Bradley M. Kühn — 🔜 FOSDEM (19)
To old guard of #FOSS:
When you reach ages ≥ 0x32 —as I have— ∃ a saying: you're old enough to “have no 🤬s left to give”. It's liberating, but take care w/ that new feeling; it *can* turn you into a mean person.
I'm watching a talk by ███¹ who has some interesting things to say, but is flippant & rude to the audience who ask about any issue not of ███'s interest.
No matter how smart you are: as a speaker, your audience has something to teach you.
Open your mind.
#FOSDEM #FOSDEM2026 #FOSDEM26
Foiled again by my heavy work schedule. I just saw @sjn at this #FOSDEM Fringe event thing, & he noted that I had failed to properly place my Brown Cheese order with him. My own fault for letting it fall off my @fosdem prep agenda.
Any Norwegians who haven't left for FOSDEM yet want to deliver me some Brown Cheese? I'll take as much as you can carry of G35 and Geitost. I'll pay you a 5% markup for your trouble.
Cc: @aslakr
😷🫵
Last year @ #FOSDEM, I got COVID. I ∴ missed my own keynote.
@karen & @ossguy filled in for me well, but I also *could not work on #FOSS for a WHOLE MONTH after*!!!
We all have important work after #FOSDEM2026. Why let the #FOSDEM26 flu/COVID slow down #OpenSource?
Wear a mask all day today & tomorrow unless you're on stage or asking a question.
If you need a mask or hand sanitizer, visit #SoftwareFreedom Conservancy's stand at K level 2 (group A).
https://fosdem.org/2026/stands/
Cc: @akareilly
@bortzmeyer overheard at #FOSDEM
> “There is a guy who does a lot of work to help the fediverse and to push people toward it. His name is Donald Trump.”
This statement contains multitudes b/c #TruthSocial is a fork of #Mastodon. Initially, $DJT violated the #AGPLv3, but AFAIK they now comply with the license. I examined the fork & they primary code they added was an advertising platform. Obviously it doesn't have federation turned on.
Cc: @jzb
Journalism is the 1ˢᵗ draft of history.
10 months ago, @lwn published¹ that 1ˢᵗ draft re: #OSI 2025 Board of Directors elections.
At @fosdem, @jzb'll moderate a panel writing the 2ⁿᵈ draft of history of OSI's ballot tampering & related shenanigans.
Time remains to sign the petition: Ask #OpenSource Initiative to release the real election results: https://codeberg.org/OSI-Concerns/election-results-2025
& If you're at #FOSDEM, visit UB5.230 on SAT at 17:00² for the panel!
¹ https://lwn.net/Articles/1014603/
² https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/QZN3GR-foss-election-governance-open-source-initiatives/
😍
…It is wonderful to be loved by the Norwegian #FOSS community. Last year, @sjn brought me 500g of #Brunost at #FOSDEM. This year, a larger group — incl. @Liks0m & @Foxboron & @aslakr — conspired to bring me 3kg of Brunost & 1kg of Geitost!
They now joke (?) that it'll continue to progress: .5kg->2.5kg->12.5kg
I keep reminding them I have to prove to USA CBP it's all for personal consumption. I can totally eat 12.5kg in 1 year, but CBP might not believe me!
♥️NORGE_FOSS!
Sensitive content : ✈️ whining
As always these days, I'm the only person 😷'd on my flight.
The air is awful on this equipment: 1925 ppm of CO₂ at my seat.
Person next to me has a productive cough …😮💨… (can tell by sound), yet she isn't masked. 🙄
Welp, whatever 🦠 she's spewing on this row, I guess I'm bringing it to #FOSDEM.😔
As a reminder for those coming to @fosdem … please mask! It's not life-or-death anymore for most, but I lost a month of work (& missed my OWN keynote) last year when I got #COVID at FODSEM.
@RichiH
I wore a mask the whole time at #FOSDEM 2025, never took it off unless outside & far from people, & still got COVID. I wear bona fide tight fitting N-95s. They aren't perfect.
When everyone masks, it's when it really helps. There is really no good reason to not mask at a big event like @fosdem except when speaking on stage or asking a question or meeting outside.
My current predicament is highly offensive: someone coughing & blowing snot over & over just 3 feet from me with no mask.
The key challenge of doing charitable & community work in repressive capitalist regimes is understanding how to take funding but never fear losing it.
My strategy: basically always overcompensate in the other direction. Since #SFC receives donations from $GOOG, I make sure I'm quicker to criticize their bad behavior before — say — $AAPL who'd never give a dime to @conservancy.
This strategy isn't ideal but does avoid corruption.
Cc: @jzakotnik @t0k