I'm sorry to have to do this, but please take a moment to read:
Phil Torrone, Managing Director of Adafruit—using various accounts named "ptorrone" on various platforms—has undertaken a campaign of bullying and harassment against various people in apparent response to an argument that took place on Bluesky, the details of which I'm not clear on.
In the course of this campaign, anyone stepping in to defend his targets has also become a target.
As of yesterday, this includes myself.
🧵
All this is to say: You don't get to get rich off Arduino and then act shocked and disgusted when it's subsumed by capital interests. Not within the context of the economy that produced it.
Can you be disappointed? Of course. Sad? Angry? Of course, you should be. But by that measure, you should be sad and angry about everything
Fuck Qualcomm, yes. But furthermore, fuck the whole thing top to bottom.
Foster an understanding of the systems that coopted your passion. Fight these systems where and when you can. Help each other. Each one teach one.
In the meantime: Buy a Chinese clone, pirate an IDE, make something out of the trash that we're drowning in. Have fun.
Maybe it's more personal for people who were there at the inception, but I was late to the game and while I absolutely drank the kool-aid for a while, I did eventually become disillusioned with the whole thing before my entire self-conception was based on it. Even then, it has been an ongoing struggle to separate the things that are good and human (transparency, sharing, cooperation, creativity) from the things that are extractive and exploitative about "our hobby"
All this is to say: You don't get to get rich off Arduino and then act shocked and disgusted when it's subsumed by capital interests. Not within the context of the economy that produced it.
Can you be disappointed? Of course. Sad? Angry? Of course, you should be. But by that measure, you should be sad and angry about everything
Fuck Qualcomm, yes. But furthermore, fuck the whole thing top to bottom.
I was once gifted a 9/11 memorial CIA challenge coin for participating in a roundtable discussion with a bunch of Pentagon guys about what a "makerspace" is. This was at my office, at the behest of my employer. Guy said the 9/11 coins were the only ones left in the giftshop. That's the day I stopped trying to convince myself that what we were doing was good.
Maybe it's more personal for people who were there at the inception, but I was late to the game and while I absolutely drank the kool-aid for a while, I did eventually become disillusioned with the whole thing before my entire self-conception was based on it. Even then, it has been an ongoing struggle to separate the things that are good and human (transparency, sharing, cooperation, creativity) from the things that are extractive and exploitative about "our hobby"
Finally reading up on the latest Arduino drama and... yeah, man. Where did we all think this was going? I wrote off Arduino years ago. Companies aren't your friends. Software cannot be your friend. No matter how "punk" you think your subculture is, if the raw materials are just leftovers from the MIC, capital will come knocking eventually.
I was once gifted a 9/11 memorial CIA challenge coin for participating in a roundtable discussion with a bunch of Pentagon guys about what a "makerspace" is. This was at my office, at the behest of my employer. Guy said the 9/11 coins were the only ones left in the giftshop. That's the day I stopped trying to convince myself that what we were doing was good.
Finally reading up on the latest Arduino drama and... yeah, man. Where did we all think this was going? I wrote off Arduino years ago. Companies aren't your friends. Software cannot be your friend. No matter how "punk" you think your subculture is, if the raw materials are just leftovers from the MIC, capital will come knocking eventually.
Ugh, my phone woke me up this morning to deal with some kind of weird email drama. No use trying to sleep now, the highway noise outside is going full-swing. I've been thinking about making some kind of shredded cabbage omelet thing. I think I'll give it a shot.
It's not okonomiyaki, because I don't have any... of the things to make okonomiyaki. But it is still eggs and cabbage, which ain't bad.
Good morning to everyone except CAN Bus
Ugh, my phone woke me up this morning to deal with some kind of weird email drama. No use trying to sleep now, the highway noise outside is going full-swing. I've been thinking about making some kind of shredded cabbage omelet thing. I think I'll give it a shot.
mh-/+
Also, I've gained some weight. Not a ton. It makes sense, I've spent over a year indoors most of the time and I've eaten a lot of delivery food. At 6'2" and broad-shouldered, I can put on a lot of weight before I'm too unhappy with my physique... but I'm pushing 300 right now.
Most of my adult life I've hovered around 285. If I try really hard, I can stay down around 260. I'd love to be 220.
Nick Poole