@pganssle@qoto.org
@pganssle@qoto.org avatar

pganssle

@pganssle@qoto.org

Programmer working at Google. Python core developer and general FOSS contributor. I also post some parenting content.

#python #programming #foss

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glyph, to random
@glyph@mastodon.social avatar

OK so I wrote these two functions (and I did not even unit test them, so they're probably wrong):

https://gist.github.com/glyph/ad25a9e8d93bb9f7ac15a947cbf53a5d

There must be a better way to do this with the standard library, right? Something buried in datetime somewhere?

pganssle,
@pganssle@qoto.org avatar

@glyph Needs a deprecation warning. Not that you can actually deprecate the use of 12 hour clocks by fiat in a random library, but it’s worth a shot.

pganssle,
@pganssle@qoto.org avatar

@glyph No I don’t mean you should deprecate the function. I think we, as a society, should heap approbation and disdain on humans who use 12 hour clocks. 12 hour clocks are ridiculous.

pganssle, to Travel
@pganssle@qoto.org avatar

Ok, I am traveling to Spain soon, and when I travel I usually bring a bit of protein powder (I put it in cottage cheese or yogurt to add some flavor and texture).

However, I suspect that my usual approach — Ziploc baggies in a freezer bag — might invite, uh… extra scrutiny… at customs (see photo).

Anyone have alternative ideas about how to transport this stuff without creating suspicion? The original packaging won’t work because it is very bulky.

pganssle,
@pganssle@qoto.org avatar

I’m thinking small, clearly labeled Tupperware containers and a few scoops will maybe put customs inspectors in a less suspicious frame of mind?

pganssle,
@pganssle@qoto.org avatar

@carlton They usually only sell it in bulk anyway, in my experience. I wouldn’t even be able to get less than a 2 month’s supply of the kind I like in the US. Looking at this: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Rud7VQcWetLP9Dfu9

Seems like it is a similar deal. Worst case scenario I can do it, but it is also a bit uncertain. Quality for this stuff varies a lot.

pganssle,
@pganssle@qoto.org avatar

@hynek That is exactly what a criminal would do. Maybe I should print labels that say “Cocaine” and “Heroin”, since that is something no smuggler would do.

webology, to random
@webology@mastodon.social avatar

🤔 Instead of creating new terms/words for AI and LLMs that have run amuck, I think “AI bullshit” and “LLM bullshit” both roll off the tongue rather well. You may optionally shorten bullshit to “BS” or even the 💩 emoji if you prefer. I encourage you to call people out on their bullshit when they are abusing this autocompletion technology.

pganssle,
@pganssle@qoto.org avatar

@webology To be honest, I can’t see this being helpful. I can’t really take “enshittification” seriously, and it comes off as annoying and polemical to me.

I feel like taking rhetoric to the extreme like this is likely to enforce all-or-nothing thinking about AI, whereas coming up with descriptive terms for specific failure modes will improve awareness about them.

pganssle,
@pganssle@qoto.org avatar

@webology Yeah but both “bullshit” and “enshittification” are not specific or descriptive. If “enshittification” were called something else like “extractive entropy” or “profit-driven degradation”, it would be easier to understand and remember the term.

“LLM bullshit” is even worse, because it could refer to a lot of things, some of which are basically just anti-big tech rhetoric, and some of which are very legitimate. A taxonomy like “slop” and “hallucination” for the specific failure modes provide actionable targets that you can notice and work against, and they are evocative of what is actually going on.

brianokken, to random
@brianokken@fosstodon.org avatar

deleted_by_author

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    pganssle,
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    @brianokken That is a common misconception. Actually, they make shoes using a machine that also makes hats for gnomes. It is easier to make the shoes pointy in the middle than to have to recalibrate them to asymmetry whenever they switch workflows.

    pganssle, to python
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    Any folks know of a library for drawing pretty-looking, clean boxes arranged in various patterns?

    I am looking to make some simple images like this to demonstrate addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc.

    Bonus points if it has support for some existing pedagogical framework (e.g. “ten frames”).

    pganssle, to random
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    As I’ve been learning Spanish these past months, I am almost compelled to create an LLM-powered language learning application. It is really hard to do spaced repetition without it turning into a grind, and the ability to create (and parse!) custom, idiomatic text programmatically could be an absolute game changer here.

    They are also really good at answering questions about how language use and I haven’t noticed much (anything?) in the way of hallucination with frontier models.

    pganssle,
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    @davidism Yeah, you may want to look into comprehensible input. I’ve been using it to learn Spanish and among the 6 foreign languages I’ve spent time learning, this is the one I’ve made the most progress the fastest.‡

    See: https://comprehensibleinputwiki.org/wiki/Main_Page#Japanese

    ‡This effect may be confounded by the fact that I learned 5 other languages first, evidence for which being that I was able to have simple conversations with Spanish speakers even before I started learning the language at all…

    kushal, to Wikipedia
    @kushal@toots.dgplug.org avatar

    How many do I have here? I need a bit of emergency help. Someone marked all of my photos for deleting due to “missing permissions”. I think they will be deleted within 7 days.

    Please boost so that more people can see this.

    pganssle,
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    @kushal @rhysw Where is that showing as marked for deletion? I would have thought it would be in the talk page?

    pganssle,
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    @kushal @rhysw I think that you just need to send an email to permissions-commons@wikimedia.org to confirm that you own the license to the photos in question.

    pganssle, to Pittsburgh
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    Anyone know if there is a gym in that is reasonably close to the convention center that will sell me a short term membership while I’m at PyCon?

    A cable machine, dumbbells and an elliptical is enough to do my whole workout.

    jerub, to random
    @jerub@mastodon.social avatar

    Every day this week has felt like Friday.

    pganssle,
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    @jerub For you, too? Weird.

    I’m just glad it’s actually finally Friday.

    cnx, (edited ) to random
    @cnx@larkspur.one avatar

    Fucking academia.edu takes open-access works and puts them behind a spywall :blobfoxdisgust:

    pganssle,
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    @cnx Like a reverse scihub?

    pganssle,
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    @cnx Yeah I know someone who gave them an email address to download something once. It was not a recommended experience.

    pganssle, to random
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    @freemo Is there any kind of “status” page for qoto.org that is independent of the mastodon instance? Or somewhere that lists known issues?

    I’m experiencing significantly degraded performance and I feel like it would be good to have a place to go to find out if this is scheduled maintenance, a DDoS attack, or something else.

    pganssle, to random
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    Heh, I just noticed that it looks like virtualenv seems to use the “COVID-time” version of : https://virtualenv.pypa.io/en/latest/changelog.html

    Version 20 starting in 2020, still version 20 now… 😛

    pganssle,
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    @gaborbernat @hugovk The version before 20.x was 16.x, though. The whole version history is actually pretty weird: https://pypi.org/project/virtualenv/#history

    It jumps from 1.x to 12.x… in 2014, then it looks mostly like semver until 2020 when it jumps to 20.x and holds there.

    pganssle, to python
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    Oops, someone made it so that you could lazy-load dateutil submodules over 4 years ago and I never cut a release including that.

    That has now been rectified in python-dateutil version 2.9.0. Enjoy: https://pypi.org/project/python-dateutil/

    pganssle,
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    Also it turns out I set up release automation for dateutil over 3 years ago and completely forgot about it and only ever used it once. Thanks, past me!

    Cutting this release has made me nostalgic for the days when I was a conscientious, responsive and organized maintainer 😛

    y2mango, to random
    @y2mango@mastodon.social avatar

    No leap year bug reported for Mango Baby today 🎉

    pganssle,
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    @y2mango You have jinxed it. Now you are going to get a report tomorrow that says, “Cannot report bugs on Feb 29” 😛

    glyph, to random
    @glyph@mastodon.social avatar

    Proposed new jargon: “toothbrush botnet” to mean “unfounded public panic about an information security threat derived from incompetent journalism about hypothetical scenarios”

    Example usage: “it turns out juice jacking was just a toothbrush botnet”

    pganssle,
    @pganssle@qoto.org avatar

    @glyph Wait is juice jacking really a toothbrush botnet? I bought USB condoms for nothing?

    I guess I always thought of it like plugging a random USB device into my computer. Actually a dangerous thing to do, but also if you spent all day plugging random USB drives you found or got at conferences into your device, the modal outcome is that nothing bad would happen to you.

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