Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

🔵 This week's Tom the Dancing Bug
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SUPER-FUN-PAK COMIX, feat. "McSmelty's World" and MORE!
Brought to you through the generosity and virtue of the triumphant INNER HIVE, including long-time member BFrank and new member Cat’s Eye.
👊 Join us at patreon.com/rubenbolling/membership
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Read it right here👇

Despite what the state says, zines are not a crime. This month only, get this limited tote bag and zine bundle which includes our Zines are Not a Crime/Bookshelves Are Not Evidence tote plus seven informative (and apparently incendiary) zines for your personal edification.
Get one here: https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=2329

Should "AI" Data Centers be converted into public libraries?

What is AIPAC, and what does it actually do in U.S. elections?

In 2024, Branko Marcetic investigated how the pro-Israel lobbying group and its super PAC, United Democracy Project, used millions in outside spending to shape Democratic primaries and target progressives.

https://inthesetimes.com/article/aipac-israel-palestine-gaza-squad-democrats-ceasefire

The replies to this are great

Turns out people on Mastodon have a lot of experience with failing companies 😁

A few more from personal experience. Possibly a little too specific

- You are told by a manager not to use the usual contact email address for a supplier or client and instead contact an employee directly using their personal email
- A manager quits at a short notice for "personal health"
- An angry scot shows up at the office, cursing the CEO and shouting "where's my money?!"

Paul Krugman is a conservative who cosplays as a progressive in order to fool liberals into supporting conservative economic policies. Robert Reich ran the same playbook when he was Sec. of Labor under Clinton. I despise these people - they are wolves in sheep's clothing

I enjoyed #rsync remote file completions for a while, but I upgraded to #Fedora 44 and now it chokes a few directories deep into the path :( I suspect some #bash expert failed on a whitespace inside the directory.

#linux #filesytem

The SEIU making sure that Uber and Lyft get what they want (not having to classify drivers as employees).

"Legislation extending collective bargaining rights to gig workers has positioned SEIU locals to represent hundreds of thousands of gig workers. Signaling a settlement between labor and industry on the gig work question, this deserves critical attention."

https://jacobin.com/2026/08/uber-rideshare-exploitation-unions-organizing

https://archive.ph/LeAc1#selection-693.172-693.425

Congrats to the dummy who set fire to their balcony last night. Smoking may be on the rise with the youths, but without Saturday Morning cartoons, they never were exposed to the PSAs to scare them about fire safety.

MediaTek going more and more open (source) as time goes on is extremely exciting, and hopefully something we can leverage in the #LinuxMobile space in the not-so-distant future

On a personal level, being part of this effort is incredibly rewarding, although quite challenging at times 😉

https://www.collabora.com/news-and-blog/news-and-events/mediatek-genio-upstream-update-from-hdmi-20-to-booting-uboot-trusted-firmware-a.html

#OpenSource

The OSNews Fundraiser continues: you made me use Windows, now make me use macOS

The OSNews Fundraiser, to celebrate the fact I posted 20000 stories in 21 years, is still underway. The first major incentive was reached, and I, a long-time Linux user, published my experiences using Windows 11 for a month. It wasn't a success. Keep donating if you want to find ou

https://www.osnews.com/story/145747/the-osnews-fundraiser-continues-you-made-me-use-windows-now-make-me-use-macos/

#OSNews

Big fundraiser for @osnews, in honour of my 21 year tenure and 20000th post. Since my wife can barely work due to health issues (caused by her work, ugh), my family has to rely on my income much more heavily. And that means OSNews donations.

https://ko-fi.com/thomholwerda/goal?g=2

I've also got a few fun incentives:

Make me use Windows 11
A photo/video tour of my office and all my computers/devices
Make me use (and review) macOS
A tattoo of the OSNews logo (my first tattoo) on my shoulder

More details:

https://www.osnews.com/story/144982/the-21-years-and-20000-posts-osnews-fundraiser-a-euro-for-every-post/

Your support keeps OSNews free from ads and corporate influence, and allow me to continue to run what is one of the very last people-focused, independent technology news sites left in the world. Also, OSNews is militantly "AI"-free, in every step of the process.

“AI Software Development – What Does The Data Say? – Codemanship's Blog”

https://codemanship.wordpress.com/2026/08/12/ai-software-development-what-does-the-data-say/

> If anything, the average team is taking longer to ship worse software

Anecdotally, this is what I've been hearing a lot too. Higher costs, more volume, worse outcomes. But still “inevitable” for some reason

I know that people say that AI is great for soft skill nonsense like, summarizing chats and emails and making calendar appointments, but this is the first time I'm on the job market since the AI craze really took off and it seems to have made everyone worse at their jobs. All recruiters are late or no-show to meetings. They have no idea what we talked about over linkedin or email. They forget who I am. They didn't read my resume. They seem to have gotten worse in every way, and their whole just was just to be a secretary.

If you're going to be this bad at your job, why even use recruiters anymore?

So I’m writing an article for a new publication who said they’ll be using an AI checker on my writing. As those things sometimes give false positives for me (since LLMs non consensually used my writing for training), I screen recorded my writing process just in case. The future is so ridiculous.

📢 INTRODUCING THE ESPHOME STARTER KIT! 🎉

Designed and built by our commercial partner Apollo Automation, the ESPHome Starter Kit gives you the tools, skills and confidence to stop just using smart home tech, and start creating it.

Build, Learn, Automate.
https://esphome.io/starter-kit

“While the world frequently reads about Puerto Rico’s blackouts, the quiet collapse of the water system has pushed the island to its absolute limit.”

Coenia Sanchez reports on the federal policies and funding delays behind the crisis.

https://inthesetimes.com/article/puerto-rico-water-crisis-trump-congress

Dockworkers have refused weapons cargo, shut down ports and joined mass strikes to demand an end to the war on Gaza. On October 30, unions representing workers at 40 ports will act together. Sarah Lazare reports: https://inthesetimes.com/article/dockworkers-six-countries-announce-port-strikes-october-30

BREAKING: FPF, The Intercept sue Trump for selling early access to his Truth Social posts.

This scheme is extraordinary, corrupt, and unconstitutional, and we are bringing this case to stop it.

https://freedom.press/issues/lawsuit-early-access-fee-for-trump-truth-social-posts-unconstitutional/

🔴 Brand new comic now up on Boing Boing
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SUPER-FUN-PAK COMIX, feat. Mank & Mook, Uncle Cap'n's Ant Farm, Tim Tripp Time Traveller, & MORE MORE MORE
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https://boingboing.net/2026/08/12/tom-the-dancing-bug-super-fun-pak-comix-feat-super-pals-mcsm.html