Sven Slootweg (soft-deprecated) @joepie91@pixie.town

Everyone always asks Doctor Who, but no one ever asks Doctor How

“The signal is repeating! We’ve got the whole thing.”

“How many bits?”

“Almost 500k. 454,957 bits”

“I got a hunch, factorize that number”

“Bingo, seven fifty seven times six oh one. Think it could be a rectangular bitmap?”.

“It’s what we used to do back before those assholes let Arecibo fall down. Try bm2png.pl in my bin dir.”

“That worked. Holy shit I know that image. It’s the Pioneer plaque. That diagram from Pioneer 11 of human figures, and a map to Earth.”

“What, thats impossible, it’s only been, what, 70 odd years. That probe would still be in our own Kuiper Belt.”

“Outside it, actually, it’d be about one sixty AU out. They lost contact in the mid 90s. Still basically in our backyard but.”

“It’s too soon! If someone’s found it now, that would mean. Shit. They’re. Already. Here. Inside the Solar system.”

“And all they’ve got to say, is ‘Hi, we liked ur meme’.?”

“Maybe not, can you bring up an image of the original plaque? Are the images identical?”

“I’ll do a layer subtraction. Hey, there /is/ a difference. In the map of the planets. They’ve omitted Pluto from their copy.”

“Fucking hell. Little green reply guys.”

#Tootfic #MicroFiction

Gathering for the holidays? So are we! But what to do when a big surge of Covid is coming to town? We've made a list and checked it twice to help you and your loved ones avoid any unexpected presents this holiday season: Santa's Checklist for Safer Holiday Gatherings!

We aren't saying you've been bad or good (not our job!), but you don't have to be perfect to make a difference. You might not be able to check off every item on the list, but each one you do adds another layer of protection - and helps make up for the ones you can't check off.

Weather too frightful to gather outside? Open windows and run air purifiers to make it safer inside! Don't feel like masking under the mistletoe? Trust me, we get it! But if you wear a mask at work for a week in advance instead, that can also help to keep you and yours safe.

Asking your guests to get their updated 2023-2024 vaccine and to take a rapid test before coming are great steps to take, as always. Feeling symptoms? Negative tests aren't always accurate, so don't be naughty - we'll save your presents for when you're feeling better.

With a new dominant variant and wastewater Covid levels spiking to heights not seen since 2022 or earlier, the threat of Covid this winter is very high. If you've stopped taking precautions, we invite you to start again - this is the season to protect yourself and others.

While there's no way to guarantee that you won't get Covid, you can lower the risk, so check Santa's list and ask what steps you can take. No one wants to miss the holidays - or bring home an unwanted present - so let's protect each other, so that we can all be together!

[Art by ScoutPawfoot]

bnuuy,

The line for the bathroom is always worst on Monday mornings. ​

#Cats #CatsOfMastodon

"Een tweetal nieuwe stukken over de massademonstraties van de jaren ’10. We zijn het niet per se eens met alle uitspraken en conclusies in de artikelen, zoals over de mogelijke noodzaak van hiërarchie. Maar we delen wel de algemene lijn ervan: dat opstanden alleen revoluties kunnen worden als er een duidelijk idee achter zit en ze goed georganiseerd zijn."

De massademonstraties uit de jaren ’10 en de misgelopen revoluties
https://www.doorbraak.eu/de-massademonstraties-uit-de-jaren-10-en-de-misgelopen-revoluties/

Mailchimp is hardcore anti-union. Do not use Mailchimp.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/14/24002001/mailchimp-pineapple-street-union-podcast-canceled

Site needed an update

- Bigger is not better. A wifi antenna on a router is internally just a stick of wire that's a *specific length* for a particular frequency. Plastic over-moldings styled like evangelions are just there to look cool.

- Antennas might advertise themselves as "+3.6dB gain" or whatever, but that's a measurement of directionality, not efficiency or power. (Properly the unit is dBi, or "decibels over isotropic".) Unless you specifically desire a directional antenna, you rarely want a higher figure there.

- The relevant measure of antenna efficiency is VSWR (voltage standing wave ratio) or s11 (return loss). These are both different ways of expressing how well an antenna is matched to a specific frequency of interest. For VSWR, 1.0 is ideal and larger numbers are worse. For s11, numbers that are more negative are better. Consumer hardware rarely indicates those specs tho.

it seems like techbros think "infosec" means "it's okay to access personal information without consent, so long as i'm using a TLS connection to read it."

"De man bleek nog een boete open te hebben staan en kon die niet betalen. De agent wilde daarom zijn autosleutels omdat hij zijn auto niet mocht gebruiken totdat de boete betaald is. De man weigerde die sleutels af te geven. Ook toen de agent zei dat hij dan aangehouden zou worden. De man bleef zitten in zijn auto. Toegeschoten assistentie moest een stroomstootwapen inzetten om de man alsnog aan te houden."

(Bron: https://www.omroepbrabant.nl/nieuws/4388372/112-nieuws-fietsers-botsen-politie-gebruikt-stroomstootwapen#14.29)

Wat was dat ook alweer over hoe een taser alleen als vervanging voor een pistool gebruikt zou worden, en niet tot toegenomen inzet daarbuiten zou leiden?

Moet ik daaruit afleiden dat een agent iemand neergeschoten zou hebben om z'n autosleutels te stelen?

*proprietary software shoves ads in your face, implements dark patterns everywhere and does everything to keep your attention*
"Well, but it's free to use and everyone uses it. It's not that bad."

open source software shows a sidebar on the right instead of left side
"Literally unusable garbage."