Ryan Finnie

Special DLC available with preorder. Opinions in profile pictures are entirely my own. (Je ne suis pas un DJ français.)

Public Key

npub1p37gqr8yhvvh2986prav8utr73qx5pee0yuwtch92nrfekyngkhqmf3k8l

NIP-05 Address

ryan@m29-us.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsqclyqpnjtkxt4znaq37kr793lgsr2quuhjw89utj4f35umzf5ttspz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43qv34dr0

Publishing to

relay.ditto.pub

Author Public Key

npub1p37gqr8yhvvh2986prav8utr73qx5pee0yuwtch92nrfekyngkhqmf3k8l

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Last Notes

2026-05-07 21:47:42 UTC

Elder? Oh my no, I'm merely an Eld.

2026-05-06 03:51:12 UTC

I want a key/value store with a REST API which is POST to set a key with a value and GET to get it. I want this, but not online and not $19/mo:
https://kvdb.io/
And I'm grumpy enough that I just might write it myself.

2026-05-02 04:31:43 UTC

There's something poetic about "wiping" a LUKS partition by removing all of its key slots. The encrypted data still exists, but it can never be unlocked.

2026-05-01 19:47:53 UTC

I swear the furballs have tripled in size since the last time I checked, which was about two days ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4-L2nfGcuE

2026-05-01 00:25:52 UTC

Ten days ago I caulked my kitchen countertop. It’s black and white marble so I picked black silicone caulk, and thought I did a good job. Even designed and 3D printed a custom edger to get a consistent line behind the sink.
But it’s glossy. Really glossy. I was hoping it would dull as it cured over a week, but that didn’t happen. It doesn’t look bad per se, but I chose black because I thought it would be inconspicuous. No, it’s glossy.
https://m29.us/system/media_attachments/files/116/496/470/911/760/174/original/a5919aa73481fd20.mp4

2026-04-30 23:28:56 UTC

If you type Reno into Google Maps, the second result is for the Renault Group, which I GUESS...
https://m29.us/system/media_attachments/files/116/496/247/951/935/514/original/a0c7308739033004.png

2026-04-30 17:33:57 UTC

Famously, SoCal likes putting the article "the" in front of highway numbers. "The 5" for Interstate 5, "the 101" for US 101, etc. When I moved down here 5 years ago, I was talking with a native of over 50 years, and mentioned that, for example, Reno was the crossroads of I-80 and US-395 -- though for "long" numbers like 395, we would often just say "395", and "short" numbers like 80 would usually be called "I-80".
She genuinely didn't notice until that point that there were different types of highways. "So, like, you memorize if the highway is an I or a US or an SR?" and ... yeah? We did? Though I will admit "the 134" is a lot more homogeneous and easier to apply.
US 395 is interesting that it goes north/south, all the way from the Canadian border, through Washington, Oregon, Nevada and terminates in Hesperia, California, though Historic 395 continues on sporadically to San Diego. The highway was a prominent part of both my and @nprofile…hwcc 's life, and he once proposed a theory which lives rent-free in my head: It's actually two highways. US-395 runs from the Canadian border to Bishop, California, and The 395 continues from Bishop to Hesperia.

2026-04-29 15:46:17 UTC

For years, I've used the filename "NOTES" to save snippets for myself. I should switch to calling it RYAN.md as a way of training the squishy agentic software.

2026-04-28 16:01:04 UTC

I've been coding for 48 hours straight, minus sleep. I'm physically wrecked: eyes can't focus, headache after waking up, and my body is sore from spending most the last two days sitting down.
Classic software development is for the young. Ironically, I feel bad because I've been sedentary; I should change to Extreme Programming, which is like regular programming but with more skateboard kick flips.

2026-04-25 19:47:30 UTC

Something I just realized is incredibly messed up but I learned it early on so my brain formed around it:
"continue" in a shell / Python loop means "don't continue on; go back to the beginning of the loop".
Literally, something I use nearly every time I need to write a script, and it just hit me like a repressed memory suddenly surfacing.

2026-04-23 06:50:11 UTC

Huh, the Logitech C270 USB webcam is still being manufactured new. The Little Brother Controller of the webcam world. Beloved by @nprofile…e7pp users for being An Webcam. Statistical Mean Webcam.
Fun fact: When I first got a 3D printer (2017?) and set up OctoPrint, the official documentation recommended the C270 for being cheap and compatible. I was like "what, am I just going to pull a C270 out of my junk bin?"... then checked my computer junk bin and found a C270. No idea where it came from; I'm pretty sure they just come into existence if you've ever owned a computer.

2026-04-21 15:53:09 UTC

Whenever I see "AGI", I keep confusing it with "KPI" and wonder why AI bros are forming a religion around Jira targets.

2026-04-19 18:42:40 UTC

If you get gas from Walmart and use the app to pay, it doesn't allow you to print a receipt at the pump. Instead, it's available on the web site but stylized to look as if it were scanned on a flatbed scanner at a high resolution but 1bpp (though this is an illusion; the text is anti-aliased). This only appears to be the case for gas, not groceries bought online.
(Edit: Mastodon smoothed out the text a bit so the 1bpp illusion isn't as prominent)
https://m29.us/system/media_attachments/files/116/432/822/287/992/118/original/9a76a15d03980542.png

2026-04-19 01:15:45 UTC

If the GPL is so great, why didn't they make GPL 2?

2026-04-15 23:35:05 UTC

It's a shame "vibe coding" was coined to describe asking the plagiarism machine to produce something you couldn't be bothered doing yourself.
In an alternate universe, that would be a beautiful term for coding to achieve a functional end goal while enjoying the ride. Not hobby coding, not factory coding; somewhere in the middle is vibe coding.

2026-04-15 19:03:41 UTC

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@nprofile…pm95 Each fedi instance could have its own copy, but unfortunately it would not help with moderation (or more specifically, each instance would have its own moderation problem)

2026-04-15 16:32:23 UTC

I've had an idea for awhile, for a neat social game which would be played over fedi, and even have about half the components coded.
But the problem is it's one of those ideas where it's not fun unless it becomes popular, and would be a moderation pain if it does become popular.

2026-04-12 00:18:06 UTC

Uggggg... New Firefox release has made the search provider dropdown in the search bar be part of the tab order. I literally have decades of muscle memory of Ctrl-T, Tab, and start typing to search, which is broken by this.
Edit: browser.search.widget.new = false. Good: I'm able to revert this. Bad: I'm sure this option will disappear sometime in the future.

2026-04-06 05:16:09 UTC

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@nprofile…g0e5 Okay done

2026-04-05 02:21:54 UTC

Worst Fears Realized: Iran Developing Missiles Capable of Reaching us-east-1

2026-04-04 16:57:14 UTC

Wink
#Cats #Caturday
https://m29.us/system/media_attachments/files/116/347/488/365/047/999/original/0f4bae148826f457.jpeg

2026-04-03 23:45:31 UTC

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@nprofile…pm95 The fun part I've since learned is they DID just call it that. The standards body would really you just call it USB 5 Gbps, 10 Gbps, 20 Gbps. The 3.0/3.1/3.2 part comes from the spec revision; the respective implementation of the existing speeds have not changed between revisions, so listing the revision on hardware is useless. This confusion comes entirely from the hardware manufacturers.

2026-04-03 05:42:47 UTC

Biblically accurate USB chart
https://m29.us/system/media_attachments/files/116/339/173/068/113/248/original/ed5da869d5aaa4e5.png

2026-04-01 02:50:11 UTC

Uhh, WTF. About a third of my following and followers have just disappeared. Entire domains like mastodon.social and infosec.exchange are gone. Sigh...

2026-03-25 19:09:06 UTC

In Python, how would I represent say, a 287-digit number, while not running into column limits? "_" exists for making numbers readable, but doesn't appear to allow for whitespace / linebreak insertion. Breaking it down into a series of exponent representations would be possible, but I don't want to go that far.

2026-03-23 02:47:05 UTC

I spent way too long on this for a joke. Enjoy!
https://m29.us/system/media_attachments/files/116/276/198/055/091/061/original/1f9c494b4edd8f60.jpg

2026-03-07 22:16:57 UTC

In today's edition of Ryan Will Try Any Fast Food Fad Once: BIG ARCH
Summary: it's a dumpster fire, and I'm still trying to figure out if a dumpster fire tastes good. At the very least, I feel I need to go to confession. Mankind was not meant to eat a half pound of ground beef in one sitting. McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski and I don't often see eye to eye, and we've had our share of public arguments, but I feel this was a bonding experience.
But hey, shamrock shake is back too!

2026-03-04 00:14:03 UTC

Did you know you can buy Vegemite from the world's largest bookstore?

2026-03-02 04:23:16 UTC

Happy AWS day!
https://m29.us/system/media_attachments/files/116/157/551/731/830/829/original/4c655f840ff54abe.png

2026-02-28 19:47:47 UTC

Cats are graceful.
#Cats #Caturday
https://m29.us/system/media_attachments/files/116/149/975/061/088/084/original/71da889077963404.jpeg

2026-02-25 23:10:18 UTC

This weekend I bought a new system with an Intel Core Ultra 7 265, with 20 cores. But I just noticed the output of `sensors` for coretemp-isa-0000 does list 20 cores, but they are numbered:
0 4 12 13 14 15 16 20 24 28 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 44
Is this the result of binning? Are there really ~48 cores on the die and it's binned down to 20? It looks like there are no SKUs in the Series 2 line with more than 24 cores, so 48 down to max 24 would seem (to a non-expert) to be a quite high failure rate.
Edit answer: the P cores increment by 4, while E cores increment by 1. (thanks @nprofile…zvpj )

2026-02-24 15:23:38 UTC

Morning status: `htop | less`

2026-02-21 20:09:54 UTC

A cat is faster and has sharper teeth and nails than you do. It has no "code of ethics", therefore a cat must never make a management decision.

2026-02-09 20:32:16 UTC

I've done a full audit of all of the house's locks and keys. As a result:
- No lock in use only has one known key.
- All key pairs are separated, with a copy being in the fire safe.
- All keys are labeled.
- All locks not in use are hanging from a wire shelf in the garage, with 2+ keys inserted into them.
- I'm only left with 2 additional uncorrelated keys, which have been added to the massive bag of "I don't think these keys are in use and/or I have no idea what they go to, but I never want to throw away a key". It's a large bag.
- Very few of the locks in the house have any practical security use. You now know I keep backups of all keys in the fire safe; congratulations! You may now steal it and gain access to the 3 tool chests I have in the garage which I keep unlocked anyway.

2025-12-18 20:43:39 UTC

Hey, my dishwasher rinse aid needs to be refilled. If you're seeing this, it means the LG-to-HomeAssistant-to-Mastodon link is still working, but I've likely forgotten this automation pipeline exists.

2025-12-14 04:22:58 UTC

So how are everyone's NFT investments doing?

2025-12-14 00:28:46 UTC

I'm craving Taco Bell nacho cheese, but not enough to go to Taco Bell.

2025-12-12 18:29:43 UTC

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@nprofile…6n3c
https://m29.us/system/media_attachments/files/115/708/010/180/854/202/original/ae9d27f95860a3a2.png

2025-11-28 04:13:18 UTC

ATTENTION NEIGHBORS! Okay so I know you're all probably stuffed and hung over, but I'm driving down our street with this bullhorn for a matter of the utmost importance! Keep in mind that while our trash day is normally Friday, remember that the trash company has this weird thing where if any prior day in the week is a holiday, all future trash days for the week are shifted by one day! You do not need to put out your bins until Saturday! I know your immediate neighbor probably put out their bins, but you do not have to make the same mistake! Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to slowly drive down the street while shouting into a bullhorn!

2025-11-27 21:25:36 UTC

Step 1: Take turkey out of freezer

2025-11-10 04:02:55 UTC

I have a tendency to do premature optimization of physical stuff. In this case, the black toner cartridge of my laser printer has 10% left. That's bad, right? Time to order a replacement? Well this is the demo cartridge of a printer I bought 9 years ago. I've got some time left. I don't need to order the replacement right now. But I want to.

2025-10-18 15:09:15 UTC

I normally do not retain dreams -- I know I do dream, but I can remember them maybe a few seconds after waking up.
Well not this time! Last night's dream was so powerful and meaningful that it survived long enough for me to be able to post this.
... I was backing a truck up to attach a trailer. That's the dream.

2025-10-02 17:37:08 UTC

Please do not include massive GIFs of your CLI tool being used, on said tool's README page. Especially if it's not even a curses/readline tool.
Example: https://github.com/ahmetb/kubectx

2025-10-01 20:53:22 UTC

The Onion: Today, Maxwell House rebrands to “Maxwell Apartment” to meet the needs of today’s consumer and remind fans the brand is synonymous with great tasting, affordable coffee. In a time where value matters now more than ever, Americans seek value in areas of their everyday, including where they live with nearly a third opting to rent versus purchase a home.
Oh, wait. https://news.kraftheinzcompany.com/press-releases-details/2025/For-the-First-Time-in-133-Years-Maxwell-House-Rebrands-as-Maxwell-Apartment/default.aspx

2025-09-12 04:16:09 UTC

- Sees something I need on homedepot.com, in stock locally, 2 in stock
- Goes out to buy it
- Gets back home
- Reloads page
- Sees 1 in stock
(I wasn't paying too much attention at the store, but I think there were actually 2 available. One of the biggest problems those sort of stock systems is they don't know that they're missing an item until they do full inventory 6 months later, and instead keep insisting that nobody's bought the last one.)

2025-09-08 05:37:41 UTC

Wondering why I'm hearing an occasional owl which I've never heard at this house, when I remember I have a 3D printer going in the next room over.

2025-09-05 01:28:21 UTC

For decades, my established procedure for going to Wikipedia is typing "en" and tab completing. It doesn't matter which page on en.wikipedia.org it completes to, but at the moment it's Main Page.
For Wiktionary though, I'll do "en.wikt", and for some reason my history is completing to:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Socratic_irony
(My procedure of course only reinforces that being the first result in my history.)

2025-09-03 04:25:55 UTC

The first version of a song you hear is the one which sounds "right" for all time. For example, They Might Be Giants - Severe Tire Damage is an album of mostly live performances, and was the second or third TMBG album I listened to. As a result, the live version of Ana Ng is the canonical version for me.
Anyway, if you're familiar with the song Caramelldansen, turns out the popular meme song is actually the nightcore (sped up) version of the original, which I hadn't heard until today. And the original version is... painfully slow, because I knew the nightcore version first.
And if you've never listened to Caramelldansen, well, I guess this version is about to become your canonical version. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8INsFwQV6tc

2025-08-25 02:18:23 UTC

.
https://m29.us/system/media_attachments/files/115/086/996/024/685/266/original/58a3a6d704dd3450.jpg

2025-08-23 02:24:02 UTC

I have an old 3D printer in storage. It served well as my first 3D printer in the late 2010s as a hobby project itself, and I modified it heavily.
The problem is it’s not really suitable for anyone. I don’t need it; I’ve moved on to another printer. I couldn’t give it away to an enthusiast, as it’s comparatively old tech and I’ve already made all the obvious hobby modifications.
And it would be a terrible 3D printer for someone just getting started. Ease of 3D printers have come a long way in the last decade. Hell, this printer doesn’t even have a functioning LCD anymore (the Wanhao LCD stuff never got accepted into upstream Marlin).
https://m29.us/system/media_attachments/files/115/075/668/344/259/609/original/8b662ffe68a43cfe.jpeg

2025-08-19 20:59:32 UTC

Amazon order history search seems to have changed from "most recent first" to "random, lol", with no option to actually apply a sort.

2025-08-18 18:14:45 UTC

Someone boosted this Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy quote which I didn't recognize at first. Turns out that's because it's from Mostly Harmless, which I've read maybe twice.
I refuse to read it again because it's just too depressing. It also retroactively sours my view on Trillian in previous books, due to her child neglect. The only way I can mentally dance around that is to pretend Mostly Harmless is simply not canon.
https://mastodon.social/@HitchhikersGuideQuoteBot2/115050656751784052

2025-07-11 16:48:02 UTC

Recent email: "Drumroll, please! Starting next month, we’re making the BIGGEST upgrade to HelloFresh ever. Here’s what you can look forward to:"
- [price increase]
I had Hello Fresh for several years, but early last year I stopped using them and started doing online grocery pickup shopping, using the recipes I had collected.
I kept my subscription, but once every few weeks I'd go in and cancel the weeks as far forward as I could. I did this on the chance that I might actually see a week I'd be interested in ordering, but in reality it just meant I'd forget a few times over the year and suddenly get a "your order's on the way and cannot be modified!" This was the push to get me to cancel the subscription properly.

2025-06-28 06:37:30 UTC

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@nprofile…7v9l Nice! I do a lot of camping, but I've been moving up the complexity ladder slowly over time. For the last 6 years I've had a canvas tent which is 13 square meters and weighs about 60kg -- not exactly a backpacking tent, but I love it!
A few weeks ago I bought a 25 year old camper van and have been working on fixing it up. I've got a "shakedown" 2-night test at a nearby lake next week.

2025-06-26 18:25:02 UTC

Sometimes I feel bad copying and pasting posts from my old Fosstodon account from within the last few years, but then I remember they're bangers and I'm awesome.

2025-05-04 14:19:59 UTC

https://m29.us/system/media_attachments/files/114/449/981/099/355/970/original/0d5bbb4104b648e9.png

2025-05-03 20:10:57 UTC

Riverside Municipal Airport is the busiest GA airport in Southern California, and for about a year I lived a mile directly down from the end of the departure runway. It was constant propeller noise, every day, from sunrise to sunset.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDrE20Bn0Fg