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I think the biggest thing that the I've learned working for an org-metrics-visibility tooling company, and the AI "revolution" starting soon after that, is how many people at the seniormost levels of the world's largest software companies fundamentally do not understand what software is or does or how it works or where it comes from or even how their companies really operate.

linkedin.com/pulse/ai-layoffs-…

The AI Layoffs Just Backfired

Everyone assumed AI would be cheaper than employees. The numbers just proved otherwise, and it's changing how smart leaders think about their people.
Karin Volo (www.linkedin.com)
This entry was edited (today, 3:42 PM)

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I’m sorry, but I see the BSD license as misguided.

The argument for it is sound, but it doesn’t protect the commons, and what we need now more than ever is a thriving and protected commons.

“High quality software should be universally available” is noble. “Software we depend on shouldn’t be vulnerable to theft” is pragmatic.

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in reply to Ember in the Pattern Buffer

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Digital Mark λ ☕️ 8647

There is no "theft" if the original is still there.

Your license *cannot* protect your software from a corpo taking it. You can't afford to sue, even if you find out. Roku proved GPL is meaningless.

What you can do is keep your software free for real people (not corpos) to use. BSD does that better than GPL, which can only be used in GPL-specific projects.

in reply to Digital Mark λ ☕️ 8647

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Ember in the Pattern Buffer

@mdhughes That doesn’t make it meaningless. Blender, Krita and other projects endure only because of the GPL.

Code only being usable in GPL projects is the entry price of a better model.

If a corpo can effectively destroy the open development of a specific software, they’ve stolen it. Changing the license on blender and using coercive tactics against the original, if those tactics are successful, would be effectively stealing it from the commons.

BSD doesn’t survive that threat.

@Digital Mark λ ☕️ 8647
in reply to Ember in the Pattern Buffer

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Digital Mark λ ☕️ 8647

Blender & Krita would be just as free under BSD. There might be "pro" closed-source versions, but the originals would still be there.

How can a corpo destroy a project? MS wants a paint program, they'll steal whatever they want GPL or BSD, or generate slop copied from them. The original is STILL THERE. Where do you think BSD projects go when someone copies them?

"OH guess they own us now!" is not how anyone reacts when corpo copies their code. More like "Good luck with that!"

in reply to Ember in the Pattern Buffer

glitchsoc - Link to source

Elizabeth

@mdhughes BSD has though. macOS uses FreeBSD code extensively.

SPICE is still around even if there’s a huge number of forks.

The thing about GPL is… well, it is supposed to force companies to give back

It doesn’t say that what they give back is useful

Example: a TON of “open-source” corporate Linux kernel code is slop that is essentially useless, they do the dumbest thing that works

@Digital Mark λ ☕️ 8647
in reply to Andrew

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Ember in the Pattern Buffer

@cinebox @Elizafox @mdhughes

I’m not really interested in debating which software is more “free” but is more resilient to modern tactics.

A BSD-licensed or MIT-licensed project is vulnerable to a CLA being instituted assigning copyright, and an eventual rug-pull in which multiple years of development is retroactively not BSD licensed.

It’s not trivial to pull this off, but GPL licensed code just doesn’t have this weakness.

@Digital Mark λ ☕️ 8647 @Elizabeth @Andrew
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I just saw a video of an AI executive saying that people will connect their brains to the cloud so they can have 1,000 times more thoughts.

Neurotypical people. Please listen to me. I promise you, with all the ADHD in my body-

You really do not want 1,000 more thoughts.

You may think you do, but you extremely do not.

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You know how there are weird tricks with computer stuff that you think everyone knows but they don't? I live learning and teaching new things like those when they come up.

Today's was the carat substitution in bash. It probably works in other shells too but IDK, I'm too old to learn a new shell.

The way it works is fairly similar to the / in sed or similar. You can use them to run the previous command but with a string substitution.

For example, let's say I entered this command:

dig A cascadiacrow.org

When it fails to resolve, I realize it was a .com domain. Rather than retyping the command, or hitting the up arrow to change the previous command, you could do this:

^org^com^

And it would run:

dig A cascadiacrow.com

Kind of cool with those one liners you spend way too much time on and find a typo.

Anyway, I used it and someone thought it was magic so if it's new to you too, happy Monday.

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Dear @Nextcloud 📱☁️💻,

If the official solution to a file getting randomly locked is to shut the whole server down and then manually edit the database, something's been done wrong. If this were to happen to a random non-admin user, they'd have no solution (other than pinging their sysadmin). The owner of a file should be able to manually clear its lock if necessary.

@Nextcloud 📱☁️💻
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Some of the world's brightest minds have the knowledge and skills to heal our #planet yet many spend their talents creating technologies for conflicts instead of solutions for humanity.

Imagine if that same innovation was used to restore nature, fight hunger, and build peace.🤔

The world needs wisdom that serves life, not destruction.

#politik #fediverse #science #innovation #tech

#Science #fediverse #tech #Politik #Planet #Innovation

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

@🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) I came across my first love lock a few days ago. I'd seen it a few times, but wasn't carrying my tools. I finally remembered to bring them with me today only to find that the keyway seemed to be filled with some sort of glue?

Have you encountered this before? Is there any hope of non-destructive opening left? I imagine probably not (especially at my current skill level).

I'm clearly not the first person who's tried to open it. It's in pretty rough shape.

#locksport

#locksport @🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

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Maddie

Could this help? mastodon.mit.edu/@almonds/1168…

Maddie

2026-07-07 21:26:28

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I keep hearing friends on/off Fedi worry about aggressive AI/web scrapers or mention them hitting their servers.

I've been experimenting with different defenses for the last few months and want to share this setup, even if helps just one other person directly or indirectly. It has reduced the load on our servers usually by 80% by CPU as well as log entries.

sum.mit.edu/git/almonds/block_…

#SelfHosting #SysAdmin


block_some

Block some bad actors
Forgejo @ sum.mit.edu

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I just caught that Libera.Chat uses the phrase "insufficient human involvement" and I love that specific phrasing for flagging LLM-generated pull requests.

libera.chat/#one-more-thing-ab…

Libera Chat

A next-generation IRC network for FOSS projects collaboration!
Libera Chat

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Got an odd email to my old Gmail address that I only keep around for legacy reasons, asking about an Emacs package I wrote. I'm not sure where they even got that address. It can't be found anywhere in the repository, and my current address is clearly in the README and on every single commit.

Anyhow, I don't even understand what they're asking, but I think they think I've used an AI agent to write the code and are asking about its configuration? I want to reply that I have no need of such things because I'm an actual programmer with an actual brain, but that would probably come off kind of asshole-ish, and I could be wrong about what they're asking.

Then again, this whole email could have been written by a hallucinating AI. Who knows?

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Sometimes I wish I were less of a perfectionist. I was baking cookies for a potluck tomorrow. The recipe called for the dough to be rolled out into one inch balls. There may or may not have been a caliper involved.

In my defense though, they turned out amazingly. Now I just have to not eat them before they get to where they're going. I did have to eat some though, but strictly for QA purposes.

a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet filled with freshly baked peanut butter cookies

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Sometimes I like researching obscure mathematical topics just for fun. The frustrating thing I occasionally run into is notation that I don't know how to interpret. This turns out to be rather difficult to search for online.

For example: I'm doing some research into finite fields, and I have encountered something that looks like ℤ/pℤ.

I know that ℤ typically represents the set of integers. I'm also given that p, in this case, represents an arbitrary prime number. From context, I think it's meant to represent the set {0, 1, 2,... p-1}, but I could be wrong, and, if so, I don't follow the logic.

I'm trying to brush up on my set theory, but nothing I've seen thus far explains it.

Edit for additional context: The document I'm reading is at:
people.math.harvard.edu/~lande…

Page 3

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I feel like the way some folks are expressing annoyance with the goose discourse, that they're not viscerally connecting with the symbolism the way most of us are.

🤔

Like, I *feel* this meme. It's representative of my whole life, of having my lifeforce sucked out of me by parasites until I'm ill at age 50 and have nothing to show for it. It's a rare but accidental honesty from the clueless fucks who rule this world. It's the entire story of each of us and the whole world told in a handful of phrases and images.

"Goose is not valued" feels like a rallying cry for valuable people who are only just now starting to realize...

...that we do have value.

And that the only way they're going to understand our value is if we make them.

#goose #goosetodon #gooseWasNotValued

#goose #goosewasnotvalued #goosetodon

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
terrible opinion that harms my faith in humanity

Overheard today: "The best thing we can do for all these drug addicts is to throw them in jail. It's not nice but it'll get 'em clean."

Why is it that the people with the most uninformed opinions always seem to also have the loudest ones?

Edit: deleted and reposted because I realized it should've been CW'd.

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

So, for a while now, after hearing a bunch of #ActuallyAutistic individuals talking about their experiences, I've been asserting that I wouldn't be shocked to learn that I was on the autistic spectrum.

Today, for shits and giggles, I decided to take the AQ and RAADS-R tests, and scored "very strong alignment with autistic traits" on both. While I'm not shocked to learn this, I have to admit, I didn't expect to score that high.

#actuallyautistic

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source
fast food

Katy and I both love Taco Bell, but we seldom get it because:

A) It's expensive
B) It's not exactly healthy

...but it was a special occasion, so we did today.

As I was picking up our order, out of nowhere, the guy behind me in line asks "Have you tried the Diablo sauce?" He then, before I can even answer, proceeds to tell the young woman working the counter—who seemed as taken aback by this exchange as I was—to give me some Diablo sauce. I don't object because... I mean... what the hell is even happening?

I figure this guy either really loves this sauce or is getting a kickback somehow. If the latter, I guess Taco Bell has adopted a weirdly aggressive marketing campaign, because... who does that?

Anyhow, it was okay, I guess...

in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

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Maddie

What did they do now? You reminded me, a while ago, I tried to use my multimeter, but the 9V was dead, so I swapped it, and that one was dead, too.

I figured the dozens of others in the office cabinet must be dead, too, so I went home to use a crappy multimeter to measure the batteries, and *that* 9V was also dead. I swapped it once more, and it finally let me measure the others.

6.6 volts, 6.6 volts, and 9.5 volts (zinc-chloride). And then the battery dies, that I had just swapped in.

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Trying to install #Debian on another machine, but #Windows is being stubborn. I accidentally let it boot into Windows 10 and now it's insisting on installing updates before it reboots. Holding the power button to force a shutdown appears to have been disabled somehow.

Fine, whatever. It's not like I have anything else to do tonight.

#windows #Debian
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Jonathan Lamothe

Welp, I've hit a snag. The installer doesn't seem to be talking to to the wifi card. The laptop has no ethernet port. I have a USB to ethernet adapter, but the laptop has only one USB-A port (and a USB micro port, weirdly?). The USB port is occupied by the flash drive with the installer. I've tried using a USB hub to make more ports available, but then the system can't see the flash drive.

I'm at a loss.

#Debian

#Debian
in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

mastodon - Link to source

HankB

Luckily I've not had to deal with this situation, but I am aware of two work-arounds.

1. Best may be to include the driver you need - if you can determine what it is - on the install media.
2. Next best is to perform a minimal install to get a bootable system and then use the USB/Eth adapter to find, download and install the WiFi driver. (This will rule out the 'netinst' media.)

'lsusb' and 'lspci' should help to ID the WiFi module. Or documentation for the laptop may help.

HTH,

in reply to Jonathan Lamothe

mastodon - Link to source

Matthew Skala

Does the flash drive need to remain inserted after the installer boots? Quite often they don't.

And something else to consider, which I've found useful in similar situations in the past, would be a "live" USB key rather than an "installer" one. Often those are able to get to the point where you can remove the USB key, and then have enough of a system to pursue other install methods.

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🎶 A new system of changing information as applied to a musical context. 🎶

June 29th, 8pm, Shakedown Street, Benson, OMAHA

No cover 🆓

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

I got an entry-level Wacom tablet as an early birthday present. As I was forewarned, it takes a little bit of getting used to.

One of the tips I was given on how to get used to it is to ditch my mouse (trackball, in my case) and just use the tablet as my day-to-day pointing device. The only problem with this strategy is that, outside of when I'm actually drawing, probably 90% of my computer use is keyboard-driven (including the browser (qutebrowser) that I'm using right now).

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youtu.be/1blm5zxUvLk

A video of my speech to Tri-Pride festival here in Waterloo Region on June 6. Runs about 16 minutes all told, probably 12 of them are me. The other four are a very kind introduction by the MC and former head of Tri-Pride and my good friend, Kamil Ahmed (he/him).

The reference to Jan Liggett and Adam Cooper near the end is to this story:

youtu.be/-MbfgMNiXk8

My speech has a few naughty words in it, so maybe don't put the sound up high if you're gonna be overheard by a prude.

Sorry about the sound quality - the wind was a bit fierce, and I haven't received the second angle we set up yet, which hopefully will have different windy bits.

Tri-Pride 2026 Speech: Cait Glasson

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.
Fullmetal Feminist (YouTube)

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in reply to Cait the Proud Trans Woman

mastodon - Link to source

Mark Connolly

Thanks for sharing your story here! Waterloo Region is fortunate to have benefited from 30 years of your activism. And from your ongoing activism in this municipal election year!

And yeah, the wind noise is something, but your message got through 😀❤️

This entry was edited (Sunday, June 7, 2026, 11:03 PM)
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Ok, I toss this out every 6mos or so as fedi grows...

I'm gathering local connections of fedi folk in #Guelph and area. Get some low key meatspace hang outs going on.

Walks, masked movie nights or board games, knitting in a coffee shop, hanging out at the library...

I'm hoping to do more structured events at some point but am pretty low energy these days so keeping it simple.

We have a signal group to connect and organise. Hit me up if you'd like an invite.

🔄✨

#fediLocal #covidCautious

#CovidCautious #guelph #fedilocal
This entry was edited (Sunday, June 21, 2026, 5:10 PM)

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in reply to Valerie Roney

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Valerie Roney

And I am once again looking to hire someone to come in for 2hr/week to help with food prep and house cleaning. Pays $20/hr, DT #Guelph

In particular, we're getting a weekly CSA produce delivery and need help to make sure we use it up. We're two burned out autistics, so aren't great at improvising or meal planning on the fly.

Just need a chill grounded person to help keep the basics under control so we can spend our spoons on building resiliency (and fun, we need fun!) .

🔄✨

#getFediHired

#getfedihired #guelph

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in reply to Valerie Roney

mastodon - Link to source

Cat

I'm not in your country but you are so seen right now

I myself have trouble getting through meal kit boxes due to all the food prep, but I still get them because I don't want to draw a blank at dinnertime and end up eating nothing but cereal every night, not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, but I really like vegetables

I hope you find your helper!!!

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Anyone have ridiculous #InternetOfShit examples you're really fond of?

Toasters, coffee machines, or microwaves that don't work without Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Vacuum, TV, or toothbrush botnets. Preferably something you have a picture of, from first hand experience.

I teach an #EmbeddedSystems class, and it's good to show examples of what *not* to do, in case they pursue the industry. (Boost for reach appreciated)

#InternetOfThings #IOT

#internetofshit #IoT #embeddedsystems #internetofthings

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