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slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

In all seriousness, though...it should cost more (psychically) to add bajillions of deps to a project's tree, and the cost should go up the heavier it already is.

Call it a Module Wealth Tax.

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

The idea that package managers are "bad" or "evil" is wrong. OTOH, the consequences of low-friction software accretion are bad, and sometimes evil. We need a middle ground. That's why I support forcing CAPTCHAs for every dependency, including for each sub-dependency, including for every update.

(this is a joke...ish)

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

@NfNitLoop +1000; this is not a "people don't know how to code" thing, it's a "wow, this inscrutable quasi-syntax that adds spooky action at a distance and provides no temporal clarity might not actually be great" thing.

slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

Did not think that this was how we were going to learn to appreciate every NPM dependency as a high-interest, unstructured loan, but if frontend decides to re-evaluate "fling it together, hope for the best" culture, I'll take it.

adam@social.lol ("Adam") wrote:

imagine what we could have if the teams behind the vape web server and the doom pregnancy test joined forces

Boosted by adele@social.pollux.casa ("Adële 🐁"):
rl_dane@polymaths.social ("R.L. Dane :Debian: :OpenBSD: 🍵 :MiraLovesYou:") wrote:

Me in 2002: Dillo looks nice, and is way faster than Mozilla, but I don't think I can ever use it as my main browser.

Me in 2025: Dillo go brrrrr! XD

#No_JS_No_Problem! XD

#Dillo #DilloBrowser #NoScript #NoJS

NfNitLoop ("Cody Casterline 🏳️‍🌈") wrote:

@slightlyoff "The purpose of a system is what it does" and what React does is give you a loaded gun with which to shoot yourself, your team, and your users in your feet. 😆

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
dylan@dair-community.social wrote:

For example, as much as there are tech companies marketing unnecessary and extractive AI to teachers, there are ever-growing coalitions of teachers compiling creative new assignments and sharing syllabus language for alternative educational approaches, like https://against-a-i.com/

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
dylan@dair-community.social wrote:

You don't need to be a billionaire to make your vision of the future feel—or become— more real. You need other people around you to talk to and build stuff with.

NfNitLoop ("Cody Casterline 🏳️‍🌈") wrote:

@slightlyoff I find it frustrating that he says "This is the 101 React Mistake", "How did this ever get into production?", "Code like this should be so dang obvious".

Where's the empathy for the developers?

I'm not a FE engineer but I've used enough React to know about this problem and still it's not obvious, because it's hidden, unintuitive behavior. It looks like you're doing the right thing at the call site, unless you trace the whole code path to check the type of every param.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

With a few exceptions (mostly towers atop downtown switching offices in populated areas), no one was trying to make any of this utilitarian communications infrastructure *beautiful*. It was form strictly following function, built to be reliable and rugged.

But there was, I think, quite a bit of beauty to find in it. I wonder if we'll look at our current neighborhood cellular towers, now often regarded as a visual blight, the same way decades after they're (inevitably) also gone.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

The San Jose Oak Hill Tower is unique in a number of ways. This particular concrete brutalist design appears not to have been exactly replicated elsewhere; it was site-specific. It sits atop an underground switching center (that was partly used for a military contract), which explains the relatively hardened design.

Today the underground switch is still there, owned by AT&T, but the tower space is leased to land mobile and cellular providers. The old horn antennas at top are disconnected

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

For much of the 20th century, the backbone of the AT&T "Long Lines" long distance telephone network consisted primarily of terrestrial microwave links (rather than copper or fiber cables). Towers with distinctive KS-15676 "horn" antennas could be seen on hilltops and atop switching center buildings across the US; they were simply part of the American landscape.

Most of the relay towers were simple steel structures. This brutalist concrete platform in San Jose was, I believe, of a unique design.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Captured with the Rodenstock 50mm/4.0 HR Digaron-W lens (@ f/4.5) on a Cambo WRS-1600 camera (with about 15mm of vertical shift to preserve the geometry), the Phase One IQ4-150 back (@ ISO 50) in dual exposure mode (which preserves a couple stops of additional dynamic range into the shadows).

The tower's shape is irregular; it tapers slightly.

The wide angle and panoramic orientation give a bit of context, alone on a hill (which is being rapidly encroached by adjacent residential development).

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

AT&T Long Lines "Oak Hill" Tower, San Jose. CA. 2021.

All the pixels, none of the per-minute long distance charges, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/51261791084

#photography

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
dan@discuss.systems ("Dan Ports") wrote:

Please be sure to celebrate Seymour Cray's upcoming 100th birthday by digging a tunnel under your home.

Boosted by isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:"):
ratigupta@threads.net ("Rati Gupta") wrote:

Trump buddy Larry Ellison is set to take over Tiktok.

Larry's son David already took over CBS/Paramount.

And they're bidding to take over Warner Bros/Discovery/CNN.

There's a full scale media takeover happening - of news, entertainment, social media, everything - by a dictator's friends. Pay attention.

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
ProgressNowNM@social.progressnownm.org ("ProgressNow New Mexico") wrote:

The NM Health Department wrote a prescription for all NM residents, so if you want a COVID-19 vaccine, you can get it: https://sourcenm.com/2025/09/11/nm-health-department-provides-covid-19-vaccine-prescription-for-all-residents/

(every state's governor can do this, if they choose to)

#NewMexico #Vaccines #PublicHealth

cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:

TIL about the use of tritium in exit signs:

https://www.epa.gov/radtown/tritium-exit-signs

Via:

https://mastodon.tds.xyz/@whoopsie/115220274746686876

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
MicroSFF@mastodon.art ("Micro SF/F by O. Westin") wrote:

The dragon was curled up on its hoard.

A knight approached, unarmed and unhelmed.

"Greetings! I have a question about your hoard."

"If you try to steal it I will kill you."

"May I move it? With you still on it?"

The tiny dragon firmly gripped the golden tiara it laid on. "Carry it with pride."

#MicroFiction #TootFic #SmallStories

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
sam@social.coop ("Sam Whited") wrote:

This is probably a huge stretch, but there was a band about 10 years ago called "The Coffee Zombies" that played a mix of traditional folk tunes and jazz standards, mostly for #Contra dances. They had two albums, one of which I have and the other of which is not available for purchase outside of Apple as far as I can tell. Do I know anyone who knows anyone who happens to have "Good to the Last Beat" in either (rippable) CD or digital form?

https://musicbrainz.org/release/5b10b72b-aad2-4256-a66d-513d47503137

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
M0YNG@mastodon.radio ("Christopher M0YNG") wrote:

:alex_sigh:
"The Patriot Radio Club" emailed me offering "discounted" membership for the rest of the year.

Now, as much as I'd like to talk to their Chaplain about trans rights I'm not inclined to spend $24 a year for the privilege. Or the amazing discounted rate of $6 for the remaining 3.5 months of the year.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
onelsonsenna ("Nelson Senna") wrote:

LOOK AT MY MICROSERVICE THAT DOWNLOADS 1GB OF DEPENDENCIES THAT ALREADY EXIST IN MY MONOLITH

#dev #development #coding #devs

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

Why can't we get a dissection of Trump's lies on American TV?

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/09/17/must-see-tv-3/

denschub@schub.social ("Dennis Schubert") wrote:

okay, I'll make myself today's internet enemy now, but I'll say it: I like Liquid Glass(tm).

yes, there are a few rough edges, but nothing that can't be easily fixed, and i'm a huge sucker for neoskeumorphism, so...

you may now direct your hate towards me.

Boosted by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:

@bp Transpilers & frameworks sold on enabling speculative future syntax holding teams back from using current actual syntax? It's more likely than you think.

Boosted by adam@social.lol ("Adam"):
mihobu@social.lol ("Michael 😎") wrote:

Been making some changes lately, including letting a couple of domains expire and moving to subdomains. I’m down to two primary domains now—mihobu.lol and ai5.mx.

More significantly, I’ve scaled back my Eleventy experiment to just my main blog, although it still feels like it’s too “heavy duty” for my needs. I don’t love being dependent on my laptop either, but I’m sure there’s a way around that which I just haven’t figured out yet. (Pretty much everything I do is a trial-and-error thing.) I’m also a little reluctant to migrate to something else until I see what happens with Neato. But I like to tinker so who knows?

In the meantime, four of my five blogs are now back on omg.lol/weblog.lol. @adam has built a great set of tools and an amazing community there, and I’m proud to use and support it as much as I can. :prami_hearts:

#webdev #11ty

ChrisWere@toot.wales ("Chris Werewolf ⁂🐧🌱☕ 🎃💀🕸🐺") wrote:

Going live with Drew on YouTube
https://youtube.com/live/9o-qprmhYAE

ChrisWere@toot.wales ("Chris Werewolf ⁂🐧🌱☕ 🎃💀🕸🐺") wrote:

Shared some thoughts on Labour's weird infatuation with AI in my latest blog post. #UKPol

https://chriswere.wales/posts/starmer%E2%80%99s-ai-gamble-risks-labour%E2%80%99s-future.html

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

Missing out on a semester means I didn't see a whole new level of enshittification of education.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/09/17/its-going-to-be-hard-going-back-to-work-in-january/