James Smith 💾

https://mastodon.me.uk/@Floppy

Generic humanoid carbon unit, self-hosting media node. ❤️ tech, democracy, environment, society. Instantiated @ 332ppm.

Currently building Manyfold (npub1peh…f5jm) and site admin @ https://mastodon.me.uk

Previously: https://dxw.com, https://somethingnew.org.uk, https://openpolitics.org.uk, https://apolitical.co, https://theodi.org, https://www.amee.com and more.

Alignment: Chaotic Whimsy.

#OpenSource #Ruby #Rails #Python

Web: https://floppy.org.uk
PGP: https://keyoxide.org/BB87E90E3A03BA98FD1E7C43BF20545FD5122D5D
Pronoun: he/him

Public Key

npub1zpsu86zj86hcw9ustahejeu9xsgn9m92feug4u7q9mvs0fz6awyqxy43k4

NIP-05 Address

floppy_at_mastodon.me.uk@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqspqcwrapfratu8z7g97muev7zngyfjaj4yu7y270qzakg853dwhzqprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmnt2m2my2

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub1zpsu86zj86hcw9ustahejeu9xsgn9m92feug4u7q9mvs0fz6awyqxy43k4

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Last Notes

2026-04-27 12:41:45 UTC

Having a look around for some local connections on the Fediverse, rather than just my usual tech crowd. Anyone in the #Horsham (UK) area?

2026-04-26 14:21:40 UTC

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I’d post @npub1peh…f5jm on the board there but I’d feel like such a leech, asking people to do free work. Organically finding contributors is one thing, advertising for help feels different!

2026-04-25 11:05:11 UTC

I was wondering what I'd submit for @npub1peh…f5jm into the next round of @npub1dk0…k0wd funding, then I looked at the 267 open feature requests and I figure I'll be able to come up with something. Just need to organise them into a coherent pitch. https://github.com/manyfold3d/manyfold/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aopen%20label%3Afeature
And that's not even considering the 120 open bug reports (though they're harder to get funded - it would be very nice to be able to get a funded bugfix timebox in there).

2026-04-23 08:32:51 UTC

Very much in favour of Zach Polanski directly calling for the UK to throw Palantir out of our public sector: https://youtu.be/IPF5bBAf20o

2026-04-20 15:04:00 UTC

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in fact, one might reasonably assume that's what the outbox is *for*.

2026-04-20 15:00:16 UTC

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nothing in the spec to prevent servers from iterating through the whole outbox of newly-discovered actors... I wonder if any server software does this already?

2026-04-13 06:48:20 UTC

So, after he did for the Pope and Orbán, how do we book JD Vance to come here and campaign for Reform?

2026-04-07 15:42:42 UTC

Today, an American broke the record for the furthest distance travelled from sanity while in public office.

2026-04-07 12:51:29 UTC

OK Americans, it's time to get out on the street, now or never. Your President just threatened *genocide* against an entire country. DO SOMETHING. It's got to be *you*.

2026-04-07 11:52:55 UTC

MWOOHAHAHAHA comments are federating into @npub1peh…f5jm, amazing!
Thanks @npub1394…8wv0 for being unwittingly first in 😁
#ActivityPub
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/116/363/278/496/167/765/original/9c062ebf8288c138.png

2026-03-11 15:29:10 UTC

Anyone know of a common or standard string templating grammar, which you can use both to generate strings and parse them?
Something like `{foo}/{bar}` where I could either provide foo and bar to get a string, or give it a string and get foo and bar back (if it matches of course).

2026-02-04 17:19:08 UTC

This feels like very important analysis, laying out more of the details behind the rise of the far right across Europe and the US, pushed by scam artists and worse.
https://www.garbageday.email/p/here-s-how-epstein-broke-the-internet

2026-01-31 10:25:35 UTC

Great news from @npub163h…mv0n at #FOSDEM: they're going to change the default server recommendation away from mastodon.social, to a geographically and linguistically appropriate instance for all new users.
It'll be opt-in for server admins, too, which is great. ❤️

2026-01-21 14:33:36 UTC

Listening to Trump at Davos, and it's literally impossible to keep up with the lies.
To pick just one: China has no wind farms apparently. CIA world factbook says 10% of their electricity is from wind.
I know facts don't seem to matter any more, but Jesus Christ.
And in the time I checked and wrote that, he's moved on through like 5 other subjects.

2026-01-20 07:34:43 UTC

Tired: social media bans for under-16s
Wired: social media bans for 79-year-old presidents

2026-01-16 13:48:07 UTC

Advocating for #Matrix because of my desire for open systems is like trying to convince everyone how much I enjoy punching myself in the balls, with repeated demonstrations.
On iOS, Element Classic takes ages to load messages (no sliding sync), Element X is faster and now has space support, but notifications are *terrible* and people are now *phoning me* to tell me I have a message.
I’m sticking with it, because openness & bridging, but jeez, it’s hard to love. App suggestions v welcome.

2025-12-31 10:20:55 UTC

My sister and @npub1x2l…pu2t have these coasters, and I find it *so hard* to put things on them. Something in my lizard brain rebels.
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/115/813/667/892/625/577/original/111f0770942585e8.png

2025-11-30 17:34:09 UTC

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number 2 is fairly accurate fediverse diagram

2025-11-05 08:00:50 UTC

YES, amazing job New York! We CAN have politicians who stand against the rich, who offer hope for the many. It CAN still be done. Now let's DO IT EVERYWHERE!
#ZohranMamdani

2025-10-20 10:20:39 UTC

It's International Smug Self-Hosters Day! Best wishes to all who celebrate.

2025-10-09 12:23:03 UTC

Thing is, it's actually quite easy to not give money to fascists. You just read or listen to the things they say very publicly, and then just don't give them your money.
Some might even say it's *easier* than *giving* them money!
#Framework

2025-10-09 06:59:00 UTC

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if there’s one thing I’ve learned recently it’s that there’s a *lot* more far right sympathy in the OSS community and fanbase than I’d expected.

2025-10-06 13:17:41 UTC

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> A wealth tax on the richest 1% to fund public services. An end to rip-off privatisation so water, rail and energy work for people, not shareholders. Universal free childcare, to give every child the best start, and every parent real freedom. Rent controls and investment in warm, affordable homes. Real investment in green jobs and infrastructure, and a Green New Deal that doesn’t just cut carbon but transforms communities, lowers bills and creates opportunity.
Yep, OK, let's try that.

2025-10-06 13:15:02 UTC

Just joined the Green Party. At least *someone*'s trying to present a different future than a race to the far right.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/03/migration-britain-superpower-labour-green-party

2025-10-03 07:50:38 UTC

I assume that the US govt shutdown is exactly what the Trumpets want, because it *officially* puts all the budget power directly into his hands? He now gets to *legally* decide what carries on working and what doesn’t.
I mean, there’s no reason for them to ever “start it up again”, right, because now he can decide everything?

2025-09-30 11:53:52 UTC

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You don't stop division by allowing a bit of it to appease the haters, you fucking SWAMP it in decency.

2025-09-30 11:52:47 UTC

"Voters have a choice between decency or division, Starmer to tell Labour conference"
Maybe he could try pursuing a bit less division and more decency then?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd073r829jxt

2025-09-30 11:40:09 UTC

In the original No2ID days, I didn't used to be opposed to having a secure identity proof signed by govt, I was just opposed to the centralisation and databases.
But now, with the spectre of fascism rising, I see that even a distributed proof-of-entitlement ID without any central servers would be a vector for abuse and exclusion.
So, yeah, I've changed my mind on that one. I wasn't paranoid enough.

2025-09-27 21:33:27 UTC

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thank you Tim, I truly appreciate the support (and am a bit starstruck too ❤️)

2025-09-25 07:38:10 UTC

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So far though, my experience has been that there are many more negative responses than positive. Maybe the Ruby community isn’t the place I thought it was, and MINASWAN was always a lie. That makes me sad. 😢

2025-09-25 06:24:59 UTC

Ooh, woken up to a few angry PRs this morning on https://github.com/Plan-Vert/open-letter.
Looks like it’s pissing off the right people, given their comments. Nice thing about doing this on GitHub is that they’re all out there in public.

2025-09-23 19:26:14 UTC

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quite right, it’s long overdue that the entire community ostracised DHH before Ruby becomes a nazi bar.
I’m collecting signatures on this open letter, perhaps you’d like to add yours or share onwards? https://github.com/Floppy/plan-vert-letter

2025-09-23 08:07:04 UTC

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Calling all #Ruby on #Rails users, I eagerly await your PR signatures on this open letter to the Rails Core team, in which we call for a hard fork and adoption of a proper Code of Conduct, away from #DHH.
https://github.com/Floppy/plan-vert-letter

2025-09-22 17:22:30 UTC

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#Rails folks, here's an open letter asking the Rails Core to cut ties with DHH and hard fork Rails to a new project with proper governance.
You can sign with a pull request. Let's show that there's demand for this, and that the community won't appease racists.
https://github.com/Floppy/plan-vert-letter
(boosts and cross-posts to other places are appreciated!)

2025-09-22 17:21:12 UTC

I doubt this will go anywhere, but...

2025-09-16 11:23:55 UTC

I have *no* time to do this, but serious question, who would actually be up for using or helping with a community-driven hard fork of #Rails? I doubt the #RailsFoundation will do anything, TBH. Can we show some willing? Boosts welcome for wide community input.

2025-06-01 18:50:48 UTC

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ooh, yes, I remember seeing this! It’s for @npub1wfk…zv38, so yeah.
While we’re in the area, do you know of any fedi system that does secure sharing between actors on different servers? Say someone bought a model from one Manyfold server, could access be granted to their federated identity somehow? Does anyone do that?

2025-06-01 12:05:45 UTC

Is there an open standard out there for payment provider integration? Like OAuth for stripe/paypal/etc

2025-04-27 08:52:38 UTC

This is a very very good point. Coding in most languages is free (hardware notwithstanding), and with open source we truly own the means of production. The push for AI and vibe coding is straight up enclosure.
https://aus.social/@jimbob/114406766000950223

2025-04-16 11:02:56 UTC

Bad decision from the Supreme Court today. Trans rights are human rights. 🏳️‍⚧️

2025-04-13 16:00:07 UTC

Holy shit, Carole Cadwalladr’s TED appearance is incredible. *Unbelievably* brave to stand up in person in front of the people enabling tyranny, call it out directly, and call THEM out by name.
“You are not gods. You are men; and you are careless.” Phenomenal.
https://youtu.be/TZOoT8AbkNE

2025-04-02 09:01:00 UTC

Finished #3DPrinting this absolutely ludicrous specimen, a #Warhammer #40k #Tyranid Hierophant proxy by StationForge (combining parts from two of their biotitan models and a few other bits).
I have no reason for doing this other than "I can". It's going to be absolute dogshit on the tabletop, for sure.
#WIPWednesday
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/114/267/533/132/826/932/original/633bf0d75405aa24.jpeg

2025-03-25 22:49:17 UTC

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I'm pretty sure @npub1x59…gect did some experiments around this...

2025-02-18 23:23:27 UTC

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I’m mainly hoping DHH crosses a line at some point that makes the rest of the Rails core team decide to oust him, or leave en masse for a hard fork. I certainly don’t have the bandwidth for a rewrite.

2025-02-18 23:11:27 UTC

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we need a Rails fork to be rid of this horrible man.

2025-02-18 15:22:34 UTC

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is there any interest at OSI for developing ethical use licenses? As in, how can we build in the open, but not help fascists, support weapons development, etc?

2025-02-17 23:23:30 UTC

I think the "running a matrix homeserver" part is done ish, but the "making the caddy proxy connect to the conduit docker swarm service" part is what's screwing me up. Yes, this is a self-inflicted problem once again.

2025-02-13 17:04:17 UTC

My Fediverse feed has been pretty good at not becoming a perpetual doom machine, but the state of the world is *so* fucked that the doom is even getting through here. I can't even imagine what it's like outside my nice little bubble.

2025-02-03 09:34:52 UTC

So so lovely to meet lots of the #SocialWeb/#ActivityPub dev community in person at #FOSDEM. As @npub13za…8j89 said, building the #Fediverse is a team effort and if we work together, we absolutely can do this. And we *must*. ❤️

2025-01-28 10:23:49 UTC

AI grift stocks collapsing simply because someone did the thing more cheaply just goes to show how much of a house of cards it was. Nothing but a hype balloon, and as soon as someone punctures it, the entire industry is flying round the room making farting noises.

2025-01-21 19:06:32 UTC

Trump is apparently so determined to win stuff that he even made himself America’s first female president!
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-transgender-2670902521/

2025-01-20 10:52:34 UTC

Being a Lord and an "ex-Asda boss" not proper work, says person who does actual proper work from home.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0qww8xdvnwo

2025-01-14 16:54:23 UTC

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it blows my mind that someone sells a device that sticks onto the windscreen, and people plug it into their car's CANbus and let it drive them around.
10,000 users on the roads, and a disclaimer that says "THIS IS ALPHA QUALITY SOFTWARE FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A PRODUCT. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR COMPLYING WITH LOCAL LAWS AND REGULATIONS. NO WARRANTY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED."
I'm beginning to think humans were a mistake, let alone computers.

2025-01-14 16:48:06 UTC

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what the actual fuck have you found‽

2025-01-14 15:17:16 UTC

OK Internet, you reckon you’re so clever, bet you can’t identify this random bit of broken circuit board I found blowing around my front garden.
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/827/359/768/446/271/original/60608684b7ad433a.png
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/827/361/096/398/173/original/e9d619fd20103482.png

2025-01-13 12:06:47 UTC

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And that, in a nutshell, is the government's AI strategy. I thank you.

2025-01-13 12:06:31 UTC

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> 50. Create a new unit, UK Sovereign AI, with the power to partner with the private sector to deliver the clear mandate of maximising the UK’s stake in frontier AI.
No, I don't know what it is either, but we told ChatGPT to put the word sovereign on it so that the Tories and Reform don't kick up a fuss.

2025-01-13 12:05:38 UTC

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> 48. Appoint AI Sector Champions in key industries like the life sciences, financial services and the creative industries to work with industry and government and develop AI adoption plans.
After all, we need lots of people to invite to our receptions.
> 49. Drive AI adoption across the whole country.
That should keep the North quiet for a bit.

2025-01-13 12:04:23 UTC

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> 47. Leverage the new Industrial Strategy. The development of a new Industrial Strategy presents an opportunity to drive collective action to support AI adoption across the economy.
The important thing about Industrial Strategies is the strategy part, not the industry bit.
Wait, who wrote "collective action" in there? Have them fired immediately for communism.

2025-01-13 12:02:40 UTC

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> 45. Publish best-practice guidance, results, case-studies and open-source solutions through a single “AI Knowledge Hub”
Nobody will read it, it's OK, so just get ChatGPT to fill it all in.
> 46. In the next 3 months, the Digital Centre of Government should identify a series of quick wins to support the adoption of the scan, pilot scale approach and enable public and private sector to reinforce each other.
DCG have got a gap in their calendar coming up to year end, let's throw them a bone.

2025-01-13 12:01:41 UTC

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> 42. Mandating infrastructure interoperability, code reusability and open sourcing.
And by "mandate", we mean "tell everyone", not "fund".
> 43. Procure smartly from the AI ecosystem as both its largest customer and as a market shaper.
"Smart" means AI, right, so we can get AI to buy more AI. I'm a genius.
> 44. Use digital government infrastructure to create new opportunities for innovators.
Make sure that OpenAI can make money off our public spending.

2025-01-13 12:00:04 UTC

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> 40. Mission-focussed national AI tenders to support rapid adoption across de-centralised systems led by the mission delivery boards.
I think ChatGPT has started hallucinating, turn it off.
> 41. Development or procurement of a scalable AI tech stack that supports the use of specialist narrow and large language models for tens or hundreds of millions of citizen interactions across the UK.
TURN IT OFF! That sounds expensive! Stop it!

2025-01-13 11:58:54 UTC

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> 38. A faster, multi-stage gated and scaling AI procurement process that enables easy and quick access to small-scale funding for pilots and only layers bureaucratic controls as the investment-size gets larger.
We left ChatGPT going and it wrote this. We're not really sure what it means, but it's AI! I think it means there are *lots* of drinks receptions.
> 39. A scaling service for successful pilots with senior support and central funding resource.
Another ChatGPT rephrase. This is easy!

2025-01-13 11:57:06 UTC

Continued from https://mastodon.me.uk/@Floppy/113820915636709586
> 37. A data-rich experimentation environment including a streamlined approach to accessing data sets, access to language models and necessary infrastructure like compute.
We mentioned all this earlier but we needed more bullet points to round out the list, so we got ChatGPT to rephrase some of the earlier stuff.

2025-01-13 10:51:49 UTC

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And the thing is, because of this PR-driven moneylaundering shite, I know *exactly* what's going on in the various digital teams across the public sector today, as their leaders suddenly try to pivot them all to AI shit rather than *solving their institutional problems* which are *always* the root cause.
If you're in one of those teams, I see you, and I feel for you. Keep on trying to get the useful work in under the radar, as usual. ❤️

2025-01-13 10:47:25 UTC

OK, here's the "AI Opportunities Action Plan". https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-opportunities-action-plan/ai-opportunities-action-plan
It's *utterly* meaningless; not a single mention of any actual *need*, or *how* any of this will help people. And the section on public sector data proves to me that the person that wrote it has never ever been near any public sector data problem.
Pure magical thinking, techwash handwaving and shiny buzzword-based money grabbing. Ignore it and move on.

2024-12-16 11:00:59 UTC

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The more #AltText i write, I hope the better I get at it. Is there a #RateMyAltText hashtag to get feedback from, I wonder?
#TheyreGoodAltTextsBrent

2024-12-16 10:59:40 UTC

This morning, the beats will be large. #BigBeat
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/662/145/212/020/065/original/c9cd9428c7af61ca.png

2024-12-11 13:50:32 UTC

It's absolutely wild to me that the #MysteryDrones story is still building, now with a hearing in the US Congress in which *nobody* admits to knowing what the hell is going on. Notable that they aren't even trying to claim it's just misreporting of normal stuff. And still, so little coverage.
The longer this goes on, the weirder the information vacuum is, and tbh it was weird on day one.

2024-12-11 08:15:15 UTC

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TIL referer headers are even something you can control. Never even crossed my mind.

2024-11-21 13:32:34 UTC

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Getting carried away now. #minipainting #necromunda
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/521/188/771/189/856/original/cacf65d3abe080c9.jpeg
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/521/188/862/899/878/original/ecbe4a037233c9fd.jpeg

2024-11-20 16:36:12 UTC

Don't Xenos Open Inside #minipainting #necromunda
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/516/246/531/444/269/original/b42b5998e5821ad7.png

2024-11-06 14:49:04 UTC

If anyone wants to see a talk I did on #ActivityPub, @npub1wfk…zv38 and #Federails, here's the one I did at #LRUG in October (and also at #OggCamp the day before):
https://makertube.net/videos/watch/425d9267-2bb9-48bf-ac60-eeecfb78ab5d

2024-11-06 10:16:45 UTC

Those who DO learn from history are doomed to watch others repeat it anyway.

2024-10-30 11:57:18 UTC

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lol good point there. Whatever TLD is appropriate :)
But yes, if all else fails, I expect you can come over here. I’ll check with the mod team but I’m sure it will be ok.

2024-10-30 11:53:25 UTC

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I too have bots I’m going to need to rehome. They *may* move here if nothing better comes up, and you would be welcome to as well in that case, but I would suggest that if at all possible, parliament should get a cheap instance on an official gov.uk domain. Mythic Beasts are excellent mastodon hosts.

2024-10-24 12:38:22 UTC

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... just ... argh ... what the fuck is wrong with these people?

2024-10-10 10:10:16 UTC

Annoyingly, a very interesting potential contract has fallen through, so I'm on the lookout again for ways to pay the bills while continuing work on @npub1wfk…zv38.
Anyone need a part time data/software architect and Ruby/Rails dev obsessed with Open Source and Open Data?

2024-10-09 16:44:44 UTC

IT'S ALIVE!
This was posted automatically from @npub1wfk…zv38 when I uploaded a new model on my personal instance.
Manyfold is now a real part of the Fediverse!
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/278/459/137/875/981/original/b741b9cb591eed04.png

2024-09-28 11:46:22 UTC

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should be fixed! That was a weird one, the account was suspended due to a report from a year ago, but the report was for a *different* account. So, not sure what happened. Should be OK now though.

2024-09-11 14:08:04 UTC

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yeah, it's... special.

2024-09-11 14:03:33 UTC

TIL: the super-religious SQLite "code of ethics" is quite something... https://sqlite.org/codeofethics.html

2024-08-21 13:54:01 UTC

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ooh I had an MRI yesterday of my torso, I could probably get that! Nice.

2024-07-21 18:03:15 UTC

Bring on AOC, I say.