2026-07-09T18:30:53Z https://nostr.ae Curtis "Ovid" Poe (he/him) https://nostr.ae/npub1n2snycspn4y5l5lmps55qcl09m0uue3grvn64l7q8xf5xqc8d4fs7he42n https://cdn.fosstodon.org/accounts/avatars/109/296/646/340/010/140/original/6840191bde647e2c.jpg https://cdn.fosstodon.org/accounts/avatars/109/296/646/340/010/140/original/6840191bde647e2c.jpg https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqs9hxcnvxpk9rc0xgwzrl6q7ad2fp6cwf8r8fcslgfn6a873qjz4xszyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xshc6u4 In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsqmlt08ydt0e3he84lt5wdtj9acue0u7fagkhg7grms5qdtu76s9cw40g69'>nevent1q…0g69</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>My favorite was Reuters editorial software which always replaced &#34;queen&#34; with &#34;Queen Elizabeth.&#34;<br/><br/>Queen Elizabeth commands tens of thousands and lays up to 2,000 eggs a day.<br/> <img src="https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/736/621/898/682/407/original/a57a0eb24479d941.png"> <br/> 2026-06-12T10:20:56Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsdwu77sd8zzkf02e2thea0lqzvfuqss36hcq94ymklae58zndxcsqzyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xzv26ev In Malta, August 15th is a holiday: The Feast of Mary&#39;s Assumption. Unfortunately, this did not fit on our calendar.<br/> <img src="https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/116/736/450/519/038/913/original/7981e55b304be4f7.png"> <br/> 2026-06-12T09:35:19Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqs8uc002cwtjyj3f4mnxcazxh92kttx6h7fnt0u0z7uft49che6g5czyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xnccaaf In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqs8v330wdft9dc6c96fy0t5q7japugulsqrfuud2gtq99l7h3z788ckfwevu'>nevent1q…wevu</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>Oh, please. Here I am, sitting at my desk eating, and you&#39;re over there trying to make me cry. Not nice! 2026-05-26T10:10:51Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqspymkvtr77schphxgjghntnr6syglj55kegntc8wkw35crkk0xhqczyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xwpe7yf In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsw80u7jp2flk0p206er9h54tdlyu2yee809zarr5acjjmr239cjwgxqnsqu'>nevent1q…nsqu</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>In the 90s, after working for an insurance company that heavily relied on Lotus Notes, I decided that use of this software was my litmus test for employers. If they used it, I wouldn&#39;t work there. It has to have been one of the most hostile pieces of sofware I have ever worked with :) <br/><br/><a href="https://hallofshame.gp.co.at/lotus.htm">https://hallofshame.gp.co.at/lotus.htm</a> 2026-05-26T09:51:36Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqswlnk7vvk6eg6060wvrztjhry28meqtg8afzxfd94lqgqun2ggtmczyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xy56zt7 In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsytkwj4cf8qsccqlr86rlwzcjm2zgg7v64u394gv2w7kaev3zpyfct03g2y'>nevent1q…3g2y</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>I probably should have said Urukagina, the ruler of the city-state of Lagash (in modern-day Iraq). He canceled debts and freed slaves. Documented priests and wealthy abusing the poor by seizing property and using excessive fines. Roughly 2400 BCE. First documented case I can find, though WHY he did this is contested. 2026-04-02T12:18:41Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsvjt27mgg4qlx5uykvygrh398v278y5duq62jcjx4wqmxnepnmu6czyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4x4z0mcv In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsps033x8pxpgr68m3qj6tscv9h4h7rr8v77hzhkha20kungxns0dqep7mtp'>nevent1q…7mtp</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>If you really want to go down the rabbit hole, the 2000-year-old Chinese dynastic cycle covers this with the &#34;Mandate of Heaven.&#34; We can also document this behavior in ants, hyenas, birds, and other creatures: if you can get away with it, it takes less energy to steal than to create.<br/><br/>The pattern keeps repeating: gain leverage over something people need, then extract. It doesn&#39;t matter whether the leverage is grain, land, trade routes, or algorithmic lock-in. 4/8 2026-04-02T11:26:35Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqs2czaul8pu7a5rv3vkhht8panylk48cyfu82ld2tq3dx5g88c8jxgzyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xzkzq57 In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqswjqxr9dvcaurlzncmgs23naqd44adzdwk0h7cd9tz524zassl97szanj6t'>nevent1q…nj6t</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>The parallel was too tidy. The pattern went much further back.<br/><br/>I started with a simple question: why does wealth extraction feel so relentless right now? Gig work, algorithmic rent-seeking, AI displacing workers while stock prices soar. My assumption was that capitalism was broken and I was wondering what &#34;post-capitalism&#34; would look like. But now I think I was wrong about capitalism. 2/8 2026-04-02T11:26:35Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsyeylfnrjhg8acgf6ymrrp7hlmkvt2dl6zxaf2n25qhgzzdckv7sczyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4x0em20t In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsvjt27mgg4qlx5uykvygrh398v278y5duq62jcjx4wqmxnepnmu6c760885'>nevent1q…0885</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>Ibn Khaldun documented this cycle in the 14th century. Acemoglu and Robinson formalized it as &#34;extractive institutions&#34; (and won a Nobel prize for it). It&#39;s not new.<br/><br/>And then I started thinking about <span itemprop="mentions" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Person"><a itemprop="url" href="/npub1fdrpydz4n2dpgpy5xhsa6rjg8ytggn82mt0addw6sf93272nhhnqsjlvhs" class="bg-lavender dark:prose:text-neutral-50 dark:text-neutral-50 dark:bg-garnet px-1"><span>Cory Doctorow</span> (<span class="italic">npub1fdr…lvhs</span>)</a></span>&#39;s enshittification framework: attract users, lock them in, extract value. That&#39;s not a description of platform capitalism. That&#39;s a description of Ur. Of Athens. Of Rome. Of the East India Company. Same pattern, different API.<br/><br/>This isn&#39;t a &#34;capitalism is bad&#34; argument. 5/8 2026-04-02T11:26:35Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsps033x8pxpgr68m3qj6tscv9h4h7rr8v77hzhkha20kungxns0dqzyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xwhlkw0 In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqs2czaul8pu7a5rv3vkhht8panylk48cyfu82ld2tq3dx5g88c8jxgmhzfmu'>nevent1q…zfmu</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>I was starting from a position of &#34;knowing&#34; the truth and trying to justify it rather than discovering the truth.<br/><br/>The deeper I dug, the more uncomfortable the evidence became. Sumerian temple economies centralized grain surpluses, then extracted labor from dependent populations. Athens ran on slave-worked silver mines. Rome displaced small farmers, creating a landless class pacified with bread and circuses (the &#34;lazy Romans demanding handouts&#34; trope is grade-A bullshit). 3/8 2026-04-02T11:26:35Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqswjqxr9dvcaurlzncmgs23naqd44adzdwk0h7cd9tz524zassl97szyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xpg70ld OK, I&#39;ve been silent for a while because ... research. My wife&#39;s gonna kill me if I write another book, but I realized she&#39;s not on Mastodon, so let&#39;s keep this our little secret, eh? My question: does the following make your socks roll up and down or is it a yawnfest?<br/><br/>I was comparing AI job displacement to the Enclosures—English commons privatized, millions of workers displaced. Seemed like a tidy historical parallel. Unfortunately, I kept reading. And reading. And reading. 1/8 2026-04-02T11:26:34Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsyrnr0g2t49pe7lzks82ev7qmwz4aquykse6njw3dn4awkjgtj2gqzyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4x9satma In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsp3gwg5j952lpq37eug08g0l4j7mzuqp0sv0k5540ly2z0hqc0ssqq5e7re'>nevent1q…e7re</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>I miss those conferences :/ 2026-03-09T13:27:08Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsfpnnkadx0jfqfplg5tk53x85kaqtptvxtt4mdac2dkw7v7mk22ngzyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4x5hhpke In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsp3gwg5j952lpq37eug08g0l4j7mzuqp0sv0k5540ly2z0hqc0ssqq5e7re'>nevent1q…e7re</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>He was sharing a hotel room with me, but he didn&#39;t go to the conference. We hung out in the evenings. 2026-03-09T12:53:04Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqs9x6te42ghfgw4mzkkslalv8wf4gd4hme43nnnu0qg3q52ax40jcczyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xzhe07a Holy crap. This was 17 years ago. I was asked to create a promo video pitching a conference in Portugal.<br/><br/><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNo0TAQPA6o">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNo0TAQPA6o</a> 2026-03-09T10:46:17Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqszw74s08dg8d37fmwl62sm9xjh86ynvxzuajycdnlfe5f5r2qghpgzyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xrryq36 In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsy4nrtzchs8gdy079zvszzsyra7xkmw4aagdw4v54gw0fz4297e5slgvhmu'>nevent1q…vhmu</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>I think a lot of the the difficulty with inside-out classes is that they were difficult. It was tricky to get them right and after a while, people shrugged and went the easy way (as I did, too). If you make doing the right thing hard, people don&#39;t do it. 2025-11-25T19:09:25Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsd35w7a79y2cz22q0f7s65jn8fnzkd3wlpm5tqsdcz7t5fxa6nhcqzyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xam6w8f My biggest mistake in the design of the new object system for the #Perl core is that I didn&#39;t make methods private by default.<br/><br/>Had I proposed it, I think it would have been the right thing to do. Pretty sure there would have been a rebellion against me. 2025-11-19T21:06:08Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqspjkxrg723uakhtldyxywc36kkqzpe4cxwwgsa3w8vw6d2le00n2qzyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4x4n8s90 RE: <a href="https://social.lansky.name/@hn50/115570606505020117">https://social.lansky.name/@hn50/115570606505020117</a><br/><br/>Currently I&#39;ve been trying to find out if Cloudflare was out or somehow blocked on our end. I&#39;ve been finding that the sites I usually check for outages run on ... Cloudflare.<br/>nostr:note1u9yqauwglutdy59y64ka923ze9ehjlk2rw9hylvlf7t672smpsrs4a0wly<br/> 2025-11-18T12:08:24Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsthwj2qvqyka5wcw4e29kaurr3h2svc5z6mrhnn2krcqu0nnnlmjgzyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xdfsadl I saw a No Kings protest sign saying &#34;Trump is fucking Satan.&#34;<br/><br/>I wondered what part of speech &#34;fucking&#34; is. It could be either an adjective or a verb. It works both ways.<br/><br/>Then I realized it could be both at the same time.<br/><br/>Then it means &#34;Trump can go fuck himself.&#34;<br/><br/>**Update**: South Park? I&#39;ve seen excerpts, but not in years. I don&#39;t know that I&#39;ve ever seen a full episode! 2025-10-20T20:17:02Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsfr8dhlaakt0z0hr60ckr04a2p3fwzwt5lh50eqpmssc0c2ugpqjczyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4x22pp73 In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsxvp2h66w3l05wgmmr45lu3l302tdzrtpstv3p3j9jnv4fnxjualgnc2njw'>nevent1q…2njw</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>That&#39;s what we called it in Texas, too. I felt that &#34;Telephone&#34; was probably a much nicer term to use :)<br/><br/>We had plenty of other racist things that children used to say (&#34;eenie, meenie, minie, moe ...&#34; used to be awful) that I had to unlearn once I realized what was going on. Pretty horrifying to grow up in such a racist society and not realize it at the time. 2025-10-13T11:05:21Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqs20lqsyy5qupp4yvz3rln2fc0zy2rghu4s63u2fuzc3p2ukd93q4gzyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4x879fn4 As children, the teacher would line us up, whisper something into the first child&#39;s ear, who would whisper it to the second child, and so on. The last child would speak the sentence out loud and everyone would laugh because it was nothing like the original sentence.<br/><br/>As children, we called this game &#34;Telephone.&#34;<br/><br/>As adults, we call this game, &#34;Product Creation Process.&#34; 2025-10-13T09:32:52Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqst4dwe9ay4wxel9dhgz4yknze2elzh8l8shxn35ljmm47cpjg2t9czyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4x47qpgx Argument of the day, with me *again* explaining why we&#39;re going to have developers write tests for their software. <br/><br/>Him: Automated testing slows down development.<br/><br/>Me: Parachutes slow down skydiving.<br/><br/>I can&#39;t *actually* use that argument, but damn, it&#39;s tempting.<br/><br/>#software #SoftwareDevelopment #Testing #qa 2025-02-18T05:52:12Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsy87qat9yxg4nj6sdqsf45fgry09asvkdzaqwuum3l0rg8zrdys2gzyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xv6wxd8 Things I think about in Zoom meetings: &#34;if my head was smaller, my shoulders would look broader.&#34;<br/><br/>More hours to go of meetings. Is it too early for a drink? 2024-12-04T13:02:55Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqs9ru3nsre9r8jrqw6zz73slkvqcfsj6jkmdd4sk87yr3anjw9lugqzyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xd8sah2 In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsv5r8kem567qv6vz09xm75xc58865mcjg0e05twmy85w5szfmdlxgq8nvjg'>nevent1q…nvjg</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>Source? I mean, I can believe this, but I gotta have a source. 2024-10-08T15:30:49Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsr7hlax8rx7m3sjazu2j9knsvv802l8qfhy4nhs4fc08vh420llaczyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xtzhxhm Do you have a #ChatGPT account? If so, log in and give it the following prompt:<br/><br/>&#34;What do you remember about me?&#34; 2024-09-25T08:11:26Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqszmz6ykudn497dghjttdfj29cv8d7mmkt4zkq5qwq4h2s3383lakszyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xmdxe7u Federal law, for decades, requires hospitals to provide emergency stabilizing care to care to patients.<br/><br/>But if they&#39;re in states with strict abortion bans, they&#39;re often required to deny the care that federal law requires.<br/><br/>Vote Harris. Vote Blue. This evil is what happens when you treat women like brood mares.<br/><br/>#Abortion #HumanRights #Women #Republicans #Politics #GOP #Democrats <br/><br/><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/amber-thurman-georgia-abortion-wyden-emtala">https://www.propublica.org/article/amber-thurman-georgia-abortion-wyden-emtala</a> 2024-09-24T08:03:24Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsyd5ryx7umt9q3yf4meazy5c2e6796dj5xx6qy2ru7t9dq44a9udczyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xm688zh I’m in France. #Telegram opens, but nothing responds, even if I connect to the US via a vpn. Anyone else getting this? 2024-08-29T16:31:19Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsgdt7hc995d07ha7aa26wlw5x4ckkwt6ugj2azku4r9qhh3c4spuszyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xpwekmp Hey, fellow software developers! Sometimes code passes your code bad data. Do you throw exceptions? Return false? Hope for the best? (YOLO)<br/><br/>Would love to hear your reasons why. And please share so other developers can weigh in.<br/><br/>#Developers #Software #SoftwareDevelopers #OpenSource #DivideByZeroAndConquer #Perl #Ruby #Python #Java #CSharp #NodeJS 2024-08-23T12:00:50Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsgrtywda739aq6v5ayq9yy3zhym7ua64r70js4cr8s2xy4utn5uzgzyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4x7zl6k9 Some ads just don&#39;t age well.<br/><br/>Humble Oil became Standard Oil became Exxon became ExxonMobile became monsters.<br/><br/>#climate #ClimateChange<br/> <img src="https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/006/181/096/818/200/original/b2a749311d7cedfe.png"> <br/> 2024-08-22T14:45:25Z https://nostr.ae/nevent1qqsvc2jra2ezpjcds4e060alhh08fca7tr8fh25n4tfr8jtm4u53rnczyzd2zvnzqxw5jn7nlvxzjsrrauhdlnnx9qdj02hlcquexscrqak4xae40gt For all of my #linux loving friends, click through, find the big red button (called the &#34;votey&#34;, for some reason), and click it.<br/><br/><a href="https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/gorillas">https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/gorillas</a> 2024-08-10T06:53:27Z