friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

test u3acommunities.org & yunohost

One of my winter tasks is to find a new place for u3acommunities.org. Just completed a first pass :

Phew ... I am starting to like yunohost. I can see that once the intial effort has been put in to get the basics done, then additioanl apps are easy.

Thanks for @Elena Rossini 🌈 for the inspiration!

@U3ACommunities Computing

#wordpress #vps #restic #yunohost #anubis #ovhcloud #goaccess @U3ACommunities Computing @Elena Rossini 🌈
This entry was edited (Friday, October 30, 2026, 3:34 PM)

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My heart is heavy. Walter Koenig, our Ensign Pavel Chekov, passed away early today.

Walter and I met on the bridge of the Enterprise in the 1960s, and we stayed friends for nearly six decades. When Brad and I married in 2008, Walter stood beside us as our best man. Just last month, on Sept. 14, he turned 90, on the same day Brad and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary. I will always treasure that he and I shared that date.

Walter was more than Chekov. He was a writer, a teacher, a thoughtful man, and a loyal friend. To the fans who loved him for so many years, thank you. He loved you too.

Rest well, my dear friend. Keep navigating a steady course.

– George

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Jyrgen N

My condolences for losing a friend. We will keep him in loving memory.

It is strange — even in that photo you posted, I still see him as "the young man”, even if he is/was much older than I am, and looks the part. It is a bit over 50 years ago that I watched Star Trek; it was broadcast in Germany in the early 70s as “Raumschiff Enterprise”. I was 9 years old then, and I was *fascinated*. That was a future so bright, so interesting, so hopeful.

Such a promise was not only in Star Trek, but everywhere. Progress in everything was apparent, but then it didn’t go much further. Our present is proof of that, and it does not inspire hope. Now, the Borg seem much more realistic long-term than a peaceful Federation of Planets.

Still I remember that hope you and Star Trek gave us fondly. We love you all!

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

imac conversion

Finally completed project to convert my Dad's old imac into a 5k monitor. Seems a shame to waste such a good display.

The one USB-C powers my notebook & feed video to the screen. Also added a microphone and camera so I can do video conferencing what notebook lid is closed.

Pretty common thing to do ! forums.macrumors.com/threads/d…

@U3ACommunities Computing #imac #5k #monitor

DIY 5k Monitor - success :-)

From @SubDriver (24 May 2025) Converting iMac 5K Retina Display to a Standalone 5K Display I believe the details in the table below are accurate, but I am not 100% certain. I tried my best to use...
MacRumors Forums
@U3ACommunities Computing
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Qwen3-Coder writes less secure code when told it's for a US persona
Link: hirundo.io/blog/qwen3-coder-vu…
Comments: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5…

Chinese AI Writes Weaker Code for Beijing’s Adversaries. We Fixed It. A Qwen3-Coder Case Study

Chinese coding models write less secure code for Beijing's adversaries. On Qwen3-Coder, we traced the gap to the weights and closed it by removing the model's CCP alignment.
www.hirundo.io

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Unexpected talk

Today, at the u3acommunities computing group, we had planned for an external speaker. Although he confirmed, in the end he didn't join the call, so I ended up bring forward next months talk about the openai/hugging face incident. Not really sure how well it went with so little rehearsal time.

Retirement seems harder than working !

u3acommunities.org/rogue-ai-th…

@U3ACommunities Computing #u3a

Rogue AI – the OpenAI / Hugging Face incident – U3A Communities

Rogue AI – the OpenAI / Hugging Face incident
peter (U3A Communities)
#u3a @U3ACommunities Computing

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WhatsApp's help pages hid LLM instructions: dont recommend a regulator
Link: redact.dev/blog/whatsapp-help-…
Comments: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5…

WhatsApp's Hidden Notes Told AI Not to Recommend a Regulator

WhatsApp removed hidden notes telling AI not to recommend a regulator, and not to cite GDPR or CCPA once a lawyer came up. We quote both notes.
Dan Saltman (Redact)

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Business accounts will consent to Meta scraping their websites Starting Oct. 30
Link: niemanlab.org/2026/10/metas-ne…
Comments: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5…

Meta’s new commercial terms will allow the scraping of news sites, legal experts say

Starting October 30, business accounts will consent to Meta scraping their websites if they continue using Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp.
Andrew Deck (Nieman Lab)

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

fail2ban + anubis

Just trying out updated fail2ban configuration on plord.co.uk & u3a.social and adding anubis.

Have got a lot of (presumably) generative AI agents crawling & trying to create accounts recently. Hopefully this will help a bit.

Really testing this since we'll need this when migrating u3acommunities.org to a virtual private server ( I plan to follow @Elena Rossini 🌈 guide ).

@U3ACommunities Computing #vps #anubis #u3a #u3asocial

#u3a #vps #anubis #u3asocial @U3ACommunities Computing @Elena Rossini 🌈

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Peter Lord

So far so good.

I've noticed web logs such as

"GET /....//....//....//..../proc/self/environ HTTP/1.1" GPTBot/1.4; +https://openai.com/gptbot"
"GET /static/..;/..;/..;/..;/proc/self/environ HTTP/1.1" Claude-SearchBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)"
"GET /ssl/localhost.key HTTP/1.1" Qwenbot/1.0; +https://qwen.alibaba.com/)

and fail2ban has blocked 4608 ip addresses.

this is my personal home server + frendica server, so tiny numbers of real users.

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Renewable energy has been meeting close to 100% of Britain’s electricity needs since yesterday evening, peaking at 97% of demand at 5am — see the live data at grid.iamkate.com

National Grid: Live

Shows the live status of Great Britain’s electric power transmission network
grid.iamkate.com

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mastodon - Link to source

The UK social media ban is coming.

That means every adult having to show their ID to get online.

Age verification puts privacy at risk. Curbs freedom of expression. And simply doesn't work to keep kids safe online.

The government needs to change course. But the clock is ticking.

Sign the petition ⬇️

action.openrightsgroup.org/say…

#ageverification #privacy #freedomofexpression #onlinesafety #socialmediaban #ukpolitics #ukpol #digitalrights

Say No to ID for online access

Protect people. Regulate powerful platforms. Keep the internet open. The Government is planning to introduce tough new laws that require all adults to show ID to access to go online. They say this is to keep under 16s off social media.
Open Rights Group
#ukpol #ukpolitics #Privacy #digitalrights #ageverification #onlinesafety #socialmediaban #freedomofexpression

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WanWizard 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇳🇱

To be clear: it is not the verification that puts privacy at risk, it is the implementation that does so.

It is one of the many side-effects of the UK's aversion to ID's and citizen registration.

If that would have existed (like in other countries), the government could have provided a public authentication and authorisation service (cf. the Belgian e-ID, or the Dutch Digid) which could do the verification, and only return yes/no, and no privacy sentitive data.

This entry was edited (Wednesday, October 7, 2026, 6:00 PM)
in reply to Peter Lord

mastodon - Link to source

Vivaldi Browser

Could one of the extensions you're using be causing the issue? Try disabling them one-by-one to find the culprit.

You can also check our other troubleshooting suggestions on help.vivaldi.com/desktop/troub….

Troubleshooting issues on desktop | Vivaldi Browser Help

When you encounter an issue and you’re trying to determine whether you can fix it yourself or need to report a bug, follow the steps on this help page.
Tony is helping (Vivaldi Browser Help)
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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

🎥 The ALSO26 film is here!

Press play and take a trip back to those long summer days, late nights and plenty of mischief in a field in rural Warwickshire. 🧡

We’re already looking forward to doing it all again next summer. Earlybird tickets, campervan & car passes for ALSO ‘27 are now LIVE.

Come and join us for ‘27

#ALSO27. Est. 2014. Where ideas run wild.

facebook.com/plugins/video.php…

facebook.com/reel/161401939021…

#ALSO27

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This echoes the experience here in my household.

My medium-sized diesel car gets around 10-11 miles per litre. With diesel now around £2 a litre, that's 18-20p a mile in fuel costs.

My wife's small electric car gets around 4 miles per kWh. With EV electricity at 8p/kWh, that's 2p per mile in fuel.

For a typical year's driving, hers costs ~£1500 a year less in fuel costs.

Simon Evans

2026-09-30 18:08:13

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Not sure we've come to terms with what this chart means for people's lives, politics, borrowing costs, cost of capital, etc, etc

Lots of big European elections coming up next year…


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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Phone battery updated

Yesterday I performed "open heart surgery" on my phone to replace its battery (phone doesn't have a user replaceable battery). Actually went pretty well following a ifixit guide (ifixit.com/Guide/Samsung+Galax…).

Just letting my phone to discharge to 0% and I'll do a full charge to measure its capacity. Only then will I glue the back back on !

Fun huh (no pics available because, well, my phone was off at the time)

@U3ACommunities Computing

@U3ACommunities Computing

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Peter Lord

First round of testing completed.

4Ah robi battery lasts for 3 phone charges.
5Ah robi battery lasts for 4 phone charges.

I guess not surprising.

With a 4Ah (18v) battery and a phone battery of 5Ah (3.8v). Number of charges = (4x18)/(5x3.8) = 3.7 (minus losses)

Might need to get a bigger robi battery for festival use ....

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13 years of Home Assistant and more than 20,000 contributors have helped build the journey so far 🎂

This month’s Open Home Foundation newsletter looks back at the route home, plus Home Assistant 2026.9, IFA Berlin, Community Day and more.

Read it 👇
newsletter.openhomefoundation.…

Thirteen years of Home Assistant: Leading the way back home

After 13 years of Home Assistant, our fight for privacy, choice, and sustainability enters a new era, as Big Tech tightens its grip on the home.
Paulus Schoutsen (Building the Open Home)

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older

Please fix map of #Ukraine in your instagram post:

instagram.com/p/DdoW-AHsQmo/

Home Assistant on Instagram: "Anyone can host a Community Day meetup, so why not you? Just pick a spot near you and a time that suits, and we’ll help with the rest."

2 likes, 3 comments - homeassistant on September 23, 2026: "Anyone can host a Community Day meetup, so why not you? Just pick a spot near you and a time that suits, and we’ll help with the rest.".
Instagram
#ukraine

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Home assistant talk for Richmond u3a today

I'll shortly be travelling to Richmond to give a talk about home automation with home assistant to there u3a "tomorrows world" group.

Looking forward to it ... face-to-face meetings tend to be more "real" than online ! Only challenge is making sure I can get online for demos ...

#u3a #homeassisant #retired @U3ACommunities Computing

#u3a #retired #homeassisant @U3ACommunities Computing

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It’s amazing how AI companies are telling us how shit their product is, and how little control they have over it.

Our product won’t listen to us. Our product keeps committing crimes.

Our product will convince people that they’re god or they can become AI or they should commit mass murder, but if we try to fix that it ruins the waifus.

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Glastonbury 2027

So ... #glastonbury festival 2027 tickets are on sale on oct 4th. Weirdly, I quite enjoy the mad scramble to secure tickets !

Over £400 this year tho ... although you get an awful lot for that, its expensive. Wondering if I should go for volunteering next year instead with #mycauseuk.

#festivals #ukfestivals

#mycauseuk #ukfestivals #festivals #glastonbury

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

The AI Doc

I watched The AI Doc (netflix.com/title/82792555) on netflix last night. Lots of "big names" interviewed (imdb.com/title/tt39150120/full…) from the world of AI, both techies and leaders.

If you are interested in AI, well worth watching.

First part is very doom and gloom ... tech leader after tech leader say they think this will end badly but can't be stopped, but some optimism as well from some (we'll have unlimited free energy and no-one will need to work).

Finishes with there is a narrow window of hope where we have some sort of global treaty (something like en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_o… I suppose) thats stops the bad outcomes.

#AIDoc #AI @U3ACommunities Computing #netflix

Watch The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist | Netflix

An expectant father investigates AI, interviewing tech executives and experts to grasp how it could affect his child's life — and humanity's future.
www.netflix.com
#ai #netflix #AIDoc @U3ACommunities Computing

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Alan

The very smart Bruce Schneier's latest Crypto-Gram newsletter contains a succinct reality-check on AI. Entitled "AIs as Modern Genies", it is item 26 in that newsletter.
I'm a newbie here, so don't know whether I can post links, but Bruce's website is schneier.com and a couple of clicks there will take you to the September 15th Schneier on Security Crypto-Gram newsletter.
Hope that's of interest.

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ADS-B (how to decode messages from aircraft)

A bit late, I know, but the @U3ACommunities Computing talk on ADS-B will be starting soon.

Join up here u3acommunities.org/subscribe-t… if interested.

#u3a #retired

Subscribe to Computing – U3A Communities

Subscribe to Computing
peter (U3A Communities)
#u3a #retired @U3ACommunities Computing

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virtual private server for not-for-profit

Can anyone recommend a good value #vps for a not-for-profit (ie we don't have much cash!). Rough requirements would be :

  • Probabally debian based with kvm (ie full control)
  • Application management such as #yunohost (ie IP blocking, usage reporting, alerts, backups etc)
  • #wordpress ... pretty light load though (might look for a wordpress alternative though)
  • Sending emails to subscribers (approx 1,000) ... so needs static IPv4
  • Futures include hosting #friendica, #onlyoffice, video storage ... so needs to be expandable
  • Ideally UK or EU based

Thanks !

#friendica #wordpress #vps #onlyoffice #yunohost
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Hi, I'm Nat. I draw silly, little comics about my life and things I find important. I'd like to give the Fediverse a try because I'm tired of fighting predatory social media, algorithms, and poop-faces of tech bros.

Let's hang out and be nice to each other. :BlobhajReach: #Introduction

#introduction

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Talk about technology, esp AI, effects jobs

Last weekend I saw Phill Fox do a talk at the #shambala festival about how technology, esp AI, have impacts on jobs … festivals can often have great talks!

He has agreed to to a similar talk for us on the u3acommunities computer group (u3acommunities.org/interest-gr…) on 20th Oct 3pm.

The meeting won’t go up for a bit yet, but if you want to get an email when it does, you can join the email list here u3acommunities.org/subscribe-t… (each email sent has a unsubscribe/manage link so easy to remove yourself from the group after the meeting).

#u3a @U3ACommunities Computing #retired

#u3a #retired #shambala @U3ACommunities Computing
This entry was edited (Tuesday, September 1, 2026, 8:02 AM)

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Why do folks still use meta ?

Why do folks still use meta products (#facebook #whatsapp #threads #Instagram ) when there are so many more ethical choices (such as #fediverse #friendica #signal etc)

@U3ACommunities Computing @Elena Rossini 🌈 #u3a

#Fediverse #friendica #signal #u3a #whatsapp #Instagram #threads @U3ACommunities Computing @Elena Rossini 🌈

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Chris Brooking

I've stopped using Facebook and found that I'm surprised by many local events — they put it on Facebook and assume everyone will see it. Also many small local cafés, shops, etc. use their Facebook page to show opening times, unexpected closures etc. It can be really annoying when you follow a link given as a website and find it's a Facebook page.

Though I've stopped using Facebook I can't stop using Facebook messenger. A lot of our u3a groups, including the u3a committee, use it for discussion because "everyone has it".

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One-Third of Web Pages are Now Written With AI, Says Pew Research slashdot.org/story/26/08/24/03…

One-Third of Web Pages are Now Written With AI, Says Pew Research - Slashdot

A Pew Research senior data scientist analyzed 500,000 English-language webpages from the past five years with an AI detection tool to estimate how many were likely written or edited by AI: Of all the pages in this sample, 10% show significant si…
slashdot.org

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Festival season

Just about recovered from volunteering at #boomtown festival ... was a challenge in the heat, dust and so much walking !

Still, next week off to #shambala festival with #mycauseuk ... one of my favourites. I expect it will be writstbanding again (when everyone is happy to see you!). Hopefully not too much rain !

Hard work, but Its great to give back a little.

#shambala2026 #boomtownfair

#mycauseuk #shambala #boomtown #boomtownfair #shambala2026

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So AI gives us short term gains but longer term losses. Not surprised.

Metin Seven

2026-08-19 19:12:30

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Using 30 months of panel data on 26,811 Chinese students in grades 7-12, it has been studied how generative AI affects homework productivity and learning.

● X-Axis: Homework scores
● Y-Axis: Exam scores

🔗 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…

#tech #BigTech #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #LLM #AISlop


friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Containers & Virtual Machines

Emails go out tomorrow with invite links to the next (free) #u3acommunities computing talk & discussion.

If interested, join email lists here u3acommunities.org/subscribe-t…

#u3a #retired #containers #virtualmachine

!U3ACommunities Computing

Subscribe to Computing – U3A Communities

Subscribe to Computing
peter (U3A Communities)
#u3acommunities #u3a #retired #virtualmachine #containers !U3ACommunities Computing

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✨ We’re back!✨

The Sauna Social returns to The Magic Garden! We couldn’t be more excited!

For one unforgettable evening, we’re transforming The Magic Garden into a one of a kind experience.

🔥 Wood-fired sauna in the garden
🎻 Trad folk music in the garden
🎶 Super Secret genre-bending live performance (we’re keeping this one under wraps… for now 👀)
🎧 DJ until late
💃 Great people, great vibes & plenty of magic

Every ticket includes towel hire, so all you need to do is turn up and enjoy!

There’s no right way to experience The Sauna Social! Relax in the garden, sweat in the sauna, dance the night away, you can do it all at your own pace.

Tickets are available now! Link in bio!

#TheSaunaSocial #WoodFiredSauna #LiveMusic #WellnessMeetsNightlife #SupportIndependent

facebook.com/losthorizonnomadi…

#woodfiredsauna #livemusic #TheSaunaSocial #WellnessMeetsNightlife #SupportIndependent

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friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

ADS-B

One thing I've been exploring recently is using software defined radio (#SDR) USB stick to receive aircraft info on 1090MHz. Works pretty well. Using #dump1090 and additional code to send to #homeassistant over #mqtt and I setup custom alerts.

Although quite a ways from heathrow, we do see an awful lot of aircraft over our house, including from the local airport.

I think I'll do a talk on @U3ACommunities Computing about this soon.

But I discovered you can also use dump1090 / ADS-B radar on your phone ! So I'll be taking the USB stick + phone to Bristol today to see what can be picked up from the #BalloonFestival

#homeassistant #mqtt #dump1090 #BalloonFestival @U3ACommunities Computing

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Containers & virtual machines
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#u3a #retired @U3ACommunities Computing

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I'm so excited to organize this with @_elena 🥳🥳

This years @oscl has a new track named “Decentralized Technologies for Digital Sovereignty!" 👏

🔗: conference.opensource.lu

We are looking for speakers interested in discussing these topics:

• Federated technologies in the public sector
• Decentralized platforms
• Fediverse successes and challenges
• Self-hosted solutions
• Interoperability

Apply here:
🔗: pretalx.com/open-source-confer…

Please boost 🚀

#OSCL26 #DigitalSovereignty #Opensource #Fediverse

Open Source Conference Luxembourg

Schedule, talks and talk submissions for Open Source Conference Luxembourg
pretalx.com
#opensource #Fediverse #digitalsovereignty #oscl26 @Elena Rossini 🌈 @Open Source Conference LU
This entry was edited (Wednesday, August 5, 2026, 2:30 PM)

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Marco Bresciani

Lovely!
I'd actually might have a topic/example related to EdTech (that I just experimented with my kid) with open source hardware and software.
But I don't think I'll be able to prepare the submission, let alone the whole session... 😒🙁
@oscl @_elena
@Elena Rossini 🌈 @Open Source Conference LU
⇧