Replying to
@natasha@lgbtqia.space
@natasha@lgbtqia.space @alice@lgbtqia.space any chance I could get a link to that website? Tried finding it on Alice's profile and didn't have any luck :)
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ragman
@ragman@jawns.club
Hi, I'm Richard!
Recovering big tech worker, living in Philly and trying to figure out what I'm doing with my life.
Interested in #permacomputing, #anarchism, and making fun little software.
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Joined July 17, 2024
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Wrote a blog post about how my digital objects more physical make me feel:
https://ragman.net/musings/physicality/
I don't know if there's a word for the feeling that a well-worn tool can give you.
It's the one you have when you pick up your favorite mug from the cupboard, your hand knowing intimately how to hold it.
Or also when, in the middle of the night, you reach out to turn on the light, and the lamp switch is exactly where you expect it to be.
Let me know if any of you experience this too :)
Scrapped the #LLM ranty blog post I was going to write, and wrote this one about choosing joy instead:
https://ragman.net/musings/joy/
Thank you @iris_meredith@mastodon.social for waking me up and reminding me of what's important in life!
Replying to
@prahou@merveilles.town
@prahou@merveilles.town This one kinda got away from me. Can you tell I didn't like my last job?
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@workingclasshistory@mastodon.social
@workingclasshistory@mastodon.social
"On a Move: Philadelphia’s Notorious Bombing and a Native Son’s Lifelong Battle for Justice" by Mike Africa Jr. is a great history/memoir about it
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/on-a-move-mike-africa-jr
Youtube ads are this strange liminal artifact of the web.
I got a mid-video ad for some bed company, in which a woman wakes up from sleep like a vampire and hammily declares: "That's it, I need a new bed."
I thought it was unintentionally hilarious.
I wanted to send a clip of that scene to a friend who's looking to buy a new bed -- but couldn't find the ad video on Youtube's search.
We constantly see ads like this, that don't actually exist in the user space of the platform.
Liminal!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgXkty83jPM
Great sketch about LLMs from the Irish sketch comedy group Foil Arms & Hog
Replying to
@ragman@jawns.club
@ansuz@gts.cryptography.dog @mark@tacobelllabs.net @burnitdown@beige.party @srtcd424@mas.to @evacide@hachyderm.io
And these orgs are now building products that are a massive liability and can potentially do real-world harm to their users, in a landscape where regulations have no teeth, faster than ever before.
Blah!
Anyway, sorry, that's me off my soapbox. The whole thing just drives me mad.
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Replying to
@ragman@jawns.club
@ansuz@gts.cryptography.dog @mark@tacobelllabs.net @burnitdown@beige.party @srtcd424@mas.to @evacide@hachyderm.io
But now vibecoding is allowing people to make flashy looking demos very quickly.
These demos are full of holes and are accessibility and security nightmares -- but they're convincing enough to people that don't know better (sometimes even the vibecoder themselves).
And so now you get orgs throwing money at people who don't know what they're doing, because they're used to a world where a demo implies some baseline amount of experience.
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Replying to
@ragman@jawns.club
@ansuz@gts.cryptography.dog @mark@tacobelllabs.net @burnitdown@beige.party @srtcd424@mas.to @evacide@hachyderm.io
To add onto this a bit, I want to say that none of this is new, but I think that vibecoding is making it much more dangerous.
People have had harebrained app ideas forever and some of them are even "successful", like how Uber has gotten rich by convincing governments that regulations shouldn't apply to them because ✨app✨.
(1/3)
Replying to
@ansuz@gts.cryptography.dog
@ansuz@gts.cryptography.dog @mark@tacobelllabs.net @burnitdown@beige.party @srtcd424@mas.to @evacide@hachyderm.io
I'm running into this problem in real life, and I'm not sure what to do about it.
For example, I've met people trying to vibecode health data apps (in one case being paid by a local healthcare org to do so). And it's coming from a genuine place of care and an eagerness to help people, to make an impact.
But then they don't know what HIPAA is, and don't understand why you're getting heated about it.
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@kjhank@social.vivaldi.net
@kjhank@social.vivaldi.net @hdv@front-end.social What a nightmare. I hope it changes for the better soon.
Replying to
@hdv@front-end.social
@hdv@front-end.social A friend of a friend was told by his manager that he _wasn't allowed_ to write code by hand, his manager wanted him to only use an LLM.
Which is mad.
Replying to
@PhilSalkie@mindly.social
@PhilSalkie@mindly.social @cgebert@jawns.club Thank you right back, you're awesome! :) Donated another $50 myself, and yes, that's me tapped out.
But hey random people that might be reading this, donating to a harm reduction org in your city can make a big difference. Or even just carrying a bit of extra cash around to hand to people who need it. <3
Replying to
@cgebert@jawns.club
@cgebert@jawns.club You rock! Matched.
---
I didn't expect that to happen so fast! I'll match another $50 if people got it, and then will tap out for now :)
I took this photo a few weeks ago in Center City, Philadelphia.
Autonomous robots feel like such a futuristic concept, it’s hard for me to wrap my head around seeing them next to the abject poverty that so many Americans are living in. What do you mean we live in a world with both self-driving robots and homelessness? How does that make any sense?
As I passed by the robot, a man in front of me gave it a good kick, which did give me a laugh and some hope.
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Replying to
@ragman@jawns.club
But we need to do more than just hate the machines, we need to love each other too.
I didn’t have any cash to give the unhoused man at the time – I wish that I had gone and taken some out. In lieu of that, I’ve donated $50 to Savage Sisters[1], a Kensington harm-reduction org. I’ll match up to another $50, just leave a comment saying you’ve donated below.
[1] https://savagesisters.org/
Permalink: https://www.ragman.net/notes/52
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Replying to
@tantramar@zeroes.ca
@tantramar @matt Possibly could be a good use-case for a browser extension. Though wouldn't help for browsing on your phone... Which I am actively doing... Shoot.
Replying to
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
@sundogplanets Just wanted to say thank you for doing the work to fight back against this nightmare.
It shouldn't fall on a small number of good people to try and protect us from this crap and these companies, but it seems like it has, so thank you for fighting.
Replying to
@emesis_n@anarchism.space
@emesis_n@anarchism.space @iffybooks@post.lurk.org
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! :)