You can watch my talk "How Encryption Works in Matrix" at https://cfp.2026.matrix.org/matrix-conference-2026/talk/DDYYQW/ - it's aimed at people who don't know much about encryption. #MatrixConf #matrix

"I imagine this dream is common to all academics:

Looking up at the stars in wonderment, or enjoying a complex puzzle game, or being inspired by an encouraging teacher, and dreaming that one day an unfeeling corporate robot will burn a rainforest to compile a list of 700 highly obscure barely-readable facts that *might* be true that nobody can understand as part of a marketing gimmick to raise hype for an IPO."

https://terrytao.wordpress.com/2026/10/15/why-are-we-even-doing-all-this/

Remember cryptocurrencies? The tech world got overenthusiastic about a technology that has some limited uses and some massive downsides.

If your government web site gets hacked, PROSECUTE THE COMPANY THAT DID IT.

Going to #MatrixConf ? You might like my attempt at no-encryption-knowledge-required explanation of how we keep your messages safe from prying eyes!

@matrix

Feeling sad about AI

https://video.infosec.exchange/w/rYgQFwrqs9mpWydyoUCakY

I talk about why I've been feeling sad and encourage myself and you to feel some hope.

Transcript: https://artificialworlds.net/blog/2026/09/11/feeling-sad-about-ai/

#ai #video #programming

Continuing my strategy of

a) fixing the Internet's punctuation, and
b) becoming a committer on lots of repos to make myself look clever

Thoughtful, ethical policy change for Sourcehut on LLMs

https://sourcehut.org/blog/2026-08-27-tos-changes-and-llms/

In a slight fever dream I wrote a clone of towncrier in Rust.

Because it all happened quite fast I didn't really go on about it much, so probably no-one knows it exists.

If you want to manage your changelog in a nice way, you might like it, especially if you're writing a Rust project.

https://codeberg.org/andybalaam/changelog-builder

If you feel like it you can apply through me and I might get a referral bonus. The main bonus would be working with you, though, beloved reader.

Want to write open source Rust for a living?

https://element.careers.hibob.com/jobs?department=Software%20Development

#rustlang #FossJobs #GetFediHired

20 years ago, normal people avoided technology and techies would jump on the newest gadgets as soon as they could.

Now, normal people buy smart toasters & coffee mugs while every techie I know is on the verge of retreating to the forest

Product quality is proportional to attention.

Code quality is inversely proportional to pressure.

RE: https://mathstodon.xyz/@johncarlosbaez/117111379335658451

In case we had any doubt about who the bad guys were, they started destroying books.

Not many people experienced Lemmings' two-player mode, because you had to plug two mice in to your machine to play it.

I have never experienced a nastier game in my entire life. THE way to win is to DESTROY your opponents' ability to play, mostly by digging a hole under their entrance, so the poor blighters fall immediately into oblivion.

An incredibly visceral experience, with potential to ruin relationships.

It was quite fun though.

Want to write open source Rust for a living?

https://apply.workable.com/elementio/j/41EF6FAB51/

#rustlang #fossjobs

Protecting our FLOSS commons from LLMs

https://blog.codeberg.org/protecting-our-floss-commons-from-llms.html

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aek5570

"LLMs work not by seeking truth or through logical reasoning but by making probable connections."

A flaky test is a failing test you just dumped on a random friend in the middle of the night when you're not around.

The best way to treat a flaky test is exactly like a failing test: stop what you are doing and fix it.

Just spat tea all over my keyboard while groaning that I pushed an incorrect commit description.