Ever worth remembering we were never asked how much we wanted "AI" in our lives, if at all, and to what extent. Instead we find ourselves thankful for opportunities to opt-out, forgetting all the while there was no opt-in. It's not the '2nd industrial revolution'. It's just more imperialism.

Instead of dedicating resources to finding and arresting actual terrorists, for instance the UK's many ultra-violent white supremacists and self-professed neo-Nazis, almost 500 people peacefully protesting holding pieces of paper and signs were dragged away on the grounds of promoting and/or engaging in terrorism, at enormous expense to tax payers and sanity itself. According to the UK Police themselves, it was largest single day of arrests in at least a decade.

the Guardian

Police arrest 474 people at protest over Palestine Action ban in London

Number of arrests was highest recorded in relation to single operation in at least past decade, according to Met police

To fellow locals in the Wellington region, this will be a talk you'll not want to miss. @npub1z8rj...mrq6 of 100 Rabbits will give a (remote) talk on Tuesday on the critically vital movement of #permacomputing, & with plenty of time for Q+A after. There are still a few seats left. Register here:

Critical Signals

Permacomputing 101

Critical Signals explores practical and visionary responses to an era of collapses.

This is wild. A whole population's calls captured, studied, mined. "Unit 8200 sources said the information stored in Azure amounted to a rich repository of intelligence about its population that some in the unit claimed had been used to blackmail people, place them in detention, or even justify their killing after the fact." As a friend just suggested, perhaps one day people will speak of Microsoft & genocide, just as history 'never forgets' what IBM did.

the Guardian

‘A million calls an hour’: Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians

Revealed: The Israeli military undertook an ambitious project to store a giant trove of Palestinians’ phone calls on Microsoft’s servers in Europe

(Via @npub1cnam...myul)

Missionaries have been secretly and illegally placing small devices on the lands of isolated indigenous peoples in the Amazon in an attempt to convert them to their faith The 'In Touch' devices - made by a Baptist group in Atlanta, Georgia USA - play out passages of the Bible. Weatherproof and fitted with solar panel, they run indefinitely. The devices have been found scattered throughout the Javari region, near Brazil's border with Peru.

the Guardian

Missionaries using secret audio devices to evangelise Brazil’s isolated peoples

Solar-powered units reciting biblical passages have appeared in the Javari valley, despite strict laws protecting Indigenous groups

#colonisation

In about a week I'll be talking about #Meshtastic (a popular decentralised off-grid mesh-networking protocol) in the context of communications fallback during and after disasters. If you are in the quake-prone Pōneke/Wellington or Hutt Valley region, this is especially for you!

Critical Signals

Introduction to Meshtastic

Critical Signals explores practical and visionary responses to an era of collapses.

#aotearoa #infrastructure

A smart angle from Guterres: "The greatest threat to energy security today is fossil fuels. They leave economies and people at the mercy of price shocks, supply disruptions and geopolitical turmoil,” he said. “There are no price spikes for sunlight. No embargoes on wind.”

the Guardian

World on brink of climate breakthrough as fossil fuels ‘run out of road’, UN chief says

António Guterres says ‘sun is rising on a clean energy age’ as 90% of renewable power projects cheaper than fossil fuels

#climate #energy

Update from the planet-eating machine cult

the Guardian

Zuckerberg says Meta will build data center the size of Manhattan in latest AI push

CEO says company plans to spend hundreds of billions on developing artificial intelligence products

Pleased to share Critical Signals, a 3 month series of events in downtown Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. The series centers practical & visionary responses to an era of collapses, with a focus on kai (food) sovereignty, data and communications sovereignty, collective resilience, & adaptation strategies under a rapidly changing climate and biosphere.

Critical Signals

Critical Signals

Critical Signals explores practical and visionary responses to an era of collapses.

(Programme still growing as we confirm new collabs) #climate #resilience #food #infrastructure #sovereignty

I want to talk terminal colours, in advance of some self-paced learning I'm launching. In IRL workshops and lectures with a projector, I've always found black on white seems to sit best for folk given long-haul tolerance and legibility. But how about hours of UNIX commands, shell scripts and config editing in recorded video, and on your screen? Which terminal colour combo would be easiest on your eyes in long episodes of video? (Not in the list? Drop your pref combo in the replies)