Joe Brockmeier

Longtime open-source user, advocate, and contributor. I’ve been working with and writing about Linux and open source since 1999. Now writing for LWN.net (@lwn). Become a subscriber here if you're not already! https://lwn.net/subscribe/

I post about Linux, free and open-source software (FOSS), music, cats, politics, writing, and anything else that comes to mind. Hates gen-AI slop.

"When a man loves cats, I am his friend and comrade, without further introduction." Mark Twain

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Last Notes

2026-06-04 21:31:49 GMT

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@nprofile…0hde confiscate everything past $25 million, a house, and up to five cars. Nationalize their companies and properties. Then give them a little plastic trophy that says “capitalism participation”.

2026-05-18 01:30:22 GMT

It’s like nobody was paying attention at all to damn near every Sci-Fi book and movie from the last 70 years.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/592/988/514/028/223/original/52a3d6933f42a936.jpeg

2026-05-15 15:56:40 GMT

It seems like the @nprofile…llcv folks have really been on top of the avalanche of kernel security problems. Kudos to them. I am not sure how well other RHEL clones are keeping up: Alma is really communicative, which is great. I think people sometimes forget the importance of clear and frequent announcements.
I wonder if it's worthwhile to track the speed with which these are being released.

2026-05-15 12:46:55 GMT

Sir Wobbles occupying the dog bed. “Yeah, this is much more spacious than the cat bed. I approve.” #Catsofmastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/578/658/639/651/159/original/d13269e052d290c0.jpeg
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https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/578/660/359/104/574/original/771d3ef1df156ff7.jpeg

2026-05-09 23:23:17 GMT

Getting cozy for a bit of Star Trek (TNG) on Saturday night. Sir Wobbles loves a good fleece blanket and a pair of legs to rest on. #caturday #catsofmastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/547/190/022/631/336/original/188fca9801e3d515.jpeg
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/547/190/389/031/860/original/0a558b6c7956e9a9.jpeg

2026-04-29 15:00:18 GMT

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@nprofile…ml9f Thanks for sharing that. I've given it a few spins and I agree; great stuff.

2026-04-26 14:05:18 GMT

https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/471/386/136/108/719/original/0370bf937d0994f9.jpeg

2026-04-25 16:22:24 GMT

The council of cats considering the dog’s request to come back inside. His chances aren’t looking good. #catsofmastodon #caturday
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/466/263/063/321/932/original/5c6a20a660c492f6.jpeg

2026-04-21 15:27:02 GMT

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@nprofile…t05x This is true, but I think the "just a tool" framing is too simplistic these days.
When a tool is invented and promoted, I think we have to look at the intent and how it's adopted.
Like, 3D printing: it *can* be used for great things or it can be used to print a gun. On balance, are people using it for good or ill? Are the companies promoting the tools doing so for good uses, bad uses, or somewhere in between?
With LLMs we need to look hard at the intent of the companies pushing their adoption and how people _actually_ adopt them versus the ideal way they'd use them. And, of course, the environmental and other effects.
Sometimes it's weird to me that we've had the story of "Pandora's Box" as part of our culture for more than a thousand years, but it doesn't seem to have sunk in...

2026-04-21 01:52:36 GMT

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@nprofile…dyu0 sure! He has CHP (“wobbly cat” syndrome), though it’s pretty mild. He gets around great, but tends to (for example) overshoot jumps and is a bit less sure footed than most cats. He has the head bobbing and such.
Mostly we just call him Sir, though. Also Sir Biscuits, because he’s a great biscuit-maker.

2026-04-20 22:03:45 GMT

Sir Wobbles is disappointed to find the basket is empty. How can he shed on the laundry off there’s no laundry? #catsofmastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/439/293/751/364/828/original/c1f0e99bf8d56f24.jpeg

2026-04-18 22:51:32 GMT

Cupcake having thoughts. #caturday #catsofmastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/428/156/547/373/990/original/43bb00653872eee2.jpeg
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2026-04-15 20:31:40 GMT

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@nprofile…t05x is there something you need to share?

2026-04-15 15:28:46 GMT

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@nprofile…0hde Narrowing the discussion to "surveillance glasses" is a mistake, I think.
What about Go Pros, or other wearable cameras? Those have been available for years. Is the problem the size / visiblity of the camera?
Not disagreeing that it's undesirable to have the equivalent of spy cameras or being secretly filmed, I'm just wondering how to draw the lines and so forth.
Particularly since there are entirely desirable uses for wearable cameras, e.g. being able to film police abuse at a protest without being too obvious / exposing one's phone. I would not want to give LE a tool to stomp on the ability to record police activity.

2026-04-09 16:56:44 GMT

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@nprofile…j7y7 @nprofile…v2v2 @nprofile…l30y I really enjoyed the first few Spellsinger books. Need to finish the series one of these days.

2026-04-02 23:49:40 GMT

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@nprofile…ryrt @nprofile…z5pc that does my heart good. Love seeing cats and dogs being buddies. What a sweet pair!

2026-04-02 15:04:37 GMT

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@nprofile…u76z I can sympathize. I, too, would like to go back to sleep. Sadly I do not have a fancy hammock like that.

2026-03-25 23:47:47 GMT

Today is Sam’s 10th birthday! I’d say he’s aged quite gracefully, and his cattitude remains undiminished. #catsofmastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/292/482/347/483/399/original/acc1faa9cd679c72.jpeg
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/292/482/776/727/673/original/fedecadde502dec7.jpeg

2026-03-20 14:24:57 GMT

There's a "Wayland set the Linux desktop back" blog going around now and ... it just makes me so tired.
That take is so amazingly wrong, but so persistent and popular. It is the "immigrants took mah job!" of takes for software. It is so flawed in so many different ways, and utterly ignores the host of actual reasons that Linux has stalled on the desktop.
It is apparently seductive, too, because it offloads the blame entirely on the crew developing Wayland without the person casting the blame considering for even a second the actual complexity of the problems. I could literally write a book on the reasons that the Linux desktop hasn't caught on; and I would, too, if I thought people would actually buy it and read it (a lot of people, I mean - enough to justify writing a book...)
But it boils down to this: Linux desktop development doesn't have more than a tiny, tiny fraction of the funding per year that Microsoft or Apple spend on marketing a single product line. Much less the kind of funds that go into R&D.
Vendors, mostly, are disinterested in supporting an OS that has less than 10% market share. At times they have even been actively dissuaded from doing so by certain other companies...
Users are, by and large, not willing to deal with inconvenience or having to learn new things in order to adopt the Linux desktop, even though the two main vendors are constantly making the user experience worse and continually taking away control of our own devices.
Wayland? It's a convenient scapegoat.
I'm not, by the way, arguing that Wayland is perfect, or that the community behind it has executed everything perfectly. And I'm certainly not arguing that people haven't had bad experiences with Wayland; that hasn't been _my_ experience, but I also have been using Linux for 30 years now -- and I choose hardware based on its Linux compatibility. I also have different expectations from a desktop than someone who has used Windows or macOS most of their life.
OK. Rant over. Be nicer to the Wayland folks. Stop blaming them for everything. In fact, let's maybe consider that what would really be useful is constructive takes on how we can succeed from here.

2026-03-07 21:19:19 GMT

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@nprofile…t05x @nprofile…z2ss wait. The modem is running Fedora?! Or you’re using the modem from Fedora?

2026-03-05 01:01:09 GMT

Just kidding. Both jars would be full.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/173/862/697/660/357/original/bd59fa554be3a67b.jpeg

2026-03-04 14:56:50 GMT

A little good news on the home front - my daughter (20) got a new job and starts in less than two weeks. Pay is not bad, and it has benefits. Given the, you know, everything I count that as a big win and success for her. And I think they're going to be happy they hired her - she takes work very seriously and people like her.
Going out tonight for sushi to celebrate, because that's her favorite. She'll be glad that this time it's not her birthday, so she doesn't have to be sung at during dinner... 💀

2026-03-04 01:49:12 GMT

The Wonder Twins are just barely squeezed into the cat bed. Sort of looks like a cat bento box. #catsofmastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/168/389/321/910/319/original/e29259488ebb174f.jpeg

2026-03-03 14:13:22 GMT

JFC. All those people living in a war zone. I don't think the vast majority of people living in North America or Western Europe can even conceive of living somewhere that is being bombed and has missiles and drones flying overhead.
Imagine having to explain this to your kids. Even if you are directly untouched by it, it has to be horrifying. I can't imagine that people stop thinking about this even after it ends.
All of this money being spent and violence being rained down on people for what? People's kids are being sent to kill or die based on the whims of a few groups of old, evil men that risk nothing and face no consequences.
People here go without food, adequate shelter, healthcare, proper infrastructure, and education because the money is being poured into terrorism at home and abroad. And everybody's supposed to pretend this shit is normal and tolerable.
#nevent1q…98xp

2026-03-03 14:00:51 GMT

Anybody know how to force LibreOffice to default to exporting PNG instead of WebP?
Specifically, I use Impress as a way to make quick and lazy graphics and then export to PNG. But for some damn reason it always defaults to WebP, which I do not want and have been unable to find the toggle to make it not do that.
It does not, as one might hope, remember the last setting used. Nope. Always WebP.
(Also, why of all formats would it be set to export to WebP and not JPEG or PNG?)
#LazyWeb #LibreOffice #OpenSource

2026-02-25 01:11:50 GMT

I don’t know who at TCM is responsible for scheduling “Gaslight” during the SOTU, but I believe they deserve a huge pat on the back. They shouldn’t have to pay for a drink for years.
#nevent1q…tq8s

2026-02-21 23:06:30 GMT

You know who enjoys Meg’s hobby of spinning wool more than Meg? Sir Wobbles!
He goes bonkers for wool that still smells sheepy. He loves to hop on or in any in-process wool that he can find. #cats #catsofmastodon #caturday
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/111/126/474/867/312/original/1761ac0601d409e9.jpeg

2026-02-18 14:21:58 GMT

At this point, open-source development itself is being DDoS'ed by LLMs and their human users.
At the risk of being a bit gross: this is the software development version of peeing in the pool. If *one* person does it, it's gross but will probably go unnoticed. However, at this point, it's like having 100 people all lined up on the side of the pool peeing into it in unison. I don't really want to swim in that, do you? And now they've started eyeing the punchbowl and watercoolers too. #AI #AIslop #LLMs
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/116/092/052/458/060/634/original/3180c0c3b6531ef1.png

2026-02-06 16:49:31 GMT

FOSDEM's machine translation for videos has produced this gem that should have been "SHA-256 transition":
"Shart of 56 transition"
I may have laughed loud enough to scare the cat.

2026-01-28 23:26:12 GMT

A little timeline palette cleanser for everybody. Sir Wobbles and Radar showing how it’s done: dog and cat getting along nicely.
I mean, yes, Sir Wobbles did illegally annex half the dog bed for Catlandia, but he’s ruling it benignly. #catsofmastodon #dogsofmastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/975/308/334/573/383/original/b2a4c871288cf764.jpeg

2026-01-28 00:20:12 GMT

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@nprofile…q0d7 @nprofile…ml9f that’s … weird. And very not cool.

2026-01-27 23:17:22 GMT

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@nprofile…ju99 @nprofile…4zr8 My point is the industry is primarily bad actors. Ignoring that just makes the whole thing invalid.

2026-01-27 23:13:31 GMT

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@nprofile…ju99 @nprofile…4zr8 “You’re welcome to block AI crawlers, and most of them will respect it. But that won’t make AI go away, nor will it make users stop using AI.”
Respectfully, that’s been far from my and many many many other people’s experience. I’m FINE with disappearing from AI results. Sign me up, so they’ll stop DDoSing LWN.
The industry is plagued with bad actors and nonconsensual harvesting for training data that disrespects robots.txt and flagrantly abuses sites.

2026-01-27 21:16:51 GMT

Now I want to run statistical analysis on my own writing and see if there's any warning signs...
The report itself does acknowledge that there are a lot of other factors that are unknown -- such as whether natural aging could play a part, exactly when he wrote each book & how long it took, as well as whether external factors might have played in. (e.g., a new / different editor might have an impact.)
It doesn't consider whether the lexical diversity could be a stylistic choice (maybe Pratchett just decided to be less fussy / experimental with his writing), or if he might just have been phoning in some of the work. (I don't think that's the case - but certainly worth considering with any author over a long career of writing a series...)
I think they just wanted an excuse to read Pratchett as part of their dayjob. Can't blame 'em.
#nevent1q…qwat

2026-01-25 02:54:53 GMT

“History was full of the bones of good men who’d followed bad orders in the hope that they could soften the blow. Oh, yes, there were worse things they could do, but most of them began right when they started following bad orders.” - Terry Pratchett “Jingo”

2026-01-22 01:53:15 GMT

Radar is ready for the bad weather. He’s great comic relief. #dogsofmastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/936/250/091/756/648/original/1cb1524d70521842.jpeg
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/936/250/505/754/879/original/b8a15c3f8d11ada3.jpeg

2026-01-17 02:09:27 GMT

Last thing I see before I get abducted…
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/908/002/680/627/181/original/0ac23b4fddef60ff.jpeg

2026-01-16 23:01:05 GMT

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@nprofile…t6k2 well played. I should’ve expected that, but in my defense… I was really tired. 😂

2026-01-16 10:44:52 GMT

A thought that popped into my head when I woke up at 4 am and couldn’t get back to sleep…
Imagine that AI/LLM tools were being marketed to workers as a way to do the same work more quickly and work fewer hours without telling their employers.
“Use ChatGPT to write your TPS reports, go home at lunchtime. Spend more time with your kids!” “Use Claude to write your code, turn 60-hour weeks into four-day weekends!” “Collect two paychecks by using AI! You can hold two jobs without the boss knowing the difference!”
Imagine if AI/LLM tools were not shareholder catnip, but a grassroots movement of tooling that workers were sharing with each other to work less. Same quality of output, but instead of being pushed top-down, being adopted to empower people to work less and “cheat” employers.
Imagine if unions were arguing for the right of workers to use LLMs as labor saving devices, instead of trying to protect members from their damage.
CEOs would be screaming bloody murder. There’d be an overnight industry in AI-detection tools and immediate bans on AI in the workplace. Instead of Microsoft CoPilot 365, Satya would be out promoting Microsoft SlopGuard - add ons that detect LLM tools running on Windows and prevent AI scrapers from harvesting your company’s valuable content for training.
The media would be running horror stories about the terrible trend of workers getting the same pay for working less, and the awful quality of LLM output. Maybe they’d still call them “hallucinations,” but it’d be in the terrified tone of 80s anti-drug PSAs.
What I’m trying to say in my sleep-deprived state is that you shouldn’t ignore the intent and ill effects of these tools. If they were good for you, shareholders would hate them.
You should understand that they’re anti-worker and anti-human. TPTB would be fighting them tooth and nail if their benefits were reversed. It doesn’t matter how good they get, or how interesting they are: the ultimate purpose of the industry behind them is to create less demand for labor and aggregate more wealth in fewer hands.
Unless you happen to be in a very very small club of ultra-wealthy tech bros, they’re not for you, they’re against you. #AI #LLMs #claude #chatgpt

2026-01-15 19:07:28 GMT

I've said this before but it bears repeating until something changes... this is one of many reasons I'm generally against generative AI/LLM stuff.
A nontrivial number of companies in this space think nothing of using scuzzy tactics to grab data for training. They use services to hide their origin and abuse sites by sending scraperbots after the content from a bunch of different IP addresses to avoid detection.
It is abuse. I've always been sympathetic to scraping the web for research purposes and such -- but that was under the assumption that the scraping was not putting a huge technical burden on the sites. If you can't build your data sets without hammering sites into oblivion, then you should not be scraping them, period.
When you use Anthropic, ChatGPT, Gemini or anything else -- when you use models that you don't know how the data was obtained and what practices were used -- then you're supporting this bullshit.
https://social.kernel.org/objects/1107889e-ceae-4730-b1fe-fa8c87b2dce0

2026-01-12 14:14:18 GMT

I think Radar has the right idea here. He got up and decided the best thing to do on a Monday was burrow back under a blanket. I fail to see a flaw in this plan. #Dogsofmastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/882/524/422/962/042/original/b6649983cda61ed5.jpg

2026-01-12 12:20:29 GMT

“Hey… whatcha reading?” - Willow, probably. #catsofmastodon #cats
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/882/093/834/415/195/original/ad370d94c6f0379a.jpeg

2026-01-10 18:16:58 GMT

Sir Wobbles doesn’t care about species, he just wants to be friends and have a nap. Radar still thinks he’s a cat. #catsofmastodon #caturday #dogsofmastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/872/170/936/267/438/original/b3dd27701a741b5a.jpeg

2026-01-06 22:51:25 GMT

I went to put clothes away and interrupted Sammers talking a nap. He didn’t look pleased. #catsofmastodon #cats
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/850/600/879/584/366/original/5b55ad542412abb9.jpeg

2026-01-05 16:42:23 GMT

I wish I had the money, not to mention the space in my house, to support all the indie creators I see posting their work on the Fediverse. The best I can do most of the time is boost their signal a bit and bookmark things for gift-giving.
I did manage to do all my Xmas shopping with small shops and indie creators this year. None of my money went to Amazon or other huge retailers. Felt good about that.

2026-01-03 18:45:16 GMT

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@nprofile…swax @nprofile…0hde I think the only substantial, effective, peaceful option is a widespread national strike. Deny the ruling class labor for an extended period, in a way that can’t simply be suppressed with violence/police/troops.
I don’t see it as likely, but it would work. Of course, if you don’t have a regular job type job, it’s hard to go on strike in a meaningful way too… But if a significant percentage of workers across different industries refused to work until Trump, et al, were deposed we could have results within weeks.

2025-12-31 00:17:38 GMT

It’s been a year to the day since we said goodbye to sweet Malcolm, just a few days after his 14th birthday.
This is the last picture I took of him: he was a big loving puppy his whole life. Even as his body failed, he never lost his spark, and absolute joy of being with his family.
His favorite activity was plotting to steal any unguarded food. He could make off with a muffin and inhale it in the blink of an eye.
I never thought of myself as a dog person, but I adored that guy. He was a real charmer and a perfect doggo. I’m grateful for every day we had with him. Hug your doggos and kitties, and give ‘em an extra treat for Malcolm. He’d want it that way. Enjoy every kibble.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/811/303/706/309/911/original/f85274b9206bfa25.jpeg

2025-12-27 16:07:03 GMT

Sigh. A 14TB disk seems to have gone belly up rather suddenly. I think I have copies of all of the data on it, but I'm not 100% certain. My efforts so far to rescue it have proven ineffective.

2025-12-27 01:21:08 GMT

“Boxing Day? Am I doing this right?” - Sir Wobbles, probably. #cats #catsofmastodon #catmas
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/788/904/172/686/755/original/477b7157cebaf5f1.jpeg

2025-12-17 10:31:23 GMT

I'm sure the @nprofile…7m8a folks are sick of hearing this feedback, but I'll say it anyway (sorry): the only thing that holds me back from adopting and enthusiastically recommending Vivaldi is that it's not 100% open source.
With Mozilla chasing the AI dragon, now would be a really great time for Vivaldi to take the plunge and go fully FOSS. I don't know that it gains much, if anything, by being just mostly FOSS.
#Firefox #Mozilla #Browsers #Vivaldi

2025-12-13 18:09:24 GMT

While everyone else is busy and the bedroom is off limits to the dog, Sam likes to camp right in the middle of the bed and claim it for Catlandia.
Not shown: Sam accepting a belly rub after this picture was taken.
#CatsOfMastodon #caturday
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/713/596/503/439/770/original/3e4b247d83065a00.jpeg

2025-12-12 23:21:14 GMT

Apparently my chair is occupied. #CatsOfMastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/709/160/396/744/885/original/a5adb5a7ad0c7f53.jpeg

2025-12-11 22:12:31 GMT

This makes Idiocracy look dignified. https://infosec.exchange/@briankrebs/115702226738060942

2025-12-10 21:53:43 GMT

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@nprofile…vyyg I love Red Dwarf. Just the most ridiculous sci-fi plot with janky BBC special effects and absolute silliness. Love it.

2025-12-02 16:44:15 GMT

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@nprofile…s4u0 If *harnessing the power of the sun* is not impressive and awesome, I really don't know what is. I don't really like dividing things up as masculine or feminine, but if we must... and solar power is somehow feminine... then put me in a fluffy pink tutu and give me some free electricity from the sun, please. I'll wear it proudly.
(Putting solar panels on my house is very high on my list of home improvement things to do when I have the spare cash to do so...)

2025-12-02 03:14:46 GMT

Planning my holiday reading. I have, um, a lot of books on my “to read” pile… but, many are heavy tomes that are at odds with my desire to get lost in a story that keeps the world at bay for a bit.
Looking for escapist sci-fi, fantasy, or other genre fiction - preferably contemporary authors, especially up-and-coming authors I may not have heard of and women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ authors.
Examples of stuff I’ve loved lately:
Murderbot series
“Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng“ - Kylie Lee Baker
“Direct Descendant“ - Tanya Huff
“The Drowning House” - Cherie Priest
“To Be Taught, If Fortunate“ - Becky Chambers
“Light from Uncommon Stars” - Ryka Aoki
“Of Monsters and Mainframes” - Barbara Truelove
And, of course, anything in the vein of Terry Pratchett’s work…
Suggestions?
#books #bookstodon #scifi #fantasy

2025-11-29 02:57:42 GMT

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@nprofile…cqy2 I feel I must mention @nprofile…xqy4 and not only because I work there.

2025-11-27 22:38:31 GMT

I keep trying to get a selfie with Sam on my shoulder. The results are mixed… #CatsOfMastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/624/057/339/606/876/original/55ab5fd8d3053b84.jpeg
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/624/057/724/023/933/original/b955370022400251.jpeg

2025-11-24 01:50:34 GMT

Sigh. GenX gets overlooked even in memes.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/602/163/664/184/470/original/e223a506a3ecbf42.jpeg

2025-11-19 18:12:32 GMT

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@nprofile…derx Wait, they're not consulting you on these things? Tsk. 😂

2025-11-19 17:14:12 GMT

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@nprofile…derx Hrmph. "Project" and "a component of a Red Hat subscription" do not play well together. One of the things I've always respected about Red Hat, before, during, and after working for the company, was a strong wall between project and product. It should be "Red Hat Hummingbird" if it is customer-only, "Project Hummingbird" if it's community focused.

2025-11-18 18:19:54 GMT

The @nprofile…z87z project is doing a somewhat novel (I think?) fundraiser. It's encouraging people to donate by "adopting" apps they find useful and giving donors credit on the app's page on apps.kde.org.
I decided I should chip in for Kid3, the audio tag editor -- I have used Kid3 extensively for years and years. It only seems right to give a little something back. #OpenSource #KDE
https://kde.org/fundraisers/yearend2025/

2025-11-18 16:46:25 GMT

Reading Fedora infrastructure update about yet more problems with AI scrapers. It's really disgusting the pain that these bots are inflicting on the rest of the Internet. I hope users of these tools are conscious of how the vendors are acquiring their data, and taking pains to avoid the vendors or projects that ignore robots.txt (and such) and go out of their way to avoid being blocked.
These parasites are *worse* than spammers; typically spam is a nuisance, but not something that causes so much damage. It is flat-out unethical what these companies are doing, and equally unethical to support them.

2025-11-10 14:44:54 GMT

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@nprofile…jydl Is this just importing Markdown or authoring / exporting Markdown too?
One thing I've really wished LO Writer had was a format that exported *plain* HTML / Markdown (e.g., HTML without scads of style gunk).

2025-11-08 19:15:27 GMT

Another #caturday photo for y’all. Meg has taken up spinning, and bought a fleece to turn into yarn. 🧶 Sir Wobbles is absolutely enthralled by the smell of the fleece, he had a ball getting into it. #catsofmastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/515/675/363/073/571/original/6fcb82919aa2679f.jpeg

2025-11-08 19:11:20 GMT

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@nprofile…l3gt going to guess it was being brigaded by unkind types. Or the seller assumed it would be.

2025-11-03 20:09:42 GMT

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@nprofile…ppe2 Because... nobody knows that they need to lose weight? I don't think so. There is no debate to be had -- people *know* and there are *so* many issues at play, you are seriously muddying the waters and distracting from whatever point you might want to make around AI.
We all *have* to eat, and often people have less control than you might think about what they choose to eat. We do not all have to adopt AI. Again: this just gives a number of scolds an opportunity to climb on their favorite soapbox and lecture people.

2025-11-03 20:02:47 GMT

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@nprofile…ppe2 For the love of goodness, *please* do not go there. There are far too many people looking for any opportunity to lecture others on their diet, exercise, and so forth.

2025-11-03 16:36:06 GMT

There is plenty going *wrong* in the world right now. And I feel like I hear about all of it, all the time.
If I may ask; if you're involved in Linux or FOSS communities, what do you see going *right* lately? What things are giving you optimism? Are there any new developments worth following that would encourage people?

2025-10-31 13:10:57 GMT

Gentle note to people who prep mass emails. The emojis in subject lines and From headers tend not to play well with TUI mail clients. I can only imagine they also do not play well with screen readers.
Just plain text, please.

2025-10-31 00:48:54 GMT

Horror movies for people have Jason, Freddy, Dracula, Chucky, but if our dog wrote a horror movie, the antagonist would be… Cupcake.
She still doesn’t approve of the dog, and snuck up and smacked him while he was snoozing in a chair. Now she’s giving him the evil eye because he ran and jumped in my lap for protection.
Beware the pink-nosed menace and her paws of fury! #catsofmastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/466/025/711/608/419/original/75f40e6f696c1996.jpeg

2025-10-30 13:04:24 GMT

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@nprofile…derx Well, I'm convinced. Ordering one now...

2025-10-25 12:52:53 GMT

Another week with the best cats in the universe. Sam glowering from the dog bed, daring the dog to even think about trying to use it. Willow being adorable. Sir Wobbles showing off the murder mitts, and Cupcake being annoyed because the dog is in my lap when he should clearly make way for her. #catsofmastodon #caturday
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/434/897/301/482/877/original/d3156c9ee6a5f7d4.jpeg
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/434/897/700/497/867/original/6f719b10d16c925f.jpeg
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/434/898/088/781/473/original/cb995557cf9b2714.jpeg
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/434/898/531/907/496/original/6c52acb1618fe51e.jpeg

2025-10-23 14:14:49 GMT

OK, so here's one thing in 2025 that doesn't suck: Men Without Hats has a new single out (!) and its B-side is pretty damn good, IMNSHO. It's catchy and fun. #Music #80s
https://postpunkmonk.com/2025/07/03/men-without-hats-resurface-with-new-single-and-i-love-i-%E2%99%A5-the-80s/

2025-10-22 12:59:18 GMT

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@nprofile…ve65 Amen. We moved to a small town this year and I'm stunned by how many businesses only have information or even a presence on Facebook. I get it -- it's easy, but it's also customer-hostile.

2025-10-18 23:38:49 GMT

Some Cupcake close ups. #Caturday #catsofmastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/397/802/066/180/386/original/e91d3b09dbbf1cee.jpeg
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/397/802/456/785/930/original/f1c1fe066bb532ef.jpeg

2025-10-17 01:56:22 GMT

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@nprofile…sych What a great pup! I would rush back home for him, too! Give him some pets and treats for me, please. 12/10, would definitely give lots of scritches. @nprofile…xyke

2025-10-09 21:19:53 GMT

Somebody has been demanding my attention today. #catsofmastodon
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/346/294/938/453/840/original/dc492852c189d1cf.jpeg
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/115/346/295/315/419/455/original/97323a1bc0cc053e.jpeg

2025-10-07 19:08:38 GMT

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@nprofile…sqcg Clearly I've been falling down on this. Sorry.
Question: Is this per cat/dog? e.g., if one has 4 cats, do they owe the Internet 188 pictures per day? I'm not sure if I can keep up with that.

2025-10-07 18:03:59 GMT

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@nprofile…svl3 Could that be because X is a raging rightwing hellscape these days?