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Last week we were meant to have a two-day hearing. It extended or 'spilled over' to a 6-day period (Wednesday until Monday) and we returned home some hours ago. We are now gleefully catching up with a backlog of online news. Over the next few days we'll do our best to fully get abreast of GNU/Linux news, though Marius already caught all the important news and over the weekend Rianne published many updates. I will, as usual, "sweep up" news that fell through the cracks.
Rianne's birthday is a month away and a few hours ago my sister, who gave birth while I was at the hearing, had her 30th birthday. This means she had her first child (healthy newborn) only a few days before turning 30.
Speaking of community, Andy has a bunch of decent new articles, including some about "Tech Evil" and "Mad Dogs". Andy is a Computer Science specialist and former lecturer; he's not a Luddite, he just knows how (or where) technology went wrong. In the hearing last week and on Monday Rianne and I used only notebooks (paper and pen) - the only ones in the room without a laptop, except the judge (who not only was considerate with frequent hydration breaks; he prefers the traditional way of taking physical notes and arranging his thoughts this way).
Techrights and Tux Machines are by no means "maximalists" of technology. We often speak of the harms caused by particular "modern" technologies and how we can tackle or curtail these harms. A lot of young people, motivated by peer pressure(s), are saddened by their addiction to stuff meant to serve large, data-hungry, selfish corporations; they would be better off without that. As a largely education site we try to get this message across. We try to keep things simple. We are a very 1990s-like site.
There is nothing wrong with technology per se; it's just that we mustn't assume that the goal is to embed technology inside every little thing. For instance, we commend London for still having many maps available in the streets; do not assume everyone carries a "smart" "phone" with "apps" and maps. In a lot of ways simpler is better [1, 2] and one lady - a complete stranger in the streets near Victoria Station - was kind enough to give us directions some hours ago. █
Image source: Australian Gannet Sea Bird