Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

"... a government which refuses to tax billionaires is a traitor to its people. And we should treat them as such."

@norightturnnz

https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2024/08/democracy-vs-billionaires.html

Word.

#tax #billionaires

Why and how to teach students about F(L)OSS? The recordings of my #FroSCOn talk about this topic are online now:

https://media.ccc.de/v/froscon2024-3130-making_open_source_education_an_integral_part_of_the_curriculum_in_computer_science_programs

Abstract and slides live here:

https://programm.froscon.org/2024/events/3130.html

Again, many thanks to all who made #FrOSCon19 possible!

"You don’t get a bill when a fire truck comes to your house. You do get a bill when an ambulance comes to your house. The only reason why this strikes anyone as normal is custom. Fire departments are publicly owned."

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/public-ownership-of-public-goods

"While I get why both sides are hurling weird bombs at each other, I’m nevertheless not on board with all the “weird shaming.” It isn’t just hypocritical for each party to claim to speak on behalf of the forgotten and marginalized while mockingly calling the other side weird. It’s also deeply regressive." ~Connor Gallagher

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/08/in-praise-of-the-weird.html

@dynamic Agreed. Our society maintains and reinforces very abusive dynamics with relation to jobs and careers.

Building up social safety nets to be meaningfully supportive would go a long way towards dismantling these abusive systems, but it would also negate a lot of power the rich have over our society, which they also have a vested interest in maintaining.

A lot of these abusive systems are deeply tied together.

Our driving habits are sold by car companies to data brokers for pennies, ranging from a mere 26 cents per car up to 61 cents per car. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/07/senators-expose-car-companies-terrible-data-privacy-practices

‘Nobody ever saw anything like this before’: how #methane emissions are pushing the #Amazon towards environmental catastrophe - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/17/methane-climate-crisis-amazon-peat-permafrost-vegan-heat-pumps "As the world heats up, methane released from thawing permafrost and warming tropical wetlands is intensifying climate breakdown. But curbing it is achievable"

Failure to deal with #mpox outbreak ‘is risk not just to Africa but whole world’ - https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/aug/17/failure-to-deal-with-mpox-outbreak-is-risk-not-just-to-africa-but-whole-world are we really this stupid? (rhetorical question)

I am braver than the media that refuses to publish the Trump campaign's leaked emails. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2024/8/16/2263503/-Cartoon-Leaked-emails-from-the-Trump-campaign

"The precept against not taking what is not given comes to encompass the largest forms of theft today: theft of surplus labor value, private property & wages. Whenever a worker does not fully receive the value of their labor, the capitalist effectively steals that surplus value. When a boss withholds duly owed wages and tips for themselves, they steal the wages of the workers. Private property is an institution that seeks to legitimize the theft of...collective...land."

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/mx-flow-buddhist-anarchism-theory-and-practice?v=1723741802

This is the CDC under the Dems. We are so fucked.

"We knew last time that mpox had the potential to spread through the air, but the CDC continued to insist it was only transmitted through direct contact, specifically through "kisses" and "needles," evoking prejudice without naming it.The Biden administration bungled things further, missing a chance to order vaccines and then promoting thinly veiled stereotypes..."

https://www.okdoomer.io/why-you-dont-need-to-panic-about-mpox/

I do realize I'm screaming into a void, but writing this email was cathartic.

Major tech companies are producing far more carbon emissions than they suggest in their sustainability reports.

They’re lobbying hard to rewrite the rules on how emissions are calculated to show net zero on paper, but not in practice.

https://www.ft.com/content/2d6fc319-2165-42fb-8de1-0edf1d765be3

#tech #climate #emissions #climatechange

The many age-verification laws passed recently "were never intended to be narrow measures to protect children, despite being presented that way. And these quotes confirm their true purpose,” EFF’s @aaronmackey told @theintercept. https://theintercept.com/2024/08/16/project-2025-russ-vought-porn-ban/

Page views is a terrible measure for the success of information transfer. But it's a worse measure for successful governance.

Wonder why Statistics New Zealand's Government Chief Data Steward accomplishes nothing? Page views are the only target they have.

Improve data quality across government (ie. their mission)? not being measured.

Implement Algorithm Governance? not measured.

Either of their marginally functional data ethics initiatives? not measured.

🧵end 2/2

Just listening to super-keen VC-funded bio-technologists rearranging the deck chairs for the NZ Dairy industry... https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2018951586/anti-methane-vaccine-could-reduce-impact-of-cow-burps *If* we could reduce the impact from ruminant methane production... it wouldn't do a *single thing* for the nitrogen pollution those ruminants create. So a win on methane (unlikely though it is), is still a huge loss for the environment & drinkable/swimable water here in Aotearoa. We just need to massive cut the herd. Some dairy farmers just need to stop.

#coreboot will be present at #froscon with a booth! And we will do some live hacking :)

We would love to talk with you about latest open source #firmware developments. See you there! 😊

Please buy A.I., it is very stupid. https://brianmcfadden.org/2024/08/09/sam-altmans-a-i-bubble-burstin-blowout/

@jerry did an interesting writeup on patterns of racist and other bigoted harassment on Mastodon: https://social.coop/@jerry@infosec.exchange/112887084723376570

The writeup is gives a description of what the recurring dynamics look like from the vantage point of an instance moderator.

I feel like this probably isn't the complete story of racist dynamics on Mastodon, but it's an important pattern for users to be aware of.