a thing I have learned about my brain
Over the years I've started 'designing upfront' for the software I write more and more. And this is broadly a good thing, but one problematic effect it's had, is that the actual *writing code* part frequently gets stuck on mental blocks.
The design part is fine! But putting it into code became more and more difficult, and it felt like the amount of stuff I *actually* got done went down.
So as it turns out, my brain needs to see a thing 'working' to be able to continue focusing on it and being motivated about working on it. It doesn't have to *actually* work, it can be completely fabricated behaviour, it just needs to *look* like it works.
So... over the past two weeks I've been getting a lot of shit done in my projects, by writing the absolute most fake implementation of things where everything is simulated with `console.log`s (but according to the architectural design!), and then gradually replacing parts of the code with bits that actually do the work.
There are a number of nominally open-source projects that I have avoided over the years because they smelled 'off' to me, like they were run like a startup or otherwise had an unhealthy governance...
... and a significant chunk of those projects are now jumping onto the LLM hype.
You can usually predict this sort of thing, when you pay attention to early warning signs.
Not a hot take. Once a basic need gets expensive enough that anyone needs to take out a loan to be able to have it, it has gotten too expensive. This applies to cell phones. It applies to housing. It applies to cars in places where they are necessary for daily transport. Debt should not be a default state. Once debt has become necessary for someone to live, they have become a de facto indentured servant.
I see now that I did not post any pictures or video's of my #TrainTravel trip back home.
Let me explain the reason for this:
I am quite a lengthy person, almost 1.90m long. The 'beds' in the #EuropeanSleeper are not that long, in fact I estimate that they are at most 1.70m long. And that is just too short for me. Even when I carefully positioned myself completely diagonally I could not fully stretch my body. That, combined with the movement of the train, the width of the 'bed' and the fact that you are sleeping in a couchette with 3 other people (or 4 on the way back), does not make for a 'fresh and fruity arrival'. I was broken when I arrived back home this morning and I had to spend the whole day in our own, very nice, bed to get back on top.
Don't get me wrong, waking up in #Berlin and driving in to Hauptbahnhof with the window open is wonderful. The personnel of the train is very helpful and nice and the train was clean, on time and generally outstanding even though the carriages are old.
The takeaway would be: if you are 1.70 or longer, and not used to sleeping in very confined spaces, do not take the European Sleeper train.
Experiment execution: succes!
Experiment outcome: not for repetition in this form.
EDIT: I did this again today, and it included me in the transcript anyway. No idea if the behavior changed or these systems are inherently unpredictable.
Protip: If you join a Zoom where someone has turned on AI summarization, it brings up a window telling you this. The only control is an "OK" button.
If you move the window out of the way and don't click the OK button, nothing you say ends up in the transcript.
Edit: clarified that this is the post-meeting summary emailed to participants, not live captioning.
Please boost for reach: There's an open issue on Github about adding scripting support to Retroarch. This would enable scripts like the Pokemon Access mod to be ran on Retroarch, hopefully allowing blind people to actually play the game while mobile. I tried it out and am already making a team in Pokemon Emerald, and in the woods in the first few areas of the game! If anyone is good with adding Lua to things, or if anyone is good at modding games and wants to enhance the Pokemon Access scripts, I'd really appreciate you looking into this.
Github issue: https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/issues/6454
Pokemon Access: https://github.com/nuive/pokemon-access
#Pokemon #accessibility #gaming #blind #emulation #emulators #Retroarch #retro #BlindGaming
A critique of Cara.app: the 'No AI' Instagram and Artstation copycat child.
blog post: https://www.davidrevoy.com/article1032/a-critique-of-caraapp-the-no-ai-instagram-and-artstation-copycat-child
"a potential gold mine for criminal hackers or domestic abusers who may physically access their victim’s device. Images include captures of messages sent on encrypted messaging apps Signal and WhatsApp, and remain in the captures regardless of whether disappearing messages are turned on in the apps."
In 2024 it *still* somehow isn't standard practice to ask in the design process: Are we building the killer app for domestic abusers?
on power control tropes
In nearly every crisis in the world Jews have had blame levied upon them and any attempt at connecting us to them is meticulously dissected and latched onto.
This is called a power control trope, and is sinister in its own right as well. Jews are tiny minority representing less than 1% of the global population, yet have faced blame since antiquity for nearly every ill of the world.
Economic crisis (the great depression, 2008 financial collapse), wars (German loss of WWI), even the weather. Yes, even the weather and natural disasters. That is not a joke. When people make space laser jokes, that is from a genuine conspiracy theory that Jews controlled lasers on satellites to aim against California during the large season of wildfires a few years ago.
In virtually every single case these theories are nonsense to most people who look deep enough, but that doesn't really matter as the inherent distrust and "other" of Jews people hold is exploited by these tropes.
We know Blackrock is fucking awful. That's clearly established. But in what way does a random Jewish woman have connection to that? We do not have any context to that photo of her standing next to that man. The only way one could logically make that connection is if there is a inherent distrust and belief that Jews hold immense power over the world.
At the very core it is based upon this idea that Jews do not deserve to hold any power as they are inherently untrustworthy and nefarious in whatever position of power they may hold as well. A Jew by nature of holding any position of power is seen as innately sinister, and thus hold a threat to civil society at large. It maintains the logical conclusion that Jews need to face discrimination to keep our "power" in check and prevent us from amassing nefarious control of the rest of the world. This has been the basis of institutional discrimination Jews have faced in the past and in some cases do face today as well.
It is extremely easy in leftist spaces if you aren't careful to be tricked by fascists into leaning into this, as it can dressed up in social justice language that states that Jews hold immense privilege. It cultivates the idea that pushing back against Jews is simply fighting the powers that be. It's punching up, not punching down. Jews hold SO much power anyway, right? This is an easy path to fall into and needs to be cut down before it reaches its obvious conclusion of placing Jewish lives in active danger.
https://antisemitism.adl.org/power/
debunking an antisemitic post thats pretending to be progressive
Hi! This is what you call a dual loyalty (or disloyalty) and Jewish power control. This is not what Zionism means or how it works either, unsure exactly how that has been put into play here but that's not even the biggest issue at hand. This is a pretty clear example of how fascist rhetoric is being spread in left wing spaces. This is near verbatim what you would see someone would post on 4chan in a conspiracy theory rant against Jews.
https://stranger.social/@indigenous_commentator/112560903754054928
Going to go into more detail below of the specific tropes this post use. and how to better spot them.
Oh and in case there a journalists from the Netherlands in my bubble (or in yours, please share!): It might be interesting to do a follow-up to our article (which will be published tomorrow) because WebEx leaked tons of data from the Dutch government.
Feel free to contact me for further information.
#webex #cybersecurity #netherlands
May be small news in general, but it is huge for me — latest update of @organicmaps now has speech-synth street names in navigation mode! Thank you very much to everyone there who worked on merging and testing this feature; whatever helps to check the screen less while driving with guidance is very much appreciated.
Technical debt collector and general hype-hater. Early 30s, non-binary, ND, poly, relationship anarchist, generally queer.
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Sometimes horny on main (behind CW), very much into kink (bondage, freeuse, CNC, and other stuff), and believe it or not, very much a submissive bottom :p
My spoons are limited, so I may not always have the energy to respond to messages.
Strong views about abolishing oppression, hierarchy, agency, and self-governance - but I also trust people by default and give them room to grow, unless they give me reason not to. That all also applies to technology and how it's built.