@weaselx86@mastodon.social
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

weaselx86

@weaselx86@mastodon.social

California, Ireland, Colorado.
MS Math/CompSci UCLA.
Locus, Sun Microsystems; PDP-11, x86, C, Go.
Programming since 1973.
I wrote the program that calculated the GPA that appears on my high-school transcript.

Starting in 1984 I led the project at Locus to create the first x86 virtual machine, to run MS-DOS under Unix, on the AT&T 6300 Plus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6300_Plus).

The lines in the avatar are horizontal.
née Twitter https://mastodon.social/@weaselx86
There should be no profit in human misery.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

pluralistic, to random
@pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar

It's the start of a long weekend and I've found myself with a backlog of links, so it's time for another linkdump - the eighteenth in the (occasional) series. Here's the previous installments:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/25/anthology/#lol-no

1/

weaselx86,
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@pluralistic

“[t]he LAPD is not expected to like the existence of ‘Fck the LAPD’ merchandise. But their sole remedy is to not do things that result in people wanting to buy and wear ‘Fck the LAPD’ merchandise.” That may be difficult, he conceded, “[b]ut I promise you it would still be easier than trying to get a court to rule” that these shirts are infringing.

https://www.loweringthebar.net/2024/05/lol-no-explained.html

dbsalk, to books
@dbsalk@mastodon.social avatar

My heart aches for the children who will no longer have access to their local library because some arrogant assholes decided to be offended by books with new ideas and different perspectives.

The cruelty is the point.

https://bookriot.com/donnelly-public-library-adults-only/

@bookstodon on@a.gup.pe

weaselx86,
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@godofbiscuits @dbsalk @bookstodon

Troll

heidilifeldman, to random
@heidilifeldman@mastodon.social avatar

#Alito has no shame. It isn’t just that he refuses to recuse himself from #Jan6 cases before the Supreme Court — it’s his arrogant assertion that he can assess how a “reasonable person” would view his involvement. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/05/29/justice-alito-rejects-recuse-flags-jan-6-cases/ 73895356007/ 1/ #JudicialEthics #RuleOfLaw

weaselx86, (edited )
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@heidilifeldman

Since Alito gets to make the recusal decision, he gets to define "reasonable person", which would be someone who agrees with his opinions.

nixCraft, to random
@nixCraft@mastodon.social avatar

Google Ad from 1999. https://www.instagram.com/blackcactusx/p/C4llg93IaGb/

weaselx86,
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@nixCraft

I wonder if we can get Google's AI to dredge that up as a current piece of information...

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

What is the best explanation you’ve heard for 1 not being a prime number? For me it’s “because it breaks everything in my programs since the loops won’t terminate” but that’s obtuse. “Because the God of math decrees it so!” is compelling, but shallow.

“it can only be divided by 1 distinct number” is contrived.

1 “feels” prime— it has the fewest factors. (Primeness being about NOT having factors) ruling it out for having too few? eh.

“it’s the zero of multiplication” is better… thoughts?

weaselx86,
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@futurebird

There is probably a history of mathematical papers arguing about whether 1 should be considered to be a prime number...

"In the mid-18th century Christian Goldbach listed 1 as prime in his correspondence with Leonhard Euler; however, Euler himself did not consider 1 to be prime. In the 19th century many mathematicians still considered 1 to be prime, and lists of primes that included 1 continued to be published as recently as 1956."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_number#Primality_of_one

weaselx86, to random
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

Our experiment in democracy is at a critical juncture, brought by a demographic shift unprecedented in our history: from white majority, to white plurality without majority.

The next three years will determine the character of the United States for decades to come.

Until recently the demographic majority of voters here has been white.

Not coincidentally, under our system of elections by majority, most powers of office have historically been held in white hands.
1/12

Theblueone, (edited ) to random
@Theblueone@mastodon.social avatar

US cops never turn out like this at Nazi rallies or school shootings, but against peaceful genocide protesters they bring their very best A game, huh? (Photo: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

weaselx86,
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@Theblueone @Npars01

Most bullies are cowards at heart. It is no surprise at all that they would prefer to attack peaceful protestors than risk going up against dangerous Nazis or school shooters.

weaselx86, to random
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@feditips
On mastodon.social, after several hours away from my browser for sleep, I returned to see 51 new notifications pending. I clicked on that and a bunch of them appeared, but some were missing, replaced with "...".

When I reached the first "..." I clicked there and got some message at the bottom-left of my screen saying "Rate Limited, try back in [5 minutes]".

Why? Is that a bug? It seems pretty ridiculous to "rate limit" me for two clicks in eight hours...

weaselx86, to random
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@feditips
After clicking down from my Home page into a post, when I'm done and click the "Back" button, how do I get it to take me back where I was, rather than resetting me to the top of the (now updated) Home page?

weaselx86, to random
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@feditips
The behavior on mastodon.social (using Firefox on Linux) changed yesterday and is still broken today. After drilling down into a post, when I return "Back" to my "Home" display it does not return me to where I was -- usually it goes to the very top (most recent posts) of the feed.

This despite me being in "slow mode" (it does still show me the "n new items" prompt at the top).

This is annoying because I have to then scroll down trying to find where I was.

Why is this happening?

weaselx86, to random
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

Could someone please translate this from Japanese to English for me?

It is the label on a small bottle of a fluid which I believe to be a light oil.

weaselx86, to random
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@feditips
How do I search for all of my own posts (only) with some particular hashtag? E.g.

@weaselx86 and #lyrics

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

m'lady's false-fairhaird', faulty-functioning feral form

weaselx86,
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@futurebird

Is that "bleach blonde bad-built butch body" translated into some other language and back?

lauren, to random
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org avatar

If you're going to post a link that includes no clue as to what it is about -- PLEASE also include some text explaining what it is. Clicking on bare links that give no indication as to what the blazes they are about is really suboptimal. This includes links to other Mastodon posts and many other kinds of sites. Text like "Wow!" or "Interesting!" or similar really aren't that useful in this regard. Thanks!

weaselx86,
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@lauren

People should not have to work harder to see the preview -- the browser should display it automatically. Sometimes it does, but often it doesn't. That sounds like a bug to me, but maybe it's intentional as a way to conserve bandwidth.

The "bug" behavior could be dependent on what client (browser or app) you run. I offered the bit about clicking the "bookmarks" button as a workaround to the missing preview. Adding redundant additional text along with the link is another workaround.

dlakelan, to random
@dlakelan@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

I can't emphasis enough the point that exp(t)/(exp(t) + exp((1-epsilon)t)) ~ 1 for large t and any positive epsilon.

This may seem obscure but it's the problem with "capitalism" as we know it. Even in an infinite world where wealth grows exponentially forever, eventually the person with the epsilon larger growth rate than everyone else owns everything.

Add in political power and finite resources and it just happens faster.

weaselx86,
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@dlakelan

Extreme wealth concentration is an inherent property of a capitalistic system.

The wealthier participant in a transaction has an inherent advantage in risk-tolerance and greater ability to hold out for a better deal.

Absent sufficiently progressive taxation to counteract it, the inherent advantage of the wealthier participant in every transaction leads to a positive feedback loop of wealth accumulation and concentration with mathematical inevitability.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-inequality-inevitable/

weaselx86, to random
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@lauren
I happened to see the ST-TOS Assignment Earth episode with Gary Seven last night, and noticed something: one of Seven's fake ID's was for the NSA, but IIRC the existence of the NSA was still classified until the mid-1970's, long after the episode first aired.

weaselx86, to random
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@feditips
For verification, what field do I put the link with rel="me" into on my github profile page?

weaselx86, to random
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

Insurrection Breath
(Apologies @jethrotull)

In the babbling madness
Of Insurrection Breath
Tweets the all time loser
Fearing ego death

Oh, his lawyers are going to prison
And he's feelin' like he'll drown
Old Donnie's lost his marbles
And the train it won't stop going
'Till the Beast's brought down

#lyrics

weaselx86, to random
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@GeorgeStyles
@jwtraphagan

In case you haven't seen this, Einstein expresses some opinions about education (among other subjects) in this collection of his letters and essays.

Ideas and Opinions
Albert Einstein

https://namnews.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/29289146-ideas-and-opinions-by-albert-einstein.pdf

E.g. page 64:
"The development of general ability for independent thinking and judgment should always be placed foremost, not the acquisition of special knowledge."

realTuckFrumper, to random
@realTuckFrumper@mastodon.social avatar

Company Gets Fined For 'Whites Only' Job Listing https://crooksandliars.com/2024/05/company-gets-fined-whites-only-job-listing?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

weaselx86,
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@realTuckFrumper

Company Gets Fined For 'Whites Only' Job Listing

https://crooksandliars.com/2024/05/company-gets-fined-whites-only-job-listing

realTuckFrumper, to random
@realTuckFrumper@mastodon.social avatar

Laura Ingraham Misses Show After Eight-Hour United Airlines Debacle https://www.mediaite.com/tv/laura-ingraham-misses-show-after-eight-hour-united-airlines-debacle/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

weaselx86,
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@realTuckFrumper

Dark Brandon strikes again!

realTuckFrumper, to random
@realTuckFrumper@mastodon.social avatar

Biden Proposes 2 Changes To Presidential Debates That Would Neuter Trump https://www.politicususa.com/2024/05/15/biden-proposes-2-changes-to-presidential-debates-that-would-neuter-trump.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

weaselx86,
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@realTuckFrumper

"So let’s pick the dates, Donald. I hear you’re free on Wednesdays."

https://youtu.be/O3o9eqO8G3I

weaselx86, to random
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

I have returned home from Loma Linda hospital where for a while I was intubated in the ICU close to death with pneumonia encompassing entire right lung. Now on 2 liters of oxygen (down from 10). Lower 1/3 of right lung is still collapsed.

After extubation, whenever a new shift of nurses would come on they'd ask me questions to see if I was oriented, like name, month and year, and who is the President. I didn't ask what they do with patients who think Trump is president.

@danak6jq
@lauren

sjvn, to random
@sjvn@mastodon.social avatar

I'll take the large MINIX firmware with a side of UEFI.

weaselx86,
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@sjvn

gfarrell, to random
@gfarrell@mastodon.world avatar
weaselx86,
@weaselx86@mastodon.social avatar

@gfarrell

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