Notices by Mark Stosberg (markstos@urbanists.social)

@mntmn Depending on the file manager, you can define a tool that is your “opener”, and you can pick one that’s you control which apps open which files.

I use Ranger as a file manager and Rifle as an opener.

Not sure about other languages, but with #JavaScript culture, we usually read docs online for the installed modules.

As projects bitrot, there's increasing dissonance between the installed versions & docs for the current version. So you can be "following the docs", yet the code doesn't work.

Also as projects bitrot, it becomes more complex and fragile to upgrade dependencies to the current version.

It would be great if it was easier to read the docs of the installed versions.

#coding

To get Spotify recommendations that truly delight me, I have to explore, poke, and pivot to climb out of the recommendation silos the algorithms put me in.

#Spotify is only succeeding is noticing what I listen to. It fails to notice HOW I listen to music. I like to do a deep dive in a genre, soak it up and move on to something else.

#Spotify keeps assuming each neighbordhood I visit is where I want to buy a house.

Whatcha got for musical nomads Spotify?!

Chaos Theory has this term "basins of attraction", destinations where seemingly random inputs keep ending up, like a movie with many beginnings but only one ending.

Today I finally listened to enough music from different genres that my Spotify recommendations are finally landing in a different basin of attraction instead of continuing to spiral me back down the drain of the same pop music.

Once you start listening to music in a #spotify basin of attraction it's hard to climb out of the well!

People are chattering are how bad it's going to be as #ChatGPT starts ingesting it's own AI-generated output as "truth".

But we are already living in AI feedback loops, like when we listen to #Spotify's recommended tracks, and it uses that new listening behavior to make the next recommendation.

It doesn't get better and better over time, it gets narrower and narrower. And to the extent it mixes in "what's popular", some flukes are getting highly recommended while some good music is missed.

I’ve served on a Bike/Ped Commission for years and met neighbors who are good about advocating for better sidewalks in their neighborhoods.

Then I go out and explore the city and find other neighbors have “made the road by walking”. They’ve pounded desire paths into the earth by daily use, yet never showed up to a meeting to complain.

This is why it’s so important that #urbanplanning is based on comprehensive, objective data and not just complaints.

#SpatialEquity #BloomingtonIN

The first group believes the system will work for them and has time to advocate for it.

The second group may not believe the system will work for them, and maybe it doesn’t or hasn’t, or doesn’t have time or understanding to advocate for themselves.

Both groups deserve good infrastructure.

#SpatialEquity

If you are wondering "What browser is that? That's Qutebrowser, a Chromium-based browser.

Other browsers would also be running into the same condition by may choose not to warn the user that there's a problem.

https://qutebrowser.org/

I just visited the #LastPass website and there's a security problem on their homepage caused by a third-party tracking service they use. If LastPass is trying rebuild brand confidence for 2023, this isn't the way to do it.

#security

Things I had success doing when my city was spending zero dollars on bike infrastructure:

1. Creating & printing a bike map
2. Removing "No Bikes" signs
3. Installing public bike racks
4. Organizing cyclists
5. Planning bike lanes-- some got included in long-term plans
6. Convincing the city to ask the DOT for a "complete streets" approach on a state road
7. Putting "Complete Streets" in long term plans.

Tips are shared here:
https://mark.stosberg.com/effective-bike-advocacy-in-the-face-of-declining-city-budgets/?mtm_campaign=masto&mtm_kwd=bikes

#BikeAdvocacy

Dear #Linux , I need some help with a secret surprise.

My family is pre-qualified to host some foreign exchange students from past experience and we ended up an emergency placement of a Ukrainian student over Christmas break.

She likes coding in Python and her dad works in IT back in Ukraine. I would like to gift her family a retired-from-work but well-spec'ed laptop but I can't get it to boot! She goes to a boarding school on Sunday or Monday, and that's where I need your help. Details next!