Notices by Charles 𝄢 H (celesteh@post.lurk.org)

The time for Linux Users Groups has returned.

IMO: this should include

. Help installing
. Workshops doing training on the OS and on specific packages
. Raspbian as a "getting started" platform, especially for anything pitched at teens
. The generation of localised documentation, especially how to do things entirely in the GUI
. Art groups running workshops followed by performances

The suppression of linux on Facebook is a major escalation, as its the only "major" operating system that doesn't push news* at people and which didn't send a toady to the inauguration.

They tech community have an important role to play as comrades. We need stuff like Briar and things that aren't owned by oligarchies.

(* I've seen reports that MS is pushing right wing shit to people's screens every day. This is actually worrying.)

@mekkaokereke @billiglarper @ckent

Without wishing to dispute anyone's point, the men's (American) football team and the women's (soccer) football team are explicitly separated in their main activities. They share the weight room, but they're never required to collaborate with or compete with each other. Neither is taking space that seemed to more "naturally" belong to the other.

The atmosphere in the weight room was probably quite different before Title XI (the US law that forces parity in university sports programmes) became completely normalised.

@mekkaokereke

Evidence: Jocks pull

@pfefferle @andypiper its a great plugin. Thank you for your work on it.

Let's say I have a #WordPress blog which federates and I want to also have some posts that ~only~ federate and don't appear on the blog. Because I want to do some social stuff socially without making the blog unbloggy. Is there support for that? Specifically, is there support to mirror posts from an evil corporate network to fedi without making them blog posts?

#ActivityPub

Put aside your AI thing for a moment - this is not a large language model, but instead deeply weird original music by Nick Collins.

Parts of this are definitely goofy and rely overly on the gee whiz factor, bit overall this is a solid, interesting work, worth a listen.

Music for Celebrity AI Voice Model Choir from Nick Collins

https://sicklincoln.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-celebrity-ai-voice-model-choir

George Bush Sr lost in 1992 because of how much he alienated women through sexism.

Any composers out there who want to know what linux audio is like, feel free to message.

I find it less fiddly than windows. Its got plusses and minuses compared to core audio.

The OS isn't spying on me, but there's not a perfect replacement for Sibelius.

#LinuxAudio

@inthehands @adamshostack @ct_bergstrom

Honestly even just grepping for "as a large language model" text…

When Snowcrash was written, the VR we had was MUDs and MOOs. People were trying to write 3D standard descriptions, like VRML, but the people were in text.

These text systems, if coupled with a text to speech converter, are accessible to blind people and potentially illiterate people. They also require much less bandwidth for people on slow connections.

The physical realities of permacomputing are fantasy but the design goals of longevity require some low tech solutions. MOOs are suitably low tech.

But what about artists? MOOs allow writers to shine, but what about composers?

Music streaming is relatively intense throughput, but MIDI data isn't. Around 2004, I wrote a MOO client in SuperCollider. Objects, including players, could optionally specify arrays of notes, based on the notation used by Nokia ringtones. With this system, I could hear when my friends had logged in, because it would play their leitmotif.

How might a hybrid system work? What if objects were allowed small audio files or small image files? What if some rooms were all text, but others looked like hubs? How could this system retain accessibility while allowing expression across multiple modalities?

#N900 fan club meeting

@jamesgbradbury @goatsarah @grayface_ghost

A lot of people and goods need to move around the country. Food needs to move around. We cannot sustain our population without transport infrastructure and we must transform that to more sustainable models which will involve revitalising the canal system and increasing capacity on rail lines.

These transformations are not in conflict with degrowth, assuming you're not also calling to kill a bunch of people to reduce demand.

We can't change at the flip of a switch and need to create a transitional space which will involve a certain amount of construction. Houses don't get insulated by wishing. Everything we do about climate involves moving materials

@jamesgbradbury @goatsarah @grayface_ghost also, sheesh, the tiny amount of "countryside" this takes up in comparison to growing food animals.

Urban eco activists have no sense of statistics or scale and a romantic notion of land utterly divorced from reality. Its infuriating how uninformed and incurious people are about actual land use and impacts.

@grayface_ghost

[ People's houses get demolished. ]

Green activists: [Yawn.]

[ An oak tree that isn't even that old might get chopped down. ]

Green activists: This is a disaster and we must act immediately!

We need to protect the environment, but these folks can't see the forest for the trees and they are just so very good at alienating everyone but middle class people exactly like themselves.

Quick, what's an idea for an AI generative art performance for laptop and tuba that can be ready to be proposed to a conference by the 30th?

From today's email: Have you written a tuba concerto yet?

Special offer, this week only: #commission me to write a #tuba #concerto of twenty minutes duration or less!

You: An ensemble, ready to pay union-scale composition fees.

Me: A composer and real life tuba player, who can write for instruments and/or electronics.

My favourite part of British University IT departments is "Microsoft says no".

Like, I get that social engineering was a massive weak point of these systems, but:

1. Microsoft is not even consistent. One of my unis is fine with this wifi network, but the one with the nearer deadlines isn't.

2. [Side gig] is a big believer in security through obscurity and to some extent, so is MS. Will the lock on my account actually be lifted in 45 minutes? Probably not. I'll have to commute to my studio and hope for the best. I could also go to campus, but I'm trying to self-isolate. There's a good chance I'll wait for 45 minutes and then bicycle for 45 minutes and then still need to go to campus , which will be another hour of cycling. I have deadlines.

3. Student fees are paying taxes to an American corporation. If the unis can't do this inhouse, I feel like a CIC or NGO could do this without skimming a profit for shareholders. Surely the whole "Brexit Spirit" the Tories campaigned on involves us building our own infrastructure instead of becoming a vassal state to the US?

Me, looking at the Bandcamp feed: Oooh, that looks interesting, I'll add it to my wish list.

[Months later]

Me, buying an album: While I'm buying this album, maybe I'll grab something from my wish list. Ack, there's hundreds of items. I'll pick the one in the fewest other collections.

[Months or years later]

Me: I should actually listen to the music in my collect. Here's something I bought but never listened to. .... What the hell is this? How did I end up with this? Who even is this artist?