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[ A similar version was crossposted on Conservancy's blog. ]

Proprietary software has always been about a power relationship. Copyright and other legal systems give authors the power to decide what license to choose, and usually, they choose a license that favors themselves and takes rights and permissions away from others.

The so-called “Commons Clause” purposely confuses and conflates many issues. The initiative is backed by FOSSA, a company that sells materiel in the proprietary compliance industrial complex. This clause recently made news again since other parties have now adopted this same license.

Blood is amazing stuff, there is no end to it’s uses. The blood of pigs is the source for black pudding which is delightful. Milk is mostly blood, it’s just more convenient to suck it from a teat than stabbing your cow in the neck Maasai warrior style …

I was running around Coffs Harbour listening to Annie Lennox speak on an old Desert Island Disc programme yesterday. She talked about how music becomes an intrinsic part of the listener, or words to that effect. In fact she pointed out that words could not suffice to explain the depth …

Yesterday, we lost an important member of the FLOSS community. Gervase Markham finally succumbed to his battle with cancer (specifically, metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma).

I met Gerv in the early 2000s, after he'd already been diagnosed. He has always been very public about his illness. He was frank with all who knew him that his life expectancy was sadly well below average due to that illness. So, this outcome isn't a surprise nor a shock, but it is nevertheless sad and unfortunate for all who knew him.

I am exceedingly lazy and my desire to retain knowledge of how my own blog works is dismal. For my own benefit I made a cheat sheet to remind me what I do when I feel like harking on about some crap on this site. I am edging towards doing …

Someone linked me to this blog by a boutique proprietary software company complaining about porting to GNU/Linux systems, in which David Power, co-founder of Hiri, says:

Unfortunately, the fundamentalist FOSS mentality we encountered on Reddit is still alive and well. Some Linux blogs and Podcasts simply won’t give us the time of day.

I just want to quickly share a few analogous quotes that show why that statement is an unwarranted and unfair statement about people's reasonably held beliefs. First, imagine if Hiri were not a proprietary software company, but a butcher. Here's how the quote would sound:

Unfortunately, the fundamentalist vegan mentality we encountered on Reddit is still alive and well. Some vegetarian blogs and Podcasts simply won’t give us the time of day.

I took the motorbike (which I tend to think of as on loan from John Lee) up the road today. It flew like a Mongolian pony on the steppes. It was great. Winter days here are just perfect. The air is chilled and the sun flashing between the trees is …

If you're one of the people in the software freedom community who is attending O'Reilly's Open Source Software Convention (OSCON) next week here in Portland, you may have seen debate about O'Reilly and Associates (ORA)'s surreptitious Code of Conduct change (and quick revocation thereof) to name “political affiliation” as a protected class. If you're going to OSCON or plan to go to an OSCON or ORA event in the future, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with this issue and the political historical context in which these events of the last few days take place.

Feeling hungry at the end of a long day my colleague and I found ourselves remembering Breville sandwich toasters with mouthwateringly fond memories.

Toast is banned at work due to the smoke alarms that call the fire brigade everytime toast is burnt which …

My friend, colleague, and boss, Karen Sandler, yesterday tweeted about one of the unfortunately sexist incidents that she's faced in her life. This incident is a culmination of sexist incidents that Karen and I have seen since we started working together. I describe below how these events entice me to be complicit in sexist incidents, which I do my best to actively resist.

Ultimately, this isn't about me, Karen, or about a single situation, but this is a great example of how sexist behaviors manipulate a situation and put successful women leaders in no-win situations. If you read this tweet (and additionally already knew about Software Freedom Conservancy where I work)…

“Toby, Toby! Here boy!” called my dog, Alfie. It was time for our walk. I ran in from the backyard where I had been digging up weeds. Alfie and I walked to the park. Peeing amongst some weeds along the way Alfie commented on the weather. I was distracted as …

The 63rd Ivor Novello Awards honoured Shane MacGowan for his inspiring catalogue of songs, thanking him for sharing his songwriting... Read more »

The post SHANE MACGOWAN PRESENTED WITH IVOR NOVELLO AWARD FOR SONGWRITING appeared first on Shane MacGowan.

I recieved a call from my boss yesterday. Who my mother rudely described as, “mouthy”. I asked what she meant by that and she said they, “sounded like they would not use one word where many would suffice”. Indeed.

I might use the expression, “Wordy” but probably not. My mother …