Alistair DavidsonThe annoying nerds who said you should install Linux, use decentralised social media, use Signal secure messenger were right.
Control of our own computing is a prerequisite for freedom.
The internet *is* real life.
RRB@moh_kohn My prediction for 2025:
https://www.newsweek.com/russians-keep-mysteriously-falling-windows-deaths-1738954
Erik Ellestad
Beggar Midas@Beggarmidas @ellestad @moh_kohn
1. If I were to plan something, it would not be in an open forum.
2. If I were to plan something, I would wait until a few tech oligarchs took a long walk out of a short window.
3. I would wait and see how the red state people enjoy paying tariffs when they buy stuff at Walmart.
I would also wonder if anyone suggesting organizing a "fight" might be an agent provocateur.
@rrb @ellestad @moh_kohn Not all action need be covert, for one. For two any potential for real anonymity disappeared over a decade ago. Three if Darth Gilligan carries through his threat to gut out the FBI there's no expertise to run the pro gear your worried about. Four, Those tech ogilarchs didn't look that joyous today. Bezos looked like he wanted to cry. Zuck look scared. Musk just looked distant. None of them were whooping it up.
@Beggarmidas @ellestad @moh_kohn largely research. Security and DDoS classes use my own texts.
Supply chains, DLT, helping get around censorship.
Dislike dictators. USSR, Campoare, Jammeh, and recent idiots.
Kinda too old to worry that much. Not really an attractive target
@rrb @ellestad @moh_kohn We're absolutely on the same fucking page about dictators. I've seen the fallout firsthand of what such men do in central america & Sarejevo & dharfur. The aftermath in eastern europe when the Iron curtain fell. As Russia revisited it's tired quest for the myth of the benevolent dictator. I'm old, too. But I'm too mad to sit it out.
As per your specialty...I could actually use your advisory assistance, if you're availably game. Hit me up in DM?
As per your specialty...I could actually use your advisory assistance, if you're availably game. Hit me up in DM?
@Beggarmidas @ellestad @moh_kohn Observed USSR collapse and the Eastern European dictators. Worked/working with Africans countering their kleptocrats. Anne Appelbaum's latest book is good about explaining that it is all corruption underneath.
@rrb @ellestad @moh_kohn I'm unfamiar with Anne Applebaums work. I'll look her up. I'm not much of an academic. Got chased out of school during the satanicpanic. So i'm mostly self taught. I'd toss college textbooks in my duffel to fill dead time while I was in transit. Which was usually. lol. As per Africa, i'm impressed. I'd gotten the impression many had become rather hostile to outside meddling in recent years. Benevolent or otherwise. I know i've been told to mind my own biz a few times!
@Beggarmidas @ellestad @moh_kohn
With Africa, a colleague of mine advised me to mainly listen. They are tired of White people lecturing them. If you set up a dialog and respond to their interests, things work better.
It is all about the grift:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocracy%2C_Inc.%3A_The_Dictators_Who_Want_to_Run_the_World
@rrb @ellestad @moh_kohn On a significant lighter note i'm a big fan of the technicals. I'd love to go do a robust photobook safari of all the technicals in their many varied glory around the world. Talk to the people who put 'em together & keep 'em going. Get each one's unique origin story. I was floored by the variety around Africa. Every one I asked about had a heck of a local story attached. Usually several. Not sure how ACCURATE. But hella great stories. Would make a great adventure & book
@Beggarmidas @ellestad @moh_kohn Or, TV series, or movie series.
Did you ever see "District 9"
@rrb @ellestad @moh_kohn Oh yes. I was deeply impressed with that film. Especially since Blumkaupt(sp?) used an actual formal aparteid zone to film most of it in. I'd heard there's finally supposed to be some sequel in the works...? Though i'm not typically a fan of misanthrope films. If I wanted to feel constantly guilty all the time about being a human I'd convert to Catholicism or be an ultraenviromentalist.
@Beggarmidas @ellestad @moh_kohn I liked the vibe. Particularly, the future Nigerian organized crime group seemed very "Afro-futurist" to me. Turns out, most Nigerians just feel insulted by the film.