@mewsleah @djsundog

a while later they released OSR2 - i think as a free upgrade

The OSR releases were OEM only. Pre-installed on new computers, unobtainable* otherwise. Incredibly annoying as OSR2 included little things like *checks notes* USB support.

about half an hour ago, i heard what sounded like someone rhythmically banging the hell out of a wall in the stairwell, and i am still on edge because of it :-(

just saw someone disputing the assertion that "programming isn't all that difficult", but the thing is, they conflated programming with software engineering.

so let's be clear:

programming isn't all that difficult. nor is hoying a one-shot bridge across a river.

software engineering, though, is very difficult. so is building a bridge that is designed to last two hundred years, and a multiplication of the expected traffic across it, in extremely inclement conditions.

we have, as a society, learned the hard way that a bridge that is not built to absolutely conservative, time-weathered principles, will collape. for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_Bridge_disaster - or, if you want a really sobering read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Bridge_disasters_caused_by_engineering_error and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Bridge_disasters_caused_by_construction_error

but somehow we imagine that building software projects with many, many more moving parts than even the Tay Bridge is something we can do at the drop of a hat, or treat as a playground for shiny new techniques. it isn't. software that people rely on must be constructed carefully, and according to the most conservative, time-weathered principles too. chief amongst which has always been, and remains, "keep it simple!"

remind me, because i've already forgotten. what were the other byte-long private keys besides 4, 230 and 237?

TIL that my usual webmail provider's platform is PHP-based

...time for a new one :-/

How it feels to have no idea what PHP is

due to a critical security advisory about the PHP language (which we depend on), many Wikimedia services are going to be affected. We are hoping to avoid downtime to the wikis, but some supporting tools and services are unfortunately going to be impacted. This is a complex operation on short notice and we are still figuring out the details

so it begins :foxDance:

you know it's a bad day in IT when @rysiek gets quoted in the Guardian

seeing Reform UK whine about "psychological damage" to their members as a result of them *checks notes* getting caught, is somewhat rich from a party who has not demonstrated an excess of concern about the psychological damage they wish to inflict on... well, just about everyone not in their little club

i love the smell of DARVO in the morning

having used llms before for work, i have first hand experience of the effects they have on your mind, especially if you use them for creation (like writing code)

they're addictive gambling machines, even if you know they are. they can't be used responsibly. after stopping with their use for work, i noticed myself reaching for them. it took me months to fully recover. there was also very noticeable skill atrophy

i knew of the many issues, but these things work on your monkey brain, they're very hazardous

if you use them and you're not forced to use them, stop using them. they are not worth it in any way. if you can't stop using them for work, try to avoid them outside of work as much as possible. harm reduction is a valid strategy

this technology needs to be eliminated, there is no way to salvage it

and this is me focusing on the psychological issues, there are way more severe social and ethical issues with it

If you'd like to support me and @Tess (a disabled trans couple from the UK) on a regular basis, you can do that on ko-fi by joining a tier from £2 a month! We hope to escape a very difficult situation so we can be more creative :bob_ross: :blobfoxcomfycomputer: https://ko-fi.com/brynndraws/tiers

who knew that using private keys were 98%+ of bits are the same would turn out to be a bad idea...?

also, i'm surprised nobody's referenced the obvious xkcd cartoon yet... or perhaps they have, and i just haven't noticed?

ok, so Mastodon 5.0 takes the remaining stuff that works and fucks it up. and they are sad that they didn't get to fuck up even more

gotcha. can we fork it at 4.0, please?

"so, what was on your mind when you created the first of a whole new class of drug: antihistamines that don't make people sleepy?"

"well, we were understandably disappointed...."

Terfenadine was synthesized by chemists at Richardson–Merrell in 1973 as a potential tranquilizer.

swing and a miss there, geeks...

looking back, especially when i was first prescribed it at twice the dose i should've been, it was probably a good thing i never liked grapefruit...

i mean, it only killed people the once, obviously

seriously, i've been on it so long that i used to metabolise my own from terfenadine.... until that turned out to have a nasty interaction with grapefruit juice (it occasionally killed you)

and i started taking that in primary school

suddenly a bit worried: i just saw a thing that said fexofenadine is safe for use up to 12 months

i've been on it for decades now... ummm

finally, a private key that current quantum computers can factorize