Monday April 6th, 2026
No, not the E&J Gallo wine brand, the email client.
Why is this so hard?
Hat tip to whoever's causing Reddit to send me password recovery emails. Guessing maybe it's my participation in /r/noai?
taco, bird/cat :verified420: @chirpbirb@meow.social
Content warning: open source software drama, nvim-treesitter
open source software developers are getting fed up and are finally recognizing that they can just fucking leave.
the owner of nvim-treesitter gets a really shitty comment from a user saying that the update to a required version broke their workflow
the owner replies saying "hey just pin what you need instead of mainlining it if you need this for an older version"
the shitty user replies back saying "go switch to something that doesn't require interacting with people"
the owner says "OK." and ARCHIVES THE REPO
https://github.com/nvim-treesi...nvim-treesitter/discussions/8627like, holy shit, what a power move.
Maciej Ceglowski: The lunacy of Artemis:
Advocates for Artemis insist that the program is more than Apollo 2.0. But as we’ll see, Artemis can't even measure up to Apollo 1.0. It costs more, does less, flies less frequently, and exposes crews to risks that the steely-eyed missile men of the Apollo era found unacceptable. It's as if Ford in 2024 released a new model car that was slower, more accident-prone, and ten times more expensive than the Model T.
Of course I mostly go back to: WTF are we doing with crewed exploration in the twenty fucking twenties. Not only is sending out robots cheaper, we learn a hell of a lot more. It's just propaganda dickwaving to put humans in harm's way.
Via.
Andrew Murphy: If you thought the speed of writing code was your problem - you have bigger problems. He mentions Eli Goldratt's The Goal, which, of course, I remember reading back in high school 'cause my Dad was in management consulting at the time.
From this Elizabeth Ayer @elizayer@mastodon.social thread, I quote tooted the second in that thread with:
I think we've got a whole lot of people building software who both have no experience with the actual users of that software, and have no conceptual model for what the software does internally.
Years of "Agile" and using writing software to prototype have destroyed our collective ability to engage with the processes that we used to use.
Maybe the LLM coding tools are getting better? daniel:// stenberg:// @bagder@mastodon.social
The challenge with AI in open source security has transitioned from an AI slop tsunami into more of a ... plain security report tsunami. Less slop but lots of reports. Many of them really good.
I'm spending hours per day on this now. It's intense.
You've probably seen the stuff from the Artemis II mission about Bluetooth pairing issues and Microsoft Outlook ... well ... there's no way to put those words together without some sort of "clusterfuck" semantics. Anyway, Becca Royal- Gordon @beccadax@soincredibly.gay
Hot take: The Artemis livestream is a damning indictment of modern computing devices. It seems like half the radio chatter is troubleshooting email delivery problems, confusing user interfaces, or devices not booting or connecting. Literal astronauts with years of training can’t make our stuff work.
wendy cloudberry @wendycloudberry.com
Pine would never
Numerous social media folks are also making "Thunderbird" comments... I think this is a reminder that it's time for me to get back on Claws.
Paul Cantrell @inthehands@hachyderm.io thread on the ICE invasion of Minneapolis and the clarity that comes from realizing that no one is coming to save you.
Campus Computing Center of the United Nations University: The Echo Chamber in Your Pocket
Two landmark papers from MIT and Stanford now offer formal proof of what many suspected: sycophantic AI is not merely annoying. It is systematically eroding both our grip on reality and our capacity for moral repair.
Science: Sycophantic AI decreases prosocial intentions and promotes dependence Myra Cheng, Cinoo Lee, Pranav Khadpe, Sunny Yu, Dyllan Han, and Dan Jurafsky (preprint mentioned previously, a mention in the Stanford Report)
Via.
NPR: Penalties stack up as AI spreads through the legal system. Mostly stuff we've already seen, but it's good to see the mainstream catching up. Via.
Thread from Bryan Culbertson 🥄 @bryanculbertson.com about normalizing self-driving car trips vs different factors, and comparing those to other modes, and pointing out that autonomous vehicles need are still 100x more dangerous than public transit modes.
Futurism reports that "Almost Half of US Data Centers That Were Supposed to Open This Year Slated to Be Canceled or Delayed"
Demand is low enough that you might actually have to get Iran to bomb your data center for the insurance money rather than claim you're gonna achieve "AGI" next year this time for sure really...
https://futurism.com/science-e...data-centers-construction-supply
Sunday April 5th, 2026
I have been trying to not work out square dance choreography puzzles I'm my head when I have down time, and it's reminding me of how much I miss programming with like real data structures and stuff.
Helping me clarify the directions I want to go with work.
Saturday April 4th, 2026
Moof! 🔜 #JetLagTheGame NL @moof@cupoftea.social
I’m told that sometimes Claude can be frustrating. I gather that interacting with it can be quite rewarding, especially when it creates passing tests in your programmes. But sometimes that dopamine rush is not quite enough. Maybe you need a bit of stroking of your ego, or a good pat on the butt when you’ve done well.
So now, someone has now taken Vibe Coding to tbe logical conclusion, and has created an interface from Claude to buttplug.io.
So now the shafting you get from AI is no longer just figurative.
Signal Bridge is an Android app that lets Claude touch you through your intimate hardware while you talk. You have a conversation. When the moment calls for it, Claude sends haptic commands (vibration, pulsing, thrusting, escalation etc.) through Signal Bridge to your connected devices. You see tool-use indicators in the chat. You feel the rest.
Pondering differences between wealth taxes and inflation. I guess the primary difference is that with a national currency, a wealth tax is how states can independently implement the effect.
Friday April 3rd, 2026
A good rant about a crappy tool for setting passwords in SSD encryption, or something? Samsung Magician disk utility takes 18 steps and two Recovery Mode reboots to uninstall.
Read down to where they embedded Electron to show a pie chart. And then down to where they embedded 150 PNGs for a "health good" animation.
What I wanted for a MacOS Tahoe 16.4 update: performance, stability, security, better handling of switches disabling "Liquid Glass", square corners...
What I got: 🧑🩰
Steve Hayman 🇨🇦🇬🇱 @shayman@cosocial.ca
TIL: For any prime number p >= 5, p²-1 is divisible by 24.
That's cool.
Isn't it?
Yes it is.
Steve Hayman 🇨🇦🇬🇱 @shayman@cosocial.ca
Informal proof that for a prime p >=5, p²-1 must be a multiple of 24.
p²-1 = (p-1)(p+1)
p-1, p, p+1 are three consecutive integers. One of them must be divisible by 3 - and it can't be p, because p is prime. So either p-1 or p+1 is a multiple of 3.
Also, p is odd, so p-1 and p+1 are both even - and one or the other must be divisible by 4. One is a multiple of 2, the other of 4.
So the product of p-1 and p+1 has factors of 2, 3 and 4, and must be a multiple of 2*3*4 =24.
Simon Willison has a link to the axios npm supply chain compromise post-mortem, including Jayson Saayman's description of how the social engineering worked.
tl;dr: extremely real looking contact with a company that eventually ended up as a Microsoft Teams meeting, that complained that some component was out of date, update process on that component was the compromise.
Because better solutions for local (and, yes, national and international) news are on my radar: An AI company set out to fix news deserts. Instead, it copied local journalists’ work
Nota shut down its news sites after Axios and Poynter found dozens of plagiarized quotes, phrases and photos
I mean, it's an AI company, so of course it didn't actuall "set out to fix news deserts", it set out to exploit a human desire to fix news deserts, and of course it fucked over the actual reporters.
Reminder to mobile email client developers: Often people have urgent tasks to do with their phone. Nobody wants to take your five minute tour of new features when they're trying to find a login code because a friend is helping them solve their Netflix billing issue after a square dance.
Assholes.
Listening to "Who Killed Avril Lavigne?" on the walk to work this morning, and... it's super dumb in a good way. If you need a pop-punk flashback to the '90s made by a bunch of people who are obviously friends and having fun...
Thursday April 2nd, 2026
Huh. Don't know how I've missed this "Danger! Do not operate! Man on line." tag dated 12/14/24 on this pole that I've walked past a gazillion times, but I hope dude isn't still up there somewhere, he's gotta be getting thirsty.
Also, "man on line", what century are we in again?
Finally figured out my Deckset issue. As a competent text editor user, I am really digging the trend of "all configuration happens in text files" and "tools do one thing, well."
Tri-System Theory is not a warning about AI’s dangers but a recognition of System 3’s psychological presence. We do not merely use AI; we think with it. In doing so, we must ask new questions: What happens when our judgments are shaped by minds not our own? What becomes of intuition and effort when a generative, artificial partner stands ready to answer? How do we preserve agency, reflection, and autonomy in a world where users engage in cognitive surrender?
https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/yk25n_v1
Via Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social who characterized it as:
The. Rise. Of. Cognitive. Surrender.
Study finds that people who use GenAI chatbots rely on them 80% of the time, and develop almost no capacity to recognize when a chatbot is feeding them faulty information.
Based on an ancient Cooks Illustrated article, I've been making hash browns by squeezing the grated potatoes, letting the juice sit, pouring off the water and re-incorporating the starch.
(Cook 9 minutes per side, medium heat, plenty of fat.)
I just did my first batch by squeezing and rinsing and discarding the starch, and way crispier!
There is some debate over the meaning of the text that’s paired with the recumbent skeleton. The writer İlber Ortaylı reads it as, “You get the pleasure of the food you eat hastily with death,” and believes that the mosaic was in a soup kitchen rather than a rich person’s dining room. But in a thorough post by Livius on The History Blog, they argue that a skeleton “partying with [the Romans] in the dining room” is consistent with the art at the time in which Kara dated it. The mosaic would’ve been a reminder that life is fleeting—so imbibe the wine, eat the bread, and enjoy it while you can.
Found it! Those two images, I didn't have a blank line before the image specifier.
Deskset mavens: I think I'm loving it, except that I have two B&W images from the
Library of Congress that I cannot get it to display at a reasonable size, even when I
screengrab for them, or convert from TIFF with Image Magick or GIMP.
Any help?
Wednesday April 1st, 2026
I really really hope that I don't have reason to refer back to this document later, but holy shit: Thoughts following the Jan. 8th NASA Headquarters meeting concerning the Artemis II Heatshield (read-only Google doc), per this skeet from Anil Dash it's written by "former Johnson Space Center engineering director (and astronaut) Charles Camarda".
If the toy collectors on Facebook Marketplace place could stop referring to 1997 as "vintage", I'd appreciate it. Pretty sure that was less than a decade ago...
Defense One: AI may revive old-school tradecraft even as it transforms intelligence work
A recent article in Studies in Intelligence, the CIA- backed academic journal, argues that as AI degrades the reliability of digital communications like text messages and video calls, traditional human intelligence tradecraft — like dead drops, brush passes and in-person meetings — could regain renewed importance.
Via.
At this point I'm not even sure it's worth taking note of software/package management supply chain attacks anymore, but North Korean hackers blamed for hijacking popular Axios open source project to spread malware.
QOTD: MeFi user RonButNotStupid on LLM written code (Specifically Claude Code):
It's like programming as understood by the sovereign citizen movement.
Boris Cherney said "Can confirm Claude Code is 100% written by Claude Code". Time to start pushing back on those DMCA takedowns, and get Anthropic's legal team disbarred for abuse and misconduct.
How is Federal transportation funding broken? Mass DOT Project Information — CHARLEMONT- BRIDGE REPLACEMENT, C-05-009, CHICKLEY ROAD OVER CHICKLEY RIVER.
Estimated Total Contract Cost: $9,139,470.74
Estimated Total Federal Participating Construction Cost: $9,703,075.95
Google Maps link for 296 W. Hawley Rd.. That's nearly $10M to serve a single house. Total assessed value for 72 acres and the 4br/2ba house with attached garage, $402,700 (okay, to be fair, looks like they've got an outbuilding and some solar panels).
Leader of Antioch police department texting scandal sentenced to 4 years in prison
"Police terrorist" is the language used by presiding federal judge, Jeffrey White, during the sentencing says Nisenbaum. He says Rombough's confession helped led to the signing of an MOU in December that will Nisenbaum says will transform Antioch into a "constitutional policing model." Even though the prosecution wanted a longer sentence.
Microsoft Copilot Terms of Use explicitly lay out the situation:
- When you request that Copilot take Actions on your behalf, you are solely responsible for those Actions and any results or consequences.
- Copilot is for entertainment purposes only. It can make mistakes, and it may not work as intended. Don’t rely on Copilot for important advice. Use Copilot at your own risk.
- WITHOUT LIMITING SECTION 12 OF THE MICROSOFT SERVICES AGREEMENT IN ANY WAY, BUT FOR THE SAKE OF CLARITY, WE DO NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION OF ANY KIND ABOUT COPILOT. For example, we can’t promise that any Copilot’s Responses won’t infringe someone else’s rights (like their copyrights, trademarks, or rights of privacy) or defame them. You are solely responsible if you choose to publish or share Copilot’s Responses publicly or with any other person.
Via Ingrid Burrington @lifewinning.com who also posits
Clippy popping up asking "are you not entertained?"
Edit: Tech Crunch: Copilot is ‘for entertainment purposes only,’ according to Microsoft’s terms of use. That references PC Mag: Copilot Terms Claim Microsoft's AI Is for 'Entertainment Purposes Only' which quotes this /r/BetterOffline thread and notes that:
However, the company is indicating it plans on changing the disclaimer soon. "The ‘entertainment purposes’ phrasing is legacy language from when Copilot originally launched as a search companion service in Bing," a Microsoft spokesperson told PCMag. "As the product has evolved, that language is no longer reflective of how Copilot is used today and will be altered with our next update.”
@danlyke I'm listening to a Wall Street Millennial video about Anthropic right now and I'm not sure the CEO's butter is all the way on his pancake
Wall Street Millenial: Anthropic's feud with the Pentagon is not what you think.
I personally think it's a good thing that the the Department of War declared Anthropic a supply chain risk. Not because it actually is a supply chain risk, but because this is the first time that Dario Amadei is finally held accountable for his fear mongering and propaganda.
The Register: Anthropic goes nude, exposes Claude Code source by accident.
Ars Technica: Entire Claude Code CLI source code leaks thanks to exposed map file.
The New Stack: Inside Claude Code’s leaked source: swarms, daemons, and 44 features Anthropic kept behind flags, Via.
jonny (good kind) @jonny@neuromatch.social
My dogs I am crying. They have a whole series of exception types that end with
_I_VERIFIED_THIS_IS_NOT_CODE_OR_FILEPATHSand the docstring explains this is "to confirm you've verified the message contains no sensitive data." Like the LLM resorts to naming its variables with prompt text to remind it to not leak data while writing its code, which, of course, it ignores and prints the error directly.
Michael Bacon @MichaelTBacon@social.coop has some commentary and a link to that jonny thread (above).
T he Register: Claude Code source leak reveals how much info Anthropic can hoover up about you and your system, Via.
tante @tante@tldr.nettime.org has some commentary...
It is fascinating but it is as far away from actual engineering as drunkenly pissing your name in the snow. Dunno what you call the people prompting software at Anthropic but "engineer" is not it.
Reading leaked Claude Code source code, Via Lobste.rs
Edit: MeFi thread.
Tuesday March 31st, 2026
Palo Alto explores ways to slow down cyclists on Cal Ave. Interesting look at how to manage a road turned into a pedestrian space, but where the adjoining streets are hostile to bicyclists.
Via.
Every time I think "fuuuu, why did I sign up for another gig this week?", and then I go call a square dance, and I'm like "oh, yeah, that's why".
Tonight the Caper Cutters in San Francisco.
I guess it's just not possible to buy modern concert tickets without going through a scalper these days... The box office says "sold out", StubHub is happy to offer me a ticket, likely at huge markup.
Monday March 30th, 2026
The message to cops about protesting has long been "don't start none, won't be none", this is more confirmation of that: The New Republic: Alex Pretti’s Death Came After Insane Stephen Miller Order
Stephen Miller urged Department of Homeland Security agents to “force confrontations” with protesters in Minneapolis.</blockqutoe>
The thugs were sent into neighborhoods with orders to stir shit up.
I find myself once again fighting with Keynote and LibreOffice's presentation mode, and wondering what's y'all's favorite HTML slides generator?
I've been keeping a page of "songs we sang" for Janice Hardy's singing circle. She's talking about her own site, and is Wordpress actually the way to go? Seems like some static site app on her desktop would be a better idea, but it seems like a failure that we're down to heavyweight WP, or Wix...
Thieves steal 12 tons of KitKats. Presumably that's single-digit numbers of actual cocoa pods worth of chocolate...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/n...at-shipment-heist-stolen-europe/
alyssa mercante @alyssamerc.bsky.social has a thread in which she announces her law firm's settlement proposal in a suit against YouTuber "SmashJT" Jeff Tarzia.
The discussion of OpenAI/ChatGPT discovery materials is a look at someone pitifully deep into AI induced psychosis.
Wow, this is super shady: Cybercab Owners dot com. For only $500 you can put down a deposit on access to some sort of charging infrastructure that might be available after Tesla actually releases the Cybercab?
As Kay Leadfoot @ FuelArc News @kayleadfoot.bsky.social noted:
Looks like a double-tap scam, they're charging Tesla fans $500 for vaporware to sit on top of their vaporware.
Pavel A. Samsonov @PavelASamsonov@mastodon.social
Make sure to rotate your pronouns periodically, so that if your gender becomes compromised, attackers can only access it for a short period of time.
Martin Escardo @MartinEscardo@mathstodon.xyz
I have a calculator that is correct 80% of the time. But don't worry, every time I use it, I check the results myself.
Hart Research Associates/Public Opinion Strategies Study #260072 -- March 2026 NBC News Survey
| Very Positive | Somewhat Positive | Neutral | Somewhat Negative | Very Negative | Don't Know /Not Sure |
|
| JD Vance March 2026 | 27 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 41 | 3 |
| AI, that is Artificial Intelligence March 2026 | 5 | 21 | 27 | 24 | 22 | 1 |
Trying to find the article that led to this, unsuccessfully.
On the one hand, I wanna link to The Guardian: Number of AI chatbots ignoring human instructions increasing, study says, on the other hand the report from the UK Centre for Long-Term Resilience seems like the sort of thing meant to freak out policy-makers rather than actually be useful.
The trend is striking. The number of credible scheming-related incidents increased 4.9x over the collection period, a statistically significant increase that far outpaced the 1.7x growth in overall online discussion of scheming, and the 1.3x growth in general negative discussion about AI. This surge coincided with the release of a wave of more capable, more agentic AI models and frameworks from major developers.
Like, uh, you wanna normalize that by anything? Additional use? The advent of more long- running systems like OpenClaw?
It's great to say "hey, these things are dangerous, and even technical users are tripping over their shoelaces when use of these ties them together", and I'm all for policy which engages more discussion about these things, but I also think the way the discussion is unfolding is exposing a lot about how policy is made by emotional reaction rather than any sort of real models.
Okay, one more goat picture
Sunday March 29th, 2026
Not sure if nuzzles, or seeing if I'm edible.
This one really wants to untie my shoes.
Kids these days.
Some actors will forever be typecast.
At Redwood Hill Farm to hang out with the goats, they have a great view of Mt St Helena.
Charlene and me with Janice Cader Thompson at the rally today.
Saturday March 28th, 2026
Went to the rally today in our unicorn costumes (I expect pictures of us to blossom on the internet shortly), but standing around all day was a reminder that in last night's calling for South Bay Squares I was moving. A lot.
My legs are downright tired today.