mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06Cat lover, ace lesbian, free software activist, golden retriever in a dress. I'm responsible for Mission:Libre, a project for people aged 11-14 in free software.
In Auckland, New Zealand.
My name's pronounced /ˌkɑː(ɹ)mən'lisændɹɛt/. Carmen's also fine!
Languages: English, Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian to varying levels of competency.
FYI, if you want #newzealand banks to be made to provide cash services everyone can access, you should really go fill out this 2-min consultation on the RBNZ site:
https://consultations.rbnz.govt.nz/rbnz/access-to-cash/consultation/subpage.2026-01-29.7717165071/
I thought I might just ask; fedi's as good a place to ask as any other.
Are there grants for #freesoftware and #opensource *activism* -- not software projects -- open to individuals not in the US or the EU?
I have big dreams of starting a project I really intended to be the go-to place for 11-14 year olds who're interested in free software activism, but I need financial resources to make it happen.
My budget, at most, is 55,000 EUR p.a., maybe a little more for the first year.
I don't know if I'm the only one to discover this, but xanthan gum makes a fantastic egg replacer for breading things for frying. Unlike oil or soy milk it holds onto the breading and you get full coverage.
@leighelse@mastodon.nz @BobLefridge@mastodon.nz
Freemasonry was crazy popular back in the day. You could have filled those seats easily.
Very inspired to write, but not the thing I need to.
I just banged out 1000 fantastic words over lunch on a completely different project than the one I need to do. Hope the inspiration is contagious.
Today's vocabulary list to learn includes words like droogleggen (to reclaim land), polder, and the difference between een kanaal and een gracht. Très néerlandais.
A friend of mine was looking at getting a clothing grant from WINZ to get some new bras. She wears a 14F, which is not such a weird size.
Unless you're very lucky at the sales, bras at that size cost $100 each.
The maximum clothing grant is $200, so she can get two -- just two -- maybe, and nothing else.
Women get punished for our biology, don't we?
Been trapped a home waiting for a parcel (not even for me) that's apparently not coming even though they sent a text saying it was.
Thanks DHL, I love you so much. It was a lovely, sunny day today.
I wish New Zealand had a diaspora organisation that would help those of us with big dreams who are still in the country get the resources and connections from overseas to make those dreams possible.
I've gotten a lot of sympathetic but uncomprehending shrugs from local organisations that are meant to help new projects and ventures.
I even asked local pros at one point, and they just told me Mission:Libre's so far out of their experience.
Recorder tab from 1683. Guitarists, eat your hearts out.
Some misconceptions are immortal. I remember being told about the apple in Sunday school.
(This is from a 1640s book debunking then-common misconceptions.
Is ham radio OK for vegans or no?
I found this book from the 1700s on the #internetarchive The first part is a bunch of stuff on astrology, fortune-telling and magic remedies.
What really interested me, though, was the templates for legal instruments tacked onto the end. Maybe the law is a form of magic.
(Side note: I thought this guy was swallowing a sword at first glance. It's a telescope)
I shut down @missionlibre@social.missionlibre.org 's CiviCRM instance several weeks ago to save effort and money and make it easier to keep people's data safe.
Even though Mission:Libre is still small, I really miss it. The potpourri of spreadsheets and wiki pages and text files I have now is just no match for having something meant exactly for what you're trying to do.
Quick question to all #newzealand #freesoftware and #opensource people: do we have an actual in-person community any more?
I'm asking because I was just thinking how much we used to have: linux.conf.au, user groups, the NZOSS. Those are basically gone.
Not counting what I've organised, I know Python has an active community and there's a little group that meets up in West #Auckland. But that's all I can think of.
Maybe there's something I'm missing and no one sent me an invite 🤷♀️.
*shaking my fist at whichever person at Google decided to put each script supported by Noto into a separate file*
Absolutely delighted to see my VPS bill is going up because the AI craze has made RAM so expensive.
Honestly, I used it for everything:
Collecting signatures for petitions
Managing member sign ups
Handing donations
Tracking contact with members
Looking after my press list and other resources
Sending mass-mailings
and so on....
It's really useful.
Yesterday I was sending an e-mail to members. I was reduced to copying and pasting the addresses from a spreadsheet like some kind of caveman.
And he looks very pleased about it, too!
Please enjoy some good news about #penguins
I hope it stays sunny enough so I can go to the park and visit my pukeko friends. Their chicks are starting to get their blue feathers.
Like, that is clearly a guy in a bear suit.