Made a shirt with some cryptographic terms on it, and was super paranoid about getting it wrong, so had multiple people check but was still worried, but it just occurred to me that if it is wrong all I have to say is that it's meant as an example of why you don't roll your own crypto.
A 2026 problem: I need new glasses and was considering going back to solid black frames like that pair I really liked in 2015 or so (and bought again after a friend broke the first pair) but now I'm like "maybe clear solid frames so I don't look like a pervert."
Thanks Mark.
Every few months I forget what I did a few months back and go looking for an e-ink tablet that's open-source but also fde-supporting and every few months I am disappointed.
Saw someone boosting their session at a US conference, suggesting people indecisive about attending "get off the fence." Took everything in my power not to reply "actually more worried about ending up behind a barbed-wire fence," but they probably don't deserve it, they're just trying to share the enthusiasm.
But it's a thing now! We have to think about it!
Is there a Canada chapter of insomnia club?
Looks like you're expanding project funding options @marmarta , good stuff!
Hearing Circuit Des Yeux for the first time as support at an Alan Sparhawk (formerly of Low) show. I'm a sucker for a solid octave range, they're good, like Diamanda Galas and Chelsea Wolfe had a kid and their only friends were 80s horror movie soundtracks and Benylin.
Finally nuking my long-defunct birdsite account with @micahflee 's Cyd. Next up, convincing my neighbours that the building's gossip group could live on a private Mastodon server or similar instead of Facebook.
Aaron Swartz Day is nearly upon us - thinking about it today in relation to Lauren Harper's call for (among other things) the download and preservation of US govt datasets likely to be made private under Trump: https://freedom.press/issues/trumps-reelection-puts-us-in-uncharted-territory-over-secrecy-now-what/
At some stage we've gone from:
"I could replace that person with a 4-line shell script"
to:
"I could replace that person with a vast network of data centers using up most of the world's GPUs and significant amounts of energy and fresh water, running an opaque application trained on the sum total of human textual output"
and honestly it doesn't have the same ring to it.
The @QubesOS Summit this weekend was pretty great, thank you to all involved, and it was cool to meet @marmarta and Marek in person for the first time!
(Also, ngl, after a lot of work and struggle and frankly some pretty rough times, being able to show off a stable version of the workstation felt pretty good.)
We just posted a 6mo 20h/wk contract support position on my team, intended to help us roll out the @QubesOS -based SecureDrop Workstation to more news orgs while keeping the rest of our support plates spinning. Details here: https://freedom.press/careers/job/?gh_jid=4471699005
Feel free to share, or to reach out with questions if curious!
There's a gofundme (kind of stale now) to support Jane Staller (the other artmatrix/lightlink owner and Homer's wife) here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-jane-staller-after-the-death-of-her-husband
I just kicked in a few bucks, maybe if you're into #fractalart and such it's a nice opportunity to recognise some pioneers in promoting it?
Awww
Sad update: one of the two company owners died in December 2022 and it looks like it shut down as a result (along with the radio-based broadband ISP they ran in Ithaca). RIP Homer Smith, you sound like you were a real one.
Apparently (at least as of 2022) http://www.artmatrix.com/ is a going concern and they now sell this same animation on DVD with the alternate title "Mathematics for Lovers", so I'm forced to speculate as to which of my neighbours has a complex plane ... complex.
VHS fractals confirmed!
Excitement building!
Hah, the void received my #xscreensaver toot and responded by leaving a VHS tape of fractal animations from 1990 in my building's junk room.
Now I need to hook up the VCR and say a little prayer that the tape isn't recorded over with someone's dodgier life choices.
Me 25 years ago: getting distracted from work by xscreensaver modes on my PC running Slackware.
Me today: getting distracted from work by xscreensaver wallpapers on my phone running GrapheneOS.
Looking forward to 25 years from now and getting distracted from the external hellscape by xscreensaver modes running on my brainpod's external processor.