@jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com
@jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

jackwilliambell

@jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com

Whenever you are past the edge, out in the wind, look for me.

NOTICE: All posts by this account are copyright to the author (Jack William Bell) and may be shared and remixed by human beings. Any use in Large Language Models or other AI training is specifically disallowed and considered an egregious violation of copyright.

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jackwilliambell, to random
@jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

Tommy Tuberville: "We're losing our kids to a satanic cult!"

Me: "We're losing our conservatives to a deceptive, fascist cult!"

#uspol #NoContextForYou

jackwilliambell, to Weather
@jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

Spent the day with a friend, driving mountain dirt roads to scout out hiking trails for later in the year. Plus he is into geology nowadays, so we couldn't pass up a road cut or a quarry.

Despite the warm we had to turn back multiple times because of snow on the road and try another track. But I was still able to check out some areas I've been curious about for a while and we did a few short hikes.

We ended the day at the local brewery with a couple of crunchy IPAs.

Sunlight through a forest of fir trees. There is bracken and moss in the foreground and a bit of lens distortion from the sun.
The Sauk River flowing by, partially hidden by cedar trees and a moss-covered boulder.
Small stream cascading down a hill, tumbling over large and small boulders.

rayckeith, to random
@rayckeith@techhub.social avatar

deleted_by_author

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    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @rayckeith

    IOW? Same old same old, since 1944.

    dangillmor, to random
    @dangillmor@mastodon.social avatar

    You should call your House member's office and demand an answer to this question:

    "Why are you trying to ban TikTok or force its sale on privacy grounds while you do absolutely nothing about rampant privacy abuses by U.S. companies -- which are free to sell private information to anyone with a checkbook?"

    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @dangillmor

    Good question. And a followup: Would we need the TikTok bill in the first place if we had comprehensive privacy legislation?

    I'm also interested in a different question: How would public opinion change if the US Government owned TikTok?

    jackwilliambell, to internet
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    > [Epictetus] "You become what you give your attention to … If you yourself don't choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will."

    I believe this quote by Epictetus resonates incredibly loudly in our current era; with our Internet-driven, attention-splitting, #SocialMedia milieu. And if you are still on any platform with an algorithm? Then you aren't the one choosing. Are you?

    #quotes #philosophy #Stoicism

    cstross, to random
    @cstross@wandering.shop avatar

    Pssst: the PR people pushing the Whisp ring—a pile of AI-infested garbage—are jerks.

    (Pass it on.)

    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @ucblockhead @cstross

    I think you are underestimating the allure – to a certain kind of person – of whispering into your pinky like you are Dr. Evil or something.

    jackwilliambell, to random
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    Wait until you hear the newest theory in MAGA-land: TFG is faking dementia to trick 'the fake news'. Somehow. And this trick will help TFG win in November. Somehow.

    Which I think is great news, because it means they can no longer ignore his slurring and mixing of names and wandering off into the weeds while speaking. So they are forced to frame it as a good thing. Somehow.

    But it doesn't matter what the MAGAs think. What matters is TFG's dementia is so obvious even they notice.

    #uspol

    jackwilliambell, to ai
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    Sometimes I wonder if the real reason corporate execs want to embrace #AI isn't because they hope to fire human workers – but rather so they can get the AI to make bad decisions for them and then blame the AI if there are consequences.

    "Really? It's just another 'invisible hand' you know! We had to do it because of market forecasts and the arrangement of the chicken entrails and the direction the crows were flying!"

    ETA: Now a thread contextualizing the #NoContextForYou. 🧵

    #HumanCondition

    jackwilliambell, to programming
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    The practices we call 'Software Engineering' would horrify any real engineers creating real things like bridges and airplanes. We constantly cut corners, rework prototypes into apps instead of starting over, and expect people writing the code to also write their own tests. We ship things with known flaws and expect to fix them in production. We document after the fact, if at all.

    Software Engineering isn't. But it should be.

    It really should.

    #programming #rant

    rayckeith, to random
    @rayckeith@techhub.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @rayckeith

    I think were already at the point where Trump does embarrassing things in public due to dementia. But he's always been that kind of asshole so no one is making the connection as it gets worse.

    > https://www.agingcare.com/Articles/things-people-with-dementia-say-155103.htm

    And, unlike other seniors, it's not like he'll wander off without anyone noticing; if nothing else he's got his SS detail following him around.

    I wonder how long his people can hide this?

    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @rayckeith

    Also, this article on why we aren't hearing more about this stuff:

    > Psychologist breaks down 'neurological smoking gun' of Trump's 'cognitive decline'. https://www.rawstory.com/trump-smoking-gun-dementia/

    pluralistic, to random
    @pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar

    Things I'm not allowed to do in my hotel room.

    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @pluralistic

    You know what? Fuck 'em. Take off your shirt and dance like no one is watching!

    Boogie down dude!

    jackwilliambell, to Japan
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    Fascinating, albeit dated, short documentary about traditional Japanese woodblock printing. Worth watching as much for the images of #Japan in the late 1950's, early 1960's as for the artistic and craftwork content.

    Warning: This was filmed a long time ago. Audio is a bit wonky…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQmF3HHyWwI

    #art

    rancoisse, to random
    @rancoisse@aus.social avatar

    And now, thanks to @pluralistic, I've discovered Carl von Clausewitz. He "saw history as a vital check on erudite abstractions that did not accord with experience"
    QED.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz

    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @rancoisse @pluralistic

    I think of Clausewitz as I do Donald Rumsfeld: in the sense both their person and their ideology are repellent – but the clarity of their ideas is impeccable and the mental processes by which those ideas were formed are both deep and wide.

    cpm, to random
    @cpm@spore.social avatar

    Sheesh
    Ok

    fair that many/most may have no idea what I'm talking about.

    @pluralistic Doctorow's Marty Hench is a forensic accountant. Finds the stolen money and helps bring the bad guyz to heel

    Johnny Dollar was an insurance fraud investgator, Finds the stolen money and helps bring the bad guyz to heel

    Marty's take is 25% of recovery
    Johnny's was 10% of recovery + expenses.

    (time changes things)

    If you don't know it, check it out:

    https://archive.org/details/OTRR_YoursTrulyJohnnyDollar_Singles

    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @cpm @pluralistic

    Back in the 1960s Travis McGee got 50%. I think that makes him the winner here.

    Plus he got 100% of the girls.

    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @cpm @pluralistic

    Yeah, but have you ever made a 'Travis McGee' recipe martini?

    So dry. So good. Fuck that, "Shaken, not stirred," nonsense. Of course the real problem is sourcing the correct gin.

    Fun fact: You can judge a bartender's knowledge of martinis by asking if they can make a 'Travis McGee'. The correct answer is not, "Who," but, "I can make a dry martini, but we don't have the right gin."

    jackwilliambell, to python
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    Mathew Duggan says, "#Python Dependencies Are Fixable." He then proceeds to show how simply following established practices just plain works.

    > https://matduggan.com/everyone-is-wrong-but-you/

    > … the narrative is now evolving into "it is so broken that we need a new package system to fix it", which to me is the programming version of Spock dying in the warp core. Let's make absolutely sure we have no other options.

    My take? While I mostly agree, I believe we should fix it by shipping the dependencies with the code.

    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @meejah

    Yes. I know this is not a popular opinion, but I believe all package managers are evil. (NPM being the literal devil.)

    I believe we should be shipping the code with all dependent code included as a single package. No package manager required. I believe this applies to all programming languages.

    Your projects should include their dependencies as sub-repos that you manage the versions of (and perhaps even patch). Installing should consist of dropping the whole thing in a directory.

    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @meejah

    FWIW? I'm even against DLLs. I think dynamic linking was a mistake that gained a foothold when RAM and disk storage were limited. And that, ever since, we've paid a price; not just in terms of 'DLL-hell', but also in terms of things like more easily hackable code because a known DLL version has known entry points for things like buffer overrun attacks to take advantage of.

    When we ship code we should take responsibility for ALL OF IT, whether we wrote that part of the code or not.

    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @meejah

    I don't think there are any good answers here. But I do think anytime you rely on code fetched from a source you do not control at installation (or compile) time, you have just created an enormous security hole.

    Some package managers do a better job of vetting than others (using checksums and the like), but that also requires specifying a version for the dependency; something people often forget to do.

    As I said, my opinion is not popular. But I agree with Yoda on this.

    rayckeith, to random
    @rayckeith@techhub.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @rayckeith

    There were hundreds taking part in the insurrection. It was a near statistical certainty at least one of them would get their perceptions reset.

    I was expecting more and before, really. Maybe they are just keeping it to themselves?

    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @rayckeith

    You'd think she would have seen the warning flags before it got that far. Because you know they were there.

    But then that's the whole point of cults, isn't it? They tell you a fiction so compatible with your psyche you willingly suspend disbelief. The only way to fully immunize yourself is to not be the kind of person who wants to believe the shit they are peddling.

    Which is why I recommend wanting to believe in weird crap no one cares about. Like, where do lost socks REALLY go?

    jackwilliambell, to security
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    Turns out? Internal circuitry in your #security camera or phone may be broadcasting the #video feed. Even when not connected to anything else.

    > 'Anywhere there's a camera, now there's a risk': Billions of users at risk of Peeping Toms — scientists devise incredibly simple eavesdropping system costing only a few hundred dollars. https://www.techradar.com/pro/anywhere-theres-a-camera-now-theres-a-risk-billions-of-users-at-risk-of-peeping-toms-scientists-devise-incredibly-simple-eavesdropping-system-costing-only-a-few-hundred-dollars

    #privacy #ConsumerElectronics #WTF

    MikeElgan, to random
    @MikeElgan@mastodon.social avatar

    Following Google Maps directions in rural Tasmania and encountered this sign.

    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @can

    Maybe not. But you still don't want someone with a gun berating you for ignoring a sign they feel strongly about.

    I try to be a little nicer, but I feel pretty strongly about that sign myself. It means what it means.

    FWIW: There's a whole code of conduct thing up here about going onto people's property. If you aren't a friend or a delivery, even if they know who you are, you park at the end of the road and honk your horn. If they want to talk to you they will come out and wave you in.

    jackwilliambell,
    @jackwilliambell@rustedneuron.com avatar

    @can

    I'm not arguing with you on this, I agree with your main point. But I also live up here and, sometimes, talk to my neighbors. (Or argue with them, but that's another story.)

    I think it's a cultural thing and it's tied pretty closely to why those people own so many guns in the first place. Many of them honestly believe cities are hotbeds of crime and city people come up here and bring the crime with them.

    I've tried explaining how 'per-capita' crime statistics does not support this view.

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