Hugh

Computational handyperson. Librarian. ausglamr (npub1udg…gatg) and BookWyrm (npub1glt…aq0j) maintainer.

Will probably reject your follow request.

You should go read a good forest.

Pronouns: He/Him
📍: Naarm, Wurundjeri Country
website: https://www.hughrundle.net

Public Key

npub1mx2yakae6mdr5xjgtnvfge8plxd7tcnwatq8evq37w4ylcatxacqmzvhae

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsdn9zwmwuadk36rfy9eky5vnslnxl9ufhw4srukqgl82j0uw4nwuqprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntk96vux

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub1mx2yakae6mdr5xjgtnvfge8plxd7tcnwatq8evq37w4ylcatxacqmzvhae

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Last Notes

2026-07-15 10:00:04 GMT

#librarians !
I am interested in good news stories only.
Tell me about stuff happening in the library world right now that is exciting. Is there some new tech project that fixes a longstanding problem?
Do you know about a program making a genuine positive difference?
Are librarians building something cool somewhere that will probably last? :boost_ok:

2026-07-15 06:00:23 GMT

Reminder that Australia will undergo a national test of the new AusAlert system at 2pm AEST 27 July.
This will sound an audible siren on all networked devices, even if they are switched to silent mode.
If you or someone you know has a secret safety device (phone, tablet, smart watch) that needs to remain hidden, it must be switched off or in flight mode for 24 hours on either side of the scheduled alert.
More info: https://wesnet.org.au/aus-alert/?cid=edm%3Aacs%3Astf%3Astf&deliveryName=DM145485

2026-05-25 21:04:01 GMT

Do you use #BookWyrm? Want to influence some design improvements to the 'Discover' page?
https://decisions.joinbookwyrm.com/d/TJ8QMLbR/re-thinking-the-discover-timeline?utm_medium=mastodon

2026-04-01 06:00:52 GMT

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You have a new Prime Minister's Address to the Nation in your MyGov inbox.

2026-03-01 06:38:05 GMT

Last night I went to a 70th birthday party and ended up sitting next to Frank.
Frank used to work as a computer programmer, because this was the 1970s to 90s and people had normal job titles that described real things, instead of "full stack orchestration engineer" or "solutions architect".
Anyway Frank's employer was the Victorian Attorney General's department. He wrote, updated and maintained in-house software for managing the court system, trial documentation managements and so on using low level languages.
The point of this post is that there was nothing special about this period of history that made it possible for government departments to write and maintain their own software to solve their own problems then but not now.
The complete lack of any in-house capacity to do this kind of thing is a political choice. Frank is a reminder of that.

2025-10-20 19:49:32 GMT

LB: The guys who wanted you to replace everything with a really slow database that's also public now want you to replace everything with a really inefficient search engine that sometimes just guesses.

2025-09-30 00:08:15 GMT

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that's cos your seasons are back to front 😉

2025-09-29 23:08:07 GMT

TFW you live in Australia.
https://files.ausglam.space/media_attachments/files/115/290/094/384/008/051/original/e03a88df03502d8b.png

2025-05-01 07:25:20 GMT

This is classic USAmerican cultural misunderstanding from Uber Eats.
The entire point of the :democracysausage: democracy sausage is you buy it from the school fundraising committee at the polling booth.
The #DemocracySausage is a celebration of the democratic process, yes, but also more. It’s the equivalent of the American “I voted” sticker. AND just as importantly, buying the sausage at the polling booth supports the social fabric that makes up our democracy by financially supporting the school, church, scout troop etc.
Reducing this to a commercial transaction between an individual and an American tax evasion scheme without ever leaving the house is literally the opposite of what democracy sausages represent.
https://files.ausglam.space/media_attachments/files/114/431/374/854/756/251/original/f7192d4dc76293dc.jpeg

2025-04-28 21:23:34 GMT

As far as I understand, most (all?) fediverse #ActivityPub software does not use the Client-to-server protocol from the specs (https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/#client-to-server-interactions) but rather use custom APIs instead.
Any fediverse devs able to explain why? Is there a technical reason/limitation, or is it more about other considerations?
I'm looking for information here rather than speculation, thanks.
:boost_ok:

2025-04-26 05:37:17 GMT

The latest @npub1thu…8zxf episode was tailored to appeal specifically to Mastodon users:
"Putting the Trans in Transit with Katelyn Burns"
https://thewaroncars.org/2025/04/22/episode-150-putting-the-trans-in-transit-with-katelyn-burns

2025-04-05 03:24:16 GMT

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yes, I'm not across the Mastodon codebase but my expectation is also that it would do a fresh webfinger request.
Thinking about it as a "cache" isn't really the right conceptual framework though. There will be a copy of the user in the database, including copies of any posts etc your current server knows about. e.g. https://ausglam.space/@npub13cg…ck4q is a full user object on ausglam.space .
So a webfinger request isn't necessarily going to refresh anything, all it does is point to the canonical source data for the user.

2025-04-04 23:22:32 GMT

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Search searches the local server database and also if you type in a full username will do a webfinger request.
So likely bne.social has an external user account in the DB - cached, as you say, but it’s more like a full account in the DB. I think this could be expunged if a server admin does a full server block of that user.
If you resurrect the domain with new webfinger data I *think* you could kind of force an update to cached data elsewhere, but you’d have to trigger it somehow: probably by sending a signed ‘Move’ activity to all servers that have a record of that user.

2025-02-21 01:42:58 GMT

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"Should we have an adult conversation with the person who has done more to champion, explain and use our platform and promote our own purpose than anyone else outside the organisation?"
"Nah fuck it, just cancel his keys".

2025-02-21 01:23:59 GMT

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were you given a reason? Rescinding all your keys seems pretty drastic.

2025-02-19 21:26:22 GMT

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I never said it was. But firms exist to produce things. The total money in to units of output is an obviously reasonable way to calculate the cost per unit of thing. If they spent $5M on donuts to incentivise their workers or give away in a marketing promotion, that’s still a cost of total production. If they gave 50% of the VC money to the founders in bonuses, that’s part of the total cost of running the business.

2025-02-19 19:16:40 GMT

Remember the Humane AI “pin” that was even dumber than the Juicero? They’re ewaste now after only 10 months and cost $24,000 each to produce:
https://www.404media.co/the-humane-ai-pin-a-700-brick-of-e-waste

2025-01-15 08:49:28 GMT

You should get a blog
https://www.hughrundle.net/you-should-get-a-blog

2025-01-13 19:38:25 GMT

Today I'm interested in what you'd recommend to a normal person who wants a platform/system that Just Works to publish a website and/or blog in 2025. :boost_ok:
I know there are a lot of nerds on here with opinions about which sub-flavour of Linux is the best - that's not what I'm asking.

2025-01-01 04:39:18 GMT

New Year, new #GLAM career? I wrote a blog post for you.
"So you want to study Library and Information Science in Australia?"
https://www.hughrundle.net/so-you-want-to-study-library-and-information-science-in-australia

2024-11-16 19:41:52 GMT

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they’re set at the server level. The only way to fix it for a given hashtag is for an admin to delete the down-cased version.

2024-09-20 23:17:33 GMT

In 1966, a team under the direction of Margaret Hamilton built the Apollo Guidance Computer. This system controlled the flights of multiple missions taking three humans to the moon and back safely. The entire system ran on 55 watts of power.
In 2024, software "engineers" have built on this legacy. Through their innovation it is now possible to get incorrect answers to basic questions or create deepfake porn using merely the power of an entire accident-prone nuclear power plant.
https://files.ausglam.space/media_attachments/files/113/172/426/316/779/121/original/2b17f8b5c34b643b.jpeg

2024-09-08 08:39:19 GMT

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The best way to fill busses is to run them frequently and reliably enough that they’re convenient.
@npub1vse…3fdg @npub160s…rss9 @npub1s5p…dhkx

2024-09-08 07:30:49 GMT

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Increasing frequencies until it’s less convenient to drive should be the number one priority before looking at pricing. It’s all very well having cheap or free tickets but if you have to wait more than 15 mins between local services it’s still costly, users are just paying in time.

2024-08-29 02:33:36 GMT

Does anyone know of a simple guide to PowerShell for people coming from Bash? Preferably open access.
Please don’t suggest WSL or some other shell. :boost_ok:

2024-08-28 10:53:51 GMT

Are you running a two hour workshop? Don't do this.
https://files.ausglam.space/media_attachments/files/113/039/269/675/626/369/original/8a5f661d0a912d6a.png

2024-08-27 09:50:10 GMT

Some great links in The Crux this week but the story that really has my head spinning is Microsoft Authenticator just overwriting accounts if they happen to use the same login identifier like, for example, an email address.
Just galaxy brain levels of disdain for customers right there.

2024-08-20 19:37:57 GMT

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“He and his colleagues were given no warning about the layoffs before receiving their termination letters earlier this month”
Is this …normal in the US?

2024-08-16 23:23:22 GMT

So ...external hard drives just stop working when you 'upgrade' to Sonoma? Is that seriously Apple's official response?
Unbelievable. My independent backups are fucked because Apple needs to squeeze out some extra profit, or are incompetent, or both.

2024-07-04 08:35:57 GMT

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most printing places will do this. e.g. https://www.kwikkopy.com.au/marketing-services/promotional-products/cd-duplication

2024-06-26 20:50:23 GMT

“Nasa and Boeing officials insist the astronauts are not stranded and that the technical difficulties do not threaten the mission.”
Sure, but Boeing officials once insisted that their 737 MAX planes kept nose-diving into the ground because Africans are bad pilots so they are not exactly a reliable source of information.