Fun fact: This website is hosted from my residence.
Please feel free to follow me even if you don't know me, but might have common interests. I will reciprocate if the same is true. Here's a (possibly incomplete) list of my interests: Education, Peer-to-peer & complex systems, mindfullness, minimalism, cultures, histories & people, social justice, technology.
MattC shared 3 days ago
🛰️If you're new to Mastodon like me and enjoyed participating in the #30DayMapChallenge, consider joining and supporting the https://mapstodon.space instance run by @jeremy. Mapstodon.space is an online community dedicated to cartography & geospatial enthusiasts.
@feditips has great tuts/toots on migrating to another instance.
#FollowFriday #Introduction #GISchat #GIS #maps #newtomastodon #instances
MattC shared 4 days ago
Kissinger's death is a great opportunity to evaluate the biases of various news organizations. Do they foreground his war crimes, or do they frame his life and career with laudatory quotes from Washington "elites"? If it's the latter, take that into account when you see reporting from them on contemporary world events.
Hello Fediverse.
I'm looking for a co-founder/conspirator-in-arms!
If you're a member of a diversity minority who is under-represented or systemically disadvantaged in STEM, and would like to get involved in an "access to knowledge" project to try to help fix that, or know someone who does, please get in touch with me privately here, or via email (same as my fedi handle) to know more!
Please share/repost/boost liberally!
Wrote a little homily. Please share/boost so I can connect with other people who care about this.
https://lkml.org/lkml/2023/10/23/870
TLDR;
Software can't remain operating like a cottage industry with "no liability" licenses. We need laws and processes (my hustle is called "D3") which have some measure of guarantee of function.
"For architects, it takes off the burden of having to rely on their memory and random tests and bespoke models to keep state. For engineers, it provides a clear "source of truth" and a process based mechanism to verify their implementation based on this source. And for project managers, there's much better visibility over the entire QA, analogous to but much more powerful than a simple TDD style development process. "
MattC shared a month ago
MattC shared a month ago
Every tree of #Berlin on a #WebGL map, along with its age and species and calculated water needs, as well as amount of rainwater received, so that locals can water them best 🌳😃
https://www.giessdenkiez.de/
Along with public fountains, supporting community organizing, all in #OpenData and #OpenSource.
Brilliant work from @citylabberlin!
MattC shared a month ago
Okay, big news for everyone with a WordPress blog, including people with a free blog on wordpress.com!
You can now turn *any* WordPress blog into a Fediverse server which can be followed from Mastodon etc.
I've updated the instructions on how to do this at:
➡️ https://fedi.tips/wordpress-turning-your-blog-into-a-fediverse-server/
Just to repeat, this is now available to ALL WordPress blogs including free tier ones. The free tier has slightly different instructions, but effect is same.
MattC shared a month ago
ne'er-do-well 
thinking about only ever typing in lower case because fuck capitalism
MattC shared a month ago
"The problem with woke capitalism is that it's no substitute for a union." @pluralistic https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/11/equal-opportunity-class-war/
MattC shared a month ago
I think we need a "slow software" movement.
We can look to slow food, Cittaslow (slow city), and other slow efforts.
We need to look "Generative AI" squarely in the eye, and run—not walk—the opposite direction.
We need to teach and advocate for software development practices which are *intentionally* easy to learn and require minimal maintenance.
We need best practices which encourage methodical longevity over quick band-aid fixes.
We need to put artistry over capital.
Will you join me?
MattC shared a month ago
Spare a little hatred today for Queen Isabella I of Castile, who was responsible for not only funding Columbus’ infamous voyage, but for the Reconquista, the Alhambra decree, and the Inquisition #FuckColumbus
MattC shared a month ago
@pluralistic @danhon Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is like an AnCap Hogwarts. They take in budding Valley Bros, and teach them marketing hype wizardry, longtermism, and then at the end, the Grifting Hat gives them corporate paperwork, a big bag of VC money, keys to offices already staffed with libertarian types, and most importantly: their gimmick.
"Bankman-Fried, your gimmick is an imaginary bank."
"Altman, you get a fancy autocomplete and a ball that steals souls."
"Holmes, your gimmick is fabulous medical testing devices."
"Do they work?"
"Why would that matter!"
"Right, sorry."
In our topsy turvy world, I have to reshuffle the bald old man's quote:
"The whole world is going blind because we take an eye for an eye."
Hamas murdering innocent young people is not going to do their cause any good. Israel murdering them back and calling them "human animals" is not going to bring back the murdered people by murdering more people.
Replace that with any pair of blood feud groups you like - and this is only going to get worse, as the real problem - climate change is happening, and we're like a bunch of rats fighting each other on a sinking ship.
Maybe humanity deserves to go extinct.
MattC shared a month ago
How Indian authorities ‘weaponised’ a New York Times report to target the #press
NewsClick, a defiantly critical news site, has been in the Indian government’s sights over the past few years. But there was little to show after extensive financial probes – until the New York Times published a report which enabled Prime Minister Narendra #Modi's administration to use the press to attack the press.
#India #PressFreedom
MattC shared a month ago
Software freedom is the prerequisite for many of the issues people struggle with when it comes to technology, privacy breaches, user lock-in, DRM, and hardware obsolescence. The role of freedom in privacy cannot be ignored. Support #FreeSoftware https://fsf.org
MattC shared a month ago
OpenStreetMap Bengaluru has a mapping party happening next Saturday!
Indiranagar Mapping Party (with Surveillance In Bengaluru and SafeYelli)
Date: 7th October 2023
Time: 8:30AM - 11:30AM
Meeting Point: Indiranagar Basketball Club Grounds
Theme: Mapping CCTVs and Street Lights
RSVP on the OSM Calendar: https://osmcal.org/event/2357/
For those new to OSM, no prior mapping or OSM experience is needed to participate, so all are welcome to join!
MattC shared a month ago
A win for privacy!
Remember the Delhi Police's online form, seeking info on residents from NE states, Darjeeling & Ladakh including address & tribe? All of that invasive data was deleted on Aug 18, after IFF wrote to the Police Commissioner on Aug 14. 1/6
https://internetfreedom.in/spuner-delhi-police-google-form-rti/
MattC shared a month ago
Cory Doctorow ( @pluralistic ) on capitalism merely being an interruption between feudalism and feudalism, with a reminder that cyberpunk was meant to be a warning, not a how-to.
MattC shared a month ago
6 October 1939 | A Dutch Jewish girl, Klara Jas, was born in Amsterdam.
She arrived at Auschwitz on 26 August 1943 with her mother Henderika and little brother Isaac. They were all murdered in a gas chamber.
#Auschwitz #Birkenau #Holocaust #Shoah #Jews #history #histodons #Nazis #Germany #NeverForget #ww2 #Memorial #Remember #memory #otd #facts #Netherlands #family
