Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

I have a sick feeling when I realize that, at least as of 10 years ago, I knew a fair number of liberal-leaning *academics* who thought that tenure was a bad idea.

I support the institution of tenure.

Professorship is pretty thankless as is. People should be able to look forward to some kind of stability in their lives.

I also think similar institutions should exist in other domains too. The enemies of progress benefit from people feeling precarious.

Am I misunderstanding something?

This appears to be a stunningly irresponsible story in Science, claiming that up to 30% of the scientific literature is fake.

https://www.science.org/content/article/fake-scientific-papers-are-alarmingly-common

Below, the first two paragraphs of the story.

h/t @Hoch

It's increasingly common for left-activists and progressives to focus on the behavior of big corporations and corporate-government partnerships in making sense of things like climate change denial and divisions withing global warming politics.

A big part of this narrative is the idea that framing environmental issues as ones of "individual responsibility" and "individual sacrifice" has been promoted by individuals and institutions that are working hard to make sure there is no meaningful change.

I believe this narrative is generally correct, but I have some uncertainties about the way this formulation sometimes gets used, and would love to hear others' thoughts.

9 out of 10 travellers between Stuttgart & Paris now take the train not the plane. "Huge increase in cross-border traffic as Germany's national railway expands services". https://cleanenergywire.org/news/huge-increase-cross-border-traffic-germanys-national-railway-expands-services

This suggests that abruptly warm spring days with lagging colder soils are candidate days for gas buildup in utility holes.

Interesting to see that this "Snake" malware is pitched as being cross-platform, but all the focus is on its impact on Windows: https://media.defense.gov/2023/May/09/2003218554/-1/-1/1/JOINT_CSA_HUNTING_RU_INTEL_SNAKE_MALWARE_20230509.PDF Wonder what it might look like on Linux... and what vulnerabilities it exploits there.

'BleepingComputer has learned from multiple employees that the ransomware attack has affected the company’s Windows Active Directory, affecting hundreds of devices.

'In response to the attack, ABB terminated VPN connections with its customers to prevent the spread of the ransomware to other networks.

'The attack reportedly disrupts the company's operations, delaying projects and impacting the factories'.

Given what ABB sells, 😳.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/multinational-tech-firm-abb-hit-by-black-basta-ransomware-attack/

Okay folks: this morning we're launching something we think is pretty useful. Lots of people have strong opinions on how content moderation should work, but they've never done it. So we built a content moderation mobile game (browser-based): https://moderatormayhem.engine.is/

Details about it are here: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/05/11/moderator-mayhem-a-mobile-game-to-see-how-well-you-can-handle-content-moderation/

I’m hearing murmurs of YouTube blocking browsers that support ad blockers.

You know where you don’t have to worry about such things? Host your videos on a #PeerTube instance and use #Owncast for your live video streaming needs.

But of course you already knew that.

If you have problems with the EARN IT Act, you should also have problems with the STOP CSAM Act. Both are highly dangerous for encryption. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/stop-csam-act-improved-still-problematic

Police have their sights set on every surveillance camera in every business, on every porch, in all the cities and counties of the country.https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/neighborhood-watch-out-cops-are-incorporating-private-cameras-their-real-time

Several people in this thread have recommended I use "privacy.com" to create one-off credit card numbers to thwart the companies that hike autopay subscription rates. I took a look at it and discovered the company is in bed with Peter Thiel's evil Palintir.

No thanks.

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Silence Is No Reaction: Forty Years of Subhumans by Ian Glasper.

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Catch them on tour in the U.S. in May and June! http://subhumans.bandcamp.com

#punk

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The International Workers’ Day Sale keeps rolling all month.

Save 40% on all these books and more with coupon code WORKERS until 6/1.

See them all https://blog.pmpress.org/2022/04/29/international-workers-day-of-may-day-sale/

It looks like the ACLU is one organization that is actively working to fight fascist bill put forward in U.S. states. I wish they provided more detailed information on their website about what kinds of actions volunteers can participate in, but it does look like they are trying to recruit activists here:
https://action.aclu.org/petition/2023-state-legislative-action-pledge-sign-now

‘The forever prisoner’: Abu Zubaydah’s drawings expose the US’s depraved torture policy - https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/may/11/abu-zubaydah-drawings-guantanamo-bay-us-torture-policy staggering in its cruelty and awfulness. America's nadir...

Peter seems entirely dogmatic that tech progress is always good, and startups are always good (and the only way to do business). I think a lot of his basic assumptions need a lot of re-evaluation.

A while ago, I read about the psycholgical effect that kicks in when someone tries to fight for a good cause, but then makes a tiny mistake.

We are very hard on hypocrisy because our brains like when things add up.

I.e. a climate activist with a plastic cup triggers much harder than Elon taking a 5 minute flight in his private jet every other day.

The first feels wrong, while the second just meets our expectations.

I can't stop seeng this everywhere ever since.

Wow, the past 12 hours here in our corner of Ōtautahi have be characterised by violent and wet weather. At 4am, there was a sort of crashing (apparently thunder, but like none I've ever heard), which initiated the deluge. It was almost like the crunch sound knocked the water out of the air in which it was previously happily suspended. The wind and rain continue apace.