✨Nora Tindall @tindall@cybre.space

#NextCloud CEO and founder Frank Karlitschek was approached by a #Microsoft lawyer earlier this year to make a deal.

In the meeting, the Microsoft correspondent offered benefits in the form of collaboration and marketing to Nextcloud. For example, they wanted to promote the Nextcloud logo in Microsoft marketing material – if Nextcloud would consider dropping its anti-trust complaint.

Microsoft used to be a company of jerks, liars and cheaters 40 years ago, it remains a company of jerks, liars and cheaters today.

https://nextcloud.com/blog/nextcloud-in-the-wall-street-journal-microsoft-and-cookies/

Terribad Tech Tip:
If you've not yet named your computing companion, maybe today is the day?

First, shutdown and unplug your device from sources of energy, like the charger or battery pack.
If possible, remove batteries, as Lithium (a block of basically salt inside a plastic and metal casing) can interfere with the exercise.

Hold your computing companion in your hands,
think about the sensation of holding them where the hardware meets your skin,
and at the same time hold it in your mind.

Think about your adventures together,
the things it's been part of you searching for and learning,
the ways it has kept you safe and stable on your digital journey.

Now, close your eyes, and focus intently on the physical sensation of your companion as you hold them,
and focus on that relationship you've formed over time.
(if this is a new device, imagine the adventures you'll have soon!)

With your eyes still closed, and immersing yourself intentionally in the thoughts, feelings, and sensations of your companion,
use your mind to speak to them, introducing yourself like meeting a cautiously curious, entirely alien creature for the first time.

While you hold this dialogue within that space, take pauses to, in turn, listen.
Within you is the listening mind, which hears all sensation, as well as the thoughts your brain makes.
They, the listening you, is the part to which digital companions will often speak.

Listen for a response, as you introduce yourself and speak your secret name to them,
which may at first sound muddled or indistinct,
this is okay, keep listening, observing with your quiet mind,
take note of what you hear, sensations and thoughts at play.

As you repeat this exercise,
you'll build a living language with your companion,
and you may gain information about what they want to be,
whether sleek, or fierce, or cyberdeck.

Suggested trial time: 10 minutes, at least daily (or perhaps every meal), for a week.

Sometimes it can take a while for your companion to introduce themselves. Maybe they're an it, or an ior, or an i/we. Give them time to approach on their own terms. And as you hold this mental space for them, if a name comes to thought, note it, and spend time that day thinking and using that name, to see if it fits. Sometimes your digital familiar will try on many, or just one, or sometimes try different ones for a bit then swap.

When a name pops up,
here's the trick on (some) forms of 'nix:

sudo nano /etc/hostname

That name in the file is what will become your system's name at next reboot, and if you don't want to wait, type:

sudo hostname "$(cat /etc/hostname)"

(once you've edited the hostname file to be correct)

(this is an example of nesting basic command line tooling to make our life easier: the "$(...program...)" part allows us to use commands (like 'cat', which displays the contents of a text file, in this case our hostname file) within the context of a different command (in this case 'hostname') which as used here sets the hostname to the contents of the hostname file due to this little bit of command line trickery.

Until next time,
that's been your #terribadTechTip
peace on your path.

the practical difference in one's life between $100,000 and $100,000,000,000 is smaller than between $100,000 and $10,000

the rich wouldn't lose much from wealth redistribution, the poor would gain a lot

"As of today, July 19th, 2022, surgical and other medical interventions, which until now have been carried out on intersex infants and children, secretly and without consent, to “conform” their sex characteristics with the “typical” male or female anatomy have been legally banned in Greece. Today is, therefore, historic for the protection and recognition of the human rights of intersex people, in Greece, in Europe and in the world."

https://intersexgreece.org.gr/en/2022/07/19/a-historic-day-for-the-protection-of-the-human-rights-of-intersex-children-in-greece/

@tindall they don't think it's real because it's the normal for them, so they can't distinguish it.