@ajlburke@mas.to
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ajlburke

@ajlburke@mas.to

Independent software developer, speaker, teacher, digital artist, and occasional entrepreneur from Halifax Nova Scotia. He's also responsible for @starshipsstarthere

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caseynewton, to random
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It’s Hard Fork Friday! Kevin has 18 AI friends now and it’s time to interview one of them https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/10/podcasts/hard-fork-ai-friends.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

ajlburke,
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@caseynewton that party you described at the start had me laughing uncontrollably and getting suspicious looks from strangers on the street

ajlburke, to random
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

Yesterday's blog post from @pluralistic about blogging was inspiring. So inspiring that I had to blog about it.

https://www.andrewburke.me/blogposts/cory_on_blogging_404

ajlburke, to random
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Woah stark insight from @pluralistic in my morning reading: Con/MLM susceptibility is often about DESPERATION rather than dishonesty

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/15/passive-income-brainworms/

ajlburke, to random
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

Great post by @gavinanderegg about how much you can get with a library card, especially in Halifax.

I've used the Lynda resources a bit, but didn't know about the 3D printing or the streaming!

https://anderegg.ca/2024/01/12/the-library-is-a-superpower

ajlburke,
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

I remain convinced that if we tried to introduce the idea of public libraries now it would get shut down by the neoliberal / corporate / copyright / IP-holder crew in a split second.

"You want to make a publicly funded community centre / reading room where people can access books and media FOR FREE? I want what you're smoking!"

ajlburke, to gpt
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

I saw a 17th-century-informed chatbot mentioned in @clive's latest newsletter.

This inspired me to make a custom GPT that answers your questions in the tiresomely long-winded style of the "Ithaca" chapter in James Joyce's "Ulysses"

https://www.andrewburke.me/blogposts/the_joycean_ithaca_catechism_gpt_357

If you feed it the actual questions from the chapter, it's even MORE verbose than the original!

A good start to my plans to do something extra special for Bloomsday 2024.

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

Ah, the joy of flight cancellations and being rerouted via Mars on a tight connection! Or in this case, Zurich.

ajlburke,
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

@cstross Zurich is a nice airport with pretty views - at least that's what i gathered as I ran through it to make a 20 minute connection last May

clive, to random
@clive@saturation.social avatar

"The Laptop That Wouldn't Die"

In a few of my blog posts on right-to-repair culture, I've mentioned my 12-year-old Thinkpad T420

It is: indestructible

My six-year-old Macbook Pro just died, so I'm using the thinkpad while I await a replacement

This Thinkpad has outlived two of my top of the line Macbooks

It was built when my eldest son was six ... he's now in college

And it's still going

My ode to it: https://clivethompson.medium.com/the-laptop-that-wont-die-0c478c3fe46c

Free "friend" link: https://clivethompson.medium.com/the-laptop-that-wont-die-0c478c3fe46c?sk=dc587d3647aa02107f8b447e01d095f9

ajlburke,
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@clive I have a 12" ThinkPad X30 I get second hand in 2004 or so, and I still use it for SSH stuff and occasional org-mode. Battery is dead but the keyboard still makes me smile

cstross, (edited ) to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

DO NOT BOOST THIS I DON'T NEED MORE ANSWERS

So ... our 42" Panasonic TV (mostly used by @feorag) turns out to be over 12 years old and only does 1080p. We probably want a 4K screen in our near future, as a dumb display for the 4K Apple TV box. Can go to 55", maybe larger (we need to measure the niche). Won't touch Samsung, Sony, or anything that refuses to work without an internet connection. How are LG these days?

ajlburke,
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

@cstross @feorag I'm still holding onto my 55" Panasonic plasma HD until it dies. Not only are the blacks super black but it helps heat the living room as we head into winter

SwiftOnSecurity, to random

I feel like we truly need to have a serious discussion about Taylor Swift coming in to sub out Joe Biden.
The constitutional age requirement will be met by inauguration. There is literally no legal block to this plan. It will work. And finally put a Millennial in control.

Taylor Swift is a transcendent global figure of statistically unequalled power. Remember there were only like 5 million people on Earth when Beatlemania hit. They had no other options. Taylor Swift is a lighthouse in the storm of time.

The people will follow. They will Stan.

It is a job that will destroy her. So did Jesus’.

ajlburke,
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

@SwiftOnSecurity Tay is 33, the same age as Jesus was during his Crucifixion and Resurrection. Birthday in December, even. Wow it all suddenly makes sense! We must all bow down to the Scarf

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

My Atomic Rockets articles are built from association of related facts.

My morning reading just gave me a new article.

Ever since Asimov's Foundation a scifi staple is the Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire. And the birth of the next Empire out of the ashes of the Long Night dark ages.

So I have a section on recovery from the dark ages. Trying to bootstrap your way back to high tech infrastructure. Including insurance that will shorten the long night

1/

https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/futurehistory.php#lngnightinsur

ajlburke,
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

@nyrath a key part of leading edge chip fabs are huge very expensive ultraviolet machines made by only one company in the Netherlands, and whom they can/will sell to is now a huge geopolitical issue.

I can imagine having everything thoroughly documented in one place would be a huge security issue with massive consequences.

Security through "Hans and Gretchen know the two extra steps required, and they're never in the same place at the same time."?

IceCubesApp, to random
@IceCubesApp@mastodon.online avatar

So you would be fine with a behavior like the official app for feeds? Loading the newest 20 posts and then showing a gap to load more posts in between?

I can think about doing that, but I'll certainly not keep the current and this new behavior. So, a choice needs to be made.

ajlburke,
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@IceCubesApp I use Ice Cubes specifically for the unread count and for a strict chronological feed. Maybe I'm weird but I like using it this way

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

Mastodon mass-mind, please come to my aid!

I have a very vague memory of something I saw on TV in the 1970s or so, and I am looking for an image of it.

It was apparently a somewhat odd looking spaceship, with what looked like Greek writing on the side. It was a physical model, not a cartoon. I think it was in an episode of Carl Sagan's Cosmos.

The implication was that if the Dark Ages had not occurred, mankind would have been visiting the planets a thousand years ago.

Familiar?

ajlburke,
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@nyrath dug out my old copy of "Cosmos" as I remember that bit too, from the "Travels In Space & Time" chapter/episode.

2,500 years ago, none of us would be here today. There would be billions of others living in our place. If the lonian spirit had won, I think we-a different "we," of course-might by now be venturing to the stars. Our first survey ships to Alpha Centauri and Barnard's Star, Sirius and Tau Ceri would have returned long ago. Great fleets of interstellar transports would be under construction in Earth orbit- unmanned survey ships, liners for immigrants, immense trading ships to plow the seas of space. On all these ships there would be symbols and writing. If we looked closely, we might see that the language was Greek. And perhaps the symbol on the bow of one of the first starships would be a dodecahedron, with the inscription "Starship Theodorus of the Planet Earth."
Paintings of Ionian starships
Diagrams of Ionian starships - ramjets, Orion, etc

searls, to random

Nothing in this cruel, senseless world makes me feel safer than being required to have at least one number in my username for a bank account.

ajlburke,
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

@searls I've been fixing an inherited app which did a disturbing amount of username and password validation on the client side - which had been done by a separate team from the backend. Total mess. PW stored in MD5 after all that too FML

ajlburke,
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

@searls for whatever reason most of my recent work has been salvaging old codebases after the previous devs have ghosted / been fired / died (!!!) - lots of bad PHP and worse JS.

At least everything I do feels like an improvement! I actually added tests (sort of) today

ajlburke, to random
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

I'd noted with vague interest in the past that The Internet Archive can now emulate vintage MacOS in the browser but wasn't sure what the value was besides retro novelty.

Well cyber culture people are making zines in HyperCard again, like it's 1992:

https://www.andrewburke.me/blogposts/neuroblast_cyberpunk_hypercard_diskzine_346

HyperCard appreciation for the Hackers soundtrack

christianselig, to random
@christianselig@mastodon.social avatar

Apple employees at this store said it was the biggest launch since the iPhone X that they could remember. Wonder what has everyone so jazzed this year. Titanium? USB-C?

ajlburke,
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@christianselig that's Halifax Shopping Centre, right?

adwright, to random
@adwright@mastodon.social avatar

95% of NFTs such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, cryptographically signed digital art, have plunged in value to zero.

Despite massive (and continuing on fringe sites such as Xitter) hype campaigns and giveaways, the NFT marketplace is a ghost town where some 23 million suckers who got played hope one day the crowds and their fiat currency will return to reward their investing in something nobody wants.

The concept was flawed and the artwork was basic, soulless and derivative.

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/nft-market-crypto-digital-assets-investors-messari-mainnet-currency-tokens-2023-9

ajlburke,
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

@adwright you saw this right? He doesn't post often but when he does it's epic https://youtu.be/YQ_xWvX1n9g?si=SlU5s7FIcyrPU0FT

adwright, to random
@adwright@mastodon.social avatar

Police have warned the young ones back. The grass where I'm sitting is no man's land. Both sides seem to think I'm a tent person and are leaving me alone.

ajlburke,
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

@adwright this may be peak 2023 Halifax post

SwiftOnSecurity, to random

Apple technology isn't in Star Trek because they couldn't integrate into existing Enterprise systems.

ajlburke,
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

@SwiftOnSecurity Taylor

adwright, to random
@adwright@mastodon.social avatar

I think this 2000 film might be thought of as 21st century foreshadowing.

This is "Rejected", by animator Don Hertzfeldt.

He is commissioned to create animated channel ID spots for The Family Learning Channel.

None are ever aired.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7JyjZI3LUM

ajlburke,
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

@adwright I still sometimes find myself muttering "my spoon is too big!" followed eventually by "I am a banana" - often if I get stuck while cooking for some reason

adwright, to random
@adwright@mastodon.social avatar

6 foot 3, 215 lbs my aunt fanny.

ajlburke,
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

@adwright just catching up and now I understand this

ajlburke, to random
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I've been trying to figure out what to say about the terrible new link tax laws in Canada, besides snarkily noting that if you depend on Facebook for your news you're already doing it wrong - but @mmasnick has more or less said everything I'd like to, and better https://www.techdirt.com/2023/08/02/meta-begins-the-process-of-ending-news-links-in-canada/

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

Today's poll:

Does a properly rigorous personal identification system require a biometric component? e.g. fingerprint scan, retina scan, DNA, etc.

For this discussion we're assuming the identification requiring entity is a benign one, so the discussion is not 'should there be a really exact personal ID at all', but if we were trying to have a foolproof ID, how would we have to do it?

ajlburke,
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

@adwright it's hard to know much about civilian life in the Federation since the shows focus so much on Starfleet. I wonder if the writers have even given it all that much thought.

I remember Iain M Banks considered writing a science fiction novel that was just normal people having regular relationship issues, but on another planet, though he never got around to it.

ajlburke,
@ajlburke@mas.to avatar

@adwright "Use of Weapons" is really good, especially once you figure out how it's structured. "The Algebraist" is a great page-turner.

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