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

If you dump in a lot of food or chemicals to achieve short-term results, you *might* be able to juice things in the short run for your fish, but you also buy the consequences of a dynamically unstable system under stress.

So when managers assume that they'll "increase productivity" by adding a machine that generates more code, without taking into account the intertemporal effects of *owning* more code (of lowest-common-denominator quality), they're replicating the KLOC fallacy on steroids.

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

Owning code requires understanding, and one way we keep our fish tanks habitable is to swim; to do the work of moving code and replicating the mental exertion that keeps our *fingerspitzengefühl* tuned.

Replacing that, or pushing it out of balance, creates a different set of intertemporal effects that can quite easily push the system into crisis.

*Ceteris paribus* about AI, as with frameworks, is wish-thinking; our engineering cultures are what we re-make them to be every day, in every way.

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

A conversation with a coworker re-triggered an intrusive thought that I find myself returning to regularly while working in a firm in the grips of AI influences:

Teams and engineering processes are like fish in tanks. There's a careful balance of the nitrogen cycle that keeps delicate organics alive; above a certain pH, it's just not plausible to believe things will keep working. But to understand effects, we have to take into account causes and add the effect of time.

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

This leads to an appreciation of the toxicity of short-term incentives.

There's a reason I think very, *very* poorly of managers that lean on date-driven delivery: they are consistently externalising costs in ways that they *can and should* appreciate. That takes the form of high-interest unstructured loans against future product and team capacity.

But far too many engineering leaders assume *ceteris paribus* ("all else equal") will hold.

That's not how the fishtank works.

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷") wrote:

How ICE became the highest-funded U.S. law enforcement agency (JAN 2026):

"But ICE’s budget has skyrocketed during President Trump’s second term, becoming the highest-funded U.S. law enforcement agency, with $85 billion now at its disposal."

Dems should’ve sacrificed everything to stop the One Big Beautiful Bill. When the dust settles history won’t be kind to them about how they handled the bill’s passing. https://www.npr.org/2026/01/21/nx-s1-5674887/ice-budget-funding-congress-trump

Boosted by NfNitLoop ("Cody Casterline 🏳️‍🌈"):
bamfic@autonomous.zone wrote:

@hongminhee old fart over here mumbling something about HTML, XHTML, tag soup, internet explorer, Netscape, CSS, JavaScript, and 30 years of brain damage

NfNitLoop ("Cody Casterline 🏳️‍🌈") wrote:

*sigh* I have in the past been a big fan of Deno. My enthusiasm has waned a bit recently due to a couple issues, but I think this take might be final straw that pushes me into avoiding it by default:

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

RE: https://cosocial.ca/@evan/116100122651925704

She gets it; Evan doesn’t. We either have consistent and reliable security on the Fediverse or we have a giant federated liability. Solutions with a temporary attack surface are not serious solutions.

And “it’s ok if you don’t get it” is an impressive display of dismissive condescension. @cwebber, I don’t know you, but I’m sorry that you were spoken to like that. It’s gross.

Boosted by ChrisWere@toot.wales ("Chris Were ⁂🐧🌱☕"):
chris@video.thepolarbear.co.uk ("Chris Were but on PeerTube") wrote:

Caddy: a great alternative for Nginx

https://video.thepolarbear.co.uk/w/gupkDA1SRLdCcY9PKcg1KX

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

long tail

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

"Incredibly clearly unconstitutional" gets you a 6-3 vote, with the three dissents producing dozens of pages arguing that unconstitutional isn't really so bad.

But 6-3 is better than the other way around.

Boosted by jwz:
danielskatz@fediscience.org ("Daniel S. Katz") wrote:

Every time I see "my substack", I read it as "my blog on a site that helps support Nazis"

NfNitLoop ("Cody Casterline 🏳️‍🌈") wrote:

@db Oh! Totally missed that! I had piped it to `from json` (in #nushell) and it parsed it without error. I guess it's a bit more forgiving than the standard.

Boosted by jwz:
jamesthomson ("James Thomson") wrote:

Writers: Generative AI models were built on our stolen works, are deeply unethical, and risk devaluing our entire profession.

Artists: Generative AI models were built on our stolen works, are deeply unethical, and risk devaluing our entire profession.

Developers: Wheeeeeeeeee!

Boosted by jwz:
danmcquillan@kolektiva.social wrote:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DEek40YOoRC/

baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason") wrote:

Bonus raven photos. #birds #nature #iceland #photos #ravens

baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason") wrote:

There's a group of young ravens up by the cliffs near town. When I was there earlier this week, a bunch of them were playing chase. #birds #nature #iceland #photos #ravens

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

I've discovered the limits of "dear algo"

Boosted by fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷"):
laurenshof@indieweb.social ("Laurens Hof") wrote:

sure this is all very bad for activitypub but this is truly amazing content

Boosted by Mastodon:
MastodonEngineering ("Mastodon Engineering") wrote:

We're looking for two Backend Ruby on Rails Web Developers to work with us remotely as part of the core team.

Ideally you are:

1. Very experienced with Ruby on Rails
2. Proficient in PostgreSQL, and familiar with Redis and Elasticsearch
3. Experienced in developing maintainable and scalable web backend and API systems

This remote full-time position requires a 4-hour overlap with the CET timezone.

For more info/to apply: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/mastodon/ac9d4f66-13e8-44d1-bb82-a929ebca8a27

#FediHire #GetFediHired #hiring #backend

Boosted by jwz:
davidgerard@circumstances.run ("David Gerard") wrote:

A previously on the ball guy calling refusal to use chatbots "purity culture" is like seeing the worm break through the skin.

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

Cool, where's my tariff refund?

(just kidding, I know I won't get one, and I know prices won't go down either)

Still: good. And a shocking refusal to lick the boot from this normally enthusiastically boot-licking court.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02/20/us/trump-tariffs-supreme-court

Boosted by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your weary 'net denizen"):
ploum@mamot.fr wrote:

I get it, the git-send-mail workflow has a learning step. It’s hard the first few times. But once you are used to it, the "pull-requests-on-web-ui" becomes insufferable.

Dear people maintening a project on Github: please give me an email address to which I can send you trivial patches. The whole PR workflow takes more time than the codïng!

And if enough projects does that, I could eventually ditch my Github account!

https://ploum.net/2026-01-31-offline-git-send-email.html

#git #github

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

Pokémon Day (and the 30th anniversary of Pokémon) is just a week away! Come hang out and chat with other omg.lol Pokémon fans in our #pokemon channel on irc.social.lol!

irc://irc.social.lol:6697/#pokemon

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

[END TODAY IN HISTORY RUN]

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

Today in History: Carl Czerny is born, 1791

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

Today in History: Yes sells out Madison Square Garden... without advertising, 1974

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

Today in History: J. Geils (J. Geils Band) is born, 1946

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

Today in History: Meriadoc & Pippin meet Treebeard

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

Today in History: John Glenn orbits the Earth 3 times, 1962