Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Today is a nonstop torrent of abusive acts by Big Tech.

In this one, it looks like Google effectively paid off the feds to avoid a jury trial in the antitrust case. https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/google-cuts-mystery-check-us-bid-sidestep-jury-trial-2024-05-20/

WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange's battle to avoid extradition to the US receives a huge boost with London's High Court ruling that Americans assurances over his case are unsatisfactory and he’ll get a full appeal hearing. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/wikileaks-julian-assange-given-permission-appeal-against-us-extradition-2024-05-20/

So you deleted those iPhone photos years ago, because you wanted them gone forever?

Apple obviously kept them around anyway.

And you trust Apple? Give that some thought...

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/20/24161152/apple-ios-17-photo-bug

Microsoft Windows is turning into the ultimate spy-on-the-user system. And you're supposed to be thrilled at the capabilities?

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/20/24159258/microsoft-recall-ai-explorer-windows-11-surface-event

Intro to Commitment Pools
#SolidarityEconomy

"Imagine:
A system where service providers can create digital vouchers (aka gift cards) and anyone holding them can exchange them for each other and other pooled assets.
Each service provider makes their own digital vouchers (also called gift cards, points, IoUs or formal commitments) on Sarafu Network (an open source Celo interface). Anyone can purchase these vouchers – and even give them to others..."

https://willruddick.substack.com/p/intro-to-commitment-pools

I run my own mail server. It's not an experience I enjoy, and it's often frustrating, but whenever I've had to use any of big providers (Gmail, Outlook), it has been even worse of an experience. I just backed the crowd funding campaign for a new book on this, by @mwl, and I hope it will teach me how to be a punk rocker mail admin: angry, but in a good way.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mwlucas/run-your-own-mail-server
https://liw.fi/rethinking-email/

It used to be "your money or your life." Now, it's "your money and your life."

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/05/renting-your-life.html

Dumb food for you: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2024/5/17/2241122/-Cartoon-Stupid-food-revue

I remember reading somewhere that the pyramid visualization was first used by a business management writer in some book for bosses, which sounds about right.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – Is the pyramid a hoax?
https://drsaraheaton.wordpress.com/2012/08/04/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs/

And a huge thanks to my wife for making my Monday way better than most with the birthday gift that keeps giving all year long! On returning home from my pre-work dog walk (with Luna, the hound), I found a BeerHug box waiting for me by the front door! This month, a dozen Behemoth Beers to sup, sample, & savour! Whoop Whoop!!

Every day, I also think of the fact that the computer systems I run every day & through which I provide useful, gratis, non-exploitative services to many people (& make a reasonable living) are entirely dependent on code written by thousands of clever, generous, dedicated people - with a hugely disproportionate number of neuro-diverse and transgender folk compared to the mainstream - who've poured their hearts & souls into that work. Making it *way better* than stuff written purely for profit.

I believe that FRI's IT staff (who knew about my Linux use, because I set up a server for my colleagues at the U of Cant'y School of Forestry for $0 on weekends & after hours which made the systems at HQ in Rotorua look primitive & poorly supported - which they were) gleefully pushed the Lotus Notes migration at least partly to force me onto Windows. A couple years later, I got a phonecall from a former colleague begging me to return & revert the LN migration... I noped that. They were screwed.

EU threatens Microsoft with multibillion-dollar fine over Bing AI - published 20 May 2024 #ArtificialIntelligence #News #Microsoft #AI
https://grafa.com/news/eu-threatens-microsoft-with-multibillion-dollar-fine-over-bing-ai-223885?utm_source=mastodon&medium=social&campaign=223885

As El Niño and climate change bring drought to the northern Philippines, farmers say the value of local heirloom seeds shines through.

Farmers say these seeds, cultivated through generations, show greater resilience to drought and heat than commercial hybrid seeds promoted by the government.

A network of seed savers, spearheaded by rural women, is working to revitalize the traditional practices of saving seeds.

By Mavic Conde
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/for-drought-relief-cordilleran-women-in-the-philippines-rely-on-seed-saving/

#News #Conservation #Environment #Drought

#DonaldTrump floats idea of three-term presidency at NRA convention | #USElections2024 | The Guardian

The last #president to float the idea for #RonaldReagan; another would-be dictator.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/19/trump-nra-convention-dallas

#US #Politics

To those Americans getting offended that their president and country is being criticised for arming a genocide may I just remind you that there is something a tad more offensive than being criticised for arming a genocide which is arming a goddamn genocide. Get some fucking perspective.

Okay, so the interview with Euclides Mance is up and he hits a lot of hot topics -- I am eager to know what you make of it.

#floss #blockchain #Digital_Alternative_Currencies #solidarityeconomy #circulareconomy #globalsouth #popular_education #platformcoop #valueflows #cooperatives #alternatives_to_development

https://geo.coop/articles/liberation-economist-part-2

The guys running this shit show, ALL of the guys running this shitshow, mean to wax you and your family for five pennies on the share; what they're arguing about is when, and which types of people "deserve it." I'd say I'm sorry if you catch strays, but I'm not, because my aim has never changed and the reason you're in your feels is because sometimes when I criticize fascism and capitalist mass murder, it hits a little too close to home for your politics and your favorite killers.

Man, they got me one time. Literally one time and I ain't gonna be that much of a sucker again. I woke up and suddenly a bunch of libs in suits were like "yes it is fascism, yes they don't care about you, yes they're trying to fucking kill you" and for one brief moment I thought "okay, just maybe we can fight back."

Then y'all got elected, did shit fuck all to punish fascists, gave murderpigs billions of dollars and went right back to "the real enemy is the left and poor people."

We ova...