) ✨

Wishing everyone a lovely Sunday! And fascinating, serendipitous discoveries on https://powrss.com 😊

Do not use hCaptcha on your website. It's viciously ableist

https://fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/hellcaptcha-accessibility-theater-at-its-worst/

I don't think anyone outside of universities, pharma and biotech, independent research institutions have any idea of what is happening right now. If you haven't sounded the alarm among your friends, family and colleagues, now is the time to do it.

What in the cinnamon toast fuck?!

From a friend on Facebook:

Civics is now considered a sensitive subject

Civics

Treat #SocialHousing as #CriticalInfrastructure to unlock billions, says Peabody boss | Social housing | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/31/treat-social-housing-as-critical-infrastructure-to-unlock-billions-says-peabody-boss

#UK #Politics #Housing #Infrastructure

Now with alt text added:

Latest comic: What lives matter?

#cartoon #comic

On this day in 1921, a white mob attacked the thriving Black community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma—known as Black Wall Street. Over 300 people were killed, thousands were displaced, and more than 35 blocks were burned to the ground. The Tulsa Massacre was not just an act of racial violence, but a deliberate assault on Black prosperity and self-determination.

I've also been asking this question for awhile, which is why it really bugs me to see people quoting him who don't seem to know that he was an instrumental part of creating the very things he rails against today.

Sloppy styles for ICE goons. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/5/30/2325027/-Cartoon-ICE-mart

Wanted to listen to a new favorite band, Durry, this morning and saw they just dropped a new video, and it's another banger. I'm a sucker for clever lyrics, and Durry always delivers. For instance, check this out:

If you got time to lean, then you got time to clean
Is what they told me
They don’t own me
They just own the only thing that’s keeping me alive
They swear that’s not a threat
'Cause I could always starve to death
I guess I’ll pledge allegiance to the paycheck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcEvNwQ7v-U

The story of Alma Bowman, a disabled woman and US citizen detained by ICE, just keeps getting worse.

She’s been in the country for 50 years. They took her wheelchair, denied her medications and threw her in a detention facility in Georgia.

Her case is getting a decent amount of media attention, with petitions circulating to get her released.

But did you know it’s not the first time she’s very nearly faced deportation?

In 2020, she was a key witness in a legal battle against Irwin County Detention Centre.

She helped blow the whistle about a doctor performing unnecessary hysterectomies and sterilizations on immigrant women detained in the facility.

This is Nazi level eugenics.

They’re grabbing people off the streets. They’re disappearing them. Many die in custody and/or are never seen again.

Sterilization of ‘undesirables’ is sadly nothing new. It’s a way to push white supremacy.

It takes a lot of courage to speak out against such practices, and it’s horrifying that she’s again sitting in a detention centre without due process.

https://fightbacknews.org/articles/free-alma-bowman

#almabowman #ice #immigration #fascism #uspol #disability #ableism #eugenics

With almost no exceptions, journalists have again been conned by Elon Musk and his PR minions.

One key exception, as usual, is Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/dont-fall-for-elon-inc-s-press-campaign/sharetoken/f4c7e195-4c56-4ba1-afca-ccf994331d0d

A PR person (whose name I've forgotten) once said to me, "You people" -- the press -- "are so easy."

You’ve seen my posts about Linux accessibility. You’ve read me scream about broken screen readers, unusable bootloaders, and the sheer volume of stuff that only works after three undocumented hacks and a blood sacrifice. That’s from someone who already knows how to deal with this mess.
But what happens when someone new tries to step in?
My partner just published the first post in a new blog series called “Linux: Helpful or Headache?” It’s a personal account of what it feels like to stare into the abyss of Linux as a blind user who hasn’t even installed it yet. This isn’t a “how to” guide. It’s not a technical tutorial. It’s a moment of honest vulnerability and curiosity in the face of a system that’s infamous for treating newcomers like an inconvenience.
Part One – An Introduction
https://reading4life.mataroa.blog/blog/linux-helpful-or-headache-part-one-an-introduction/
She’s totally blind. She’s used to Windows and iOS — platforms where accessibility is at least visible, documented, and supported. Linux? From the outside, it looks like a twisted obstacle course: too many distros, zero onboarding, no centralized help, and a community that can't agree on anything except that "you should have read the wiki."
And yet… she’s jumping in anyway.
This first post talks about that pre-installation limbo. The “what the hell even is a distro?” stage. The existential dread of picking between MATE and GNOME when you don’t even know how to pronounce “Flatpak.” The raw, unfiltered feeling of not knowing what you don’t know — and doing it anyway, because the itch to explore is stronger than the fear of breaking stuff.
There’s no cheerleading here. No “yay open source!” No tidy beginner tutorial with copy-paste terminal commands. Just one blind woman staring down the reality that Linux doesn’t come with a support number, and deciding to try it anyway — not because it’s easy, but because she wants to learn, grow, and maybe even call bullshit where it’s due.
And if you're wondering — no, I didn’t write or co-write it. This is her voice, her experience, her story. But it does tie in beautifully with the nightmare I’ve been chronicling in my own posts, from a totally different vantage point.
If you’ve ever tried to onboard someone to Linux, especially someone disabled, this is what it actually looks like. And if you’ve ever told someone “Linux is great, just pick a distro,” read this and realize how much we take for granted.
Go read it. Boost it. Follow the series. She's only just getting started.
#Linux #Accessibility #FOSS #DisabilityInTech #Blind #NewUserExperience #Debian #UX #TechBlog #DigitalInclusion