traditional linen weaving, permacomputing, sloppers

Happy Monday! I forgot I had this drafted for a week or so…whoops…

Crafts & Hobbies

Marshall Dry Goods was recommended as a potential replacement to JOANN for a fabric source.

I don’t know how this got into my tabs but it’s an English transcription (with screenshots) of a German documentary about traditional linen weaving in the town of Dickenshied in 1978/1979.

Axxuy shared some typewriter resources for people interested in getting one and/or joining the typewriter-user community.

Shopping

Toad & Co. is a slightly pricey brand that does a lot of merino wool outfits (popular with long-term travelers). I just found out they have a pre-loved website where you can get used items for a pretty good discount: Toad Again!

Added to my RSS Reader

jenn schiffer’s live laugh blog (RSS) because I enjoy her writing “voice”

A Nerdy Fujo Cries (RSS) because it’s nice to have another fandom blog on there!

Technology (Not AI)

TumblBee is a free desktop app for exporting original Tumblr posts and pages (so not reblogs) in HTML or Markdown.

Critical Signal has a bunch of interesting talks (tech, eco-activism) happening over the next few weeks. It’s focused on New Zealand but I bet a bunch of people elsewhere would be interested in some of these talks, too.

One of the previous talks, called Permacomputing 101, has been made available online.

Kris Howard of web-goddess says:

…we are Internet People – those who grew up with the dawn of the modern Internet and have strong feelings about keeping information free and decentralised – and that not everyone working in tech is an Internet Person. But maybe it’s also that a fish doesn’t understand water, and some folks don’t realise that you can opt-out.

I might’ve linked this before, but I’ll put it here again so maybe I won’t lose it: GrapheneOS is an alternative Android OS that doesn’t depend on Google.

ReclaimControl.tech: “You have the right to control your data, devices, and services. We coordinate, develop and foster communities of Reclaimers who want digital independence. Together, let’s reclaim the right to a technical future of data sovereignty, digital autonomy, responsible governance, and collective care online for all.”

Here’s how to make a Pride colors gradient border with CSS.

AI Stuff

New slang dropped: sloppers, aka people who use ChatGPT to do everything for them. ;_;

“I don’t want to keep watching people fall for a carnival trick.” The rise of Whatever, about AI slop and why people are being forced to use AI whether they want to or not, and some very good thoughts about why you shouldn’t use AI to, like, write books and code and make art even if you find it hard to do those things yourself.

And: The LLMentalist Effect: how chat-based Large Language Models replicate the mechanisms of a psychic’s con — from back in 2023!

Sacha Judd wrote a great newsletter issue this week which has a short essay at the top titled Smash the Looms:

Maybe that’s the real risk here. Not that AI will replace us, but that we’ll replace ourselves — swapping the messy, creative, fabulous parts of being human for optimised outputs and “efficiency gains” no one asked for except the broligarchs.

The Luddites weren’t fighting looms; they were fighting a future where skill, pride, and joy in the work were stripped away. And if we’re not careful, we’ll do the same because we forgot the point of making things ourselves.