Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Anyone have opinions on #Matrix servers? I'm gonna make an account soon, and I'm wondering if I should just use the default matrix.org servers. Also, if I choose wrong, how hard is it to switch?

Owncast is proud to support the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians by offering them a hosted Owncast instance. They contacted the project discussing their streaming needs, and how the Big Tech options weren't working out for them, and they didn't have the resources to operate Owncast on their own. They asked if we could help via our donation program https://owncast.online/donated/.

I look forward to seeing their arts, sports and cultural events streaming live soon!

Frankly I don't think we should care about brands in order to enable some arbitrary measure of "growth". I want this place to stay human-focused and empathetic, and allowing brands a space to advertise or the power to mold this place will take it in the wrong direction.

Development version GIMP 2.99.14 is out!
Improved align, text and transform tools, copy-paste re-worked, faster XCF save, DMG package for Apple Silicon… and much more! 🥳

Enjoy and happy GIMPing everyone! 🧑‍🎨📷🎨→🖼️
https://www.gimp.org/news/2022/11/18/gimp-2-99-14-released/

Good morning from Washington, D.C.

Prosecution's closing arguments in the Oath Keepers trial begin with this opening line: "'We are not getting through this without a civil war. Prepare your mind body and spirit.' Those were the words of Stewart Rhodes on Nov. 5, 2020."

Thread.

Maybe don't let billionaires be in charge of stuff.

Maybe don't let there be billionaires.

To all of you fighting for this Earth and for other people, against the rising tide of the careless rich, I love you with all of my heart.

So I guess it wasn't a hoax.

GOP operative Jesse Benton found guilty of funneling Russian money to Donald Trump's campaign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/11/17/benton-trump-russian-vasilenko-guilty/

"The standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don't work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital."
- Noam Chomsky

I'm curious to know which other parts of the #fediverse people are exploring besides Mastodon. Who is using #BookWyrm, #Lemmy, #pixelfed or others? I'd love to know more and get recommendations on how to approach.

I feel like I haven't fully embraced the full Fediverse yet.

'Red Cup Rebellion': Workers at 100+ Starbucks Locations Strike to Protest Union Busting

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/11/17/red-cup-rebellion-workers-100-starbucks-locations-strike-protest-union-busting

Worst fall in UK living standards since records began, says OBR - https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/17/obr-confirms-uk-enters-year-long-recession-with-half-a-million-job-losses-likely well, there you have it... #brexitreality

Mike Pence is an example of toxic Christianity. We should have freedom of religion, yes, but we must also ensure freedom *from* religion. Your religious freedoms don’t give you the right to deny freedoms or civic participation to others. Period.

ACCESSIBILITY TIP: Adding emojis to your display name is terrible for people who use screen readers.

I was just reminded by someone that when you do this (as I had done), then they have to listen to the screen reader read out all the emojis/icons BEFORE getting to your actual post.

So my name came across as:
----
dan york satellite graphic satellite studio mic graphic studio mic curling stone graphic curling stone
----

Thank you to the person who reminded me of this!

#accessibility

Goodspeed You! Black Emperor is going hard at their gigs. You love to see it.

As Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Stripe, Shopify, Lyft, Netflix, and Microsoft lay off workers, let it serve as a reminder that free snacks, beer kegs, and ping pong tables are not real perks.

Do you know what is? Being part of a union that will defend you.

After people get used to tech without lock-in, companies will need new tech that allows them to rewrite the rules. I suspect VR/AR will be the the technology that will allow companies to lock folks back in. It is the next evolution to make a computer that is even more personal than a smartphone.

This is clearly why Meta is all in on this tech and why Apple is exploring the space as well. Whoever controls this tech controls the portal into the virtual and real world. We will need to be vigilant.

So why did it change? There are a few causes, and this pendulum between open and closed tech is always swinging, but to me the single most important cause was the advent of the smartphone.

Smartphones allowed tech companies to rewrite the rules around standards, software, lock-in and #privacy as Big Tech companies all sought to control the new personal computer with rules people would have rejected on their laptops. The rush to control SMS and news portals killed XMPP and RSS, respectively.