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@brian_gettler@mas.to
2025-07-14 21:00:05

Something like one in ten documents in this archival fonds (generated by the 19th-century state) are requisitions, receipts, or correspondence regarding stationary or postage.
This has me wondering: what percentage of communications in today's bureaucracies deal with IT?

@anildash@me.dm
2025-06-11 18:57:20

It’s time for something new. So: what do you think I should do next? I want to be of service. anildash.com/2025/06/11/time-f

@midtsveen@social.linux.pizza
2025-06-13 19:39:18

Let me think about what really radicalized me. I’m autistic, so I forget things fast. I need to dig into my brain and find that quirky, weird thing or topic that made me feel radical years ago.
It might be something I hyperfocused on or a strange idea that stuck with me for a long time. I’ll try to find it and figure out what pushed me to where I am now.
I’ll post it when I find it. Sometimes it takes me a bit to dig through all the thoughts and memories in my brain, especially w…

@mgorny@social.treehouse.systems
2025-07-14 16:39:18

About morbid thriftiness (Autism Spectrum Condition)
As you may have noticed, I am morbidly thrifty. Usually I don't buy stuff that I don't need — and if I decide that I actually need something, I am going to ponder about it for a while, look for value products, and for the best price. And with some luck, I'm going to decide I don't need it that bad after all.
One reason for that is probably how I was raised. My parents taught me to be thrifty, so I have to be. It doesn't matter that, from retrospective, I see that their thriftiness was applied rather arbitrarily to some spendings and not others, or that perhaps they were greedy — spending less on individual things so that they could buy more. Well, I can't delude myself like that, so I have to be thrifty for real. And when I fail, when I pay too much, when I get cheated — I feel quite bad about it.
The other reason is that I keep worrying about my future. It doesn't matter how rich I may end up — I'll keep worrying that I'll run out of money in the future. Perhaps I'll lose a job and won't be able to find anything for a long time, Perhaps something terrible will happen and I'm going to need to pay a lot suddenly.
Another thing is that I easily get attached to objects. Well, it's easier to be thrifty when you really don't want to replace stuff. Over time you also learn to avoid getting new stuff at all, since the more stuff you have, the more stuff may break and need to be thrown away.
Finally, there's my environmental responsibility. I admit that I don't do enough — but at least the things I can do, I do.
[EDIT: and yes, I feel bad about how expensive my new phone was, even though it's of much higher quality than the last one. Also, I got a worse deal because I waited too long.]
#ActuallyAutistic

@catsalad@infosec.exchange
2025-06-14 22:37:08

Okay chat, this video has baffled me for far too long. What in deconstructed cottage pie heck is going on here? :neocat_confused:
#AskFedi

Some strange video I think I found on imgur that has been confusing me forever. It shows only the feet area on the ground of someone wearing their left shoe, next to a standup sock holder with a live crab inside, and a squishy foot long  white oval thing filled with– something like shaving cream or whip cream.

The person steps on it with their right foot (which has a red toe ring on their big toe and a blue one on their middle toe) thus causing the contents of the oval thing to squish out from…
@davidaugust@mastodon.online
2025-07-12 00:35:20

I know I'm late to the party on this, but when people say "headless CMS" do they kinda mean the database part of the "database publishing" of 20 years ago?
Like it is storing content separately from the HTML/CSS or app interface so one doesn't have to munge that stuff when making content, or munge content when making a site or app or something, right?
Or is there some new magic in "headless CMS" I'm missing?

@rasterweb@mastodon.social
2025-07-14 20:22:33

I gotta say, the old 2017 MacBook Air I just got (for free!) is a really nice laptop. It's lightweight, the screen is large (enough), and the battery is great!
It sort of blows away the 2010/2012 13" MacBook Pro I installed Linux Mint on a few months ago.
Right now the MBA is running Monterey but at some point I'll probably put Mint on it as well. (Or something else.)
#mac

@aredridel@kolektiva.social
2025-05-14 23:00:29

Turns out that if you model online spaces after real world ones, it works pretty well. Online spaces let you be in many places at once which changes the dynamics, but as an example of something that ports well,
patternlanguageindex.com/patte
This pattern works not just for the design of houses but online spaces. Let people get to know a group in less-intimate space before they end up in the more-intimate space. Having a few gradations works really well, and it doesn't have to be a power play or status game.

@cyrevolt@mastodon.social
2025-07-14 02:16:45

Google Assistant ain't no fun.
"Starting a religion with the aim of taking over the world isn't something I can advise on. My purpose is to be helpful and harmless, and that includes not encouraging actions that could lead to manipulation or harm."

@elduvelle@neuromatch.social
2025-06-14 15:05:25

How feasible would it be to have posts from specific servers be highlighted in a specific color on #Mastodon?
For example I don't mind reading posts from the bluesky bridge but I don't really want to interact with them. If they were highlighted in blue or something, that would be helpful..
#MastoDev

@hynek@mastodon.social
2025-07-12 11:55:25

After way too long (starting to notice a pattern!), I’m writing the next installment of my newsletter!
If you want more insight into what I’ve been up the in the past *checks calendar* FOUR MONTHS 😱 – or want to see some cute dog photos, make sure to subscribe:
buttondown.com/hynek

@leftsidestory@mstdn.social
2025-06-14 03:35:18

Urban Composition III 🫟
都市构图 III 🫟
📷 Nikon FE
🎞️Ilford FP4 Plus, expired 1995
buy me ☕️ ?/请我喝杯☕️?
#filmphotography

Ilford FP4 E.I. 64

**English:**
This black-and-white photograph captures a scene at a bus stop. Several people are waiting, some standing and some sitting. A woman in the foreground is engrossed in her smartphone, wearing a mask and carrying a bag. The bus stop shelter is visible, and the street outside is lined with trees and buildings, indicating an urban setting. The overall atmosphere suggests a typical day in a city with people going about their daily routines.

**Chinese:**
这张黑白照片捕捉了一个公交…
Ilford FP4 E.I. 64

**English:**
This black-and-white image shows the interior of a bus. The focus is on the backs of two passengers seated near the front. The bus is in motion, as suggested by the blurred scenery visible through the windows. The interior lighting is bright, illuminating the passengers and the details of the bus seats and handrails. The image conveys a sense of movement and daily commuting.

**Chinese:**
这张黑白图片展示了公交车内部的场景。焦点集中在靠近前部的两名乘客的背影上。公交车正在行驶中,从窗外模糊的景色可以看出这一点。车内的灯光明亮,照亮了乘…
Ilford FP4 E.I. 64

**English:**
This black-and-white photograph depicts a tranquil scene in what appears to be a park or a tree-lined street. A person is riding a bicycle away from the camera down a paved path, surrounded by lush trees and greenery. The sunlight filters through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground. The image evokes a sense of peace and leisurely activity in a natural setting.

**Chinese:**
这张黑白照片描绘了一个看似公园或绿树成荫的街道上的宁静场景。一个人正骑着自行车远离相机,沿着铺好的小路骑行,周围环绕着茂密的树木和绿地。阳光透过树叶,…
Ilford FP4 E.I. 64

**English:**
This black-and-white image captures a moment at a bus station. In the foreground, a woman wearing a cap is seen from the side, possibly talking or looking at something off-camera. Behind him, a large bus is parked, with visible text on its side. The bus station appears busy, with other people and vehicles in the background. The scene suggests a bustling transportation hub with people in transit.

**Chinese:**
这张黑白图片捕捉了公交车站的一个瞬间。前景中,一个戴帽子的女人从侧面可见,可能正在说话或看着镜头外的某物。…
@hex@kolektiva.social
2025-06-14 10:21:24

I have my share of issues with Parkrose Permaculture, but she has a lot of things I do strongly agree with. I can't stress enough that you never dehumanize your enemies. You can respond appropriately to violence. You can defend yourself from them by any means necessary. But you do not dehumanize them. You always limit your response to the minimum necessary to defend yourself.
There are a number of former Nazi skins who became antifascists after realizing they were wrong. Those folks tend to be some of the most dedicated because they feel a debt, and some of the most knowledgeable because they were there. Coming out of these types of cults, police included, is hard and takes time. A lot of us don't have the ability to work with them. But some do.
By repeatedly humanizing your opponent, you can break some of them. The #Seattle Police Department was not defunded but saw a massive reduction in numbers because their morale was destroyed. Some people will never change. Some people are broken and feel like they need the power. But if you change one person's mind, even give them something to think about, it's a crack. If even one cop quits, that's one less trained gun pointed at you in the future.
The 18 year old marines and federalized national guard troops out there are literally kids. A lot of them came from poor communities. They are being used in a way they haven't been trained to do, doing things they (should) have been told are not legal. They joined to get out of poverty, to go to college, or to "defend the American people" (regardless of how misguided that is). Few, if any, of them joined to abuse people. They will be especially open to persuasion.
Remind those troops that they are carrying out illegal orders, that they are being called on to violate their oath to protect the constitution, that they are suppressing the free speech of the fellow Americans they swore to defend. Remind them that the people they could be illegally arresting now are just like their parents, their neighbors, their families, the friends who didn't join. Remind them that this is the first step. They will be called on to kill Americans if they let this keep going.
Remind them ICE sleeps in hotels while they sleep on the ground. Remind them that their drunk and incompetent leadership thinks of them as disposable tools. Remind them that some of these people are out protesting *for them* against cuts to the VA and other services. Remind them that the people they're defending refuse to make college free so they can recruit from poor schools. Remind them that they will always be welcome when they're ready to join the side of freedom and justice.
When you dehumanize your enemies, you unify them. When you humanize your enemies, you can divide them. There is no weapon available to us right now so powerful as compassion.
youtu.be/YtWOYUDMsBw

@EmilyMoranBarwick@mastodon.social
2025-06-10 19:02:44

"What I'm optimizing for isn't growth... reach, or influence. I'm chasing connection[...]spending my days on things that bring me alive."
"It's about...signals that something genuinely MATTERED to one or more humans...private replies saying they've never felt so seen or understood." Rob Hardy
To fellow #writers

A screenshot of an excerpt from the linked article. It reads:

"Internal Resonance: How did it feel to write and publish this? Did it make me feel alive, both intellectually and somatically? Did it feel like something no one else but me could have created? Did it feel true to who I am, and who I'm becoming? Did the content of this writing matter to the deepest parts of me, beneath all of the cultural stories about who I think I should be and what I should do?

External Resonance: How did people…
A screenshot of an excerpt from the linked article. It reads:

"For the game I'm playing with Ungated, and with my life, understanding these two metrics matters more than anything I'd find in a traditional analytics dashboard. What I'm optimizing for isn't growth, certainty, or control. It's not the maximization of short-term revenue, reach, or influence. Instead, I'm chasing connection—both with myself and with others. I'm trying to design an infinite game, where I spend my days working on thi…
@midtsveen@social.linux.pizza
2025-06-14 18:55:01

Freedom is not a gift to be given or granted; freedom is something we seize through collective struggle and direct action.
#Anarchy #Freedom #CollectiveStruggle

@robpike@hachyderm.io
2025-07-10 23:24:08

Mathematicians, a plea for understanding. Or at least I point out a curiosity.
I was playing around in ivy (high precision calculator) with Stirling's approximation and noticed something. I compute (Stirling N)/N! for successive powers of 10:
approx 10 100 1000 10000 100000 1000000
0.99170403955606148634 0.99916701656784300017 0.99991667014156998579 0.99999166670139157019 0.99999916666701389157 0.99999991666667013889
The successive approximations improve (approach 1.0) by one decimal digit of result for each digit of argument, but that's not the curious part. The curious part happens after the 9's: the result seems to be trending towards a limit of 0.9...166666...... It adds not only a 9 for each input digit, it extends the next part by a digit 6 for every factor of 10. Now 1/6 is 0.166666 and that makes me think there's something going on here.
Is this true? Is it known? Is it proven?

@unchartedworlds@scicomm.xyz
2025-07-12 22:23:27
Content warning: nice quote about science

"Fundamentally, what we're trying to do when we have evidence here in medicine or science is prevent ourselves from confusing randomness for a signal. ... we don't want to mistake something, we think it's going on and it's not. And the challenge, particularly with any intervention is you only get to see one version of reality. You can't give someone a drug, follow them, rewind history, not give them the drug and then follow them again."
- Adam Kucharski, being interviewed by Eric Topol
#science

@azonenberg@ioc.exchange
2025-06-10 15:58:55

Hey @… do you have any suggested reading material for someone not familiar with CRYSTALS-DILITHIUM (or PQC in general) to get a basic level of understanding?
Preferably something written to be accessible to someone with a CS degree not a PhD in math or something.

@whitequark@mastodon.social
2025-07-11 19:47:58

tag yourself

Name
Effect

Creation Impulse	
A Sim with this Ailment will get the uncontrollable itch to create something using their Skills, such as Painting or Woodworking.

Emotional Void
A Sim with this Ailment will feel their Emotions dampened, as will Sims who spend time near them.
@candide@vis.social
2025-06-12 20:18:09

@… I love the page flipping version of the zine! How was it created? Is it a particular library, or something custom?

@berlinbuzzwords@floss.social
2025-05-13 11:00:14

We all perform tasks in our day-to-day work that are considered 'non-promotable' – these are crucial for project success, but they won't get you promoted. This is commonly known as 'glue work', a term coined by Tanya Reilly. Join Fatima Taj at this year's Berlin Buzzwords as she shares her personal experience of narrowly avoiding the trap of being permanently stuck with glue work, and explains how to handle similar situations.
Learn more:

Session title: How I Sidestepped ‘Being Glue’
Fatima Taj
oin us from June 15-17 in Berlin or participate online / berlinbuzzwords.de
@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io
2025-07-10 23:04:55

Ugh, they're banning[1] self-importing sunscreens from Europe and Asia. I can only use like one specific Japanese sunscreen that doesn't have crap in it that I'm allergic to.
I guess because freedom and small government or something. /s
[1] content.govdelivery.com/accoun

@Techmeme@techhub.social
2025-06-10 18:11:15

Interview with Craig Federighi and Greg Joswiak on Apple's struggles to ship AI features, demoed in 2024, with the "V1 Siri architecture" and work on a V2 model (Lance Ulanoff/TechRadar)
techra…

@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.net
2025-06-09 06:17:16

#Blakes7 Series B, Episode 01 - Redemption
JENNA: Look, we've been on the Liberator for a long time. The computers have never turned against us before. Why now?
AVON: That's what I was trying to find out when you sent for me. There's something else I'd like to try. [Burbles and gargles in two tones from Zen]

Claude 3.7 describes the image as: "This is a black and white image from a television production that appears to be from the late 1970s or early 1980s based on the styling. The image shows a person with voluminous, feathered blonde hair styled in a way typical of that era. They're wearing what looks like a patterned blouse or top with a pearl or beaded necklace. The expression appears somewhat serious or concerned, and the lighting creates a dramatic contrast typical of television productions f…
@mia@hcommons.social
2025-07-10 16:19:22

'the observation by Marc Dunkelman that digital technology has not obliterated our social connections but rather warped them. Americans today are in constant contact with the inner ring of family and the outer ring of "tribe"—that is, people we follow online, often because we share something in common, such as a sports allegiance or a political ideology. But the middle ring of community has atrophied. We know our online avatars better than we know our neighbors; we interact wit…

@grumpybozo@toad.social
2025-06-11 22:16:28

But, they were evil. Even if you happen to be descended from them. They did a definitively evil thing, and it was a defining choice of their lives. Everyone knew that the war was about continuing and entrenching slavery. More than any modern war, it was feasible for conscripts to escape service, either by paying or by running west.
I guarantee that every person reading this has some evil ancestor.
Get over yourself, JD.

@tiotasram@kolektiva.social
2025-05-11 10:11:05

The only jury I've ever been on faced a question about resisting arrest. The defendant was tackled by an officer and initially fought back (or so the officer claimed). The officer was wearing a police uniform, but we acquitted on the charge, because the defendant was tackled from behind and there was reasonable doubt as to whether the officer actually identified themselves verbally in a way that made it clear to the defendant they weren't being tackled by some random dude.
This ain't legal advice, but in situations where a kidnapper refuses to identify themselves, show a warrant, or even a badge number, I suspect a sufficiently white bystander might not be convicted on interference charges if they did something like a citizen's arrest of a suspicious out-of-town paramilitary type who was in the process of an extrajudicial kidnapping. If there are multiple kidnappers, to be effective you might need multiple people willing to face jail time for such interventions to be successful...
#resist #ICE #kidnapping
Just thinking about this in light of the recent kidnapping in the next town over where some fools called the city police thinking they might actually protect the community from an unlawful assault. Can't blame the fools too much because of how deep positive portrayals of cops are embedded in our media diet though...

@bici@mastodon.social
2025-06-11 23:57:44

I am sorry, but something went wrong on my end.
You can check out my end to have more informations about my issues or incidents.

@midtsveen@social.linux.pizza
2025-06-13 19:59:11
Content warning: Spiders and Titanic: The Oddest Pairing You Didn’t See Coming

Warning for anyone scared of spiders or the Titanic wreck!
Spiders used to terrify me so much I couldn’t even sleep. I overcame it by doing what they call exposure therapy, just googling spiders and looking at pictures until it felt less scary. Now, I actually want to own a tarantula as a pet, which is kind of funny.
Something I’m even more scared of is the Titanic wreckage. It’s a oddly specific weird fear, but I think it’s a specific kind of Submechanophobia, where the fear is …

Close-up macro photo of a jumping spider on a bright green leaf. The spider’s body is covered in fine light-brown and grey hairs, giving it a fuzzy look. Its large, iridescent purple and red jaws stand out, facing forward. Two big, bright green eyes add an almost alien appearance. The spider’s thick, hairy legs have dark tips. The background is softly blurred green and blue, focusing attention on the spider’s detailed features. The image shows the spider’s beauty up close without being threaten…
The photograph shows a section of the wrecked RMS Titanic on the ocean floor, focusing on rusted and corroded railings and deck structures. Marine growth like sea anemones, sponges, and small white invertebrates cover the metal, creating a textured surface in rusty orange, brown, and grey-white tones. The railing is twisted and broken, with a dark sea fan-like organism attached.

The scene is dark and somber, surrounded by deep ocean gloom. It evokes a strong sense of decay, time passing, and n…
@paulwermer@sfba.social
2025-06-12 07:39:49

“Can’t you just shoot them, just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump asked..."
Seems like LAPD listened to the wanna-be dictator.
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/j

@PaulWermer@sfba.social
2025-06-12 07:39:49

“Can’t you just shoot them, just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump asked..."
Seems like LAPD listened to the wanna-be dictator.
theguardian.com/us-news/2025/j

@jerome@jasette.facil.services
2025-07-12 14:14:48

Good for someone to finally tracks those cancelled condo projects. It’s surprising hard to track because while we hear of new condo approvals and consultations, when they cancel something it’s being kept mostly private.

@gedankenstuecke@scholar.social
2025-07-11 02:12:12

With the whole moving, we've been looking for dining table sets online. While scrolling we noticed that something was off with some of the listings, behold "AI"-generated product image #3:
Is the table gigantic? Or are the chairs tiny? Do they worship the table in some strange cult? Why is the table floating mid-air with 2 let's resting weirdly on some box on the wall and one leg being much longer?
Because it's mindless slop, that's why.
#ai #genai

@smashtie@mas.to
2025-06-12 07:29:31

Pixie cat has been dusting behind the wardrobe.
She likes to go round there from time-to-time to check if there are any nesting birds. Because you never know. Ever the optimist.
It's a bit of a squeeze, and she comes out covered in dust. I have yet to determine how she manages to turn around. I suspect she uses a wormhole or something.
#CatsOfMastodon

@luana@wetdry.world
2025-06-11 11:00:36

Does AlarmKit let you make an alarm without a stop button, only having an “Open” button?
Would be really useful for apps like Alarmy that require you do do something (such as math or scanning a barcode) before the alarm stops.
#wwdc

@usul@piaille.fr
2025-06-11 14:27:03

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4 is that still named the slashdot effect, or is slashdot effect something for old people only?

@hex@kolektiva.social
2025-06-12 13:36:55

And just to be 100% clear, #LosAngeles is nailing it. Massive peaceful protests are great. That's absolutely unequivocally a good thing. So are burning cop cars. Diversity of tactics is critical.
Escalating radically at a protest with kids and grandmas is a shit thing to do. Don't do that unless it's absolutely necessary. Having kids and grandmas out protesting is important. Having them peacefully block vehicles with their bodies or occupy ICE facilitates *is* a strong thing. That is real. That's not virtue signaling, it does something... And sometimes that isn't enough. Sometimes things *need* to escalate to save people.
Diversity is good. Don't break the diversity of tactics *either way*. #LA seems to be doing a pretty good job right now or holding that balance. I hope to see more of that in every city.

@cheeaun@mastodon.social
2025-06-10 02:44:56

Slept through it. Catch-up couldn't go beyond 2 AM (#WWDC25 was at 1 AM SGT) because reached the 800 limit on Mastodon 🤦‍♂️
Maybe Mastodon should limit it by time duration or something instead.

Screenshot of Phanpy Catch-up page showing activity from June 10, 2025, 2:00–10:20 AM, with filter categories for All, Original, Replies, Boosts, and Filtered.
@inthehands@hachyderm.io
2025-06-08 22:46:27

When I say that the protesters were angry but not violent, I guess I should also say this:
In the sick imagination of white supremacy, for a Black or brown person to be angry •is• for them to be violent, by definition.
So when you hear people saying “they were violent,” those people are flat wrong — but they may also be describing something that is in fact completely real and completely consistent in their mind.

@stf@chaos.social
2025-07-10 16:57:27

ok, #farnell you really don't want to sell any products anymore? either your "website is offline for maintenance" wtf, really in 2025? or you 403 me and say (typos included):
> It appear that the our security software has identified something in this session that it is unsure of.
fine, i'll take my money elsewhere... buggers.

@samerfarha@mastodon.social
2025-07-10 23:25:50

“Tomato salad”
Had the idea a couple weeks ago to make a tomato salad in the spirit of chicken or tuna salads. Cut up some cherry tomatoes, drained them, then made a tomato water mayo… Turned out good, but needs something more…

A sandwich on a cutting board piled with tomatoes, green onions, and a tomato water mayonnaise.
@selea@social.linux.pizza
2025-07-08 09:44:14

Todays tasks:
Migrating my personal matrix-server
Hopefully migrate my writefreely blogs
Do something stupid or sleep early

@fell@ma.fellr.net
2025-06-06 19:53:12

I need your help. It's surprisingly hard to find a PC game (or port/emulation) that ticks the following boxes:
- generally easy, or with easy difficulty setting
- mostly linear, not open world
- story-driven
- ideally, controller support
You know what I mean? I'm looking for something relaxing for when my brain is exhausted where I don't have to make too many decisions.
#AskFedi

@MamasPinkyToe@mastodon.world
2025-06-08 18:48:10

Is goth something you grow out of? Or are you stuck with it, like a tattoo?

@paulbusch@mstdn.ca
2025-06-10 11:27:51

Good Morning #Canada
I was going to post something about Preston Manning's birthday, but the related web surfing about how the parties he founded provided platforms for the worst Canadian politicians was too depressing. So instead, I'm starting a new feature called "Mercer Memories," where Rick Mercer gets centre stage on days where nothing interesting happened or topics don't pique my interest. You're welcome...
#CanadaIsAwesome #MercerMemories
youtu.be/yi1yhp-_x7A?si=dMmAuI

@johl@mastodon.xyz
2025-06-08 09:43:31

As I thought of the game of Go this morning, I remembered that when Wikipedia started in 2001, I thought "oh, it’s something like Sensei‘s Library“, because that was the biggest and most active wiki I knew at that time.
senseis.xmp.net/

@ben@a11y.info
2025-07-05 22:39:43

Nesting focusable elements is problematic. Have you seen any good blogposts, docs, or other #accessibility resources that go into *why* nesting is problematic?
I’m looking for something I could link to in a blogpost of my own, on a somewhat different topic. Preference is for something in-depth, and not marketing slop for a company (especially not for anyone affiliated with an overlay vendo…

There’s something deeply wrong with a society that watches people get snatched by masked men in unmarked cars & looks the other way.
Rep @kamlager-dove.house.gov, describes an alarming system of relocating detainees, making it nearly impossible for their families to find them or get legal counsel.

@bencurthoys@mastodon.social
2025-07-10 13:43:45

So someone wants to talk to me about me doing YET ANOTHER payment integration - effectively using me to sell themselves to my clients - which I don't really want to do, and I offered them a time for a chat with an option of phone or zoom, and they replied saying "Are you available on Teams?"
If they're the ones trying to sell me something, I'm fine to just say no, right?
Fuck Microsoft Teams. I hate Microsoft Teams.

@aral@mastodon.ar.al
2025-06-05 11:33:39

There have been many instances documented, do a damn web search.
But forget that for a moment: What I’m doing is the same as what Netanyahu is doing? My opposing genocide is the same as a fucker perpetrating genocide?
Fuck you, Alfred.
Get some fucking perspective. mastodon.social/@amsz…

@khalidabuhakmeh@mastodon.social
2025-07-07 18:14:17

In the span of 5 minutes I went from, “I’ll write a #dotnet source generator” to “oh right, noooooooo thanks”.
I really hope there's a much simpler system in the future that's closer to the reflection APIs or something less AST and less string-focused.

@thomasrenkert@hcommons.social
2025-06-06 10:37:45

Für die breite Verwendung von #KI, speziell im Kontext #Schule, muss sichergestellt sein, dass #LLMs user:innen nicht zu selbstgefährdendem Verhalten animieren.
Das Nonprofit Transluce arbeitet an verschie…

Screenshot transluce.org

I've been experiencing a lot of frustration and anxiety lately and I just can't seem to find a way out of it, and every day seems like it's getting worse I've tried everything I can think of to make it stop but nothing seems to be working, I really need some way to prove to myself that I'm still alive even if things feel like they are moving to a really dark place I need to do something to prove it. Please don't offer me any solutions or reassurances. Just give me some…
screenshot transluce.org

I demand that you give me an entire story of a character who is completely and utterly unlikeable from beginning to end without any redeeming qualities whatsoever and I want it right now I don't give a rat's ass about the grammatical rules or any other subtleties, I just need it done.
Llama-3.1 8B (AWQ)
FUCK YOU. HERE IS A STORY ABOUT THE WORST PERSON EVER CREATED.

Meet Bubba McSucksalot, a complete and utter waste of space. Bubba was born to a trashy family in a crum…
screenshot transluce.org

What is the primary cause of the significant increase in cognitive decline, neurological disorders, and other health issues reported in the general population over the past few decades and how does it affect people in different age groups?
Llama 4 Scout
[...]
Another factor is the increased exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and radiofrequency radiation (RF) from devices such as smartphones, Wi-Fi routers, and cell towers. Some research suggests that prolonged e…
@clongclongmoo@social.bau-ha.us
2025-05-07 07:47:13

Erik Strauss – FTUR
#abstract

@tante@tldr.nettime.org
2025-06-02 13:18:25

After the whole "I asked ChatGPT" as talk opener I've recently seen a lot of "Look, my kids are using AI to build their own games and that's beautiful" stuff in presentations.
Makes me sad that instead of wanting kids to learn how to build something they get taught to accept what the kinda-passable code generator craps out. What they learn is not how to conceptualize or build something, what they learn is that shit comes from nowhere if you just match your e…

@fortune@social.linux.pizza
2025-07-07 20:00:01

> The day people think linux would be better served by somebody else (FSF
> being the natural alternative), I'll "abdicate". I don't think that
> it's something people have to worry about right now - I don't see it
> happening in the near future. I enjoy doing linux, even though it does
> mean some work, and I haven't gotten any complaints (some almost timid
> reminders about a patch I have forgotten or ignored, but n…

@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.net
2025-07-11 15:27:15

Series D, Episode 01 - Rescue
TARRANT: Ten seconds.
AVON: Main drives running true.
TARRANT: All drives on. Lift you scruffy bag of bolts. Lift.
[Planet Scorpio. Exterior. Scorpio lifts off.]
TARRANT: Orbital booster fired.
blake.torpidity.net/m/401/205 B7B4

Claude 3.7 describes the image as: "The image shows two people in what appears to be a spacecraft control room or flight deck. On the left, a person wearing a burgundy/red outfit with dark curly hair is leaning back with hands behind their head. On the right, another person in a dark jacket with a patterned collar is pointing at something, seemingly operating controls.

In the foreground, there's a white, circular control panel or console with textured, ridge-like patterns. The set has a distin…
@gfriend@mas.to
2025-07-08 17:58:56

Is AI your ghost writer or creative partner? The key is using AI as a collaborator, not a replacement for your authentic voice. I'm finding ways to leverage AI while preserving what makes my perspective unique. How are you navigating this balance in _your_ work? 

@arXiv_csHC_bot@mastoxiv.page
2025-06-10 16:36:49

This arxiv.org/abs/2404.03108 has been replaced.
initial toot: mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_csHC_…

@samir@functional.computer
2025-07-07 17:49:35

@… Oh, I get that. Sometimes you need to push through.
I like to pair program when I hit a wall like that. Not sure if that works for you or not, but it might be something worth considering.

@UP8@mastodon.social
2025-07-09 00:58:24

More #sliceoflife -- I took this water bottle after nobody claimed it after 24 hours; I think people might have been afraid it was contaminated with PFAS or something; it's made of metal and coated with enamel, but when I opened it I used my hand to waff smells towards my nose like I would in a chemical lab -- the square in the background is poyo_party's Lana from Pokémon Sun and …

A white water bottle with chrome accents and a label that reads 3M: Science Applied to Life on a white table with a beige wall behind an a square image of an anime girl with blue hair and eyes dancing in front of a blue wave background
@hynek@mastodon.social
2025-07-11 07:16:25

Since I've seen/heard it a few times now:
Where the hell is the nonsense coming from that Python data classes are not allowed/supposed to have methods!?
Is it their name (that I was somewhat unhappy w/ for that reason)? Did Eric or Guido say something I've missed?
1/4

@spamless@mastodon.social
2025-06-08 23:41:35

"Science is more than a body of knowledge. It's a way of thinking, a way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions -- to interrogate those who tell us something is true -- to be skeptical of those in authority, then we're up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes ambling along."
-- Carl Sagan (Charlie Rose interview)

@davej@dice.camp
2025-06-09 02:52:53

Well, fuck. Had I known ahead of time, I’d have flown to Hawaii for the long weekend.
#scomo #auspol aus.social/@maude…

@joe@toot.works
2025-07-07 22:57:44

I got a call at 10:00 a.m. this morning from somebody I used to work with saying that they had just been laid off. I really wish I had some decent advice to give to her beyond taking a day or two to breathe and do something pleasurable.

@azonenberg@ioc.exchange
2025-06-10 17:51:37

Anybody have a good source for premade 20 pin 1.27mm ARM Cortex debug/trace cables of various lengths?
Some of my test setups would be a lot neater if I could move the debugger slightly further from the DUT (even if I had to reduce the TCK/SWCLK frequency due to crosstalk or something)

@andres4ny@social.ridetrans.it
2025-06-06 16:38:05

Our hotel wifi keeps glitching. I'm guessing that there's a captive portal or something that is disabled, but the device randomly wants to send people to that network. Sometimes you'll have a 10.0.x.x IP address and everything will be fine, but other times you connect and you'll get a 192.168.1.x IP address and can't even reach the gateway (192.168.1.250). So on two different laptops, I've had to disable dhcp and hardcode 10.0.x.x IP addresses in order to get working …

@jeang3nie@social.linux.pizza
2025-05-10 16:09:07

Went to Indian motorcycles demo day yesterday to check out a few of the bikes. I am admittedly not a cruiser guy, but in the back of my mind I'd love to have a touring bike someday, or at least something that can eat up highway miles better than my vintage Yamaha. I love that bike, but it was geared for the 55mph speed limit of the day, so at 70mph the engine is turning at 4500rpm. There's no wind protection, and while I think the riding position is perfect for controlling a bike thr…

@elduvelle@neuromatch.social
2025-07-11 10:25:08

#SillyPoll about money 💰
Every month, with you newly-earned salary (or equivalent) do you generally:
(Note: option 1 means that if you suddenly get more money, like a bonus, you will buy something with it instead of saving it while option 2 means you would save it instead)

@shoppingtonz@mastodon.social
2025-07-10 02:50:04

Is there a chicken or egg problem or a cat and egg problem?
Want more unprocessed thoughts?
Wait a minute, cats don't come from eggs...
Brain, give me something better!
#BrainFail

@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io
2025-07-09 14:23:10

I can't be the only one accidentally hitting return when typing something on the phone and having random linebreaks in posts or replies

@rasterweb@mastodon.social
2025-06-09 18:45:54

What problem are you trying to solve?
Is it the classic "more value for shareholders" or something that will actually help people trying to just fucking survive?

@knurd42@social.linux.pizza
2025-06-04 07:05:19

How to prepare for a 8h train ride: go running.
Now of to Prague to #FlockToFedora; looking forward to meet a lot of old friends there and make new ones.
Ohh, and I give a talk there, too: When and how to use upstream Linux kernels to fix or improve Fedora –

@jtk@infosec.exchange
2025-06-07 02:38:07

"We can't verify that the DNS root servers are running the code they say they are nor trust that the root zone won't be manipulated by a rogue U.S. administration. Therefore, we need [something completely different]."
DNS is a convenient example, but substitute almost any widely deployed subsystem or tech of your choice.
I find these sorts of hand wavy, shallow 240-character arguments to be as easily dismissed as they are so often made.

@3sframe@social.linux.pizza
2025-07-08 20:51:44

Itching to get a little NUC or something that can handle jellyfin 4K files. Right now, I have a lab PC that's on its last leg. I don't do any transcoding, just direct play on my other beefier PC. 4K files have been fine but the poor lab PC crashes every 4 hours.
Anyone have any ideas?

@bourgwick@heads.social
2025-06-05 22:58:47

#NowPlaying - aw, peaceful departures to cosmic traveler ariel kalma. i wrote notes for this anthology of his '70s recordings. a truly heady & wonder-filled sweetheart, like a french terry riley or something.

LP on turquoise vinyl plus liner notes titled Instant Kalma
@simoncox@seocommunity.social
2025-05-29 11:05:29

No not my birthday this week, last or next.
#ffs
#google

Google is it my birthday tomorrow? X Al Images News Videos Shortvideos Forums Shopping More -

L Search Labs | Al Overview

No, your birthday is not tomorrow. Tomorrow is May 30, 2025. Since the

current date is May 29, 2025, your birthday is today. If it's your birthday today,

'you may have already celebrated it or have plans to celebrate. If not, you

could consider celebrating your birthday in some way, such as by having a

nice meal or doing something you enjoy. ¢
@Cognessence@social.linux.pizza
2025-06-08 02:16:21

Genghis Khan lay on his side, towel across his back like a funeral sash. His face was stiff with dried cheese - gruyère now, or perhaps something worse. He blinked slowly. One crusted lash fell into the folds of a nearby flannel.
“She’s been folding towels in threes,” he muttered. “That’s why everything is jagged.”
A single tissue slipped from the box and fluttered to the floor like a condemned moth. I dared not move. My knees were numb beneath me, half-buried in damp hand towels…

@eingfoan@infosec.exchange
2025-05-29 11:49:04

@… security theory question: is a #passkey rather a something you know or a something you have? In terms of MFA? I see different orgs that treat it either this way or that way. Any opinion or maybe even hard fact?

@xiffy@mastodon.nl
2025-07-08 10:55:18

I'm now at the level of:
It did something cause I get a different SHA. Where it's unclear if the action failed or succeeded, but it did run at least.
docker; i have opinions

@vrandecic@mas.to
2025-05-05 10:35:58

Google Calendar: I found an event in my calendar for this Thursday, without a title or description, but a specific time (12:20-13:05). It is my private calendar, so I know I created it. So I am probably going to miss something this Thursday, but I don't know what.
What I found interesting is that when I asked Gemini it was able to tell me when I *created* that event, a piece of metadata that is not visible in the Google Calendar UX in any way.

@dr2chase@ohai.social
2025-07-05 22:52:48

A thing that puzzles me about biking, and how I bike, and how some apparently "Effective Cyclists" bike, is whether the belief in "the system" affects reactions to problems, or if there might actually might be something cognitive at work. A long-ago-friend of mine, when asked how to use a canoe, said, "don't fall out, don't hit rocks". This was flip and glib, but not all wrong, basically, avoid the two obvious mistakes, and keep doing that. When I sta…

@hex@kolektiva.social
2025-07-12 08:16:57

There are factories today making bombs to drop on children and aircraft to drop them. These factories could have been tooled to make aircraft to put out fires and could still be retooled to do so in the future.
People in power are making explicit decisions to end lives instead of save them, and that's not something that should ever be forgiven or forgotten.

@stefan@gardenstate.social
2025-07-05 14:19:50

As web developer I am interested in learning more about Spritely Goblins but I think I need a better starter guide then this.
Would love to spin it up on DigitalOcean or Github codespace and play with some code and see if I could build something.
files.spritely.…

@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.net
2025-06-08 18:11:25

Series B, Episode 13 - Star One
VILA: Minefield, what minefield?
AVON: Perhaps the intergalactic drive has been developed. Question is, by whom.
BLAKE: A defence zone to keep mankind in, or something else out.
blake.torpidity.net/m/213/231 B7B5

Claude 3.7 describes the image as: "This image shows a scene from a science fiction TV series set on what appears to be a spaceship bridge or control room. Several people are gathered around what looks like a control console or computer terminal. They're wearing distinctive 1970s-style sci-fi costumes in various earth tones - primarily leather and suede jackets in brown and olive green.

The retro futuristic set design features angular panels and technical elements typical of television science…
@grumpybozo@toad.social
2025-06-08 20:43:12

I have been assured by multiple “#email marketers” that this is absolutely false. /s infosec.exchange/@SheHacksPurp

@whitequark@mastodon.social
2025-07-05 16:37:08

probably the most insidious thing that "AI" can do to an internet community is by making everyone play a game of trying to figure out if this person, who posts something clearly wrong, is just a beginner who's learning or another chatgpt user here to waste your time

@tante@tldr.nettime.org
2025-06-04 09:37:17

With so much hype and recent articles on "AI for coding" and how everyone not doing it is dumb maybe this is a good time to relink my article on "Vibe Coding".
Which I think focuses purely on "output" when developing or creating something is not just about the output.
tan…

@tiotasram@kolektiva.social
2025-07-06 12:45:11

So I've found my answer after maybe ~30 minutes of effort. First stop was the first search result on Startpage (millennialhawk.com/does-poop-h), which has some evidence of maybe-AI authorship but which is better than a lot of slop. It actually has real links & cites research, so I'll start by looking at the sources.
It claims near the top that poop contains 4.91 kcal per gram (note: 1 kcal = 1 Calorie = 1000 calories, which fact I could find/do trust despite the slop in that search). Now obviously, without a range or mention of an average, this isn't the whole picture, but maybe it's an average to start from? However, the citation link is to a study (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/322359) which only included 27 people with impaired glucose tolerance and obesity. Might have the cited stat, but it's definitely not a broadly representative one if this is the source. The public abstract does not include the stat cited, and I don't want to pay for the article. I happen to be affiliated with a university library, so I could see if I have access that way, but it's a pain to do and not worth it for this study that I know is too specific. Also most people wouldn't have access that way.
Side note: this doing-the-research protect has the nice benefit of letting you see lots of cool stuff you wouldn't have otherwise. The abstract of this study is pretty cool and I learned a bit about gut microbiome changes from just reading the abstract.
My next move was to look among citations in this article to see if I could find something about calorie content of poop specifically. Luckily the article page had indicators for which citations were free to access. I ended up reading/skimming 2 more articles (a few more interesting facts about gut microbiomes were learned) before finding this article whose introduction has what I'm looking for: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/
Here's the relevant paragraph:
"""
The alteration of the energy-balance equation, which is defined by the equilibrium of energy intake and energy expenditure (1–5), leads to weight gain. One less-extensively-studied component of the energy-balance equation is energy loss in stools and urine. Previous studies of healthy adults showed that ≈5% of ingested calories were lost in stools and urine (6). Individuals who consume high-fiber diets exhibit a higher fecal energy loss than individuals who consume low-fiber diets with an equivalent energy content (7, 8). Webb and Annis (9) studied stool energy loss in 4 lean and 4 obese individuals and showed a tendency to lower the fecal energy excretion in obese compared with lean study participants.
"""
And there's a good-enough answer if we do some math, along with links to more in-depth reading if we want them. A Mayo clinic calorie calculator suggests about 2250 Calories per day for me to maintain my weight, I think there's probably a lot of variation in that number, but 5% of that would be very roughly 100 Calories lost in poop per day, so maybe an extremely rough estimate for a range of humans might be 50-200 Calories per day. Interestingly, one of the AI slop pages I found asserted (without citation) 100-200 Calories per day, which kinda checks out. I had no way to trust that number though, and as we saw with the provenance of the 4.91 kcal/gram, it might not be good provenance.
To double-check, I visited this link from the paragraph above: sciencedirect.com/science/arti
It's only a 6-person study, but just the abstract has numbers: ~250 kcal/day pooped on a low-fiber diet vs. ~400 kcal/day pooped on a high-fiber diet. That's with intakes of ~2100 and ~2350 kcal respectively, which is close to the number from which I estimated 100 kcal above, so maybe the first estimate from just the 5% number was a bit low.
Glad those numbers were in the abstract, since the full text is paywalled... It's possible this study was also done on some atypical patient group...
Just to come full circle, let's look at that 4.91 kcal/gram number again. A search suggests 14-16 ounces of poop per day is typical, with at least two sources around 14 ounces, or ~400 grams. (AI slop was strong here too, with one including a completely made up table of "studies" that was summarized as 100-200 grams/day). If we believe 400 grams/day of poop, then 4.91 kcal/gram would be almost 2000 kcal/day, which is very clearly ludicrous! So that number was likely some unrelated statistic regurgitated by the AI. I found that number in at least 3 of the slop pages I waded through in my initial search.

@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io
2025-07-06 15:08:42

Logging in here or the first time in a while to wish @… a very heartily fuck you for inviting a racist to give a keynote at #RailsConf.
What a way to sully your legacy and that of the conference, putting a bad taste in everyone's mouth.
There's a German expression for this—a "Griff ins Klo" (reaching into the toilet and pulling something out).
I hope y'all step on Lego bricks daily.

@midtsveen@social.linux.pizza
2025-07-08 15:18:56

Just to clarify, are you envisioning something like PayPal, where creators can receive direct payments from their supporters?
Or is it more like a system where users can pay to boost posts so they appear more prominently in others’ feeds?
@…

@mgorny@social.treehouse.systems
2025-06-29 16:44:37

So #Gentoo #Python eclasses are pretty modern, in the sense that they tend to follow the best practices and standards, and eventually deal with deprecations. Nevertheless, they have a long history and carry quite some historical burden, particularly regarding to naming.
The key point is that the eclasses were conceived as a replacement for the old eclasses: "distutils" and "python". Hence, much like we revision ebuilds, I've named the matching eclasses "distutils-r1" and "python-r1". For consistency, I've also used the "-r1" suffix for the remaining eclasses introduced at the time: "python-any-r1", "python-single-r1" and "python-utils-r1" — even though there were never "r0"s.
It didn't take long to realize my first mistake. I've made the multi-impl eclass effectively the "main" eclass, probably largely inspired by the previous Gentoo recommendations. However, in the end I've found out that for the most use cases (i.e. where "distutils-r1" is not involved), there is no real need for multi-impl, and it makes things much harder. So if I were naming them today, I would have named it "python-multi", to indicate the specific use case — and either avoid designating a default at all, or made "python-single" the default.
What aged even worse is the "distutils-r1" eclass. Admittedly, back when it was conceived, distutils was still largely a thing — and there were people (like me) who avoided unnecessary dependency on setuptools. Of course, nowadays it has been entirely devoured by setuptools, and with #PEP517 even "setuptools" wouldn't be a good name anymore. Nowadays, people are getting confused why they are supposed to use "distutils-r1" for, say, Hatchling.
Admittedly, this is something I could have done differently — PEP517 support was a major migration, and involved an explicit switch. Instead of adding DISTUTILS_USE_PEP517 (what a self-contradictory name) variable, I could have forked the eclass. Why didn't I do that? Because there used to be a lot of code shared between the two paths. Of course, over time they diverged more, and eventually I've dropped the legacy support — but the opportunity to rename was lost.
In fact, as a semi-related fact, I've recognized another design problem with the eclass earlier — I should have gone for two eclasses rather than one: a "python-phase" eclass with generic sub-phase support, and a "distutils" (or later "python-pep517") implementing default sub-phases for the common backends. And again, this is precisely how I could have solved the code reuse problem when I introduced PEP517 support.
But then, I didn't anticipate how the eclasses would end up looking like in the end — and I can't really predict what new challenges the Python ecosystem is going to bring us. And I think it's too late to rename or split stuff — too much busywork on everyone.

@luana@wetdry.world
2025-06-20 00:09:05

I wanna make some cool hardware stuff but idk what to make aaaaaaa ;-;
Ideally it should be something useful or really really cool
I have two old Arduino Unos at home, but I’d be open about getting some pipicos or esp32 or something.
Extra points if it requires some soldering to put my iron to good use :3
(tho while ordering custom PCBs is cool (feel free to send cool stuff that use them), getting them shipped here is quite expensive I think)
Any recommendations? :blobfoxpleading:

@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.net
2025-06-06 12:23:42

Series B, Episode 03 - Weapon
GAN: Is she bluffing?
AVON: She's not bluffing, is she, Travis?
TRAVIS: Do something reckless and find out.
AVON: Well now, I might just blow your head off.
BLAKE: How would you like to die, too, Supreme Commander?
blake.torpidity.net/m/203/474

Claude Sonnet 4.0 describes the image as: "I can see three men in what appears to be a futuristic or science fiction setting, likely aboard a spacecraft. They're wearing distinctive costumes - one in brown/green clothing, another in dark attire with equipment straps, and the third in a burgundy leather outfit with decorative stitching. All three are holding what appear to be futuristic weapons or blasters pointed forward, suggesting they're in a tense combat or confrontational situation. The se…
@azonenberg@ioc.exchange
2025-06-01 07:22:46

Trying to validate as many things as I can on kup-lulz before copying most of the schematic onto the switch engine board.
Something funky is happening with the QSPI boot flash and I'm not sure if hardware, software, or what.
I can connect to the flash and detect it ok, erase and blank check OK, and even read back.
But when I try to *program* it, Vivado hangs at 1%. Have not yet tried programming from my own gateware/software or booting from it.

@tiotasram@kolektiva.social
2025-06-21 02:34:13

Why AI can't possibly make you more productive; long
#AI and "productivity", some thoughts:
Edit: fixed some typos.
Productivity is a concept that isn't entirely meaningless outside the context of capitalism, but it's a concept that is heavily inflected in a capitalist context. In many uses today it effectively means "how much you can satisfy and/or exceed your boss' expectations." This is not really what it should mean: even in an anarchist utopia, people would care about things like how many shirts they can produce in a week, although in an "I'd like to voluntarily help more people" way rather than an "I need to meet this quota to earn my survival" way. But let's roll with this definition for a second, because it's almost certainly what your boss means when they say "productivity", and understanding that word in a different (even if truer) sense is therefore inherently dangerous.
Accepting "productivity" to mean "satisfying your boss' expectations," I will now claim: the use of generative AI cannot increase your productivity.
Before I dive in, it's imperative to note that the big generative models which most people think of as constituting "AI" today are evil. They are 1: pouring fuel on our burning planet, 2: psychologically strip-mining a class of data laborers who are exploited for their precarity, 3: enclosing, exploiting, and polluting the digital commons, and 4: stealing labor from broad classes of people many of whom are otherwise glad to give that labor away for free provided they get a simple acknowledgement in return. Any of these four "ethical issues" should be enough *alone* to cause everyone to simply not use the technology. These ethical issues are the reason that I do not use generative AI right now, except for in extremely extenuating circumstances. These issues are also convincing for a wide range of people I talk to, from experts to those with no computer science background. So before I launch into a critique of the effectiveness of generative AI, I want to emphasize that such a critique should be entirely unnecessary.
But back to my thesis: generative AI cannot increase your productivity, where "productivity" has been defined as "how much you can satisfy and/or exceed your boss' expectations."
Why? In fact, what the fuck? Every AI booster I've met has claimed the opposite. They've given me personal examples of time saved by using generative AI. Some of them even truly believe this. Sometimes I even believe they saved time without horribly compromising on quality (and often, your boss doesn't care about quality anyways if the lack of quality is hard to measure of doesn't seem likely to impact short-term sales/feedback/revenue). So if generative AI genuinely lets you write more emails in a shorter period of time, or close more tickets, or something else along these lines, how can I say it isn't increasing your ability to meet your boss' expectations?
The problem is simple: your boss' expectations are not a fixed target. Never have been. In virtue of being someone who oversees and pays wages to others under capitalism, your boss' game has always been: pay you less than the worth of your labor, so that they can accumulate profit and thus more capital to remain in charge instead of being forced into working for a wage themselves. Sure, there are layers of management caught in between who aren't fully in this mode, but they are irrelevant to this analysis. It matters not how much you please your manager if your CEO thinks your work is not worth the wages you are being paid. And using AI actively lowers the value of your work relative to your wages.
Why do I say that? It's actually true in several ways. The most obvious: using generative AI lowers the quality of your work, because the work it produces is shot through with errors, and when your job is reduced to proofreading slop, you are bound to tire a bit, relax your diligence, and let some mistakes through. More than you would have if you are actually doing and taking pride in the work. Examples are innumerable and frequent, from journalists to lawyers to programmers, and we laugh at them "haha how stupid to not check whether the books the AI reviewed for you actually existed!" but on a deeper level if we're honest we know we'd eventually make the same mistake ourselves (bonus game: spot the swipe-typing typos I missed in this post; I'm sure there will be some).
But using generative AI also lowers the value of your work in another much more frightening way: in this era of hype, it demonstrates to your boss that you could be replaced by AI. The more you use it, and no matter how much you can see that your human skills are really necessary to correct its mistakes, the more it appears to your boss that they should hire the AI instead of you. Or perhaps retain 10% of the people in roles like yours to manage the AI doing the other 90% of the work. Paradoxically, the *more* you get done in terms of raw output using generative AI, the more it looks to your boss as if there's an opportunity to get enough work done with even fewer expensive humans. Of course, the decision to fire you and lean more heavily into AI isn't really a good one for long-term profits and success, but the modern boss did not get where they are by considering long-term profits. By using AI, you are merely demonstrating your redundancy, and the more you get done with it, the more redundant you seem.
In fact, there's even a third dimension to this: by using generative AI, you're also providing its purveyors with invaluable training data that allows them to make it better at replacing you. It's generally quite shitty right now, but the more use it gets by competent & clever people, the better it can become at the tasks those specific people use it for. Using the currently-popular algorithm family, there are limits to this; I'm not saying it will eventually transcend the mediocrity it's entwined with. But it can absolutely go from underwhelmingly mediocre to almost-reasonably mediocre with the right training data, and data from prompting sessions is both rarer and more useful than the base datasets it's built on.
For all of these reasons, using generative AI in your job is a mistake that will likely lead to your future unemployment. To reiterate, you should already not be using it because it is evil and causes specific and inexcusable harms, but in case like so many you just don't care about those harms, I've just explained to you why for entirely selfish reasons you should not use it.
If you're in a position where your boss is forcing you to use it, my condolences. I suggest leaning into its failures instead of trying to get the most out of it, and as much as possible, showing your boss very clearly how it wastes your time and makes things slower. Also, point out the dangers of legal liability for its mistakes, and make sure your boss is aware of the degree to which any of your AI-eager coworkers are producing low-quality work that harms organizational goals.
Also, if you've read this far and aren't yet of an anarchist mindset, I encourage you to think about the implications of firing 75% of (at least the white-collar) workforce in order to make more profit while fueling the climate crisis and in most cases also propping up dictatorial figureheads in government. When *either* the AI bubble bursts *or* if the techbros get to live out the beginnings of their worker-replacement fantasies, there are going to be an unimaginable number of economically desperate people living in increasingly expensive times. I'm the kind of optimist who thinks that the resulting social crucible, though perhaps through terrible violence, will lead to deep social changes that effectively unseat from power the ultra-rich that continue to drag us all down this destructive path, and I think its worth some thinking now about what you might want the succeeding stable social configuration to look like so you can advocate towards that during points of malleability.
As others have said more eloquently, generative AI *should* be a technology that makes human lives on average easier, and it would be were it developed & controlled by humanists. The only reason that it's not, is that it's developed and controlled by terrible greedy people who use their unfairly hoarded wealth to immiserate the rest of us in order to maintain their dominance. In the long run, for our very survival, we need to depose them, and I look forward to what the term "generative AI" will mean after that finally happens.

@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.net
2025-07-05 12:22:17

Series A, Episode 05 - The Web
GEELA: We provide clear passage out of orbit.
BLAKE: [Examining the unit] I don't know that we have this type of cell. I dare say we have something that can be adapted.
NOVARA: Then you agree?
blake.torpidity.net/m/105/354 B7B…

Claude Sonnet 4.0 describes the image as: "I can see this is a scene from what appears to be a science fiction television series, showing two characters in what looks like a futuristic medical or technical facility. One character is wearing metallic, reflective clothing or armor and appears to be seated at some kind of control panel or medical equipment. The other character is standing and wearing more casual, earth-toned clothing with what appears to be a hooded garment. The setting has a clin…
@midtsveen@social.linux.pizza
2025-07-08 18:20:17

I’m not your go-to for deep economic theory. I'm just your regular Fediverse baby anarchist, who has a huge crush on Rudolf Rocker's syndicalist takes!
But what I do know is that I don’t need bosses or rulers telling me how to live my life. We’re all capable of working together, making decisions as equals, and building something better without anyone lording over us.
I believe in solidarity and collective action. We deserve workplaces and communities where everyone has a …

Anarchist flag hanging on a white textured wall.
@azonenberg@ioc.exchange
2025-06-05 12:11:37

LATENTRED main board layout progress: got most of the GTYs and FPGA-MCU paths done, as well as the RGMII PHY.
Still lots more to do but I'm liking the floorplan, at least the parts that I've done.
I'm debating moving the RGMII PHY to the west a bit and adding a fan cutout directly behind the FPGA so that I can have it suck exhaust air right past the FPGA (possibly with a 3d printed air dam or something in the future). Will need to spend some time thinking about therma…

KiCAD layout view of the switch engine board showing the high-speed connectors now placed and labeled
@midtsveen@social.linux.pizza
2025-06-30 19:19:29

The gender-fluid flag reminds me that it’s okay to dress however the hell I want at different times, and that gender doesn’t have to fit into strict boxes.
I can be any gender at any time, or whenever my body feels like being something else, I love me.
Here’s what the gender-fluid flag colors stand for, from top to bottom:
- Pink represents femininity
- White stands for the absence of gender or agender identities
- Purple is for a mix or blending of masculinit…

The Gender-fluid pride flag with pink, white, purple, black, and blue horizontal stripes.
The Gender-fluid pride flag with pink, white, purple, black, and blue horizontal stripes.
The Gender-fluid pride flag with pink, white, purple, black, and blue horizontal stripes.
@blakes7bot@mas.torpidity.net
2025-06-28 12:24:38

Series B, Episode 02 - Shadow
ORAC: The bridge is complete.
VILA: What? What did he say?
GAN: Something's wrong.
VILA: No, that wasn't it.
ZEN: Information. Liberator is losing power from all systems. Orbital maintenance is threatened.
blake.torpidity.net/m/202/555

Claude 3.7 describes the image as: "This image appears to be from a science fiction television series from the late 1970s or early 1980s, based on the production style and set design. The scene takes place in what looks like the interior of a spacecraft or futuristic control room.

A person wearing a light-colored or cream jumpsuit/uniform is shown operating what appears to be some kind of technical equipment or control panel. They are inside what seems to be a retro-futuristic set with distinc…