Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Linus Torvalds is the keynote speaker (an interview, not a speech).

His brilliant stewardship of the Linux kernel has been the linchpin of a project that, long ago, was little more than an essential extension of GNU.

I believe I was the first "mainstream media" journalist to tell Americans about him and his project, back in 1996 in the San Jose Mercury News.

The story is buried behind a paywall, but someone helpfully posted it here:

https://www.tech-insider.org/linux/research/1996/0908.html

Another company gets hacked for user data -- profoundly private data in this case, with DNA maven 23andMe -- and is caught lying about the extent of the damage, which is far, far worse than originally acknowledged: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/12/hackers-stole-ancestry-data-of-6-9-million-users-23andme-finally-confirmed/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

I've been using Inkscape for over 10 years. If I had been using Illustrator for 10 years I would have paid Adobe over $2,500 in "rental" fees for a subscription that stops as soon as I stop paying.

Instead I started paying $5 a month to Inkscape to help make sure we can all use it for free for as long as we want.

#inkscape #openSource

"Flexible Absolutism"

More than 400 humans and legal entities have joined our non-profit organization Codeberg e.V.

If you want to help make a world of community-maintained services and libre software possible, consider joining us now:

https://join.codeberg.org/

I see many people using #Codeberg or self-hosted #Forgejo for #AdventOfCode and I love that 😍

Codeberg is booming, at least for personal projects 🚀

It is so "ironic" that Github, the leading platform for open source software, is proprietary… #FOSS gotta wake up one day!

I think that the planned federation will bring more collaborative projects over 🏃
Think of Mastodon for Git 🤩

#GiveUpGitHub #AOC #AOC2023

This past September Purism reached a milestone thought to be unreachable within the tech industry, completing and delivering a phone (the Librem 5) and operating system (PureOS) that is not Android nor iOS.

Learn More at: https://puri.sm/posts/celebrating-the-librem-5-success-with-a-sale-save-up-to-450-when-bundled-with-awesim/

Holiday season retro fun: https://dosdeck.com/ brings back MS-DOS games in browsers. No installation necessary.

Limited selection for now, but I promise some happily wasted hours with the original Commander Keen, among others!

Leaving the USA at SFO, I tested out "Opting out of facial recognition scans before boarding" procedure to see if it indeed exists and will be followed.

It didn't go very well.

The gate agent argued saying I couldn't opt out. I insisted that I'm allowed to, and they pointed to a sign on the wall explaining the "Biometric verification privacy policy". The sign says "Customers wishing to opt out may speak to a gate agent or CBP officer for a manual verification" clearly at the bottom.

The agent then told me I have to opt-out *in advance with CBP*. I pointed out that the sign says "or gate agent" and asked if she was a gate agent. She insisted again that I can't opt-out but by that point another agent heard the discussion, came over, and showed the first agent how to place my passport on the scanner and sent me through. I overheard her telling the first agent as I walked away, "If it's a US passport, it's OK."

A flight of probably 300 people, I'm definitely the only one who opted-out today and by the gate agent's confusion, I suspect I'm the only one who has opted out in a long time.

I'm in every system there is (and China already has my entire SF-86) so it's not that I'm some off-the-grid paranoid who doesn't want to be in "the system" - but for privacy rights to exist at all, it's important to use them when you don't need to and keep them available for people who DO need privacy.

Ban repeat liars from live interviews.

Never put a lie in the headline.

Use a truth sandwich when reporting on lies.

-Don’t take the bait (stop rewarding drama with visibility)

Abandon the social media algorithm (don’t let X dictate the news cycle)

What other basic rules can help the political press avoid the mistakes of 2016 in 2024?

Read more at the FrameLab Newsletter:
https://framelab.substack.com/p/trump-2024-has-the-press-learned?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2

These fucking monsters have had their revenge fifty fold. As evil as I know the US to be I remain shocked by our cooperation in this horrific massacre. https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/1731388927381016809

This is why gov't should not buy proprietary software. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/498118/it-upgrade-costs-rotorua-council-about-14-point-9m-more-than-originally-budgeted I've previously explained how gov't could coordinate, vastly reduce its IT risk, and make vastly better use of public funds. They continue to waste resources on shitty systems.

🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️FFS - Cop28 president UAE’s Sultan Al Jaber says there is ‘no science’ behind demands for phase-out of coal, oil and gas
#climate #COP28
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/03/back-into-caves-cop28-president-dismisses-phase-out-of-fossil-fuels?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Some people's 'hobbies' are not acceptable. That, I think, includes '4WDing'. What a weak-minded activity. This is abhorrent. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/503827/canterbury-crate-day-punters-anger-activists-over-breaking-endangered-birds-eggs

Anarchists in so-called California have shut down train lines in solidarity with Palestine.

"We used a tactic shared by natives and accomplices of the Wet'Suwet'en tribe in so called Canada. We took large gauge copper wire and wrapped it around both rails of the same train track."

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/12/02/18860816.php

📚✨ A Huge Thank You! ✨📚

To everyone who has embraced "The Mega Adventures of Koko Sisi and Kiki Pupu" – your support has been overwhelming. We're excited to share that we've sold half of our stock in both English and French, a milestone we couldn't have reached without you.

This book is more than just a story; it's a journey into themes of mutual aid, DIY culture, deforestation, and the bonds of friendship. Your support is helping us introduce these important concepts to young readers in a fun and engaging way.

If you haven't had the chance to explore this adventure with us, there are still copies waiting for you at https://papistudio.com. Thank you for helping us make a difference in children's literature.

#ChildrensBooks #KokoSisiKikiPupu #PapiStudio

It’s common sense: people who have no idea how a proprietary algorithm works aren’t qualified to testify that it’s reliable. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/11/government-shouldnt-prosecute-people-unreliable-black-box-technology

Why is this shit still even legal? Oh right, because pretty much everything is a destructive scam in our modern economy, so people don't notice those parts so much and just go, "oooohhhh new tech!"

What's on the agenda at #COP28? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/12/1/2209010/-Cartoon-COP28-agenda-items

Belgian court orders 55% emissions cut from 1990 levels - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/01/belgian-court-orders-faster-emissions-cuts-as-countrys-climate-targets-insufficient well done, Belgian court... #ClimateCrisis #Belgium