Dave Lane @lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz

Saying #onlinevoting is a good idea is like advocating we should all be travelling via teleportation: there's no known technology that allows us to do this safely - even the physics is poorly understood (if at all). I think that speaking out in favour of online voting should be seen as a socially unacceptable perspective and a position that fully discredits a tech pundit.

If you don't understand why this call really pisses me off, watch this: https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=abQCqIbBBeM or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abQCqIbBBeM and/or read this: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2019/08/14/why-paper-is-considered-state-of-the-art-voting-technology This is serious democracy-destroying bullshit, and more of us need to grok this.

I value our democracy and its democratic processes too much to let any calls for #onlinevoting lie unchallenged. It makes me extremely angry to see people with little technical credibility expending their political capital promoting such a daft policy initiative. Places in the world misguided enough to use online voting demonstrate it also offers no hope to those desperate to improve voter engagement and numbers. It's an invalid solution to the wrong problem in democracies.

Holy crap, with a local government election pending here in Aotearoa NZ again, we're again seeing the call for #onlinevoting going out from non-technical tech pundits (how's it possible to be a tech pundit without being a credible technologist?!). It really brasses me off that we have to content with this onslaught of ignorance time after time.

Very interesting: https://karrot.world/#/welcome (and the project: https://github.com/orgs/karrot-dev/repositories?type=all - some key components Copyleft, others MIT, others without licenses...)

@thelinuxEXP Also worth noting that their *only* 'positive' PR on FOSS is focused on the US. Their overseas offices are still totally proprietary and actively work against FOSS in every context.

@thelinuxEXP they continue to be a completely shit and untrustworthy actor.

I'm impressed, @thelinuxEXP with your video: https:/invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=tJdHAJnKqFs or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJdHAJnKqFs with the fact you've recognised and included the references to the shittiness of OOXML and MSFT's extortion of Android OEMs via their low quality software patents. It's worth noting that MSFT made at least 10x more $$ from Android than it made from Windows phone. Their ineptitude is staggering - they only make $ from leveraged monopolies, not because they're clever. Ever.

Here're my latest reckons on the proposed covered stadium in Christchurch, to be built in the Central Business District. https://davelane.nz/stadium

Depressing to see the ITP marketing shithouse proprietary software that makes us dependent on foreign tech suppliers and puts our data overseas. https://techblog.nz/2975-Salesforces-bid-to-make-Slack-your-digital-HQ They've lost their way. Not sorry I stopped paying them subs.

Even though it's out of season, enjoyed this: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/its-decorative-gourd-season-motherfuckers

For my friends in Brazil... https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=sIdwf717p0w or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIdwf717p0w

The best investment in business a government can make is to minimise the friction of compliance for all businesses. But I think that gov't subsidies and startup funding (incubators, etc.), and even tax breaks for some businesses, are just a form of trickle down economics. It won't trickle down, because that shit's not a thing.

We, as citizens of our various countries, need to identify, point out, and ridicule instances of "trickle down economic" policies and practices in our governments. Just about every case where the taxpayer funds private businesses is an example.

If you want to see real depravity in politics, see https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/20/liz-truss-urges-world-leaders-to-follow-uk-with-trickle-down-economics This, for those who don't know this, is Trickle Down Economics: https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=0yzeOqV7eKI or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yzeOqV7eKI