mastodon - Link to source

Analysis: The Long War on Free Speech

Under virtually every president, the US govt "has treated the First Amendment with contempt"...

..."consistently attacking the speech & assembly rights of Americans who speak out against the crimes & abuses of the Washington ruling class."

"The federal government’s hatred of the freedom of speech rights... is among the most clear & powerful testimonies of our country’s history."

counterpunch.org/2026/02/03/th…

#USPol #EUPol #CdnPoli #FreeSpeech #Censorship .


The Government's Long War on Free Speech - CounterPunch.org

Americans suffer in large part because we don’t know our government‘s history, because we don’t care about that history. We root for our teams and we
David S. D’Amato (CounterPunch.org)
#censorship #uspol #freespeech #cdnpoli #eupol

mastodon - Link to source

Analysis: Hitler, Stalin & Trump

"Every area of life—from culture & the arts to education & science—becomes subordinated to the preferences" of the authoritarian leader.

"Hitler was unusually successful, reordering every aspect of German society."

Trump’s retributions "are designed to intimidate political opponents, particularly liberals & progressives in the states that voted against him in 2016, 2020, & 2024."

counterpunch.org/2026/02/02/ac…

#USPol #EUPol #CdnPoli #Autocracy #Trump .


Acts of Revisionism: Hitler, Stalin and Trump - CounterPunch.org

Authoritarian leaders typically attempt a radical reshaping of civic life.  Every area of life—from culture and the arts to education and science—becomes subordinated to the preferences of the leader.
Melvin Goodman (CounterPunch.org)
#Trump #uspol #autocracy #cdnpoli #eupol

mastodon - Link to source

#XMPP Community

The #Chat of the Future Initiative discusses their spring 2026 activities today from 19:00 (UTC+1)!

Activities: XMPP’s strong points, organising online meet-ups and #interoperabilty sessions.

xmpp.org/2026/01/chat-of-the-f…

#jabber #chat #rtc #messaging #federation #opensource

The Chat of the Future Banner with four icons referencing to experimentation, exploration, collarboration and innovation.

Chat of the Future Initiative | XMPP - The universal messaging standard

The XSF Communication Team is launching the ‘Chat of the Future Initiative’ to support the XMPP ecosystem through collaborative discussions, development, and improved public communication. This new initiative invites participants from all …
xmpp.org
#xmpp #opensource #Jabber #federation #chat #messaging #rtc #interoperabilty

mastodon - Link to source
Ever wondered how car engine #SoundDesign for games is achieved? Check out this deep dive with test files to try. boomlibrary.com/blog/the-car-e…

Integrating Interactive Car Engine Sounds in Games | BOOM Library

Discover this experience-led walkthrough by Mike Caviezel of how interactive car engine sounds are built and why certain methods work better than others in production.
TobiasKunz (BOOM Library)
#sounddesign

mastodon - Link to source
Just been thinking about my childhood.
A lot of people took a lot of time to nurture my love for music. I could go on all day about that.
Today though, one memory in particular sticks out, involving one rather short conversation with @FreakyFwoof, which contributed to that more than I think we could ever have foreseen.
If I was being poetic, I might say he showed me the keys to my very soul. So wanted to reach out and say a massive thank you for that.
@Andre Louis
in reply to Andre Louis

mastodon - Link to source

Day Garwood

We were in the music room just after a lesson, and you asked me what I listened to. My musical taste was very narrow back then. Most people listen to music for the lyrics. I listened out for how well someone could show off in a solo. And you said, very casually, "you don't know what you're missing", and encouraged me to start listening to music with an open mind. In other words, you gave me permission to explore, instead of judging me for not exploring. Dunno if that makes sense or not. Either way, it helped a lot, and I've come to appreciate just how intricately artistic music is since then. So thanks.

mastodon - Link to source

The Guardian has a piece on British typographer and graphic designer Margaret Calvert, who’s (partially or wholly) responsible for the British highway signage typeface (Transport), the British Rail typeface (Rail Alphabet) and the pictographs on British road signs, and whose autobiography is also out:

theguardian.com/artanddesign/2…


Waddle this way! The sign-making design genius who kept Britain’s drivers (and ducks) safe

Airports, road signs, animal warnings … Margaret Calvert revolutionised how Britain looked and her brilliantly clear designs are still used today. We meet the typeface legend and Porsche lover
Catherine Slessor (The Guardian)

glitchsoc - Link to source

Motherfucker on Psychology Today literally argues that AI is bad because "before AI, confidence usually carried the weight of effort, and that effort was often a badge of accomplishment."

Conclusion:

Confidence is for non-disabled successful people. AI is bad because it allows disabled people to have confidence and maybe, just maybe, gives them the wherewithal to get out of disability.

Fuck everyone writing about AI right now like they know anything because they clearly know less than nothing about the real world. 😾

John Nosta, if you can see this, literally fuck you, you hack.

#AI #Ableism #Accessibility #PsychologyToday #Neurodiversity #DigitalEquity #DisabilityJustice #TechEthics #JohnNosta #CognitiveLiberty

#Accessibility #AI #DisabilityJustice #ableism #neurodiversity #techethics #psychologytoday #digitalequity #johnnosta #CognitiveLiberty
This entry was edited (8 hours ago)
in reply to Ellis C.A. Arcwolf (Author)

glitchsoc - Link to source

Ellis C.A. Arcwolf (Author)

Please reply telling me how much you enjoy talking over disabled people, and I will gratefully block you.

I have to deal with enough shit from neurotypicals and society while battling homelessness. Go run your toxic purity tests elsewhere. AI is currently saving my life. You are—as you come at me trying to make me feel bad for not giving up—actively working to end it.

Your rage reminds me that the world is cruel and wants me dead. And I refuse to die, no matter how much you try to make me want to kill myself.

Seriously, if this is you, the kindest thing you can do for me is fuck off and let actual humans who care about other humans and not only about virtue signaling have a say.

#AI #Accessibility #DisabilityJustice #Ableism #ActuallyAutistic #Neurodivergent #Survival #Homelessness #MentalHealth #DigitalEquity #CognitiveLiberty #Gatekeeping #ToxicPurity #BlockList

#Accessibility #AI #neurodivergent #actuallyautistic #MentalHealth #DisabilityJustice #ableism #homelessness #BlockList #survival #gatekeeping #digitalequity #CognitiveLiberty #toxicpurity
This entry was edited (9 hours ago)

mastodon - Link to source

This petition wants contributing to Free Software to be legally and officially recognized as volunteering in Germany on the same level as youth work or ambulance service:

openpetition.de/petition/onlin…

This would bring fiscal and funding advantages for FLOSS organizations and the volunteers themselves.

If you are a German citizen, please sign the petition and let's get our volunteers the recognition they deserve!

---

Photo credit: Redazione Cultura. distributed under CC By SA license

Three smiley people hold up a sign that says "We ❤️ Free Software" at FOSDEM 2019. Photo credit: Redazione Cultura. distributed under CC By SA license. Find the original and more at https://www.dgpixel.com/techblog/i-love-free-software-day-2019/
in reply to KDE

mastodon - Link to source

Sune Stolborg Vuorela

We have a petition borgerforslag.dk/se-og-stoet-f… running in Denmark on the "official" petition website. If it reaches 50k signatures, the parliament is required to discuss it.

Anerkendelse af frivilligt arbejde med open source som samfundsgavnlig indsats med juridiske og skattemæssige fordele

Vi foreslår, at frivilligt arbejde med open source-software anerkendes som en samfundsgavnlig indsats på linje med frivilligt arbejde i almennyttige f
borgerforslag.dk

mastodon - Link to source
Can someone fork Enafore and keep it going? I love Enafore so much more than the regular Mastodon interface but I haven't seen updates on it for a while now! github.com/enafore/enafore #Mastodon #Fediverse #Enafore

GitHub - enafore/enafore: A fediverse client with better support for Akkoma, glitch-soc, and Iceshrimp instances.

A fediverse client with better support for Akkoma, glitch-soc, and Iceshrimp instances. - enafore/enafore
GitHub
#fediverse #Mastodon #enafore

mastodon - Link to source

Hello! We are the European Rail Passengers Union. We believe that the voices of rail passengers are key to improving cross border rail in Europe. That’s why we are starting a group to make them heard.

Join us at erpu.eu, and we’re looking forward to connecting with everyone here on the fediverse!

#CrossBorderRail #trains


European Rail Passengers Union

United for a more connected and sustainable Europe
European Rail Passengers Union
#trains #CrossBorderRail

mastodon - Link to source

RE: chaos.social/@SylvieLorxu/1159…

#FOSDEM was exhausting but amazing. Was lovely to see so many #IzzyOnDroid users and to hear how much people love #Droidify and #NeoStore!

Learning more about #SHIFT and #BlissLabs was great too, what great projects to share our stand with!

And y'all are sticker monsters, I started running out of #Catima stickers so much faster than expected but it was lovely to hear how many people love the project :)

Thank you all for making #FOSDEM2026 this fun and memorable! :)

Sylvia

2026-01-31 09:59:06

mastodon - Link to source

We are at #FOSDEM! Come visit the #IzzyOnDroid / #SHIFT / #BlissLabs booth in UD2 and say hi!

We also have stickers and flyers for IzzyOnDroid #WayDroid, #BlissOS, #SHIFTphone and a few for #Catima.

#FOSDEM2026

The shared FOSDEM booth for IzzyOnDroid, SHIFTphone and BlissLabs

#fosdem #neostore #Droidify #catima #shift #izzyondroid #blisslabs #fosdem2026

IzzyOnDroid ✅ reshared this.

in reply to Semitones

mastodon - Link to source

IzzyOnDroid ✅

@semitones I've used it to get to #FOSDEM – Catima supports PkPass, so I was able to store my boarding pass there. No paper wasted 🥰 @SylvieLorxu

And yes, all that Sylvia said: it was great, definitely need to repeat, together with our great partners and the wonderful attendees!!! Big thanks also to @ShinIce and his team for all the organizational work, MUCH appreciated! Looking forward to meet all of you (again)!

Greetings from another sticker monster 😜

#fosdem @Shin.Ice @Sylvia @Semitones

mastodon - Link to source

Open Source security in spite of AI - the recording.

daniel.haxx.se/blog/2026/02/03…


Open Source security in spite of AI

The title of my ending keynote at FOSDEM February 1, 2026. As the last talk of the conference, at 17:00 on the Sunday lots of people had already left, and presumably a lot of the remaining people were quite tired and ready to call it a day.
daniel.haxx.se

mastodon - Link to source
Wegen kurzfristiger Sparmaßnahmen des Bundes können wir unser Tool für virtuelle Ausstellungen #DDBstudio ab sofort nicht mehr für neue Projekte zur Verfügung stellen. Die bisher veröffentlichten ~300 Ausstellungen bleiben vorerst online. Wir sind traurig. Ein Abschiedsnewsletter: deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.d…
---
@DNB_Aktuelles @kulturSPK @fiz_karlsruhe @archivportal @digiSberlin
---
1/2
Melancholisch dreinblickende Frau, den Kopf auf die Hand gestützt, eingefügte Gedankenblase: Keine neuen Ausstellungen mehr mit DDBstudio

Newsletter Virtuelle Ausstellungen Februar 2026 - Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek

www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de
#ddbstudio @Deutsche Nationalbibliothek @Archivportal-D @FIZ Karlsruhe @digiSberlin @SPK
This entry was edited (9 hours ago)

mastodon - Link to source
S celkovym pristupom, ako tito ceski CRQ (Cyber Risk Quantification) chalani pristupuju k osvete nie vzdy suhlasim.
To vsak neznamena, ze v principe nemaju pravdu. Tiez sa im obcas podari trafit klincek po hlavicke tak, ze to mozem iba podpisat.
Napr. dnes: cleverandsmart.cz/proc-tolik-c…

CleverAndSmart Management Consulting » Blog Archive » Proč tolik CEO věří maticím rizik, aneb Když zpětná vazba nepřijde roky a někdy vůbec

CleverAndSmart.cz - Magazín o informační a kybernetické bezpečnosti, řízení rizik, strategickém managementu a marketingu
www.cleverandsmart.cz

mastodon - Link to source

Tuesday morning's least surprising news, ever... 🤬

"Environmentalists decry ‘crushingly disappointing’ Pfas action plan for UK.

Ministers’ proposals to tackle ‘forever chemicals’ fail to match tougher stance taken in Europe, say experts."

theguardian.com/environment/20…


Environmentalists decry ‘crushingly disappointing’ Pfas action plan for UK

Damien Gayle (The Guardian)

mastodon - Link to source

“Reform UK’s Plans For a British ICE”

by Olly Haynes in The Byline Supplement on Substack

@uk_politics
@thegreenparty

“Key figures in Nigel Farage’s party are demanding a UK version of Trump’s immigration enforcement agency, in the wake of the killings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good”

open.substack.com/pub/bylinesu…

#Press #SocialMedia #UK #ReformUKLtd #Farage #ICE #Pretti #Good #Murder #Minneapolis #Fascism #Trump


Reform UK’s Plans For a British ICE

Olly Haynes (Byline Supplement)
#Trump #socialmedia #uk #fascism #press #murder #ice #minneapolis #good #farage #reformukltd #PrETTI @UK Politics @Green Party of England & Wales

mastodon - Link to source

Interestingly Palantir's booming revenue & profits are being driven primarily by US business... the CEO Alex Karp told investors that there is a 'real reticence' among European countries to adopt their technology (except in the UK?) & often countries were keen to develop their own versions of Palantir's tools.

A low-key recognition that Palantir's connections with the Far Right in the USA are not doing so much for their European business?

(time to repost this diagram)

#palantir #politics

full diagram available with associated story at: https://www.thenerve.news/p/palantir-technologies-uk-government-contracts-size-nuclear-deterrent-atomic-peter-thiel-louis-mosley
#politics #palantir

mastodon - Link to source

Israel has entered a new phase of territorial expansion and military aggression beyond historic Palestine. This is not due to a shift in strategic goals, but rather because the constraints that kept it confined before October 2023 have loosened.

mondoweiss.net/2026/02/the-new…

#Palestine #Israel #Gaza


The new era of Israeli expansionism and the war economy that fuels it

Israel has entered a new phase of expansion and military aggression beyond historic Palestine. This is not due to a strategic shift, but rather because the constraints that kept it confined before October 2023 are now too weak to hold it back.
Ahmed Alqarout (Mondoweiss)
#israel #palestine #Gaza

mastodon - Link to source

Judge blocks Trump administration’s stripping of Haitians’ protected status | US immigration | The Guardian
theguardian.com/us-news/2026/f…

'Reyes said in an accompanying 83-page opinion that plaintiffs were likely to prevail on the merits of the case and that she found it “substantially likely” that Noem preordained her termination decision because of “hostility to nonwhite immigrants”.'

#Immigrants #Haiti


Judge blocks Trump administration’s stripping of Haitians’ protected status

Up to 350,000 Haitians legally live and work in the US due to being granted temporary protected status
Guardian staff reporter (The Guardian)
#immigrants #haiti

mastodon - Link to source

If you're interested in divesting yourself of US-based tech and reducing your digital footprint, there's plenty of guides to help (like these two).

disconnect.blog/getting-off-us…

optoutproject.net/tags/cleanse…


Getting off US tech: a guide - by Paris Marx - Disconnect

I’m in the process of dropping US tech services. Here’s how I did it, and options you should consider.
Paris Marx (Disconnect)

mastodon - Link to source

"While LLMs offer immediate convenience, our findings highlight potential cognitive costs. Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. These results raise concerns about the long-term educational implications of LLM reliance and underscore the need for deeper inquiry into AI's role in learning."

media.mit.edu/publications/you…

#MOLE #AI #LLM #cognition

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task – MIT Media Lab

This study explores the neural and behavioral consequences of LLM-assisted essay writing. Participants were divided into three groups: LLM, Search Engine, and …
MIT Media Lab
#AI #cognition #llm #mole

mastodon - Link to source

My favorite part of the job has always been people, and it’s even more true at FOSDEM.

In those “backstage” pictures you can see what I love. People having fun, people taking care of each other, people helping each other.

FOSDEM is where I can thank those who make the software I use. It’s where we can meet. It’s where I can give back.

Like every year I’m exhausted and looking forward to the next one. Thanks all for being part of this.

#fosdem #matrix #openSource

A room full with 100 people smiling and all wearing a Matrix cap.
Two people having fun at the booth after one of them cracked a joke.
A portrait of Matthew attaching a mic to Neil as he prepares for his talk in the devroom.
#matrix #opensource #fosdem
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