Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel *Picks and Shovels*.

Catch me in SEATTLE TONIGHT (Feb 19) with Dan Savage:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-with-dan-savage-picks-and-shovels-a-martin-hench-novel-tickets-1106741957989

And in TORONTO on SUNDAY (Feb 23) at Another Story Books:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/picks-shovels-cory-doctorow-tickets-1219803217259

More tour dates here:

http://martinhench.com

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TONIGHT! Mutual Aid 101: Intro to Mutual Aid (free online course from Shareable)

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mutual-aid-101-intro-to-mutual-aid-tickets-1203535961459

It's ok to take some time to build yourself & rest.

It took 70+ years to get rid of Jim Crow. Then it took reactionaries 60+ years to get back to where we are now.

It's extremely unlikely this is gonna get fixed overnight. You can skip the news for a day. Really.

Attending a protest? Check out EFF's protest safety tips. https://ssd.eff.org/module/attending-protest

Real education should educate us out of servitude and into independence and revolt. - Emma Goldman

Education is for Lovers.

Get 40% off all Education titles at https://pmpress.org thru the end of Feb, with code LOVERS. Shop the sale via the Link in our bio.

Ithaca folks and teachers! Teachers Get 20% off at Autumn Leaves for Ithaca Loves Teachers, now thru the end of the month!

New post: An interview between @integloerich and I on Economic Live Action Role Playing Games, crushing neoliberalism through art and more.

" Neoliberalism was always already a game, although it is one that we did not consent to, with rules that are enforced through dispossession, violence, enclosure, and resource extraction. Let’s play a different game."

https://stacco.works/2025/02/19/neoliberalism-is-a-game-we-didnt-consent-to-lets-play-a-different-game/

Kinda seems like folks need a reminder that Executive Orders aren't laws. They are policy directives for the Executive branch. Resistance to them is not only possible, it is necessary for overturning them.

@dangillmor
I think Furman is a pretty good proxy for how the Dem leadership is thinking, though, or at least what their narrative will be. As always, they are going to try to cozy up even more to the rich while throwing the working class under the bus -- because, as Tom Ferguson put it, parties compete for donors, not for voters.

Useful thoughts from @Siderea, Sibylla Bostoniensis  on "parallel channels" of political work:
#^https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1869655.html

"Yes, we have to move a mountain. Just pick up the biggest nearby rock you can carry. Don't worry about whether it's the optimal rock, or angst over whether it's enough rock. Trust that other people will be picking up and moving other rocks."

In today’s “terminology matters”:

❌ Return To Office policy: middle-management language that assumes “office” is a neutral position, we’re somehow “returning to”. This term has been carefully crafted by corporate strategists to sound as palatable as possible.

✅ Mandatory Commute policy: centers the outcome for workers - spending hours each day on an unpaid commute to and from the office just so we can be on video calls all day.

We don’t just have to accept hostile framing.

Diesen Donnerstag (20.02.) findet bei uns ab18:30 Uhr das erste mal ein monatlicher #RaspberryPi #Workshop statt. Mehr Infos dazu gibts hier: https://datenburg.org/veranstaltungen/raspberrypi/

Kommt vorbei mit euren Pis!

#hackspace #regioccc #bonn

For the last few weeks ive been working on the viefinder code for my @libcamera based #linux camera app to use opengl, and it was totally worth it when running on something like the @PINE64 #pinephone

@lightweight @billbennett @jdmcg Much to my childrens' disappointment, I've told them I won't buy MS Windows.

My eldest has just bought a laptop with Windows on it on the basis that University has said it'll make accessing resources for her coursework a lot easier. 🤷

To claim a 'savings' you have to be able to compare it to the price of a *different equivalent* option. And don't even get me started on the 'commercial sensitivity ' clauses in our Official Information Act that protect the interest of gov't procurement agents and their vendors. Ugh. What a farce. The taxpayer needs transparency. Corporations need to bow to us, not the other way.

I'm just remembering the times I've seen gov't procurement officers patting themselves on the back in the media for securing an 'all of gov't' deal with a big foreign tech monopolist (one or the other), and touting their 'savings'. I'm guessing they didn't learn much about economics or 'savings' prior to their role.

You pay a monopolist what they say you pay. If they drop that $ it's a marketing opportunity for them to unsavvy people. It's not a 'savings'. It's just a bit less of a reaming.

My congresswoman Robin Kelly is doing a telephone town hall meeting right now, and it just went up from 8,000 people listening to 11,000 people listening in the space of a single Q&A (2% of the district's population!).

People ARE active & paying attention. Politicians are, orgs are, individuals are. Don't fear you're alone.

@lightweight @Salty it's important to note that I worked in 'the industry' and we abandoned Adobe in 2012. Our business was very successful using only FOSS in a creative/tech environment, and I have absolutely no regrets. I've also worked in other agencies where the name Adobe is only ever whispered, and followed by intense spitting sounds.

I know this will be a shock to many of you, but a Harvard economics professor has written an article that provides a "textbook case of intellectual dishonesty."

https://prospect.org/economy/2025-02-18-intellectual-dishonesty-jason-furman/

(I strongly recommend the American Prospect for its relentlessly excellent journalism and commentary.)

After Trump’s memecoin launch, several countries and politicians have launched or promoted cryptocurrency tokens (or appeared to). It’s not gone well.

#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpolitics #USpol

"The same tracking techniques that Google claims are essential for online advertising also expose individuals' sensitive information to data brokers, surveillance companies, and law enforcement," EFF’s Lena Cohen told BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm21g0052dno