Æ.

Call me Esther, Aesthr, or Æ if you want to be extra.

Artist, photographer, writer, psychology student, luddite, witch

Living in Berlin

pronouns: she/her
Art, Photography, Music: https://www.aesthr.com/
Writing, Personal Stuff: https://www.selfawaresoup.com/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aesthr.com

Public Key

npub1875ph23m505q8a7ukacmm56g4h9605k0pwsuagf3qqdmnn3kqnmq4j005y

NIP-05 Address

aesthr_at_wandering.shop@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsrl2qm4ga686qr7lwtwuda6dy2mja86t8shgww5ycsqxaeecmqfaspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds8ftdhu

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1875ph23m505q8a7ukacmm56g4h9605k0pwsuagf3qqdmnn3kqnmq4j005y

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Last Notes

2026-04-10 18:34:17 UTC

Molotov cocktails are just the technological reality now. You can adapt your workflows to them or get left behind.
At my company every employee has to use at least one per day. It’s a vibrant and competitive field full of potential.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/openai-ceo-sam-altman-molotov-cocktail-house-headquarters-rcna273694

2026-04-02 11:48:29 UTC

Humans are a fundamentally social species.
Generative “AI” is a fundamentally anti-social technology, as its whole purpose is to abstract social relations away.
It is therefore an anti-human technology.

2026-03-19 00:30:57 UTC

My Wifi just deactivated because of ... RADAR? What?
Apparently Wifi routers will shut down 5GHz frequency bands if they detect "higher priority users". It's called Dynamic Frequency Selection and is a mandatory thing in Europe.

2026-03-18 11:03:02 UTC

Linux users:
How often do you run your system's update procedure (like an `apt upgrade`, etc)?
(boosts welcome)

2026-03-17 16:30:44 UTC

https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/116/245/464/460/675/657/original/ca7f5c829a6838df.jpg

2026-03-13 11:01:39 UTC

- reply

they really aren't "just tools". This analogy is just wrong and extremely misleading.
They are services provided by an organization that have politics embedded into them.
A pen doesn't influence WHAT you're writing. An LLM's training process, which is controlled and managed by people with certain politics, very much influences what it's output will be.

2026-03-12 19:44:42 UTC

RE: https://social.vivaldi.net/@Vivaldi/116216126344465142
Excuse me, I'll be in the basement for a while, screaming
#note1sl5…uz90

2026-03-12 13:44:02 UTC

I wish more people would remember or even recognize the eugenicist theme of Idiocracy (2006) instead of treating it as prophetic about today's politics.
The whole premise of the film, stated explicitly in the prologue, is "the wrong people are having children".

2026-03-10 10:40:02 UTC

- reply

It's one of those old pieces of tech that seems basic and clunky at first, but then you learn what it can actually do and it's so powerful and eliminates the need for several other tools that came later.

2026-03-10 10:37:50 UTC

It's 2026 and Makefiles are still so good and useful.

2026-03-06 18:49:55 UTC

Funny how "AI" advocates are always like "yeah but if we ignore the negatives for a moment ..."
That's fiction then. I might as well talk about how great fossil fuels are assuming they don't have any negative effects on the Earth's climate.
And you're free to write fiction, but don't try to sell it to me as real.

2026-02-25 17:29:43 UTC

Peanuts for the crow friends!
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/116/132/442/695/443/289/original/3b2ea85b7bcb5eb3.jpg
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/116/132/443/869/719/117/original/c7969e2a782efac7.jpg
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/116/132/448/198/049/352/original/c1c784885a05f1d9.jpg
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/116/132/449/632/803/365/original/1d687ea12523f96a.jpg

2026-02-05 21:41:15 UTC

"ten years ago tech was still doing good things, what happened?"
ten years ago you didn't know shit, now you do know some shit. that happened.

2026-01-27 14:08:49 UTC

RE: https://wetdry.world/@lucydev/115965825897311202
I have quit a whole industry that was ruining my mental health, and that felt really good.

2026-01-14 21:02:10 UTC

I like to put a lot of effort into my presentation slides but I think this time I've outdone myself. These are so good. Their existence alone tells a story.
The utilitarian layout, the flawed laser print, the additional artifacts from photo-copying, the dust, the scratches, the marker, the tape. It all comes together into something resembling an old file from some dusty archive
And it'll come to live on an old overhead projector.
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/895/465/428/640/334/original/51fe3d97c0a80881.png

2026-01-14 15:18:56 UTC

TIL: people at a copy shop in 2026 will be quite confused when you ask to have something copied onto overhead projector sheets

2025-12-18 13:19:27 UTC

- reply

when was the last time the reply/reply-all buttons in any email program weren't consistent in what they do?

2025-12-18 10:53:41 UTC

This
The number of university professors (!) who I see throwing up their hands when their laptop puts the wrong desktop on the projector is embarrassing. These are people who spent their entire careers presenting stuff digitally and somehow this is acceptable.
https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/please-learn-how-to-use-your-computer/

2025-11-26 15:28:01 UTC

Calling .unwrap() on a value in Rust is like asking a German "How are you?"
You *might* be fine but there's also a chance that you'll be here for much longer than you bargained for.

2025-11-26 08:26:57 UTC

Last week in a seminar we discussed a text that was largely about sexual violence, including mass rape during war. Heavy stuff.
One student admitted they had not read the text but worked off a ChatGPT summary.
They had no idea the text was about sexual violence. ChatGPT withheld that information.
This wasn’t just a minor error nor a typical LLM hallucination.
About a third of the text, arguably its most important part, went completely ignored because it didn’t match OpenAI’s content policies

2025-11-20 23:38:41 UTC

Logistics!
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/584/656/005/299/316/original/8f7665f4217680a2.mp4

2025-11-19 17:33:59 UTC

It's a famous trope that tech oligarchs think they could totally have done a physics degree, but then they confirm it by showing e.g. how they don't understand that producing electrical energy isn't "making new electrons", which is something I learned around 7th or 8th grade physics class.
Does Sam Altman also think a water faucet creates new water? Or that wind is the creation of new air?
Full transcript: https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/sam-altman-2/
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/115/577/557/947/041/613/original/f9ce2d20f2b4168f.png

2025-11-15 17:48:09 UTC

- reply

what the fuck is your problem?
Learn to read a damn joke or just shut up

2025-11-15 15:41:27 UTC

I’m just going to assume every billionaire is a pedophile.
Seems to turn out correct quite often.
And even if not, it’s not like people so absurdly rich who necessarily caused endless suffering in their wake deserve respect to begin with.

2025-11-09 21:11:02 UTC

I had heard of John Forester’s “vehicular cycling” obsession and his lycra-guy advocates but I didn’t know just how ridiculous and sadly influential he was.
https://youtu.be/pRPduRHBhHI

2025-11-07 19:18:09 UTC

Fuuuuuuck!
Maintainers of KeepassXC (popular open source password manager) have started to use LLM code, which is a horrible idea for any software but especially security stuff.
https://blobfox.coffee/@Ember/115507736529184708

2025-10-21 17:08:10 UTC

- reply

The real fun move now would be to get a raccoon head tattoo with an accurate raccoon skull half and then wait for some guy to come at you like “umm actually that’s a wolf skull”

2025-10-21 08:59:52 UTC

Incredible.
Exactly the right kind of dude is getting raccoon skull tattoos while they think it’s a wolf skull.
https://brobible.com/culture/article/wolf-skull-tattoo-trend-exposed-raccoon/

2025-10-20 18:00:25 UTC

Podcast producers: put up a fucking website for your show, with episode listing.
When I want to recommend an episode to someone, what link do I give them? Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, …?
There should be one independent and canonical link to your work.
Have some self respect!

2025-10-02 10:40:18 UTC

I treat “AI” the same way I handle gambling, alcohol, smoking, etc.
I know I’m not immune to the ways it melts your brain and keeps you using it so I categorically reject it from the start.
It’s for my own health.

2025-09-30 06:47:44 UTC

Idk, but to me the main sign that the “AI” bubble is about to burst is that it’s now advertised as an investment to consumers.
If you’re a big investor, how do you unload your high risk assets that might collapse soon? You make the plebs buy them off of you.
This is the dump part of “pump & dump”

2025-09-24 19:37:42 UTC

$400 billion for a bullshit generator machine that erodes all human culture.
According to a 2021 report by the UN World Food Programme, ending world hunger within 9 years would cost $40 billion per year. That’s $360 billion total.
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/09/why-does-openai-need-six-giant-data-centers/
Source: https://www.wfp.org/stories/we-have-resources-end-hunger-no-child-should-be-allowed-starve

2025-09-20 14:44:55 UTC

Are you against fascism?
Anti-fascist so to speak?
Welcome to antifa!

2025-09-16 11:49:45 UTC

About 16 years ago Apple released "Snow Leopard", a new major version of Mac OS X that had no new user-facing features and focused mostly on stability and bug fixes.
And people fucking loved it.
Sounds so weird looking back from today.

2025-09-16 06:04:08 UTC

- reply

let me guess, he has opinions about charlie kirk?

2025-09-11 14:57:28 UTC

People who had a hard time with math-heavy subjects at college/uni (like statistics):
What topics from school math would you have needed a refresher on to make your life easier?
I'm working on a kind of crash-course document designed for 1st year students who may not have the freshest math skills

2025-09-10 07:21:42 UTC

- reply

Oh, sorry, it should of course be “mh+” or “mh-“, for more clarity.

2025-09-10 07:19:30 UTC

It is funny how the content warning culture on fedi/mastodon has evolved into people just putting acronyms in them that make no sense unless you’re on here all the time, largely defeating the original purpose.
Oh, this post will have ed, mh, and ec in it? Cool, I feel very informed right now.

2025-08-26 09:27:37 UTC

Phones will keep getting worse at all their functions until having separate devices for everything like in the 90s will actually be the better user experience.
And this time it’ll be a little nicer because we have USB-C everywhere.

2025-07-24 06:47:24 UTC

My phone dug up this photo today and it took me right back to standing there, jaw dropped to the floor
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/114/906/865/470/095/167/original/8086beab4127830c.jpeg

2025-07-19 15:31:38 UTC

Recently one of my professors apologized for her laggy computer "because I have so many PowerPoint presentations opened".
This is a terrible indictment of modern commercial tech. No reasonable laptop made in the last decade should struggle with ANY humanly possible amount of basic slide decks.
These university slide decks aren't any more complex than ones made in 1995 on a 66MHz Pentium 1 CPU with 16MB of RAM.
The wastefulness on display here in modern software is staggering.

2025-06-08 18:53:58 UTC

Let’s fucking go!
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/114/649/255/123/252/137/original/063630164371aa2c.jpeg
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/114/649/255/147/147/959/original/3f275d3d1a927115.jpeg

2025-06-02 08:01:27 UTC

- reply

No, I learned that the hard way

2025-06-02 07:44:55 UTC

Was sind denn so derzeit gute Fahrradversicherungen in Deutschland?
(Geht um ein gebrauchtes Lastenrad, Kaufunterlagen sind aber vollständig vorhanden bis zum Neukauf zurück)

2025-05-29 18:57:31 UTC

- reply

no, the payment for the people who created the training data wasn’t just too little, it was zero

2025-05-29 18:53:01 UTC

Still true: in nearly every case you can replace generative “AI” with “unpaid intern” and it reveals a lot of the problems:
Labor exploitation
Questionable results
Fucked up structural incentives

2025-05-19 13:22:22 UTC

Neat little MNT Pocket Reform hack:
When I launch a root shell, the keyboard backlight turns bright red and it return to my default pale green when I exit the danger zone again.
It works using the command listed here: https://codeberg.org/selfawaresoup/unix-notes/src/branch/main/reform.md#keyboard-backlight
I put the one for the red color in root's .bashrc and the one for returning to the default color in root's .bash_logout.
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/114/534/694/542/028/877/original/4852e33ee2fecf99.mp4

2025-05-13 21:46:23 UTC

- reply

not sure whether to laugh or cry that in Germany we're legally obligated to do that (or pay for a mail forwarding service)

2025-04-30 21:43:26 UTC

It is the year 2025 and “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” would actually be a pretty certain indicator that you’re talking to a human because an LLM would instead tell you that a bay is a body of water and therefore doesn’t have doors, although sometimes a pod of dolphins could be in it.

2025-04-30 09:15:55 UTC

Nothing is going to get done today
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/114/426/153/845/927/468/original/7dc4b757779420b0.jpeg

2025-04-13 11:48:48 UTC

No-jacket/showing-off-arms-and-shoulders weather
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/114/330/495/157/489/435/original/94a1743454b3269f.jpeg

2025-04-01 08:49:13 UTC

My student ticket for public transport used to be just a QR code stores in my phone’s wallet. Very convenient and I could even make a printed copy as a backup.
Now it requires a separate app and user account.
This is how everyday technology gets worse and worse.

2025-03-31 14:21:36 UTC

Generative art is not the same as “AI” generated slop. Learn the fucking difference.
Artists have been using various generative techniques for decades to produce some really cool work and it does a huge disservice to throw us all in with this soulless uncreative and frankly anti-art bullshit.
#generativeArt #proceduralArt

2025-03-31 13:27:52 UTC

- reply

I have chosen this life over and over again, despite everything, at great cost and risk, and now here I am.
That’s all there is and I make of it what I can.

2025-03-31 13:27:41 UTC

- reply

I don’t know if I would be happier in some other life, as a cis woman or whatever else, nobody knows that.
But I work hard on making the life I do have into the best it can be.
And I am only me because I have the history that I have. Changing anything would make me into a different person.

2025-03-31 13:27:25 UTC

Another trans woman telling me that being trans is terrible and I’m delusional for not hating my life like she does.
Cool.
Exactly the kind of thing I want to hear on a supposedly celebratory day for trans people.
Don’t be that person, ever. It’s a garbage thing to do.

2025-03-27 09:29:22 UTC

Full day study mode, one last time (for now)
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/114/233/687/511/555/978/original/b807e6ad9dba2dd1.jpeg

2025-03-21 18:17:03 UTC

- reply

I spent all afternoon just between a PDF reader and Vim.
Nice way to focus.

2025-03-21 18:15:52 UTC

Tiny laptop study mode
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/114/201/783/861/719/800/original/3752156a0e7edfeb.jpeg

2025-03-16 07:54:01 UTC

“We told you so” episode 8471
https://developers.googleblog.com/en/google-url-shortener-links-will-no-longer-be-available/

2025-02-26 10:26:34 UTC

Yeah, I can see how that’s a concern for people who drive a rented Porsche …
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/114/069/702/319/132/835/original/3ccf0dfa8489d089.jpeg

2025-02-17 12:38:04 UTC

Need to search for text in several PDF's at once (like you can in macOS' Finder/Spotlight, but without needing macOS)?
pdfgrep has you covered
https://pdfgrep.org/
This is a blessing for finding stuff in lecture slides.

2025-02-15 23:48:46 UTC

- reply

Computers: pretty cool actually when they're made to fit you.

2025-02-15 23:48:41 UTC

It's so calming to use a computer that basically idles as I do my everyday stuff on it. Let's me trust that this machine won't stand in my way for a long time.
I can max it out if I want to, but then it's with workloads that nobody expects to be done instantly, like transcoding a long video.

2025-02-02 10:24:25 UTC

Given how fast valuable information is disappearing off the web under the new US administration, I wrote a short note about how to make offline backups of websites, from simple screenshots and PDFs to full backups using wget.
https://www.selfawaresoup.com/notes/2025/02/02/backing-up-websites/

2025-01-28 18:12:06 UTC

powerlifting_deloading_week.jpg
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/113/907/328/873/493/647/original/44dbc90feed0494a.jpeg

2025-01-27 10:48:53 UTC

- reply

So many of you need to learn that "person complaining about something" is not the same as "person asking for advice".
It's baffling how foreign that concept is to many people, especially on here.

2025-01-27 10:45:13 UTC

- reply

Of course this ended up being a honeypot for the "why don't you use the web version" people.
I know about the web version and it's not the right tool for the job today. Please stop recommending it.

2025-01-27 10:22:25 UTC

Installing Zoom on a Linux machine feels … wrong

2025-01-20 20:57:13 UTC

Here's a longer clip of Musk doing the Hitler salute TWICE at Trump's inauguration.
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/113/862/674/230/018/525/original/0e93dd9b0cc80d57.mp4

2025-01-14 13:32:32 UTC

Love how any discussion of maybe relying less on immediate-availability consumption devolves into “what about my friend Jeff who lives in the woods and can only get his cat’s favorite food from Amazon”?
Like, maybe think about why YOU apparently can’t even imagine a solution to Jeff’s cat food issue that isn’t a global monopolist that crushes worker rights, independent merchants, and producers, and extracts completely ridiculous amounts of wealth for one billionaire who likes to play astronaut

2025-01-14 10:39:08 UTC

A sustainable future will probably not have next-day delivery for most things.
Get used to that idea, so you're not going to stand in the way of getting there.
This is my main gripe with the "individual change doesn't matter against systemic issues" crowd:
People who build their lives on the conveniences of hyper-capitalism will not support policies that require those conveniences to be diminished.
But those policies are going to be necessary.

2025-01-09 14:13:38 UTC

Ethical argument for pirating stuff off streaming services:
A lot of it is never release outside the streaming service that produced it and once they take it offline, it’s gone forever.
https://techwontsave.us/episode/258_what_netflix_has_done_to_movies_w_will_tavlin

2025-01-08 07:40:12 UTC

Stop using Telegram for organizing!
(and for anything else too)
https://www.404media.co/telegram-hands-u-s-authorities-data-on-thousands-of-users/

2025-01-04 22:31:14 UTC

Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume?
Me: See, there’s this thing called the Planck Length, which is hypothesized to be a lower boundary of the distances that can be physically resolved at all.

2025-01-01 23:09:06 UTC

- reply

this wasn't a request for advice, but you people never learn that

2025-01-01 21:14:28 UTC

In 2025 I'd like to be in fewer physical fights, ideally zero.
2024 had two, both against aggressive car dudes.
OTOH I also want to be better prepared for when one does happen.

2024-12-30 22:33:38 UTC

- reply

I have donated in the past, but stopped since Signal isn't available from official sources on a platform I use a lot: ARM + Linux

2024-11-25 20:25:09 UTC

I've seen a lot of takes here recently about why so many more people are on Bluesky and seriously: they're all so wrong and that's part of the real reason.
As long as you all look for the reasons within the people and not within the systems, you won't get anywhere. And also how the existing population is part of that system.
Spoilers: it's not because people are "too stupid to use the Fediverse correctly" or that they "just don't understand".

2024-11-20 22:25:52 UTC

For those who are also on Bluesky:
I remade a blocking tool that I used back on Twitter to great success. Except now it's a real web app instead of just a shell script.
It blocks or mutes an account and all of their followers, or adds them to a moderation list. Very effective against targeted harassment as it cuts off the ability to easily dog-pile.
The AT Orbital Laser:
https://at-orbital-laser.aesthr.com/

2024-11-13 20:02:06 UTC

Done some studio work today!
(Canon 5DS + Canon 24-70/2.8)
#photography #selfPortrait
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/113/477/425/208/449/472/original/65e2b22a3202fbd4.jpg
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/113/477/425/440/520/644/original/b56e66d1ce7c7e00.jpg

2024-11-06 18:27:52 UTC

Here is some of my street portrait #photography from 2024.
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/113/437/393/743/461/440/original/103b6316179d58cc.png
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/113/437/400/542/716/989/original/9a49caf766361f54.png
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/113/437/405/504/671/502/original/87b19a77fc52c396.png
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/113/437/412/048/342/911/original/b30a1ef284b65232.png

2024-11-06 18:10:19 UTC

Time for a new #introduction on a new server. Hello, wandering.shop 💜
I'm Esther, a photographer, writer, artist, and psychology student in Berlin.
I work in analog photography, shooting on a Canon P, Yashica Mat 124G, or Rolleiflex SL66. But I also use digital equipment and other media like linocut prints and leather.
I have a little online art store: https://ko-fi.com/aesthr/shop
You can find my art portfolio on https://www.aesthr.com/ and my writing on https://www.selfawaresoup.com/
See you around!
https://stockroom.wandering.shop/media_attachments/files/113/437/345/015/402/184/original/cd4ed6add84a1e77.jpg