Doug Webb

Member of Kanthaus, 🏠 a common house in 🇩🇪 https://kanthaus.online Current focus: score voting ➡️ coop & commons governance ⚖️ Glad to be here with you 🌍

🌐: https://dougwebb.site/...

Public Key

npub1rhy55t79a9w777fptnnmqaz3aykshm9lknett2s0umngst90ur7st8ugm9

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqspmj229lz7jh000ys4eeasw3g7jtgtajlmfu444g87de5g9jh7plgpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsankjd0

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1rhy55t79a9w777fptnnmqaz3aykshm9lknett2s0umngst90ur7st8ugm9

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Last Notes

2026-10-17 15:14:03 GMT

Today I learned that a rice cooker works because of a specially designed magnet that loses its magnetism at just over 100C (Curie point).
When you switch it on, a piece of metal sticks to the magnet, completing the circuit and heating on high. Heat stays on high until all of the water is absorbed or boiled off, at which point the temp rapidly climbs and the magnet drops the switch.

2026-09-24 17:56:13 GMT

frying aubergine 🍆 first they suck up all the oil and burn, then spit it all out and swim in it
make up your tiny minds 😫

2026-09-15 14:05:27 GMT

stupid amount of cool things happening in my corner of the universe this weekend, I am already grieving for all the lost lives

2026-08-30 09:56:21 GMT

Does anyone remember The Forest Cafe in #Edinburgh ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Caf%C3%A9
It closed shop in 2022, precipitated by Covid. But if I remember rightly, it was also because of volunteer burnout (partly because of the social work they were also taking on), not making enough money, etc.
Just wondering if anyone knows of a post-mortem, or has more personal insights.

2026-08-18 16:56:15 GMT

Does it exist?
* a powerbank
* that uses replaceable 18650 cells
* with USB-C in
* with USB-C and USB-A out

2026-08-18 10:17:06 GMT

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(Such as: sortition, basic income, dispossession of the elites, cybernetic citizen participation, etc)
"Inventing the Future" by Nick Srnicek, while a bit "old" now, has some of the most clear analysis, concepts and proposals for extricating ourselves from this crap.

2026-08-18 10:14:26 GMT

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I was talking to some Danish friends who were saying that 50% of the wage going for rent wasn't unusual.
I fear it can go on, will go on, unless people do something to change that.
I have accepted that no politician and no party will bring salvation now. I want to learn more about popular, Chartist campaigns of the past, because I think that's actually what we need to be doing now to bring about the radical social reforms we need.

2026-08-17 15:03:58 GMT

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I just speed read "zero to one" by Peter Thiel to understand the enemy. Not a great book, but interesting based on who it is.
The one chapter hit painfully true: "if you build it, they will come" mostly doesn't work.

2026-08-17 15:01:51 GMT

I often having this feeling I should do marketing/sales for a Good Project.

2026-08-14 11:19:24 GMT

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I'm at the point where I need to reinstall, and I'm at a crossroads...

2026-08-08 08:20:39 GMT

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I did this already for @npub10pl…tmpk It was hard, and I don't think I did a good enough job of opening the emotional space to celebrate and grieve, but it was the right choice and I'd do better next time.
FOSS-land is filled with half-dead projects, some of which should remain in limbo, but many of which should be allowed to rest.

2026-08-08 08:16:06 GMT

I would like to offer my service as a project undertaker 🥀
Did you start something years ago, and you know in your heart of hearts you'll never work on it again? 🍂
Has your project been completely outpaced by another, and you can no longer in good faith recommend other people to use yours? 🏺
Let them go. Help others to spend their efforts wisely, and take a weight off your mind.
I can help you remember your motivation, celebrate the good, archive and redirect.

2026-08-07 11:28:59 GMT

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I presume this is conjunction with your work? Maybe that context is useful.

2026-07-18 23:31:08 GMT

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I think this is the point. That's why I'm asking if there is *any* hard power that could be leverage. Getting the EU to not only take a stance, but push it though could be something.... would fit in their digital sovereignty schtick I guess.

2026-07-18 21:34:04 GMT

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dare I ask why everyone doesn't use Transitous? 🙈

2026-07-18 17:02:23 GMT

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Or hard power. I'm guess that a disproportional number of people interested in the campaign are sysadmins... no, I'm not suggesting DDOS, but is there... something... they could do, or threaten?
Or do we throw the towel in, rally behind grapheneOS and try to get eveyone to install... https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/26337-android-developer-verification-are-we-screwed-no-doesnt-apply-to-gos/31

2026-07-18 16:57:58 GMT

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Instead of "trying to convince everyone" with our small numbers and lack of celebrity status, what hard power can we access?
The signatories of the open letter are the usual suspects https://keepandroidopen.org/open-letter/ if we had media associations on their, it would presumably mean more articles... can we get The Guardian to sign? Ars technica? Tech crunch? (Does media even sign such stuff?)

2026-07-18 16:53:02 GMT

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We are a diffuse movement of people in a significant minority. A petition is ultimately symbolic, without any of the spectacle attached to blockade.
Mancur Olson theorized that smaller groups have a better chance of achieving their goals, since they gain a proportionally higher benefit if their aims are achieved https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Logic_of_Collective_Action

2026-07-18 16:37:45 GMT

Does #keepandroidopen stand a chance?

2026-07-18 16:18:59 GMT

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thanks! Can you ELI5 why transitous is unaffected?

2026-07-18 10:52:11 GMT

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ich have jetzt @npub1rd5…h64s installiert, ganz andere UI aber funktioniert

2026-07-18 10:01:30 GMT

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hast du eine Lösung gefunden? Ich vermisse Öffi sehr :(

2026-07-18 10:00:23 GMT

#offi #transportr are giving me "network problems" and no results... halp

2026-07-15 00:59:28 GMT

Finally getting round to overhauling my SSG website.
It's using metalsmith, which is pretty low level, which @npub15vf…vddy recommended me forever ago. Super minimal, 150 lines of JS + plugins.
It was off putting, and when I saw the lead dev had migrated to 11ty, I really considered it... or Hugo... or Hexo... or....
Nothing like trawling through alternatives (and trying a few out) in order to stick to the devil you know...

2026-04-22 21:56:22 GMT

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idk if anything can be _produced_ ethically at scale these days. So looking at _inputs_ is all that seems sensible. PV itself uses only trace amounts of rare minerals, which is what I thought you were talking about.
Sure aluminium for the frames, but it seems to all pale in comparison to the minerals required for batteries and cabling.

2026-03-01 13:07:10 GMT

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farewell reddit anon 😢
Interesting world we're coming too, where anything published online will likely be preserved for ever and quite possibly identifiable to author.
Most people will still remain anonymous by sheer volume of content, but politicians, etc will likely need to be trained from adolescence to keep squeaky clean record...

2026-02-25 10:42:31 GMT

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did anyone write a postmortem?

2026-02-24 20:22:37 GMT

I would like to get a better grasp of digital information fundamentals...
Tables, wikis, tags, folders. Databases, triples, links.
Must be some overarching theory on this.

2026-02-17 17:16:00 GMT

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this story feels a lot like the solid project https://solidproject.org/
Big splash at the beginning, some nerds get involved... but it's been years now, and when I tried to actually use one of the apps using it, UX was atrocious and I had to join a matrix room to get it working. Now I know I'm not the l33test hacker, but come on!

2026-02-13 20:23:58 GMT

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... This isn't satire? Damn. Just has that vibe of the Australian "honest government advert" thing.

2026-02-12 19:06:41 GMT

caught myself about to do a calculation on my phone that I could clearly do myself. stopped, did it myself.

2026-02-09 21:11:53 GMT

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Sooo... there is https://tryquiet.org/ that looks like slack, "Encrypted p2p team chat with no servers, just Tor." GPL 3.0.
and there is https://stoat.chat/ that looks like discord, "Stoat is an open-source, user-first chat platform."

2026-02-09 20:37:58 GMT

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Still not sold on Zulip, above all for onboarding less techy folks.
Is there any free groupchat with UI mostly like Slack / Discord / Mattermost / Teams?

2026-02-09 20:35:46 GMT

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Absolutely wild how similar these two homepages are.

2026-02-09 20:34:53 GMT

Your favorite open-core group chat, now in khaki or khaki
#rocketchat #mattermost
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/116/042/561/153/537/700/original/30920f732fc87321.png
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/116/042/561/179/718/615/original/aba643cf2aea07e4.png

2026-02-07 21:26:30 GMT

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yeesh, just had a look at Primal 🤢
Any nostr cultural experiences without the antisemitism, conspiracy, Bitcoin stuff?

2026-02-07 21:00:35 GMT

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just read! Great pieces, thanks!

2026-02-03 12:27:52 GMT

RE: https://social.wake.st/@liaizon/115989067770322256
If you are interested in what's coming next in our Fediverse adventure, read this thread from @npub1xse…lgk3 which they heroically live-tooted from the Social Web Dev room at FOSDEM!
#note10gn…t6gh

2026-02-02 19:49:19 GMT

To add to the list of graphic design casualties this last 12 months, I just found out Technische Universität Dresden changed their logo from iconic and unique to generic nothingness 🤷
https://tu-dresden.de/tu-dresden/profil/marke-tud/cd/neues-logo
#TUD
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/116/002/736/739/424/028/original/91dcdd653b694802.png

2026-01-13 11:35:00 GMT

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yeah, I know. Mages right? Heaven help them with marketing, those screenshots are awful!

2026-01-12 23:11:32 GMT

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done 😌

2026-01-12 23:10:39 GMT

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huh! Well, let them sort that out... oh, thanks for reminding me to uninstall element RIGHT NOW

2026-01-10 09:34:39 GMT

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oh fair. How comes? It's web only right?

2026-01-10 09:16:07 GMT

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you told me this ages ago I think. Element also keeps crashing recently... Are there any features missing from FluffyChat that makes it worth keeping element installed?

2026-01-10 09:14:54 GMT

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The solution to #Element spamming "X changed their display name to Y" seems to be: use #fluffychat
https://fluffy.chat
FluffyChat collapses all those system messages into one expandable 🙏

2026-01-08 14:20:49 GMT

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u were slacking in December mate

2026-01-06 14:09:36 GMT

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For want of an "s", the sentence was lost...

2025-12-25 13:56:10 GMT

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that's exciting, I'll be there

2025-11-15 13:21:41 GMT

"x changed their display name to X"
please, tell me how to not see this any more?
#element #matrix

2025-11-14 11:24:27 GMT

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I don't know folks. We need more, better words.
There is a huge difference between "you are not welcome because you are <X>" and "you are welcome, but it might not be interesting or comfortable"

2025-11-14 11:18:27 GMT

Collective drama: was talking to someone from a leftist Hausprojekt (collective house) in Leipzig.
Some people wanted to organize an ironic "speed dating" for Valentines day. Some other people said that would discriminate against aromantic people, and they would veto until it was called "speed friending". It didn't happen at all in the end 🙃
Person said it was more to do with underlying tensions between queer-er and cis-er people.

2025-11-12 20:05:03 GMT

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"Gentlemen! We cannot fall behind on a mineshaft gap!"
(Paraphrasing Dr Strangelove)

2025-10-16 17:13:13 GMT

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OK. I've just not been on Twitter for ages, 4chan never.
I still stand by my opinion that the fash acc thing is niche, and that there is a common sense understanding to what it means. But maybe it is poisoned for now, for you at least and therefore other people who's opinion I care about.
"Growth", "scaling" and "adoption" all kind of got claimed by the business ontology of capitalist realism anyway.
Do you have a proposal for how I should rephrase conversation title?

2025-10-16 16:59:46 GMT

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OK, but I had to look up e/acc just now... So I would say "acceleration" is still in a state of plasticity. Or is it already too far gone in your opinion?

2025-10-16 16:48:17 GMT

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oh nice, it let's me change the title on the fly! Now it's "Fediverse acceleration(?)". Could be something else... But I do think acceleration in an instrumental sense is worth talking about.

2025-10-16 16:32:53 GMT

I started a pol.is conversation on the topic "Fediverse acceleration" ⬇️ (You don't need an account)
https://pol.is/6skfwtthmn
pol.is is a FOSS web-app to help find consensus global & subgroup opinions within a set of participants 🤝
I've heard a lot about it over the years, but have had no experience with it. It looks like you rate statements positively 👍 or negatively 👎 and can write your own ✍️ After 7 participants, report data should become available.
#polis #governance #foss #fediverse

2025-10-09 13:08:47 GMT

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yo, what is this shit eh

2025-09-23 10:24:23 GMT

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read this, went into a shop and was confronted with this wall of digital payment options
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/253/119/801/387/142/original/a3508cf8bcea98b1.jpg

2025-09-17 15:16:59 GMT

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thanks for reminding me, def good if it's for multiple points, i.e. creating a new map.

2025-09-17 12:46:55 GMT

ahhhhh what is the map to use when you want to easily link to a specific location with a specific view? bc it ain't #OSM (love OSM btw)

2025-08-26 09:45:18 GMT

@npub1fus…tvjp your website seems to be timing out

2025-07-02 15:55:57 GMT

What resources would you recommend for getting into #activitypub
Basic theory, hello world ... implementation
Don't hold back, flood me 🌊

2025-06-21 09:59:54 GMT

Seen in #Berlin - Nice one punx.social
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/114/720/753/232/072/118/original/35be6f02f6b01e7f.jpg

2025-04-29 12:03:24 GMT

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interesting article, I was thinking of a similar campaign for glass jars with labels that don't come off with water.
Forcing sellers to deal with end-of-life, perhaps with an additional charge for "new" clothes, would help increase cost for new and incentivize secondhand.

2025-02-15 11:49:33 GMT

Ferry from #Marseille to #Tunisia, ~25 hours.
About 100€ per person with sleeping in chairs/on floor, so economically only makes sense if you have a car or loads of baggage. But you'd miss the pace and romance of the sea 🌊 Price seems to vary little with time.
Had to think multiple times of the people trying to make the opposite journey and the lives lost trying #noborders
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/114/007/717/914/885/344/original/be0a90c84ee7b3c8.jpg
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/114/007/719/147/136/856/original/695c1ec10da565cb.jpg

2025-02-10 11:50:44 GMT

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how about "picshare" ? (Like weirdly pronounced "picture")

2025-02-10 11:33:48 GMT

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cool. I think I should read it, question is when. I feel I need to get into action now, and "big analysis" is a bit tricky to act on... Think now is not the time for this one for me.

2025-02-10 11:12:00 GMT

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I heard about "solutions journalism" a while back, and see there is even some organization on that https://www.solutionsjournalism.org/

2025-02-10 10:57:19 GMT

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I haven't, but it's gathering tallies on my reading list.
I gather it's more about theory?
Thinking more about reading "Blueprint for revolution", which is about the learnings of Otpor

2025-02-07 18:33:57 GMT

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RIP pencil lead ⚰️

2025-01-23 20:29:38 GMT

how do we tell the story that the fediverse is complex web of instances, and that that is desirable?
(e.g.there is a direct link between the search not returning every result -- independent moderation -- isolating instances of abuse)
this is critical for helping people exit the hegemonies, because there are desires learned from being there that we can't & don't want to recreate

2025-01-21 16:50:46 GMT

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do you have a recommendation for facebook too?

2025-01-21 15:22:50 GMT

It is time for me to completely delete my twitter and facebook accounts ⚰️ 🥀
For years I was just squatting, but now just having those accounts feels like party membership...
Tips on how to exit with maximal earth scorching?

2025-01-18 13:38:47 GMT

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I b der

2024-11-27 20:56:33 GMT

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thanks for your thoughts. Curious what the discussion was - on fedi?
I am very skeptical that The Bad People will be put off anyone's code based on license: they typically have the money to reimplement or legally battle their way. This understanding informs my pragmatic support for Foss/public domain.
(Feels like a good place to mention the Telekommunit Manifesto though, which makes a strong case for "non-free" licensing https://networkcultures.org/blog/2010/10/21/the-telekommunist-from-dmytri-kleiner-is-out-now/ )

2024-11-25 17:49:45 GMT

A while ago I bought a vintage Dymo-Mite M22 embossing labeler after seeing a lot of other people on r/buyitforlife complaining about the new plastic ones. It is a pleasure to use and the result is great!
Was looking for instructions since I'm sharing it, and use is not 100% intuitive. Mind blown when I found the original instructions + exploded diagram + *price list for every single piece!*
#righttorepair #buyitforlife #dymo #backtothefuture
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/113/544/842/518/025/004/original/38eb4243951fd144.jpeg
https://6-28.mastodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/113/544/842/529/285/430/original/a490e675dfaf8aa8.webp

2024-09-10 17:49:40 GMT

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I will gladly user test!

2024-08-24 07:14:37 GMT

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there's this thing called tax 😈 on top of that, many companies simply make enough profits to be able to offer toilets for free use - if they wanted. Pay toilets seem to typically be an anti-homeless measure rather than anything economic.
I was travelling from Wales to Germany recently. Used a bunch of paid and public toilets. Almost no correlation between cleanliness and pay-for-ness.
@npub1wjs…ggtv

2024-08-16 16:47:34 GMT

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the war comparison is weird and sinister. You're completely overlooking the reasons for the destruction, and you make it sound like the loss of life is inconsequential.

2024-07-01 09:07:34 GMT

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I only found this out a month ago when a bunch of Microsoft stuff crashed for some hours, incl bing -> ddg
Using start page now, which is based on google. I mean, if I'm gonna piggy back off bigtech, might as well choose the leader 🤷
#searx and #yacy seem to be be cooler, but didn't find time to investigate.

2024-06-30 21:25:22 GMT

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side-note: ddg is bing under the hood.

2024-06-01 11:25:58 GMT

#simplex seems like a pretty cool messenger, with multiple privacy advantages over #signal - and it seems to 'just work'!
any opinions fediverse? or ppl who want to connect?

2024-05-31 13:44:39 GMT

I actually don't know how to send PGP encrypted emails. Looked at a guide for thunderbird, I do not have enough mental capital for that rn.
A interesting organization asked for emails to be encrypted, and I am not even going to write them 😢

2024-05-05 20:28:01 GMT

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superjail? (Misery displacement theory)