ARGVMI~1.PIF

Previously @argv_minus_one@mstdn.party

Public Key

npub1a972l2p20hg5fwewcyyf404pry97gxf5d6gxha5lp0py8uq4sm7qq4ca38

NIP-05 Address

argv_minus_one@mastodon-sdf-org.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqswjl904q48m52yhvhvzzy6h6s3jzlyry6xayrt760shsjr7q2cdlqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds55kn88

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1a972l2p20hg5fwewcyyf404pry97gxf5d6gxha5lp0py8uq4sm7qq4ca38

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Last Notes

2026-08-21 05:15:01 UTC

#EFF explains exactly why #ZeroKnowledgeProof as #AgeVerification is not safe, and is even more dangerous than typical age-verification schemes in that, not only does it still invade the privacy of your home, it also vests power in a single company or government agency to ban you from all of society—to un-person you—whenever it pleases.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/08/zkps-arent-age-verification-silver-bullets
It's just another censorship/surveillance scheme, no better than any other and in some ways worse.
Complain to your representatives!

2026-08-19 00:24:13 UTC

Why do I always push back? Why do I always resist?
Because incorrectness is dangerous, and resisting it is a moral obligation. That's why.

2026-08-17 17:55:10 UTC

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@nprofile…u5g7
Exporting an archive is hard, yeah, but you can do it only occasionally and search it over and over. You can also do it at night or something, when people aren't otherwise using the server.

2026-08-17 15:20:02 UTC

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@nprofile…u5g7
No, it's not. Clicking on my own icon to see a list of my own posts creates a noticeable delay before I actually see them. The server clearly has to work to prepare that list.
Searching through the entire list is undoubtedly even harder.

2026-08-17 15:04:38 UTC

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@nprofile…u5g7
To search specifically among your own posts, you can also download your archive, open outbox.json, and Ctrl+F.
You might want to run outbox.json through `jq .` first, to format it into something readable.

2026-08-16 20:30:43 UTC

Why is Em always dashing everywhere, anyway?
#shitpost

2026-08-14 04:50:35 UTC

YOU HEAR ABOUT NCC-74656? LOST IN BADLANDS. THEY HIRED SOME CRIMINAL CALLED TOM PARIS AS PILOT. PROB BETRAYED SHIP TO MAQUIS.
cc @nprofile…kwc9
#LCARSDrama #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #StarTrekVoyager

2026-08-11 04:54:40 UTC

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@nprofile…270w
Hmm that doesn't seem to work for me. I just get “login incorrect” if I try to type my user name in all caps at the Linux console.
That said, `stty olcuc` does set your terminal to display everything in uppercase. Which can have fun consequences, like when `LS` shows the existence of a folder named `MAILDIR` but `CD MAILDIR` says “NO SUCH FILE OR DIRECTORY”.

2026-08-11 04:20:40 UTC

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Fun related #Linux fact: Scroll Lock actually does something! Namely, on the Linux console, output will freeze when Scroll Lock is on. That is, it “locks” the “scroll”.
To be precise, Linux interprets turning Scroll Lock on as equivalent to pressing Ctrl+S, and turning Scroll Lock off as equivalent to pressing Ctrl+Q. Ctrl+S and Ctrl+Q date back to the old #Teletype terminals that #Unix systems were originally connected to. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_flow_control
#retrocomputing

2026-08-07 04:28:54 UTC

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Hey and now we have Kernel Bob lol. @nprofile…ggcd

2026-08-06 05:39:52 UTC

Have a coworker who pronounces it “Forge Joe”.
I wonder if Forge Joe is related to John Mastodon?
#Forgejo #shitpost

2026-08-04 04:48:54 UTC

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@nprofile…8d0p
I have my old Pixel 3a working, but I'm feeling rather naked running a phone this old…
I see that GrapheneOS no longer supports this phone for lack of firmware updates, but the GOS website is pretty vague, so I'm hoping you can fill in some details for me.
If I were to install LineageOS or something on this old 3a, what kind of attacks will I still be vulnerable to?
@nprofile…pkaf @nprofile…ulnl

2026-08-03 22:12:07 UTC

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@nprofile…8d0p
You said it draws the line at the lockscreen / home screen UI. Does that mean anti-rollback doesn't get incremented until *after* I unlock my phone following a reboot?
Because I never got that far. I left the phone to boot and do its thing, and when I later picked it up to check if it was ready to unlock, it was dead.
@nprofile…pkaf @nprofile…ulnl

2026-08-03 18:24:44 UTC

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@nprofile…pkaf
I've also learned that #Google #GooglePixel phones have an “anti-rollback” feature that will permanently hard-brick the device if tripped. Nothing anyone can do.
In other words, I was sold a self-destructing #phone.
Fantastic.
@nprofile…ulnl

2026-08-03 18:24:03 UTC

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@nprofile…pkaf
Google official tool doesn't work. Usbdl asks for my specific model, and Pixel 6 isn't one of them. Looks like it needs some kind of ROM images or something.
Apparently Google keeps the necessary files behind lock and key, and thousands of phones have been bricked by updates like mine was. <https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/507968853?pli=1> <https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/402455330#comment119>
@nprofile…ulnl

2026-08-03 15:45:26 UTC

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@nprofile…wgd0
It's the frat bro in all of us. 😂
@nprofile…327n

2026-08-03 06:10:05 UTC

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@nprofile…pkaf
…Or do you disagree? You seem to know more about this than I do, so…
@nprofile…ulnl

2026-08-03 06:09:19 UTC

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@nprofile…pkaf
That too. I figure I should try Google's official tools first, though, yeah?
@nprofile…ulnl

2026-08-03 06:08:05 UTC

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@nprofile…pkaf
Not out of the woods yet! That post mentions a program called tensor-usbdl, but it apparently doesn't work on the Pixel 6. https://github.com/JoshuaDoes/tensor-usbdl/releases
I wonder if Google's “Pixel Update and Software Repair” site can work with the phone in this Pixel ROM Recovery mode? https://pixelrepair.withgoogle.com/ Guess I'll find out tomorrow.
@nprofile…ulnl

2026-08-03 04:03:49 UTC

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Holy shit! Sign of life!
If I plug it into my PC while holding down all three buttons, it *does* show up on the bus!
@nprofile…pkaf graciously provided a link https://social.highenergymagic.net/@freya/117029554424881416 to a post explaining how I might get this phone back up and running from this point.
Tomorrow I will investigate!
@nprofile…nd7w @nprofile…ulnl @nprofile…g3jv @nprofile…4p4l @nprofile…f747 @nprofile…g03q @nprofile…fush

2026-08-03 03:44:40 UTC

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Just for completeness' sake, I asked Google's AI to help troubleshoot, seeing as it's a Google phone. Same outcome: phone pronounced dead.
The bot says it's a hardware failure that the operating system upgrade exposed. Seems unlikely, but it's as good a guess as any.
I wonder if the upgrade installation process trashed the bootloader. It's my vague understanding that phones don't have actual ROM like PCs?
@nprofile…nd7w @nprofile…ulnl @nprofile…g3jv @nprofile…4p4l @nprofile…f747 @nprofile…g03q @nprofile…fush

2026-08-03 03:21:17 UTC

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@nprofile…ks0x
CalyxOS doesn't support my old phone either.

2026-08-03 02:16:10 UTC

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@nprofile…uu72
Yeah, I don't use any of that stuff. I pay with credit/debit cards and open cars with keys, because I'm an old man and get off my lawn!!! 👴 😜
@nprofile…nd7w @nprofile…ulnl @nprofile…g3jv @nprofile…4p4l @nprofile…f747 @nprofile…g03q @nprofile…fush

2026-08-03 01:49:06 UTC

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@nprofile…4p4l
How do you all feel about /e/OS?
@nprofile…nd7w @nprofile…ulnl @nprofile…g3jv @nprofile…f747 @nprofile…g03q @nprofile…fush

2026-08-03 01:47:25 UTC

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@nprofile…uu72
Yeah, GOS does not support this model. It's an ultra-secure OS, not an old-phone OS.
@nprofile…nd7w @nprofile…ulnl @nprofile…g3jv @nprofile…4p4l @nprofile…f747 @nprofile…g03q @nprofile…fush

2026-08-03 01:45:11 UTC

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@nprofile…4p4l
LineageOS can't update major versions without reinstalling. 🫤 https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/sargo/upgrade/
@nprofile…nd7w @nprofile…ulnl @nprofile…g3jv @nprofile…f747 @nprofile…g03q @nprofile…fush

2026-08-03 01:36:44 UTC

Welp, I took my #Pixel 6 #phone to a repair shop, where it was pronounced dead.
Cause of death: fatal complications of a botched software update.
It will be missed. 🪦
I don't have the budget for a new phone right now, so this forces me to use my old Pixel 3a, which still works. But it's insecure af, so…what OS should I install on it? Preferably something that Just Works™ once installed.
@nprofile…nd7w @nprofile…ulnl @nprofile…g3jv @nprofile…4p4l @nprofile…f747 @nprofile…g03q @nprofile…fush

2026-08-03 01:20:35 UTC

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@nprofile…4p4l
A repair shop tried disconnecting the battery and even using a different one. No good. Still hard-bricked. They've given up.

2026-08-02 21:07:06 UTC

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@nprofile…nd7w
Fully charged, as far as I know. It was connected to a charger at the time.

2026-08-02 21:04:29 UTC

Just tried to reboot my Pixel 6 into #Android 16, and…the #phone is stone-cold dead. Black screen, no response to buttons, power+volume doesn't work.
This is not acceptable!
When a PC operating system gets bricked, you can still boot into BIOS, enable booting from USB, and use a rescue/installer USB stick to repair or reinstall the OS.
Can we please have #phones that are similarly fail-safe? Not this unreliable nonsense? Thanks.
😡

2026-08-01 22:26:08 UTC

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The latest cruelty is this one. But there are many more. And they just keep coming.

2026-08-01 22:23:54 UTC

When I was a teen, I had no friends in person. If not for my friends online, I'd likely have taken my own life.
30 years later, watching horrifically cruel politicians around the world conspire to take away that lifeline from kids today, to the thunderous applause of their equally cruel populaces…
I wish I had taken my life back then. Before I found out how awful the world was going to become.
What bliss it would've been, to spend my last moment in innocent ignorance.
😭

2026-08-01 17:10:11 UTC

The problem with eating chocolate is that then I don't have chocolate any more.

2026-07-30 05:31:43 UTC

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@nprofile…trd7
It seems more reliable recently, now that you mention it. Maybe they fixed something?

2026-07-30 03:59:11 UTC

Unexpected benefit of #KDE #KDEConnect: copy-paste SMS 2FA codes on my #desktop, and mark the text messages as read, without picking up my phone.
#Linux

2026-07-29 18:55:24 UTC

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@nprofile…yee6
Corporate trend-chasing, I suppose. Chrome doesn't have a menu bar, therefore get rid of your menu bar or be left behind!!!11!1

2026-07-29 18:49:31 UTC

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@nprofile…yee6
Settings→Appearance→Hide system window titlebar. To get server-side window decorations, it needs to be unchecked.

2026-07-29 18:16:33 UTC

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@nprofile…4a5u
The “File” menu was originally designed for word processors and the like, where “Print” would by default print the entire contents of the file you're looking at.
In my opinion, browsers and other non-file-oriented apps should rename “File” to something more appropriate.
Also, “File”, if it exists, should only contain items relating to the current file. Anything else, like quitting the app, belongs in a different menu (such as a separate app menu, like you'll find on macOS).

2026-07-29 17:51:39 UTC

Found the option to turn off client-side window decorations in #Thunderbird.
Much better.
Now if only the menu bar was *above* the toolbar. Because what the hell. And yes, Thunderbird needs an actual menu bar, not that stupid hamburger thing.

2026-07-29 02:23:57 UTC

I just realized that #Xerox is no longer synonymous with copying things.
It used to be that “Xerox” was a verb, much like “Google” is now. But I haven't heard anyone talk about “xeroxing” something in ages.
Vernacular marches on, I guess.
#retrocomputing #retrocopying

2026-07-28 15:41:14 UTC

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@nprofile…tlar
Does work policy also mandate the use of VMs?

2026-07-26 23:50:12 UTC

The average #Fediverse user is @nprofile…7q7j. All others are outliers and should not be counted.

2026-07-24 19:41:43 UTC

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@nprofile…k9f7
That it is, but I don't remember any other time when forcibly shutting down hundreds of thousands of small businesses, non-profits, and hobby projects was on the table. Tech legislation wasn't so apocalyptic until now.
@nprofile…0xjm

2026-07-24 18:59:45 UTC

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@nprofile…k9f7
Some of the new social media ban laws specifically apply to addictive feeds, for this reason.
But far too many do not, and impose verification requirements that are financially impossible for sites that *don't* exploit their users with addictive feeds. Those bans not only don't punish addictive social media companies, but reward them by shutting down their competitors (i.e. Fedi).
And all of them do nothing to protect adults from addiction.
@nprofile…0xjm

2026-07-24 05:40:35 UTC

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@nprofile…pkaf
Ah. Drat.
…There is rustc but no Cargo? That's odd. Why would somebody go to all the trouble of porting rustc but not bother with Cargo?

2026-07-24 05:37:37 UTC

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@nprofile…pkaf
I haven't tried it myself, but Rust documentation says that Solaris 11 on SPARC is supported. https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/rustc/platform-support/solaris.html
Have you tried it? Did it not work?

2026-07-24 05:21:39 UTC

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@nprofile…pkaf
I'm almost afraid to ask, but why is that a problem for you?

2026-07-22 15:42:47 UTC

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@nprofile…k0qv
I looked at Thomas Waldmann's recent Git commits <https://github.com/borgbackup/borg/commits?author=ThomasWaldmann> and most of them have “Co-Authored-By: Claude” at the bottom of the commit message.

2026-07-22 06:56:20 UTC

You know what just hit me?
Linux isn't the janky nerd operating system any more. It's polished. It works well. You can give it to your grandma and probably get away with it.
If I was still young and carefree, this realization would inspire me to try out some other, jankier OSes.
But I have work and responsibilities now, and this whole godawful decade has been a non-stop crisis that I'll be lucky to survive, let alone find time for a vacation.

2026-07-22 05:41:33 UTC

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@nprofile…rnn3
Doesn't encrypt, doesn't deduplicate, and is also vibe coded.

2026-07-22 05:24:01 UTC

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The Borg features I'm using are:
* Stores on local (USB) or remote (ssh→USB) hard disk
* Command-line interface with no daemon (which would be a problem with USB hot-plugged manually-mounted backup drives)
* Encryption
* Deduplication
* Keeps historical backups with pruning (yearly, monthly, etc)
* Preserves ACLs and extended attributes
* Auto-excludes files with nodump flag
* Auto-excludes folders with CACHEDIR.TAG
* Can mount backup volumes (FUSE)

2026-07-22 04:52:04 UTC

I just found out that @nprofile…cs0w #Borg #BorgBackup is vibe coded now. That's a tragedy. Really upsetting, to be honest.
I've been safeguarding priceless data with Borg for years, but I obviously can't entrust something so important to code that wasn't written by skilled hands and reviewed by skilled minds.
What full-system #backup software for #Linux do people recommend instead?

2026-07-22 03:15:28 UTC

I want `if let` (with chains) in #Java. 😭
#Rust #programming

2026-07-22 02:00:08 UTC

#StarTrekTOS seems to have dramatically overestimated how computationally difficult text-to-speech would be.
It's only a few decades later, and our plain old silicon-transistor-based computers are already capable of pretty good text-to-speech. Far better than the TOS computer voice.
#StarTrekENT doesn't have a talking computer at all, if I'm not mistaken. Which is kind of odd, because competent text-to-speech was already a thing when #StarTrekEnterprise was filmed.
#StarTrek

2026-07-21 03:41:25 UTC

I've been told that everything moves through spacetime at the speed of light. The faster something moves through space, the slower it moves through time (i.e. time dilates).
I'm guessing this is an oversimplified explanation, because light moves through space at the speed of light (obviously), which would seem to imply that it doesn't experience time, and if it doesn't experience time then how can it move through space, and not cease to exist at the instant of its creation?

2026-07-21 00:03:25 UTC

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@nprofile…nd7w
Saving the planet how, exactly?

2026-07-20 18:57:21 UTC

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@nprofile…nd7w
We're not here to save the world. We're here to find people to chat with.
And I don't know about you, but I've found considerable success at that.

2026-07-20 15:15:48 UTC

The #Fediverse is perhaps the only #socialMedia that still deserves to be called “social media”.
Because this is perhaps the only remaining social media whose primary function is socializing, not advertising.

2026-07-20 00:33:24 UTC

My SO is watching Pitch Perfect, the girliest movie that ever girled.

2026-07-19 20:47:22 UTC

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@nprofile…knk0
We have not paid money for any LLM.
I'm defending my life and that of my family members who depend on me. If my coworkers getting something for free out of Claude helps me do that, I'm not going to say no. I'm not going to be happy about it, but I'm not going to say no.
@nprofile…st9f @nprofile…s733

2026-07-19 20:36:50 UTC

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@nprofile…st9f
None of us are friends with anyone in our target audience. The only feedback we get is in the form of sales happening or not happening, and lately, with a site whose text is largely hand-written, sales have not been happening.
Which means we cannot afford to hire someone who knows marketing.
And, well, look around. The job market for programmers is nonexistent.
So I can either use LLM text and maybe starve, or leave it as it is and definitely starve.
@nprofile…knk0 @nprofile…s733

2026-07-19 20:25:37 UTC

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@nprofile…knk0
Not if I'm writing a website for my latest FOSS project, no, but it is desirable if you're trying to market a product. That's why marketing-speak was invented in the first place, and I am not fluent in marketing-speak.
@nprofile…s733 @nprofile…st9f

2026-07-19 20:22:56 UTC

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@nprofile…knk0
I have noticed that LLMs are really good at rewriting website text in a “marketing” style.
And I'm fairly sure an LLM is the only way to do that without a human, since, y'know, language model.
So there's that. For what it's worth.
@nprofile…s733 @nprofile…st9f

2026-07-19 18:24:37 UTC

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@nprofile…knk0
If it was generated by AI, it's not much of a priority, is it? Asking a bot to generate a web design is easy. Making a web design by hand is hard.
@nprofile…s733 @nprofile…st9f

2026-07-19 18:23:49 UTC

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@nprofile…s733
You mean cards? Doesn't this design pattern predate AI by several years?
I wouldn't use as little contrast as this example, though. Those borders are almost invisible. Also, the icon position is wasting space; it should be float:right.
One of my projects at work right now is a website redesign, and yeah, the proposal does have a lot of cards. Suggestions would be appreciated!
@nprofile…vv83 @nprofile…exvm @nprofile…ghuk @nprofile…we8r @nprofile…zsp8 @nprofile…knk0

2026-07-18 04:12:27 UTC

Fun fact: each of your #eyes has a blind spot.
Normally, the blind spots are in different places in your field of view, so you can see everything in your field of view with at least one eye.
But, if one eye can't see (is closed, missing, etc), or if the blind spots converge (I don't think this is possible but I dunno), then your brain will *guess* what's inside the blind spot based on what's around it.
This can cause light switches on walls to disappear when you look at the wall, for example.

2026-07-18 04:08:20 UTC

Lukewarm take, decades too late: #XML namespaces should have been declared with processing instructions at the top level, before the document element start-tag, not with attributes.
Namespace prefixes being element-scoped can cause all kinds of confusion.
#programming

2026-07-17 07:35:30 UTC

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@nprofile…9yv8
I see. Well, if people want to use AI to scan Linux for bugs, that's not my problem.
If Linux becomes buggy or insecure because it contains AI code that's not been meaningfully reviewed, and/or Linux gets sued out of existence because AI infringed someone's copyright, *that* is a problem for me.
Do I need to worry about that?
@nprofile…v2v2

2026-07-17 04:55:51 UTC

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@nprofile…dwgx
What exactly are LG computer monitors doing?

2026-07-17 03:32:09 UTC

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@nprofile…dacs
OpenRC uses shell scripts to start/stop services. Decades of unpleasant experience with Debian sysvinit has taught me the folly of such an approach.
Systemd gets this right: services are started with a single command (or a handful of them) written in a configuration file with a declarative and rigorously validated syntax, and stopped by init sending signals, not by a script.
The only other init I know of that gets this right is launchd from macOS.

2026-07-17 03:27:32 UTC

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@nprofile…dacs
They'll have to move to the current kernel at some point.
I'm also not impressed by the alternatives to systemd so far. C'mon guys, learn from what systemd did right, *then* throw out what systemd did wrong.

2026-07-17 03:07:30 UTC

In light of all the #Linux drama lately, I thought I'd glance at what are the #FreeBSD equivalents to the various software I use.
Well, the network configuration story is very not good. You know how Linux has NetworkManager? On FreeBSD, if you want to configure network interfaces by GUI, you…run a GUI app as root via sudo.
https://github.com/ghostbsd/networkmgr/blob/324b90ce3775928692032f1f6cef9ed5ee097962/src/networkmgr.desktop
Which then shells out to sysrc to apply configuration settings:
https://github.com/ghostbsd/networkmgr/blob/324b90ce3775928692032f1f6cef9ed5ee097962/NetworkMgr/configuration.py#L611
You've got to be kidding me. That all's insecure as hell.

2026-07-16 22:19:55 UTC

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@nprofile…pyut @nprofile…npc0 @nprofile…n4ak @nprofile…pjpd @nprofile…mt96 @nprofile…stma @nprofile…zpvn
All of the major #BSD⁠s allow AI code. Even #OpenBSD. https://codeberg.org/ethical-foss/open-slopware#operating-systems
In light of all the horror stories of vibe coders getting hacked, this seems really really really bad for security. I don't know what OS to use now.
#Linux #FreeBSD #NetBSD

2026-07-16 15:05:36 UTC

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@nprofile…v2v2
What happened?

2026-07-15 02:06:05 UTC

The Housecat, the Winch, and the Wardrobe
#EasyDoesItBooks #HashtagGames

2026-07-13 15:20:27 UTC

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Amusingly enough, two of those three women are named Melody. What were the odds?

2026-07-13 15:19:06 UTC

Well, there's a sight for sore eyes.
Saw a blog post celebrating various events in politics. Fairly standard left-wing stuff for the most part, but one of the events celebrated is, appallingly, the dreaded Texas app-store “papers, please” law.
https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/p/extra-extra-712
Three women, who are not tech people as far as I'm aware, called this out as a privacy and free-speech nightmare.
Good. Non-tech people are starting to pay attention.

2026-07-12 04:08:11 UTC

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Maybe I remembered it because I was obsessed with girls? 😂

2026-07-12 03:58:32 UTC

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Not sure why it's coming to mind now. Just popped into my head. Thought I'd share.

2026-07-12 03:57:28 UTC

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Women I talked to told me of things men would normally never hear about, like toxic shock syndrome, polycystic ovary syndrome, and endometriosis.
In several cases they complained that these issues were underdiagnosed and little known. I guess I remembered this because I figured it might be important some day.
Doesn't seem to have turned out that way, though. My SO doesn't suffer from any of that.

2026-07-12 03:54:27 UTC

My SO told me on a few occasions that I know more about women's anatomy and health than she does.
Is that weird? Seems kinda weird.
I learned things by talking to women over the years. Apparently my mind found it important enough to remember. I wonder why…

2026-07-12 00:34:23 UTC

The existence of robots implies the existence of columnbots.
#shitpost

2026-07-12 00:02:39 UTC

How'd we go from fancy-multi-layered-hairdo Uhura to almost-shaved Uhura?
Did she at some point get some character development that led to the change of hair style?
(I've only seen SNW seasons 1 and 2.)
#StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #StarTrekSNW

2026-07-11 00:56:48 UTC

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@nprofile…lxja
Exactly how small is this shirt??

2026-07-11 00:54:39 UTC

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@nprofile…yzy8
It wants to know if you're over 18? What the heck is it even going to do with that information?

2026-07-09 20:08:01 UTC

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@nprofile…m5r9
Although these days, there doesn't seem to be a central Linux website with a “throw off your corporate shackles” theme, like there used to be. https://www.linux.org/ is some kind of forum now, the Linux Foundation site https://www.linuxfoundation.org/ looks indistinguishable from any other big tech company, and GNU's credibility has been shot to hell by Stallman's non-consensual sexual antics.
There is still Debian, but that's, like, one of the final pillars. How long until it crashes down?

2026-07-09 20:02:07 UTC

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@nprofile…m5r9
True, I did ride my bike around the neighborhood and meet a couple of friends, but the vast majority of my social life was online even then. I have no idea where most kids were hanging out back then.
Being outside didn't teach me about Linux, though, and what it could do for me. Visiting websites did.

2026-07-09 19:40:25 UTC

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When I was young and GNUpilled and angry at what Microsoft was doing with Windows, my answer wasn't to throw up my hands and walk into the forest. My answer was to throw a penguin-shaped wrench into the gears of the corporate machine! ✊
By which I mean I ran Linux. And gloated about it. A lot. 🐧
But this particular group of kids just don't seem to have that rebellious spirit. And not because they lack the means. The methods we used haven't been lost. They still work. Better than ever, in fact.

2026-07-09 19:08:44 UTC

Apparently some Gen Z kids are just deciding to give up on electronics entirely. Getting rid of them, wishing they were never invented, etc.
No thought to reprogramming the electronics to behave differently and seek healthier chat sites like this one. No chants of “take it back!”
Their minds are so controlled that they can't even imagine using electronics in any other way, and they just give up and let all that their ancestors achieved disintegrate and disappear.
Dumb. So, so dumb.

2026-07-09 15:52:40 UTC

The term “scuttlebutt” implies that someone's butt has exploded and is now sinking into the sea.
#shitpost

2026-07-08 21:56:18 UTC

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Side note: I hereby petition…uh, everyone, I guess, to rename dynamic typing to “chaotic typing”.
Because this crap is total chaos. And APIs in dynamically-typed languages always seem to be like this.
#programming

2026-07-08 06:24:33 UTC

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@nprofile…xdrg
I'm glad to hear you've had the good fortune to live in a place where air conditioning is never necessary.
But please do not speak for the rest of us. Where I live, a spinning-blades fan is absolutely not sufficient.

2026-07-06 16:12:04 UTC

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@nprofile…0hqx
What medium do you use to carry the bits?
In the old days, that'd have been floppy disks, but the modern equivalent is USB flash drives, and plugging strange USB flash drives into your computer is a well-known security no-no.

2026-07-06 00:44:58 UTC

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@nprofile…86zs
And I don't just mean programmers, either. AI companies are promising to replace just about every job other than manual labor, and I'm not even sure about that last part—I seriously doubt all those experimental humanoid robots are just for fun.

2026-07-06 00:40:31 UTC

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@nprofile…86zs
I mean, it's not like there's some other programming-adjacent job for them to all pivot to, and it's not easy to have more than one skill that's actually marketable in this Fallout wasteland of a job market.
A whole lot of people, including me, are going to be living under bridges real soon if the AI companies deliver what they've been promising.

2026-07-04 18:12:16 UTC

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@nprofile…wsq6
Have you made any progress toward that goal?

2026-07-04 05:05:39 UTC

When I was in the third grade, I once had a quiz in which one of the questions was what I should do if my parents told me to do something.
I answered that I would evaluate what they said and decide whether to do it.
This was marked as incorrect. The correct answer was to do what they say, no matter what.
This was perhaps my first clue that the human race is *deeply* unwell.

2026-07-03 02:56:36 UTC

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@nprofile…lhww
That's also a great way to dismantle the Fediverse entirely.
Like, I'm sitting here freaking out at the thought that age verification laws will force Fedi sites to paywall in order to pay the enormous cost of said verification, thereby driving everyone back into the arms of Musk and Zuckerberg, and you want to do that even *without* being forced to?!
No offense but this is an absolutely horrible idea.
@nprofile…cgad

2026-07-02 23:36:17 UTC

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@nprofile…xg0j
Yeah, see, my secret is I don't worry about the genitals of people I'm not dating. 😂
My other secret is that I actually enjoy chatting with people. Especially if they're very different from me, because that's who has the most interesting stories to tell.

2026-07-02 23:15:54 UTC

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@nprofile…xg0j
They realize they can just show up, right? Nobody's gonna ask to see their medical records.