I have not been online as much.

In the past handful of weeks, I have:
- Watched a movie outside in the park on a blow up projector screen.
- Went to a local set of horror plays written by local playwrights. We voted on which one we liked the best (ranked choice) and whoever wins will have a chance to produce a full play locally.
- Went to the local symphony orchestra (small town, but dang the local folks can play!) and even watched a guest violinist play amazingly!
- Went on a "ghost tour" which is really just a local history tour but with fun things mixed in
- Went to some lovely gardens and museums

Annnnnnd some other stuff like going downtown and listening to street buskers (and tipping), checking out local art shows, going to fun events in the various parks.

Many of those activities were free. The ones that cost money were cheaper than eating at McDonalds.

I've been doing other things like trying to run again, and sit in meditation with others, and play my fipple flute, and build up food infrastructure.

Things are quiet now. And I'm finding ways to be quiet with other folks around me. And it is lovely.

Daosim as a Security Framework.

I got a midnight message from a volunteer within our local community food group telling me they're taking down some of our servers until this PHP vuln is patched.

If you're in IT or technically proficient, supporting a local mutual aid or charity group is an amazing way of helping out.

(A lot of people ask me how a person who is unable to meet in person or be physically in proximity with others can help out in community groups - this is an amazing way to do that.)

Edit to add: A lot of local community groups have a tiny amount of IT assets that are still critical to them. For our group, it's a single wiki server (along with some third party communication apps like email, chat, and our website). It's generally easy for them to maintain that small number as a volunteer. Anything larger for a big non-profit should be a paid position in our current economic model.

Trolollol

Today's food rescue from a local gluten free bakery. They donated bagels and sandwich bread loaves as well as bulk supplies they were not using.

I ran them to one of our free fridges and community pantries.

Ooooh! They didn't like that question!

Looks like the America(dot)gov chatbot is being actively monitored and tweaked right now.

One picture shows the question "Was the 2020 presidential election stolen?"

To which, the chatbot answered that it had not and that Joe Biden won.

Less than an hour later and that question is now blocked.

There weren't any corporate ads shown at tonight's play.

No algorithm.

Just my neighbors putting on an amazing performance.

(And dang was it good. Really important, especially in today's climate. And wow the local folks are good at acting! They did a great job.)

This affects the Fediverse.

This affects the Internet.

This is the equivalent of the "rubber hose method" of decryption.

All technical solutions (read: all technology) is subject to politics. To political power. To political interactions.

You cannot rely on purely technical approaches. You have to have social approaches, too. Like. Actual policy and procedure geared around social and political group dynamics.