Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

God help us. I checked, and this is real.

https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2023/07/26/hisd-to-eliminate-librarians-turn-libraries-into-discipline-centers-at-28-campuses/

Say it with me: JSON is not a data storage format! It is a data transmission format, and a rather inefficient and awkward to use one at that.

I would really like to see the Greens, Te Pāti Māori and TOP really push this message of tax fairness. I think it would appeal to a large number of people. The major parties (and ACT of course) are focused on "caviar and wine" for the rich not bread and butter for the rest of us

A really strong statement on tax policy from Te Pāti Māori - Amen brother! https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2307/S00151/te-party-maori-propose-radical-tax-reforms.htm

New at Nature: Like-minded sources on Facebook are prevalent but not polarizing
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06297-w
Our key findings:
-Median Facebook user gets 50.4% of content from like-minded sources
-But reducing exposure by 1/3 for 3 months had no measurable effect on attitudes

Reminder that the "Kids Online Safety Act" is all about censorship, not protecting kids.

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/kids-online-safety-act-lgbtq-youth

Deceit isn't just a routine part of Musk's public statements. It's a core practice in how he does business. But if this Reuters blockbuster about the car-range lies from Tesla, apparently at his direction, doesn't result in severe penalties, then we'll know how thoroughly our "regulators" are in the tank for this guy. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/tesla-batteries-range/

#EU opens #antitrust inquiry into #Microsoft’s #Teams #software | Microsoft | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/27/eu-antitrust-inquiry-microsofts-sale-teams-bundling

#ProprietarySoftware #MonopolisticPractice #AnticompetitiveBehaviour

This is the best explanation I've found of how terrible the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is. It's probably worse than you thought, even in its amended form. Please call your reps now!

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/kids-online-safety-act-still-huge-danger-our-rights-online

Watch Scott Branson, coeditor of Surviving the Future: Abolitionist Queer Strategies, on @subMedia System Fail #24: Pride and Prejudice. https://blog.pmpress.org/2023/07/25/scott-branson-on-system-fail-24-pride-and-prejudice/

MA Governor Healey Signs Executive Order Establishing Digital Accessibility and Equity Governance Board - and also creates a Chief IT Accessibility Officer (CIAO) https://www.mass.gov/news/governor-healey-signs-executive-order-establishing-digital-accessibility-and-equity-governance-board
Executive Order here: https://www.mass.gov/executive-orders/no-614-establishing-the-digital-accessibility-and-equity-governance-board
CIAO job posting here: https://massanf.taleo.net/careersection/exm/jobdetail.ftl?job=230008CK&tz=GMT-04%3A00&tzname=America%2FNew_York

#a11y #accessibility

Do I want fedi to grow? Sure, that'd be nice. Do I want the corporate internet to shrink? Yes please.

But really, just keeping what we have here would be pretty good too.

Sometimes I think people don't really appreciate what an accomplishment it is that we've staked out a little corner of the web where it's possible to have normal casual conversations---with friends, with strangers, or with both---without being beholden to some billion dollar corporation.

Quick reminder that at least decent chunk of the forests *still burning* in Canada were part of the "offsets" countries and companies pay for as credits in Carbon Trading schemes meant for them to keep polluting guilt free.

The "offsets" are now in the atmosphere heating the planet. As well as the emissions.

Good stuff. /s

That's part of why Emissions Trading Schemes are little more than fancy accounting and should never be accepted as Climate Action.

#BlahBlahBlah #ClimateCrisis

Signal is an ongoing book series dedicated to documenting and sharing compelling graphics and cultural movements of international resistance and liberation struggles.

To celebrate the new issue 08, save 20% on ALL issues of Signal with coupon code JULY at https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_list&c=80

Interesting observations, @siderea

Now I'm curious, what happens if we put your thoughts on pseudonymity next to @Lady's thoughts on coercive platforms:
https://glitch.cat.family/@Lady/110772324853832414

Quote:
"...the fact that people are forced to live their lives on facebook is one of its failures. ... there are people [including marginalized organizers] there who in an ideal world would not be on any platform, who have no need for the platform itself but are forced for one reason or another to participate."

My experience taught me, over and over and over again, that pseudonym usage being normal in a community, whether online or off, is a pretty reliable sign of a community that is going to turn out to be vibrant, creative, liberal, politically aware, and intellectual, and valuing authenticity, vulnerability, learning, risk-taking, curiosity, wonder, delight, and joy. Their food will be better, their arguments more rollicking, their clothes more luxurious, their entertainments more transporting, and their lovers better lays.

I'm not angry about this, contrary to what it may sound like: I'm amused. Perhaps I'm easily amused.

Thing is, it's a pretty normal thing - and it's happening a bit more now given recent topic of discussion here - for me to wind up having conversations with people about the value of anonymity or pseudonymity, in which people volunteer the opinion directly to me, usually in agreement with me, that anonymous commenters are not all bad, or that there's some value to allowing anonymous online comments because of some example... out there (*waves hands airily*) somewhere.

To *me*. Directly *to me*. While I am standing directly in front of them, as it were, virtually, *using a pseudonym*.

You know the ID in my wallet does not actually say "Siderea, Sibylla Bostoniensis", right? My professional license does not say "Siderea, Sibylla Bostoniensis, LMHC". That is not what I put at the top of my IRS 1040. It's not what my patients call me.

We went from the wettest spring in recent memory to "severe drought" over the course of the last two months. Fun times.

https://montanafreepress.org/2023/07/26/fishing-and-fire-restrictions-begin-in-western-montana-as-drought-drags-on

It’s vastly more profitable to produce clothing that will wear out quickly, so that people will need to constantly pay to replace them, wrecking the environment in the process, than it would be to clothe everyone adequately and sustainably.

https://www.gq.com/story/oliver-franklin-wallis-wasteland-excerpt