my favorite story in all of art history
church commissions a statue of lucifer, it's too sexy. so asks original sculptor's younger brother to make it less sexy.
... new one ends up hotter and far more iconic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_g%C3%A9nie_du_mal#'This_devil_is_too_sublime'
"Windows Was The Problem All Along" - Review of Lenovo Legion Go S by Dave2D, comparing the same hardware with Windows and SteamOS. https://youtu.be/CJXp3UYj50Q?feature=shared #linux #gamingonlinux
Converse, the in browser #xmpp client has a new release.
Introducing Converse 11: A Major Leap Forward for XMPP Webchat | Opkode - https://opkode.com/blog/2025-05-21-converse-11/
Question: do you really have control over your data? Depending on the formats you use, that answer might be no. Here's why the Open Document Format (as used by LibreOffice and other suites) is important: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2025/05/23/why-is-odf-important/ #openstandards
A truly free education means DRM-free. Together, we can build a future in which everyone will be able to learn in freedom and will know their rights as a user. Donate to the FSF to help bring free software to every learning environment around the world. https://donate.fsf.org/ #LearnLibre #EndDRM #DRMFree #Education
Don't drive when you can relax on your way to and from your next outdoor adventure. Two local hiking clubs charter buses to bring people on outdoor adventures outside of DC on most weekends.: https://ggwash.org/view/99116/take-a-hikeby-bus
A while ago I learned that Balatro is made in a fun game engine called #love2d, which turns out to be quite the cross-platform beast.
This of course meant I had no choice but to run it on my #linuxmobile phone running #postmarketos and #plasmamobile
Runs at a locked 60fps on my OnePlus 6T and plays really well besides needing some persuasion to accept screen rotation!
No movie magic, no translation layers, no virtual machines.
Our next meeting is Saturday.... join us. https://novalug.org/presentations/19-april-2025-linux-mobile/
The trick to making great pour-over coffee with fewer beans
Pour-over coffee is made by flowing a strong, laminar water jet through a bed of ground coffee beans.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/04/the-trick-to-making-great-pour-over-coffee-with-fewer-beans/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
Signal isn't just for Vice Presidents, NoVaLUG now has a new Signal chat room: https://signal.group/#CjQKIGYAYkoVLdiHZjUhpfxZBa5s-XIZ8AyrMWo-GQh9lVcJEhBXh7NEH3GOHPYNd2Xhmq8H
We also have XMPP: https://xmpp:novalug@groups.sendero.snikket.chat/?join
Introducing {maposm}, an R package that extracts, modifies and merges sets of layers from OpenStreetMap for cartographic purposes.
On github: https://github.com/riatelab/maposm
The package is not on CRAN, but it is on r-universe: https://riatelab.r-universe.dev/maposm
after many days of work, here is another functional demo of #GNOME shell running on the secondary display connected to the #flx1. it took many hours to build the app and make everything act nice and not crash and integrate cleanly. still a long way to go but i think it is a good time to showcase the progress in the past 7 days.
i hope to get this ready and done by 13.0.9 which is the next release but obviously no promises.
Trump Vowed to Clean Up Washington, Then His Team Hired a Man Who Pushed a Scam the IRS Called the “Worst of the Worst”
—
Frank Schuler was a leading promoter of a tax deduction derided as a scam by prosecutors, senators and the IRS. Now he’s a senior adviser to the General Services Administration, which manages the federal government’s property.
Microsoft is introducing ads into a free version of Office, which seemingly only lets users save to OneDrive.
In other news, LibreOffice is also free, doesn't have ads, and lets you save your documents wherever you want. I use it every day for my work. It is available here:
UseR! 2025 Call for Proposals is open until March 3rd! We invite R users and developers from around our region and the world to submit abstracts for useR! 2025.
Deadline: Monday 3rd March 2025
useR! will be held from August 8th to 10th at Duke University in Durham, NC, USA.
user2025.r-project.org/call
#RStats
"Our digital lives are actively abusive and hostile, riddled with subtle and overt cons. Our apps are ever-changing, adapting not to our needs or conditions, but to the demands of investors and internal stakeholders that have reduced who we are and what we do to an ever-growing selection of manipulatable metrics."
Great summary of the importance of changing the trajectory of the tech industry, by Ed Zitron in his article "Never Forgive Them."
https://www.wheresyoured.at/never-forgive-them/
This was an interesting read:
America’s “First Car-Free Neighborhood” Is Going Pretty Good, Actually?
https://www.dwell.com/article/culdesac-tempe-car-free-neighborhood-resident-experience-8a14ebc7
Economist. Antitrust policy; industrial organization; history of economics
xmpp: mattp@sendero.snikket.chat