Notices by Adrian Cochrane (alcinnz@floss.social), page 15

Ugh! Now I've got a freeze to debug! I guess I'm not demoing Haphaestus at LibrePlanet...

Ran myself ragged preparing to do so, but I'm too short on time to address this issue. Ontop of integrating pagination.

Oh well, I had a fallback prepared!

O.K., another case where I need to find someone experienced in developing Haskell language bindings... Fontconfig was a tricky one there...

I have narrowed down the bug to a particular pointer dereference, but that pointer dereference isn't always giving me a valid value.

I'll note this bug down & see if I can get a workaround running...

Not wanting “algorithms” on mastodon’s feed because TWTR uses coersive algorithms is like not wanting to use any math because capitalism uses math.

Stop conflating bad, manipulative use of algorithms w/the general use of (open/visible) algorithms for personal control over data you see.

Chronological display IS AN ALGORITHM.

Mastodon’s feed ISN’T JUST CHRONOLOGY (it has filters, algos re boost freq, etc).

Mastodon’s feed could be a LOT better.

I WANT an algorithmic view I can adjust!

tiny 🧵

For example:

If I like a lot of posts from someone, I would love for that person's posts to be visible more frequently in my feed so I don't miss them!

I'd also like a setting that allows me to control that to an extent. Even if just on/off.

I really want people to stop fetishizing "chronological display."

It is not always the best view (and sometimes it's the worst, depending on your needs in the moment).

Algorithms are not evil.

Treating them as such is imprecise at best.

tiny 🧵

Got roped into helping set up a old smart TV, and wow! It's no wonder I'm keen to design my own! It's performance is so bad it refuses to connect to the internet! A bit clunky of an interface too...

Now can I get onto what I actually want to be doing?

Huge Update: Big #Publishing and the #Copyright Cartel's lawsuit against the @internetarchive will have oral arguments on March 20. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/91587-oral-argument-set-in-internet-archive-copyright-case.html

Like I said, this will determine the future of not only the #InternetArchive where a bad ruling effectively kills a vital service but the existence of #libraries as we know it today.

Here's @team with their statement: https://www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2023-02-23-statement-major-decision-on-libraries-digital-rights-a-step-closer-on-march-20

Investigating my font issues, I'm currently getting the impression there's a bug in my FontConfig language bindings...

In the response pattern I'm seeing the key "file" holding no values as opposed to this key being absent. That does not seem right...

Talking to a few open source folk after my FOSSback talk on #UX and we just shake out heads at teams that think any type of planning (or even joint team exercises) is just "capitalist bullshit"

Planning isn't evil

(By this I mean lightweight team coordination not old school "cathedral planning")

Fortunately there are lots of new exciting #FOSS teams doing amazing UX work! We just need to focus on the positive examples.
#UXDesign

@cian @scottjenson Personally, I'm impressed by elementary!

@alcinnz There's a few exceptions for when to use var, or at least, that you have to keep in mind. That both const and let are block scoped and thus with certain programming paradigms in Javascript it can contain values you don't expect (or rather, variables not being usable).

Reverse-engineering the waveform generator in a 1969 breadboard - Ken Shirriff: http://www.righto.com/2022/03/reverse-engineering-waveform-generator.html

A look inside the chips that powered the landmark Polaroid SX-70 instant camera: http://www.righto.com/2022/02/a-look-inside-chips-that-powered.html
Hmmmm, I still have plenty of questions about Polaroids... I did already...

That's all on the feed so far, but I'll read more from this blog after LibrePlanet!

“Run Your Own Mail Server” chapter 0 -Michael W. Lucas: https://mwl.io/archives/22653

Your AI-free Content Deserves a Badge: https://notbyai.fyi/

This seems potentially useful!

I'm very concerned about quality work getting even more drowned out than it already is, or that these LLMs will go to mush upon ingesting their own output.

We'll see where it goes!

Three different ways to create a function in JavaScript - Go Make Things: https://gomakethings.com/three-different-ways-to-create-a-function-in-javascript/

I'm all for making programming easier, but the problem with using ChatGPT to write code is that it doesn't write secure code by default. It lowers the bar to writing code, but raises the bar for securing code because users basically have to manually review code they didn't write.

Design notes on the 2023 Wikipedia redesign - Alex Holldender: https://alexhollender.com/wikipedia-2023-redesign

Artificial Guessing - Robin Rendle: https://robinrendle.com/notes/artificial-guessing/

Transformers.js - @xenova@github.io: https://xenova.github.io/transformers.js/
Simon Willison's summary: https://simonwillison.net/2023/Mar/16/transformers-js/

let, const, and var in vanilla JavaScript - Go Make Things: https://gomakethings.com/let-const-and-var-in-vanilla-javascript/

Sponsorship Open: “Run Your Own Mail Server” - Michael Lucas: https://mwl.io/archives/22665