An organic, fair-trade, community-governed, collectively-owned, open-source oil rig is still an oil rig. Intentions, governance, ownership, etc. are all super important, but you also need to be honest about what the thing does and the consequences. I'm lookin' at you "Open-Source Local LLMs".

I'm not the first one to notice this, but just now thinking about citations and provenance… Beyond all the debates about copyright, LLMs are very anti-academic. Their makers seem to feel that source and context don't matter; that knowledge is just a big homogeneous soup of text. They also seem to have missed all the intellectual pleasure of digging into the references. You find so much cool, interesting stuff that way and have to consider the perspectives of the authors. The deep-dive through citations is one of the exciting parts of research.

Our veggie dealer gave me some Chicory roots (Belgian endive) this week. I will try to roast one to make chicory coffee but I thought I would do a little #fermenting experiment. I chopped the root up and threw it in with some yeast, lemon, sugar and a sprig of sweet clover. I suspect this will be super bitter but it's fun to work on my goal of making some DIY root beer / Malzbier.

Baby steps. I made a little #rustic step-ladder for the living room using a maple yoke piece that I ripped down the middle. And I added a removable slide for the junior woodworkers to have a some indoor playground fun. #woodworking

It's actually fine to not look at the news. Ignore the news for a day, a week, a month or as long as you need to. It's completely fine. You might feel a sense of responsibility as an informed citizen to keep up to date on current events. But subjecting yourself to constant exposure to upsetting minutiae about things that are far away that you have no influence or control over can be traumatic. And avoiding that painful experience is not the same as avoiding a direct personal problem that you need to face and deal with. It's actually a healthy, sensible choice to make. Read a book, take a walk, bake some bread, call a friend, whatever. Just don't look at the news if you don't feel up to it. The world will be fine if you are not up to date on the latest shameless palaver. You might instead focus on some of the many really important and nice things that you actually can manage and negotiate that are much closer to home.

Maybe we should stop calling them *Notifications* and instead refer to *Interruptions*. "Working on some stuff so I've turned off interruptions for a while." "Right on."

For some last-minute, end-of year #permacomputing joy, please join us in Berlin for a workshop: ## POST:COM:POST ** Regenerating rotting devices.** * A Permacomputing Berlin Workshop * 15.12.2024 from 12-17:00h kindly hosted by: /rosa Heidelberger Str. 28 12059 Berlin In this workshop, we will attempt to install the Linux-based PostmarketOS on "obsolete" Android devices and find convivial new uses for them. This event will be more of a collective hacking and experimentation session than a traditional pedagogical instruction format. We can't promise to make every old device work again but we can offer a fun, informative and supportive environment. For sign-up and more info: https://berlin.permacomputing.net/

What is your lifestyle?

The Next #permacomputing #Berlin Meet-Up Will Happen 29. November, 2024 at 19:00 Lichtenrader Str. 49

offline

offline ~ home

A community space in Berlin

This meet-up presents BesserAlsNeu, a project to support people in the neighborhood and beyond to use their digital devices sustainably with the help of free software. "We provide support in setting up and using Linux operating systems on laptops or Android custom ROMs on smartphones and tablets. We also collect any old devices, up-cycle them and then give them out free of charge, for example to those in need or to cultural or social projects in the neighborhood." BesserAlsNeu is a project by Resi - the resource shop in Alt-Treptow at Bouchéstraße 79 B.

Home - Resi - der Ressourcenladen Alt-Treptow, einfach Leihen

Kiez mit grüneren Anstrich, gerechtere Verteilung von öffentlichem Straßenland, die Sinne für Nachhaltigkeit und ressourcensparendes Verhalten ...

We will begin with a short presentation of the project, followed by discussion. Afterward, there will be an open session with recycled devices to check out and advice for anyone looking to repurpose an old laptop or phone. There will be a few USB install sticks for those excited enough to try it on their own device.

There's a line of argument that is very popular right now when talking about digital consumerism that I find really problematic. It goes something like this: "Sure, yes, all those little alternative things are cute, but what we really need is regulation!" And in one fell swoop, we have dismissed the idea of individual agency. We have dismissed the idea of collective action and we've thrown away the notion that doing things differently might even have a personal, individual benefit in our quality of life. Instead we, probably without realizing it, imply that _we_ are not responsible. Somebody else, far away in some place of power oughtta make a law. And having said that, we return to our platform normativity. If you belittle any direct action and attempts to try alternatives, you are, like it or not, _enforcing the status quo_ and I don't think that's actually what we want. Maybe think about that before dismissing somebody's dumb phone, alternative network, weird free software or low-tech solution. They are trying and perhaps even having a nice time of it. You might even try a few things yourself.