← Feed

Posts

• Post #4354400

  Unions aren't perfect. I've pointed out various flaws in the past. However, I am 100% in the corner of the flight attendants in their fight against WestJet. The correct number of unpaid work hours for any job is "zero hours". Zero. Not 35 hours / month. Not 15 hours / month. Not 5 hours / month. Zero hours / month. Period. Shame on WestJet - and every other airline that does this. #Canada #WestJet #FlightAttendant #UnpaidWork #UnpaidHours #strike #airline #union #labou...

• Post #4237418

  Come to the dark side. Join us. We have chocolate. Also blood. Chocolate and blood. -- More seriously, I fear these sorts of application-specific displays are going to go the way of the dodo. It's gotten to the point where a reasonably large pixel-mapped display is, to a first approximation, free. Slap one of those on top of your MCU board and you're done - no designing a custom panel, laying out LEDs, multipin connectors to run all the LEDs... and the actual usability of the thi...

• Post #4127364

  So, Codeberg (which is a FOSS/freedom-focused code hosting site) is run as a cooperative, with members able to nominate measures/policies and vote on them etc. They just had a vote and approved policies making "AI" / LLM-based projects basically unwelcome there. The vote wasn't close; 70% voted in favour of the policy. It's not a hard & fast "if you use LLM, you're banned" or anything of the sort - it's quite a measured, reasoned stance. The slopcoders...

• Post #4092185

  In case all the Enron- and WorldCom-like accounting shenanigans haven't convinced you, here's another blatant sign the wheels are falling off the "AI" hype train. A contract or memorandum of understanding (or any other written form of agreement) for *half a trillion US dollars* makes no sense at all. It's all just PR, "Look, it's real, please keep hyping our stock, I do too have clothes on!". https://wccftech.com/nvidia-inked-a-500-billion-agreement-with-sk...

• Post #4050454

  So the US is warning that Iranian state actors are "hacking' US power and water infrastructure and causing disturbances. They say this like it's unfair, that it somehow crosses a line. The US has been loudly, proudly bombing civilian infrastructure like power and water for some time, with constant threats of ramping it up further. Seems like a case of the chickens coming home to roost rather than an unthinkable escalation. #USPol #war #IranWar #hacking #DipshitDonnie #MangoMusso...

• Post #4026426

  So six Democratic congresscritters crossed the aisle to pass the latest defence spending bill - not that unusual, given their swing districts and being up for election - but they did so with the "SAVE" act attached to it. Apparently, they have all the self-preservation instinct of the mythical #lemmings from Mutual of Omaha's Wild Fabrication. Because the entire point of the #SAVE act is to disenfranchise as many Democratic-leaning voters as possible. This isn't speculation;...

• Post #4012575

  It's all been downhill for computers since they removed the big STOP key on the keyboard. Maybe they should bring that back. #stop #computer #StopComputer

• Post #4003483

  An excellent editorial from the Globe & Mail: > But Mr. Trump does not behave according to any rational calculus. > > It isn’t just that he has no understanding of policy, nor any knowledge of history to guide him; > or that he conforms to none of the norms of custom, morality or law. It is that, even understood > as a wholly self-involved, self-serving bundle of id, one whose only motive is self-aggrandizement > and self-enrichment, Mr. Trump is incomprehensible. His acti...

• Post #3808981

  When I was around 18, I had the chance to drive a friend's AMC Gremlin. It was actually a pretty cool small, cheap car, roomier on the inside than it appeared from the outside. As with many small cars then, it was fun to drive even with the limited power of 1970s North American engine technology, because they were *light*. No one who grew up with modern small cars that weigh two tonnes knows what throwing a light, nimble #econocar around the streets could do to instill a love of drivi...

• Post #3808980

  "Heat-resistant heatshrink tubing" A: Hey, this stuff isn't working. B: How can you tell? #AliExpress #Temu #ProductListing #Chinesium

• Post #3752606

  Force Google, Facebook, and the rest of the hyperscalers to build their datacenters on coasts in arid areas. Mandate they be powered 100% by wind, solar, tidal, or other non-polluting energy sources. Require them to use their waste heat to desalinate seawater. This is the only water they are allowed to use. Require them to maximize the amount of desalinated water they produce, and provide it to surrounding populations gratis. Completely impractical, but I like the idea of giving Zuck, Altma...

• Post #3634716

  I love how 95% of personal websites can still serve URLs first seen 30 years ago, but anything owned by a company bigger than "some guy in his basement" treats any URL older than 12 months as an unreadable runestone inscription, throws its hands in the air, and intones "404". #website #URL #StableURLs #PersonalWebsite #HTTP #HTTP404 #web

• Post #3517810

  Lagomorph warning: by following this account, you agree to be exposed to extensive imagery of all varieties of lagomorphs. #lagomorph #lagomorphs #lagomorpha #rabbit #hare #bunny #bnuy

• Post #3495020

  I wanted to save this for Bunny Butt Friday, but (a) I'll forget, (b) the Mastodon web UI doesn't expose the scheduled-post functionality, and (c) I think this qualifies as toes-out. This is George. George is a Big Bun. George is a Wide Load. Sorry for the mediocre photo; it was taken in low evening light. #sploot #ToesOutTuesday #BunnyButtFriday #HouseRabbit #RabbitsOfMastodon #WideLoad #BigBuns

• Post #3475214

  Happy "Donald Trump Is Now A Judicially-Declared Sex Offender Permanently" day to all who celebrate. https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/supreme-court-shuts-door-on-trumps-yearslong-attempt-to-reverse-e-jean-carroll-ruling/ #USPol #Trump #MangoMussolini #SexOffender #EJeanCarroll #DonaldTrump

• Post #3445154

  I'm told I need pinned posts on my profile. I'm a #software #engineer living in #Saskatchewan, #Canada, the middle of the prairies. I've worked in countless domains, but find #python generally useful for many of them, and have been using it for nearly 30 years. I'm a #HouseRabbit enthusiast and have had them for more than 20 years. Other hobbies include #electronics, #rock music / playing #guitar, writing #FreeSoftware, and enjoying novelty music & #RiffTrax / #CinematicT...

• Post #3441697

  This new "tags.pub" instance that just blasts out boosts of anything with a matching hashtag is ... annoying. Pointless. Practically abuse. It just boosted a post of mine with *seven* different accounts. Didn't ask for permission to follow/do things with my content. Its account overviews say "You can opt out!", which is absolutely *not* how bots should be interacting with people in the Fediverse. This should be opt-*in* only. How is this okay? Frankly, I think it...

• Post #2547475

  One #accessibility issue I mention frequently is web designers, presumably for aesthetic reasons, making low-contrast colour choices. It also frequently goes along with selecting a #font so small that only people with excellent vision (and no #presbyopia) can read them, even if the #contrast were higher. Here's an example. I'm not pointing out the software in question, even though you could identify it easily, because this isn't a dunk on that project, specifically. T...

• Post #2359951

  Headline: > US and Iran launch attacks amid tenuous ceasefire #ThatWord #WordsMeanThings #ceasefire #YouKeepUsingThatWord

• Post #2187376

  RE: https://mstd.seungjin.net/@theguardian/116524702425024443 I have been getting tons of duplicate postings of news stories from this unofficial news-posting domain "mstd.seungjin.net" - like dozens of copies of just this one story. They all have different timestamps, so it's not just my instance duplicating them. It's just a huge amount of spam, excerpting news articles from big sites. Might be worth a #fediblock ? It can't just be happening to me. #spam #mastodon #Bad...

• Post #2003057

  Tired: Turing test to determine if the thing on the other end of the communication line is sentient and/or human. Wired: test if an "AI" LLM is sentient by seeing if it can correctly identify whether the other end of the communication line is Sam Altman, or an LLM simulacrum of Sam Altman. (Yes, most humans would also fail this test.) #AI #LLM #TuringTest #AltmanTest #SamAltman #simulacrum #NotHuman

• Post #1528458

  In an article about a lithium-ion iron phosphate (LiFePO4) EV battery, Ars has: > An extremely low internal resistance of just 0.25 milliohms also plays an important role. Really? A cell with 250 μΩ internal resistance?

• Post #1528455

  Peeve: undergoing orientation makes you oriented, not "orientated". When you use public transportation, you are transported to your destination, not "transportated". Thank you. #peeve #English #BusinessJargon #NotAWord #ThatsNotAWord #oriented #orientated

• Post #1528454

  Tim Apple's retirement announcement reminded me of a saying that is more relevant now than ever. If you don't stand up for your principles, you don't have principles - you have "thoughts & prayers". #principles #opportunistic #unprincipled #TimApple #TimCook #Apple #RealityDistortionField #FruityCargoCult

• Post #1528453

  For when I'm working on something containing an energetic battery. (Inspired by Big Clive, obviously) #LiIon #LithiumIon #bang #explosion #fire

• Post #1079051

  Okay, here's a long shot for the #Fedi hive mind. If you are in the intersection of "#musician or musician-adjacent in the 1980s" and "keyboard / #synthesizer aficionado", this one is for you. In the mid- to late-80s, I used to spend a lot of time in music / #instrument stores (not selling CDs, selling guitars and amps and drums and whatnot). Synthesizer tech was advancing rapidly at this point, with digital starting to overtake analog by leaps and bounds. At some poi...

• Post #1040476

  Two of our local white-tailed #jackrabbits (again, a species of hare, not a true rabbit) in my backyard today. We had a bunch of snow Tuesday, but that's mostly melted, leaving just the remainders from winter in the shady spots and where there were big piles or drifts. These two's faces have mostly turned brown, but their bodies are still almost pure white. It's kind of weird; elsewhere in the city, there are jacks that have pretty much turned completely already. It makes these t...

• Post #1023382

  DESPITE ROCKY START, HOUSE AND SENATE DEMOCRATS WELCOME IRAN CEASEFIRE Washington (D.C.) - After a Tuesday late-night Truth Social post indicated President Trump would not be annihilating "all of Iranian civilization" due to a ceasefire, tensions escalated Wednesday morning as the basis for the ceasefire appeared shaky. House and Senate Democratic leadership, when asked about the impeachment proceedings they had started shortly before the climbdown, said that they "....

• Post #996542

  "It's not a vibecoding job listing, it's a slopportunity!" #AI #slop #slopportunity #vibecoding

• Post #967908

  A white jackrabbit bounces across the brown lawn, for spring is here. Boing! #rabbit #bunny #jackrabbit #wildlife #Canada #SK #prairies #haiku #BadHaiku #BadPoetry