Gestern beim Netzpolitischen Abend in Wien gab es einen Vortrag über die Umstellung vom Bundesheer auf @libreoffice. Ich hab gefragt, wie das finanziell ausschaut. Trotz, dass sie 7-8 Leute dafür beschäftigen, und für die initiale Umstellung auch Geld in die Hand nehmen mussten, haben sie jetzt schon gespart und die nächsten Jahre wird das nur noch mehr werden. Also erzählt das gerne weiter! Wenn ihr Leute nicht mit Unabhängigkeit als Argument erreichen könnt, dann vielleicht damit.

Außerdem fließen die Verbesserungen, die sie machen, wieder in das Community-Projekt zurück, wirklich sehr toll!

#SoftwareFreedom #FOSS #FLOSS #LibreOffice #DigitaleAutonomie #DigitaleSouveränität #NetzPAT #Bundesheer #Österreich #Verwaltung

"I never expected MY daughter's genitals to be inspected!" is what everyone who voted for the Inspecting Girls' Genitals Referendum in the state of Washington will soon be saying.

Look, you know I question the value of elections in a "representative democracy" under capitalism - but if you're going to have them, they should be very fair.

Don't make the lesson you learn from this be that GOP rigging doesn't work - all the voter suppression and gerrymandering they did would have helped them steal a normal election. People were just pissed off enough to beat the rig. You still have a problem that has to be addressed here re: elections rigged for Nazis.

Democrats Win Enough Seats Nationwide to End Electoral College

Enough state legislatures and gubernatorial offices have flipped to pass the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.

https://newrepublic.com/post/217594/democrats-seats-nationwide-end-electoral-college

#uspol

@alice Super cool.

Instagram recently started showing me a lot of videos of amazing beautiful trans women and the comments sections are so spitefully hateful for no reason. I report them and Instagram never does anything about it.

It makes me happy that I can at least come on Fedi and see that things work how they're supposed to on here 🫶️ :blobcathearthug:

Folks like u give me hope that open social media platforms really are viable. I spend a lot of time thinking about how open online spaces like this can continue to improve and slowly scale as they mature.

I can't wait for the day that the society at-large doesn't feel trapped on the Big Tech platforms that refuse to remove abusive bigots.

RE: https://infosec.exchange/@BleepingComputer/117559485723831601

I'm starting to think that there should be a hard line between "the machine that makes the cold" and "the machine that logs temperature". One of them getting hacked shouldn't lead to the other having its compressor set on fire.

Democratic lead grows in Mississippi Senate race as Republican blame game begins

After Democrats secured historic wins in last night’s midterm elections, Republicans are beginning the blame game:
Donald Trump claimed Republicans fared poorly because he was not on the ballot – after repeatedly urging voters to pretend he was on the ballot.

JD Vance pointed to Trump’s ongoing war in Iran as the “obvious” culprit for the loss.

Pete Hegseth’s role leading the unpopular war could lead to him taking the fall – despite Trump publicly backing him. Republicans including Trump foe Thomas Massie have criticized the defense secretary.

Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, said the “close to an extinction-level event for Republicans” was in caused in part by his party failing to target their ad spending on issues that would motivate voters.

We’re still awaiting results in a few key races:
Currently, Democrat Scott Colom is leading his Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by just 1,138 votes with 96% of the vote counted – in what could be a historic upset in Mississippi.

In Alaksa, Democrat Mary Peltola is leading Republican Dan S. Sullivan by just 626 votes. If neither candidate receives 50% of the vote, the Alaska Senate race will move to rank-choice voting.

Meanwhile, in the Los Angeles mayoral race, the battle between the Democratic incumbent, Karen Bass, and her progressive challenger Nithya Raman, a city council member, is also still too close to call. Only 63% of the vote has been counted so far, and Raman has a narrow lead.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/nov/04/midterm-elections-results-senate-house-michigan-maine-mississippi-latest-updates?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

it's clear to everyone that the way DNS-over-HTTPS is implemented in firefox (on by default, uses cloudflare, avoids system DNS) makes it a backdoor MITM/censorship/surveillance/malware vector right?

The US midterm elections were a choice between two ideas:

1. the conservative idea that a white, Christian, nationalist, English speaking culture should be allowed to use politics to force everyone else to abide by their cultural norms, or

2. the modern idea that everyone should be allowed to live their lives the way they want to, no matter their color, gender, sexual orientation, language, or ethnicity.

Tuesday was a victory for diversity.

Live and let live. ♥️

SIGN THE PETITION

House Democrats: CHOOSE A NEW SPEAKER

We are calling on every member of the incoming 120th Congress to vote against Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker in January 2027 and choose a different candidate.

https://www.change.org/p/house-democrats-choose-a-new-speaker

PLEASE PASS THIS ALONG

"When a machine writes the code, the human's job is to say precisely what the code should do, in a form that can be checked automatically," says Dave Farley, synthesizing the emerging consensus among many Agile-associated guru types. https://youtu.be/EkH_uoybj8k?is=aesZiHm3CDQ08QAP

My guy, that's code. You're describing code.

how come republicans never have to reach across the aisle and heal the nation? they're the ones who inflicted the wounds, they're the ones who lost.

I run this fediverse instance, our toy manufacturing outfit, a couple of peertube instances, a makerspace, streaming radio and a streaming television network out of my own pocket, since they cost more to operate than they make.

I also have a cafe and bookstore.

I have a crew of twelve(ish, depending on the week) folks working on these things. We break even most weeks, but we're losing a little more often than we have a little left over right now.

We're about to remove several of our biggest regular expenses from the books, and that'll shift the balance in the other direction (so we'll have a little left over more often than we're losing a little, and can give everyone on the crew a raise) but I have to get through these coming lean months in order for that to happen.

If you're feeling generous, and want to help me and my little north Georgia mountain community navigate some rough waters, you can:

- give me money: https://paypal.me/MountainTownFM
- go check out all the stuff I do: https://joyfulrevolution.ghost.io
- get some books: https://hemlockbazaar.com
- get some toys: https://mountaintowntoys.com

Thanks.

I did this. You should do it to. Be sure to write your *elected* representative if you are getting a new one. @noondlyt https://hellions.cloud/@noondlyt/117561823020910196

"This incoming class of lawmakers and executives decided to run for office at a time when hope reserves were low and there was little reason to believe.

These are the people we need in office right now.

And these are the people we ought to empower to fight tooth and nail to reclaim all that’s been stolen from us." Marisa Kabas

💯

https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/midterm-mandate-blue-tsunami-democrats-power

A welcome meme return:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0Ie5iZ2fEI

Monash University is doing a survey on EVs
https://monash.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dcyG2DQelemhloG

The survey has four parts:
Part 1 - Your background
Part 2 - Your experience with cars and driving
Part 3 - Your car-related plans and expectations
Part 4 - Your views on broader questions, such as EVs in Australia

The survey asks about your car-related experience, future vehicle plans, and views on EVs in Australia, and takes approximately 25 minutes. You may skip any question or leave the survey before submitting your response. The survey does not ask for your name or contact details, and your responses will be used for academic research and reported in a way that does not identify you.

#Australia #EVs #ElectricVehicles

I wish Courtney Milan were here, because this is the truest hot take.

Perhaps — and hear me out here — if you can afford to lose $474 million while trying to buy the midterm elections, you can afford to pay your fair share in taxes.

Bundeskanzler Merz will die Luftverkehrssteuer weiter senken. Aber den Preis des Deutschlandtickets mindestens zu stabilisieren, gar zu vergünstigten oder ein bundesweites Sozialticket einzuführen, dafür fehlt das Geld. Zudem verantwortet der Bund den Flughafen BER mit.
https://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/dienstleister/friedrich-merz-will-luftverkehrsteuer-weiter-senken-lobby-draengt-zur-eile/100267044.html