Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Why let A.I. write your manifesto when I did it for free? https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/24/800026575/cartoon/tech-bro-manifesto/

A few years ago, after finishing 20 years as a sysadmin, I compiled a list of rules that were generally true.

1. You can't automate a process that doesn't already exist

2. Good engineering makes for easy administration

3. The easiest thing for us to do is exactly what we're told. Inventing what needs to be done takes longer.

4. It's just as easy to do something right as it is to do it wrong (or avoid doing it)

5. Everything you know will be suboptimal in three years, replaced in five, and obsolete in ten

6. Someone who is unwilling to learn is no different from someone unable to learn

7. It costs more than you think it will. It will also take longer, and do less

8. Extent always exceeds intent

9. The only safe connection is a disconnection

10. Your intellectual work is a part of the total cost of ownership

Not enough people are aware that there is an old Scottish song by the title "Cock Up Your Beaver."

That is all.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Scottish_Song/Cock_up_your_beaver

Well-documented list of free software projects and their use of genAI:
https://codeberg.org/small-hack/open-slopware

It’s already a long list that shows what looks like uncritical adoption, both by high-profile projects (systemd, VLC, etc.) and by niche projects (GNU Mach is a prime example).

Help us secure our warehouse for the future of left ideas. Every piece of merch sold gets us closer to our goal.
Shop new merch here: https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_list&c=255
Donate to our GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/book-by-book-brick-by-brick-pm-press-celebrating-20-years

Libadwaita demo app on Android, new update for Goblint, a linter for C GObject codebases, Java/Kotlin library for interacting with XDG Desktop Portal and much more in This Week in GNOME!

#246 Offline Dictionaries
https://thisweek.gnome.org/posts/2026/04/twig-246/

#ThisWeekInGNOME #GNOME #TWIG

Number of people who go bankrupt every year because of medical bills or illness-related work loss:

🇦🇺 0
🇨🇦 0
🇩🇰 0
🇫🇮 0
🇫🇷 0
🇩🇪 0
🇮🇸 0
🇮🇪 0
🇮🇹 0
🇯🇵 0
🇳🇱 0
🇳🇴 0
🇵🇹 0
🇪🇸 0
🇸🇪 0
🇬🇧 0
🇺🇸 530,000

There’s a lesson there.

New by me - Microsoft Vibing. A very strange fake open source project published by Microsoft employees, which gathers screenshots and voice recordings of users with unique machine identifiers attached. Not sure how this one has happened.

https://doublepulsar.com/microsoft-vibing-capturing-screenshots-and-voice-samples-without-governance-6973c48f03a7

I just saw the most amazingly corporate expression of "we did what the bosses wanted us to do, even though the research didn't support that." The actual phrase was:

The research employed a methodology that prioritized stakeholder voice over researcher interpretation.

I wonder if a data scientist slipped that in to make it clear to other folks how this happened. You don't have to write stuff like this if the boss wants to do what the research says is a good idea. You only have to write this if the research says one thing and the boss says another.

“Do I belong in tech anymore?” from Ky Decker (not on Masto) https://ky.fyi/posts/ai-burnout

Google's antonymous taxi company says it won't obey traffic safety laws because its customers want convenience, so screw those bicyclists who don't want to be injured or killed.

https://road.cc/news/driverless-taxis-veering-into-cycle-lanes-normal-practice-says-waymo

On Saturday May 9th in Rome, as part of the Nina Festival, we're hosting a workshop to think with Bonfire, exploring and co-designing federated digital spaces for caring for our communities.
Together with @reclaimthetech@mastodon.uno, Zero81, Scift Lab and more.
📍 Millepiani, Via Odero 13, 3pm
If you're in (or near) Rome, come join us!

The ‘No More 24’ Revolution is Not Yet Complete; DSA Members Condemn Mayor Mamdani

https://www.work-bites.com/view-all/cc1viz2uzyzih2uiiys8cddpzq4oym

Tomorrow is Indie Bookstore Day! Did you know PM Press owns @autumnleavesbooks, an independent bookstore in Ithaca, NY? This Indie Bookstore Day, support spaces that keep radical ideas alive. If you’re local, stop in and pay the Autumn Leaves crew a visit! You can follow them and check out the website via the link in our bio.

A routine reminder that it's always a good idea to boycott #Substack.

We have long known that it platforms and profits from Nazi publications. And now: #manosphere influencers with multiple accusations of serious crimes... so much so that there is a dedicated Wikipedia page about them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_affairs_of_the_Tate_brothers

No problem for #Substack though! They happily take a 10% cut from all paid subscriptions.

There are many great alternatives to SS: Ghost, Buttondown, beehiiv, Patreon... no more excuses

"Time for annual review. First, the standard question: Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?"

"I have quit this job. I work at a consultancy called "No #Slop", rebuilding and fixing non-maintainable #Vibe coded systems.

There is way too much job for us, we work overtime to make sure critical infrastructure is working so society does not collapse. The pay is amazing, I make so much money, but the stress...

I drink fancy drinks and drive fast, expensive cars. I don't drink now, but 5 years from now, I guess I gonna have to. I have taken onto doing this to distract myself from the horrors at work. Regular people envy me, those that got fired because #AI slop was all they knew how to create, hate me.

Every night, I secretly cry myself to sleep, knowing I have become what I hate, what I promised myself I should never become. I am rich, I have everything, but really, I have nothing. No life, no real joy...

Please, help me prevent this future from becoming my reality"

BREAKING! Meshcore team splits over dispute over AI-generated code disclosure, and hostile trademark takeover.

Meshcore is an off-grid, decentralised mesh radio platform powered by low-cost and public access LoRa radio technology for reliable, long-range emergency text and embedded sensors communication. It can communicate across kilometres — no towers, no subscriptions, no single point of failure.

https://blog.meshcore.io/2026/04/23/the-split

#meshcore #meshtastic #lora #radio #opensource #foss #drama #privacy #security #selfsovereignty #ai #copyright #takeover

Israeli soldiers have been looting civilian property on a large scale from homes and businesses in southern Lebanon with the knowledge of their commanders, Haaretz reported on Thursday.

As Israeli troops leave Lebanon, they openly load stolen goods onto their vehicles without attempting to conceal them.

#israel #zionism #Lebanon #us #usa #uspol #eu #eupol #uk #ukpol #Iran

Today is an important anniversary.

75 years ago, on April 23, 1951, in Farmville, VA, Barbara Johns led a walkout of her segregated high school to protest the unfair and deplorable conditions of her school.

What?! You don’t know who Barbara Johns was?

She led her walkout more than 4 years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, and before MLK, Jr. embraced nonviolence as the way to equality. After she and her classmates turned the rural town of Farmville upside down . . .

1/