Owen (degenerate aspect)

Turnaround time on interesting suggestions/questions: between 2d and 2y.

Public Key

npub10c0nh4as9qq0jv7882zjqgf50cff399vwxhm5cd05agp28jqy0ps8vgtay

NIP-05 Address

owen_at_mastodon.transneptune.net@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs8u8em67czsq8ex0rn4pfqyy68uy5cjjk8rta6vxh6w5q4reqz8scjf74vp

Author Public Key

npub10c0nh4as9qq0jv7882zjqgf50cff399vwxhm5cd05agp28jqy0ps8vgtay

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Last Notes

2024-08-28 06:23:32

Do not sleep on https://rust-lang.github.io/rfcs/3502-cargo-script.html for small, dependency-light project-specific utilities.

2024-08-19 19:43:34

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I don't have an opinion on whether this is a good idea or not, to be clear here. I think it's an interesting outcome.

2024-08-19 19:42:23

People who use JIRA: do you use the project key (the one that shows up in the issue IDs) to identify the team responsible?
I ask because I've run into this in, I think, at least five separate JIRA-using organizations in the last two decades, and I'm wondering how idiosyncratic that experience is.

2024-08-15 01:18:50

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@npub12x7…s35y good puppy

2024-08-15 01:17:13

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@npub12x7…s35y gonna hold you upside down and shake you over the next password prompt I encounter

2024-08-08 05:28:18

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@npub1nzw…rs25 quality haircut, dude

2024-08-02 20:18:11

Watching git-lfs slowly chew on a CD-ROM-sized pile of binary data someone added to this repo.

2024-08-01 17:11:58

Pressing play in Music.app frequently just … doesn't play any music. It gets stuck on 0:00. My intuition is that it's trying to renegotiate some variety of HDCP nonsense - that is, that the owners would rather nobody hear their music than that someone, _even potentially_, hear it without paying for it.

2024-08-01 00:24:12

Idly wondering if Ontario knows not to issue plates beginning DDLG, after seeing a DDLE plate in the wild.

2024-07-31 21:10:36

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@npub19zg…7e24 there was cold pasta on it

2024-07-31 17:41:18

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oof ow my hands.

2024-07-31 17:41:06

Today's unplanned problem: radio-opaque dinner plates

2024-07-30 18:35:05

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@npub14p9…5a9z don't threaten me with a good time

2024-07-30 16:35:33

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@npub19zg…7e24 vaya con dios, I don't have to review your code

2024-07-30 16:25:36

PhantomData and MaybeUninit are like catnip to a certain kind of programmer who values showing off how clever they are far more than they value going in a straight line to solve a problem.

2024-07-27 19:13:21

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The Gnostics were right, god must be kept insensate for our own safety

2024-07-27 19:12:02

Catholic/Episcopalian priests must never be allowed in the same room as both a conscious and aware savior and any amount of water (possibly including the water in their own respective bodies), as a safety measure against a grey goo scenario

2024-07-26 02:47:19

Like any respectful driver, I make sure my car is in D/S mode before I step on it.

2024-07-25 02:36:44

paging @npub1xwe…p3ls to the black mage in this party
https://cdn.masto.host/transneptune/media_attachments/files/112/844/799/989/863/288/original/221d77985da5dd21.png

2024-07-24 17:22:51

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looking forwards to all the gross shit that's gonna come out of me later

2024-07-24 17:22:37

ripping on the ol pseudoephedrine/guaifenesin combo again today :(

2024-07-24 00:46:36

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In a lot of ways the move to Standard Open Licenses has been a windfall for corporate interests, who benefit from having legally-legible permission and thus easier risk management decisions.

2024-07-24 00:46:01

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This characteristic is self-reinforcing: if someone takes your code on faith, makes some changes, and then distributes it onwards, anyone downstream of that needs to take on faith that _neither of you_ will or can sue.
You also need to have that faith in each other, or share permission.

2024-07-24 00:45:12

If you release software without a license at all, then the only people who can reproduce it are:
* people with your permission, obviously;
* people who are willing to take on faith that you won't sue them; and
* people who are willing to take on faith that you _can't_ sue them.
You lock out a lot of wealthy but very risk-averse users this way.
Something to think on.
(Signed: someone who no longer uses any open source or free software licenses.)

2024-07-23 17:37:34

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Introverts have been putting up with this patronizing bullshit for long enough

2024-07-23 17:37:21

I need someone to write an unironic article for extroverts on how to slow down, shut up, and be bored without immediately panicking

2024-07-22 14:17:06

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@npub1mfm…ucjg https://mastodon.social/@gnomon/111477845272064267

2024-07-19 15:21:57

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@npub19zg…7e24 thank you

2024-07-19 15:21:44

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@npub12x7…s35y generating a poem

2024-07-18 23:01:00

What are your hot takes about DreamHost?

2024-07-18 20:45:13

Congrats to KDEN's ops team for realizing that _you don't need a captive portal_.

2024-07-15 19:15:47

Congrats to getting a bunch of respectable publications to write the phrase “null bulge” in their headlines

2024-07-12 23:22:37

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@npub1hal…2hr5 I haven't done the math but I would bet that the concorde would be lower throughput due to its much, much smaller cargo capacity, even allowing for the fact that the block times are shorter.

2024-07-12 23:21:38

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@npub1hal…2hr5 747-100 loaded with QC tapes, yeah.

2024-07-12 22:59:20

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Never underestimate the throughput of an understimulated brat.

2024-07-12 22:58:58

Some back-of-the-shitpost math suggests that it was entirely possible to transmit data across the atlantic at 2.5 gigabytes/sec in 1972.
This is probably not that surprising, but it's neat.

2024-07-12 16:58:47

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I'm still gonna call it forum drama even when one side of it is people who would happily round the other side up and put them in real, non-figurative camps

2024-07-12 16:57:24

watching the forum drama of the moment and idly thinking that a lot of people who feel real strongly about Free Speech get very quiet when the Speech is "what if I had a snoot and a cute tail"

2024-07-11 18:44:40

What if building a social system entirely around the idea of public, world-reach replies is a major part of the reply-guy problem?

2024-07-10 19:23:22

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It shares a lot of these properties with other co-op games! Phasmo, for example, messes with your communication ability and withholds information from the player as a means of controlling difficulty.

2024-07-10 19:22:42

Low-key but Sea of Thieves might be the video game to get closest to representing the realities of person-to-person warfare before the industrial age.
You don't always know where your opponents are, what their intentions are, their state of readiness, or even whether they _are_ your enemies in the first place. Communication is hard, and frequently chaotic. An ability to plan and adapt on the fly is way more powerful than your guns and swords are.

2024-07-10 18:34:28

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A friend is dealing with a team who do not have the operational experience to have insight into those inaccuracies and simplifications, and because Terraform directs the user's attention towards the manifest and away from the actual operational consequences of applying that manifest, they have now had at least two unforced production outages flowing from that lack of insight.

2024-07-10 18:33:19

The foundational metaphor of Terraform is the idea that operating a complex network of services and systems can be reduced to the operation of editing a text file. That metaphor is very powerful and has some really useful results - Terraform is successful for a reason - but it is, like any metaphor, imperfect.

2024-07-09 05:32:29

Accidentally brushing my teeth with hot water.

2024-06-30 16:10:21

Shadowbringers role quests: what does someone sacrifice to become a hero?
Endwalker: what monsters does grief make?
Dawntrail: what do bottoms get up to if you leave them unsupervised?

2024-06-28 17:19:50

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Dawntrail launch is going great https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/1dqlykk/xbox_crashes/

2024-06-28 17:19:23

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Dawntrail launch is going great https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/1dqh0te/psa_syrcus_tower_alliance_is_bugged_and_its/

2024-06-28 17:19:02

Dawntrail launch is going great https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F2si1kqr3za9d1.png

2024-06-28 02:20:30

Press R1 to brood

2024-06-26 16:14:57

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@npub1xwe…p3ls No words. I have no words. Where _were_ these people for the last (checks) eight years?

2024-06-25 19:02:23

There's nothing quite like a toenail that has clearly been injured enough to fall off, but which hasn't quite been injured badly enough to do it all at once.
It's hanging on by about a square millimetre of nailbed, and it's loose enough that I keep snagging it on things when I move my toes. Going to have to go at it with clippers when I get a chance, and hope that it grows back afterwards.

2024-06-25 14:27:05

Welp, @npub13d2…lvlm just laid off a bunch of union organizers without warning in the middle of contract negotiation, so I'm looking at alternatives.
One of the alternatives I'm looking at is "start/join an email co-op." Anyone have any recommendations on that front?

2024-06-24 19:34:22

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@npub1rv4…ft5j Audio Accessory Mode has to be involved here somewhere.

2024-06-24 15:39:01

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@npub14p9…5a9z you got your usize in my i32!

2024-06-20 23:02:56

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@npub1x43…59ed Allowing citizens' arrests for infractions, bylaw violations, and other bits of sub-criminal regulation would be revolutionary

2024-06-20 19:33:24

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The classic changelog serves, among other purposes, to persuade users of the importance of installing an update. The vestigial changelog - "Bug fixes and feature improvements" - is a frank admission that we no longer feel like there's any point in doing the suasion when users don't get to say no in the first place.

2024-06-20 19:31:54

I dunno, but I have a feeling that the normalization of automatic updates has relieved developers and their clients of having to consider a user's needs to a large degree. Software change is now something you do to your users, not something you persuade your users to accept.

2024-06-20 17:12:06

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@npub12l3…qgjv I've found the converse to be a good way to explain radiation injuries to the public, too: it's like getting a nasty, peeling sunburn ... all the way through you.

2024-06-19 17:19:31

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@npub1776…0jsu You've never ripped one so foul, someone smelt it _before_ you dealt it?
Lucky!

2024-06-17 17:36:21

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@npub14ux…jx88 Overwatch continues to be a property where the fan community is capable of so much better work than the original authors could even conceive of

2024-06-17 17:35:47

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@npub14ux…jx88 heeeeeeeeeere's TORBJORN!

2024-06-16 20:57:14

wired: kiki tea

2024-06-15 21:23:19

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@npub1jr7…7xwv a lot of LLM research came out of mechanical translation teams, even. I'm aware.

2024-06-15 21:18:53

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I mean this very sincerely: if you're so early on that you can't afford to pay localizers, just don't localize.
suck it up for a bit, make some money in your domestic markets, and _then_ look at localization for other regions. it's fine!

2024-06-15 21:17:52

yay: finding a new game that looks like it'll probably hit the good brain juice buttons
boo: their steam page proudly announces their use of AI to handle translation and localization

2024-06-15 21:09:09

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@npub159y…uf43 aeva no

2024-06-12 23:38:55

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@npub1rq4…dg5z that is SUCH a cute photo omg

2024-06-12 23:17:18

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, or, if you prefer, the Chobits Cinematic Universe

2024-06-11 04:14:19

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Every tile in Okta represents a relationship between two businesses. Three, if you count Okta itself.

2024-06-11 04:12:48

We outsourced keeping a list.
I keep rolling that observation around in my head, looking at it from various angles, trying to find a way to square it with my understanding of reasonable business risks and expenses. I am, as you might guess, having trouble doing so.
It's an important list, in some senses. The items on it represent internal consensus about certain business priorities. It is a list that has the attention of C-suite staff.

2024-06-10 19:46:30

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@npub14p9…5a9z business failures georg, who eats ten ketamines a day, is and outlier

2024-06-10 19:45:29

The only thing these fuckers will understand is if you take their money away from them.

2024-06-10 17:52:07

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@npub1rzm…zccu do you want pink-eye?
because that's how you get pink-eye.

2024-06-07 18:56:21

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@npub1xwe…p3ls That smoking pipe is an incredible work of art.

2024-06-06 18:14:50

The pervasive belief that, if we just computer _hard enough_, then nothing will ever need individual expertise or skill ever again, is _exhausting_.
(I am painfully aware that it's a resurgence of Taylorist beliefs about if we just _manage_ hard enough, etc.)

2024-06-04 18:56:48

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@npub1xwe…p3ls finally, Linux is on parity with desktop OSes

2024-06-01 16:48:58

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@npub1pjx…cw4w orphaned type checker process spinning madly?

2024-05-31 20:11:43

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This isn't particularly radical thinking. Socialist and leftist writers of many stripes have been saying this for well over a century. Experiment after experiment bears it out.
We just need to do it.

2024-05-31 20:10:58

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I say "kinder" and not "kind" because these basics aren't magic. Domestic violence will still exist. Theft and fraud will still exist. The list goes on. But fewer people would be forced into those situations by their circumstances if we let them have better circumstances.

2024-05-31 20:10:04

If you want a kinder world - one with fewer scams, less violence, and so on - then put your energy into making sure that everyone has food to eat, a table to eat it on, and a safe way out of relationships that turn bad.
Everyone. Really.

2024-05-31 00:48:23

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With apologies to my friends (youse knows who you is)

2024-05-31 00:47:59

Wired: ahegao amigo

2024-05-30 22:27:30

What's the over-under on US conservatives suddenly coming out against felony disenfranchisement?
NY's disenfranchisement rules are modest by US standards and I think they're unlikely to be relevant, but that's never stopped anyone.

2024-05-29 20:07:52

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@npub14ux…jx88 The fluid dynamics problems are written on the subway walls

2024-05-29 06:30:14

If the President of the US goes skydiving, does the plane lose its call sign

2024-05-27 04:03:11

@npub1sjk…s3vy Saw this glam, thought of you
https://cdn.masto.host/transneptune/media_attachments/files/112/510/991/866/481/885/original/036aae42da4c30b9.png

2024-05-27 01:13:03

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@npub12x7…s35y I wonder if they make hoodies

2024-05-25 23:57:07

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@npub1sjk…s3vy "read another book, any other book, come on" also good

2024-05-22 17:27:58

Last weekend - ten days ago, now - my nephew started to cough while I was caring for him.
Today, the same bug is still doing laps through my body.
What did you even find, Jake. What even.

2024-05-21 23:39:30

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@npub1m20…mtxz first bit of good news i've seen today thanks

2024-05-21 23:38:16

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Chloride ions are also tasty but they don't taste like salt so fuck 'em

2024-05-21 23:36:50

In case you needed to know - sodium ions are the tasty ones, mostly.

2024-05-21 23:32:47

You can shorten the iTerm guy's response to this critique as "I disagree" and not lose any of the nuance. If you care _why_ he disagrees, by all means read into it, but if you primarily care about not having network-based ML tooling in your terminal, his disagreement is a sufficient response on its own to your concerns. Decide accordingly.

2024-04-15 20:21:47

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@npub1xwe…p3ls I bet you would get more than sixty dollars worth of ambient enjoyment out of it

2024-04-10 04:52:42

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This is, probably, _the_ biggest differentiator between programming for a business and other kinds of programming!

2024-03-26 21:09:14

With respect to the person who proposed them, the whole "abusive user stories" idea is predicated on developers having enough agency to resist business decisions. That may at one point have been true, but the lived reality for a lot of developers today is "we'll find someone who will, do you want to get paid or not?" We're no longer so specialized that individual resistance means much, and we still culturally haven't accepted labour organization.

2024-02-26 22:09:15

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A substantial amount of community harm mediated by social software starts from the problem of enabling hostile actors to communicate with each other. It does someone no good to block out, say, anti-trans messaging, if the service they're using is enabling transphobes to coordinate with each other.

2024-02-26 22:08:19

Actually pretty disappointed with Steve Klabnik's excellent technical writeup of what makes ATproto tick, because he fell into the trap of thinking that moderation is only about what _you_ see on _your_ screen, and not about how the service facilitates or discourages communication more generally.

2024-01-09 23:18:04

My day's going great
https://cdn.masto.host/transneptune/media_attachments/files/111/728/543/104/997/025/original/844fd76cfc2dd033.png

2024-01-08 22:31:04

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The Discourse around LLM corpora is primed to turn people into raving copyright fundamentalists, because state-sponsored monopolies seem to be the only way to actually stop the companies who are running these things from raiding public creativity for profit.
But copyright sucks. It's, well, a state-sponsored monopoly. Its job, structurally, is to make the money printer go brr, in the policy hope that the promise of a money printer will encourage more people to make creative works.