Norman Wilson

Programmer, UNIX old fart, friend of cats, cyclist, non-motorist, rail passenger (>736000 miles), amateur^2 photographer, iconoclast, cynic, observer of odd things, revolve top insights (11).

Alias: also @oclsc.bsky.social; was Norman Wilson (npub1xzc…ju0v); barely twitter.com/oclsc
Pronouns: he/them
Geography: Toronto ON Canada

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Last Notes

2026-09-09 14:39:02 GMT

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It's also worth reminding the knee-jerkers that C was originally a big step forward: a higher-level (for its time) language that still allowed access to the low-level machine when needed, and for which compilation times on hardware then available were within bounds.
Also that C evolved, mainly in ways that increased clarity and safety: structs, stricter typing, prototypes.
Newer languages will be shown over time to have their own innate flaws, some curable through evolution; we just don't see them yet, or see them as flaws.
And Flon's Dictum still beats all else, and always will. We should strive for the best safety we can, but the task will never be done.

2026-09-06 17:15:46 GMT

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But vote-by-mail presumably affects small town/rural areas more than urban, so will would suppressed votes be more blue or more red?
I've never been convinced Trump's war on mail voting isn't a great big gun-to-foot.
Not that I want any votes suppressed.

2026-08-26 01:39:35 GMT

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How do you know we're real?

2026-08-23 20:03:26 GMT

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Is it still hot?

2026-08-22 17:42:47 GMT

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Over in the blue place, someone claimed Elon Musk fixed the 2024 election. When I asked for proof, they offered only an article in which Musk claimed he'd done so. He admits it himself so it must be true.
I responded that anyone who believes anything Musk claims is a fool.
They blocked me.

2026-08-04 12:36:16 GMT

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I remember when it was a phone cord.

2026-08-01 13:12:12 GMT

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I hope you wouldn't die of starvation or thirst if you stopped changing the cat litter, though I encourage you to keep changing it anyway.

2026-07-30 02:24:25 GMT

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How much T-Mobile stock is owned by GOP leaders?

2026-07-30 02:23:34 GMT

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It doesn't mention the graffiti on the other buildings either. Why are you playing favourites?
It doesn't even mention the name of the railroad, the engine number of the train, or the radio frequencies used to communicate with the dispatcher.

2026-07-25 01:31:41 GMT

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Where are they holding this year's convention?
Yes, in Geneva, but which one?

2026-07-23 00:44:19 GMT

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To be fair, I think the complaint is roughly that every time they join a new socmed they stumble over you and have to block you in a new place.
Which suggests a lack of nous far beyond thinking you're a neoliberal (!) journalist.

2026-07-20 20:49:03 GMT

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What a weirdass. Saying that, plus my having worked at Bell Labs 40 years ago, probably proves my bad faith and that I make money from elections.
Reported to my server and his, for what it's worth. And then blocked.

2026-07-01 13:32:58 GMT

Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years.
Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called Social Security.
Socialism is what they called farm price supports.
Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance.
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
--Harry S Truman, Syracuse NY, 1952-10-10

2026-04-05 17:12:07 GMT

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With their current government, I'm surprised the foot hasn't been standardised to the length of the President's.

2026-03-16 18:29:47 GMT

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So scaling to the number of registered voters isn't really meaningful, but compared apples-to-apples* to other parties it's still depressing.
I felt so hopeful in the last year of Jack's life.
* If Pierre doesn't eat them first

2026-03-16 15:17:41 GMT

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How many registered members are there of the Liberal and Conservative parties? Need some scale. Most Canadians aren't registered members of any party; it's not like the States where you often have to declare a party to vote in primary elections.

2026-01-24 17:24:04 GMT

Time for a new free-trade agreement spanning Canada, UK, and Europe, specifically excluding the US. We could call it the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.

2025-12-26 21:22:47 GMT

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In other news, the Carney government today announced new subsidies for asbestos mining.

2025-04-19 21:17:06 GMT

Which of these people invented Unix?

2024-11-15 15:41:10 GMT

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Hmm, Grok may already know enough.
https://fortune.com/2024/11/14/grok-musk-misinformation-spreader/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3hjNSMgqQbOMLiW_limlVROtbNRYUdQWMT-sxhMBaG3R-fG-l2Acs32Bw_aem_ViX6s6jT9-6xJkqpzVrRjA

2024-11-15 15:32:51 GMT

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Why not use it to seed Grok with copious info about Musk's livestock pedophelia?

2024-09-18 19:17:48 GMT

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The non-confidence part, or the numbers (why the government survives if just the Bloc--or just the NDP--support them)?