Paul Armstrong

Australian SCUBA educator living on the Great Barrier Reef after working a tech career in Silicon Valley.

I enjoy technical diving for fun as well as cooking (just about anything), reading (non-fiction, science-fiction and fantasy), running, cycling and games (board and computer).

Spent a lot of time working in technical infrastructure: systems administration, SRE, systems engineering, DevOps, whatever you want to call it this week.

Hobbies: Diving, cooking, reading, climbing, fitness, programming, travel
Founder: https://www.divecoaching.com.au
Diving Preferences: Sidemount, backplate, technical
Consulting: Available for IT or SCUBA diving consulting

Public Key

npub1srz07gnnnmcqvlkeug3uxfge0x7jwhgrcju69zd9evcep3ep2c2s4un0fn

NIP-05 Address

psa_at_masto.ai@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsgp38lyfeeauqx0mv7yg7ry5vhn0f8t5pufwdz3xjukvvscus4v9gpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxg6jxwwt

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relay.nostr.band

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Last Notes

2024-07-10 11:01:20

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If it's done respectfully, there's really nothing unfair or unethical about that.

2024-07-10 10:59:24

Keep in mind that Russia continues to run a well funded and highly experienced influence operation against democracy in the US.
This may seem like a "news at 11" story. But, like the well known evils of Trump, it's easy for the important stuff like this to get lost in the noise. Particularly when most of the media seems to be focused on the horse race aspects of the US election instead of meaningful conversation around what each candidate will do to the country.
https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/russia-aims-undermine-biden-november-election-intel-officials-say-rcna161011

2024-07-10 05:13:06

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We can only hope.
It'd be somewhat hilarious (in a constitutional crisis kind of way) if both candidates dropped out at the end of October.

2024-07-08 22:17:44

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The network is resilient (less interference by megacorps/governments). What's running on top of it, not so much.

2024-07-08 01:55:05

Smoking has a significant number of negative side effects, including an increase in cognitive decline as we age. Yet another reason to not take it up or to stop if you're a current smoker.
https://studyfinds.org/smoking-cognitive-decline/

2024-07-07 12:32:55

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Petty sure that puritans are the only ones who thought it was a good idea. The kind of person who gets wound up for entire day because someone used fuck (and I've met people who got wound up by something as non-threatening as bloody).

2024-07-06 22:57:19

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Calling for him to drop out is a waste of breath. Running wall to wall cycles on how unfit he is for office would be effective. If the headline is always some form of "Trump, Convicted of 34 Counts, Slurs Heavily on Stage" or "Trump Incoherent at Latest Rally", then it'd be a different conversation.
Trump is showing aging more than Biden is and, for whatever reason, the NY Times et al have decided to stab Biden for it and let Trump off. It is, as you point out, appalling.

2024-07-06 22:54:05

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The time to make that argument and vote it was in the primaries.
There is mechanically no path to victory if Biden drops out. The lawsuits on replacing him on the ballot would drag past the election or be decided in Trumps favour by the supreme court. There's also the apparatus which has built around Biden and can not simply be flipped to another candidate for, again, legal reasons.
At this point, Biden is the only option. Don't like it? Should have primaried harder.

2024-07-06 22:44:40

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The NYT is doing a spiteful hatchet job on the one person capable of getting between us and fascism. The myopia involved is truly atrocious.
The reality is that if Biden drops out, Trump wins. Not because a better candidate couldn't be found, but because in many states Biden is the only candidate legally allowed on the ballot at this point. And for those for which there's any question, we all know the Trumpists will mount legal challenges that will take longer than the election.

2024-07-06 22:41:44

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We are so far out from the election, most people will either forget or have not yet tuned in.
I know the election lasts years and people who are paying attention like to think that others are too. The reality is that it's not until September before things really start to matter and the last week or two are the most important.
So, Biden has time. Not a lot of time. But there is still time.

2024-07-05 21:23:58

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I find it both ironic and extremely annoying that a significant portion of the community talks about accessibility problems by using an accessibility problem.
a11y needs to go die in a fire. Accessibility just isn't that hard to type.

2024-07-05 21:15:07

We've already seen some of the first significant steps towards the US becoming a fascist state: the rise of a hard right wing organisation (MAGA), the media falling in line (Fox News; the focus on Bidens age or "failures" such as Palestine instead of the threat of fascism by other media) and the takeover of other branches of power (the Supreme Court).
Snyder writes a thoughtful piece on some of the lessons we can draw from Germany: https://snyder.substack.com/p/how-to-stop-fascism
#StopFascism #Election2024 #Vote

2024-07-05 04:38:53

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Success to the people of the UK!

2024-07-04 22:07:29

Looks like the British people finally did the right thing and showed the Conservatives the door: https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cn09xn9je7lt
It's not all roses though, the Reform Party (Farage's right wing nut jobs) are expected to gain 13 seats.

2024-07-04 09:06:46

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5th. Maybe because I grew up with it, but all the others just sound wrong.
Maybe for someone who didn't grow up with it but has seen/read V for Vendetta, remembering that V for Vendetta -> V -> Roman 5 might be easier.

2024-07-04 05:59:37

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When allocating subnets for small subscribers, do you prefer to give them a /48, /56 or /64?

2024-07-04 05:32:46

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Did the level of explaining necessary go down after V for Vendetta came out and became popular?

2024-07-04 02:00:11

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And yet, just like with the French, the US and the Israelis, there's a non-zero chance that this wastrels will get back into power. Don't hold your breath or take bets on this one. Wait until the results are in before celebrating in any way.

2024-07-04 01:55:50

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https://nebula.tv/videos/tomnicholas-how-britain-became-a-poor-country

2024-07-03 11:20:43

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Yeah, the annoying thing is the number of people who absolutely know better who're howling about it. The NY Times for example.
Their hatred for Biden outstrips their ability to see the danger posed by Trump.

2024-07-02 21:26:35

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I'm looking for another service for my US phone number (currently using Fi). What're you using?

2024-07-01 22:53:43

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/arc
A little too close to home, the arc of justice may just fling off for aeons.

2024-07-01 22:48:24

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It's this generations answer to the question "how did Germany end up controlled by the Nazi's anyway?"

2024-06-30 08:56:47

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"But his age" rings of "but her emails".
You're absolutely right, it was utterly ridiculous the amount of time and space most of the US media put into whining about Biden's imperfections while only kind of getting around to pointing out that Trump is a dumpster fire at about the point where most of their audience has tuned out. The strong anti-Biden age focused narrative is a real danger to democracy.

2024-06-27 02:12:51

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While I wouldn't buy very much else from them, I've had very good history with Dell monitors and am currently using a U3223QE.
Why I like them: decent inbuilt ports, so I can reduce desk clutter; VESA mount; a semi-decent stand; decent contrast; anti-glare.
Ports are a big thing for me, I really prefer having a decent hub built into the monitor.
Why it might not work for you: grey to grey is only 8ms. That's enough for me but might be a problem for some types of gaming.

2024-06-26 22:59:41

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Just remember that RCS doesn't have native encryption. It's not yet clear (from what I can see reported) whether Apple will integrate Googles extension or not (probably depends on what licensing terms Google offers).
So, if you want encrypted messages between platforms, it's still a mess and you're better off using Signal. :-/

2024-06-25 17:41:04

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And going back to your original question: What are some parts I think others would really enjoy?
All the BSDs have the source right there as part of the install. For those who really want to explore and understand the operating system or play with things to see how they work, they make it very easy.
For example, if you use the beadm command, you can break the OS and then just reboot into the previous snapshot. Super useful for tinkering/learning with a safety net.

2024-06-25 17:35:44

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Like most other unix variants today, it can be installed by smashing enter a lot in the installer.
Building from source doesn't have to be an advanced user thing. There are some Linux distros that make it easy and all the BSDs have the ports system which makes it very easy.
I think part of the choice is what people are looking for. I picked up unix as a novice and was building custom kernels in a few months. Some novices are into that, others not so much. Personal preferences differ.

2024-06-25 14:52:57

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FreeBSD and FVWM. Simple, super fast, good package manager and easy to build binaries yourself via ports if you've got something you want to tweak. It's got great system utilities such as dtrace and it doesn't have any of the mega corps pushing user-hostile changes into it (I'm looking at you systemd).

2024-06-25 14:52:57

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2024-06-25 11:37:01

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Also, your list is delightful. Thank you for sharing it.

2024-06-25 11:36:30

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I cut my teeth in big tech and learned their way of interviewing early. Took a while to unlearn that shit. Now I find a hearty project or two on their resume and start asking questions about it. Keep digging and see where they stop. There's so many side questions that can come out of it, from technical details to social issues. It's also a great way to understand how they learn.

2024-06-25 00:21:46

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Yeah, using inches is just abominable. They should use millimeters like the rest of the civilized world.

2024-04-26 09:46:21

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Free speech in the US is so very selective. It's far from the universal right that many seem to believe it is.
One of my go to examples:
Want to use profanity on radio/TV or show nudity on TV? No way, that's offensive and you'll be fined into oblivion.
Want to send someone a message threatening to rape or murder them? No problem, that's free speech.
On a separate and related note: it's bizarre how many people focus on the inconvenience and not the message around protests.