Sylvain Miermont @miermont@social.cleverlibre.org

The "net" in "Net Zero" is a distraction. We need to aim for "zero carbon".

Here's yet another reminder that carbon offsets mostly aren't worth the paper they're written on: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/19/do-carbon-credit-reduce-emissions-greenhouse-gases

We cannot use offsets to excuse further fossil fuel burning. The aim has to be zero carbon emissions. Even if we try hard, we'll miss by a bit, and by then there might be techniques to take in carbon to reach net zero. But decarbonisation must be as complete as possible

#NetZero #climate #offsets

Never in my life would I expected a cybersecurity issue (at least not a non-food safety issue) to result in a food recall

Add this to your risk assessments

Airbus open sourced their new cockpit font. Make it the default for all your embedded projects, because it's REALLY good and has real testing in difficult environments!

https://b612-font.com/

#BBCNews - Major #UK #methane #greenhouse gas #leak spotted from space
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66811312
'over a three-month period at a gas main operated by Wales and West Utilities. The amount leaked could have powered 7,500 homes for a year.'
#Climate #ClimateChange

This wasn't only happening in the low-price chain-brand segment. It also happened in the mid-range segment of self-branded goods.

And it all started happening when inflation went through the roof.

Clearly, something was up. My guess was: tacit collusion, meaning, oligopolic price coordination without explicit coordination.

Meanwhile, others have build platforms like I did as well. And they too saw these patterns.

There were more.

I scrambled to integrate his data into my platform. I added analytics tools. And then I ran my first few analyses. And my jaw dropped.

"Well, that's a bit to much of a price increase even given higher energy prices."

So I started to dig. And boy did I find a lot of things...

Today was ... interesting. If you followed me for the past months over on the shitbird site, you might have seen a bunch of angry German words, lots of graphs, and the occassional news paper, radio, or TV snippet with yours truely. Let me explain.

In Austria, inflation is way above the EU average. There's no end in sight. This is especially true for basic needs like energy and food.

Our government stated in May that they'd build a food price database together with the big grocery chains. But..

Dear Fedi hivemind:

I am trying to organise a group of academics that are working on #openhardware and affiliated with #uk institutions. If you are one, or if you know one, could you send me a message (or ask them to send me a message?)

The reason for the group is finding ways to work together and advocate for #openscience #hardware!

Please boost for reach?!

Thanks!

"Daddy, when I grow up I want to be a Data Broker just like you, so I can help people be more effectiving targeted by advertising and political persuasion."

Said no kid ever.

#DataPrivacy

Infosec friends are unanimous: if you're using Chrome, you want to visit chrome://settings/adPrivacy and turn off Ad Topics, Site-Suggested Ads, and Ad Measurement.

IMPORTANT: you must do this for each of your Chrome profiles, since it's not a global setting.

#chrome #privacy #enshittification

Google’s widely-opposed ad platform, the “Privacy Sandbox,” has launched in Chrome, directly tracking users based on their browsing habits to sell to advertisers. *It is turned ON by default, and you have to explicitly opt out.*

If you still use Chrome, to disable Google's "advanced" ad tracking, go to Settings>Privacy and Security>Ad Privacy, then disable all three options there (Ad Topics, Site-suggested Ads, and Ad Measurement). See images or the animated GIF here: https://mastodon.social/@docpop/111020685168276797

Since I've seen a lot of chatter about people switching to #Firefox as Google ramps up the enshitification of #Chrome, let me tell you about a killer feature for people who (a) need multiple accounts on the same websites (eg. devs) or specifically (b) have to use multiple Google accounts.

Firefox has an official addon called Multi Account Containers that lets you trivially set up color coded tabs that have separate sets of cookies. Log into your dev account in one, and your test account in another. Log into your personal #gmail in one and have another tab next to it with your work Gmail. I'm actually not signed in to any Google accounts in most my tabs, I just have containers for the specific tasks I do on Google products.

It'll take you 30 seconds to set up.

Add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/

Mozilla's explanation: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers

Tip to anyone who put their creations in the world:

When someone sends you a happy note about something you've done, posts a particularly nice review, or otherwise gives you a warm fuzzy, be sure to clip it (screen shot, whatev) and save it to a special place that you can look through when you're feeling down or blocked.

How about no?:

“ “We believe that our direct capture technology is going to be the technology that helps to preserve our industry over time,” Hollub told the audience. “This gives our industry a license to continue to operate for the 60, 70, 80 years that I think it’s going to be very much needed.”

It’s important to challenge statements like these whenever they appear. Carbon capture’s purpose is to remove legacy emissions, not to facilitate new emissions!
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/08/oil-industry-shift-climate-tech-00085853

Why use a sledgehammer to kill a fly?

Urban streets are clogged with oversized delivery trucks.

A smarter way: introducing the cargo tram...🧵

"If one were to put last year's German CO2 emissions into a container as a pure gas, one wld need a sphere with a diameter of almost 9 km. The huge object wld nearly reach the altitude of airliners. If the CO2 weren't to escape into the atmosphere but collect on the ground, all of 🇩🇪 would be covered by a layer 1 m high - just from the emissions of 2022."

Excellent piece by @christianschwaegerl debunking once more the false claim that 🇩🇪 emissions don't matter much.
https://www.spektrum.de/news/klimaschutz-und-zwei-prozent-retten-doch-die-welt/2172312

the market for network-controllable power strips is weird
it's two things:
1. 50$ devices intended for use in the home. 3 plugs, connects to some cloud service, shiny and available on amazon
2. 300$ devices with 8 ports and you can talk to it over RS232 and 10/100 ethernet and the web stack fits on a 64kb eeprom and it's only purchasable on a website that was last updated in 2008

I told a colleague that logistic regression is AI and they got mad at me, so I made a chart. Find yourself. I am "Tinder is AI".