Rob Ricci

Research professor in the Kahlert School of Computing at the University of Utah. Co-director of the Flux Research Group: https://www.flux.utah.edu. I build research infrastructure: https://cloudlab.us, https://powderwireless.net, https://emulab.net, https://geni.net.

I do not speak for my employer, nor do they speak for me

Not a boffin

Profile pic: Middle aged white man with grey hair and a large beard wearing sunglasses

Banner: Magtape of UNIX V4 and a VT220. Credit: Dan Hixson

Web: https://ricci.io/
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Pronouns: he/him
FFXIV main: GNB

Public Key

npub19r2tuule098208u80kee76te0rt62gnrj3r35cdm7nwpq55vuvtszzcahj

NIP-05 Address

ricci_at_discuss.systems@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsz3497w0uhjn48n7rhmvuld9uh34a9yf3eg3c6vxalfhqs22xwx9cpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsdf4n6z

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub19r2tuule098208u80kee76te0rt62gnrj3r35cdm7nwpq55vuvtszzcahj

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Last Notes

2026-04-28 02:14:33 UTC

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one of the things that amazes me the most is that they're spending billions of dollars on equipment to multiply trillions of matrices per second just to produce software that's bad at math

2026-04-28 02:10:34 UTC

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I feel like we can do better though. Like an AI uses the seed capital to buy monkey jpegs or something

2026-04-28 02:04:59 UTC

I wonder what the stupidest way for a business to fail with LLMs will be

2026-04-24 13:28:44 UTC

This is Just to Say
I have submitted
the paper
that was in
the git repo
and which
you were probably
saving
for the deadline
Forgive me
it was actually in really good shape
so well written
and so compelling

2026-04-19 19:05:18 UTC

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I guess? I'd prefer something more independent and community run be able to resolve these kinds of things (I know IFTAS has tried)

2026-04-18 03:35:01 UTC

My "we care about your privacy" sticker on my Privacy Violator 3000 glasses is raising questions already answered by my "we care about your privacy" sticker

2026-04-17 04:11:23 UTC

I am not a fan of Overleaf, at all, but I have to give them this: the vim mode in their editor is really damn good.

2026-04-17 04:08:07 UTC

One of the things that's really important to me as a research professor is to have students who are confident in questioning me and disagreeing with me - I'm not always right, I make mistakes, I get the wrong mental model in my head for systems, I miss things. Because there's an inherent power imbalance between me and my students, one of my main tasks is to build up deserved confidence in my students, and to make it clear that they are always free to disagree without penalty.

2026-04-15 19:11:02 UTC

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I thought about writing a review for this thing before I return it but I just can't, I've already sunk too much time into trying to make this usable so I'll just say this: if your use case is "I want to be able to read and annotate PDFs", absolutely do not buy these devices

2026-04-15 19:08:03 UTC

My Remarkable tablet died and I'm trying a Boox, and I thought I had a pretty good sense of all the ways in which software could be awful, then here comes Boox with a "hold my beer!"

2026-04-15 02:14:50 UTC

All I want is a world where fewer things are broken all the time

2026-04-12 00:15:19 UTC

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that is indeed how I got it out

2026-04-11 18:35:35 UTC

Hey who else slept in, ground their coffee, put the kettle on, then dumped the already ground coffee back into the grinder?
Just me?

2026-04-08 23:59:46 UTC

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In case you ever wanted to know what Uranium-bearing ores look like
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/116/371/796/438/317/074/original/94675b108fc0e7da.jpg

2026-04-08 23:56:38 UTC

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never gonna give up on this stone
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/116/371/785/614/158/554/original/1bfcea9e51fc7f70.jpg

2026-04-08 23:54:20 UTC

can anyone loan me some cash
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/116/371/778/506/530/976/original/9446a9330687c7a1.jpg

2026-04-08 22:57:56 UTC

Train views day 2
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/116/371/527/728/385/060/original/48c04776b9451619.jpg
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/116/371/530/279/342/535/original/8328a41e3d84e7ba.jpg
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/116/371/530/829/695/318/original/6ff67138c9313e8b.jpg
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/116/371/533/702/890/110/original/fdbd124ade0611d3.jpg

2026-04-08 00:20:21 UTC

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whoever is answering yes to this lives on a much smaller planet than I do

2026-04-07 00:53:51 UTC

Bots on this instance. Bots on Bluesky. Bots trying to scam their way into CloudLab. My mom reading LLM-produced books
In the last 24 hours
I'm so so tired

2026-04-03 02:49:38 UTC

The main thing I learned from the Claude Code leak is that they plan to go out of business before anyone has to maintain it

2026-03-31 14:39:48 UTC

I could use your help with something.
There are lots of people who can use your help in the world right now. If you're helping any of them, thank you.
Let me tell you about some people I want to help, and invite you to join me if you can.
For a few months, I've been talking with @npub10rq…t35v , who lives in the Kiboga District, Uganda. He is a teacher, and founder of the Fill The Empty Stomachs Farming Initiative, an NGO that has been feeding the hungry in his area. They provide free food for those who cannot afford to pay; any produce they do sell is used to sustain the project.
Fill The Empty Stomachs rented land to farm on, but renting is a short-term solution and unstable. They farmed rented land for a year, but their lease ended when the owner decided to use it for another purpose.
To make this work long-term, they need to buy land of their own. I want to help them do it. If you are in a position to help, I invite you to join me.
They have a GoFundMe set up, and it's almost halfway to its goal. Let's get it the rest of the way so that they can buy land. I will match any donation made in the next month (no need to tell me about it, I'll just watch the numbers on the page).
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-nuwagaba-to-empower-young-farmers
The GoFundMe is being run by a man in Wales who is trusted by Nuwagaba and his team.
While they raise money to buy land, they are still busy: they have shifted their focus to education, teaching others in the area to improve their own farms. They have started a small chicken business.
I met Nuwagaba here on the Fediverse, but have had hours of video calls with him. I got a tour of the rented land they used to farm. He's a teacher and I'm a professor, so we've talked about the education systems in our countries. We've talked about our hopes for the future - for the places we live and the people in our communities. I've met other people from Fill The Empty Stomachs, Mugisha and Timothy. These folks are serious about wanting to make things better for the poor in their area.
Look, I realize a lot of people are jaded about trusting people they meet on the Internet. I'm not going to tell you shouldn't be. What I can tell you is that I've spent a lot of time talking to Nuwagaba and other members of his team, and I'm convinced. If you're interested in helping, but also need to be convinced, Nuwagaba would be happy to talk with you; you can contact him here, or I have his email address and phone number.
So: if you can join me, please do, and I'll match whatever you are able to contribute.

2026-03-30 00:29:56 UTC

UH OH.
When this post is about 30 minutes old (at 7 MDT) #monsterdon will unfold the pitiful 3 dimensions of the fediverse into five ... thousand... yeah, five thousand.
Many of us will be watching Critters 4 (1992): CRITTERS IN SPAAAAACE . This horrible move is streaming for free on Tubi (cause c'mon who is going to pay for CRITTERS IN SPAAAAACE) and the shitposting will be of extraordinary magnitude.
Just wait for it.
OR join us (no one can stop you!) OR block the hashtag (someone can stop you, maybe!) OR just enjoy the out of context dreck.
I hope you can see this because we'll be doing it as hard as we can.

2026-03-27 05:02:54 UTC

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there was a *lot* of c64 stuff there, I only took pictures of a few things
Oh and I was kind of negligent in not taking pictures of the paper serial terminals in action

2026-03-27 01:05:36 UTC

Some photos from @npub1thr…w4nm 's UNIX V4 and retrocomputing talk today
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/116/298/435/374/633/754/original/a1ca8333fcda40fb.jpg
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/116/298/435/901/508/008/original/cf08fde212e605cc.jpg
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/116/298/435/922/742/631/original/b6c8a41effacb785.jpg
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/116/298/441/923/104/927/original/e35537bbd9c3391a.jpg

2026-03-24 00:37:08 UTC

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is that just the default snacc pfp? anyway they seem to be trying unsuccessfully to reply to you

2026-03-24 00:13:39 UTC

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https://fediverse.org/admin

2026-03-24 00:04:39 UTC

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Might be: https://comam.es/snac/grunfink

2026-03-22 07:01:30 UTC

Pondering my jorb
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/116/271/505/105/125/503/original/80eb9720ae1df04a.jpg

2026-03-13 17:52:50 UTC

I take back everything bad I ever said about DDMMYY order upon realizing that 'Jan 25' is an ambiguous abbreviation under MMDDYY

2026-03-12 13:33:39 UTC

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don't tempt me ETHAN

2026-03-12 01:13:54 UTC

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colonel, which I mixed up with colonial

2026-03-12 00:39:08 UTC

kind of guy who still remembers what word they got out on in the elementary school spelling bee

2026-03-10 17:06:49 UTC

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ok real talk here, did you ever use Google Inbox? With the mechanism it had for grouping up stuff like newsletters and showing them to you on a schedule you picked?
*that* is the thing I am far, far angrier at Google for canceling, even more so than Google Reader (which I am also still mad about) I am not joking when I say this feature was a major benefit to my mental health, which suffered when they cancelled it.
Well, that's what I'm building, as a tui. Using notmuch. In Rust.

2026-03-10 17:01:24 UTC

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But just imagine ... a mailreader that lets you avoid reading mail ... a better world is possible

2026-03-10 16:52:25 UTC

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Look if you had a choice between (a) writing a mailreader and (b) actually reading mail, why would you take (b)

2026-03-10 15:55:23 UTC

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window manager is done, except for a crash that might be in the compositor (need to debug). So what else am I gonna do?

2026-03-10 15:27:49 UTC

My mailreader is capable of opening mailboxes with over 1.4 million messages before it's capable of composing mail, because that's how I roll

2026-03-09 13:50:27 UTC

Gonna start referring to the part of my job that involves getting between my students and the stupid decisions the upper administration makes as "tanking bureaucracy"

2026-03-05 16:14:30 UTC

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Another warning, if you bring a baby to the coffee shop, I am going to smile at it. A lot.

2026-03-05 16:01:37 UTC

Warning for coffee shop employees, if you ask me how my morning is going, you are, by definition, asking this before I've had coffee, so you might get An Answer

2026-02-26 01:40:14 UTC

brb inventing a new probability theory that explains why, among the two kitchen knives with indistinguishable handles in my knife block, I pick the wrong one 90% of the time

2026-02-16 23:32:59 UTC

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Deposited our party favors in little free libraries throughout the city ✅

2026-02-16 20:42:55 UTC

Presidents' day party favors
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/116/082/249/861/141/834/original/3bcaca427c07e3d7.jpg

2026-02-14 02:56:32 UTC

I am learning far more about deleting large quantities of mail from Outlook that I ever cared to know

2026-02-13 19:15:48 UTC

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I normally read it with mbsync and mutt but today my mailbox is nearly full and everything is hanging so bad, including the official android app and web interface that I can't actually delete anything

2026-02-13 18:14:58 UTC

Outlook goes out of its way to give me daily reminders of how awful it is

2026-02-08 19:47:33 UTC

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I was going to, kind of, I was going to do it in Racket which would have made it easier to do a DSL but the only Racket bindings for the Wayland protocols seem to be unmaintained

2026-02-08 18:04:50 UTC

ahhhh editing my window manager from inside my window manager

2026-02-07 01:40:42 UTC

Everything I ever needed to know about curling I learned by looking up terms in Tournament of Hearts by The Weakerthans
https://youtu.be/zFhthSEjSwg?si=nxtG-4zU4cIfpsaL

2026-02-03 14:39:46 UTC

So this was not what I expected to see on the way into work yesterday
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/116/007/211/051/425/673/original/90eff9ce12cde78d.jpg

2026-01-29 22:16:10 UTC

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if they do we *need* and activitypub adapter for it

2026-01-26 22:08:56 UTC

The hardest problem in Computer Science is doing your job while your neighbors are being abucted by masked thugs and executed in the street

2026-01-24 16:43:24 UTC

I am so tired of convincing websites I'm human. Fuck you maybe convince me you have something worthwhile first

2026-01-23 23:27:04 UTC

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Reposting my own comment from over on Bluesky:
I want to draw out something that is somewhat in your post, but that I think is worth making explicit: what this incident demonstrates is that Bluesky PBC is *platform first*, *protocol second*. They had several options that could have taken advantage of the protocol, and ignored all of them.

2026-01-22 07:47:33 UTC

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read the post

2026-01-22 06:47:28 UTC

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I realize they are not a government entity. But they are using a .eu domain (yes I know basically anyone can get one) so clearly this is the way they're trying to sell themselves

2026-01-22 01:44:36 UTC

Launching their new social network, W, the EU posted a map of where other social networks are hosted. It showed nothing in Europe.
But their map is wrong.
Here's what Mastodon actually looks like, and what the Fediverse as a whole actually looks like.
https://arewedecentralizedyet.online/map/?source=fedi
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/936/213/412/756/556/original/be78ae5bc0c74cd1.png
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/936/214/122/225/709/original/a5ddf6a772767eb5.png

2026-01-21 20:11:24 UTC

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i mean, not right now...

2026-01-21 16:38:48 UTC

Men will literally store 6 million JSON files in a directory instead of just using a database

2026-01-19 23:28:57 UTC

Today is a good day to read Audre Lorde

2026-01-19 01:07:06 UTC

Tonight! A very special #Monsterdon guest!
When this post is about one hour old (7 MDT) a whole island-full of people will be watching Monthra (1962) and posting Entirely Too Much about it! If that is Entirely Too Much for you, you can mute the hashtag. Or better yet, you can join us!
And hey who's this‽ Why, it's the crocheted mothman, by none other than @npub1rtd…f7ar , that I received for participating in #MonsterdonSavesChristmas ! In honor of the fact that her first Monsterdon movie is Mothra, her name is... Monthra! Let's all join the miniature twins in summoning her for our protection!
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/919/076/913/685/767/original/e8d12aac82dd26dc.jpg

2026-01-18 01:04:46 UTC

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Ted. You can't fool me, I know a dot-matrix printer when I hear one

2026-01-18 00:27:46 UTC

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no. should I?

2026-01-17 06:11:27 UTC

There should be be ASMR of 3d printer stepper motors
oh who am I kidding, I'm sure there already is

2026-01-14 05:56:44 UTC

https://arewedecentralizedyet.online/ has been switched over to new datasources for the social networks, coming from my own #fediverse crawler and #atprotocol observer. Improvements include better heuristics for fediverse user counts and real monthly active user stats for #bluesky/#atproto . I'm also making more raw data available, both for the most recent counts and historical data at https://arewedecentralizedyet.online/data/
Overall, doesn't change the conclusions much, but I'm very happy with these new datasources.
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/891/905/827/544/682/original/123e9987a2081e17.png

2026-01-09 20:36:34 UTC

How it started / how it's going
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/867/043/229/392/550/original/2267062c885863d2.png
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/867/049/591/514/537/original/37ef88a26e663213.png

2026-01-06 00:20:36 UTC

I need university administrators (and probably some other people too, but definitely university administrators) to understand something: you cannot motivate your faculty to do more research or better teaching.
They are already maximally motivated people. They did not get the job by being unmotivated. A good chunk of them have more motivation than is healthy for them.
Any action you take to "motivate" them is going to be demotivational. Any of them. Yes, even that one that you just thought of. Yes, even the one you heard about from one of your peers at a different institution that you're jealous of.
Lean in close, here's the secret: all you have to do is (a) support them in doing their jobs, and (b) not fuck things up.

2026-01-06 00:08:47 UTC

Happy "remember to turn off your vacation autoresponder day" to all who celebrate

2026-01-03 21:15:24 UTC

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but "they will greet us as liberators" or some shit, surely

2026-01-01 23:09:55 UTC

Listening to The Interrupters is a good way to start the new year
https://theinterrupters.com/

2025-12-30 05:40:04 UTC

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2026 will be the year of UNIX v4 on the desktop

2025-12-30 05:32:10 UTC

2026 will be the year of Windows 10 on the desktop

2025-12-28 03:18:06 UTC

I would like a moment of silence. Not cause anything bad happened, I just need a moment of silence

2025-12-27 04:36:55 UTC

"average person counts ℵ₀ sets a year" factoid actualy just statistical error. average person counts 0 sets per year. Georg Cantor, who lives in cave & counts over ℵₐ each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

2025-12-24 16:49:27 UTC

That sound! Up on my rooftop! Is it?

2025-12-21 23:55:10 UTC

I have some new folks following me this week, so an extended explanation of #Monsterdon :
When this post is about two hours old, at 7 MST (UTC -7), a bunch of folks, organized by [@Taweret](https://timeloop.cafe/@Taweret ) , will be watching a movie together and posting about it live.
You are welcome to join us! It's a good week to do it because this week, Monsterdon is saving Christmas! Check out the #monsterdonsaveschristmas hashtag for details on the fundraiser! And #monsterdonalerts for details on this, and all the future, movies.
This week, we're watching Tales From The Crypt (1972), which is streaming free on Tubi and maybe some other places. Just start the movie on time, watch the hashtag, and post along with us! You can just do it: it's free and no one can stop you!
If you don't want to see a bunch of snarky posts about a bad movie, you can mute the hashtag. In the Mastodon web UI, you do this by clicking on the hashtag, selecting the option to mute it, and making a new filter to hide all posts with the hashtag. You'll make the Baby Godzilla cry but it's okay, Godzilla is tough and all. Not even the entire Japanese army, air force, and navy working together can get Godzilla down, not really.

2025-12-20 02:27:50 UTC

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The more we look into this, the more it appears that this is a complete system or pretty close to it! There's a kernel, userspace binaries, source, including userland, kernel, device drivers, seems to be the full UNIX V4!

2025-12-20 01:56:47 UTC

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Here's a copy of the filesystem that has been extracted as a .tar file: http://squoze.net/UNIX/v4/

2025-12-19 22:29:41 UTC

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Here's the document release you were waiting for today!
The UNIX V4 tape!
https://archive.org/details/utah_unix_v4_raw
#retrocomputing

2025-12-19 22:22:31 UTC

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We have the binary image of the tape, link going up soon

2025-12-19 21:36:47 UTC

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Apparently the entire UNIX v4 tape was read successfully, what's going to need to happen next is to decode the signal from it, decipher the file formats, etc., I'll post updates as I get them

2025-12-19 20:02:02 UTC

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I'm told "there is data" but I honestly don't know what that means yet

2025-12-19 19:50:50 UTC

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There will be more video later (there's a TV news crew there) but here's a bit that Jon Duerig has sent from on-site
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/747/967/017/707/525/original/f9dd2da21dcd34a1.mp4

2025-12-19 19:18:43 UTC

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The attempt to read the UNIX V4 tape is underway!
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/747/821/015/238/947/original/a6785d7a0091b6bd.jpg
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/747/826/558/755/303/original/89cb1152d8c3fa6a.jpg
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/747/828/004/578/624/original/2c3e51b380f12675.jpg
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/747/842/561/786/727/original/4ca46b699f1e673c.jpg

2025-12-17 01:08:50 UTC

I didn't think the #ACM could make me dislike the ACM DL more, so, congratulations I guess, on figuring out a way to do that and ALSO make it more expensive to run at the same time, with AI summaries for things that already have abstracts

2025-12-16 03:49:05 UTC

Did you know: you can avoid the need for backups by failing to do anything worth saving a copy of
Follow me for more computing lifehacks

2025-12-16 00:24:58 UTC

Chat, I don't think this is something to be proud of
#Wrapstodon
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/726/397/064/882/985/original/987d1c8a66dc16cc.png

2025-12-11 06:24:29 UTC

I just agreed to the Vatican's cookie policy, does this mean I took communion

2025-12-10 04:02:05 UTC

KIKI! I JUST put these shoelaces in! I haven't even WORN them yet!
(No prize for guessing what happened to the old shoelaces)
#fedicats #catsofmastodon
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/693/270/472/301/286/original/f0071c9753be7041.jpg

2025-12-10 02:29:01 UTC

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2025-12-10 02:27:52 UTC

Emojis in plaintext email?

2025-12-09 02:04:40 UTC

EMAIL WRAPPED 2025
This year, you received too fucking much email!
Number of emails that found you well: zero
Number of emails that you printed, even though you didn't consider the environment: zero
Number of times an "out of office" autoresponder was immediately followed by the person answering your email: all of the times
Your favorite email was: none of them
Next year, you are considering: are there any countries where email is illegal, and what are their immigration laws?

2025-12-09 00:59:38 UTC

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And for anyone who didn't already know, there is approximately one (1) reason that the US does not work this way, and it's Intuit (the people who make turbotax): https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free

2025-12-06 05:15:59 UTC

Hey check out this great set of safety signs provided for one of our university's safety courses for staff
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/670/914/791/546/223/original/7f2d3c5294d00390.png

2025-12-03 23:52:36 UTC

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don't make me tap the sign
https://discuss.systems/@ricci/115216834314566623

2025-11-27 21:45:34 UTC

To explain to people, like my spouse, why Thanksgiving meals are properly done at 3:00, it's important that it be done at an awkward time so you have to skip lunch and are extra hungry

2025-11-27 18:06:29 UTC

There are a lot of cursed computers things but this is the most cursed computers thing
https://benjojo.co.uk/u/benjojo/h/h4N78m1PjXYsYfzkGV
https://fd.discuss.systems/media_attachments/files/115/622/984/701/833/976/original/7d8e4965e1b68446.png

2025-11-26 01:01:50 UTC

Doing things was a mistake

2025-11-22 02:59:18 UTC

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that dude was so startstruck, 100% chance he's got a Mamdani body pillow by tomorrow afternoon

2025-11-19 04:18:03 UTC

At the end of the board meeting for our local school district, the president of the Salt Lake City Board of Education commemorated Transgender Awareness Week by reaffirming the district's commitment to policies that recognize and protect trans students, even in the face of hostility from state and federal governments.
Local politics matters