Nostr notes by mcc

New Mastodon update… I notice they're finally implementing ...

2026-04-23T21:47:44+02:00

New Mastodon update… I notice they're finally implementing some of those new features from Bluesky

- Using Windows - Need to turn off external hard drive - "The ...

2026-04-23T00:59:45+02:00

- Using Windows
- Need to turn off external hard drive
- "The device is currently in use. Close any programs or windows that might be using the device, and then try again."
- Run the spy program that tells me what processes are making use of the drive
- It's "System" and "svchost.exe"
- …

A thing I believe about online communities is when someone writes ...

2026-04-21T00:03:00+02:00

A thing I believe about online communities is when someone writes a big announcement saying they're quitting a site, that says they're *definitely* going to be back, because they're saying they care about the community enough they want it to know where they went and why. The ones you have to worry you've lost are the ones who just sorta quietly disappear one day

A thing I can't talk about on social media is happening at ...

2026-04-18T01:31:52+02:00

A thing I can't talk about on social media is happening at that place I can't talk about on social media

I need you to know that twelve hours ago Boards of Canada posted ...

2026-04-17T04:41:43+02:00

I need you to know that twelve hours ago Boards of Canada posted to their YouTube channel an unexplained video titled "Tape 05" containing three and a half minutes of previously unheard music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bghDcbzfEU

RE: https://c.im/@blueorangeblue/116416264014964812 In the ...

2026-04-16T22:27:47+02:00

RE: https://c.im/@blueorangeblue/116416264014964812

In the primitive hobbitsian state, there is no government or source of moral authority, and persons revert to a primitive state of taking long lunches and lots of naps

quoting
note1mh4…wumt

no hobbitsian

TLDR 1. My definition of "P2P" or "Federated" is ...

2026-04-16T21:13:08+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…vvq3
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TLDR

1. My definition of "P2P" or "Federated" is that if server A goes down, servers B and C can still talk to each other.

2. Bluesky/"Atmosphere" fails at this because Blacksky (B) utilizes Bluesky (A) to talk to me (C).

3. In order for Blacksky to avert this, they have to do something unreasonable and expensive.

4. Blacksky someday *will* do this, but will depend heavily on massively overworking Rudy and a few other people. This may someday fail.

5. ActivityPub has problems, but not these

This is why I believe Bluesky was never meant to be federated. To ...

2026-04-16T21:12:43+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…n3jd
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This is why I believe Bluesky was never meant to be federated. To create a Bluesky "instance", like Blacksky is heroically attempting, you have to perfectly duplicate every server Bluesky runs. But Bluesky is a business operating at a loss by burning unlimited-for-now VC cash. That has always implied only a business with unlimited VC cash can create an instance. Blacksky is succeeding. Except on days where they aren't.

Because this is the other "we used future alien technology to ...

2026-04-16T21:01:09+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…sejp
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Because this is the other "we used future alien technology to make it worse" thing about Bluesky.

In the "natural", Hobbesian form of P2P, the more nodes you add the less work per node you need to do, because of work sharing.

But Bluesky's "federation" is like blockchain. When you create a second "instance", that instance must duplicate *literally all the work* of the first instance. It must scrape all the posts itself. It must archive all the posts itself. It must CSAM-scan the posts itself.

And it's extremely relatable why Rudy took this shortcut of ...

2026-04-16T20:56:59+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…z0f7
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And it's extremely relatable why Rudy took this shortcut of "build out our own stuff, but rely on Bluesky's components until we're forced to drop it": *Because standing up your own Bluesky stack is nightmarish!* It is a borderline miracle that a team his size made this work at all; I'm not sure a third team could replicate to the extent Blacksky has (and even on non-outage days, there are still large technical problems with Blacksky which cannot conveniently be fit in this thread).

Now, interestingly, this means that Blacksky users can continue ...

2026-04-16T20:53:42+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…06rp
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Now, interestingly, this means that Blacksky users can continue talking to Blacksky users. I can read Rudy's posts on Blacksky. Because that bypasses the relay. But¹ to read my *own* posts, *on a self-hosted PDS*, Bluesky is apparently required, because Blacksky relies on Bluesky's "relay" to scrape my PDS before it gets added to the Blacksky appview database.

¹ (if I'm interpreting Rudy's posts correctly, hardly a guarantee)

This appears to be the explanation: ...

2026-04-16T20:50:02+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…4j6k
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This appears to be the explanation:

https://blacksky.community/profile/did:plc:w4xbfzo7kqfes5zb7r6qv3rw/post/3mjmztqnuwc2g

In Bluesky, the PDS talks to the relay talks to the appview goes to the client. Blacksky set up all four last year. But they only deployed their PDS and client, at first. They used Bluesky's relay and appview. This wasn't clearly disclosed. Then there was a censorship scare, and they switched to their own appview. But apparently they're still using Bluesky's relay. This wasn't clearly disclosed. Now relay death can screw Blacksky.

P2P is a world where naturally the more people use it, the faster ...

2026-04-16T20:45:46+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…xhxq
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P2P is a world where naturally the more people use it, the faster and more resilient the network becomes. Load gets distributed. Working nodes talk to each other and ignore nonworking nodes. That's how the primitive, BitTorrent era systems worked.

Bluesky somehow applied superfancy alien future technology to invent P2P traffic jams. When one node goes down, the others go down because they depended on it. Because it's a mesh of interoperating microservices by different providers, not federation.

There's a bit in Terry Jones' "Starship Titanic" ...

2026-04-16T20:40:28+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…d46c
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There's a bit in Terry Jones' "Starship Titanic" where an alien gets caught in a traffic jam on Earth, and explodes "your transportation system is so poorly designed! when more people use it, it goes *slower*! you should design it so it goes *faster*— to accommodate the extra load!".

It's funny because the former seems like the obvious, natural way transportation works, and the latter seems to require magic alien future technology.

Bluesky is down today. "Hah", I think, "since I use a ...

2026-04-16T20:34:30+02:00

Bluesky is down today. "Hah", I think, "since I use a self-hosted PDS for posting and Blacksky for viewing posts, I can go on using the service just fine".

Blacksky can't show me my own posts. I can make them and they show up on my PDS, but my profile shows none more recent than last night.

I wonder if Blacksky is coincidentally having server problems, or if Blacksky has a still-undisclosed dependency on Bluesky services. (It *does* have disclosed use of Bluesky moderation; maybe that's it.)

Nostr event nevent1qqs9qxu3205c0c8s3htxv76gar2p6q6gxc7np4wtencax3h4y2nq3cqzypvz5swxaj3aztyq4nfy3f7g7vrseq7gtxu6c9eee0kvqax0pxn5wn5ev5u

2026-04-16T02:37:10+02:00

An orgy, but it strictly follows Robert's Rules of Order

So I've always wondered if the name of "lithium" ...

2026-04-14T22:30:44+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…gaqz
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So I've always wondered if the name of "lithium" implies it has some kind of historical connection to "lithuania". But I looked it up and it doesn't. The two aren't even etymologically related. "Lithuania" comes from Latin "litus" for "shore" (think "littoral") and "Lithium" comes from greek "lithion" for "stone" (think "monolith").

I hope this post helps you but strongly suspect it will not

Nostr event nevent1qqsqd9n366r023hvlt7fac2lpv7sr6dkkvvgvf396swpm7p57a9vj4gzypvz5swxaj3aztyq4nfy3f7g7vrseq7gtxu6c9eee0kvqax0pxn5wa5vv4h

2026-04-14T22:29:18+02:00

Okay I'm going to make a really really boring post

This (type `for(;;);` into the Javascript console, triggering ...

2026-04-14T19:27:06+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…cph6
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This (type `for(;;);` into the Javascript console, triggering Firefox's "script in infinite loop" detection, causing it to offer to halt all Javascript on the page) worked perfectly

and I fucking hate that it not only works but appears to be the best way to do this

https://gts.woodland.cafe/@untitaker/statuses/01KP6GBF6W0YGKZAB7400C49NA

Is there a way in Firefox to halt javascript execution on a page ...

2026-04-14T19:20:40+02:00

Is there a way in Firefox to halt javascript execution on a page that has already loaded? What a web search suggests is pausing the debugger, but in current Firefox this grays out the entire page, disables things like scrolling, and overlays the page with a "DEBUGGER PAUSED" box. I want to continue reading the page I just want to stop Javascript.

The debugger has a "disable Javascript", as does uBlock, but both of these appear to entail reloading the page, which may stop it from loading at all.

Nostr event nevent1qqsys4km2uqwjvle7r4pz7cmjzn9fxg4eet37d6pfrl00seykjvst2qzypvz5swxaj3aztyq4nfy3f7g7vrseq7gtxu6c9eee0kvqax0pxn5w2h90cu

2026-04-12T04:17:46+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…q8x8
_________________________

🤔

It does, yeah. What I mean is the difficulty-adjustment mechanism ...

2026-04-12T03:33:00+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…9a5s
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It does, yeah. What I mean is the difficulty-adjustment mechanism is supposed to be a check whereby the Bitcoin mechanism can correct for things like a sudden increase in the cost of energy. (But of course the fact it's *intended* to have this effect does not mean it *will* have the effect.)

Nostr event nevent1qqsvg6hc7xzgk3u8lgenkenl5895073qg7a9ey79v008xsznh4l0l9czypvz5swxaj3aztyq4nfy3f7g7vrseq7gtxu6c9eee0kvqax0pxn5wse6tly

2026-04-12T02:51:43+02:00

Filling out a form and it is asking me if I am deceased

Out of curiosity, is this still the case? This article is about ...

2026-04-12T00:34:32+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…kwax
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Out of curiosity, is this still the case? This article is about three weeks old… doesn't the Bitcoin hash difficulty adjust itself every two weeks? My understanding is the hash difficulty mechanism is *supposed* to serve as a check on mining going cash negative, so it's interesting if the mechanism fails. (Also, the BTC price itself has gone up a chunk since Mar 22.)

NASA has just successfully landed a manned craft on the planet ...

2026-04-11T02:08:04+02:00

NASA has just successfully landed a manned craft on the planet Earth

Had to stop using the Lady Bathory Body Wash

2026-04-10T22:55:01+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…vhg3
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Had to stop using the Lady Bathory Body Wash

Shampoo company bragging their product is "gluten-free and ...

2026-04-10T22:47:54+02:00

Shampoo company bragging their product is "gluten-free and vegan"

Convince me it is more in my interests to help build the future ...

2026-04-10T22:00:50+02:00

Convince me it is more in my interests to help build the future than to try to prevent it

If you are in Massachusetts please call your House representative ...

2026-04-08T18:35:33+02:00

If you are in Massachusetts please call your House representative to oppose this. The Senate ban on cell phone use in schools (not happy about that myself) has grown a monstrous ban on social media use for kids under 14, "among the most restrictive in the entire country" according to its own Democratic advocates, featuring age verification for adults and a requirement platforms "give parents access to data submitted by minors" (in other words, out every queer kid).

https://www.wcvb.com/article/mass-house-social-media-ban-children-under-14/70941188

Encountered a person on Mastodon who said Mastodon should be ...

2026-04-06T19:50:49+02:00

Encountered a person on Mastodon who said Mastodon should be inclusive of "AI" users. So I blocked him

Is it possible that Microsoft Windows is not a very good computer ...

2026-04-05T02:28:10+02:00

Is it possible that Microsoft Windows is not a very good computer program

Nostr event nevent1qqsy8xh8x79mfq42cyy3z3stdzjvw6gqf597n9ldf7q940ntwqwnxxqzypvz5swxaj3aztyq4nfy3f7g7vrseq7gtxu6c9eee0kvqax0pxn5w7cu958

2026-04-04T06:28:40+02:00

Today I saw a picture of a cat on the Internet

Okay admittedly I only ate two scones but they were large. Scones

2026-03-31T23:05:45+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…zy0t
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Okay admittedly I only ate two scones but they were large. Scones

Nostr event nevent1qqsyc4zscttgxpls929g0n6yzwlnngtmyje66my9rsmpc3dmevjugaqzypvz5swxaj3aztyq4nfy3f7g7vrseq7gtxu6c9eee0kvqax0pxn5wky6elc

2026-03-31T22:49:32+02:00

I ate all these scones

Email subjects that will get me to unsubscribe from your list ...

2026-03-31T05:01:17+02:00

Email subjects that will get me to unsubscribe from your list instantly

Company makes my life worse through their product I will ...

2026-03-30T02:08:16+02:00

*Company makes my life worse through their product*

I will boycott this product

*Company continues making my life worse, now through externalities*

How do I boycott an externality

When I think about "AI" I often think about how we had ...

2026-03-29T21:58:38+02:00

In reply to nevent1q…t8w5
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When I think about "AI" I often think about how we had cities built to be navigated by people, and then we rebuilt the cities to be more easily navigated by cars, and now people without cars can't navigate the cities because we specifically designed them to require cars

So there's this guy who made a tool where someone punches in ...

2026-03-25T04:02:09+01:00

So there's this guy who made a tool where someone punches in their bluesky or mastodon credentials to his website, and it auto-crawls their feeds and produces an LLM summary of everyone it finds posting there. He was asked what people should do if we don't want to be mulched as content for his summary feeds. He said we should block him. I replied, I can do that, but that only stops *you* from running the tool on me, how do I prevent *your other users* from running your tool on me? He blocked me.

okay so confession I'm only blocking about 800 people and the ...

2026-03-23T21:48:48+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…msz4
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okay so confession I'm only blocking about 800 people and the remainder are the "jesse singal followers blocklist", which I would highly recommend for anyone considering using bluesky as it is a *very* strong antiquality signal

Hm. I'm blocking 11,142 people, so maybe that has something ...

2026-03-23T21:36:21+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…5x7a
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Hm. I'm blocking 11,142 people, so maybe that has something to do with it. Have you considered blocking 11,142 people?

My desire to use Mastodon is basically at zero now because ...

2026-03-23T21:32:25+01:00

My desire to use Mastodon is basically at zero now because post-"Claude", hanging out here means inevitably I'm going to have a conversation with someone who tolerates, or even uses, "generative AI". And what's the point of being in a community where that's a risk. Interestingly* there is absolutely no chance of this on Bluesky, because there are artists there

* And oddly, given how "AI"-brained the *admins* there are

If the computer is a prosthetic (and it is) then this means we ...

2026-03-15T22:22:52+01:00

If the computer is a prosthetic (and it is) then this means we legitimately have to be careful about what software we run, because we are deciding what to make part of our selves, part of our minds

You know you're at a good barbeque place if there's one ...

2026-03-13T01:38:27+01:00

You know you're at a good barbeque place if there's one of these at the table

Me: I want to go to CHICAGO and see BEAN Houston: Come to Houston ...

2026-03-12T20:42:16+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…4yl8
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Me: I want to go to CHICAGO and see BEAN

Houston: Come to Houston we have BUDGET BEAN

Tomashi Jackson exhibition at Houston CAMH is incredible. ...

2026-03-12T20:03:13+01:00

Tomashi Jackson exhibition at Houston CAMH is incredible. Definitely a better experience than Toronto CAMH

The repeated lesson here is that a company, organization, ...

2026-03-12T17:40:31+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…nne0
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The repeated lesson here is that a company, organization, computer program, or person who uses the privacy, environmental, and trust disaster sold as "generative AI" for one thing, can no longer be trusted for any thing. If it is tolerated for one thing, it will eventually be used for all things. If a program adds an optional "AI"-branded feature you *have* to stop using that program completely, because if (when) the company feels the use metrics are too low they will stop making it optional.

Now one assumes these buttons don't activate unless ...

2026-03-12T17:35:52+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…fg6m
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Now one *assumes* these buttons don't activate unless pressed, but there's a problem. First, the checkbox to disable "Gemini" in Messages itself only turned off an activate-on-select button. Second, on a phone— where "scroll" and "tap" are both taps— accidental activation of buttons is a part of life.

This happens to me again and again, with Google, with Copilot in VS Code, with everything. A company adds an "AI"-branded feature with an off switch, you turn it off, they later enable it anyway.

Related, consider the Android "Messages" app. This has ...

2026-03-12T17:33:29+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…6ev4
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Related, consider the Android "Messages" app. This has checkbox settings for "Smart Reply"; two additional checkboxes for "suggestions" of stickers and "actions"; and a fourth checkbox, "Gemini in Messages", for explicitly turning off Gemini. I have turned off all of these. Despite this, this week I discovered that if I long-press or open ANY image in Messages, there are two buttons, "Remix" and "Create", which Google's documentation explicitly says network-sends the image to, quote, "Gemini".

Google Mail / "GMail" has no fewer than nine settings for ...

2026-03-12T17:28:41+01:00

Google Mail / "GMail" has no fewer than nine settings for "Smart Features and Personalization", e.g., Gemini. I have these all turned off in order to prevent Gemini ingesting my emails. To do this, you now have to opt out of benign machine-learning or even pattern-matching-based features, like sorting promotional emails from regular ones or spellcheck.

Despite this, as of today, Google is offering a Gemini smart compose feature on all my emails, despite me having turned off smart compose.

I have a Steam Deck for games. But I still need to be able to run ...

2026-03-11T05:54:47+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…63wu
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I have a Steam Deck for games. But I still need to be able to run OBS on the laptop, what if I run the Steam Deck into it

I need vulkan, webgpu, sdl_gpu and complex audio routing. If I ...

2026-03-11T05:54:04+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…44ml
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I need vulkan, webgpu, sdl_gpu and complex audio routing. If I can't run flatpaks I'm going to have really big problems. I have a webcam, I have a video capture card, I stream using OBS, I expect my AMD video compression acceleration to work. I expect to use my computer as a computer. I *am* looking at btrfs for my backup drive :(

Thanks for this information. I cannot describe the extent of my ...

2026-03-11T04:28:00+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…plpe
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Thanks for this information. I cannot describe the extent of my sadness at the idea of having to use BSD, but thank you for this information.

thank you for the information; i will be removing linux from my ...

2026-03-11T04:25:15+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…0rz0
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thank you for the information; i will be removing linux from my computer at the earliest opportunity

I thought this was only for documentation, for now? To be clear, ...

2026-03-11T04:23:34+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…s5pc
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I thought this was only for documentation, for now?

To be clear, it is my intent to eventually move entirely to software which is either no-AI by license or forked from pre-AI code. If it means I have to throw away Linux I throw away Linux. Linux is an inferior product I am *only* using because Windows added AI. Why the fuck am I using Linux if it's also AI?

If it were my project i would ban the contributor. One line or ...

2026-03-11T04:02:05+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…v49d
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If it were my project i would ban the contributor. One line or not they are not following the DCO as written which this project requires. So either the DCO is violated, the DCO has a "you can do anything as long as it's through a hole in a sheet" exception for AI, or the DCO is not enforced at all, or most likely this crept up on OpenZFS and they have never thought about this and did not notice the claude line.

So 1. It's installed on at least one dev's computer 2. ...

2026-03-11T03:54:08+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…c3y5
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So

1. It's installed on at least one dev's computer

2. The presence of a header-disclosed commit could imply non-disclosed commits possibly from the same developer

3. The project is not filtering for such code even when it's disclosed

Ah. I deleted because if there was any chance of error, I ...

2026-03-11T03:53:55+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…0pnk
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Ah.

I deleted because if there was any chance of error, I didn't want to leave it up, but a PR'd one line change is still enough for me to complain.

The thing is, my understanding is you have to use the tool in a particular way for it to actually create the committed-with header. For more complex uses I believe the header does not show up.

This has happened to me at least 3 times with Google. - They ...

2026-03-11T00:29:10+01:00

This has happened to me at least 3 times with Google.

- They offer a free service.
- I sign up for the free service.
- A couple years later, they say to continue with the free service you must now do something I don't want to, like pay monthly or agree to put my home address publicly on the Android store.
- I decline, and my account on the service is deleted.
- For literally the next 15 years, I periodically get inscrutable emails about service changes or minor pricing changes in Bhutan

amazon just formalized this. my criticism. "they tweeted it ...

2026-03-10T17:40:11+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…delg
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amazon just formalized this. my criticism. "they tweeted it out". if what the junior vibecoder does is review the generated code, but amazon must mandated the senior engineer does the actual review, then why do you have junior engineers at all? the senior engineer in this case now does the junior engineer's entire job as amazon defines it.

"without senior engineer review" okay so this hits on an ...

2026-03-10T17:39:07+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…6zuu
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"without senior engineer review"

okay so this hits on an issue i've been thinking a *lot* about

i won't use LLM code generators. i believe i can find a job where i don't have to use LLM code generators. but i would probably still be forced to *work with people who do*. and if someone on your team vibecodes, you vibecode. the work of a vibecoder is code-review and checking. but everyone checks everyone's code. so they're pushing their work onto me. i'm vibecoding for them.

Nostr event nevent1qqsrq4ev0nkxyu6va7ymk63y2wrsyve54ae9upex8mxswftr5l0qcwgzypvz5swxaj3aztyq4nfy3f7g7vrseq7gtxu6c9eee0kvqax0pxn5wpgkgjx

2026-03-09T06:03:54+01:00

*posting quietly as the clock hits midnight* its my birthday

The motto of the modern tech industry is "You can just do ...

2026-03-07T21:22:51+01:00

The motto of the modern tech industry is "You can just do things to people"

Consider: - Sokol, early 20th century, Czechia - Falun Gong, late ...

2026-03-06T18:07:24+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…ac3z
_________________________

Consider:

- Sokol, early 20th century, Czechia
- Falun Gong, late 20th century, China

Both organizations that are fundamentally about outdoor calisthenics, their activities expanded and/or the government viewed their sheer size as a threat, and the Nazis/Communist Party of Czechoslovakia/Chinese Communist Party oppresses them.

How this fits into the Boxer Rebellion, where boxing self-improvement clubs *did* try to overthrow the government, you'd have to uncover through research.

If you'd like a video I can endorse, here's a good Tim ...

2026-03-06T18:04:27+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…xkyr
_________________________

If you'd like a video I can endorse, here's a good Tim Traveler video about the largest stadium in the world (now abandoned). Things of interest here:

1. I am entirely captivated by the abandoned piano at 2:35, evolved into a sort of permanent planter like the art car that lives in Toronto's Kensington Market

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF0rGhFf0c4&t=145s

2. The British pronunciation of "Funicular"

3. I am now very curious to see someone do a history of athletic self-improvement orgs being oppressed by governments

For the record, if this wasn't clear: If I ever post a ...

2026-03-06T18:01:58+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…y2r9
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For the record, if this wasn't clear: If I ever post a YouTube thumbnail without a link, it's because I only post links when I have actually watched the video and I know it's worth recommending. Like what if it's terrible or poorly researched or racist and I've just linked it to you, like a fool, because of the funny thumbnail. I don't want to post a link unless I can endorse the video.

When the youtube video has an intentionally funny thumbnail but ...

2026-03-06T17:58:53+01:00

When the youtube video has an intentionally funny thumbnail but you're pretty sure you know what the video's about and they're actually just very straightforwardly describing what happened

Welcome to Canada. Okay so what you need to understand is that if ...

2026-03-06T02:04:21+01:00

Welcome to Canada. Okay so what you need to understand is that if you see a link to "the Walrus" that's a real news article but if you see a link to "the Beaver" that's a fake news article

meanwhile people I talk to are like "wait why do you want ...

2026-03-05T19:47:38+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…wvuy
_________________________

meanwhile people I talk to are like "wait why do you want guarantees your open source supply chain doesn't have LLM-sourced code in it. it has literally never occurred to me that this would be a thing someone would desire"

RE: https://lgbtqia.space/@alice/116174173831789756 There are ...

2026-03-05T04:06:05+01:00

RE: https://lgbtqia.space/@alice/116174173831789756

There are many types of security one might consider: Physical security, information security, operational security. But regardless of what you're doing or protecting against, there's a cross-cutting rule which applies to all such disciplines:

WATCH OUT FOR THE PERSON IN THE BEAR KIGURUMI

quoting
note1xtj…lk6g

I just beat the Guinness world record for speed-picking by 4 seconds!

Single-pin-picking, 8 differently-keyed, 4-pin, standard¹ padlocks, in 56 seconds.

And I did it while wearing a fluffy bear suit.

¹ the current record holder used laminated Master locks with no security pins, but I didn't want all the comments on my video to be "Master lock sucks" jokes, so I used Brinks instead.

#AlicePics #Locksport #Lockpicking #GuinnessWorldRecord

Cannot believe the shit y'all put up with to use software. ...

2026-03-03T04:57:05+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…9ugd
_________________________

Cannot *believe* the shit y'all put up with to use software. I spend half my time trying *not* to use software, and y'all want to use software so bad you'll agree to "binding arbitration" for it

Re: https://social.nouveau.community/@andnull/116161245796027671 ...

2026-03-03T04:56:16+01:00

Re: https://social.nouveau.community/@andnull/116161245796027671

Well that's a good thing because: https://bsky.app/profile/notnite.com/post/3mg4jiuv7meow

I think the basic casios are great! A lot of them look ...

2026-03-02T15:11:56+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…n0je
_________________________

I think the basic casios are great! A lot of them look unobtrusive and they're so cheap you can get a couple $30 ones and swap them out.

Started trying to figure out if I could get a watch that is also ...

2026-03-02T06:01:30+01:00

Started trying to figure out if I could get a watch that is also a compass. Started looking on different shopping sites and did find a lot of options but I noticed a weird pattern, is that they were all explicitly branded as MANLY RUGGED OUTDOOR MILITARY WATCH FOR MEN. Additionally they *tended* to follow designs which are bulky and greebly to no obvious end other than to "look rugged". Are there not women who live in cities and sometimes get confused about which way is north

Even without the "Clyde" problem it's hard to talk ...

2026-03-01T20:45:17+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…0hsr
_________________________

Even without the "Clyde" problem it's hard to talk about because there's a historical notion of a probabilistic algorithm where you have stochastic behavior operating with proven bounds and a provable distribution of behaviors, and the new type of statistics-based software where the software just sort of does whatever and we don't even discuss it as if it were statistics-based we call it "intelligence"

I do think there is an interesting perspective where computer ...

2026-03-01T20:42:29+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…z6nr
_________________________

I do think there is an interesting perspective where computer software based on deterministic execution of instructions *can* be aligned with the goals of a user but computer software based on a trained statistical model cannot, technically, be aligned with anything at all as there is inherently random behavior. But we can't conceptualize that problem because the capital class is lying and saying that their computer has a soul because they named it "Cylde" and drew googly eyes on it

When I say "fork every software project containing code by by ...

2026-02-23T20:02:42+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…92l0
_________________________

When I say "fork every software project containing code by by 'AI code assistants', starting at the commit before the slop is known or believed to have been added, and resume from there", I really do mean every project

https://donotsta.re/objects/8e2166c6-3e0f-4ea3-8a29-3008702a39f7

Nostr event nevent1qqs0vpquzwstz8spqwnjtznme98dlkppakvcx08j0exsw2gvndx8xfqzypvz5swxaj3aztyq4nfy3f7g7vrseq7gtxu6c9eee0kvqax0pxn5wapve2t

2026-02-22T23:17:03+01:00

Everybody seems to like "the bear" and "the pit"

By the way, if you go to https://github.com/claude and "block ...

2026-02-22T18:26:56+01:00

By the way, if you go to https://github.com/claude and "block this user", every Github repo you visit containing code credited to Claude will actually have a warning sigil

CF

RE: https://wellduck.me/@greyduck/116110983001607000 I would like ...

2026-02-21T23:33:26+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…7lh7
_________________________

RE: https://wellduck.me/@greyduck/116110983001607000

I would like the answer to this question as well.

quoting
note1sxl…kvvp

I admit I don't know the KeePass ecosystem terribly well, but does this go "up the chain" to regular KeePass 2.x or is it just XC?

My understanding is that Bitwarden and KeePassXC, the two open ...

2026-02-21T23:12:08+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…3zz0
_________________________

My understanding is that Bitwarden and KeePassXC, the two open source password managers, are *both* using random code generators at this point, which is terrifying as those are the exact tools where a small error could have the largest negative impact, and also tools that once you've committed to using it you can't quickly back out if they enter a code quality decline

https://github.com/bitwarden/clients/tree/main/.claude

RE: https://mastodon.scot/@kim_harding/116108957641748718 I want ...

2026-02-21T23:07:44+01:00

RE: https://mastodon.scot/@kim_harding/116108957641748718

I want this but as a Linux distribution. I don't think I'm asking for much here. I am just asking for the "open source community" to be to the left of Goldman Sachs

quoting
note1usz…aug6

Goldman Sachs launches AI-free index
https://www.axios.com/2026/02/20/ai-goldman-sachs-stocks-index
Goldman Sachs has launched an S&P ex-AI index, SPXXAI, which that lets you invest in the S&P 500 benchmark index minus all things AI.
This product is proof of the demand among investors for a way to hedge their exposure to the AI trade.

Based on this visualizer I issue you a challenge. Bluesky's ...

2026-02-20T22:36:07+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…jzu4
_________________________

Based on this visualizer I issue you a challenge.

Bluesky's post limits work like this: You can fit 3000 bytes OR 300 graphemes, whichever is less. I thought at first that hitting the byte limit would be nigh impossible, but it turns out to be pretty easy with emoji: 🤷🏾‍♀️ is 1 grapheme but 17! bytes, thanks to stringing an emoji, a skintone, a gender, and two ZWJs.

My challenge: Can you hit the 3000 byte limit, without hitting the 300 grapheme limit, using only *natural human text*, any language?

Got nerdsniped by a request from ...

2026-02-20T22:29:12+01:00

Got nerdsniped by a request from [@thisismissem.social](https://bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/thisismissem.social ) and made a little visualizer tool demonstrating the various ways you can represent "how long is this string?" in Unicode:

https://data.runhello.com/bs-limits/

- Bytes (in the standard UTF-8 recording)
- UTF-16 (irrelevant except in JS, where it's relevant)
- Codepoints (unicode characters)
- Grapheme clusters (the visual "characters" you see on screen)

And how the divergence of the two relates to Bluesky's "unusual" post limit rules.

This turns out to be a very good video. The YouTuber does not ...

2026-02-20T19:19:21+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…sazn
_________________________

This turns out to be a very good video. The YouTuber does not assume you have chess theory knowledge going in. I did not laugh out loud until around 8:30 but I did laugh out loud https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpQ9gGwpDGA

YouTube thumbnails I am cracking up at today ...

2026-02-20T18:47:13+01:00

YouTube thumbnails I am cracking up at today

This is a very funny page https://unicode-explorer.com/list/large

2026-02-20T17:12:42+01:00

This is a very funny page https://unicode-explorer.com/list/large

AI will allow us to reach such high "velocity" that one ...

2026-02-17T20:08:34+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…39g0
_________________________

AI will allow us to reach such high "velocity" that one single engineer can write as many bugs as previously took the entire industry working together

Nostr event nevent1qqswvfj438xvkcmzn0rhy0n2cl74v9237hhsg683zstcz4t2tk3kqsqzypvz5swxaj3aztyq4nfy3f7g7vrseq7gtxu6c9eee0kvqax0pxn5wpnp59q

2026-02-17T18:18:10+01:00

What if you tried scrolling the other direction

It just this second occurred to me to draw a connection between ...

2026-02-11T04:05:32+01:00

It just this second occurred to me to draw a connection between "Generative AI" and "Liquid Glass" as two technologies which have the effect of making everything appear to be covered in a thin layer of slime

IRC is bad, and the reason every time a new chat service ...

2026-02-11T00:35:20+01:00

IRC is bad, and the reason every time a new chat service collapses people seem to go "literally everywhere except IRC" is that "literally anything except IRC" is what people want

Watching a science fiction movie of dubious quality Me: They ...

2026-02-09T04:33:04+01:00

*Watching a science fiction movie of dubious quality*

Me: They really understood the right way to use smoke machines in the 80s.

Christine: Pretty sure this is the 90s.

Me: The 90s was when the 80s were perfected.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@emaytch/116036998103007299 Fellow ...

2026-02-08T23:41:20+01:00

RE: https://mastodon.social/@emaytch/116036998103007299

Fellow tech workers: The librarians are roasting us on Mastodon and we have no plausible defense

quoting
note1fqj…n7xz

lol its still so stupid that ppl in the tech industry didn't want to unionize when they had all the power

<'_> in Rust is the "Wink" operator. The ...

2026-02-08T22:36:59+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…hg4e
_________________________

<'_> in Rust is the "Wink" operator. The compiler's like "You can't do that" and you're like "*Wink* Yeah, but you'll let it slide this time, right?"

Update: .to_slice() was the magic solution. I need to remember to ...

2026-02-08T22:35:55+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…cdnc
_________________________

Update: .to_slice() was the magic solution. I need to remember to put this in my "things to try at random when Rust isn't working" along with typing <'_>.

In the docs, ByteStream has a generic argument. However the ...

2026-02-08T22:11:25+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…5gff
_________________________

In the docs, ByteStream has a generic argument. However the generic argument's meaning is not documented (it's just "S"). The documentation appears to suggest, rather than filling in this S, using a macro. The macro is not doing what I expect. https://api.rocket.rs/v0.5/rocket/response/stream/struct.ByteStream

I can't tell if Rocket has a specific place to go ask for support requests, unless it's the general Rust programming discord, or here.

rubbing eyes Anyone use "Rocket"? The worst/most ...

2026-02-08T22:10:09+01:00

*rubbing eyes* Anyone use "Rocket"?

The worst/most Ruby-like thing about Rocket is when you return a value from a Route function, you just kinda return… whatever datatype you want, and Rocket figures it out.

Unless it doesn't, and you have *no* idea what to return.

For a string, you return a String.

What do I return for bytes? It's not a string, it's a &[u8; 1335895] and it's not valid UTF-8. Do I return a rocket::response::ByteStream? That seems to be the correct answer but doesn't work

This object is a legitimate masterpiece of design ...

2026-02-08T20:31:25+01:00

This object is a legitimate masterpiece of design

More awkward than a time-based criterion, but I guess I could ...

2026-02-07T20:42:28+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…m2sp
_________________________

More awkward than a time-based criterion, but I guess I could still see economic effects that would incentivize miners to push through a "desert" period when they're losing money per block (because if they push through they have the potential to make money again after the "desert")

By the way, one other thing I've never figured out about the ...

2026-02-07T20:38:26+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…ckh6
_________________________

By the way, one other thing I've never figured out about the "mine a block" race. Imagine two miners in New Zealand and Spain by coincidence mine a valid block within 0.04 seconds of each other. Due to the speed of light, neither could have known about each other's block at the time they mined the block, but transmission speeds and clock disagreements would make it almost impossible to prove which happened "first". How does the network decide which miner wins the next-block race?

Thank you for explaining, this clarifies several seemingly ...

2026-02-07T20:33:01+01:00

In reply to nevent1q…8zkm
_________________________

Thank you for explaining, this clarifies several seemingly contradictory things I had previously read.