Alexandre Oliva

Main interests: Free Software, Neurodivergence, Veganism, Marxism, Politics, Social Justice, Environment, Vocal/Choir Music, Walks in the park; Affiliations: GNU, FSF, FSFLA, 0G, Linux-libre, GCC, glibc, Libre-SOC, AdaCore; Languages: Português; English; Español; learning Esperanto, French, Ukrainian, Japanese;
formerly @lxo@gnusocial.jp @lxo@gnusocial.net @lxoliva@diasporabr.com.br
@lxoliva@identi.ca

Public Key

npub1gyndqzp9ut22vmy6qln2j58uful0kn9lzpw86u6sng6dr3400gvq5sczug

NIP-05 Address

lxo@snac-lx-oliva-nom-br.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsyzfkspqj7949xdjdq0e4f2r7y70hmfjl3qhrawdgf5dx3c6hh5xqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dszvnwpl

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1gyndqzp9ut22vmy6qln2j58uful0kn9lzpw86u6sng6dr3400gvq5sczug

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Last Notes

2026-02-28 20:30:13 UTC

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fortunately, it doesn't cease to be a (great) hack by being (awesomely) documented 🙂
CC: @nprofile…g640

2026-02-24 06:36:10 UTC

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that's certainly a topic that has come up, but to the best of my knowledge (which isn't much) we may be trying to get some legal advice about that.
I know there are discussions about this topic going on within GNU, but until legal advice is obtained, we're not really able to make much progress, and we'd probably have to make extremely conservative recommendations.
if you happen to know of any free software-friendly lawyer who would be willing to offer the FSF pro-bono advice, that would be great, I suppose we can always use some growth to our legal pool 😉
CC: @nprofile…c6er

2026-02-22 20:41:46 UTC

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I don't have to. that's the power of community.
security doesn't work in absolutes, and auditability is an imperfect deterrent, but it's infinitely better than the moves to prevent auditability that hostile vendors adopt
I do audit the rare cases of web blobs that are imposed on me, because I can't count on community for those, and my security depends on it even when my freedom has been unjustly taken away

2026-02-22 19:48:07 UTC

new blog post: security and blobs
https://blog.lx.oliva.nom.br/2026-02-22-security-and-blobs.en.html

2026-02-19 11:57:36 UTC

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a do parque portugal, mais conhecido como parque taquaral, em Campinas
geo:-22.8753805671,-47.0534117636

2026-02-19 11:08:22 UTC

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pronto, #caminhada com duas voltinhas na lagoa, pra não perder a invencibilidade. as duas no mesmo sentido, por motivo de sol na cara se fosse no sentido oposto. curioso como o posicionamento das árvores ao redor da pista e da lagoa favorece o sentido anti-horário pra evitar sol na cara tanto de manhã cedo quanto no fim da tarde. não são as mesmas árvores, claro.

2026-02-19 04:28:34 UTC

#caminhada de honjem ficou pra amanhoje de manhã. quando fui dormir, no início da tarde, pensava em tentar ir duas vezes no mesmo período de vigília, uma ao acordar e uma ao amanhecer, mas acordei tarde demais pra ir ainda de noitinha 😞

2026-02-17 19:22:48 UTC

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I think @nprofile…epju made that first point very beautifully in https://sightlessscribbles.com/the-colonization-of-confidence/and I liked it so much I want to share it to no end
CC: @nprofile…ym96 @nprofile…xfhg

2026-02-02 14:03:32 UTC

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erhm, we don't really have much of a choice WRT the destructive initiatives aimed at us, unfortunately. but maybe we're miscommunicating
GNU has met its initial goal of a complete freedom-respecting operating system (whether with software contributed explicitly to GNU, or free software developed independently that happens to work with GNU), enabling people to use computers in freedom. that was long ago, but the software still needs to be maintained, because users keep on relying on the software, and because needs evolve. besides the core operating system, new developments have taken place in applications. one of my recent favorites is GNU Jami.
nowadays, one of the greatest challenges was the change in the form factor of the most common computers, now dominated by a duopoly of heavily proprietary suppliers that lock the computers down and seek control over all the programs that users are allowed to install, to the point of prohibiting freedom-respecting software in their app stores. the empire struck back, and this has been a very hard nut to crack. I had a plan in 0G but fate laughed at my plans and made it clear it had different ones for my life.

2026-01-25 21:57:27 UTC

new blog post: compromising encryption keys
https://blog.lx.oliva.nom.br/2026-01-25-compromising-encryption-keys.en.html

2026-01-23 00:23:31 UTC

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nossa, dei a primeira mordida no meu bem na hora que seu pôste apareceu aqui 🙂

2026-01-20 14:56:43 UTC

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I'm not seeing the difference you're claiming. the SOF binaries and the signature (by an Intel-controlled secret key) on them work exactly like Tivo-supplied binaries and signatures (by a Tivo-controlled secret key): there's a component on the sound cards that checks for the signatures, just like on Tivo systems, and that prevents the binaries from running if the signature doesn't match.
now, you make it sound like the unsigned binary would still run, it's just other parts of the system that would cease to function. that doesn't match whatever little I have found, but... where can I find more information to understand how that (other?) problem affects us?
CC: @nprofile…ncfv

2026-01-19 15:47:09 UTC

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Tivoization isn't a problem with the free software
I guess that's the point that's debatable, and we may differ on that.
free software is software that respects the users' essential freedoms for users to have control over the software. if the software contains a signature meant to prevent users from enjoying those freedoms and that control, in the intended (possibly single) use scenario, would it be reasonable to say that the software is free? I don't think so.
now, it's true that, in order for that freedom-deprivation scheme to work, other nonfree components need to be present in the system. but the problem is not so much that the nonfree components cease to operate (that would indeed be an injustice related with the nonfree components), it's that they prevent modified versions of the previously-free software from operating (which compounds the injustice of the nonfree components with an injustice over software that was supposed to be free)
I don't think the case of SOF is one of digital handcuffs. the SOF programs are not preventing users from doing anything. they would be free software if it weren't for the Tivoizing signatures. and if they implemented digital handcuffs, inasmuchas they're free software, one could escape by modifying the programs. of course, once they're Tivoized, escape is no longer an option in the intended use scenario, but the handcuffs are not in the SOF programs themselves, but in the nonfree components of SOF-targeted devices.
CC: @nprofile…ncfv

2026-01-18 19:02:45 UTC

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yeah 😞
I once asked the OSI board whether free software that underwent Tivoization remained Open Source, and they found no reason to say it didn't.
no surprise. Open Source is not about users having control of their computing, it never was.

2026-01-08 18:52:17 UTC

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you access the server and use it.
or, if you want to run your own server, you install the software there and use it.
oh, wait, you said without abiding by the requirements of section 13. both of the above abide by them.
so you want to modify the program? fine! if you insist, adjust its message to tell yourself where you put the sources and you're done.
just don't make such a fuss about it. with the time you've put into this teapot tempest, you could have written the message for yourself a hundred times.
CC: @nprofile…wz23

2026-01-08 16:27:03 UTC

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where is that quote from? you wouldn't (and shouldn't) ever find it in a licensed aligned with free software philosophy.
as for whether it's authoritarian, I'm not surprised we disagree on that point.
CC: @nprofile…wz23

2026-01-08 15:18:14 UTC

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I stand by my claim. as long as the user keeps the system only for one's own private use, no one else will even know what's going on there, and so the user gets away by default in this de minimis "violation", therefore, there's effectively no developer power over the user.
another way to think of it is to realize that the requirement doesn't apply to the user as such, but to the user as operator. there aren't fundamental ethical objections to imposing requirements onto intermediaries, including operators, to ensure users aren't defined the freedoms they deserve, inasmuchas the requirements refrain from granting the intermediaries power over users, rather than taking their (intermediaries and users alike) freedom away
CC: @nprofile…wz23

2026-01-08 14:56:23 UTC

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it does apply, and for the scenario at hand, the user/operator already has access to the program's source code, so no further action is required. now, you might want to argue that adding the local git repo and git commit id or tag or whatever to the running software is required (you may be right about that), but that's an absolutely trivial non-onerous requirement, and it's also good software practice. do you really want to argue that this imposes upstream developers' values onto the poor oppressed user? I didn't think so.
CC: @nprofile…wz23

2026-01-08 14:32:23 UTC

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how do the requirements affect someone running the software only for one's own use?!? nobody else can interact with the program, and the user who maintains it for one's own use already has access to the source code.
CC: @nprofile…wz23

2026-01-08 10:50:59 UTC

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are you by any chance conflating the remote users, whose computing the software does, with the operators of the computing service, who run the software for the remote users?
also see https://www.lx.oliva.nom.br/blog/draft/avoiding-agpl-abuse
CC: @nprofile…wz23

2026-01-07 12:46:54 UTC

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you'll be surprised that, because copyright doesn't reserve the right to run programs exclusively to the copyright holder, copyright licensing (= granting permissions) cannot withhold or delimit that right. there are some clueless license writers fooling themselves and others purporting to have copyleft-like licenses that do this, but all this shows is that they understand neither copyright nor copyleft
the other fundamental problem is that the entire notion of software freedom is that the developers/authors/copyright holders should not have power over users. controlling others through the software they use, even if for a good cause, amounts to unjust power, and such power shouldn't be available. (it also divides the community on what should be ruled out, which is a great way to weaken a social movement)
now, I understand and share the wish to promote socially just causes, and to stop injustice. the way to achieve justice is not to take it on your own hands, imposing your wish onto others by whatever means you can manage. that leads to absolute rule by the most powerful, and I'm sure you're not going to enjoy that. the way to promote social change and achieve justice is by democratically instituted and enforced prohibitions of antisocial unjust behaviors

2026-01-03 13:35:54 UTC

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uma ponderação aí, pra quem acha que software livre e código aberto promovem as mesmas ideias
ainda que as definições sejam essencialmente equivalentes, as posições políticas não são. a Open Source Initiative, o projeto símbolo do código aberto, o Linux, e a Linux Foundation que o mantém não só não condenam as técnicas que impedem ao usuário modificar o software, instalar e usar a versão modificada no hardware em que veio a versão original, como as defendem. o próprio Linus Torvalds se pronunciou a respeito no finalzinho do ano, a respeito de um processo judicial em que essa questão veio à tona. quem condena essas técnicas de promoção de merdificação do software e defende que o usuário tenha controle do software é o movimento Software Livre, e é por entender essa diferença que eu tenho esse lado.
CC: @nprofile…fqls @nprofile…jgr5 @nprofile…fz4n

2026-01-03 10:31:14 UTC

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we were talking about gender. that's not reducible to gamete sizes. gametes don't attack vulnerable people, they don't compete in sports, and they don't have rights. we're talking about people here, people who express genders. genders are mostly social constructs, even if they have biological foundations and some correlation with the definition you brought of sex. I'm not going to join you in your change of topics.
CC: @nprofile…hyfp

2026-01-03 09:57:27 UTC

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the concern over safety is a misdirection: it's not a reason to misgender people, it's a reason to worry about fraudsters who are also sexual predators. don't conflate such monsters with trans people, that's hateful. I have reasons to believe there are far more victims of sexual attacks out of being forced into unsafe spaces out of their misassigned gender than the case you claim to be worried about.
as for sports fairness, I've already suggested that the solution is not for people to be forced into an imaginary binary, but to have more categories that encompass all human diversity, as done in para-olympics
I'm afraid I don't know what these newly-won rights are that you speak of, so I can't comment on them. care to clue me in?
CC: @nprofile…far3 @nprofile…hyfp

2025-12-27 20:03:57 UTC

eu me preparando pra #caminhada e começou a trovejar. não sei se animo de caminhar na chuva não. queria ir antes de anoitecer hoje, pra tomar um sol, mas pelo jeito vai ficar pra depois 😕

2025-12-25 23:44:17 UTC

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ah, foi você que me cumprimentou no parque hoje? eu não consegui ver quem era.
hoje eu tava com preguiça de ir, fiz até minha série em casa, mas acabei indo pra ir consolidando o hábito, com plano de dar só uma voltinha na lagoa. mas cheguei lá e fui surpreendido com o parque fechado, então tive de dar a volta na pista externa. resolvi encarar e nem foi tão puxado quanto eu esperava. objetivo alcançado! fiquei meio maravilhado de conseguir fazer aquela volta toda a pé.

2025-12-24 01:02:31 UTC

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I like what you're suggesting, but there's a fundamental inaccuracy: our brains display intelligence (as in understanding, not just accumulation of knowledge) and ability to learn from experience, and LLMs just don't have any intelligence whatsoever, and their exposure to users doesn't offer them learning experience. what we have is fundamentally different and far more interesting.

2025-12-17 23:14:11 UTC

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dude, you're shit-talking about the project that was invented to publicize the only known defense against software enshittification. if it weren't for that philosophical leadership, we'd all be in much deeper shit. if you have alternatives that aren't getting enshittified, it's for the same reason. don't shit on the plate you're eating from, it's gross.
CC: @nprofile…qcd2

2025-12-17 21:21:02 UTC

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after decades of enshittification in the software industry, old software is looking greater than ever
CC: @nprofile…qcd2

2025-10-23 00:05:11 UTC

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nossa, e quase que eu não fui! uma virose (?) que tirou de combate filha, genro e neta semana passada chegou chegando aqui em casa logo depois de eu anunciar a palestra. febrão, digestão comprometida, mas arrisquei ir e deu tudo certo. a minha energia estava meio baixa, mas consegui dar o recado e voltar pra casa em segurança. parece que teve gravação no canal do evento; se alguém achar, me manda o identificador do vídeo, por favor?

2025-10-21 03:09:01 UTC

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vi na wikipedia. mas será que não perceberam a incoerência?

2025-10-21 02:23:45 UTC

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o que eu nunca vou entender é, se o véio da havan é tão fissurado por símbolos estadunidenses, por que raios batizou a loja quase com o nome da cidade mais famosa de cuba?!?

2025-10-18 20:32:33 UTC

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now, now... in recent history, the higher the version number, the more it sucks, because of enshittification
(not supporting microsoft nor picking on debian, I just couldn't help "debunking" the joke of an argument 😉

2025-10-18 16:12:06 UTC

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if ... then ...
CC: @nprofile…n0sm

2025-10-14 19:46:40 UTC

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kudos!
please tell him about #GNU as well, so that he has a chance of learning where his freedom and software came from, and to value the freedom he's just conquered, instead of allowing it to be eroded over time
CC: @nprofile…8q0f

2025-10-14 19:23:17 UTC

estamos na II Semana do Software Livre no Brasil
há diversas atividades online programadas de hoje até sexta-feira
https://movimento.softwarelivre.tec.br/evento/confira-a-programacao-da-ii-semana-do-software-livre-no-brasil/
acompanhe ao vivo (ou depois) em https://semana.softwarelivre.tec.br/
com um navegador livre, aplicativos peertube livres ou com seu visualizador livre de vídeos favorito (se for compatível com ytdlp, que fala peertube)

2025-10-13 16:48:30 UTC

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org-mode agenda FTW

2025-10-11 16:23:21 UTC

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not sure about smooth transitions, but mpv -vo=drm can do slideshows without X. it can play videos that way too, so if you can turn your slideshow into a video with smooth transitions, that could work.

2025-10-11 16:10:16 UTC

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é por essas e outras que eu a chamo (em inglês) de A Lie
acredita quem quiser...

2025-10-10 02:05:56 UTC

🎵 ontem eu nem a vi
sei que eu não tenho um álibi
mas eu, eu não matei
Odete Roitman

2025-10-04 17:46:21 UTC

IIRC I told you that last week we celebrated the GNU anniversary at the GNU Tools Cauldron singing "Happy Hacking to GNU"
but it has just occurred to me, inspired by Douglas Adams, that now I know what the ultimate question about life, the universe and everything is.
how old is #GNU?
the answer is 42
it even rhymes!

2025-10-04 17:23:23 UTC

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I love them eggplants roasted in the oven, cut in half lengthwise, unpeeled, inside down on a thin layer of oil. some 30'-45' at 220C, then another 30'-45' at 150C, depending on size, should get them crunchy outside and tender inside. if you're into chilly peppers, you can roast them together, they go very well like that. (bonus recipe: if you can get chayote, that I didn't care much for before, I found it tastes great roasted just like the eggplants 🙂

2025-10-03 20:35:09 UTC

congratulations and much gratitude to @nprofile…3yt3 for taking up the position of president of the Free Software Foundation. and happy 40th to the @nprofile…ysdp

2025-10-03 19:55:14 UTC

duas coincidências surreais hoje na #FestadoSoftwareLivre
um xará meu, brasileiro que mora em cidade vizinha no Brasil, veio falar comigo e conversamos, entre outras coisas, do querido prof @nprofile…hh5h não demorou muito e um dos organizadores do evento veio falar comigo, disse que esteve no Brasil não faz muito tempo, conheceu um sujeito muito simpático lá e me mostrou a foto. quem era? Nelson Pretto. não me surpreende que seja tão querido, mas tá famoso, hein?, professor! 🙂
a outra foi que minha filha tinha me pedido um livro de um autor português que não encontrava no Brasil. hoje finalmente achei uma livraria num caminho alternativo entre a universidade e o hotel e comprei o livro. cheguei ao hotel, liguei o computador e a primeira coisa que vi foi mensagem da filha perguntando se "esse não é o evento que você foi?", com uma foto do livro e do seu autor, chamando pra palestra logo depois da minha. pior que se eu não estivesse responsável pela mesa da FSF no evento, eu teria assistido à palestra, porque achei a proposta interessantíssima. só não tinha conectado o nome à pessoa 😞
https://pretalx.softwarelivre.eu/fsl2025/talk/E9YKMU/ espero que tenha sido gravada

2025-10-01 16:37:03 UTC

the weather in Porto has been mostly pleasant, and I don't care much for air conditioning
but something was puzzling me in this hotel room: it looked like every time I opened the balcony door, ventilation got stronger and noisier. that made no sense: if anything, air conditioning should work with the door closed, not open.
today, when I finally asked about it and learned how to control the AC, I realized it had been turn off all this time (great!), but that there is something on the balcony door meant to stop the AC from working when the door is open.
the problem seems to be that it is a toggle. so, for guests who leave the AC off, opening the door turns it on. there seems to be no way to turn it off for good.

2025-08-13 04:03:46 UTC

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cory @nprofile…9rgm doctorow was right too 😉

2025-08-13 03:57:15 UTC

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vou concordar que o problema é o marketing
marketing este que promove como se fosse inteligência algo que apenas usa algumas técnicas desenvolvidas na área de IA para gerar lero-lero
havia duas grandes frentes de IA: inteligências específicas e inteligências gerais. LLMs não são nem uma nem outra.
algumas das específicas diziam respeito a análise de linguagens naturais. das técnicas de IA dessa frente, saíram programas com o famoso Eliza (que eu vi na década de 70, ou o Emacs Doctor, que eu conheci bem depois), aos quais ninguém deveria atribuir inteligência. são geradores de lero-lero primitivo, com alguma capacidade de imitação, mas desprovidos de inteligência. não são inteligências artificiais, são apenas truques construídos com técnicas da área de IA.
confundi-los, tanto esses programinhas de processamento de linguagem natural quanto os mais modernos Lero-Lero Makers (LLM), com inteligências é obra desse marketing enganoso, que procura vender truques e técnicas que sabidamente não envolvem compreensão (inteligência) de coisa alguma nem têm qualquer senso de noção como se fossem mágica de verdade
CC: @nprofile…p4k0

2025-08-13 02:58:59 UTC

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né? basta lembrar que inteligir significa compreender, e que inteligência é a habilidade de compreender, e concluir que LLMs até são artificiais, mas falta-lhes qualquer inteligência. não têm nem mesmo o "captei" do rolando lero: esses geradores de lero-lero jamais entendem as dicas do divino mestre.

2025-08-12 20:20:55 UTC

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alguém quer apostar (nas bets) o que vai dar? 😕

2025-08-11 14:30:20 UTC

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0xC338CAA4FA700A3A

2025-08-04 12:28:02 UTC

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e curling é bocha sobre o gelo

2025-08-02 14:56:18 UTC

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imagine if someone had the power and the will to ban your books so that nobody could read them before forming one's own opinions about them
it would then be far too easy to frame someone as a hate-writer, and disappear their writings: nobody could check to say otherwise
does it sound like a world you'd like to live in?

2025-07-31 01:00:26 UTC

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então deixa ver se entendi: vai tarifar carne e café lá, então fica mais caro pra eles. resultado: vão importar menos. vai aumentar a oferta aqui, então fica mais barato pra nós. é isso, produção?
não teve um candidato na corrida presidencial brasileira que prometeu churrasco mais barato pros brasileiros? vai cumprir com ajuda do pato donald, será?

2025-07-30 18:49:30 UTC

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I figured, an LLM wouldn't be creative, and the picture is clearly creative in so many ways to get it horribly wrong.
but I still hope that wasn't an actual board made for production use, but rather something made specifically for amusement (and torture 🙂 purposes
CC: @nprofile…qvst

2025-07-30 05:20:53 UTC

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houve um tempo em que usava bastante força animal na produção, além de esforço (des)humano (escravizado)
hoje, basicamente só explora animais da espécie Homo sapiens mesmo. parece que no vegano-capitalismo, essa exploração não é problema 😞

2025-07-30 04:48:33 UTC

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STOP
SLOP
🙂
CC: @nprofile…qvst

2025-07-26 02:03:15 UTC

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alt pro pôste anterior: Lula no timão de um navio verde e amarelo, com bandeiras brasileiras e carregado de contêineres verdes e amarelos, diz "Se os americanos não querem comprar, vamos vender para a Europa e o Oriente Mèdio [sic]. Não dependemos só dos americanos." na legenda, "Lutar sempre"
o pôste me inspirou a fazer esta resposta / proposta de melhoria
cc: lorymeyers@bolha.one
https://snac.lx.oliva.nom.br/lxo/s/4cdf57bfa208c5fb93d3a63f3d4ae252.png

2025-07-26 00:41:01 UTC

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the larger freedom problem in blob updates is that they're a vector for enshittification, inasmuchas they enable suppliers to push "security" updates onto users bundled with enshittifying features. see https://www.fsfla.org/~lxoliva/#Unshittify
but the problem is how they attack our freedom. a partner that "behaves nicely" as long as you "behave", but that prevents you from learning, developing, growing, helping and getting help from your community is an abusive partner. a software supplier that offers software that does just what you expect, but that won't allow you to make changes if you so wish, with or without help from your community, is analogously an abusive supplier
CC: @nprofile…vqps @nprofile…uejg

2025-07-26 00:34:12 UTC

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when it comes to corporations with publicly-traded stocks, it depends significantly on the size of the market they'd be giving up
as long as people tolerate abuse, and abuse is conducive to their increase of profits, they will do that
when it gets to a point in which lots of people can't stand the abuse and, more importantly, start rejecting enshittified products for real, a market opportunity arises for those who respect users. that's one way for consumers to drive the market towards respecting freedom, because ultimately what the suppliers are interested in are the profits. I acknowledge that it's one of those tricky collective action issues, but it's one that may emerge out of consumers' acting intelligently on their own interest
another way to go about it is by regulation. if regulators demand respect for users, suppliers may scream, but will eventually comply (or buy the regulators' heads, the cynic in me points out 😉
blobs due to patents are a convenient excuse, but it's a lie. reverse engineering is not that hard, and it would uncover patent infringements, if market leaders didn't have cross-licensing agreements among them. the roadblock for reverse engineering is that regulations prohibit using the results of reverse engineering in cases that would make them interesting and useful
CC: @nprofile…vqps @nprofile…uejg

2025-07-25 04:38:31 UTC

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fact-checking: binary blobs remain, and keep getting added to Linux. there's a new one in the pipeline for 6.16. disgusting as this is, I have to find them, because I maintain a blob-free version of the kernel Linux.
I have no objections to allowing users to make their self-defeating choices. my objection is to imposing those losers' choices on people, and to fooling users that pursue freedom by offering them something that's proprietary.
misrepresenting nonfree software as free is not conducive towards this ideal world, it's rather a means to deny people the pursuit of that world. you may be right that limiting support is unfriendly, but you shouldn't misrepresent who's being unfriendly in that picture: is it that who's setting things up to control users by chaining them, or is it that who's trying to protect them from being chained? is the unfriendly person that who tells the abused person not to go back to the abuser's home?
CC: @nprofile…vqps @nprofile…uejg

2025-07-24 18:55:05 UTC

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that's a collection of common misconceptions
the GPL requires each entire work to be distributed under it, indeed, (aside from explicit compatibility with AGPL), but there's no forcing involved: nobody is forced to use (as in modify, adapt) software that comes under these conditions, nor is anybody forced to choose this license. the misconception is that the GPL doesn't stop you from doing anything whatsoever, not to the software, not even to other users of the software. it's copyright that does. the GPL merely refrains from granting powers that copyright law reserves to copyright holders, so copyright prohibitions remains in effect.
but the GPL is not viral, that's another misconception. a virus can pass from one individual to another, but the GPL doesn't do that: the GPL is only passed on to derivative works: the freedom for users is a gift that's inherited by the program's descendents.
the reason companies prefer the lax permissive licenses is that they grant the companies power to abuse their downstream users. that's no surprise for exploitative businesses, but that doesn't make the licenses good for anyone else.
I agree with you that restricting usage is undesirable, and that's exactly why I prefer copyleft licenses like the GPL: with lax permissive licenses, intermediaries gain power to restrict usage and carry out the very harm you claim to be concerned about. preempting that by not granting that power avoids the problem.
besides, the GPL doesn't stop you from doing whatever you wish with the program, it just doesn't allow you to do whatever you wish unto downstream users of the program. do you see the difference?
you'll need to elaborate further on the differences you perceive between GPLv2 and GPLv3 for your apparent argument about Linux to be as much as checked on correctness. AFAICT, it's based on false premises and doesn't follow at all. the reasons Linux stayed with GPLv2 had to do with having painted itself in a relicensing corner, more than anything else, but its main sponsors through the LF were mainly concerned with having to share keys and installation instructions for firmware bundled with Linux. Linux still contains such nonfree components under obnoxious licenses to this day, despite being widely regarded as licensed under the GPLv2.
for userland projects that don't interface with more than general-purpose hardware and doesn't carry blobs for specific devices, such as MariaDB, the differences between GPLv2 and GPLv3 are really minor are in details. I'm very curious about what it is that would get MariaDB in trouble should it change the license, but it seems as nonsensical as claiming it would become as successful as PostgreSQL if it switched to a lax permissive license.
CC: @nprofile…vqps @nprofile…uejg

2025-07-24 05:13:02 UTC

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that's a common misconception
taking away others' freedom is not freedom, it's power over others, and this one isn't a power that anyone needs or should have.
a license that gives you back the freedom you deserve that copyright law took away, without giving you power to abuse others is a great license
a license that gives you that freedom, while also giving you power to abuse others, is an ethically acceptable license, but it depends on intermediaries' consciences for users to get the freedom everyone deserves
CC: @nprofile…vqps @nprofile…uejg

2025-07-23 02:31:11 UTC

humans and artificial so-called intelligences both fail often, but humans are much slower

2025-07-22 23:22:33 UTC

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in "Worse than Slavery", I was surprised to read that there was a time in which the Democrats were more racist than the Republicans in the US. I don't recall when it was that it flipped. maybe it wasn't that long ago?
CC: @nprofile…qdh2 @nprofile…zudf

2025-07-22 22:55:53 UTC

fomos à gelateria. estava eu lentamente tomando meu gelato, quando percebi que estava tão lentamente que já estava um tanto derretido. num sentido estrito, já não era mais um gelato. caberia dizer que tornou-se um gelatus-senso?

2025-07-21 14:34:08 UTC

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would you like some fees with that? 😕

2025-07-21 13:59:20 UTC

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indeed, it isn't requiring you to mine bitcoin. it's worse: it's requiring you to waste your computing resources, so that the site doesn't have to waste fewer resources of its own. proof of waste is an overall environmental, security and freedom loss. https://blog.lx.oliva.nom.br/2025-03-28-against-proof-of-waste
CC: @nprofile…uejg @nprofile…zful

2025-07-21 03:11:18 UTC

se aquela outra plataforma de vídeo tem shorts, o fediverso tinha que ter bermudas, nénão?

2025-07-19 07:34:01 UTC

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privacy requires cryptography (the original crypto), and it's a woke superpower these days

2025-07-16 20:49:10 UTC

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a saber, PIX foi obra da digníssima Dilma, Bozó só inaugurou. oportunistas sempre.

2025-07-15 23:46:05 UTC

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meu favorito pra Desktop "Linux" é o #GNU
GNU é um dos dois sistemas operacionais que rodam sobre o Linux, que é um núcleo, o mesmo núcleo em que se apoia o Android.
GNU, ao contrário do Linux, é um sistema operacional e é concebido e construído para respeitar as liberdades de seus usuários, isto é, para não colocar limites nem imposições nem controle alheio sobre os usuários.
GNU é também um plano para refazer a relação que as pessoas têm com a tecnologia: enquanto programas atuais tipicamente buscam controlar usuários para deles extrair valor, o GNU, enquanto maior expoente do Movimento Social do Software Livre, defende o reconhecimento e a plena adoção do direito humano de cada usuário ter controle sobre sua computação, sobre o computador e sobre o programa que utilizamos para nossas vidas digitais.
em GNU, nem haveria Linux: o próprio autor do Linux reconhecia, nos primeiros lançamentos, que um núcleo, por si só, não faz grande coisa, e que para tornar um sistema útil, era necessário adotar o sistema operacional GNU. mas depois ele esqueceu, ou foi convencido a esquecer suas origens, o prato de onde comeu, a muleta em que se apoiou, a escola em que aprendeu a fazer software que respeita os usuários, da qual depois se distanciou.
sem GNU, não haveria Linux, nem haveria desktop "linux", nem GNU+Linux
por tudo isso, meu favorito pra #TerSoftware e pra vida digital é o GNU.
CC: @nprofile…u5xr @nprofile…6vu3

2025-07-11 08:31:34 UTC

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I'm happy for you that Wayland was worth your time to learn how to configure it (if any custom configuration was needed) and that it solved problems for you.
How does any of that justify pulling the rug from under me by removing X11 and imposing Wayland's known problems and overheads on me?
CC: @nprofile…7wg9

2025-07-11 01:46:52 UTC

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And on top of all that, it performs worse, and would add an impact like Spectre & Meltdown mitigations did. https://techrights.org/n/2025/07/10/Igor_Ljubuncic_Once_Again_Shows_That_for_Technical_Reasons_Wayl.shtml
It seems that the right question is: why would anyone be using Wayland at this point, if not for being lured into it?
CC: @nprofile…7wg9

2025-07-10 02:18:40 UTC

rápido, alguém diga ao trump que bolsonaro é uma família de imigrantes no brasil (o sobrenome nem é brasileiro), e que o bananinha a quem trump anda indiretamente dando ouvidos é ele próprio um imigrante nos eua

2025-07-07 18:26:10 UTC

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if the purpose of Wayland was to divide the community of users and of developers, and the efforts to develop and maintain windowing systems, it's working great, actually.
BTW, a system's purpose is what it does
CC: @nprofile…7wg9

2025-07-07 18:11:39 UTC

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you think? it's already hurting me, as described in my initial response. sure, not like a slaughterhouse might, but the point of the slaughterhouse line is not so much the final destination, but the very real and palpable issue of being pushed to go to a place that's no good for you. don't get distracted from what really matters disputing a detail of no relevance.
CC: @nprofile…lg9g

2025-07-07 08:56:09 UTC

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now, the other issue with averting LLM overload is that, by blocking them, one now also blocks search engines, as michael mcmahon pointed out the other day, and not appearing in web searches isn't very appealing for organizations like the FSF. scissors, paper, rock, hard place, pick one 🙂 😞
CC: @nprofile…ysdp

2025-07-07 08:51:18 UTC

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me too! we've been campaigning for anubis to adopt other techniques to accomplish the same goal without imposing javascript on users, and the developers have listened! sourceware.org is already using a new version of anubis, configured to not behave like malware. I thank for anubis developers and sourceware.org operators for heeding our call, with hopefully many more to follow.
CC: @nprofile…ysdp

2025-07-07 08:12:38 UTC

New blog post: FSF40 T-shirt message
https://blog.lx.oliva.nom.br/2025-07-07-FSF40-T-shirt-message
on how excited I am after finding out that the @nprofile…ysdp improved on my suggestion for the celebration of the FSF's 40th anniversary, and on how you can help defy dystopia

2025-07-07 05:08:22 UTC

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clearly you don't have a clue about PDA
but yeah, the problem is not the software, it's that attitude
I hate living in 1984

2025-07-07 04:55:13 UTC

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I hate that hypothetical future in which people are trained to tolerate their master's forcing them into slaughterhouse lines, and even to complain that the line is moving too slow
that's why I support the FSF's drive to defy dystopia, and you all should, too
https://www.fsf.org/

2025-07-07 04:21:01 UTC

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I have X configured just the way I like, with extensions and configurations to work with my screens, my TV, my VNC preferences, my scripts to switch between external and internal laptop displays, and last I tried Wayland, none of those configurations and scripts worked, and it was generally a step backward, while I was assured it was ready and great. now, there was no point in my wasting my time learning how to do something that I already knew how to do elsewhere, just because someone else expects me to get used to doing things their way, or to keep testing something whose primary interest was in rendering something I liked obsolete, and taking away the possibility of tunneling X through SSH and generally opening windows remotely; I've lived with that for decades, and taking that away is an unthinkable loss. the expectation and attitude that such loss, waste of time and imposing push for experimenting with software that is not even meant to bring me any advantage whatsoever to make up for the losses is just insulting and disrespectful, more so for someone who's neurodivergent (autistic traits such as cognitive rigidity, need for predictability, and fondness of regularity, plus pervasive desire for autonomy AKA pathological demand avoidance), but unfortunately they're all too common in the proprietary software scene. last thing we need in the free software scene is for the authoritarians and the clueless to import more of these horrible traits from their proprietary counterparts, or for people to get used to waste time learning how to get things back working the way they were before someone somewhere thought it was a great idea to push a breaking update onto them. https://blog.lx.oliva.nom.br/2020-03-15-new-dawn is about this not-quite-new social problem we're inheriting but should resist much harder.

2025-07-06 17:03:15 UTC

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searx meta-engine

2025-07-02 03:56:16 UTC

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é falta de força sindical que chama? 😞
https://pluralistic.net/2025/05/27/rancid-vibe-coding/

2025-06-29 05:31:54 UTC

wow, the #GNU GPLv3 turns 18 today. time flies!
may it be a happy anniversary

2025-06-29 01:22:15 UTC

um programa de comédia em que participantes contam piadas ou apresentam suas rotinas cômicas enquanto remam de pé sobre uma prancha grande: stand-up paddle comedy show

2025-06-28 23:31:23 UTC

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what's your consultancy fee to answer this sort of question? 🙂
CC: @nprofile…ldkf

2025-06-27 23:57:10 UTC

in proprietary cyberspace, software uses you
defy dystopia, stand for freedom, support the @nprofile…ysdp
https://www.fsf.org/

2025-06-27 23:52:23 UTC

should X11 be pronounced ten-eleven, taking X as a roman numeral, to avoid confusion with the despicable, toxic web site whose name stands for ASCII code 88 (HH), or for a sans-serif swastika?

2025-06-27 01:02:59 UTC

eu acho um barato como os jornalistas esportivos no Brasil pronunciam Manchester City como se fosse um nome eslavo. eu sempre ouço algo como Manszes Tercić, como se eles falassem um nome com a mesma terminação de Modrić, tovarich, ou do sobrenome de praticamente qualquer jogador da seleção da Iugoslávia de 1982 😉

2025-06-25 17:55:08 UTC

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me lembrou daquela baladinha divertida chamada "gatinha comunista", conhece?

2025-06-25 17:00:41 UTC

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because they've been propagandized into believing that US Dems are the left, so the statement about their leadership comes across as unbelievable and nonsensical to them

2025-06-23 22:09:36 UTC

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uhh, no support for https, then? 🙂
the #Crypto in Crypto is because of Crypto

2025-06-23 07:06:43 UTC

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you mean Lame Language Models?

2025-06-14 01:50:26 UTC

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pro tip: bind screen's escape sequence to ^] and never again be annoyed by interference with command-line editing
CC: @nprofile…3z8t

2025-06-14 00:50:22 UTC

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yeah, I feel startled too, and I can't understand why.
them roaches also bring about a killer instinct in me that I can't quite get.

2025-06-14 00:41:20 UTC

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these are both taken from the closing sequence in Terminator II, no? 🙂
though the first one reminds me of Jurassic Park too

2025-06-14 00:31:52 UTC

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can we conclude that LLMs are somewhat autistic, and that most people are intolerant to us all? ½ 🙂

2025-06-13 23:48:04 UTC

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then I guess you haven't met gniibe-san, @gniibe@identi.ca. great guy, very committed to software freedom. I don't think our activitypub accounts have run into each other, but I'd be surprised if he's not around. please let me know in case you find him; or in case you don't and would like to 😉

2025-06-13 04:35:16 UTC

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heh, I was considering joking that it was Rust's object ownership semantics that required that, once you viewed what's on the screen, it had to be blanked out; I decided not to, because it wouldn't be useful, but since you've figured it out... the joke wasn't too far off
interesting and useful to know that Rust's memory safety features can also bite
CC: @nprofile…f6er