Kagan MacTane (he/him)

Brooklyn/SF-based web developer, fan of hard SF (especially The Expanse - speak Lang Belta with me!), aspiring urban fantasy writer, lover of coyotes, accessibility, cocktails, bacon, and sushi. Bi and queer, Neopagan, feminist and SJW.

Kagan MacTane (he/him) (npub1lv0…ulrg)">https://justmytoots.com/Kagan MacTane (he/him) (npub1lv0…ulrg)

Avatar: Me, a bald, middle-aged white guy, with bi pride color stripes behind my head
Header: The San Francisco Bay Bridge at night, with the vertical cables lit up by the Bay Lights

Novel Progress: 156,860 words; est. ~35%
Location: My body's in Brooklyn, and my heart is split between Brooklyn and San Francisco
Last Book Read / Currently Reading: Dubliners, by James Joyce / Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Public Key

npub1lv06hzyaxvguqstvjw559ft5luc0jnk2r7smr88224gqztnytgzs57ulrg

NIP-05 Address

kagan_at_wandering.shop@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs0k8at3zwnxywqg9kf822z54607v8efm9plgd3nn4925qp9ej95pgpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsyu33zr

Publishing to

yabu.me

nos.lol

relay.damus.io

Author Public Key

npub1lv06hzyaxvguqstvjw559ft5luc0jnk2r7smr88224gqztnytgzs57ulrg

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Last Notes

2025-12-22 17:33:58 UTC

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Logging into all kinds of services, installing all kinds of software, making all kinds of things work the way I want them to...
It's good to know the actual install itself will be nice and short, but I'm still going to allocate many hours for the entire project. I'm sure I'll need them. (And if not? Bonus, extra free time!)

2025-12-21 17:30:40 UTC

So, I spent lots of time yesterday honing my #Linux migration plan. I *think* it's ready to go... but seriously, today I really gotta run the errands I skipped yesterday, and by the time those are done, I think it'll be too late in the day to start a project of that size.
I do think it'd be nice to have this major change happen on the Solstice. And not wait until Christmas.
Maybe I'll just go all Leeroy Jenkins on it today anyway. I'll see how I do at getting other shit done first.

2025-10-02 18:07:33 UTC

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Fair enough.
I wonder how Leela would've dealt with that.

2025-10-02 17:30:51 UTC

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I *looove* how Leela takes out one of the Sontarans in this.
I was so happy when she first showed up in "The Face of Evil", and particularly when she throws some Tesh security guard in a full flip over her shoulder at one point while sneaking into their base or whatever. (I like me some Aamazons. Always have.) But then they had a run of episodes where they slotted her into roles that had been written for Sarah Jane, and so she got wimpified. 1/2

2025-06-15 16:08:18 UTC

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CGP Grey did a video where he ranked state flags as if they were an elementary classroom assignment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4w6808wJcU It's worth watching the first 1:45, just to see what his criteria and grading system are. (In particular the tier system *inside* the F tier.)
And then jump to 7:54, where he gets to Virginia and immediately gasps, "Oh, god! Are you trying to get me demonetized? Your flag has nudity, murder, and an explicit call to violence." 🤣

2025-04-29 19:43:07 UTC

I feel like this shows a lot about the kinds of people who are strongly pro-AI: they're prone to not just ignoring ethics but actively violating well-accepted ethical standards. When told that something's a bad idea or flat-out wrong, they'll barrel ahead and do it anyway (though possibly in a sneaky way).
And they care so little about truth that they'll lie to their own AI! (Telling it participants have given consent.)
https://www.404media.co/reddit-issuing-formal-legal-demands-against-researchers-who-conducted-secret-ai-experiment-on-users/
#AI #AICrap #ethics #EthicsInAI

2025-02-09 21:05:25 UTC

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Ewww, yuck. 🤮
Buying a Tesla around 2010, 2012, whatever? That meant you cared about the environment.
Buying a Tesla in 2025? That means you're a Nazi, and you want people around you to know it.

2025-01-25 17:26:24 UTC

My last post is an interesting example of why I don't think we can ever really have a set, positional grammar for emoji. In words, it's "hammered shit", but the emoji work better as 💩🔨 because of the direction the hammer is facing. 🔨💩 looks more like the shit is *wielding* the hammer or something.
I should really read Because Internet; I'm sure @npub1lxl…pn9e has thought *way* more about this than I have.
#emoji #linguistics #shitposting

2024-11-24 19:11:01 UTC

I don't think it would've ever occurred to me to eat a silica gel desiccant packet on my own. But the fact that they say "DO NOT EAT" so insistently gets my brain going.🤔
How do they taste?
Just how bad, truly, on a scale from "that tasted awful, I need to rinse my mouth out now" to "wow, that was a hospitalizingly, life-changingly bad thing to do" would it be to eat one?
Okay, what if I just licked some?
(I'm not going to do any of these things. I just wish the damn packets would shut up.)

2024-11-19 15:21:14 UTC

I was all set to rant and rail against HarperCollins, and then I saw that they're doing something very unusual:
They're *asking the authors* for their consent. And it's opt-in, not opt-out.
(This is probably because copyright. Still, it sets them so far apart from the tech industry, which decided not to even ask for forgiveness, but just to charge ahead and hope the law won't apply to them.)
https://www.404media.co/harpercollins-ai-deal/
#HarperCollins #AI #publishing

2024-09-16 15:20:39 UTC

HOAs are awful, part 542: A guy in Arizona has a cooler with free water in his driveway. Nobody in his neighborhood has complained. Many neighbors are supporters. And yet the HOA is fining him anyway, because... not even "because reasons", honestly; it's apparently just to be shitty.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/free-water-bottles-fined-by-hoa/

2024-09-13 21:30:28 UTC

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Wait, seriously? But these things have been parts of practically every graphical interface since before the web even existed! Like, I'm pretty positive I saw them in Windows 3.1, and I *think* they started off in the Macintosh interface, right?
You can see them in things like the settings screens for MS Word, or just... all over the place.

2024-09-13 19:47:50 UTC

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Then, I dunno... a dozen (pairs) is definitely not too many.
Two dozen? Three?
I feel like when you hit fifty pairs, that's probably going too far... but if you personally disagreed, I'd change my mind! 😄

2024-09-12 19:43:38 UTC

I just tried to leave the following comment on Mozilla's feedback page regarding their new AI "feature". Sadly, it asked me to log in *after* I hit Submit, despite the previous page saying I only needed to be logged in if I wanted to add an attachment. So now I'm even more unhappy.
Anyway, @npub1rvd…m6kr, you don't seem to want to hear feedback on this, but I'm @-ing you anyway.
Comment comprises the rest of this thread... 1/3
#Mozilla #AI #Firefox #AICrap

2024-09-11 02:20:35 UTC

"And this... [look of disgust]... _former president_" 🔥
That's one that only works on video. Wow.
#USpol #PresidentialDebate

2024-09-11 02:11:41 UTC

"Mr. Trump, how would you end the war in Ukraine, since you've said you could do so within 24 hours?"
"[bizarre rant about how we should be charging NATO countries money for something, which turns into utter incoherence about how our country has gone to hell]"
#USpol #PresidentialDebate

2024-09-11 01:50:24 UTC

"Let's turn the page on this. Let's not go back."
#USpol #PresidentialDebate

2024-09-11 01:44:58 UTC

"Transgender operations on..." okay, I was expecting kids in schools, but then "...illegal aliens in prison."
Seriously, WTF? It's like too many of his conspiracy theories collided in his head at once.
#USpol #PresidentialDebate

2024-09-11 01:18:32 UTC

Trump says Tim Walz is "really out of it"?! 🤣
#USpol #PresidentialDebate

2024-09-09 15:06:11 UTC

A: He tells you so.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-immigrants-plan-bloody-story-b2609092.html
#Trump #TrumpIsAFascist #NeverAgain #fascist #fascism #USpol #CWUSpol

2024-09-01 18:17:28 UTC

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My guess is "someplace yummy!" 😋

2024-08-27 04:49:52 UTC

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This is fucking disgraceful.
They put their own campaign at risk because they didn't want to wear masks. That irresponsibility better fucking not cost them the election. 3/3

2024-08-27 04:49:30 UTC

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They have only 70 days until Election Day. They can't afford to squander any of them. People are counting on them. *The nation* is counting on them.
And they were so GODDAMN FUCKING IRRESPONSIBLE that they took *not a single fucking precaution*.
And these motherfuckers want to run *the entire goddamn country?!?* 😡 2/3

2024-08-27 04:48:43 UTC

I am *so livid* at the Harris-Walz team right now. They're saying they have concerns that the number of Covid cases on their team after the DNC could affect staffing at events this week.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/democratic-national-convention-surprise-guest-covid-kamala-harris-rcna168298
They had no testing or mask requirements at the convention. They just "let it rip". 1/3
#DNC #COVID #CovidIsNotOver #Election2024 #USpol

2024-08-13 19:24:16 UTC

It's far past time journalists and news organizations started calling the main thinkers and proposals of the Republican Party what they are: not merely "conservative", but deeply and blatantly fascist.
https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/trump-vance-harris-walz-beer-question-rcna165834
#Republicans #journalism #fascism #fascist #USpol #CWUSpol