The culture wars as told through downtown Winnipeg graffiti:
- Poster for labour and/or leftist event ➡️ Bible dot com scrawled on it
- Bible dot com ➡️ crossed out and/or "fuck the" written in front
- Poster for trans rights ➡️ the "trans" part scratched out or replaced with "use cash" sticker
- Poster for leftist book club ➡️ "antifa" and "domestic terrorist" written on it
- Sticker with right wing media websites on it ➡️ scratched out
- "Free Palestine" ➡️ "From Hamas" added
- "FCK 15RL" spray painted ➡️ "FCK HMS" poster with rainbow background
- Laser tattoo removal services poster ➡️ the occasional Bible dot com, but otherwise oddly untouched

I’ve published Part 3 of “I Want to Love Linux. It Doesn’t Love Me Back.”

This one’s about the so-called universal interface: the console. The raw, non-GUI, text-mode TTY. The place where sighted Linux users fall back when the desktop breaks, and where blind users are supposed to do the same. Except — we can’t. Not reliably. Not safely. Not without building the entire stack ourselves.

This post covers Speakup, BRLTTY, Fenrir, and the audio subsystem hell that makes screen reading in the console a game of chance. It dives into why session-locked audio breaks espeakup, why BRLTTY fails silently and eats USB ports, why the console can be a full environment — and why it’s still unusable out of the box. And yes, it calls out the fact that if you’re deafblind, and BRLTTY doesn’t start, you’re just locked out of the machine entirely. No speech. No visuals. Just a dead black box.

There are workarounds. Scripts. Hacks. Weird client.conf magic that you run once as root, once as a user, and pray to PipeWire that it sticks. Some of this I learned from a reader of post 1. None of it is documented. None of it is standard. And none of it should be required.

This is a long one. Technical, and very real. Because the console should be the one place Linux accessibility never breaks. And it’s the one place that’s been left to rot.

Link to the post: https://fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/i-want-to-love-linux-it-doesnt-love-me-back-post-3-speakup-brltty-and-the-forgotten-infrastructure-of-console-access/

#Linux #Accessibility #BlindTech #BRLTTY #Speakup #Fenrir #TTY #PipeWire #ScreenReader #DisabilityTech #ConsoleComputing #LinuxAccessibility #FOSS

I cycled a bit in Europe earlier this year, in a place with amazing cycle paths - signposted, maintained, safe and mostly separate from traffic. Do you know who cycles there? EVERYONE. Like, every demographic of person who exists in that area, you will see represented on a bike. I saw people in their eighties on ebikes popping to the shops. A dad on an ebike with 3 kids (one in front seat, one in trailer, one rollerblading holding on to the trailer). It's like another planet. A good planet.

@futurebird The best names for Nazis were always given by the resistance. 😉
Bertolt Brecht's "Anstreicher" for Hitler in 1934 became famous as an ambiguous wordplay with "Anschmierer" as someone who paints/smears (Hitler saw himself as a painter) and humbugs/cons other people. https://www.antiwarsongs.org/canzone.php?id=42069&lang=en

People sang it secretely. In later years, people were arrested just because of using that name. It was used for resistance.

The antidote to materialism isn't minimalism; it's maintenance. Keep things. Fix them. Mend them. Grow old with possessions you know well because you've cared for them.

Ever wondered what happens to all that abandoned camping gear at festivals... well at least some of it finds its way to up cyclers who re-use the materials for new (up cycled) products.

Its a small example of how the circular economy might work, but also demonstrates the continuing grip of the throw-away culture.

Still, good to see Retribe making a difference; it would be better if the stuff was not abandoned but if it s Retribe has an answer!

#CircularEconomy

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/30/small-and-mighty-thats-what-we-are-the-team-turning-discarded-tents-into-bags

My start-up's business model is taking one million euro from every billionaire, every year. If this is made illegal this whole industry will die.

It’s almost June, your yearly reminder that there is no pride without trans and non-binary people. Don’t support orgs that sacrifice them for a buck.

This is why it's possible for somebody to be bi, pan, and omni at the same time. Respect whatever word they choose.

A pansexual person is a person who fights off sexy zombies with a frying pan.

If you love your dog and let him or her to roll around on the lawn consider #pesticides increases risk of #cancers in #dogs. Protect your pets and the environment. #BoycottPesticides for pollinating #bees and #birds and for your beloved #pets! #animalrights https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3267855/

Anyone have any favorite queer owned businesses that sell rainbow patterned shorts? Ideally longer shorts not short shorts

I'm so tired of the worst people being the only examples of nonmonogamy we see in the media. So many polycules are wholesome af, just being chill, taking care of each other and their children and their friends, helping build strong communities, paying taxes. Of course they don't get headlines.

I am sure everybody here already read the newsletter yesterday, but just in case you check the fediverse more than email, here is the link

https://zc.vg/eeC5W?m=0

(p.s. the monthly sale is today Thursday May 29th, sorry for the short notice)

Police everywhere; justice nowhere.

I'm following the anti-war demonstration at EY Center in #Ottawa where a weapons trade show took place. After 11 or 12 arrests took place at the rally, protests started at the police station on Elgin. At the time of the photo, 12 cops stand our front of the station and 7 protesters. Both numbers are growing as one person was detained for using a megaphone.

Protesters are chanting "OPS, KKK, IOF, you're all the same" "let them go!" and #FreePalestine

Ottawa: technically better than a parking lot but don’t worry there’s a parking lot. #ottawa

Did you know Edmonton hosts an international cat festival every year, with your favourite celebrity cats from social media? It's coming up this Caturday! 😸 https://edmontoncatfest.com/

@asmaloney ottawa: better than nothing. Is basically the official motto at this point

I would encourage you to experiment with how much work gets enough done to keep the momentum going, while having some energy leftover for when you’re done. So that you’re not constantly working at your max.

#ActuallyAutistic #AuDHD #Autistic #EnergyManagement #BurnoutRecovery