Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Two writers I respect enormously -- @joshtpm and @pluralistic -- posted complementary pieces in recent days, on Democrats, democracy, and institutions.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-party-of-institutions-in-an-era-of-distrust/sharetoken/fdd3e27f-73f6-45dd-a706-ca111139f4ac

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/21/policy-based-evidence/#decisions-decisions

I added some thoughts in my latest newsletter (first item): https://cornerstone.ghost.io/essentials-november-23-24-2024/

@thomholwerda Next cloud hosted by @coopcloud

Why is the eBook market such shit? You can't buy directly from the publisher but have to go through Amazon or Google (let me count the ways I hate this) and always with DRM (I want to read my book on my device with my choice of software) … and that's not even touching audiobooks where the situation is even worse.

The ugly truth of US politics that a lot of people seem to be in denial about (if there's anything we USians are good at, it's sticking our heads in the sand).

Now this is funny.

i Newspaper.
'In a survey for Farmers Weekly last year, 83 per cent of famers polled said Brexit had been worse than expected; 52 per cent supported a referendum on rejoining the EU; and 70 per cent supported rejoining the single market.'

Byline Times tells us that 70% of Farmers voted for Brexit.

Be careful what you vote for you just might get it.

If you think of the problem with the shuttering of Reader being about structure and centralized authority rather than the tech, the objection becomes that Google was trusted by an ecosystem of freely-shared information as stewards of a centralizing resource, and then abandoned that responsibility and ultimately destroyed that provider ecosystem by chasing closed-model capture-profiteering

In that light, it’s clear that what Google did to Reader, they’re currently doing to search.

By the way, for anyone reading my feed, wondering why I'm so unabashedly bigoted against #proprietary software, (vastly preferring #libre software) I've written this explainer: https://davelane.nz/proprietary to explain my position.

There are enough articles about how to talk to MAGA relatives next week. Here's how to cook for them. https://www.dailykos.com/story/2024/11/22/2287924/-Cartoon-Recipes-for-revenge

Good grief, Elsevier's editorial proficiency is shit: here's one of their journals (International Journal of Surgery Case Reports) publishing a letter titled "Practice of Neurosurgery on Saturn".

(Via @helendecruz.net, posting on Bsky.)

Latest comic - From Dawn to Dusk

#comic #cartoon #uspol #media #election #politics

Yo, parents! I see so many of my friends caught in this endless battle with their kids over screen time—negotiating, tantrums, the whole nine yards. It’s wild. Lucky for me, I haven’t really had to deal with that (so far). Wanna know my secret weapon? Books.
Since my kid was a baby, we’ve made books a huge part of his world. Even before he could read, we gave him picture books and comics to flip through. Once he cracked the code on reading, it was game over—this kid devours books like they’re candy. We hit up the library every week, and yeah, we even convinced them to increase our borrowing limit.
Now, don’t get me wrong—he plays computer games, watches shows and movies, and has a tablet. But thanks to his love of books, he can totally entertain himself with a novel or a stack of comics for hours.
This whole experience got me thinking: what if I could help other parents break the screen-time cycle while passing on good values to their kids? That’s why I started writing children’s books. My first one? I’m extra proud of it because I co-wrote it with my son.
So here’s the deal—check it out, share this video, and follow my project, PapiStudio.com. And heads up, I’ve got some rad animations dropping soon to promote the book. Let’s spread the word and help kids discover the magic of books.

https://kolektiva.media/w/ng1CZRCrEim8C5s4qYDjbm

It's the time of the year again where many non-profits do their budget planning for the next calendar year.

Just so you know that when you want to donate to your favorite projects, now might be a good time to do so. 😉
It increases the chances that your contribution will bring timely improvement to the tools you love.

This is a much more realistic of a view than everyone saying "but inflation is down, the economy's recovered, why are people still mad about it?"

"By greatly underestimating the extraordinary power these programs had, pundits and politicians alike have greatly underestimated the effects of their expiration. This meant they didn’t predict the wave of discontentment that would inevitably emerge

https://www.crisesnotes.com/one-election-takeaway-voters-hate-temporary-safety-nets/

‘It’s not drought - it’s looting’: the Spanish villages where people are forced to buy back their own drinking water - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/nov/23/spanish-villages-people-forced-to-buy-back-own-drinking-water-drought-flood "Spain is increasingly either parched or flooded – and one group is profiting from these extremes: the water-grabbing multinational companies forcing angry citizens to pay for it in bottles" madness

I'm becoming more inclined to believe my own somewhat whacky conspiracy theory regarding AI - the actual endgame is to have AI make everything it's incorporated into non-functional, so that those same companies can sell you the non-AI version that actually works. Let's see how long before Google starts offering AI-free search as a paid option.

An excellent example of a group of technologists using their reverse engineering skills to uncover malfeasance and turning their findings into action that helps workers.

https://algorithmwatch.org/en/glovo-tracking-riders-location-infringements/

We cannot let this one pass. New bathroom bill would essentially make it illegal for trans people to use bathrooms in American airports. Don't be surprised when it's followed by national bills preventing people from being trans in public. https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/nancy-maces-federal-trans-bathroom

Data brokers are selling the location of US soldiers in Europe to anyone who wants it. No problem, says Congress, which has refused for decades to give a damn about anyone's privacy (other than their own).

https://www.wired.com/story/phone-data-us-soldiers-spies-nuclear-germany/?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=wired&utm_mailing=WIR_PlaintextPaid_112224&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&utm_content=WIR_PlaintextPaid_112224&bxid=5d38a1c8fc942d282359db8f&cndid=33481107&hasha=a57d3949484051fd7c962b7dd3735412&hashc=0db074aa21cbd7773ea150f5e7576a96e30aa98a3b747089e1874287c721e2fc&utm_term=WIR_StevenLevy_Paid

I think the question on our minds is whether, having gotten here, the popular vote will even still matter in the next election cycle, or the one after.  Which is to say, it is in fact a fair question.  If he's able to take away meaningful elections, we wouldn't be the first country in which an elected leader had done such a thing.