Tootfinder

#today I did several hours of QA work for a new uni BA course (as one paticipant in a Teams meeting), which was pleasant and interesting, and I think that I managed to jam sustainability a bit more firmly into the new course! Tomorrow is meetings with friends but also I really really ought to do work on my #buildingModel

The ACT Integrity Commission is conducting a major inquiry into lobbying and political influence in the Territory.
This is an important opportunity for us to strengthen transparency and accountability – and push back against corporate influence in politics.
We’re making a submission calling for stronger lobbying laws, including:
Public disclosure of lobbying meetings
A lobbying ban for former ministers
Independent oversight and enforcement
We’re inviting A…

Sign on to our ACT lobbying submission
Working together for a fairer democracy

A low-slung building in Garden Grove California is the home of the Women's Civic Club, a community group that's been around since 1921.
Once a month for nearly 20 years, it was also home to meetings for the California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR),
one of the influential voices in the anti-immigrant movement during the 1990s and 2000s,
and one whose legacy is still felt today.
The group originally started as Citizens for Action Now,
headed by…

The OC Community Center That Launched a National Anti-Immigrant Sentiment
A small community center became the unlikely launching pad for multiple extremist movements that profoundly changed American politics.

Corporate lawyers say AI-transcribed meeting notes may not have attorney-client privilege, making otherwise protected conversations discoverable in lawsuits (Sarah Kessler/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/09/…

All Those A.I. Note Takers? They’re Making Lawyers Very Nervous.
A trendy productivity hack, A.I. note takers are capturing every joke and offhand comment in many meetings. They could also potentially waive attorney-client privilege.

Who was the jack hole who thought 10 AM on a Tuesday was the right time to silently start installing a Teams update? Like, no. That's when meetings are happening.
Don't make a tool mission-critical, then think you can take it down at the moment when it is most needed.
#MicrosoftAnnoyances

Quick recap of Belém, Salzburg, and what's coming next:
http://anitagraser.com/2026/07/11/belem-salzburg-and-onwards/

Belém, Salzburg, and onwards
It’s been a couple of busy weeks, with the QGIS 4.2 release and meetings and conferences all over the place before a few, hopefully quieter, weeks of summer break. QGIS First, the Austrian QG…

What my problem with AI is, you ask?
It's not the math, or the science¹ or the technology, it's not even the data collection.
If you want one word: Techbros.
It's the way AI is applied and promoted and forced upon people, how it damages society and culture, how it exploits.
It is capitalism.
__
¹I am working at an AI chair, we do ML on our machines and discuss CNNs in our meetings and papers

from my link log —
Don't make my mistakes: common infrastructure errors i've made.
https://matduggan.com/mistakes/
saved 2021-12-03 https://dota…

First day of #SIGWriting2026 is done: opening, keynote, sessions, business meeting, welcome reception
There were 70 people at the business meeting! 70! We have 90 members, conferences usually attract 200 researchers. But there were times when we were 7 people at the business meetings (the 3 coordinators already included)
SIG Writing now has two new honorary members: Gert Rijl…

Sources: Beijing recently held meetings with Alibaba, ByteDance, Z.ai, and others to discuss restricting overseas access to advanced open and closed AI models (Fanny Potkin/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/world/beijing-is-l

Now, I don't especially like the term "church" so I may use something else... like "coven." You can do what you want. But I happen to have already mapped out an example. (It is exactly that, just an example, so take if it's useful, change if you need, and don't stick to anything too closely.) Oh, this mapping also means that you would, for religious reasons, only be allowed to work under capitalism 4 days a week instead of 5.
Given the increases in productivity over the last 100 years, a 4 day work week is a completely reasonable expectation. If we have to annex Monday for the weekend by force of religion, so be it. It is rightfully ours anyway. If enough people try it, this will probably work. If it doesn't work, it just needs more people.
The Practice of Worship:
It is recommended to break down worship in to three sections: the functional, the communal, and the spiritual. It is also recommended to break these across multiple days. A common structure for some Christian churches is to take 10-15 minutes for announcements (Functional), an hour or two for services (Spiritual), followed by (Communal) coffee, tea, and cookies for an unspecified time up to two hours after. When starting or working with limited time a single compressed model like this may work, but it's not optimal.
- The Functional
The purpose of this section is to address the functional needs of the coven. Block out time (less than 90 minute blocks is recommended) to go through reports and updates from those involved in the Dispensary, Library, Works Committee (infrastructure), and Services Committee (providing services internally and, potentially, externally). Talk through any additional announcements, including those from other covens you may be federated with.
It is helpful to include unstructured communal time, such as shared meals, during or after functional meetings. As the federation grows, more time will be needed. It is recommended to break functional meetings, work parties, and such across multiple days. When a federation becomes sufficiently large, it is recommended to take every Monday, on top of Saturday and Sunday, as a third day of community and worship.
The scope of the functional spans 3 realms (which may be more-or-less fluid): the personal or family, the coven and federation, and humanity itself. It is up to each coven and individual to negotiate how to allocate the three days of the weekend once we have liberated Monday from the work week, but it is important to reserve it for one of these three. However, some people must work on weekends. Medical personnel, for example, cannot conform to a standard work week. While the work week should be universally restricted, which specific days are used will be up to the specific coven and their members.
A functional meeting can start with an agenda like the following:
Functional Invocation
Announcements
Report Backs
Dispensary
Inventory Check
What is low
What is empty
What is expiring
What is needed
Funds status
Library
Inventory Check and Items needing return
Library acquisition requests
Funds status and budget check
Works Committee
Upcoming projects
Subcommittee updates (Following the Works Committee agenda)
New committee formations
Funds status
Services Committee
New capabilities announcements
New needs requests
Subcommittee updates (Following the Works Committee agenda)
New committee formations
Funds status
Task Check
Breaking the Circle
This agenda is a suggestion for those who don't know where to start. It can be adapted or ignored as appropriate.
- The Spiritual
Spirituality is necessarily an undefined space. It is deeply personal. Each individual taking time to share their own personal spiritual experiences can help each connect with each other. This experience of connection can itself be a spiritual experience. It may also be useful to read esoteric, mystical, or philosophical texts together as type of "book club" and share thoughts. Others may draw from their own knowledge or traditions. This is something that must be defined together within a group.
- The Communal
The communal aspect of the practice of worship bind the coven and federation together. Within the community we find joy and release, connection and comfort. The coven is where we turn in times of need, and where we share our hopes and dreams.

How much do these companies spend on tokens just to have their LLM workers attend meetings?

Sources: execs from Meta, Google, and Amazon met with Vatican officials in April, as part of a quiet lobbying push ahead of Pope Leo XIV's first AI encyclical (Océane Herrero/Politico)
https://www.politico.eu/article/pope-leo-xiv-ai-meetings-silicon-valle…

Silicon Valley takes its AI pitch to the pope
As Leo XIV prepares his first encyclical, technology firms and Western diplomats have worked to make their case inside the Vatican. 

The loss of widespread, real, meatspace, physically-coincident user group meetings is actually a terrible loss to computing culture in general and creative computing specifically