@mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org
@mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

mycorrhiza

@mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org

Dad, working scientist, degrowth anarchist, wobbly

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mycorrhiza, to random
@mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

I saw a toot (from a stranger, hence the subtoot) that argued that permacomputing was about redeeming computers. Maybe some permacomputing proponents feel that way, but that’s not the attitude I’m bringing to this endeavor at all. The questions I’m interested in are things like:

• We have all these computers around, how do we make them last as long as possible?
• If or when we reach a point where we stop mass-producing new chips, how can we eke out the most use of extant digital devices?
• Is it possible to build something that counts as a “computer” in a genuinely sustainable way?
• At the root of all of this: what purpose does computation serve for humanity that is even worth carrying on in a more humane society?

mycorrhiza, to random
@mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

If you have an old plastic device with a coating that once made it feel slightly rubberized, but has since become uncomfortably sticky, I’m finding that isopropyl and a bit of elbow grease takes that coating off, leaving the smooth hard plastic beneath.

Does anyone know if there’s a better way to do this? I just reclaimed an old gaming mouse, and I’d like to attack an even older Alienware laptop next. Laptops should not be sticky.

rysiek, (edited ) to random
@rysiek@mstdn.social avatar

"ChatGPT [prompt] consumes (…) up to 25 times more than a Google search"
https://www.brusselstimes.com/1042696/chatgpt-consumes-25-times-more-energy-than-google

> Making sure your electricity comes from wind, solar or nuclear power is a logical first step. Google itself, for example, says it has been running entirely on green electricity since 2015.

Story misses a crucial point:

👉 The goal isn't just to add green power. The goal is to emit less CO2!

New green capacity needs to replace old dirty stuff. Not be gobbled up by new data centers for AI.

🧵

mycorrhiza,
@mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

@rysiek another thing to consider is that when Google (etc) builds a new data center, they go in and buy up all of the region’s renewable energy so that they can claim to be using renewable energy. All of the homes and industries that were already in that region are stuck using fossils instead of any new green power. This is one way that the percent of renewable energy can increase without a commensurate decrease in the total amount of fossils burned.

mycorrhiza,
@mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

@rysiek I’m sorry about that! I scrolled through the thread after I replied (which was sloppy), and then I just figured “at least we’re on the same page” (which was lazy).

But I’m glad we’re on the same page!

mycorrhiza, to random
@mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

Over on the Permacomputing mailing list, I just learned about this super cool project by @thentrythis:

> Last year I ran a workshop for disadvantaged families in Cornwall in the UK (a historic mining area) where we smashed rocks, collected crystals from mine waste, built semiconductors out of them, plugged them into cardboard circuit boards and made synthesisers: https://thentrythis.org/notes/2023/11/17/organised-atoms-at-flamm-festival-redruth/

mycorrhiza, to python
@mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

Bookworm is Debian’s oldest still-supported LTS release and apparently ships with 3.7.3. If you wanted a Python script to work out of the box on as many computers as possible, is there a compelling reason to target an older version than that?

mycorrhiza, to random
@mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

Always grateful for @jonny's posts about academia on my timeline; whenever I start to wonder, “did I make a mistake by leaving...”, “did I give up too quickly...” a new toot drops, reminding me that I would be entirely too miserable working in that environment full-time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that they and folks like them are fighting the good fight — higher education is too important for us to abandon — but my circumstances preclude me from that one.

Binder, to random
@Binder@petrous.vislae.town avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    mycorrhiza,
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    @Binder those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it.

    Those who do remember history are doomed to repeat it too. The first time they’ll be smug about it, but that will quickly give way to outrage, then horror, and finally just resigned acceptance.

    yaxu, to random
    @yaxu@post.lurk.org avatar

    Pattern club is live on Mondo radio https://www.mondo.radio/

    mycorrhiza,
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    @yaxu on this broadcast you told a story about somebody running a tutorial and how they had great advice about following instructions and getting help from your neighbor? I wish I remembered the wording because I loved that so much.

    mycorrhiza,
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    @yaxu nice, thank you!

    mycorrhiza, to random
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    In light of the corporation’s legal attack on the NLRB, have any of the workers (or unions representing workers) at Trader Joe’s asked for a boycott yet?

    reiver, to random
    @reiver@mastodon.social avatar

    Is anyone I know on ?

    I'm looking for fellow book readers to follow (from my BookWyrm account).

    ...

    I'm at:

    @reiver

    https://bookwyrm.social/user/reiver

    .

    mycorrhiza,
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    @reiver I just gave you a follow over there.

    mycorrhiza, to random
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    This whole comic from @catandgirl is great, but this half-panel was a gut-punch for me personally.

    https://socel.net/@catandgirl/111766715711043428

    mycorrhiza, to random
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    When I was a kid, my favorite types of museums were the science-y ones, followed by the natural history-ish places, and finally the art museums. These days, I still enjoy museums quite a bit, but my preferences are flipped.

    futurebird, to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    I saw a clip from fox I can't forget. It was shocking:

    “We are being conquered,” Stephen Miller said a few days ago “This is a complete resettlement of America ... now we have millions of people coming in from different cultures and different ways of living and different belief systems ... a generation from now, people will not know the country that they are living in."

    This kind of rhetoric hardly even makes waves it has become so common. This makes me extraordinarily uncomfortable. 1/

    mycorrhiza,
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    @futurebird @amazing_brush I think about this a lot. Any time my mind drifts toward punishment, I bring myself back to this thought: simply existing in my utopia — where all people are afforded lives of dignity, and nobody by virtue of status can expect to inflict their whims on others without reprisal — would be Hell on Earth for any member of the ruling class.

    mycorrhiza, to random
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    Project Idea

    I still have a bona fide Linksys WRT54GL that I’m not using for anything. I thought it would be cool to set up a solar-powered captive portal ebook library to share public domain reading with my neighbors...

    ...but the secret anarchist agenda would be to host a forum that I could stand up in order to help my block coordinate supplies and such in case of an emergency.

    Is there a turnkey solution for this usecase? If anyone has done this they're probably on Fedi, right?

    mycorrhiza,
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    Oh, and this popped onto my feed with perfect timing (h/t @marieverdeil) https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/12/how-to-build-a-small-solar-power-system/

    mycorrhiza, to random
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    I would like your vegan cookie recipes please.

    mycorrhiza, to random
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    Voyager 1 has been in space for 16,900 days and is still getting software updates 24 billion kilometers away, but Google stopped supporting my phone less than 3.5 years after they started selling them (and just 2 years after they stopped selling them).

    garbados, to random
    @garbados@friend.camp avatar

    open source is a methodology to me, like peer review only shittier because software development is a profoundly disorganized, immature discipline. it's better than the alternative of never showing or sharing your work, but it's not a panacea. it's just a tool.

    mycorrhiza,
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    @garbados I hope it’s ok to reply like this even though I don’t know you, but I agree completely and this feels like a great jumping-off point for two half-baked thoughts about FOSS that I need to talk out a bit:

    mycorrhiza,
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    @garbados First one: I like FOSS kinda like how I like unions. I want to abolish both copyright and the worker/owner dichotomy, and eventually the very notions of “ownership” built into our society. FOSS/unions are cool because they can potentially be tools to dismantle those systems of hierarchy, but ideally we eventually won’t need a GPL or an IWW.

    Second one: it’s pretty fucked that, at the present, most jobs that “pay you to write open source” are for terrible companies, building bloated frameworks and infrastructure with the primary goal of extending surveillance capitalism. I’ve seen FOSS Bros dogpile solo indie devs who don’t want to open source their mobile apps and never call out developers at those FAANG companies, and those are some backwards priorities.

    Binder, to coffee
    @Binder@petrous.vislae.town avatar

    Took more than ten seconds, still feels like love.

    mycorrhiza,
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    @troublewithwords @Binder I relate to every single part of this.

    mycorrhiza, to random
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    Huh. So there is a widely distributed “alternatives to 911” list for the town in which I last lived, but none for my current location. Are these less common than I realized?

    mycorrhiza, to random
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    As a nerd who does a lot of data visualization for my day job and is putting much of my (scant) hobby time into permacomputing, it’s hard to keep @visnut and @viznut straight.

    aral, to random
    @aral@mastodon.ar.al avatar

    If a tumour were to write a manifesto on cancer…

    https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/

    mycorrhiza,
    @mycorrhiza@post.lurk.org avatar

    @aral @nbailey literally my first thought.

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