@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.ioI think a thing most people do not understand about chatbots is HOW SIMPLE THE UNDERLYING MODELS are.
It's really just statistics of how close words are to each other in a huge ass amount of written text, with a sprinkle of classification and labeling (done by humans).
And then it autocompletes your prompt. That's it, that's really all there is to it.
@cheryanne@aus.socialI put the electric blanket on the bed today when I changed the sheets (for just in case).
I don't use it to sleep on but I do like it to warm the bed before I get in when it's cold. Later in the week it will be warm again but it's Canberra so...
edit: just realised I had written eclectic instead of electric 😂
#Autumn
@ErikJonker@mastodon.socialMoltbot is like giving some stranger you can't really trust access to all your data, communications, passwords, your computer etc.. It is maybe fascinating but just don't do it..... The large AI players can already build this for a long time but there is a reason they are not doing it....
https://www.
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioMy request from Minneapolis:
There are lots of different things you can do on this day of protest against fascism. Lots of good things. They all count. Giant crowds matter. Ubiquity matters. Letting even one other person know they’re not alone matters. Just do something. Show up somewhere. Whatever you do, make it greater than zero.
@karlauerbach@sfba.socialThe headline below is wildly incorrect.
It should read:
"D's cave, again. Allow ICE to continue".
It isn't just trump who is TACO, it is the D-party.
By passing most of the funding the D's have given away their leverage to affect things in the future. Schumer could publish a book titled "The Art of Losing".
I do not think the D party knows the word "No".
"Deal struck to keep government funded, Trump and D…
@hikingdude@mastodon.socialFriends! Finally! I got my day of #snowshoeing!! 😀
I didn't even plan to go very far but the snow and the weather were just wonderful and I felt confident to ascend further.
I didn't go to the summit. I just returned at a point where I admitted that I wouldn't do it for the fun but only for being there. So I returned and had an amazing snow day.
I also met a cou…
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.ioMy main gripe with “AI coding” is that people present it in highly emotional terms as a fait accompli that will “change everything” instead of it being just another tool (that is one of many) to make software.
Like I saw a SERIOUS post today (not on here) from a tech guy I previously respected that was basically like a 90s infomercial with black and white video of working on a computer (labeled “without AI”) and then over-saturated footage of chilling in the pool or whatever shit (labeled “with AI”).
Not to mention there’s a constant barrage of “enjoy being poor” type bullshit.
This is abusive behavior; it’s emotional manipulation and gaslighting.
It’s cringe, as the kids would say.
I think the underlying LLM technology has use cases that are genuinely useful, for example when making explorative software prototypes, both for backend and frontend stuff.
But it's like a hammer. Useful for nails, useless for anything else.
And you got to ask where the hammer is coming from. Was it made with stolen metal? Forged by exploitative labor? Locked away in a data center so you can only rent the hammer by the hour from some business trying to do a bait and switch?
I'm hoping that the AI landlord industry dies eventually (signs point to this as they won't be able to fulfill the obligations to their investors) and people use locally-run stuff, ethically with open source models (without stolen stuff) and without ridiculous environmental impact in the future.
@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialJust finished "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas. In an unusual twist of fate, I had read "Concrete Rose" earlier, which gave me a rich backstory to relate things to. "The Hate U Give" is really good, but I found the resolution of King's arc slightly disappointing, even though the ending was strong. It's definitely not my place to judge Thomas' perspective here, but I do think that the book's broad popularity including among more liberal audiences probably stems at least in part from the way it allows a "the cops have issues but are ultimately-necessary/sometimes-positive" reading that undermines the strength of the core message.
In the end I like Concrete Rose better, but they're both great and I'll be putting Thomas' other books on my to-read list.
#AmReading #ReadingNow
@hex@kolektiva.socialI said "almost" any protest. There are non-symbolic forms of protest. Those non-symbolic forms are *direct action.* If your protest is literally shutting down systems of oppression, occupying federal buildings, blocking roads, shutting down airports, etc, that protest is *absolutely doing something.*
It's important to know the difference. Direct action *directly gets stuff done* while symbolic protest *is begging for things to change*. Symbolic protests are good places to network, they are useful to show how many of us there are, they help remind us that we are not alone, and they do absolutely nothing to *directly* forward our cause. Direct action, no matter how small, *just does the thing* without permission. Both can be useful. Perhaps both are needed (symbolic to build support and direct to actually do shit).
But we have been told that only one, the one that doesn't actually achieve the goal, is the only acceptable form of action. If we don't break out of that mindset, we don't survive.
@gray17@mastodon.socialtoday's rabbithole: scroll shadows with just css.
- background-attachment - well-established hack, works ok, but tricky to do in some layouts (eg sticky footer)
- container query scroll-state stuck - chrome only for now and kinda buggy
- scroll animation - works ok in chrome and safari. not yet firefox without flag. awkward if you want a smooth fade at a particular closeness.
leaning toward scroll animation, because it feels like the most natural way to express it
@metacurity@infosec.exchangeRemember those two pentesters who got arrested for breaking into a Dallas County Courthouse in Iowa, even though they were operating under a contract from the state's judiciary to do so? They just settled with the state for $600,000. It took six years, though.
https://www.kcci.co…
@mia@hcommons.socialSomeone please invite me to do a talk in Ghent so I can see this show before it closes https://www.mskgent.be/en/exhibitions/unforgettable (or I should just pony up for a holiday)
@ripienaar@devco.socialFew years ago I started on a framework for an easy way to build the kind of agent you
see used to build managed software businesses where you bring your own infrastructure and they manage software hands off on it
Or maybe just for in house platform builders wanting same.
Never finished it but now have someone who wants it so revisited it and added a complete demo. More to do but here is a intro
@Duckbill4994@social.linux.pizza@…
Do you really want to "hit back" to the stupid trump tariffs?
Without using tariffs "back" which is actually just hurting EU people?
Make it legal to jailbreak the iPhone, legal to have alternative app stores, make it legal to open up closed John Deer tractors, etc, etc.
That way, we, the Europ…
@rocksongoftheweek@mastodon.worldWe've got a bit of power metal for you this week as our spotlight falls on Ascension. Just what the doctor ordered to cap off the week!
Check it out and see what we had to say about it as we continue our weekly mission to select one awesome track from across the epic world of rock and metal, do a little write up on it and send it your way. Keeping that old school music blogging spirit alive, for better or worse 🤘
@philip@mastodon.mallegolhansen.comI think, and it may be an unpopular opinion among my peers indeed, that we need to learn to actually make this into an Engineering discipline.
I *want* to develop code that one can reasonably trust to perform life sustaining functionality, much like I reasonably trust every bridge I drive over not to collapse under me.
We’re far from it, but these days, it seems we’ve actively decided to do *exactly the opposite of that*, and that I just can’t be a part of.
@toxi@mastodon.thi.ngWhy do you follow me? Multiple choice...
(Just saw someone else do such a poll and it reminded me to do the same...)
@fanf@mendeddrum.orghmm i had got the impression that poached eggs are tricky
because of all the fussy things tv chefs do
like swirling the water or adding vinegar or separating the loose white from the tight white
but i thought, what’s the worst that could happen if i don’t do any of those things?
it turns out, nothing bad
so, just
bring a pan of salted water up to a bare simmer
break eggs from the shell directly into the pan so they are a few cm apart
leave them…
@jake4480@c.imCommunication, entertainment, everything in between - another great post by @… that will inspire you, offend you, educate you- all the things great writing should do. It'll make you think, challenge your assumptions- there are too many great quotable parts of this, I couldn't even pick one to use as a blurb here. Worth it to just read the full deal 🔥:
@sean@scoat.esSlop Bucket is the new Dumpster Fire https://tech.lgbt/@JadedBlueEyes/115967791152135761
@gadgetboy@gadgetboy.social
@grumpybozo@toad.socialDoing a rolling hardware and host OS upgrade on our OpenNebula environment.
Not building a plane mid-air, RE-building a loaded 737 mid-air to convert it to a 737-MAX9, without discomfiting passengers…
Just shut down 2 of 3 old X5650 nodes. Bane of my existence. One remains, with a VM that won’t live-migrate because of history. It’s Windows so I do not need to do the dirty work.
I’m pretty sure this is not how they do it at AWS.
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioStill, there are some other things Hypercard did we’d do well to study, even with full-scale tools. Off the top of my head:
- It richly rewarded unguided exploration. Unsuccessful experimentation had a way of leading to paths forward, not just dead ends.
- Much of it worked by direct manipulation: if you want the thing there, you put the thing there. (Unity and Godot both sort of kind of do some descendant of this, but not with the same discoverability and transparency.)
- There was a rich library of good starting points, modifiable examples.
- An empty but functioning new project had essentially zero boilerplate. You didn’t have to have 15 files and hundreds of lines of code to get a blank page.
- Its UI made it easy-ish for newcomers to ask “What can I do with this thing here?” Modern autocomplete and inline docs kind of sort of approximate this, but in practice only for people who already have tool expertise.
- HyperTalk (the programming language) is tricky to write (it’s a p-lang), but it’s remarkably easy to read. You can peer at it with very limited knowledge and make educated guesses about its semantics, and those guesses will be mostly correct. (HyperTalk syntax tends to get the most attention when people talk about this, I think at the expense of the other things above.)
@hex@kolektiva.socialAfter the whole Adam Something "dating advice for leftist men" thing, I realized I should probably write something about that. I didn't, but I realized I should. Here I am sort of getting around to it.
I had a friend call me an "elder" at one point. I was like 35 at that time, but like... a lot of old leftists are just dead or in prison, so we take what we can get I guess. Being also an elder in the sense that I'm an elder millennial, who is also a parent and married for almost 10 years and all that, I guess I'm technically qualified.
So here it is, dating advice for (straight cis) leftist men:
1. Don't.
That's it, actually. That's the whole thing. Let me explain a bit.
First of all, this is dating advice for neuroatypical folks. We're way overrepresented in both extremes because this system wasn't built for us. And that's who is *the most* confused by all the relationship stuff, and most likely to try to apply all this masculinity/manosphere bullshit. I'm also talking a bit from experience here, as a neruo-spicy trying to "figure out" how to date within a paradigm entirely built around neurotypicals and their relationships. It's garbage. Throw it out. There's nothing worth saving.
His video had some line comparing not having sex to your house being on fire. I'm not gonna bother to quote it because I'm busy with actual life. But like, that's exactly what I'm talking about. I recognize that and it's horribly destructive. Men who buy in to patriarchy actually believe this, because those men value themselves based on (hetro) sex. Yeah, if you think you're worthless because you aren't "getting laid" then yeah, you're gonna feel like that's an emergency.
"Dating" as a paradigm turns humans into roles. It dehumanizes us all, and thus makes human connection much harder. It is a game that, like thermonuclear war, can only be won by not playing.
When you abandon "dating" and just act like a human, everything starts to be easier. There's no such thing as being "friend zoned" because you're just friends. Sometimes friendships become other things, sometimes they don't. It doesn't actually matter, because if you're actually there for friendship then you don't *need* anything else.
My grandma, at 98 I think, gave me some advice. My grandparents always got along well, and were married for enough decades that I listened really closely. She told me I should just do things I loved to do and everything else would work itself out.
And it kind of did.
I understand the fear, the idea that you'll die alone. I get that. I get the loneliness. It all hits a lot harder when you have ADHD emotions and past trauma. I get that. But that fear is self-manifesting. When you build your confidence, when you don't *need* to be "in a relationship," you have more room to actually build relationships. For me, dating was dehumanizing. When I abandoned that, I was able to actually be a good partner, and I was able to find my partner.
I would advise against marriage as well, but we did get married for legal reasons. It can still be hard to maintain that, to see each other as people rather than roles. That becomes extra hard as parents. But the times that we cut through that are the times we're closest. Those are the times when it becomes easier to remember that we're both humans and all human relationships need tending.
Roles don't need to be tended because they are classifications. Classifications are static. But relationships between humans are not. Humans are messy and chaotic. Humans have all kinds of complex needs and desires.
So yeah, don't date. Just be a human and see what happens. Maybe google "relationship anarchy" and see where it takes you.
If you have ADHD, it can be especially useful to understand that relationships with neurotypical folks can be especially difficult. Assume you're incompatible with 90% of the population as your baseline, and you'll start to understand why the standard "dating" thing has made you feel so alienated and miserable.
Neurotypical folks generally have no idea that atypicality exists, much less how it impacts relationships. Having to conform to a neurotypical relationship just adds additional mental strain unless you find someone (really special) who can do at least some of the work.
The ADHD thing was especially important for me. There were so many things I was told to do in specific ways by neurotypicals that never worked for me. Their advice always made me feel like a failure. When I was finally diagnosed, I realized they were just giving advice for the wrong type of brain. It was advice I could never use. Basically all dating advice I ever got fell into this same category.
That's my braindump. Maybe I'll develop it more in the future, but I'm busy so maybe not. I hope it helps someone who is struggling like I was.
@Kingu@sakurajima.moeReal conversation I just had.
I grabbed a mouse in the shop, I arrive at the cashier.
I put the mouse on the desk
(Perplexed, IDK what else I could want to do)
euh... yes?
OK Can I have your phone number?
I just want to pay for my mouse, why do you need my phone number for?
To send you the invoice by email
Can I just pay and go please??
@servelan@newsie.social"They just want to torture and punish transgender people because they don’t like them, period. It has nothing to do with kids or women’s rights or anything else. They just hate the very idea of transgender people and want to make it impossible for them to function in society or even make it criminal. So much for freedom."
Did You Think It Was Just About Girls’ Sports? – Digby's Hullabaloo
https://digbysblog.net/2026/02/19/did-you-think-it-was-just-about-girls-sports/
@laimis@mstdn.socialNvidia's revenue numbers are so ridiculous that market just stopped reacting to it altogether. You read it and you don't know what to do with this. 77% growth for company that's been growing and growing and growing
@todbot@mastodon.socialI'm so glad I have a Linux box on my desk to MOUNT USB DRIVES because #MacOS just decides to forget how to do it (and hangs Disk Utility). The device is there! It works! It shows up in USB Prober! A reboot fixes it! WHY? Apple, you used to do USB MSC so well, what happened? It's so tiring.
@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.caA message especially for my Canadian male followers out there today, but it applies to all.
If you see a story from a woman calling out the behaviour of a man, believe them. Yes, believe them over the 'bro’, especially when there are multiple corroborating stories.
Don’t feign impartiality.
Don't ignore.
Just believe them, it's not that hard.
It's long past time we do this as the default.
It will make us all better in the long run.
That is all.
#BelieveWomen #Tech #Mastodon
@Jyoti@mas.toThe choice is now socialism or fascism.
Cos the billionaires are bringing the fascism, hoo boy, are they bringing it.
What you gonna do? Debate both sides till they shoot you with a drone?
The fact that liberals are wavering on this just highlights how little you can trust the sellout motherfuckers.
#AllBillionairesAreEvil
@ErikJonker@mastodon.socialMoltbot is like giving some stranger you can't really trust access to all your data, communications, passwords, your computer etc.. It is maybe fascinating but just don't do it..... The large AI players can already build this for a long time but there is a reason they are not doing it....
https://www.
@todbot@mastodon.socialI'm so glad I have a Linux box on my desk to MOUNT USB DRIVES because #MacOS just decides to forget how to do it (and hangs Disk Utility). The device is there! It works! It shows up in USB Prober! A reboot fixes it! WHY? Apple, you used to do USB MSC so well, what happened? It's so tiring.
@cowboys@darktundra.xyzMailbag: Why the struggles in zone coverage? https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/mailbag-why-the-struggles-in-zone-coverage
@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialAn extremely simple syllogism, for which the evidence is ample and has been easily available for over a decade:
ICE : white people in Minneapolis ::
regular police : Black people everywhere in America
If you're saying "Abolish ICE" right now (as you should be) but you're hesitant to say "Abolish the police" then you're okay with the brutality as long as it's reinforcing the racial hierarchy, and that's not a good look.
I understand that "Abolish the police" is a scary thing to think about if *your* experience has been that they keep you safe, but recognize how much of that is myth vs reality, e.g. have you ever personally had a positive interaction with police, or do those all happen in stories? Also, even if they do keep you safe, is it worth it if the cost is brutality to the marginalized? (No, it's not.)
At minimum we can see the following behaviors on both sides of the syllogism:
- retaliation for legally "protected" defiance or even just observation
- random killings, with mostly-nonexistent repercussions for the officers involved
- regular widespread harassment & surveillance
-more that I don't have time to list right now. Feel free to reply with your own examples.
#AbolishICE #AbolishThePolice
@wraithe@mastodon.social“What’s your favorite…”
Let me just stop you right there;
I do, in fact, have favorite movies, books, scenes, comics, games; many of them!
I will NEVER be able to answer the above question, because the second you ask it/I read it, my mind goes completely fucking blank as they all vie for 1st
@andres4ny@social.ridetrans.itSometimes, people with a large audience let it go to their heads. When they are shitty, they feel the need to justify it with fancy rhetoric because they're above the rest of us.
We all take shortcuts, we all cheat on the diet, we all hit the snooze button for another 5 mins of sleep, we all do the thing we think we can get away with (and then feel guilty about it later) because no one was looking. We're human. Sometimes you've just gotta be honest and own up and say "…
@pre@boing.worldBattery drain on GrapheneOS here the last couple of days has definitely been worse than stock Google Android.
Battery-monitor says Molly is the main culprit.
Apparently Molly, the Signal client, keeps an open connection to the Signal server.
You can't just have the app check every 10 minutes if it has to ring like a phone upon call request. You need actually persistent connection.
On Google's android, google's play-servers do some kind of kung-fu to keep that modem mostly asleep despite this persistence.
Without Play Services, that don't happen.
But, there is a thing in F-Droid called "Sun up".
That does a similar thing I guess? Called "unified push". It uses Mozilla's servers instead of Google's. And does so anonymously apparently, but who knows for sure really? Not me.
End to end encryption means worst you'd be leaking is timing data really.
So install Sun Up from F-Droid and change Molly's settings / notifications / delivery-method to "Unified Push"
We will need a MollyServer too apparently as a bridge from Signal to Unified-Push at Mozilla.
All the cool kids are using molly.adminforge.de - there's the QR code you need at the site there. Maybe molly.notify.dykes.ca or some other one is better? I dunno. Can always use a different one if yours goes away.
We will find out over the next few days if that actually makes any difference to battery consumption.
Might save more if you have lots of other things also using open connections that can use unifed-push too. Emails and Matrix or whatever. Mux all those connections into one.
I don't do those things on my phone though, so it's just Molly, so we'll see.
#grapheneOS #molly #signal
@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.netSeries D, Episode 11 - Orbit
EGRORIAN: [Laughing high] Do you think my mind is addled?
VILA: No, no, it's just we don't get offered galaxies every day of the week.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/411/133 B7B2
@hex@kolektiva.socialAnd people keep being suprised by the regular genocides that *keep fucking happening*. And yes, call what ICE is doing what it is. It is a gencoide. Even if it's not killing millions of people (yet), the "genocide" doesn't mean "killing logs of people" it means "trying to wipe out a specific ethnic, racial, or religious group." What the fuck is ICE trying to do? They're carrying out ethnic cleansing. It's genocide.
Genocide in Gaza, genocide in Syria, genocide in Turkey, China, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Serbia... why the fuck does it keep happening? I'll tell you why. It's states.
People like to think of countries and ethnic reagions as the same thing, but they aren't. They never have been. There's never been clear divisions between ethnic groups. But the existence of the state depends on a shared identity. When the truth is more complicated, the state must find a way to fix that. The solution is genocide. You can't separate the two. There can be no state without genocide. The mechanism to carry ou the kind of mass murder and the incentive to do so are really not easy to put together without the state. The state makes genocide viable, and the state demands genocide to protect it's own existence.
Every election is a dice roll. Every state is on a clock, waiting for the luck to run out. And the worst people possible are just waiting for their chance to win and carry out those genocides in order to lock in their power.
Never again means nothing unless you are attacking the root of genocide: the state.
@rasterweb@mastodon.socialSo this is a weird one... I am working on a device that has two different things, and one needs 4.5v and one needs 1.5v.
Is there any reason I could not just solder a wire in place to just get power from one cell and also use the existing wire to provide 4.5v elsewhere?
I know this isn't the best way to do it, but it's a quick hack to make something work... I can't find an issue with it under that condition. Can you?
@theodric@social.linux.pizzaIs it just me or do these both look quite stimulating
Maybe it's just me
Nevermind
@Techmeme@techhub.socialSymbolic.ai, founded by ex-eBay CEO Devin Wenig and Ars Technica cofounder Jon Stokes, partners with News Corp to offer AI tools to WSJ, Barron's, and others (Ben Sherry/Inc)
https://www.inc.com/ben-sherry/this-ai-startup-just-lan…
@teledyn@mstdn.cakeytool decodes the keystore, the cert passes tests and while sslchecker.com says it is missing Org, it says the same about every cert we've used the past three years.
I do, I truly, honestly and with all my heart loath this industry that has eaten my life for 50 years with shit like this. Always shit like this, ten million variables where just one is off by a little bit, go fish. I fucking hate it, I want out.
But I also hate to leave a friend in a lurch, out of business, for reasons unknown, so torn between "fuck it" and "crying".
I was just updating a fucking certificate.
@anildash@me.dmThere are (sort of) two kinds of coders: those who see it as just a well-paying, stable job, and those who do it on nights and weekends because they love it, and it’s part of their identity. Today’s LLM tools now enable an individual to essentially be an entire software _factory_, and this is going to impact those 2 kinds of coders very differently — especially in how they respond to *both* of their bosses trying to put them out of work.
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.ioRE: https://toot.cat/@plexus/116283016837715719
It should also be noted that beyond the ethical, political and environmental issues with this is that it doesn't work:
1. There is on average no mid to long term productivity gain with actual real-world software development that isn't just a "wow see what it can do" demo. (Multiple studies have shown that now.)
2. It won't help with 90% of the work when professionally making software, which, believe it or not, isn't coding. 90% of the work is designing and planning the software (these are things that happen both upfront and during development).
Maybe you have seen the recent Microsoft thing rolling back features in Windows they added?
E.g. Copilot in Notepad. What they did is essentially outsourcing project management to developers who then outsourced it to LLMs. But an LLMs can't plan and design software, and arguably barely can even generate code that works (as in reliable and performant). So now they have a buggy mess with features no one wants and they're rolling it back.
There's no silver bullets in software development.
@cdamian@rls.socialMoving services to the EU
Like a lot of Europeans, I realise that the US isn't a reliable partner anymore.
I am just talking about myself here, and not my employer, or my family.
I do use a lot of services that are based in the US, and some I will probably not migrate in the near future.
But when I receive a bill, it is a good moment to consider if it is a candidate for migration.
@Mediagazer@mstdn.socialSymbolic.ai, founded by ex-eBay CEO Devin Wenig and Ars Technica cofounder Jon Stokes, partners with News Corp to offer AI tools to WSJ, Barron's, and others (Ben Sherry/Inc)
https://www.inc.com/ben-sherry/this-ai-startup-just-lan…
@hex@kolektiva.socialThis is as good a time as any for a thought experiment.
You're in Nazi Germany. You know about the camps, you know what they do, you see the ash fall, you smell it. People who resist alone are killed, some are sent to the camps too. You're afraid to even talk to people about it for fear that they'll turn you in.
You think back to when the camps were being built. You had all the warning signs, but you didn't know how to interpret them. You could believe it would happen. You thought you'd have a chance to vote him out. You thought there might be another way. You thought maybe things would turn out differently if you just sat tight, kept your head down, kept yourself safe.
You see a family being dragged from their home. You know they will be killed. You want to fight, not just for them but for yourself. You opposed Hitler, and at any point you know you could be on the list... Even if you do nothing.
You wish you could rise up, shoot the SS, open the gates, fight it all. You know you aren't alone, but you don't know how to connect with the people who want the same thing.
Using the knowledge we have now, what should you have done in the preceding months and years to connect, to build a community that would open up all paths of resistance?
There were people who resisted. We know it wasn't enough.
Gun laws in Nazi Germany were very similar to US laws in that Nazis were largely free to own guns and everyone else was not. Unlike the US, where "others" have historically controlled using the fear that they might be randomly executed, Germany did codify it. Red flag laws were one more step in the US towards that codification, and there will be more.
When Nazis were taking away those guns, the social networks didn't exist to make resistance possible for most folks. But some Jews were able to resist.
It wasn't the guns that made the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising possible, though they definitely helped. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising was made possible by labor organizing in the precessing years.
If there were more uprisings like that, the Holocaust could have been stopped if not prevented. Social networks make resistance possible. Guns are only useful tools to resist authoritarianism *after* you build a community able to support that resistance, and they are only one of many tools made useful by that community.
Getting guns is easy, and not always necessary. Building community is hard. Guns won't keep you safe. Community will.
Single acts of resistance may slow the machine down, but to actually bring down a monster you need to be able to attack more than once. You need a society of resistance. If you are afraid now, build that. Talk to people while it's still safe to do so. Ask them where their red line is. Talk to neighbors. Figure out your network.
Take the steps you need now to keep your neighbors safe, to keep yourself safe.
#USPol
@chrislowles@mastodon.socialIt's hard to approach the topic of Persona and all their partners without just falling into the suggestion of telling everyone to self-host their life online, it's probably gonna be what everyone needs to do eventually but in a way it's a platform-wide version of when we were leaving Twitter.
@servelan@newsie.socialSuch bullshit. Just regrets getting called out on it.
Democrat Suozzi says he ‘failed’ with vote to pass DHS funding bill: ‘I must do a better job’
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5707544-suozzi-regret-dhs-vote/
@manawyrm@chaos.socialJust patched a long fiber link, which would've absolutely _sucked_ to get CAT.7 cable through.
The steel-armored OS2 cable is cheap and super robust/easy to work with. The LC connectors are even smaller than the hole for CAT.7 would've been.
This is nice \o/
What I want to say is: Don't be afraid of fiber for DIY networking people, it's awesome and often muuuch better than copper cable!
I also didn't have to do any annoying LSA terminations or crim…
@njamster@mastodon.gamedev.placeIf you can, go watch "It Was Just An Accident". It's good (albeit a little slow) and will stay with you long after the credits rolled. Can't say I've watched anything similar yet.
https://letterboxd.com/njamster/film/it-was-just-an-accident/
@cdarwin@c.imThe push to impeach,
-- in particular the current breakout push among Dems for #Noem
-- but also more generally,
⭐️is NOT just about taking the long shot of flipping a couple of Massie types to get it through now.
🔥It's also about creating and holding them to a pre-commitment to do it when Dems have the House.
@jonippolito@digipres.clubA rogue AI enrolls in your online class, then publicly shames you when you remove it. This just happened in a dev forum. Are we ready if it happens to our courses?
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jonippolito_a-rogue…
@compfu@mograph.social3Blue1Brown is one of the most well-known math channels on youtube. He explains high-level maths in an almost meditative way using simple but eye-opening motion graphics. I just stumbled upon this video about a paper that figured out how MC Escher made a certain distorted, recursive drawing.
The artist probably didn't know about logarithms of complex numbers and neither do I. But it's super interesting even if you just watch for the animations:
@bthalpin@mastodon.socialThe great thing about R is that if it can't do what you want out of the box, you can program it.
So I've just put 2-3 hours into programming that should be basic functionality, but is only accessible piecemeal in a dozen different incompatible libraries.
Now n <- n 1 incompatible libraries.
@cyrevolt@mastodon.socialToday's wtf: I was getting errors when wrapping my npm command in a Makefile:
```
make: npm: Permission denied
```
Why? Just running it directly works. The heck?!
Okay, strace time...
```
newfstatat(AT_FDCWD, "/home/dama/bin/npm", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0775, st_size=4096, ...}, 0) = 0
```
Huh... that is a directory.
So it's one of those Unixy fuckeries!
Why does (GNU) make even do this?!
So I set `NPM ?= /usr/bin/n…
@PaulWermer@sfba.socialIt's just amazing what cars will do by themselves: "A car overturned in the middle of an intersection..."
&
The headline:
Car flips over in the middle of downtown San Francisco intersection
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/car
@paulwermer@sfba.socialIt's just amazing what cars will do by themselves: "A car overturned in the middle of an intersection..."
&
The headline:
Car flips over in the middle of downtown San Francisco intersection
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/car
@karlauerbach@sfba.socialCalifornia D party governor candidates, please get a clue!!!! All but two you you need to drop out immediately else the R's will sweep the jungle primary and move to the General election and there won't be a single D candidate on the November ballot.
Pick straws, roll dice, arm wrestle, do a dance off - just do *something* to winnow you down to two.
And do it NOW - by this weekend.
@thomastraynor@social.linux.pizzaOK, why does MicroSucks wants to do 'discovery' when I tell it to to delete folders? Minutes wasted so it can delete files. Just walk through the damned FAT and mark them deleted.
Doing my monthly backup and purging old backups not needing to wait 15 minutes while it 'discovers' files/folders.
@tiotasram@kolektiva.socialI've seen a bunch of "the CA age verification law is the best way to do a bad thing and so we shouldn't oppose compliance" takes, which others are rightly pointing out is a bad stance because it's blindingly obvious that compliance now sets the stage for compliance later and the clearly set up later is mandatory verification of age data. Even if you think that, for example, California's current "progressive" government won't go there, we're all currently seeing just how easy it is for a new government to pick up the oppressive tools the "good" government was using "restraint" with and put them to worse ends.
On the other hand, I'll freely admit that distros *do* need a way to shield themselves from liability right now. The clear (to me; IANAL) correct solution is to say on your website "don't download this OS if you're in a jurisdiction where it's not legal for us to provide it."). Assuming this does put you in the clear liability-wise, it has several positive effects:
- Stops zero people from downloading it.
- Makes it clear that your project will not collaborate with fascists/oppressive regime enjoyers.
- Means that when the next law makes verifying user ages mandatory (and/or explicitly requires using Palantir-adjacent services to do so) you've already got a strategy in place and there's no need for a "debate" in your "community" about compliance.
- Gets users more practice with "the law is malicious/needlessly bureaucratic/oppressive; let's ignore it" which to be honest people in general clearly desperately need at this point.
- Is the most effective political move if you want to resist the way things are going. Forcing the other side to explain why "California bans Linux" is good rhetorical strategy. Make *them* try to explain "well it's actually not so harmful since we let users set it themselves" and answer your follow-up "but what if next year the requirements change; I just refuse to go along with this slippery slope stuff and I'm not bothered if that means you want to *ban* me."
#AgeVerification
@brian_gettler@mas.toChristopher Marquis on the academics in the Epstein files:
"Universities and academics like me need to face a hard truth about our own desires. The job is supposed to be about ideas, teaching and public knowledge. Epstein offered something else: prestige without peer review, and attention without consequence. Too many people – even those who were not involved directly in exploitation – took the deal because it was easy to do and because it felt good."
@azonenberg@ioc.exchangeWhat did digikey just do to their website none of the filters on the search page are loading.
like i can see products but the list of filters is just a blank gray rectangle.
Come on, your site 5 years ago was perfect and there was literally no reason to change the UI. Stop making it worse.
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io“It will be a Cambrian explosion of democratizing making software!”
A thing I rarely hear about in the hype about all this: what do people actually want?
Like, I wouldn’t want to make my own shoes even if it was easy to learn how. I just don’t care. Someone else can make them better and I just give them money for it. 99.99% of people think about software like this.
@pre@boing.worldMum wants to upgrade the phone package, but doesn't realize she had a password or an account to log in with. Doesn't know that logging into the website is how you do that. Does at least know the name of the phone company.
And when we to log in and password reset, the large-font size she has set so she can actually read anything has screwed up every page there.
Half the buttons are hidden. The page can't be pinched to zoom out.
It's trying to trick us into an 18 month contract instead of just more data. She has no idea how much 100Gb is.
The actual accept-and-pay-button is unclickable because its mostly off the screen because the increased actually-readable-for-her font size. We can't really be sure if it's a confirm-what-you-asked-for button or this agree-to-upselling proposal on the top of the screen.
We give up and do it on my phone which I'm old enough to have to squint to see but don't up the font size usually yet.
@cowboys@darktundra.xyzMailbag: Would you trade pick now or at draft? https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/mailbag-would-you-trade-pick-now-or-at-draft
@rasterweb@mastodon.social“Clawdbot can execute Terminal commands, write scripts on the fly and execute them…”
I don’t even trust myself to do those things before 9am most days!
I just do not think I can be convinced I need a “digital assistant” in my life or on my computers (with elevated permissions, no less). https://mastodon…
@jake4480@c.imPoland's BELZEBONG have a new LP that just came out, so my neighbors have been hearing it, too. Do you like insanely riffy, instrumental Sabbath-like doom metal? Of course you do.
https://belzebong.bandcamp.com/album/the-end-is-high
@andres4ny@social.ridetrans.it8yo: "Hey dad?"
me: "what?"
8yo: "the biggest type of black hole is an ultra massive black hole, right?"
me: ...
me: "what?"
8yo: "the biggest type of.."
me: "no, I heard you. I don't know."
8yo: "How do you NOT KNOW??"
me: "I'm not an astronomer!"
8yo: "I'M A JUST CHILD AND I KNOW"
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioI don’t actually expect centrist Senators to do this. I mean… come on. But a bunch of these noodle-spined tools think politics means splitting the difference between opposing positions, so I’m just giving them an opposing position that actually packs a punch before they water it down. (“Don’t negotiate against yourself. Ask for what you want.”)
3/
@servelan@newsie.social"Trump told right-wing anchor Katie Pavlich on NewsNation, “I don’t think it is [time to invoke it] yet. It might be at some point. **It does make life a lot easier. You don’t go through the court system. It’s just a much easier thing to do.**”
Trump just let slip the real reason he wants to use the Insurrection Act: analyst - Raw Story
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-insurrection-act-2674975261/
@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca#Rant
Rob Shaw is solidifying his position as the new Dean of Right Wing, anti-Worker Legislative Reporters in British Columbia.
With these gems, it's incredible that he has an education or goes to a doctor at all…
"The BCTF is typically one of the most militant unions, and quickly prone to job action.”
BCTF Strikes since 2000:
2005
2014
phew! almost got to three!
Remember that this was at the time of a union-busting BC Liberal government that had to go to the Supreme Court of Canada to get told that they ripped up union contracts unconstitutionally and were *forced* to compensate many years later.
"The ratification is a win for a New Democrat government. And extraordinarily expensive for taxpayers, too."
“extraordinarily expensive. Really? How is a wage increase that is *barely* in line with inflation after literally decades of below-inflation increases, “extraordinary”? I'll wait.
"Teachers can thank the BCGEU for turning what was an initial 3.5 per cent wage offer over two years by government, into a more than 12 per cent increase over four that is now forming the baseline for all other union deals."
Indeed! For those who can do math, that means 3% each of 4 years instead of 3.5 over two. But thanks Rob for making it seem like 4 times more!
Thanks BCGEU members for your solidarity and perceverence! I have been on strike. It sucks HARD. But it was worth it and it works.
"The ratification by the BCTF means roughly half of the 450,000 public sector employees now have deals of some sort with the province. Two majors left on the table are nurses and doctors.”
Oh no! Let’s not pay doctors and nurses! Surely they'll stay regardless in our incredibly overworked and under resourced healthcare system!
Like how does Mr Shaw believe we are to stay competitive or attract people. Or is he just not worried about getting sick….
"The skyrocketing deficit has the NDP government inking sweetheart deals with organized labour on the one hand, while pledging to cut public sector jobs with the other.”
Ya, we could have kept those public sector jobs if it weren't for fools like you who demanded governments cut taxes over the past 20 years instead of reasonable rises to... again…keep up with inflation and retain service!
It is a crappy balancing act that the NDP is doing and I do not like a lot of it. At the same time as Mr. Shaw complains about "sweetheart deals" for people in post-secondary, I am seeing historic cuts in that same sector. It's a blood bath actually. So the potential wage increases are going to be welcome, but feel pretty hollow as so many collegues have left.
Rob Shaw would have had us all lose our jobs and take a pay cut at the next one for good measure.
Thanks but no thanks Rob, your world view sucks.
https://www.nsnews.com/economy-law-politics/rob-shaw-ndp-deal-with-bc-teachers-sets-another-costly-precedent-for-public-sector-talks-11966874
@hex@kolektiva.socialI explained something for a friend in a simple way, and I think it's worth paraphrasing again here.
You cannot create a system that constrains itself. Any constraint on a system must be external to the system, or that constraint can be ignored or removed. That's just how systems work. Every constitution for every country claims to do this impossible thing, a thing proven is impossible almost 100 years ago now. Gödel's loophole has been known to exist since 1947.
Every constitution in the world, every "separation of powers" and set of "checks and balances," attempts to do something which is categorically impossible. Every government is always, at best, a few steps away from authoritarianism. From this, we would then expect that governments trand towards authoritarianism. Which, of course, is what we see historically.
Constraints on power are a formality, because no real controls can possibly exist. So then democratic processes become sort of collective classifiers that try to select only people who won't plunge the country into a dictatorship. Again, because this claim of restrictions on powers is a lie (willful or ignorant, a lie reguardless) that classifier has to be correct 100% of the time (even assuming a best case scenario). That's statistically unlikely.
So as long as you have a system of concentrated power, you will have the worst people attracted to it, and you will inevitably have that power fall into the hands of one of the worst possible person.
Fortunately, there is an alternative. The alternative is to not centralize power. In the security world we try to design systems that assume compromise and minimize impact, rather than just assuming that we will be right 100% of the time. If you build systems that maximially distribute power, then you minimize the impact of one horrible person.
Now, I didn't mention this because we're both already under enough stress, but...
Almost 90% of the nuclear weapons deployed around the world are in the hands of ghoulish dictators. Only two of the countries with nuclear weapons not straight up authoritarian, but they're not far off. We're one crashout away from steralizing the surface of the Earth with nuclear hellfire. Maybe countries shouldn't exist, and *definitely* multiple thousands of nuclear weapons shouldn't exist and shouldn't all be wired together to launch as soon as one of these assholes goes a bit too far sideways.
@cdarwin@c.imTrump executed a bizarre
"reverse-reversal" on Friday, when he
🤣 re-endorsed
Rep. Jeff Hurd just four weeks after urging primary voters to deny the Colorado Republican a second term.
Hurd, Trump declared on Truth Social,
“will do a fantastic job as your Congressman, including Growing the Economy, Cutting Taxes and Regulations, Promoting MADE IN THE U.S.A.,”
and a long list of other things.
Trump’s litany could have been copied and pasted al…
@cowboys@darktundra.xyzMailbag: Why the struggles in zone coverage? https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/mailbag-why-the-struggles-in-zone-coverage
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioStill, per the OP’s point, we should learn from what it is about vibe coding that really appeals to people.
The OP makes the case that we should find better abstractions and better idioms to fight boilerplate. Yes. And that we should look to things like Hypercard that reward inexperienced experimentation and exploration. Very very yes.
The latter part of my thread argues that we should •also• search for better solutions to the “Don’t make me decide! Just do something typical!” problem. I don’t know what that looks like, but we should take that problem more seriously.
@pre@boing.worldRE: https://boing.world/@pre/116308531551670843
I do wonder how screwed up a system would get if you just booted to tty running opencode connected to a local model and asked it to explore the machine and install a desktop.
Don't think we are that far away from trying that and it working.
Not well, but better than when they viciously exploit and trick and bamboozle the users like they do now.
@thomastraynor@social.linux.pizzaYou tell us that we have to use a piece of software weekly or it will be uninstalled and if we want to use it then install it...
Guess what? I automated a script to run every Monday to launch that piece of software just in case I don't use it that week.
Guess what again? I told every team member how to do it and provided the script.
Depending on my workload and tasks I might not use it for over a week and I WILL NOT PUT UP with having to install it again and have a fo…
@ErikJonker@mastodon.social @hex@kolektiva.socialOne more thought...
One of the more toxic elements of the whole "manosphere" thing relative to dating is the application of game theory to relationships. They've got people trying to "maximize their dating potential" or whatever, trying to find the "most attractive march" (which is it's own fucked up thing I'm not even going to dig in to). But that whole mindset is basically going to always leave you miserable.
Oh, you're single? You need a partner. Oh you have a partner? Could you get a "better" one?
It turns relationships into the endless pointless grind of capitalism. Fuck that. None of that shit makes sense. No matter how "well" you do in that game, you always feel like a loser. Everyone does. Fuck that game. Quit.
The constant desire makes you miserable and your misery makes you unlikable. When you let go of it, you leave room to experience what is instead of constantly imagining what could be.
You will always be able to imagine a better "could be" than what is now. By comparing your situation now to that "could be" you will always see your situation as bad because it's worse than your yardstick.
Is your situation good for you? Is it serving you? It can be good and it can also be possible to make it better. When was the last time you just experience your life instead of trying to strategize your way into "something better."
Throw away the yardstick. Something something Buddha.
Edit: all this is of course aside from the whole objectification thing, which is it's own whole set of fucked up. But yeah... All that shit is real bad news.
@jake4480@c.imGah, I love Bjork. What IS it about Bjork. This music, man, her more recent ones (currently listening to 'Utopia' from 2017) the style.. I just shouldn't like something like this, but I DO
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioLet’s turn those gaps into actual negative space. Better.
The margins are all screwy here still. The layout manages to be waste space •and• still somehow be too tight. And don’t even get me started on having •two• “X” buttons right next to each other that do completely different things! But hey…I’m just some rando with an image editor and 10 minutes, and I’ve managed to bring it halfway back to looking as good as the previous iOS version.
@pre@boing.worldBecause because because because because. Because of the wonderful things he did in the last scene.
Improv teacher Steve Hoopla in today's 'story' course guided us through some "Because Games", in which scenes are to be causally connected. Each following on from prior scenes. Because that happened, this happened.
He didn't explicitly mention Pixar's "Story Spine", but the main loop in Pixar's story template is "...and because of that..." looping over and over between the introduction, call to adventure, and conclusion.
Causality is what strings a story together, gives it structure an avoids it being just a disconnected dream sequence. This scene is only happening because of the events in the prior scenes. It gives the string of scenes meaning and relevance.
So good fun to drill some of that stuff with the team and end up with sheep infestations and santa claus robot wars among other laughs.
Gonna miss next week's session due to a prior engagement, but the team is gelling well. Pretty sure we could do this show without much further guidance really. Everyone's very good.
#london #improv #hooplaImpro
@cowboys@darktundra.xyzMailbag: Would you trade pick now or at draft? https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/mailbag-would-you-trade-pick-now-or-at-draft
@rasterweb@mastodon.socialI got so excited about a device I am building that I started designing the enclosure before I even wired up the circuit to see if it's something I want to use.
To be fair this is my enclosure library so 90% of the work is already done and it's just making a few adjustments.
I guess I figure I'll build the device and then test it... if I don't like it or use it I'll find some else it can do. (Or see if others want one.)
@hex@kolektiva.social#NoKings is great. I know there's plenty of room for criticism, but it does present a really good opportunity to network with other people who want to do something.
That said, if your whole plan is "I'm gonna hold a sign until something changes" you're in for some really bad news.
Protesting is symbolic. You are begging people in power to (please, please, please) change things. It literally does not matter how many of you there are, they do no actually have to care. The only way to make them care is to fuck with the money.
America, like all dictatorships, runs on money. Nothing is going to change unless you interrupt the money.
While Trump is doing a pretty good job of that himself (especially with the current war), things will have to get a *lot* worse before they get better unless you are *doing something.*
#BlackOutTheSystem is one group that's trying to do something (#Boycott
#GeneralStrike
#TaxStrike
If your escalation path is just "let's go walk around more with signs" then it's not enough. They absolutely must include at least one, if not more, of these things...
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioA •lot• of people have asked what you can do from afar to help us here in Minneapolis, and I have one thing for you. You can do it from home, from wherever you’re sitting, but it’s not necessarily easy.
First, I want to think about where your red lines are. Everything is so outrage-inducing, so outrageous, it’s kind of numbing. It becomes easy to just start letting it all happen.
So, that thing you can do to help: picture a red line for you that the regime hasn’t already crossed, so that you can have a reaction that is actually •action• if and when they cross it.
2/
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.ioThe worst thing about AI coding assistants maybe isn’t the tech but the people who constantly rub it into your face how great they find it and how you should do it too and you’re wrong not trying it and “why not just do a little bit”.
I’m wondering if they’re talking about programming or snorting cocaine.
@jake4480@c.imIf your app or device *requires* any kind of 'biometric' bullshit- fingerprints, facial recognition, my first born, etc, I'm just not going to use it. I don't do any of that bullshit, and I never will. It's not even that I'm paranoid or anything. All that garbage is a step too far, and I hate it.
@pre@boing.worldThe industry is failing people, the companies that should be helping them are deliberately exploiting tricking and bamboozling them.
They can't even switch to a free project which wouldn't do that as much, because they don't know it exists. If they did, they think that they can't understand their current computer so anything new is going to just be even more confusing and worse.
And it might even be that in many cases. Certainly is on phones.
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioThe rule of law has always been flawed and fragile, always been applied with inconsistency and injustice, always applied partially and with partiality —
but I’m still having trouble getting my head around the fact that it is just not even part of our reality here in Minneapolis as these masked kidnappers rove around town.
I keep having to check myself: the question is never, never “What are the rules?” The only relevant question is “What do they think they can get away with today?” That’s it.
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioHouse Rep. Rosa DeLauro (from CT) says:
❝I understand that many of my Democratic colleagues may be dissatisfied with any bill that funds ICE. …[But]… The Homeland Security funding bill is more than just ICE. If we allow a lapse in funding, TSA agents will be forced to work without pay, FEMA assistance could be delayed, and the US Coast Guard will be adversely affected….❞
And I am saying stop ICE if you have to ••shut down every airport in the country•• to do it.
That is the message I want Congress to hear. That serious. This is Trump starting a civil war.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/22/democrats-ice-funding-bill
@inthehands@hachyderm.ioWould you stop work? Just tell them you’re not coming in until this is over? What would that look like? Would you get fired? Would you still get fired if your whole team or half your division refused to work? If your union was ready to strike over it?
Maybe you can’t stop work. Maybe you’re unemployed. Maybe you’re retired. Maybe you still have people to take care of — from your income, or as part of the job you do. •Think• about it. What •could• you stop, work or otherwise? How could you prepare for that, save now, be ready?
8/
