@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

vaurora

@vaurora@wandering.shop

Systems programmer, writer, cat appreciator

The artist formerly known as vaurorapub on Twitter and infosec.exchange

I post about computers, nuclear stuff, science fiction, and science fact. I have ADHD so I'm into things that are Novel, Interesting, Challenging, and Urgent.

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vaurora, to random
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

My take on the xz supply chain attack is that modern software ecosystems are too complex and have too many individual people involved. The solution is obviously to start a small business employing just enough people to implement an ecosystem from scratch. Everyone at the business should be related by blood or marriage. Quitting or betraying it is punished severely. This is a new idea and no one has ever tried to run a business this way before and it will definitely work

vaurora, to random
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

Weird #git question: is it possible to make a commit that does not change anything except the authorship of some specific lines of code? I am looking for an easy way to fix errors in credit for commits when you can't just rewrite the repo history

vaurora, to random
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

Found something I genuinely miss in California and can't get in Europe: hop-flavored fizzy water

vaurora,
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

More things I miss about the US, a very short list:

Large, fast clothes washers and dryers

vaurora,
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

@larsmb so the key information here is that I'm also gluten free and so far I haven't found gluten free non-alcoholic beer 😂 it's lighter than NA beer due to the absence of malt but surprisingly sweet still? Hops are an awesome flavor (in the right amount)

vaurora, to random
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

I resisted the urge to complain-post about travel until I woke up gasping for breath in my hotel room, turned on the CO2 monitor, and read 2500 ppm. The window literally does not open at all. Hurray Toronto building code!

vaurora,
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

Happy to say I got a 25% discount from the hotel in compensation for having to prop the door to the hallway open a foot all night so as to not get CO2 poisoning. The window did not open at all. Turns out Ontario building code allows for no natural ventilation if there is mechanical ventilation - which was very clearly broken. It's doubly weird since we came from a country where the average store leaves the front door open almost the entire year round

vaurora,
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

@recursive that's what we have in Amsterdam, in every apartment, a fan that runs 24/7 and all you get to choose is the speed :)

ai6yr, to random
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org avatar

LOL The other "wrong key" story for me was in 2018 or 2019, when I ended up driving to a motel along old Route 66 and got room "6", took a shower, and collapsed in bed exhausted. A couple of hours later I was woken up by someone who ALSO had the key to room "6" and it ended up I had actually checked into "Room 9" but the key also worked for "Room 6". We just traded keys (not that we needed to, LOL).

vaurora,
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

@ai6yr my sister lost the key to my 1978 Toyota Corona while dancing in a club. But my roommate had a copy of a key for a similar vintage Toyota Corolla which also worked for my car with just a little jiggling

b0rk, to random
@b0rk@jvns.ca avatar

started using a Mac as my personal machine recently after exclusively using linux for 20 years and one of the most surprising things has been that the options for creative software (making vector graphics, fonts, etc) on Mac really are much better in many cases

feels like one of those things that everyone knows but I never really internalized

(do not lecture me about the options available on Linux, I promise I know)

vaurora,
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

@b0rk not having strace is my number one regret about using a Mac 💔

vaurora, to random
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

"What is clear is that the number of linkable pages is in decline. At one point my site linked to more than twice as many external pages. That’s dropped over time and I appear to be removing links faster than I add new ones." - @billbennett

https://billbennett.micro.blog/2024/03/24/parts-of-the.html

vaurora, to random
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

I'm truly sad to hear that Vernor Vinge passed away yesterday. A kind and brilliant person who wrote top-tier science fiction and taught computer science. I was lucky enough to meet and correspond with him over the years. He was always considerate and thoughtful to me, and I've heard many similar stories from others. He was truly a gift to all of us. I will miss him terribly.

#VernorVinge

vaurora,
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

I emailed Vernor Vinge after the 2016 election. He sent me a thoughtful reply that ended with:

"I still aspire to realistic optimism."

vaurora, to random
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

Can't believe I've lived long enough to see another full cycle of the Ada Lovelace obscurity -> fame -> backlash cycle

(Edited for better link)

https://adainitiative.org/2013/11/26/rebooting-the-ada-lovelace-mythos-video-transcript-slides-and-summary-now-available/

alberto_cottica, to Economics
@alberto_cottica@mastodon.green avatar

If you live in the European Union, I would ask, as a personal favour, that you consider signing this petition for a tax on great wealth. It is reasonable; it would have major impact if put into place; it is very feasible (no revision of the Treaties needed). It is the brainchild of French economist Thomas Piketty, a leading scholar of inequality. https://tax-the-rich.eu

vaurora,
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

@alberto_cottica @ook @KatS FYI I was able to sign it as a non-citizen resident using DigiD

davidaugust, to random
@davidaugust@mastodon.online avatar

🤑

vaurora,
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

@kramann @vicgrinberg @davidaugust @towo global wealth tax when?

vaurora,
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

@davidaugust @kramann @vicgrinberg @towo oh hey, support an EU wealth tax https://mastodon.green/

vicgrinberg, to random
@vicgrinberg@mastodon.social avatar

Signed the contract for a (German) book. I guess now I really need to write & draw it ... 😳

vaurora,
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

@vicgrinberg gefeliciteerd!!!

vaurora, to random
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

Call for interviews! I'm working on an article about an example policy for contributions to open source projects. The goal is for all the contributors to a project, new and old, to have the same expectations regarding credit, reviews, requests for changes, etc. to reduce conflict.

Do you want to share your experiences with conflict over contributions (of any kind) to an open source project? Reply to this post or fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/FJzAvy4MFjqViECv5

Thank you!

vaurora, to random
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

Running errands feels a lot more exciting when you have a Hans Zimmer soundtrack stuck in your head from watching three Dunes in two days

vaurora, to random
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

Back in the day, a common SEO grift was to email the author of a popular HOWTO and ask them to add a link to a poor quality "translation" of the resource on their website. This would increase the backlinks to a domain and improve the search engine ranking. Having had things I wrote legitimately translated into a dozen languages, I added several of those links to other works (not knowing e.g. Croatian) before I caught on. They are all part of the LLM training set now

https://mstdn.social/@ppatel/111924863186976404

quixoticgeek, to random
@quixoticgeek@v.st avatar

Happy telling Men that international mens day is November 19th day...

vaurora,
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

@quixoticgeek I need to put international men's day on my calendar to remind me to search for people posting about it and ask why no international women's day

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

Tell me about your favorite spots for an active(*) vacation in Belgium and/or France along the Belgium border?

(*) Active means for us: hiking - long/challenging single-day hikes are fine, preferably circular ones. Biking if not too hilly AND if safe - I'm a panicky biker who dislikes aggressive cars sharing the road with me. Culture - museums and similar that have English or German explanations. Lovely cities to visit.

Boosting welcome. We will have a car. Timeline: very late May to mid-June.

vaurora,
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

@vicgrinberg @ctlaltdieliet seconding Ghent and Bruges. Ghent was great in that walking anywhere near the center was like touring an art and architecture museum the whole way. I took a bicycle architecture tour in Bruges which was amazing fun

vaurora, to ADHD
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

I am thinking about Layer Aleph's approach to crisis engineering and sense-making in particular. I realize that it's not learning facts that makes me happy, it is understanding how all the parts of the system work together, and what will happen if I perturb the system. Still learning more about how my #ADHD brain works!

https://layeraleph.com/advice/2023/11/14/crisis-engineering/

vaurora, to random
@vaurora@wandering.shop avatar

Days since I've flown into a screaming rage while attempting to use the KvK website: 0

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