I wonder if the people from my past who look me up online find out that I'm now a goat.

The linear algebra machine is not your friend

Yeah, I get it. It's neat to be able to tell the robot what you want using natural language, as if you're talking to a person. It's also incredibly inefficient, imprecise, and misleading. It's not a person, it's a computer program that does a bunch of matrix multiplications.

Reminder: it is possible to do interesting things with machine deep learning systems that *don't* involve a sycophantic chatbot

"Hear ye!" you declaim with great vigor. "All ye lords and ladies, ye wenches and serfs, ye sparkle fairies and ninjas on the half shell, attend me! This day only! Meat pies..."

A crowd assembles. Phones come out. You're live-streamed. How do they have WiFi?

"...thus for to sup and dine as the very King himself!" you finish as a TikToker in a peasant blouse vocal fries next to you. She buys no pies.

Every year, it's getting to be more Faire and less Renaissance. Your attitude needs a reboot.

Caught in the Act

I sifted through my photos looking for one that spoke to me. For some reason, this blue jay said “George Burns on stage”—just replace the peanut with a cigar. I dug up a one‑liner from Burns that fit the moment: “I’ve lived on peanuts and hard work. The peanuts were better.”

RE: https://mastodon.online/@sarahtaber/117383371595184964

Remember that 21,000+ acre farm here in NC where workers keep dying?

You'd think they're doing that "to make a profit."

LOL no. If that were true, they probably wouldn't have gotten FORTY MILLION DOLLARS in arrears with their bank.

https://youtu.be/TPZf4eq2NwE (Goes live in a few minutes, at 10am ET.)

Every single incident we talk about in this video was already covered by the news.

But nobody's pulled the years of incidents all together into a coherent "Wait, does this farm have problems?" narrative before.

Kinda wild! It's way past time!

This week's video:

Here in NC, we have a state senator with a 21,000+ acre farm. Where workers just kinda.... keep dying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9xEKq-fiRs

Inktober day 10: "Mystical"
I've been using a Pilot Hi-Tec-C in 0.4mm for these and I've been super impressed with how well it's been able to keep up with me with zero issues.

#inktober #inktober2026

RE: https://mastodon.stickbear.me/@spacepup/117420224930670925

Hello Fedi, How would blind people make a zine? Tips? #zines

@mwl we can protect important data from AI agents by putting all of it in a folder named Student Loan Records

I'll believe an AI agent can actually go rogue when it deletes all the data for student loans, credit reports, or pending foreclosures.

Until then, "rogue AI agents" are pure marketing.

#Inktober Day#10 Mystical

I hope that's not the Necronomicon..

I had a fess published a few years ago about how I couldn't connect with my lifelong pals cos all they wanted to do was booze and take coke. I told them how I felt, turned out they thought the same and now we climb Munro's on Sundays. Lads, talk to your pals.

I mean brey - every socialist reading group in America larger than about five people has a fed in it. And that was BEFORE Dipshit Hitler took over.

I'm not saying you gotta live your life in fear - but they ARE gunning for you and it does no good to simply pretend they aren't.

Excellent news!

'Britain’s Royal College of Pharmacy announced that it is immediately ending its sponsorship and exhibition arrangements with Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva, citing concerns raised in a due diligence review which showed that its activities did not align with the college's values.'

https://www.newarab.com/news/uk-health-body-ends-sponsorship-israeli-drug-firm-teva #BoycottTeva #BDS #Israel #Palestine #UKPol

A major early medieval monastery, lost to legend, found on a Scottish island

A local historical society went looking for answers about a 13th century cathedral in western Scotland. They found something much older. Beneath and around the cathedral on Lismore, an island in Argyll, lay the remains of a major early medieval monastery. Researchers now say it was Lios Mòr, a church center founded in the sixth century by Saint Mo Luóc...

More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2026/10/a-major-early-medieval-monastery-lost-to-legend-found-on-a-scottish-island/

Follow @archaeology

Kids today will never believe this, but it used to be an important user interface design consideration that buttons for controlling stuff (like a media player, or paging through a series of photos) not cover up the stuff that the buttons control.

Imagine: videos, where the play and pause buttons were not on covering up the playing video content for any amount of time. “See next photo” buttons that didn’t overlap any part of the current photo you are looking at.

We can have it all again some day, I believe.