Nostr notes by William Pietri

It's wild to me how much software is flaky. The kind of stuff ...

2026-04-15T17:12:02+02:00

It's wild to me how much software is flaky. The kind of stuff that would get immediate attention in any physical business can be super flaky for weeks or months in the online versions. If software is going to eat the world, we're going to have to figure out how managers get the same level of awareness any corner store clerk has.

We then needed 20 years to forget about that before the next 3D ...

2026-01-16T21:15:58+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…m8xm
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We then needed 20 years to forget about that before the next 3D future arrived: Movies! Again! This one ran circa 2009-2013. As we know it ultimately didn't pan out, but it was enough to touch off two more fads involving stereoscopic 3D. 6/

The crash of that was enough to get people to forget about ...

2026-01-16T21:10:23+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…rhpw
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The crash of that was enough to get people to forget about stereoscopic 3D for a generation. But in the 1990s as personal computers became ubiquitous and the early Internet created excitement, computers became powerful enough to render 3D graphics in real time. Rendering 3D worlds on 2D monitors was wildly popular, but interactive stereoscopic 3D was seen as the future of fun. And also of work! 5/

In honor of Meta's latest announcement, a thread on 175 years ...

2026-01-16T20:48:21+01:00

In honor of Meta's latest announcement, a thread on 175 years of 3D failure.

Let's first go all the way back to 1851 with the Brewster Stereoscope. No less a person than Queen Victoria was impressed, kicking off a fad that quickly sold over 250,000 units. Turns out it was not the future of photography.

1/

I can't fix the big things, but I can do something about the ...

2025-10-08T21:14:08+02:00

I can't fix the big things, but I can do something about the small ones.

A few days ago I went to the post office to ship something. I put it in one of the flat rate boxes and went to address it. Of the 6 pen-on-chain doodads they had, only one was left, and that one had no ink. Gah!

So I ordered some of those tethered pens, which are not expensive, and today I went back to quietly install them. I felt vaguely criminal, but I got all 6 installed and nobody noticed.

Making a few thousand people's life slightly better is a small thing with all the chaos in the world today. But it's the thing I could do, and I'm glad of it.

Me too! A CO2 meter really shaped my masking choices. It's ...

2025-06-03T16:07:18+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…dvqc
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Me too! A CO2 meter really shaped my masking choices. It's wild to me they aren't just everywhere now, like thermometers are.

This was totally a shock to me. Care of community is almost a ...

2025-03-09T23:04:10+01:00

This was totally a shock to me. Care of community is almost a reflex for me, and the pandemic really shook my faith. I spend a lot of time thinking about what it would take to create communities where mutual care is the default.

I can't help but think a company doing this is irredeemable. ...

2025-02-20T23:17:31+01:00

I can't help but think a company doing this is irredeemable. Their understanding of business has drifted so far from what's healthy that I think they should be shut down, and regulators should do some long reflection on how to keep others from getting this bad.
https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/20/hp_deliberately_adds_15_minutes/

I am seeing some defeatist nonsense with the upcoming Trump ...

2025-01-19T17:25:25+01:00

I am seeing some defeatist nonsense with the upcoming Trump inauguration, talking as if America is over. I say: Fuck that!

I will not obey in advance. I will not spread despair. I will not quit trying to push things forward.

America has always been flawed, and has faltered many times. But MLK Day reminds us that there are American ideals that are worth fighting for, even when things seem hopeless. Especially when things seem hopeless!

I had a very similar experience at UCSF! They had to have me sign ...

2025-01-08T17:40:14+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…e7fn
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I had a very similar experience at UCSF! They had to have me sign something saying I'd received some document. When I said I couldn't sign until I received it, they seemed befuddled, and it took two weeks and who knows how many people before they finally found it. Good thing I wasn't in a hurry!
Rejin (npub1z7r…28lv) Edelruth, PBS Passport Holder (npub19pw…7p7e)

My brother, an accomplished carpenter and furniture-maker, ...

2024-11-24T14:54:33+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…mk44
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My brother, an accomplished carpenter and furniture-maker, finished his basement some years ago. He got a drywall quote, flinched, and said, "how hard can it be?" Turns out very hard if you want it to look good. He's still mad at himself.

To control "their" women, these dudes recognize that they ...

2024-11-02T15:13:12+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…nxfj
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To control "their" women, these dudes recognize that they have to control everybody in America. They're going for it. And I think we scoff at that at our peril.

Patriarchy has a lot of historical traction. And reversion is entirely possible. Look at Afghanistan, for example. They had a period of women's liberation, but now it's illegal for women to even sing. 2/

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/taliban-regime-ruled-afghanistan-vice-virtue-law-conceal-faces-voices-bodies-united-nations-concerns-women-suffocated-2587027-2024-08-24

Or these? And dudes, if you're still having trouble ...

2024-11-01T15:11:01+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…w90j
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Or these?

And dudes, if you're still having trouble understanding it after this, ask me. Don't ask women! Making women responsible for dealing with sexist nonsense is part of sexism. (And if you want to know about that, read Manne's "Down Girl".)

or these? ...

2024-11-01T15:09:07+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…atm3
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or these?

Thanks! Super helpful. Hopefully once release crunch time ends at ...

2024-10-31T13:57:40+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…c3gm
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Thanks! Super helpful. Hopefully once release crunch time ends at work I can do something with these.

Back on my theme of trying to understand why LLMs have taken off: ...

2024-10-30T14:37:32+01:00

Back on my theme of trying to understand why LLMs have taken off:

Puzzle piece 1: LLMs are, in Frankfurt's sense of the term, bullshit machines. To him, a core component of bullshit is "indifference to how things really are".

Puzzle piece 2: Managerialism, a dominant business philosophy, holds that managers are universal. They can manage anything without regard to the topic. Without truly learning "how things really are".

Puzzle piece 3: On average, the larger the company the higher the density of bullshit. CEO statements, managerial presentations up and down, customer comms, etc. Related is the density of office politics, careerism, etc.

So putting this together, it seems like our corporate hierarchies have a hard time understanding the weak point of LLMs because standard corporate culture has the same weak point: valuing many other things over the truth.

Women only, a quick question: How bad is the reply guy problem on ...

2024-10-08T15:29:27+02:00

Women only, a quick question: How bad is the reply guy problem on Mastodon? (Please boost for a good sample.)

One of the things I adore is reasonable misunderstandings. This ...

2024-09-06T17:12:04+02:00

One of the things I adore is reasonable misunderstandings. This is a favorite. Do you have any you love?

Does anybody need a terrabyte of historical ship movement data ...

2024-09-03T17:49:42+02:00

Does anybody need a terrabyte of historical ship movement data that I'm about to delete? It's from aishub.net, circa 2016-2023. I'm done with the project I was collecting it for, but thought I'd check in case anybody else wants it. Yours for the cost of getting it out of AWS.