Mastodon Feed: Posts

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

Damn, it's been fifteen years to the day since this excerpt from my fantasy trilogy was published, and not only have I NOT completed the trilogy, I haven't even finished writing the first book! What's wrong with me? Why can't I hit a deadline? Truly, I suck!

https://reactormag.com/the-shadow-war-of-the-night-dragons-book-one-the-dead-city-excerpt/

chipotle@mstdn.social ("Watts Martin") wrote:

I am late getting into the office, e.g., switching from the personal laptop to the work laptop. There are many things I dislike about Florida in 2026, but “working remotely and living rent-free” is a silver lining I desperately cling to.

dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase") wrote:

i haven't actually gotten any code written in 96h, mind.

Boosted by aredridel@kolektiva.social ("Mx. Aria Stewart"):
jmkorhonen.fi@bsky.brid.gy ("Janne M. Korhonen") wrote:

This sign raises many questions, which probably should be answered by the sign but aren't

Boosted by soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker"):
notthatdelta@furry.engineer ("Delta Sierra") wrote:

@soatok Having attended many work/professional conventions and many many furry conventions:

Attendees at BOTH would benefit from HIV testing. Hell, attendees at ANY type of convention would benefit from free HIV testing.

dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase") wrote:

approximately 96h since i quit smoking. haven't felt a need to take painkillers yet today, so that's something?

dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase") wrote:

RE: https://live.acarsdrama.com/@acarsdrama/116329739174685586

holy shit ACARS will never be the same again

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

Creationism is Numberwang!

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/04/01/we-get-prizes/

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/AR99Hg8Vrvw

dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase") wrote:

i did an out. still cannot recommend tbh

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

The more you know: Rassenhygiene and Lebensborn.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/04/01/list-of-jews-has-an-ominous-ring/

Boosted by soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker"):
ic5146@meow.social ("Koko") wrote:

fucking hilarious that i remembered @soatok 's blog had quite a nice theme so i was wondering which it was

but i couldn't remember their name... so i looked up "furry security writeups" on ddg and first result was their blog omfg lmfao

Boosted by soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker"):
astraleureka@treehouse.systems ("the vessel of morganna") wrote:

@soatok me: "why would ANYONE be upset about offering free HIV testing? it's literally public health"
also me: *casually trying to forget that half of the US actively rebelled against COVID precautions*
😭

db@social.lol ("David Bushell 🪿") wrote:

tip for WordPress theme devs if a plugin has terrible CSS specificity (which is all of them)

https://dbushell.com/notes/2026-04-01T13:51Z/

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
bodil@treehouse.systems ("Bodil") wrote:

People keep assuring me that LLMs writing code is a revolution, that as long as we maintain sound engineering practices and tight code review they're actually extruding code fit for purpose in a fraction of the time it would take a human.

And every damned time, every damned time any of that code surfaces, like Anthropic's flagship offering just did, somehow it's exactly the pile of steaming technical debt and fifteen year old Stack Overflow snippets we were assured your careful oversight made sure it isn't.

Can someone please explain this to me? Is everyone but you simply prompting it wrong?

It's a good thing programmers aren't susceptible to hubris in any way, or this would have been so much worse.

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

Today is the day I have an appointment with my division chair to announce my retirement.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/04/01/i-dont-think-the-division-chair-would-react-the-same-way/

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

"Nac Mac Feegle! The Wee Free Men! Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna’ be fooled again!”

Guess what I've been reading.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/04/01/a-good-slogan/

dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase") wrote:

i have to appear human for half an hour at checks notes 1am tonight

dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase") wrote:

i was brutally mauled by a category theory.

don't become a victim, support a ban on category theory today.

dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase") wrote:

delimited discontinuations

Boosted by dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase"):
ironicbadger@techhub.social ("Alex Kretzschmar") wrote:

Brutal.

When Microsoft acquired GitHub.

dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase") wrote:

wow, LLM enthusiasts occasionally remind me they are a whole other class of person.

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
uglyreykjavik.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy ("Ugly Reykjavik") wrote:

Maybe I should have called this account Rusty Reykjavik instead.#Iceland #Reykjavik #photography #streetphotography #nature #landscape #naturephotography #landscapephotography #abandoned #decay #grass #rust

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
beep@follow.ethanmarcotte.com ("Ethan Marcotte") wrote:

I enjoyed @sboots’s essay on becoming a “generative AI vegetarian”, and for a few reasons: it’s a great read, first and foremost, but also my GOODNESS is this well-sourced. Sean pulls together many, many threads here; always grateful for a map like this.

https://sboots.ca/2026/03/11/generative-ai-vegetarianism/

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

github has been an art project to demonstrate the need for asynchronous distributed replication. thank for your attention to this matter

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
olivia@scholar.social ("Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ") wrote:

Long story short on relevant parts: tobacco industry jumped on "stress" to divert from cigs cause cancer, much like AI companies will inevitably do the same for psychosis or wtv to divert from the fact that they cause harm. No user is causing this.

As @Iris and I say: "Industry agendas – whether the industry is tobacco, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, or tech – rarely align with human welfare or disinterested research, especially when left unchecked and unregulated."

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/ai-will-not-save-higher-education-but-may-destroy-it-by-olivia-guest-and-iris-van-rooij-2025-10

10/

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
olivia@scholar.social ("Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ") wrote:

I flinch if anybody thinks I work in "AI Ethics"...

although I suspect they just don't know and mean no harm, but it's not a place of honour

More here: https://doi.org/10.1145/3531146.3533194

And here: https://doi.org/10.1007/s44163-022-00043-3

A short word to describe useful idiots is comprador, because they are agents not of academia anymore but whoever has bought them out and they make a lot of money with their startups and consulting in the process of hollowing out public universities

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprador

12/

Boosted by baldur@toot.cafe ("Baldur Bjarnason"):
olivia@scholar.social ("Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ") wrote:

Ending this thread for now by saying what I say in the post below:

> Zooming out, there is much you can do and think about — even just refusing to accept industry frames and rejecting their products is non-negligible.

🙂‍↕️

https://olivia.science/before/

11/

jwz wrote:

Today will be the day when techbros instruct their CODING AGENT to rewrite the company website to be FUNNY but maybe IRONIC but also not RACIST or at least DENIABLY NOT THAT RACIST.

dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase") wrote:

the good news is that RAM prices are starting to recover. now is the time to summon the last of your patience if you need that RAM upgrade.

dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase") wrote:

saw a RAM chart just now and misread as "average price in GDP'' and well ain't that the truth recently?