And for those interested in figuring out the 2x vs 4x scaling mystery of the #RadianceCascades algorithm, https://kornel.ski/radiance
I've updated my #RadianceCascades implementation (2D GI shader). It's still a bit of a mess.
https://github.com/kornelski/bevy_flatland_radiance_cascades
Reblogged by bcantrill ("Bryan Cantrill"):
I've wanted to cover this topic on Oxide and Friends for a looooong time. Pretty early on we knew we wanted a robust structure for roughly transactional, multi-service operations.
@dap took the lead in building Steno -- and he talked us through its evolution.
@bcantrill and I were also joined by our colleagues @mycoliza, Andrew Stone, Greg Colombo, and James MacMahon as they've encountered tricky problems, built out complex sagas, and extended the core concept.
slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
This (by @louie, via @film_girl) is all correct, but it's also capitalism. The disciplining mechanism under capitalism is competition.
Disruption must come from within. Apple's preventing that by keeping competing browsers out of iOS while simultaneously f'ing over important features that would let PWAs compete.
So you can call them "evil" for screwing over users and developers, but under capitalism, the *effective* thing to do is to support @owa
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
eosfpodcast@universeodon.com ("Rod Faulkner") wrote:
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason") wrote:
Every time I hear the “novelty and creativity is rare” line I get so angry I have to stand up and pace to calm down
Language, art, and media are massively combinatorial. We’ve barely been able to scratch the surface of what’s possible because we’re locked in economic systems built on uniformity and in industries that always choose the broken and bland to boost short term profits
The absence of novelty is down to economics and your mindsets. The media themselves are as unexplored as the galaxy
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
globalmuseum@mastodon.online ("Global Museum") wrote:
More than 3500 year old Minoan Road, the oldest road in Europe.
This incredibly ancient road stretches for 50km from Knossos in Crete; Greece, through the mountains to Gortyn and Lebena.
The road had side drains, a 200mm thick pavement of sandstone blocks bound with clay-gypsum mortar, covered by a layer of basaltic flagstones and had separate shoulders.
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
jencmars@mastodon.art ("Jen C Mars") wrote:
City wildlife.
Raised from our garden (they like the golden Alexander), we still have a few more and loads of monarch caterpillars.
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
warandpeas ("War and Peas 🧿") wrote:
It's INTERNATIONAL CAT DAY and that's our olympics!
Give your cat an extra cuddle today and if you don't have one – have a heart – and go pet that shaggy stray alley cat! Lord Nibbles will be proud of you and might spare you from eternal damnation.
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
A comparison to help understand the difference of scale:
A *million* seconds ago was early August.
A *billion* seconds ago was the early 1990s.
slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
Take it from me, someone who spent a decade of his life in TC39 trying to make JavaScript better for people that want to write JavaScript (not some other language): your website doesn't need as much JavaScript as people want to sell you in 2024.
Not by a long shot.
Reblogged by collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth"):
patrickworld@mastodon.online ("Patrick 🌎") wrote:
Sorry I'm late, there was a huge DDoS attack on my alarm clock
Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
anatudor ("Ana Tudor 🐯") wrote:
Minimal interactive before vs. after image comparison slider on @codepen
https://codepen.io/thebabydino/pen/MWMvxxX✨ a single element, no ::before or ::after
✨ under 20 CSS declarations
✨ JS only needed to update 1 CSS variable on dragCan you guess how I did it before checking the demo?
#css #frontend #imageEffect #code #coding #web #webDev #dev #js #javascript #webDevelopment
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
Kamala Harris edges past Donald Trump in economic trust: Poll
“While Harris’s lead over Trump remains within the margin of error, her jump in the polls over President Biden’s July performance is statistically significant.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4823799-voters-trust-harris-economy/
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
‘“Companies fire workers who try to join unions, and hide behind toothless laws that are meant to protect working people but are manipulated to benefit corporations,” O’Brien said at the RNC in Milwaukee.
“This is economic terrorism at its best,” said O’Brien.’
and Trump applauds…
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
idiots, complaining about Harris giving a stump speech on the campaign trail.
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
Reminder that my book—Rust Atomics and Locks—is freely available online: https://marabos.nl/atomics/ 😊
(If you read it, please leave a review on https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63291820-rust-atomics-and-locks)
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
funhouseradio@mastodon.world ("FunHouse Radio") wrote:
► https://FunHouseRadio.com <-- TUNE IN
#baby #girl #eyebrows #makeup #cute #funny #goofy #photos #meme #memes
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
funhouseradio@mastodon.world ("FunHouse Radio") wrote:
► https://FunHouseRadio.com <-- TUNE IN
#comic #cartoon #games #ouch #cringe #meme #memes
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
dgar@aus.social ("Dgar") wrote:
If you were six years old when the original Rock Lobster came out, you’d B-52 now…
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
logicalelegance@mastodon.online ("Elecia White") wrote:
On @embedded, we had a wonderful conversation with Professor Colleen Lewis about teaching computer science and researching the best way to teach CS. It included discussions of using stuffed animals to explain pointers (as well as polymorphism).
We also talked about self-motivation through stickers and treats.
We did not talk about the evolutionary biology of foxes.
Here is the transcript of the conversation:
Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
GuillaumeRossolini@infosec.exchange ("Guillaume Rossolini") wrote:
@slightlyoff I’ve wanted to get back to you for a while because you were a big reason for our e-commerce website being the way it was, technically speaking.
We took your earlier publications to heart, and we applied every kind of optimization we could think of, just to try and stay a little bit ahead of the competition. I think we did all right in that respect.
When the company was shut down at the end of 2018, I finally put together a document outlining our techniques. It’s not a tutorial and lots of things aren’t perfect, but I think a lot of this can still be used.
I was weirdly proud of the server-side cached pre-renders for several cohorts (at FRONTEND > web server > httpd in the link below), which we were continuously building for the 5 most viewed pages. These on disk static pages didn’t have a long TTL but this allowed us to reevaluate the need for a pricy CDN.
These Apache2 rules allow for high throughput of the pages that are cached in this way. Because of this, we have been able to withstand traffic generated through TV mentions and other publicity without the help of a CDN or any autoscaling.
Of course we eventually placed nginx in front of httpd and these rules became somewhat redundant, but not if you include brotli and other CPU-heavy compression.
Anyway I’m geeking out on a dead website. Here’s the doc:
Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
joeri_s@mstdn.social ("Joeri Sebrechts") wrote:
@slightlyoff Having been on the inside I understand how this happens. Angular or React get mandated up front in contract requirements to make sure industry standards are followed. Then a team is assigned who is inexperienced with those frameworks, struggle to ship the actual featureset, and by the time they get around to fixing performance the budget is gone, or the customer is unwilling to go through UAT again. “Wrong tool or wrong team?” is then in the eye of the beholder.
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Ray Kurzweil makes the same silly predictions he always does. Publishers continue to publish it.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/08/13/the-end-is-imminenter-maybe/
Reblogged by isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:"):
From another social media feed
"A coffee shop in Singapore invented the "Sweet Little Rain."
This coffee or tea is served with a puff of cotton candy.The steam from the coffee rises to dissolve the cotton candy, and the puff begins to "rain" onto the coffee cup."
slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
The frontend community is in crisis. I know, because I could spend every waking hour helping e-commerce and productivity apps fix the *unbelievably* bad performance that is now the hallmark of contemporary, JavaScript-first web development.
But it's worse than that. This stuff has infected public services; the sorts of sites that have to serve *everyone*, iPhone or no.
Part 2 of this series is the hardest to watch, but essential to understand how far we've fallen:
slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
Folks, if you're annoyed by the Apple/Patreon thing and are wondering what to do about it, go support @owa. The answer to App Store shittiness was never a slightly less shitty proprietor, it's true alternative platforms...platforms like the web.
@owa fought back and won when Apple tried to kill PWAs this spring, and now they're pushing to make web apps and better iOS browsers a reality so that Patreon and whoever is in line after them can flourish w/o 30% taxes.
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Maybe, just maybe, it's Texas that sucks.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/08/13/its-just-texas-they-wont-mind/
"Stratasys looks like your nice neighbor you want to grill with, while BBL and others are silently setting up patent portfolios so broad, we, the 3dp community, will be lucky if we can fart, silently, in a few years."
-- Josef Prusa
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
I didn't watch last night's clusterfuck, sorry.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/08/13/i-did-not-watch-the-musk-trump-interview-did-you/
Reblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
NanoRaptor@bitbang.social wrote:
Thank goodness it's inkfluenza, not tonervirus.
cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
Regarding LB[1]: There's some really telling anecdotes regarding the relationships between management and the laborers who do the work and keep customers happy.
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
csepp@merveilles.town ("Csepp 🌢") wrote:
"The point of telling the customer what has happened is to establish that the problem was addressed in a professional manner, and this requires being able to tell what the machine is doing and being able to say what was done to fix it."
slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
Part 2: Object Lesson
What hath we wrought? A case study of US public services and the JavaScript that broke them.
slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
Part 2: Object Lesson
What hath we wrought? A case study of US public services and the JavaScript that broke them.
isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:") wrote:
Kubo and the Two Strings is a fantastic movie! Watch it if you haven't.
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
This whole Apple/Patreon debacle reaffirms my belief that PWAs are actually the future.
With how much Apple skims (and Google), companies could boost profits by *over 42%* by just saying no to app stores.
It might sound wildly unrealistic right now, but the cracks are already showing.
No wonder Safari bends over backwards to undermine PWAs. It won't work forever though. It's too big a number for companies to ignore. Through migration or through mitigation (or both), the bubble will burst.
Reblogged by rmrenner ("The Old Gay Gristle Fest"):
Jo@social.sublingual.xyz ("Sublingual Multimedia") wrote:
"Cya later loser, I'm off to cruise ..... Utopia 🖕"
Jude Law as Johnny Utopia in "Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity: The Movie"
Reblogged by collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth"):
mattwilcox@mstdn.social ("Matt Wilcox") wrote:
Do Americans realise how absolutely insane the very concept of “purging a voter registration list” is? You have to *register to vote*? What are you even talking about?
Are you a citizen? Then you should automatically get a vote. There isn’t anything to administer. You live there. The government serves you; not you it. Voting isn’t supposed to be a privilege, or reward.
The obvious abuse vector that any system other than “all citizens vote” becomes is astounding.
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
genehack@dementedandsadbut.social wrote:
Anybody aware of a federated Meetup alternative? #lazyWeb
cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
I'm listening to Blondie's "Picture This" and I hear Harry mention pocket computer, and I'm like, "A pocket computer? In 1978? What is she talking about? A calculator? Some sort of non-electronic computing device like a slide rule or wheel?" :thonking:
cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
That's what's on my mind as I listen to the album. 😆
Also, I didn't know there was some creepy background vocals on "One Way or Another".
cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
Debbie Harry's little growl in some of the songs off "Parallel Lines".
slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
For the past few weeks I've been working on a post (now a series) that investigates what JavaScript-based frontend development has done to these, the least of our brothers.
Today, Part 1: The Landscape
https://infrequently.org/2024/08/the-landscape/
Subscribe to the RSS feed for the rest of the series as it comes out.
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
kwf@social.afront.org ("Kenneth Finnegan") wrote:
Fucking FINALLY. Admin local DNS namespace! https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/08/dot_internal_ratified/
cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
One thought I have is a memorial day where engineering failures are recounted along with the lessons that were extracted that prevents or mitigates future failures. Something to keep us humble, remind us of the seriousness of the work, and reinforce the hard lessons of the past.
cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:
Learning about the 1937 school explosion in New London has me thinking about ways people involved in engineering (using a *very* inclusive definition of that term) could build and maintain a culture of care and safety outside of laws, regulations, and professional societies as one bulwark against regulatory capture and capitalist greed.
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
NewsDesk@flipboard.social ("Flipboard News Desk") wrote:
"New preliminary data from major U.S. cities shows a sharp drop in violent crime in the first half of the year — more than 25% in some communities — as the COVID-era crime wave recedes."
@AxiosNews reports: "The drop in violent crime puts a serious dent in one of the most frequently used lines of attack by former President Trump and his allies, who have sought to tie Democrats to the issue since 2020."
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
UnicornRiot ("Unicorn Riot") wrote:
The 90th Anniversary of the 1934 Truckers’ Strike Honors Minneapolis’ Militant Labor History
Union members, labor leaders, and descendants of the 1934 Truckers’ Strike honor the 90th anniversary of the historic strike in south Minneapolis.
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
theintercept@journa.host ("The Intercept") wrote:
The U.S. just resumed sales of bombs and missiles to the Gulf state, which still owes $15 million for jet fuel from its war on Yemen. https://theintercept.com/2024/08/12/saudi-arms-sales-yemen/
isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:") wrote:
My #Flickr personal feed have broken today in a funny way: it's empty save for a single photo from one of about 50 people I follow, posted 7 years ago. The photo is a nude portrait of the account's author :-)
Thanks Flickr, I guess? :-)
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
The End. No more summer.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/08/12/doom-doom-dooooom/
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
any informed opinions on this analysis?
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-african-governments-can-regain-the-trust-of-their-citizens/
Reblogged by isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:"):
Waxingtonknee@mastodon.org.uk ("Waxing and Waning") wrote:
@isagalaev I never left Firefox. I was there that day in '04 when we broke the 'most downloaded' in 24 hours record. I was there during the buggy years and I'm still here today, despite Mozilla's misguided attempts to get on the AI bandwagon.
If a website won't work on Firefox I won't give them my business. No my browser isn't out of date, your website has failed basic compliance.
nadim@infosec.exchange ("Nadim Kobeissi") wrote:
Never mind, I found this. https://github.com/aadomn/aes
nadim@infosec.exchange ("Nadim Kobeissi") wrote:
Are there any AES implementations out there that implement the S-Box lookup algebraically (GF(2⁸) byte inversion followed by affine transformation) so as to avoid the timing side-channels associated with table lookups? Performance not an issue!
Reblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
caseyliss ("Casey Liss") wrote:
This is so gross. 👎🏻 × ∞
When is Apple going to realize that rent-seeking anywhere and everywhere is not only a bad look, but will get them regulated straight to hell?
(And at this point, it's more than deserved. Bring it on.)
https://news.patreon.com/articles/understanding-apple-requirements-for-patreon
Reblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
kate@fosstodon.org ("Kate Morley") wrote:
From the Guardian: “Banksy has unveiled the eighth artwork in his animal-themed collection in London, a mural of a rhinoceros that looks as though it is climbing on top of a car.”
Yes, “climbing on top of”:
nadim@infosec.exchange ("Nadim Kobeissi") wrote:
Addendum:
Signal should be a driver of new cryptography like it once was. Its initial success and influence stemmed from its pioneering approach to cryptographic innovation. The development of the Signal Protocol, which now underpins the security of not just Signal but also other major platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, was a groundbreaking achievement that set a new standard for secure communication. However, in recent years, Signal has lost its momentum as a driver of new cryptographic methods and standards.
The real cost isn't in making bad decisions: it's in not making good ones. The consequences of inaction can be just as severe, if not more so, than the consequences of making poor decisions. Signal’s current trajectory reflects a dangerous complacency, where the organization seems more concerned with avoiding mistakes than with seizing opportunities for improvement. This mindset has led to a failure to address emerging threats proactively and to capitalize on opportunities to enhance the platform’s security and user experience.
When an organization like Signal hesitates to innovate or to implement necessary changes due to fear of potential backlash or technical challenges, it creates a vacuum. This vacuum is quickly filled by adversaries who exploit the weaknesses Signal has failed to address, or by competing platforms, such as Telegram, that offer better UX but infinitely worse security guarantees.
nadim@infosec.exchange ("Nadim Kobeissi") wrote:
Regarding my recent critiques of Signal:
Over the past few months, I have not hesitated to voice strong criticism against Signal, a platform that many in the privacy and security community regard as one of the most robust tools available for secure communication. My critiques have centered on what I perceive to be significant technical and institutional failings—issues that are not merely theoretical but have tangible implications for the security and privacy of millions of users worldwide. However, despite these criticisms, I must emphasize that Signal remains, in many ways, one of the best solutions we have. This essay seeks to balance my harsh criticisms with an acknowledgment of Signal's continued importance while underscoring the urgent need for accountability and reform within the organization.
The main issue with Signal today is not the technology itself but the institutional rot and lack of accountability that have taken root within the organization. The security community has been too deferential, too willing to give Signal a pass on issues that would not be tolerated from other organizations. This must change. Signal needs a watchdog—a mechanism of external accountability that can hold the organization to the high standards it claims to uphold.
Technical Failings: A Case of Mismanagement, Not Ineptitude
My concerns about Signal's technical direction are rooted in specific, actionable issues that the organization has, thus far, handled poorly. The implementation of usernames, for example, was executed in a manner that arguably undermines the privacy standards Signal is supposed to champion. Rather than adopting a more privacy-preserving approach, Signal opted for a method that, while functional, exposes users to potential risks that could have been mitigated with better design choices. More specifically, Signal tied usernames to phone numbers, which gives its users a false sense of safety by encouraging them to distribute their usernames online, not necessarily realizing that their phone numbers and revealable by a simple legal request tied to that supposedly pseudonymous username.
Moreover, the degradation of Signal's security standards over time is troubling. As new cryptographic attacks emerge, one would expect Signal to be at the forefront of addressing these vulnerabilities. Instead, we've seen a slow, sometimes dismissive response to these threats despite their practical implications and despite them being presented at top-tier security conferences (one random example: https://cs-people.bu.edu/kaptchuk/publications/ndss21.pdf) which not only erodes trust but also puts users at unnecessary risk. The recently handling of Signal Desktop's security weaknesses—initially radically downplayed and then suddenly addressed when public pressure mounted—is a stark example of this reactive, rather than proactive, approach.
Signal's approach to censorship circumvention further illustrates this trend. The reliance on random people running NGINX proxy Docker containers, advertised haphazardly by volunteers on social media, lacks the rigor and foresight expected of a platform that markets itself as a bastion of secure communication. Without a proper web of trust, these solutions are not only ineffective but potentially dangerous.
Institutional Failings: Accountability and Transparency in Decline
Institutionally, Signal's trajectory raises serious concerns. The organization's repeated appeals for donations, juxtaposed against a $1M USD compensation package for its new president, Meredith Whittaker (right as she wrote blog posts begging for users to donate) and a staggering $50M loan, suggest a misalignment of priorities. Signal's status as a 501c3 nonprofit should imply a commitment to frugality and transparency, yet the financial decisions being made seem more aligned with corporate self-interest than with the values of the open-source community.
The composition of Signal's board of directors exacerbates these concerns. When leadership surrounds themselves with personal friends, including individuals with controversial backgrounds especially in global activist circles, it not only undermines trust but also raises questions about the governance and decision-making processes within the organization. Signal increasingly appears to be more focused on the personal brand and career advancement of its leadership than on fulfilling its core mission.
A Call for Constructive Criticism and Vigilance
Despite these criticisms, it is important to recognize that Signal remains one of the few tools we have that can provide secure and private communication in a world where such capabilities are under constant threat. The platform's underlying technology, when properly implemented and maintained, is still among the best available. But this does not mean we should turn a blind eye to its flaws.
It bears repeating: the main issue with Signal today is not the technology itself but the institutional rot and lack of accountability that have taken root within the organization. The security community has been too deferential, too willing to give Signal a pass on issues that would not be tolerated from other organizations. This must change. Signal needs a watchdog—a mechanism of external accountability that can hold the organization to the high standards it claims to uphold.
In conclusion, while my critique of Signal has been harsh, it comes from a place of genuine concern for the platform's future and its role in the broader privacy and security ecosystem. Signal is too important to fail, but it is also too important to be allowed to continue on its current path without scrutiny. As users, donors, and members of the security community, we have a responsibility to hold Signal accountable, to demand better, and to ensure that it lives up to the promise of secure, private communication for all.
Signal can and should be better. It is not too late for the organization to course-correct, but that will only happen if we refuse to let our respect for the platform blind us to its flaws. Constructive criticism, combined with a commitment to transparency and accountability, is the only way forward.
For reference, my recent threads on Signal:
- Today's thread on Signal's censorship-circumvention strategy: https://x.com/kaepora/status/1822884292596224393
- Critiques of Signal's new leadership: https://x.com/kaepora/status/1811336288521347109
- Research publications that Signal has downplayed and ignored: https://x.com/kaepora/status/1810613043685888399
Reblogged by zack@toot.cafe ("Zack"):
0x1C3B00DA@stereophonic.space wrote:
And there was already prior art on this that the #mastodon team ignored. That's #mastodev for you :blobokhand:
https://indieweb.org/rel-author#How_to_link_to_ActivityPub_followable_profile
Reblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
rgegriff@hackers.town ("Chrisshy Keygen") wrote:
So theres this weird rich dude in our town, right? Total nepo baby; has all this money from his dad's corporation or whatever.
Anyway, dude is tweeked; started dressing up like some kinda shadow or whatever and kicking the shit out of like shoplifters or whatever. Drives around in a rocket car, has ALL SORTS of definitely illegal weapons that he embezzled from his dad's company.
The thing is, he personally donates like 90% of the police budget every year; so the cops OBVIOUSLY can't arrest him.
So the commissioner came up with this idea to get actors to start dressing up as all these eccentric criminals and staging elaborate fake crimes to keep him busy. Really clever, I mean, this guy's not gonna waste his time beating up some high schooler for selling weed when there is a literal clown threatening to blow up the modern art museum or whatever.
I think the local news channels are in on it, too. They're all like "oh my God! Who's this mysterious masked justice crusader stoping all these super villains?" Lmao; like my guy, your mask covers like 1/3 of your face. You show up on earnings calls with a busted lip and a black eye. We all know who you are.
Delusional weirdo...
It's the weirdest system, but it seems to work for now.
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
"Creepy weird apocalyptic conspiracy theories about sex" is the long way to say "Catholic."
Gargron ("Eugen Rochko") wrote:
John Rylands Library.
📷 Pentax KX
🎞️ Ilford Delta 400
🔭 Pentax M 50mm/1.7
⚗️ Come Through Lab#BelieveInFilm #FilmPhotography #AnalogPhotography #BlackAndWhitePhotography #BlackAndWhite #MonochromePhotography #35mm #Manchester
Reblogged by bcantrill ("Bryan Cantrill"):
kvnweb@hachyderm.io ("Kevin Webb") wrote:
After listening to the fantastic @oxidecomputer + friends discussion on LLMs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPTAX30ttMQ) I decided to follow Nicholas Carlini's recommendation to push my requests beyond the point of usefulness.
Success!
@bcantrill I think this is a copy of the form the LLMs have to fill out when they're sent back up state. tbh, I feel a bit like a nark.
slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
This is the ballgame. Apple know it. It's why they won't engage on the topic in public, and won't do more than back-channel comforting sounding noises nearly a decade after Android browsers began offering prompts.
slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
How terrified of the web is Apple?
*they won't even give us the ability to implement this stuff in other WebKit-based browsers*
Without the ability to either contribute code for this (as Apple has claimed to regulators on the regular that WebKit as an OSS project would *totally* be up for, *wink wink*), or Apple providing appropriate hooks (nevermind an implementation in Safari, which is table-stakes for parity with Safari prompting to offer native apps), the web on mobile is D.O.A.
slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
The idea that *anyone* would accept the terms of Apple's App Store for things that can *obviously* be PWAs, in 2024, is offensive.
The one and only reason this persists is that Apple will not implement installation prompts and/or `onbeforeinstallprompt` like big-boy browsers do.
Even if you ignore the entire universe of asshattery and brokenness that is WebKit today, this alone would be anticompetitive nonsense in a world with App "Smart Banners"
isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:") wrote:
Try #Firefox today please.
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
The problem isn't so much which one you are; the problem is that neither will ever naturally believe the other. Each method seems utterly disingenuous to a communicator of the opposite style. (And more likely than not, whichever you are, your partner is probably the opposite.)
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
It strikes me that there are two types of communicators:
1. People who expect others to hear what was *said*;
2. People who expect others to hear what was *intended.*
Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
leaverou@front-end.social ("Lea Verou") wrote:
Unpopular opinion: I’m sick of seeing #i18n, #a11y, and #usability sacrificed in the futile crusade against fingerprinting.
IMO if there is a solution to fingerprinting it will be a general one. Trying to restrict bits of entropy is a fool’s errand and is crippling the Web platform.
(Related to https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/blink-dev/c/YTn8pqJDVBg/m/o8AAwSK3BgAJ )
Reblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io ("mekka okereke :verified:") wrote:
🤔Anti-woke guy starts a crusade against plagiarism, not realizing that this would destroy his wife's academic reputation.
🤔Anti-woke guy starts an inquiry into Walz not going on deployment, not anticipating that this re-opens the conversation on his running mates' draft dodging and insulting gold star families and POWs.
🤔 Anti-woke guy starts an investigation into crowd sizes, not anticipating that people will point to his many empty stands.
They're genuinely surprised by equal treatment.🤷🏿♂️
With the merging of RFC #3672, the Rust project has selected a slate of 26 Project Goals for the second half of 2024 (2024H2). This is our first time running an experimental new roadmapping process; assuming all goes well, we expect to be running the process roughly every six months. Of these goals, we have designated three of them as our flagship goals, representing our most ambitious and most impactful efforts: (1) finalize preparations for the Rust 2024 edition; (2) bring the Async Rust experience closer to parity with sync Rust; and (3) resolve the biggest blockers to the Linux kernel building on stable Rust. As the year progresses we'll be posting regular updates on these 3 flagship goals along with the 23 others.
All the goals selected ultimately further Rust's mission of empowering everyone to build reliable and efficient software. Rust targets programs that prioritize
We consider "any two out of the three" to be the right heuristic for projects where Rust is a strong contender or possibly the best option, and we chose our goals in part so as to help ensure this is true.
2024 Edition. 2024 will mark the 4th Rust edition, following on the 2015, 2018, and 2021 editions. Similar to the 2021 edition, the 2024 edition is not a "major marketing push" but rather an opportunity to correct small ergonomic issues with Rust that will make it overall much easier to use. The changes planned for the 2024 edition include (1) supporting -> impl Trait and async fn in traits by aligning capture behavior; (2) permitting (async) generators to be added in the future by reserving the gen keyword; and (3) altering fallback for the ! type. The plan is to finalize development of 2024 features this year; the Edition itself is planned for Rust v1.85 (to be released to beta 2025-01-03 and to stable on 2025-02-20).
Async. In 2024 we plan to deliver several critical async Rust building block features, most notably support for async closures and Send bounds. This is part of a multi-year program aiming to raise the experience of authoring "async Rust" to the same level of quality as "sync Rust". Async Rust is widely used, with 52% of the respondents in the 2023 Rust survey indicating that they use Rust to build server-side or backend applications.
Rust for Linux. The experimental support for Rust development in the Linux kernel is a watershed moment for Rust, demonstrating to the world that Rust is indeed capable of targeting all manner of low-level systems applications. And yet today that support rests on a number of unstable features, blocking the effort from ever going beyond experimental status. For 2024H2 we will work to close the largest gaps that block support.
In addition to the flagship goals, the roadmap defines 23 other goals. Here is a subset to give you a flavor:
Check out the whole list! (Go ahead, we'll wait, but come back here afterwards!)
As the year progresses, we will be posting regular blog posts summarizing the progress on the various goals. If you'd like to see more detail, the 2024h2 milestone on the rust-lang/rust-project-goals repository has tracking issues for each of the goals. Each issue is assigned to the owner(s) of that particular goal. You can subscribe to the issue to receive regular updates, or monitor the #project-goals channel on the rust-lang Zulip. Over time we will likely create other ways to follow along, such as a page on rust-lang.org to visualize progress (if you'd like to help with that, reach out to @nikomatsakis, thanks!).
It's worth stating up front: we don't expect all of these goals to be completed. Many of them were proposed and owned by volunteers, and it's normal and expected that things don't always work out as planned. In the event that a goal seems to stall out, we can either look for a new owner or just consider the goal again in the next round of goal planning.
Each project goal began as a PR against the rust-lang/rust-project-goals repository. As each PR came in, the goals were socialized with the teams. This process sometimes resulted in edits to the goals or in breaking up larger goals into smaller chunks (e.g., a far-reaching goal for "higher level Rust" was broken into two specific deliverables, a user-wide build cache and ergonomic ref counting). Finally, the goals were collated into RFC #3672, which listed each goals as well as all the asks from the team. This RFC was approved by all the teams that are being asked for support or other requests.
To me, the most exciting thing about the Project Goals program has been seeing the goals coming from outside the existing Rust maintainers. My hope is that the Project Goal process can supplement RFCs as an effective "front door" for the project, offering people who have the resources and skill to drive changes a way to float that idea and get feedback from the Rust teams before they begin to work on it.
Project Goals also help ensure the sustainability of the Rust open source community. In the past, it was difficult to tell when starting work on a project whether it would be well-received by the Rust maintainers. This was an obstacle for those who would like to fund efforts to improve Rust, as people don't like to fund work without reasonable confidence it will succeed. Project goals are a way for project maintainers to "bless" a particular project and indicate their belief that it will be helpful to Rust. The Rust Foundation is using project goals as one of their criteria when considering fellowship applications, for example, and I expect over time other grant programs will do the same. But project goals are useful for others, too: having an approved project goal can help someone convince their employer to give them time to work on Rust open source efforts, for example, or give contractors the confidence they need to ensure their customer they'll be able to get the work done.
The next round of goal planning will be targeting 2025H1 and is expected to start in October. We look forward to seeing what great ideas are proposed!
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
I met a man at the county fair who tried to tell me that creationists do real science.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/08/11/francis-bacon-vs-ken-ham/
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
Also on the list:
- The Talos Principle
- The Last Campfire
- Arkham City
- Resident Evil 4 HD (I actually might have finished this one on Xbox360 ages ago but stopped halfway through it on Switch)
- New Super Mario Bros. U (actually I had finished that one, but never 100%, so I checked that off the list)
- Animal Well (had finished before, but got the "good ending" for the first time)
bcantrill ("Bryan Cantrill") wrote:
In building Omicron, the control plane at Oxide, we took inspiration from Caitie McCaffrey's resurrection of an old database idea, sagas, as long-lived distributed transactions. On Monday, @ahl and I we will be joined by Oxide engineers @dap and @mycoliza to retell our own saga with sagas in Omicron: why we used it as an abstraction, some of the limitations we encountered, how we addressed those limitations, and where we find use for it today. Join us, 5p Pacific!
Reblogged by bcantrill ("Bryan Cantrill"):
Nicholas Carlini joined me and @bcantrill to talk about his terrific blog post on his many pragmatic uses of LLMs to solve real problems. He has great advice about when to use them (often!) and what kinds of problems they handle well. LLMs aren't great at many things, but used well they can be an amazing tool.
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
2024 has been the year of circling back to old games I stopped playing and finally finishing them.
Currently working on Undertale, which I'd never gotten more than an hour or two into before, but which I'm now finding to be charming and delightful.
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Nice day in the midwest…and then this guy parks next to you.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/08/11/sighted-in-morris/
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
Apple seriously treats its users like irresponsible toddlers.
Reblogged by collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth"):
dgar@aus.social ("Dgar") wrote:
Warrior: I swear I will have my revenge for the death of my brother!
Elf: You have my bow.
Dwarf: And my axe.
Necromancer: And your brother.
Reblogged by nadim@infosec.exchange ("Nadim Kobeissi"):
BradRubenstein@infosec.exchange ("Brad Rubenstein “:verified:”") wrote:
Good Bones, by Maggie Smith (2016)
Reblogged by isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:"):
galdor@emacs.ch ("Nicolas Martyanoff") wrote:
One of the many infortunate consequences of the success of GitHub is that lots of developers are now convinced that development has to be a public, social activity.
You do not have to release everything you build. You do not have to accept patches. You do not have to answer to emails or to issues. You do not have to fix bugs or implement features. You do not even have to continue working on your projects.
If any aspect of your public work stresses you, remember that.
Reblogged by isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:"):
terrybot@frikiverse.zone ("Terrybot :pratchett:") wrote:
Botswana is also the only country in the world with a colour in its flag meant to represent rain (a sort of blue-grey). Not many people know this.
Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
democratsabroad ("Democrats Abroad") wrote:
A real father always takes care of his daughter.
Vote for the dad who cares.
#HarrisWalz #VoteBlue #Democrats #Election2024 #DemocratsAbroad
Reblogged by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
SmudgeTheInsultCat@mas.to ("Smudge The Insult Cat 🐀") wrote:
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:
I don't know how we resist the Trojan horse that is #threads, like I don't have all the answers. Digging deeper into what Zuck was doing really just came from a general distrust with every move that company makes (like most people).
But back in December it felt like the best thing we could do is be loud about it. Don't let them dominate the discourse.
https://fromjason.xyz/p/notebook/how-do-we-stop-meta-in-2024-we-fix-the-information-loop/
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:
When this post made the rounds eight months ago, it was not well received. "Alarmist, conspiratorial" blah blah blah. 😅
Today, it's a bit more obvious what #Meta is doing. So now it's, "of course Meta is pivoting. It's not a big deal."
In eight months from now, when they're migrating the #fediverse to Meta infrastructure, then it will be, "well, nothing we can do about it now."
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Our podish-sortacast is firing up shortly.
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/08/10/podish-sortacast-reminder/
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
Well I guess his running mate looks like an Oompah Loompah, so...there's that.
collinsworth@hachyderm.io ("Josh Collinsworth") wrote:
Why does JD Vance always look like he just ate some of Willy Wonka's forbidden candy and it's just starting to kick in
Gargron ("Eugen Rochko") wrote:
Molly.
📷 Pentax KX
🎞️ Kodak Portra 400
🔭 Pentax M 50mm/1.7
⚗️ Come Through Lab#BelieveInFilm #FilmPhotography #AnalogPhotography #35mm #Manchester #Caturday #CatsOfMastodon
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
sweeeeeeet
jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
ugh
https://daringfireball.net/linked/2024/08/07/mac-os-15-sequoia-gatekeeper
Reblogged by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤"):
"HACK THE PLANET!"
pzmyers@octodon.social ("pzmyers 🦑") wrote:
Tim Walz's church believes in "the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural". Heresy!
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2024/08/10/the-first-crack-in-tim-walzs-perfection-appears/
fromjason ("fromjason.xyz 🖤") wrote:
Mark Zuckerberg's objection to the #KOSA bill is pure political theatre. Once that bill passes, compliance with the new law becomes complicated and pricey. Independent servers will be desperate for help.
And there's only one company positioned to snatch them all up— #Meta.
For all intense and purposes, the #Fediverse will be under Zuck's thumb.
Regulatory capture.
![Damn, but they only have one joke. "Don't worry…[picture of assault rifle]…it identifies as a crossbow TRUMP 2024. Yeehaw.](https://files.mastodon.social/cache/media_attachments/files/112/945/080/993/528/768/original/331eb1b2eb51e397.jpeg){kind=link}
