Notices by Carl Malamud (carlmalamud@official.resource.org), page 5

@quinn I only work with outdoor feral peppers, but we are blessed with appropriate weather here (think figs, olives, grapes, citrus, pepper!). But, you can do good things with indoor spaces and patios that often work. I'm no expert. I plant and hope.

Squeezed one more batch of pickled thai chilis out of the garden. I'm over-wintering the plants, hoping they make it and turn into thai chili trees. This can happen!

Beautiful essay by @pluralistic about why he writes. https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/21/blockheads-r-us/ Writing is a drug. Once you’re hooked you don’t stop.

Cory Doctorow’s prescient novella about health insurance and murder: ‘They’re going to be afraid’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/20/cory-doctorow-radicalized-novella-healthcare-ceo-killing?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other ht @pluralistic

Phooey. The suit of Public Resource, @iFixit and @makemagazine v. FCC was dismissed for lack of standing. https://law.resource.org/pub/us/cfr/regulations.gov.docket.16/ The court feels that makers and fixers have no interest in how to test electronics for conformance and safety. We'll try again with something more compelling like "standard for saving the lives of babies from electrocution."

American businessman marches up to the bar and says “wine list por favor!” Demands a taste of one of the wines. “Where is this from? Oh. India.” Wrinkles nose. Speaks into his phone “2000 Indian to dollar.” He’s doing a nice job of blending in.

India actually has a very nice wine industry. Some of my winemaker friends in Sonoma County spend part of their time in India.

Hanging out in the author’s lounge at the Bangalore Literature Festival. Staffer came over and asked if I was William Dalrymple. I laughed and said no, he’s much fatter than me. As she walked away, I said “and he will have goats with him!”

Heading into the home stretch after two weeks in India. Tomorrow night is the Hasgeek event on the Gandhian Internet. https://hasgeek.com/servantsofknowledge/geekup-with-carl/ This weekend is Bangalore Literature Festival (which is a total zoo!). Monday meetings, then heading home. 93 nights in Indian hotels this year. I'm ready for a break!

La merdification du web. Avec le bloggeur @pluralistic https://www.unige.ch/comprendre-le-numerique/conferences-publiques1/cycle-5-2024-2025/ai-and-enshittification-internet-can-we-imagine-new-web Leur couper la tête!

A present from the State of Georgia. The entire Official Code of Georgia Annotated presented to me by the General Assembly, current as of August 2024. https://archive.org/details/gov.ga.ocga.2024/ I asked them for a copy and they said sure, here you go, no problem, have a nice day. See how easy that was?

Passing India Gate. Huge crowd coming for a day in the park. Finished my meeting with Kapil Sibal (head of the bar association), heading to the airport to return to Bangalore. Whirlwind 2 days in the nation’s capitol.

Huge police presence near my hotel. Glad I booked my Uber early. We got out just as they shut down the streets. Policeman said Modi’s motorcade was coming through. Guessing maybe he’s going to Khan Market to grab a few tchotchkes, meet some friends for a cuppa.

My guilty pleasure while in Delhi is the most amazing Chinese food in Khan market. I’m at Mamagoto having beer and dim sum. https://mamagoto.in/our-menu/ I know I should be chasing the biryani joints in old town, but this is where I am instead.

Well, that was fun. A deputy registrar met me at Ministry of Justice, we drove straight through the main gates of the Supreme Court and parked on the grounds (eat your heart out supreme court lawyers … they have to park outside and walk in), then the chief librarian gave me a personal tour of the library.

Super hectic day in Delhi. Relaxing in the coffee shop with a Kingfisher, garlic naan, makhani dal, and basil tandoori chicken. Temperature is a freezing cold 65F and everybody is wearing mufflers and bulky jackets. Winter.

@kw217 @webmink The core issue is you can’t do open source software sitting on top of a patent-encumbered standard. It’s a brake on innovation, and in the case of public safety standards (which should be very widely implemented) it is a brake on safety. $0.02, understood not everybody agrees.

@ingram @webmink Australian government opened up their building code. Did a very nice job.

@ingram @webmink One step at a time. Doing the best we can. :) Australia threatened to sue us over the building codes when we first put it up, so I was really happy when they made it available. https://law.resource.org/rfcs/gov.au.20130207.pdf Here was our answer: https://law.resource.org/rfcs/gov.abcb.20130210.pdf

@ingram working on it. :) you would be amazed at how hard the standards bodies are fighting this despite strong pronouncements from the courts at the very highest levels.