Items tagged updates
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to write about rockets, but I wish sci-fi writers and futurists understood conservation of energy. They'd realize that a lot of proposed tech is fundamentally unable to fix climate for simple reasons.
Take electric cars: to move a one-ton object from point A to point B at a given speed, it takes this much energy, period. It doesn't matter how and where you produce it. And guess what: solar panels are horribly inefficient. Power distribution networks are horribly inefficient. And do you know what happens with all the energy that doesn't end up moving your car?
It becomes waste heat, that's what. Even more heat. Just what the planet needs right now. You're welcome.
Tags: climate, science, education, updates
Since the Reddit debacle, I've been paying attention to Lemmy again, and more recently kbin (collectively known as the Threadiverse). The good news: this time around, some instance admins have a clue for a change, and talk about building community. Trouble is, they still de-emphasize people. Tip: any community is made of people, pretty much by definition. News and discussions don't just hang in the sky, much in the same way bricks don't.
Also, they still don't get privacy over there. Hard pass... again. Maybe third time will be the charm. But not this year.
Tags: social media, updates
Mastodon in 2023: people complain about toxic positivity, but if you ever post anything the least bit negative... they yell at you. Also they advise everyone to interact with others, but if you ever reply to them at all, you're a reply guy.
Tags: social media, updates
We need reasons to bring justice, but to abuse other people, that's our divine right, isn't it.
Tags: society, updates
So, when are we going to admit that Marx was probably full of shit?
Tags: politics, updates
Let's put it this way: on this strange alien planet called "society", we figure out how to behave by paying attention to those around us and trying to act like them. Sometimes we get it wrong. Sometimes they yell at us, and only forgive us later if at all. You can ask, but people don't always know why a certain custom exists, or aren't very good at explaining. That's life. That's how it works. What did you expect, step-by-step instructions?
Tags: social media, updates
Programmers really, really need to get that the #1 feature any app needs is to get the job done, period. All else is a detail. If it fails at its most basic task, nothing else matters. Not features, not bling. Want to add a bonus feature I would appreciate? Make your app extra stable. No crashes, no data loss. Most other things are just bloat.
Tags: programming, updates
I saw a poll earlier on Mastodon asking what flavor of leftist people are, if at all: a Communist, socialist, anarchist, or what? And I was like, dunno?! My concern is to make sure people enjoy autonomy and dignity. What label applies?
A lot of leftists only care about high-concept ideas of how society should be organized, and completely forget the point, then act surprised when it all falls apart.
Tags: politics, updates
Craftspeople be like, "This is a simple 12-step mechanical repair job, only takes about three hours and common tools you can find in any specialty shop. Anyone can do it."
Tags: tech, updates
It might not be obvious from the recent flurry of activity, but I have new plans for this page. For one thing, I've installed Shaarli again (click through to see) for use as a buffer from now on. Makes adding links so much easier. Second, no more trying to balance links between the linklog and static directory pages. Clinklog is made to manage timestamped links, so I'm going to try and migrate all of them this way. To keep things under control, the idea is to be more aggressive about cleaning up. Hope you'll find this more useful going forward, assuming of course it works out at all. Cheers.
Tags: internet, updates
How ironic that now I know exactly how to make a good blogging-oriented SSG but don't need one anymore. Oh well, the time will come again.
Tags: internet, programming, updates
Turns out my new journal page is already very popular just a couple of days after coming online. Best decision ever.
On a related note, I got around to mentioning this linklog on my homepage. Let's see if anyone notices.
Tags: internet, updates
Some people talk about digital gardens, linklogs and personal wikis. About how to bring back the Geocities-era web without the baggage. Other people instead speak of profiles, feeds and mentions. Choose wisely.
Tags: internet, updates
What is it with programmers and their tools? You don't hear carpenters pontificating over the art of the drill, or learning hammer-fu.
Tags: programming, updates
Dear open source developers: despite the license, GNU Info is proprietary software. It uses a custom format not supported by any other app, that's overly complex and has no reason to exist except that its creator thought he was smarter than everyone. Use literally anything else.
Tags: computers, updates
Come to think of it, microformats are invisible metadata (exactly what they claim not to be), and putting them inline only makes them harder to extract, not to mention a mess.
Tags: internet, updates
It seems to me the makers of Wayland want all the clout of becoming the new X11, only without putting in any of the work.
Tags: programming, updates
It occurs to me that the General Public License is basically the United States Constitution of software development: a pioneering document that opened the floodgates, but is now out of touch and no longer suitable for the modern world.
Tags: computers, law, updates
Turns out b2evolution is now a complete social networking app, and looks really nice. Large, but clear and easy to figure out. Edit: also fast. Too bad it's basically abandoned.
Tags: internet, updates
Just completed my periodic survey of the flat-file CMS market. FlatPress is a decent option I missed so far. Kind of dusty and creaky, but usable. Bludit is still unbeatable.
Tags: internet, updates