2026-07-17T16:01:06Z https://yabu.me Iris https://yabu.me/npub1wgwtv03p6gfd6fjssxtc6l4gfa8v94pnrl98zxscpvnwl7myz8uqrjv64j https://files.mastodon.social/accounts/avatars/112/952/288/468/998/668/original/13057fd4cb63d7d8.webp https://files.mastodon.social/accounts/avatars/112/952/288/468/998/668/original/13057fd4cb63d7d8.webp https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsrhwnsmnpdrumrjvv3qujz3nedn750520tn5x2m867msdgvdqpkvgzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsq3ldkf Well, I tried Claude Code. It&#39;s less bad than GLM, but alas, I didn&#39;t get the &#34;Hallelujah! I see the light&#34; moment that would let me become an AI grifter. Pity, really. <br/><br/>I did notice an interesting thing though: the people who get the best results from coding agents tend to be the people who think they&#39;re awful, which says some interesting things about engineering judgement. Read the article here:<br/><br/><a href="https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/engineering-judgement-claude-paradox">https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/engineering-judgement-claude-paradox</a> 2026-05-05T05:12:27Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsp6gemgwuap73p56w2qjwvscn92mtrv4evz9cdkdqdyf7y4n7wnmgzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglswew85v Look, I hate it, you hate it, we all hate it. Unfortunately, thanks to the general state of funding for artists, creatives and such in the anglosphere, it&#39;s also unavoidable.<br/><br/>If you&#39;re thinking about supporting an independent writer in keeping a roof over their head, this would be a very convenient time to do it: I need to pay rent and pay for monthly parking for our vehicle in a few days, and I&#39;m not entirely clear as to how I&#39;m going to do it. 2026-04-30T09:12:15Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqszrw0w86zcfh03hcshe4cdanltrtzepdg2lexcmmaz3z47nkwqnzszypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsty7am8 It is once again time for me to reintroduce myself, I think. I&#39;m Iris: I write a blog at deadsimpletech.com/blog about the impacts of the tech industry on culture and humanity in general. <br/><br/>I also work as a technical consultant and coach/mentor in the data, infrastructure and web spaces.<br/> <img src="https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/446/935/681/458/954/original/ab8057c111ac56a8.png"> <br/> 2026-04-22T06:32:48Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqs9pdm9zgu54svlksl9mgh3fyun0kt04mlakupaqz0d0v8f7jy8xaqzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsan0m5u A new article: this one&#39;s an extension of last year&#39;s article on the subject of wank, and it discusses why wank is discursively effective despite being annoying as hell. Many thanks to <span itemprop="mentions" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Person"><a itemprop="url" href="/npub1hw6w4cuakh2scg7n63sq07kxs5cep5gsh7m3edpgxz34ef90ez7s2vgked" class="bg-lavender dark:prose:text-neutral-50 dark:text-neutral-50 dark:bg-garnet px-1"><span>Dawn Ahukanna</span> (<span class="italic">npub1hw6…gked</span>)</a></span> and [@whitequark](<a href="https://social.treehouse.systems/@whitequark">https://social.treehouse.systems/@whitequark</a> ) for productive conversations on here that led to me developing some of these ideas:<br/><br/><a href="https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/why-redacted-wins">https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/why-redacted-wins</a> 2026-04-13T05:48:07Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqs882yxdcnwfxmg7cllkj5vzl54tn20mtxuq0jhsrqaz8trcrrhdzczypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsgls87g268 A new article, in which Iris attempts to persuade investors and people in the general tech and startup ecosystem in New Zealand that they need to build a lot more affordable housing if they want to get the kind of ecosystem that they&#39;ve expressed a desire for:<br/><br/><a href="https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/startups-affordable-housing-new-zealand">https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/startups-affordable-housing-new-zealand</a> 2026-04-07T06:15:15Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsgyw20cv6n456yxddgdglllnv96ktzmues2ergnuywlssmttjxpeszypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsdj2wlr It is surprisingly hard to express &#34;the primary demographic for startup founders at the moment is nepobaby failsons&#34; in a way that&#39;s appropriate for consumption by investors. 2026-04-07T03:02:21Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqs9uj9yg9d6nt8n7gftdhe9rap7krml2sear0vcxs5d8fe328ckrwczypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsgls894gmq In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsgarwc5rzrlnt2xs7g82kkny8t9hz5emggnx4w9vtrw75mw9nmyaccdkhut'>nevent1q…khut</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>rent. I can never be both. If I&#39;m struggling to feed myself and pay my bills, I can&#34;t be the person who writes those articles that everyone shares. If I&#39;m the person who writes those articles, I can&#39;t be struggling as much as I am because I&#39;m clearly fairly capable and socially adjusted.<br/><br/>I guess what I&#39;d say for these days is that we can be *both*. I can be smart *and* need the help of readers to pay rent: neither invalidates the other. And yes, it should be different. But it isn&#39;t. 2026-03-31T08:21:08Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsgarwc5rzrlnt2xs7g82kkny8t9hz5emggnx4w9vtrw75mw9nmyaczypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsyx3edf Today is the transgender day of visibility. I don&#39;t know what to say more globally on the matter, but personally: there is a part of me that is the heterodox tech thinker. I write articles: I get quite a few views, I am popular. Then there&#39;s the trans side of me: the person who can&#39;t get a job however good and socially well-adjusted I am. Those parts don&#39;t often cohabit in people&#39;s minds. I can be the clever person who write the things that people love, or I can be the trans girl trying to make 2026-03-31T08:18:58Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsvlpwklh73ekh7dk22c04ga6k7gv3msvc2mqxlg3ld6yn9uygh6fqzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsr8wtzl RE: <a href="https://mastodon.social/@iris_meredith/116311817974687217">https://mastodon.social/@iris_meredith/116311817974687217</a><br/><br/>Resources are running low, rent needs to be paid and the relevant support systems are distinctly unhelpful, so I&#39;m going to be pushing out more LinkedIn-relevant articles for the next little while. Apologies to those who read my work for the critical essays.<blockquote class="border-l-05rem border-l-strongpink border-solid"><div class="-ml-4 bg-gradient-to-r from-gray-100 dark:from-zinc-800 to-transparent mr-0 mt-0 mb-4 pl-4 pr-2 py-2">quoting <br/><span itemprop="mentions" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Article"><a itemprop="url" href="/note1zzx3zmd4depjlffa6du4asr788jvpppuhqy5y2kdtjapavy5k3tq5vtrat" class="bg-lavender dark:prose:text-neutral-50 dark:text-neutral-50 dark:bg-garnet px-1">note1zzx…trat</a></span><br/> </div> A new article, this one about the application of Clausewitz's concept of friction to Software Engineering:<br/><br/><a href="https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/friction_software_engineering">https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/friction_software_engineering</a> </blockquote> 2026-03-29T09:45:23Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqspprg3dk6kuse0557ax727cplrnexqss7tsz2z9tx4ews7kz2tg4szypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsx99fh3 A new article, this one about the application of Clausewitz&#39;s concept of friction to Software Engineering:<br/><br/><a href="https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/friction_software_engineering">https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/friction_software_engineering</a> 2026-03-29T09:44:55Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsgmkf2369a9ucjkw3pzn96pc8r0v34nwt3exu80n07hvjvt7gykqqzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsgls4afqmy New article: today we talk about the psychological impacts of functioning in a thoroughly enshittified economy where everything seems to be routed through tech:<br/><br/><a href="https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/digital_acedia">https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/digital_acedia</a> 2026-03-26T04:35:55Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqspzkwz608vrqhdhjkjx53r7x0ljcsa9am22pfuup6fdyyzzjjug2qzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsxaaphk It is once again time to do one of my semi-regular fundraising posts wherein, if you wish to support my writing and analytical work, you can do so at the links below! Moving is expensive, and the more I get through these channels the more essays you can expect, so... there is incentive, I guess?<br/><br/><a href="https://www.patreon.com/c/IrisMeredithandherblog">https://www.patreon.com/c/IrisMeredithandherblog</a><br/><a href="https://en.liberapay.com/iris_meredith/">https://en.liberapay.com/iris_meredith/</a><br/><a href="https://donate.stripe.com/6oE2a30hh3my2reeUY">https://donate.stripe.com/6oE2a30hh3my2reeUY</a> 2026-03-23T07:37:19Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqs2qyphnw8rpv6gzuwuvdckw8mudwh4d6l889jx36f087j2dtfm4tszypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglswzg7yp I&#39;ve finally, in my extremity, actually produced some advertising material for my coaching offerings (it was like pulling teeth, but so it goes).<br/><br/>If anyone feels like spreading it around judiciously, it might prove helpful.<br/> <img src="https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/265/797/922/320/338/original/7c39c4d599d10a87.png"> <br/> 2026-03-21T06:44:57Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsvd495fld0wfdlcc697sykxpjjwe87ulkjdjaapwq39wj0v2kd6ygzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsgrfhp6 This bitch has a library card again! For a good library, even!<br/> <img src="https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/116/241/701/074/563/277/original/f1b335239a742bce.jpg"> <br/> 2026-03-17T00:33:45Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsfcszz9lfk0nkul00d20fnf38rt33r0fr09pgfj7ncv4scrgungjszypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsgls0ysmhd New post, and this one&#39;s definitely one of my weirder ones: it&#39;s about how most of the tech industry shows symptoms of something that looks like gender dysphoria.<br/><br/><a href="https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/carbon_dysphoria">https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/carbon_dysphoria</a> 2026-02-15T08:43:49Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqs9z8epnjq7ttj90wlg556sc9nnrupfnv20u2gewqashfzkpjw255gzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsunlt70 RE: <a href="https://mastodon.social/@glyph/116072105823598977">https://mastodon.social/@glyph/116072105823598977</a><br/><br/>You should definitely support Glyph: they do really good work and are clever and such. And I&#39;m not just saying that because they&#39;ve been complimentary about *my* work in the past.<br/>nostr:note1anup75uy86yh2q2wqgxafa2kx2wtseqjgmxtvdfkml43qmsfdm8sfw3ke2<br/> 2026-02-15T01:46:56Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqswemhg008c99lnxaty9fht4fc4qktnwz2qledht3yuu4f2acuawugzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsuvrsdc I&#39;ve written my thoughts on what you, as a software professional, can do to make yourself less susceptible to being displaced by AI in our current wave of tech madness. In short, learn your tools well, build and deploy things as often as you can, don&#39;t avoid the unfashionable work and learn a field that isn&#39;t writing software.<br/><br/><a href="https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/ai_proof_engineer">https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/ai_proof_engineer</a> 2026-01-30T07:45:43Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsgc3sxrt0l8zqltawqpht60r3fh5yl3lkjr42ed3mmsq0g3gwcq7czypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsnj6all I finally have a page on my website for my coaching program! I do one-on-one and small group sessions where you learn engineering soft skills such as git and the use of the linux command line. We offer a web dev flavour using Astro and an R one using Quarto. <br/><br/> <a href="https://deadsimpletech.com/coaching">https://deadsimpletech.com/coaching</a> 2026-01-25T21:30:32Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqs2wgtuu8q2gp3slpvhcd89yywhlnf7q7tjpevdxjm29y4ddhjqesszypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsrg7zlt In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqst8gam0s9kcarqqw0jpqxac5awy0dhua3y076hndzuvcphzu46kfckstzsz'>nevent1q…tzsz</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>I hate to break it to you, but I&#39;m already getting &#34;you didn&#39;t use the right models!&#34; and &#34;clearly you prompted it wrong&#34; 2026-01-13T21:35:28Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqst7nct8sva63kvrj49jp0udpy8hu0tza9gpkf8klq72h9djnw345szypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsuuqs3y OK, so apparently the way to do well on Mastodon is to post about R, software engineering and DevOps, and the way to do well on Bluesky is to post interesting essays about the social analysis of tech. I have not yet figured out how to do well on LinkedIn. 2025-12-15T06:01:01Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqs85rnw2vn3w902kepqygg495t9jkaukevgs8avvc0ykf3cupqz6gqzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsdru6n6 Alright, another one of the &#34;applying Clausewitz to tech&#34; posts is done! This one&#39;s about how failed software projects are almost always *strategic* failures rather than simply tactical ones:<br/><br/><a href="https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/failed_software_projects">https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/failed_software_projects</a> 2025-12-04T05:20:41Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqszvnjk5xtgxyz05cjcf4utdzy3k76aje5tjcnj8k62u9tmddrf0zgzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsk4dxm2 A new article: long, strange and about Gravity&#39;s Rainbow:<br/><br/><a href="https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/schwarzgerat">https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/schwarzgerat</a> 2025-08-09T05:25:34Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqstxhlgts5cga3av3ju2cz97g88h65682vrn9enzjhjy7fdy648hxczypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsev590j It&#39;s been almost a year since I started writing regularly and (partially related) promoting my professional consulting services. I&#39;ve done an awful lot to try and change myself and become a better businesswoman in that time, and while I&#39;ve made some progress, I think I&#39;m forced to face the fact 2025-07-16T00:18:48Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsgm6xfryqr3y037sady3r4rr355ves0n9yeuz6mzman6kkdjsye4szypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsplkafv In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqstn8xvl3mdhxp039wllqdvrtm4maerkd7wn0xs7lyxlzzuuntcw5gdpjdvc'>nevent1q…jdvc</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>Am I missing something stupid here, or is Forgejo really like this? 2025-06-28T05:37:29Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqstn8xvl3mdhxp039wllqdvrtm4maerkd7wn0xs7lyxlzzuuntcw5gzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsmw45gm So, trying to push to the Codeberg container registry as part of some client work<br/><br/>The Codeberg registry only accepts image names in the form of &lt;domain&gt;/&lt;user&gt;/&lt;image&gt;<br/><br/>However, container image names don&#39;t support upper-case values<br/><br/>Both my username and the username of the client have upper-case values in them<br/><br/>It appears that my username might have locked me out of using the container registry 2025-06-28T05:37:04Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsz6h9jk7uve86qe2j98s5hpp4h8r4c8pnqk4v66mk9h9jlkvl3lpqzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglspw8c4l Understanding that the USA isn&#39;t the only meaningful country in the world seems to be a real stretch for a lot of Americans at the moment. 2025-03-02T02:22:32Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqs0nz422xjjtf88qegjvz67asnydd70xykvlxtnxn59a2xftvy9u9czypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsck2fcm Today&#39;s post: not my best work, because what I&#39;m writing about is so deeply stupid that it&#39;s hard to formulate a coherent critique. Still, I think our usual AI critic crowd might like parts of it:<br/><br/><a href="https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/licking_ai_boot">https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/licking_ai_boot</a> 2025-02-04T01:29:28Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsq8ptz5t6kg6l28xyjj0w3ujadfj5stme4gsjqqs22k5zk8q5craczypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsgls67tdqc <span itemprop="mentions" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Person"><a itemprop="url" href="/npub1hr7087sk4yxl25nmx9c42p0zgk5kyfyvar5xeklezs23hjuenr7qr3jxyc" class="bg-lavender dark:prose:text-neutral-50 dark:text-neutral-50 dark:bg-garnet px-1"><span>Baldur Bjarnason</span> (<span class="italic">npub1hr7…jxyc</span>)</a></span> <br/><br/>Wait, you&#39;ve been following me? Damn, I&#39;m deeply flattered. I love your blog! 2024-12-17T03:04:45Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsxpq7mnxn4syqzhcqstyx4n5a34zupmvslp0xej9khxdyw6p9vqvczypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglshvwl4w This one just keeps getting more and more relevant in some uncomfortable ways:<br/><br/><a href="https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/fascism_mirror">https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/fascism_mirror</a> 2024-12-16T23:13:35Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsrsymfykj3rhte04jdddw4jpuavqymawp7ggg7aq8qth3uvc7f3xqzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsf4y9qs In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqs9zuxh9cvz4sxxyql03efvkyrq3yekj2rgwfnvlm6cnxrl5sdt57q5e9rc5'>nevent1q…9rc5</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>Kinda? Unfortunately the weekend is the only time when I have undisturbed time to think, so I end up doing most of my work then. 2024-12-05T21:40:21Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqswxhewduac7gulju28xdqxf2kuhp5gpsg2ct2wlle5jjwk0htnhkgzypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsglsw3kntm A new post! This one, I&#39;m sure, will get very normal responses on LinkedIn:<br/><br/><a href="https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/scrumlord_regime">https://deadsimpletech.com/blog/scrumlord_regime</a><br/><br/>#agile #uspol 2024-11-17T21:48:03Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsvm3gjep7m86wt68m2t9g25j699qmlhe7r5jm4ydsvkx3kmdrsvdczypeped37y8fp9hfx2zqe0rt74p85ask5xv0u5ug6rq9jdmlmvsgls5q2qf0 We need to learn history and the classics in large part, I think, because it disabuses us of ideas about our uniqueness. Our unique moral goodness, our unique depravity, our uniquely terrible ideas... they all fall away in the light of ten thousand years. And once we&#39;re no longer uniquely brilliant or uniquely terrible or uniquely whatever, our current problems start seeming small enough to tackle. 2024-10-14T01:59:34Z