spelk 
@spelk@linuxrocks.online
Joined Sep 2018
Pinned toot
A mature fellow, with a hankering for control over my own computing.
I've admired Linux over the years, but have only just moved my main box over.
My distros:
Desktop: Mint 19 Cinnamon
Laptop: Mint 18 MATE
Old Laptop: Bodhi 4
Previously bewitched by OpenSUSE, Peppermint, Porteus, Lubuntu, Linux Lite.
Simplicity, Choice, Freedom and Control - along with Ethical, Sustainable computing all figure into my love for Linux.
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On monday I'm presenting a paper on solar.lowtechmagazine.com during the 'Computing within #Limits' conference.
In the paper I'm describing the design choices we made, such as designing for unavailability and how they were based on reducing a few key metrics such as data transferred, calculations per request and use of third party services. This opens up a way of thinking about #degrowth and ICT. We should be looking in to that waaaay more.
The paper also tries to implicitly answer the 'how do we do sustainable web design?' question and argues aiming for reduction (of bytes transferred, computation and infra required) as useful rule of thumbs guiding a design. That is to say, solar protocols, 'low tech look', 3.5MB dithered images, green CDNs etc ain't it.
However, it also self-criticizes solar.lowtechmagazine.com for the fact that it is so unreproducible and a very limited and 'easy' use case. So yeah no answer but thinking through degrowth should definitely be considered as the direction of the answer..
https://computingwithinlimits.org/2021/papers/limits21-abbing.pdf
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Wow this was kept quiet! :(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBFhc92Cv-g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40MBgV1c8ZU
The Government has announced
https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/0aba1ed3-335d-4746-a65c-886b8adac067?in=12:01:51&out=12:02:51
1st July will be the start of English NHS patients data upload to a central database - unless you opt out
https://medconfidential.org/how-to-opt-out/
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I'm no techie, but if "major websites" are down then perhaps the problem isn't with the tech but with the fact that there's such a thing as a "major website"
There's no reason we all have to visit the same ten websites as each other every day, support the little guys
I like the way this place works, where there are lots of little sites and you can choose the ones you interact with, but they're all interlinked on a network, you know, like a kind of inter... net...?
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Welcome to the Internet - Bo Burnham (from "INSIDE"): https://inv.riverside.rocks/watch?v=k1BneeJTDcU (YouTube via Invidious, music video)
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According to Google, you’re not human if you aren’t being tracked by Google.
“…one of the ways that Google determines whether you’re a malicious user or not is whether you already have a Google cookie installed on your browser.”
https://www.fastcompany.com/90369697/googles-new-recaptcha-has-a-dark-side
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fun fact: the dude who did that song "cars" in the 80's is still alive and making music AND IT'S LIKE THIS
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Stack Overflow bought for 1.8bn
https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/02/stack-overflow-acquired-by-prosus-for-a-reported-1-8-billion/
independent, no changes, blah blah blah. Sorry, but I've heard that song before. When you're not printing money fast enough is when the founders start taking time off and pursuing other projects. Then the screws come out and the water comes to a boil.
Just remember folks that your community is not an asset, it's your reason for existing at all. Many companies forget this.
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Kate Raworth on Why Our Times Demand 'Doughnut Economics' https://david-bollier.simplecast.com/episodes/kate-raworth-why-our-times-demand-doughnut-economics
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death/grief
Nick Cave started a site where he responds to fan questions, and this message about his son who passed away is one of the more beautiful things I've read in a while, so figured I'd share for anyone who hasn't seen it
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ALERT: If you have an Amazon device in your home, it is shortly going to start sharing your internet connection with strangers. opt out now, and then light that piece of shit on fire!
There's some interesting takes on #cyberpunk here:
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/05/we-deserve-better-dystopias/
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Did you know there are thousands of Twitters out there and only one is run by an asshole named Jack?
Find out more today at https://joinmastodon.org (and, shh, don’t tell Jack).
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Just found the official video for one of my favorite #Eurovision songs and oh my gosh I think I like this band even more now.
- "This song is about loving someone."
- "Yes yes right but what if the music video was about an Icelandic #SuperSentai team?"
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you could all be replacing IRC with MUDs but noooo 
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Do we need Big Tech to stream video? Our two guests don’t think so…
Laura and I will be talking to Gabe of Owncast (@gabek) and Heydon of Webbed Briefs (@heydon) on today’s Small Is Beautiful.
(And I will attempt to setup and stream to an Owncast server live in under a minute using the Small Web host we’re creating called Basil.)
Watch live at 5PM Irish time:
https://small-tech.org/small-is-beautiful
(Have your cam ready if you want to join in.)
#SmallIsBeautiful #SmallTech #SmallWeb #owncast #WebbedBriefs
@HexDSL You might already know about this, but Aral is doing a stream tomorrow 2021-05-19 at 5pm with Owncast dev Gabe Kangas.
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#emacs #orgmode 9.4.6, a bugfix release, is out. Enjoy!
🙏 We need your help: see https://orgmode.org/worg/org-contribute.html
👉 https://updates.orgmode.org for important announcements.
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It's weird that I never see any of this back to the office discussion talk about commute time, like that time just doesn't exist in people's minds.
Joined Sep 2018
