Benjohn

@nprofile…2q04 🙏 That’s amazing and lovely. Makes me a bit weepy!
… I think there’s a lot of furious anger, and I really think that’s rational. Possibly more rational. I’m very happy he signed.

2026-01-27 20:42:13 GMT

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@nprofile…65q8 heh, the page bit makes sense, although, it would be nice if it was possible to just use the css - in principle, it could read very little… and it’d also be nice to know its hermetically prevented from “phoning home” any page details.

2026-01-27 20:38:09 GMT

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@nprofile…65q8 the “this app can read and alter the page and all your browsing history” is a bit terrifying, but I’m assuming that’s the only way to make it work? But yes - other than that, it is good :-)

2026-01-27 20:31:02 GMT

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@nprofile…65q8 well, that was an iPhone insta-buy. And a god damn honest purchase! Holly crap.

2026-01-23 07:21:16 GMT

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@nprofile…gehf 👍 Nice. Are there more?… No one can stop you? No one can take it away? No one can break it? Or start charging? You decide who you share with or don’t.
… The one that maybe most excites me (personally) is “You can do whatever you want with it”. Un-siloing data. I don’t know if there’s a way to make this easily relevant for most people?

2026-01-20 21:25:00 GMT

Interesting thing how code can start off complex and brittle and only just fitting in your head when you manage to cram it all in without it exploding apart, but as you rework it and rework it, bits seem to break off and it ends up simple and ductile, but much more capable.
Potentially this is just that it becomes very familiar, but I think it’s probably more than that.

2025-12-23 16:54:32 GMT

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@nprofile…qu7r I was just checking out the Wikipedia page, thanks for the pointer. … does it work well peer to peer? Identifies seem to be tied to a domain?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XMPP

2025-12-12 17:42:14 GMT

TIL car tyre sizes (eg, 225/55R17) manage to combine metric (225mm width), a percentage for an aspect ratio (55%), and imperial (17 inch diameter). I think that’s just marvellous. Well done everyone.

2025-12-07 19:49:51 GMT

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@nprofile…8eua @nprofile…r6l4 @nprofile…sjny
Edit - I didn’t read the other replies! I’ll do that now. Sorry!
Edit 2 - I think probably my premature post has good answers above. Thank you.
Here it is -
I’d like to hear about the other ones. … and also I think you are alluding to other work in maths that is much more creative? This is where my terrible lack of knowledge is a problem, but … do you think this would not be approachable by the kind of machine learning I’m speculating? I think the go people have had some discoveries from alpha go, but perhaps this would not be the case for creative maths?

2025-12-07 11:08:25 GMT

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@nprofile…8eua @nprofile…f2wy that’s interesting… Alpha go’s success makes me think there ought to be something in “computers doing proofs”. Go is a system. There are rules about the changes you can make, and there are wanted and unwanted outcomes.
Expressions seem not far off? There are rules about the manipulations you can do, and there are desirable final states (finding equality or finding a contradiction)?
So I keep thinking an AI could be trained to explore that domain, and maybe even find “interesting” things in it?
Whether that’s “doing maths”, and whether there are huge holes in that idea, I don’t know! Interested to hear where the holes would be, though.

2025-12-02 09:21:06 GMT

If you know of essays that could explain to me why I think terminal based UI are somehow amazing and have potential the GUI I more regularly use lack, I’d be all for reading those.
Is it nostalgia? Aesthetic? Simplicity and minimalism? Suggestions of composability? Modality? Non pointing input? Something else completely?

2025-11-28 11:11:57 GMT

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@nprofile…cnek the metric becomes the objective :-/

2025-11-18 14:44:38 GMT

“No way to prevent this” says only internet where this regularly happens.

2025-11-17 08:20:40 GMT

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@nprofile…tvdr this reminds me of those “webs by spiders on drugs”

2025-10-27 19:54:45 GMT

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@nprofile…cnek is that something that’s done? Because it would also seem like you could build something like a vast gravitational wave detector by looking at changing path differences?

2025-10-27 17:11:24 GMT

When a black hole causes multiple images from gravitational lensing, can those images be used for absurdly long baseline interferometry.

2025-10-26 16:22:50 GMT

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@nprofile…3mht I was totally convinced and my 13 yo told me “it’s AI” immediately, which I didn’t believe, and “kangaroos can’t jump backwards”, which I also didn’t believe. So, turns out I’m wrong and now I’m so officially old. Sigh.
https://www.worldwildlifeweb.com/did-you-know-kangaroos-cant-go-backwards/

2025-10-19 20:29:19 GMT

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@nprofile…fn3d if gets me that it happened at 9.30am. Was no one around to notice?!

2025-10-08 08:54:48 GMT

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@nprofile…sqcg i think one of the issues with making this work in a trust free environment could be that while this “I’ve got your block, I can prove it” bit works, that doesn’t imply someone is willing to give you it’s content if you actually need it. At that point, they know you need it, if you’re asking for lots, which for recovery, you presumably are?
Block chains seem to be all about trying to invent trust free mechanisms, or at least you only need to trust other actors aren’t wanting to entirely destroy the system (which is a potential weakness). So … perhaps that’s a proof this isn’t one :-)

2025-10-08 07:10:02 GMT

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@nprofile…sqcg :-) I think I’ve thought about something similar. Another solution I found is I (and perhaps most people?) know a few people I trust to look after some data in a replicated way. So, maybe I don’t need a proof 🤷‍♂️.
… Is a problem with the approach in a trust free setting that it only works for replicated data that you also have locally? You need that to compute the novelly nonced hash, right? Unless you prepared them ahead of time I suppose?

2025-10-07 12:19:12 GMT

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@nprofile…sqcg “A wild complaint about a complaint about a complaint appeared!”

2025-10-07 02:47:54 GMT

Wondering about #SolarPunk adjacent board games – https://www.tagclimatedrill.org
A (probably coop?) planning game about helping a community through climate change seems like it could be fun? Maybe a mix of high level policy actions to increase resilience, along with low level support of random needs of community members?
--
Think link seems extremely powerful. Having people to interact and "game out" a seemingly remote, or naively hopeful scenario, is a brilliant way to get them imagining it could actually work.

2025-10-06 10:55:13 GMT

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@nprofile…sqcg I liked this, especially your call for composable FOSS, and how much sense that makes.
Current software, imho, is completely held back by walled garden and siloed App mentality, and this isn’t something we need to keep doing.
I wondered if you’d address how FOSS developers might be funded, though, because this remains a mystery to me 🙂
My ongoing side project is trying to build common data storage and collaboration infrastructure to support the kind of composable software you describe. Think: local SQLite like storage with Git-like (but conflict free) merging).
It’d be a lot easier to build this if it came with an income stream! Then I could do it with others, and do it instead of a main job.

2025-09-09 15:41:30 GMT

UK’s OSA and EU’s Chat Control are both fairly easily worked around by the fact you can still control your own computer.
I expect this to become a target.
Illegal “open to the user” computing.
Can you completely stop end user control of computers? No. Not really.
But you can make it very difficult. Probably difficult enough.
Implementation would almost certainly greatly help incumbent companies as well and strengthen regulatory capture. So business will be largely enthusiastic.

2025-08-07 14:47:46 GMT

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@nprofile…wwe7 I’d be interested in some kind of introduction tutorial. I wanted to buy a perfume a while ago, but found the market of commercial scents completely impenetrable and marketing over substance.

2025-07-04 20:03:26 GMT

@nprofile…ypzn Hello – is the Mac version of Organic Maps part of https://github.com/organicmaps/organicmaps ?
I was just trying it. It's so fast! The maps are beautifully detailed (so much more walking route detail than Google or Apple).
I noticed a few things I wondered if I might be able to try and hack on…
* The track pad interaction differs from Apple's Maps (in both settings modes, I think).
* The text seems really small for my middle age eyes. … I just found the setting for "increase label size" – that helps!
* I'd love to print without screen shots.
… I'm a Swift developer – is this something I might be able to contribute to?
Lovely work though! The iOS version I probably use as much as Apple's maps.

2025-06-05 11:56:45 GMT

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@nprofile…cvwk I feel like this about interviewing candidates for job positions. The process seem hopelessly random and unreasonable.

2025-05-31 18:50:48 GMT

I think this is a good article about making software and how agile ideas can be useful, but it seems, mostly not “Agile” ones. https://patricia.no/2025/05/30/why_lean_software_dev_is_wrong.html

2025-05-26 11:57:44 GMT

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@nprofile…ucsf I need these names in a current project: the four diagonals. I’ve boringly gone with nw, ne, sw, se — but I don’t like them: they don’t “pop” with their meaning.

2025-05-12 06:04:15 GMT

UK special forces routinely murdered unarmed non combatants, including handcuffed or sleeping people, and children, in Iraq and Afghanistan (under Blair and Cameron). https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3j5gxgz0do

2025-05-09 08:42:20 GMT

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@nprofile…fa4k I was curious if the impression image was from fairly rigorous simulation / other very accurate modelling? Makes me want to find / build a gravity simulator for huge numbers or particles!

2025-04-22 14:46:35 GMT

Christ.
It has become necessary that I clarify: I continue to believe trans women are women.
And they really need to be left alone, not kicked about and vilified in some disgusting political game of screw the convenient and defenceless minority.
The PM of the UK can go fuck himself.
Really.
Piss off Starmer. You have been a terrible disappointment from modest expectations.
And UK labour, you are a pathetic spineless bunch too.
You’ve not moved the needle on working class quality of life, let alone protected society’s most vulnerable.
What are you actually for?
This is not a disappointment I will tolerate.

2025-03-22 15:32:30 GMT

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@nprofile…59dk is this the one that plugged on to a keyboard for data entry? I saw that in a shop window about 42 years ago and though it was the most unbelievably cool thing ever.

2025-03-11 06:17:00 GMT

I heard something recently something like "Wikipedia founder asks Musk to investigate if / how the US government has funded edits to create a liberal bias"
This did not seem like a very Jimmy Wales thing to do, so went to have a look.
Turns out, it was Larry Sanger, another "Wikipedia founder", who's talked against the site for two decades: "Sanger, who left the organization in 2002, has been a heavy critic of Wikipedia since about 2005, when he says the website began to drift into left-wing bias."
Sorry for a link sourcing from Fox! But I couldn't find anything from a reasonable looking source.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/wikipedia-co-founder-calls-elon-100007584.html

2024-12-05 12:13:31 GMT

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@nprofile…n5a8 WTF!?

2024-07-31 13:07:59 GMT

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@npub16uz…xx07 wat ?!

2024-07-23 09:18:09 GMT

Is this completely stupid? Could the large arrays of wind turbines being developed (particularly off shore) be used to adjust weather / wind patterns (literally by using them as fans), perhaps to help better match supply and demand?
If this could work at all (Seems unlikely?!) I'd guess their electronics probably wouldn't support that, but mechanically, they might?

2024-07-08 17:11:51 GMT

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@npub1knz…c73p if I’d not heard this was a thing, I’d have to ask what you’d been smoking.

2024-06-05 10:40:57 GMT

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@npub1gpa…xlk0 my other one is linear algebra, which I’m merely patchily comfortable with, but would like to be fully confident in.
And if I can get those down, world history. And piano :-)

2024-06-05 10:39:05 GMT

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@npub1gpa…xlk0 I feel similarly, and, you got me wondering, surely there is a really great course somewhere for us and others in this situation?

2024-05-30 22:10:38 GMT

Just been followed by @npub1wxn…ftry, who's bio reads:
> Wiki and print-and-play library for music games/game pieces.
… which sounds quite wonderful. I look forward to exploring it and hearing their posts.

2024-05-11 15:59:17 GMT

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@npub1hvd…9sq9 link for others as ignorant as me — https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cld0rxlqgggo.amp

2024-04-15 08:15:05 GMT

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@npub10cs…5prq I love that the summary images seem equally fitting for "Exploring the mathematics of the occult" or "Exploring the mathematics of astrology".

2024-04-10 19:48:59 GMT

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@npub1qk5…jlda :-) I kind of like the idea of justifying running my hi-fi at “shakes me” volume by having had a sunny day :-)

2024-03-16 08:07:49 GMT

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@npub1gpa…xlk0 I’ll try those, thanks.

2023-12-30 14:57:03 GMT

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@npub1g0t…tvm4 I apologise for finding the need to respond – I think the causality you imply is mistaken…
I don't think people naturally view other humans as inhuman. I contend they instead develop this belief – it is an effect rather than a cause.
A population under stress and in conflict with another population is required to treat the other population as less than themself.
To preserve their own sanity, they come to **view** the other population as less than themself, to justify their behaviour. The "othering" is a result of conflict rather than the cause (although I agree it can help perpetuate conflict and lends momentum to a conflict).
I think we need to solve where conflicts comes from in the first place.
I suspect the underlying cause of conflicts are almost always power and resource imbalances. And in particular, often **internal** power imbalance in a population (eg, a group of oligarchs, or a corrupt elite), rather than between societies.
This is probably a testable hypothesis?

2023-11-06 16:04:30 GMT

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@npub1upk…tcwy Hah, no way…
You know what it was? It was Xcode!
…I suppose I must do almost all my file moves / renames from Xcode, and that _does_ appear to also stage the move / rename.
But as you say, if I `mv` a file from the command line, it doesn't stage it.
So my misdiagnosis of an interaction with another tool had given me a misconception about `git`'s behaviour 🤦‍♂️!
So – I was wrong :-) It _doesn't_ autostage moves. And it does handle moves like other changes: something you can stage or not stage to a commit.
So I've learned something! Thanks!

2023-11-06 15:41:42 GMT

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@npub1upk…tcwy hmmm … I’ll have to try… but when I do a file move it seems to already be added to the stage by default instead of needing to be added… but perhaps I can upstage the move without undoing the move? … I’ll try it out, thanks!

2023-11-06 15:03:38 GMT

@npub1upk…tcwy
A submission to your garden of folks' git confusions…
One that gets me _so_ regularly (probably more than every week) is how the stage lets me be selective about which file **modifications** are added to a commit. But it doesn't (I think?!) let me be selective about which file **renames / moves** are added to a commit? They're always in, as far as I can tell?
My work patterns often includes me making various changes and then adding a few at a time with a meaningful name.
I always forget, and it's quite disconcerting, that file renames / moves don't seem to be compatible with this workflow.

2023-10-12 17:24:57 GMT

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@npub1grx…uxfe very happy to see point two on that list so prominent!

2023-09-29 14:05:39 GMT

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@npub1knz…c73p thanks! I have to wonder where all the radiation (or energy from annihilation) went too - would this spontaneously turn back in to quarks of either type?

2023-09-29 11:09:46 GMT

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@npub1knz…c73p how is it we know the universe is matter dominated, rather than having an equal amount of antimatter? Would we know if a star or galaxy we see is antimatter? Or if beyond our visible limit there is lots of antimatter?