I love the snappiness and minimalism of #xfce, but I'm partial to the big dock icons like macos or Ubuntu unity has instead of tiny text on a taskbar menu. Is there a way to get this feature in xfce or otherwise in Linux #mint? #linux #asknostr

Anybody else donate their spare computing power with boinc, folding@home, or similar tools? What projects do you run? #boinc #asknostr #foldingathome

GM nostr, I love all seven of you

Hot take for the week: it's totally fine from an environmental perspective that we produce tons of plastic and that it's not recyclable and just sitting in landfills. You shouldn't feel guilty about using it. Arguably you should feel good about it. Hear me out. Not everything needs to be or benefits from being recycled. Recycling takes energy and money, so we don't want to recycle unless it really needs to be done. Some things are important to recycle, for example, paper. Why is paper important to recycle? Because paper comes from trees and we have a limited amount of those, and our use of paper far exceeds the regenerative capacity of trees. Trees are important for absorbing CO2 in the atmosphere and biodiversity, both of which we'd all perish without. We have to share trees with the rest of life on this planet. So keeping a good amount of trees around is important. Plastic, on the other hand, is not limited in the same way and doesn't need to be shared. The primary thing we use to make plastic is ethane, we produce more ethane than we know what to do with, which is why plastic is so cheap, which is why recycling plastic always costs more than making new plastic, which is why we don't recycle plastic. We get ethane because we drill for methane (natural gas). As long as we keep using and needing natural gas, we basically have an infinite supply of nearly free ethane. We have to do something with the ethane, as long as we're drilling for methane, Ethane is coming out of the ground whether we want it or not. Nothing else uses ethane, biodiversity doesn't depend on ethane existing, we could use every last unit of ethane and the consequence would be we'd either have to start recycling plastic or switch to a different material at that point in time. And if, in the present time, we use something else *aside* from ethane/plastic, like for example, wood? Now we're using a limited resource we have to be more careful about our consumption of. And we've wasted the ethane. Ok fine, we've got plenty of plastic, but I can hear you already saying that plastic takes forever to degrade in landfills. Do you know how long Ethane takes to "degrade"? It's stuck in the earth's crust, close enough that we can access it with drills, which means it's basically at the surface. If we didn't take it out of the ground, it would be sitting there for tens of thousands or millions of years, gradually making its way to the center of the earth where it would be turned into magma and then eventually back into more rock for earth's crust. So when we make plastic, all we're really doing is turning ethane into a slightly different form and storing it in a different place. The landfill isn't any worse to store it in than the earth's crust. That landfill we put it in will also, eventually, make it to the center of the earth. Another common environmental downside people accuse plastic of is creating hazardous conditions for animals, for example, sea turtles getting their heads stuck in those plastic rings that hold drink cans together. This is more of a problem of the shape of the material than the material itself, and this can be solved without eliminating plastic use altogether. The final and most compelling environmental argument against plastic is the impact of plastic on things like human and animal health. Let's skip human health for a second, because that's a different topic. If we're talking about animal health, that's an environmental impact and I agree that it's an issue with plastic. Proper disposal of (but not recycling of) plastic would solve this, this critique of plastic is more a critique of our waste management system than of plastic itself. And remember that any time we replace plastic with something else, it's not like the "something else" is free from environmental consequences, it has to be weighed against any plastic has. Wood is great, but it means chopping down trees, treating wood is environmentally hazardous, and it's also heavier to transport. Concrete is great but concrete also has a massive CO2 footprint, etc. "Plastic bad" isn't enough, it has to be "plastic worse" for us to use other options. And in many, many use cases, I really don't see other options as being any better. The environmental argument against plastic imo is weak af. #environment #plastic #sustainability

13 years ago this week Aaron Swartz took his own life after Obama's DoJ made him face 50 years imprisonment for violating a website terms of service. Aaron was trying to share knowledge from scientific publications to the world for free. One of our generation's greatest minds and fighters for digital liberty, Aaron helped create RSS, Creative Commons, and many more tools which became commonplace. He would have been 39 years old today. We remember you Aaron. You would be proud of how far freedom tech has come.

If you want more people to adopt #Bitcoin stop trying to explain it to them, they don't give a fuck. Start spending instead. Vendors give a fuck. Non-profits soliciting donations give a fuck. People buying things give a fuck when you offer them discounts. Nobody gives a fuck about privacy or transaction finality or whatever the fuck you are on about. They DO care about money. When you have money, you get to choose how it's spent, use that power. Put your money where your mouth is, lead by example, you'd be amazed the doors it opens.

Feeling grateful for somebody today: Hal Finney. So I just donated $10. Seventeen years ago, Hal, one of the world's most legendary programmers posted two words that changed everything: “Running bitcoin.” Today, thousands of Bitcoiners in 50+ countries run in his memory to raise money for disease research. Hal was one of the original developers for Bitcoin and a lifelong contributor to liberty-enhancing technology. He contributed to the development of the first open-source email encryption system (PGP), ran anonymous remailers, and created the first "proof of work" system, a technology which Bitcoin would later draw inspiration from. He was also the first person to ever receive a Bitcoin transaction. Unfortunately, disease does not discriminate and one of our generation's brightest minds was struck down by ALS. Less than five years after his first transaction on Bitcoin, he told the world he had become essentially paralyzed by this cruel disease. He would die in 2014, long before Bitcoin would become recognized as internationally significant currency. And all of his remaining BTC was spent fighting for his life. Thank you Hal for your contributions to #freedomtech. #bitcoin #halfinney Some information about the fundraiser follows: 🏃‍♀️ What it is We honor Hal by running or walking 21 km (13.1 mi) – anywhere, any pace. Every step helps fund research to end ALS, the disease Hal fought while still running and still coding. ⚡️ Who’s backing it This year’s challenge is supported by: – Human Rights Foundation @HRF (HRF) – defending human freedom and privacy with Bitcoin – Block (Square & CashApp) – building on open money for the world The HRF also honors Hal with the Finney Freedom Prize, recognizing work at the intersection of Bitcoin, freedom, and privacy. Congratulations to the 3rd halving era’s winner, Andreas M. Antonopoulos - who educated millions on Bitcoin and its potential for humanity. Hal would be proud of your work. 🏆 💰 Where donations go – 80%+ of all funds go directly to ALS research – Donations in bitcoin (and fiat) are accepted Every sat, every step, every share moves us closer to a cure. 👣 How to join 1. Go to runningbitcoin.us 2. Sign up for the Running Bitcoin Challenge 3. Run, walk, or hike your 21 km over 21 days 4. Post your progress and share a photo and tag #RunningBitcoinChallenge 🙏 From me to you I’m Fran Finney, Hal’s wife. Every January, I watch this community show up – running, walking, donating, sharing. You keep Hal’s spirit alive. That means everything to me. 📡 Find us on Nostr – Me (Fran) @Fran Finney : @Fran Finney – Running Bitcoin Challenge @Running Bitcoin Challenge : @Running Bitcoin Challenge 21 days. 21 km. 1 legend. Run. Walk. Donate. Share. Join us in honoring Hal – and if you participate, I’d love to see your pictures. 👉

Running Bitcoin Challenge - ALS Network

Anytime in 2026! Anywhere in the World!

I have a helpful tip for you to reduce how often you get sick in winter using safe, well-tolerated, "natural" remedies. This is the worst flu season in 25 years thanks to recent mutations, so buckle up.[e] Everybody knows that the primary ways to avoid getting contagious illnesses propagated via air like COVID-19 and Flu are to avoid people and mask. Unfortunately, these strategies come with significant downsides and so most people in most situations choose not to utilize them. Handwashing also reduces illness risk with little downside, but does nothing to protect you from the primary means of covid transmission: air. But if you want to reduce your risk further, consider getting some Iota-Carrageenan nasal spray. Research on it is limited but promising. Several studies have shown that it both reduces your chance of getting sick in the first place [d] and, at least in the case of common cold, reduces the length of your symptoms [b]. It also kills COVID-19 in petri dishes/solutions because it provides an inhospitable environment [a]. More studies and replication need to be done to really drill down and verify these protections, but given these nasal sprays are cheap, have limited to no side effects, and are widely considered safe, I personally use them. In one study among medical staff treating COVID-19 patients, this simple nasal spray gave a 78% reduction in relative risk of infection [D]. This may be due to a combination of mechanical (blocking/covering of vulnerable cells from the air) and chemical factors. Other nasal sprays have shown similar results such as antihistamine sprays, which are speculated to rely more on chemical reactions (binding of the histamine receptor, therefore preventing COVID-19 from binding to it). Iota-Carrageenan is a natural product made from seaweed. Funding for this kind of research is limited because there is no investment potential for pharmaceutical companies (not a patentable drug) and government funding for this kind of research has dried up. The spray itself has a very mild burning sensation, if you'd taken a nasal spray for allergies before then you know what that feels like. It's similar to taking a deep breath after opening a bottle of some isopropyl alcohol or vinegar. It lasts a few seconds and then disappears completely and is really minor. #covid19 #wellness #health #flu Sources: A. https://www.mdpi.com/1661-3821/3/3/25 B.

PubMed

Efficacy of a carrageenan nasal spray in patients with common cold: a randomized controlled trial - PubMed

Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN80148028.

D.

PubMed

Efficacy of a Nasal Spray Containing Iota-Carrageenan in the Postexposure Prophylaxis of COVID-19 in Hospital Personnel Dedicated to Patients Care with COVID-19 Disease - PubMed

NCT04521322.

E.

WebMD

This Flu Season Is Brutal. Here's How to Stay Safe

The year is starting with more than twice as many flu cases and nearly twice as many hospitalizations and deaths from the flu as the CDC reported a...