Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

The failure of the Internet to deliver its promise is particularly noticeable when you hunt for repair manuals for a product from the 90s. Used to be, the information would either be there or not there, finable or unfindable.

Now, there are hundreds of algorithmically generated sites claiming to have it just because it appeared in their search logs, generating potemkin village content traps with endless paging, broken-thumbnail named-like-the-file-you-want but actually-just-ebay-photos bullshit

Been catching occasional snatches of "The Big Dig" audio documentary on `GBH.

One tidbit I learned was that in order to secure U.S. federal funding for the Big Dig here in Massachusetts, congressional Democrats in the 1980s offered in trade that the interstate speed limit would go back up to 65 mph from the 1970s fuel efficiency speed of 55 mph.

I wonder a bit about this trade.

https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/the-big-dig/part-3-all-politics-is-local

I'm planning to go to the #junkyard to get some metal balls out of ball bearings.

I'm loking for >20mm balls, but the internet is unhelpful:

What kind of #machines contain such big ball bearings? The ones in #bikes are only a few mm in size. Should I be looking for #truck axles or what?

#vehicles #AskFedi #bicycle #mechanic

In case you ever wondered how CNN would describe Hitler’s Nuremberg Rallies…

#media #fascism

Palestine will be free.

Design by Josh MacPhee.

Learn more & support the Hebron International Resource Network (HIRN), an organization based in the West Bank working to house Gazan workers deported to the West Bank by Israeli forces. nonviolenceinternational.net/hirn_partner

Also popular is the "intelligence of the gaps" argument analogous to the "God of the gaps" argument.

So yeah computers can calculate but wake me up when they can beat humans at chess. Umm beat them at go. Ummm recognize a cat. Ummm write poetry.

Eventually that argument wears a little thin.

I would like to see better, more subtle arguments that distinguish humans from AI that recognizes the bag of tricks in our own heads.

No one should be surprised by what has happened with Airbnb: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-the-professional-airbnb-landlord-class-is-simply-the-worst/?kwp_0=2322170

Bezos and Musk have it deeply wrong.
The problem isn't that we need a trillion people to have more Einsteins or Mozarts.

The problem is we don't nurture and protect the ones we have.

Stephen Jay Gould wrote: "I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops".

We live in an era of moral warfare.

This moral warfare — a struggle between different systems of morality — will decide whether the United States remains a democracy or becomes an autocracy in the coming years.

This moral warfare is being waged in multiple ways, but mainly through the flow of information. Moral warfare is conducted through information warfare — the deliberate manipulation of facts, frames and symbols.

Moral warfare imbues our language, politics, media and social media. It is an intensifying contest between different moral beliefs, ideologies and worldviews.

Welcome to Moral Warfare 101, a series of essays on the FrameLab Newsletter.

https://framelab.substack.com/p/moral-warfare-101

Did you or someone you know work with SSH back in the late 90s and early 2000s? I'd love to get some perspective on something. Please DM me by Signal.

What better way is there to learn about free software than by using it? Free software in education is a pillar of support for a free society. Help us strengthening this pillar by donating to support our work. https://u.fsf.org/41e #LearnLibre #Education

Google Groups ending support for Usenet https://www.osnews.com/story/138084/google-groups-ending-support-for-usenet/

idiot detection system...

I got a sales pitch from a vendor who sells Raspberry PI and other cool components. Their website doesn't work on Linux.

I told them that I would love to buy stuff from them but I cannot see their products. And If I need support, I won't be able to get in touch.

They told me to stop complaining and use my phone to buy stuff from them.

So guess who is not going to buy hardware that runs Linux from the website that doesn't support Linux.

#fail #linux #stupidcompany #RaspberryPi #webbrowser

Latest cartoon: Fossil fuel CEOs are very worried about "polarization"

#climate #cop28 #climatechange #climatecrisis #fossilfuel #protest

Even after I asked for no cynical comments . . .

Cynics in 2020: THERE ARE NEVER ANY CONSQENCES.

Guilani is found liable for $150 million.

Cynics: BIG DEAL WHO CARES NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO HIM ANYWAY.

I'll say this nicely: Please go away. You do not contribute to the conversation.

Also, you were wrong in 2020 and you were wrong now.

What the heck do you expect?

Magic trolls to appear and gobble up all the bad guys and the rest of us will live happily ever after in a perfect world?

I can't even begin to count the hours of research went into this story. Frustrated that most of that research went in the wrong direction for so long. But also very excited to share what I found, and that I finally have something to show for it all:

On Dec. 18, 2013, KrebsOnSecurity broke the news that U.S. retail giant Target was battling a wide-ranging computer intrusion that compromised more than 40 million customer payment cards over the previous month. The malware used in the Target breach included the text string “Rescator,” which also was the handle chosen by the cybercriminal who was selling all of the cards stolen from Target customers. Ten years later, KrebsOnSecurity has uncovered new clues about the real-life identity of Rescator.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2023/12/ten-years-later-new-clues-in-the-target-breach/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rudy-giuliani-verdict-defamation-trial-georgia-election-workers/

This is the end of Guilani. He's broken and finished.

It's also a warning to people who want to spread lies about others.

"self-hosting" can be community hosting, and if the 1% into being foss-tech-dude and the 99% who prefer a life get together, we could all be less at the mercy of distant providers who treat us like plankton. tech dude could earn a decent living and be a resource for everyone rather than some weirdo in the basement. /fin