Mastodon Feed: Posts

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

data structures are just ways to organize stuff, like a list of ingredients at the beginning of a recipe for a chocolate cake. algorithms are just step by step instructions to do stuff, like turn those ingredients into a chocolate cake.

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

[begin_prof_rant]

in the end, all programs are simply data structures and algorithms to do sh*t.

jwz wrote:

Do you have experience implementing recurring payments using authorize.net? Specifically, I'm interested in gotchas with replaying CIM tokens; best practices for retrying declines; expired cards, etc. Email me.

IMPORTANT: If you have never created a "createCustomerProfileFromTransactionRequest" XML node, this question is NOT FOR YOU.

I'm not soliciting advice about what third party intermediary company I should pay rent to, and I don't ever want to hear the word Stripe.
https://jwz.org/b/yk2l

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

in programming, I have learned as a general Rule Of Thumb to prefer >= and <= as the safest way to do selection and iteration tests. [warning: minorly long thread a'coming)

Gargron ("Eugen Rochko") wrote:

RE: https://mastodon.social/@STPo/115977879479030822

Excusez-moi?! I'm still on Mastodon, still working on Mastodon--I love it here. Seems like the journalist has now removed the paragraph from the article, but has not published a retraction, and the false statement is still in the audio version. Where did they get this idea from?

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
blotosmetek@circumstances.run ("Szymon Sokół 🇵🇱🇪🇺🇺🇦") wrote:

Unsolicited Programming Suggestion (UPS)¹:
When you code a condition for executing some action every N days, think what should happen if your system is down at the time of scheduled execution. For example, this #Python example code:

if current_day == previous_day + N:
   action()
   previous_day = current_day

will fail miserably – your action will not happen ever again. Replacing == with >= will solve the problem – assuming you want your action to be executed as soon as possible if the scheduled time was missed. If, however, your preferred solution is to skip the missed event altogether, but execute the next event at correct time, the % (modulo) operator is your friend:

if current_day % N == 0:
   action()

Of course, this holds for intervals expressed in any units, not just days, you just need to calculate your current_whatever accordingly – for example, current_hour = int(time.time()) // 3600 or current_week = int(time.time()) // (7*24*3600) .

Now you may ask "What about cron, isn't it its role to handle such things?"
Well, yes, but cron doesn't allow you to specify, for example, "every other week", and if you think this crontab entry: 0 12 */9 * * something will run something at noon every 9th day, you're in for a surprise, and you haven't read man 5 crontab carefully – at least on Debian it says:

# Run once every 9th day, even across week, month, and year boundaries:
33 22 * * *     expr $(date +\%s) / 60 / 60 / 24 \% 9 > /dev/null || echo Wax the floor.

Yes, this is what is needed to have your action actually performed on every 9th day rather than on 9th, 18th and 27th day of every month.

¹ I'll probably be posting more such #UPS based on my own or my coworkers' real life experiences…

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
Gustodon@mas.to ("Ω 🌍 Gus Posey") wrote:

As annoyed as I am with the incomprehensible fawning of celebrities like Dean Cain and Nicki Minaj, I am bothered slightly more by the absence of criticism from so-called Libertarians like Kurt Russel and Woody Harrelson.

#USPol

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
ilovewebsites@social.lol ("I ❤️ Websites Club") wrote:

Found mixtapes published to the web. Berlin (1994) is my personal favorite. Give it a listen, let me know if any spoke to you.

h/t @kottke

https://intertapes.net/

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
khleedril@cyberplace.social ("Khleedril") wrote:

Had a lot of fun building this card enterprise.

https://khleedril.org/blog/2012-11--card-enterprise.html

#startrek #indieweb

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻"):
springdiesel@spore.social ("Coach Spore Diesel") wrote:

It's annoying me that I can't find that quote from One Battle After Another where the member of the Christmas Adventurers Club says that the bounty hunter is probably Comanche, but he's definitely not home-grown.

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your weary 'net denizen"):
mconley@fosstodon.org ("Mike Conley (:mconley) ⚙️") wrote:

Some good lunchtime viewing:

https://youtu.be/Ru4aqzjvplw?si=%5F5mH5Acx9PX0H%5FwO

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your weary 'net denizen"):
combs@mastodon.art ("Chris Combs (he/him)") wrote:

Slopaganda

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
ZhiZhu@newsie.social ("Zhi Zhu 🕸️") wrote:

@aaron.rupar

"Do not compare ICE or Border Patrol agents to the Nazis. That's an unfair comparison.

The Nazis were willing to show their faces."
-Stephen Colbert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky5B7xrontY (at 4:34)

#ICE #ICEOut #CBP #DHS #FuckICE #Protest #Resist #Fascism #Trump #Nazis #Politics #US #USA #UnitedStates #America

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
mastodonmigration@mastodon.online ("Mastodon Migration") wrote:

News abounds of Schumer making a deal to fund ICE in exchange for... promises.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
globalmuseum@mastodon.online ("Global Museum") wrote:

Museum curator, 77, learns Gen Z slang and goes viral: ‘Honestly, she ate’.
The National Gallery of Art’s deputy head of sculpture stepped behind a 16th-century urn and began to describe it to the camera
https://archive.ph/sMEkR #globalmuseum #museums #GenZ #art

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
AltAltNPS@noc.social ("Alt Alt National Park Service") wrote:

Thank you to everyone for making calls. The Senate voted 55–45 to block the spending package.
https://bsky.app/profile/altnps.bsky.social/post/3mdld3nf3w22p
-
From resistance team of US Natl Park Svc
500+ char posts not resent
Unaffiliated w/ AltNPS
-
#AltNPS #Coup #Activism #NationalParkService #FederalGovernment #USpol #Trump

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
jeffjarvis ("Jeff Jarvis") wrote:

The only "negotiating" position from Minnesota, Minneapolis, and the Democrats should be: Get the fuck out out, murderers.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
mralancooper@hachyderm.io ("MrAlanCooper") wrote:

"now that we're living with the tariffs we were promised we could avoid by passing an anti-circumvention law, why don't we get rid of that law? There is so much money waiting for us if we go into business disenshittifying America's defective tech products."--@pluralistic
https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/29/post-american-canada/

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
DoomsdaysCW@kolektiva.social wrote:

#Oglala President Bans #ICE and U.S. Border Patrol from #OglalaLakota Nation, #PineRidge, South Dakota

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, January 28, 2026

"Oglala Lakota President #FrankStarComesOut issued a Presidential Proclamation today banning both ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol from the Oglala Lakota Nation. The #OglalaSioux Tribal Council banned ICE, and rejected an agreement to work with immigration officials, on January 21.

"President Star Comes Out points out in the Proclamation today that the U.S. Border Patrol is working with ICE in its 'unlawful conduct against Native people in #Minneapolis' -- which is within the Aboriginal Territory of the Great Sioux Nation.

"Calling it 'egregious conduct,' the President's Proclamation states that ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol are targeting minorities throughout the United States, and Native people are being detained and injured, in violation of Treaties and civil rights."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/01/oglala-president-bans-ice-and-us-border.html

#USPol #NativeAmericanNews
#ReaderSupportedNews #ICEOut #AbolishICE #BorderPatrol #MurderPatrol #NativeAmericansAreAmericans

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

makes very important points, all struggles do not require the same approach

https://infosec.exchange/@jwgoerlich/115979578756639631

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
jwgoerlich@infosec.exchange ("J Wolfgang Goerlich") wrote:

OODA loop can be useful. But also can be over-used.

First, most organizations aren’t fighter jets. They are aircraft carriers. Big. Slow.

Second, most teams are cross-functional. Cyber may OOD. But it’s front-line teams that Act.

Defenses still need to hold and win, even when (especially when) decisions and actions are sluggishly delayed.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
gwynnion ("Nowhere Girl") wrote:

Smokey got to be a big pugilist of a cat. He wasn't afraid of anything. We had some mean dogs people raised as guards and let loose on the neighborhood and they would chase and attack me sometimes. Smokey would fight the shit out of them to protect me.

He tolerated my brother but he didn't like most people otherwise.

But with me, he was always docile, always baby. He never bit or scratched me. He was a good boy.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
BrianJopek@mastodon.world ("Brian Jopek") wrote:

It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail. - Samuel Adams

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
Knoebel wrote:

More than quarter of Developers surveyed by GDC were laid of on the last two years. Half of them still don't have a new job.

17% were laid off in the past 12 months, 11% in the 12 months before. 48% still couldn't find a new job.

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/more-than-a-quarter-of-devs-surveyed-by-gdc-were-laid-off-in-the-past-two-years-and-half-of-them-dont-have-a-new-job/

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
faraiwe@mstdn.social ("Faraiwe") wrote:

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
DrALJONES wrote:

Report: "A US federal judge issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the administration from arresting lawfully resettled refugees in Minnesota & ordered those detained to be released."

Judge John Tunheim said ICE likely violated multiple federal statutes by arresting lawful refugees & subjecting them to additional interrogations.

"Refugees have a legal right to be in the US, a right to work, to live peacefully"

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/federal-judge-blocks-trump-administration-detaining-refugees-minnesota

#EUPol #USPol #ICE #Minnesota #fascism #racism .

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
uastronomer@mastodon.monoceros.co.za ("Allen but one of the good ones") wrote:

Well well well, if it isn't exactly what privacy nerds have been warning about forever! https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/27/ice%5Fdata%5Fadvertising%5Ftech%5Ffirms/

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
newsguyusa@flipboard.social ("Steve Herman") wrote:

Will be interesting to hear whether the big four — iHeart, Audacy, Cumulus & Townsquare — place the new Springsteen protest song in rotation on their rock/pop FM radio stations (all of which hold licenses granted by the FCC, which has an activist pro-Trump chairman). https://youtu.be/wWKSoxG1K7w

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
12thRITS@mstdn.social ("Lot⁴⁹") wrote:

Just want to point out that Greg Bovino's title, "Commander-at-Large," is or was in itself a recipe for chaos. The commander can't flit about from group to group.

Boosted by jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein"):
seano@masto.nyc ("Hi I'm Sean") wrote:

Hey New Yorkers and beyond!

I just discovered https://fedidevs.com/starter-packs/ and thought it'd be nice to make a masto.nyc starter pack. What accounts would you like to see on there? Who are your local favorites?

#nyc