Tootfinder

I find this map especially amusing in that in 1893, 238 colonists departed Australia (purportedly nonexistent) to found the New Australia colony in Paraguay (ditto).
Of course, Australia didn’t federate till 1901, so it could be argued that Australia didn’t *actually* exist at the time. And given Paraguay’s tremendous (but still hotly contested) losses in the 1864-70 Paraguayan War, the latter country was itself hanging on by a thread.

It's a rare occasion when someone actually publishes a review of one of my books, even in a tech publication, so I'm telling everyone. Fortunately it's even a *positive* review. https://diginomica.com/lessons-system-engineering-internet-and-why-it-ma…

Lessons in system engineering the Internet and why it matters today
System Engineering evangelists Larry Peterson and Bruce Davie analyze the system approach behind the Internet in their new book. A combination of first principles analysis, collaboration, luck, and a willingness to rethink a few assumptions enabled the Internet to become the most successful engineering project in history.

woke up this morning fully expecting this bluesky post to have gone full-internet viral & mildly salty that it hasn't because it just made me snort again, so sharing it over here. #muppets #history

I blogged about the history of the public-service broadcasting institution ARD in Germany and how I finally got access to TV program data to answer my reoccuring question of when the news program is on tonight in the spirit of "Public Money, Public Good".
https://johl.io/blog/o-news-program-wh…

Time for another "review". This one's hard. While the book was quite interesting, it required me to be quite open-minded. Still, I think it's worth mentioning:
Robert Wright — Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny
The book basically focused on a thesis that both biological evolution and cultural evolution are a thing, they are directional and this directionality can be explained together using game theory — as eventually leading to more non-zero sum games.
It consists of three chapters. The first one is is focused on the history of civilization. It features many examples from different parts of the world, which makes it quite interesting. The author argues that the culture inevitably is evolving as information processing techniques improve — from writing to the Internet.
The second chapter is focused on biological evolution. Now, the argument is that it's not quite random, but actually directed towards greater complexity — eventually leading to the development of highly intelligent species, and a civilization.
The third chapter is quite speculative and metaphysical, and I'm just going to skip it.
The book is full of optimism. Capitalism creates freedom — because people are more productive when they're working for their own gain, so the free market eliminates slavery. Globalisation creates networks of interdependence that make wars uneconomic. Increased contacts between different cultures makes people more tolerant. And eventually, the humanity may be able to unite facing a common "external" enemy — the climate change.
What can I say? The examples are quite interesting, the whole theory seems self-consistent. Still, I repeatedly looked at the publication date (it's 1999), and wondered if author would write the same thing today (yes, I know I can search for his current opinions).
#books #bookstodon @…

The Browser Company launches Dia, a macOS browser in beta for Arc users based around an AI chat sidebar that can access tabs, history, and logged-in sites (David Pierce/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/web/685232/dia-browser-ai-arc

The Dia browser is a big bet on the web — and an even bigger bet on AI
Dia uses a simple interface and a chatbot that lets you chat with tabs and get more done. It’s a big bet that AI is the future of the internet.

At the moment I often have to think of Eley's book, that it was not the bourgeoisie that realized what is currently held up as abstract principles, but a left that had to organize itself against the impositions of capitalist society.
https://archive.org/details/forgingdem…

Just told my daughter, "I feel sorry for your generation. You will never experience the Hamster Dance being a world-wide phenomena. That time in history is over."
https://mastodon.archive.org/@internetarchive/114671744172890505

I find the @… #firefox #addon very useful: It just takes one click to archive the website you're on. It's also easy to find archived vers…

once again love whenever i come across an overly specific meme, like what real friend of the creator is getting ribbed here

I found this and wanted to share it with you:
I’ll be blunt this has been the worst ever week for the Internet in its history. Worse than Great Wall of China, worse than Snowden, and worse than any other even I remember.
1. UK implemented draconian rules “for the children”, and many websites and apps had to shut down. Others require a government id
2. EU is passing similar laws
3. US is trying for the “n-th” time The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) which is similarly bad.

I took a very lengthy video course that I remember being called "Intermediate Python" circa 2016 on Lynda.com. Since then, LinkedIn acquired Lynda to build out LinkedIn Learning and parent company Microsoft has apparently wiped most of the history of Lynda's very existence from the internet.
I'm giving a talk at #PyOhio this month and I'd like to credit the authors …