Ryan Barrett

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://snarfed.org/about

Public Key

npub1ytxpw5ef4heklqnjma05fzc2gyunwp2q53dj2tu349r9vvmuvseslu28uf

NIP-05 Address

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsz9nqh2v56mum0sfed7h6y3v9yzwfhq4q2gke997g6j3jkxd7xgvcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds7w89z7

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1ytxpw5ef4heklqnjma05fzc2gyunwp2q53dj2tu349r9vvmuvseslu28uf

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Last Notes

2026-08-06 22:36:41 GMT

- reply

Hey, sorry for the trouble!
Here's the raw content of that post: https://browser.pub/https://greennuclear.online/@collectifission/117049521011751930 . Note that newlines count as characters. It's either 303 or 304 characters, depending on whether you keep or remove the trailing newline. (We remove it.)

2026-08-03 19:46:20 GMT

Much of my career boils down to:
All code is liability. Minimize it.
Feedback loops are everywhere. Speed them up; do them more.
We’re bad at predicting the future. Avoid it.
More tests.
Hire smart, motivated people, then get out of their way.
Find the right thing to turn off and on again.

2026-07-26 05:42:36 GMT

every packet is an adventure

2026-07-25 19:18:47 GMT

TIL: [“valley-free” routing](https://blog.ipspace.net/2018/09/valley-free-routing/ )

2026-07-09 17:28:56 GMT

Jasper National Park, Canadian Rockies
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/wp-17836178807195618496296051688933-768x1024.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/wp-1783617840590.mp4
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/wp-17836178809497415480025163777096.jpg?resize=696%2C522&ssl=1
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https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/wp-17836178807195618496296051688933.jpg?resize=696%2C928&ssl=1

2026-07-07 13:24:16 GMT

taking a vacation? forgot which day of the week it is? don’t worry, hotel elevator’s got you
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pxl_20260707_1308035626913703833273903575.jpg?resize=696%2C522&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pxl_20260707_1308085271354634745521247215.jpg?resize=696%2C522&ssl=1

2026-06-29 13:43:38 GMT

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Uh oh! The profile should definitely be visible. Does anything in https://fed.brid.gy/docs#troubleshooting help?

2026-02-22 16:28:28 GMT

the best UI is no UI

2026-01-11 00:46:12 GMT

>
> pretty like the devil
>

2026-01-10 21:37:20 GMT

https://snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/IMG_4493.1080.mov

2026-01-08 17:15:23 GMT

It’s hard to believe, but Bridgy is 14 years old today. [I launched the first version of it way back in 2012.](https://snarfed.org/2012-01-08_bridgy_launched ) Happy birthday, little project buddy! 🎂🎈🎉

2026-01-07 17:58:45 GMT

*Ceci n’est pas une poste.*
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/poste.png?resize=696%2C696&ssl=1

2026-01-06 19:58:13 GMT

>
> Have you ever alphabetized your hard drive?
>
– *[Makers](https://craphound.com/makers/Cory_Doctorow_-_Makers.html#:~:text=Have%20you%20ever%20alphabetized%20your%20hard%20drive )*, Cory Doctorow

2026-01-06 02:40:22 GMT

“You’re absolutely right” 😕

2026-01-05 19:17:25 GMT

>
> This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin’ it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that’s all we wanted to do.
>
[– Woody Guthrie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Guthrie#cite_ref-32 )

2026-01-03 20:23:09 GMT

is it complex, or is it complicated

2026-01-02 20:18:34 GMT

https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/img-20260102-wa00005234470750338488751.jpg?resize=696%2C502&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/img-20260101-wa00067E23798962593776297250.jpg?resize=696%2C489&ssl=1

2026-01-02 18:18:23 GMT

Does a given word rhyme with itself?
Eg, does *kitten* rhyme with *kitten*?

2025-12-27 22:04:40 GMT

Quick appreciation post for checklists.
I had to do a [delicate migration in prod](https://github.com/snarfed/arroba/issues/69 ) recently, so I did the usual SRE thing: step by step checklist, minimize the critical section where things are down, lots of sanity checks throughout, dry run before the real thing. (If I was really serious, I would have found someone to watch over my shoulder too.)
First time through, one of the sanity checks in a critical section failed, so I immediately aborted and rolled back. Turned out to be a trivial bug, but it would have been ugly if I’d continued and didn’t catch it until later.
Fixed the bug, started the procedure again from the beginning, everything worked fine this time through.
Kudos to the humble checklist. Far from the first time it’s saved my ass.

2025-12-25 01:15:54 GMT

11 year old: “The best thing about Santa Claus is that I don’t have to write him a thank you note!”

2025-12-17 22:48:37 GMT

pave the cowpaths

2025-12-07 18:45:22 GMT

https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/pxl_20251207_1837133557857487613947787366.jpg?resize=696%2C928&ssl=1

2025-12-01 18:24:40 GMT

https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/pxl_20251201_1821373103920698579979090911.jpg?resize=696%2C522&ssl=1

2025-11-29 23:07:41 GMT

https://snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/wp-1764456091016.mp4

2025-11-29 01:38:13 GMT

>
> Democracy is the worst form of government…except for all the others.
>
[– Winston Churchill](https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/the-worst-form-of-government/ )

2025-11-28 18:46:58 GMT

[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pxl_20251127_0110042818404421956361785249-1024x768.jpg?ssl=1 )
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pxl_20251127_0110288427154273970973075904-1024x768.jpg?ssl=1 )
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pxl_20251127_0118074997E32371325659344461990-1024x768.jpg?ssl=1 )
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2025-11-26 06:51:16 GMT

Fun fact: [“six seven”](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=67%20(six%20seven) ) traces its roots all the way back to Old English in the 1380s. Geoffrey Chaucer coined it in his epic poem *[Troilus and Criseyd](http://www.librarius.com/troicris.htm )*:
>
> But manly set the world on sixe and sevene;
>
And, if thou deye a martir, go to hevene."
>
200 years later, Shakespeare picked it up and used it in his play *[Richard II](https://shakespeare.mit.edu/richardii/richardii.2.2.html )*:
>
> But time will not permit: all is uneven
>
And every thing is left at six and seven
>
The common English phrase “at sixes and sevens,” from an early dice game that preceded craps, [is unrelated](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sixes_and_sevens ).
>
> It is thought that the expression was originally > *to set on cinque and sice*> (from the French for five and six). These were apparently the most risky numbers to shoot for (‘to set on’) and anyone who tried for them was considered careless or confused.
>

2025-11-17 21:17:55 GMT

[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pxl_20251117_1905127977E25692363530242963556-768x1024.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pxl_20251117_1905127977E25692363530242963556.jpg?resize=696%2C928&ssl=1

2025-11-16 23:55:47 GMT

>
> You should consider that the essential art of civilization is maintenance.
>
[– Pete Seeger](https://books.worksinprogress.co/book/maintenance-of-everything/addenda/page/introduction )

2025-11-14 20:52:09 GMT

https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pxl_20251114_2028577631749709336402536852.jpg?resize=696%2C522&ssl=1

2025-11-02 19:08:58 GMT

TIL: *free driver*
opposite of free rider
>
> [> …solar geoengineering’s economics are almost the exact opposite of climate change’s: While global warming is a “free rider” problem, where countries must collaborate to avoid burning cheap fossil fuels, solar geoengineering is a “free driver” problem, where one country could theoretically do it alone.](https://heatmap.news/climate-tech/stardust-geoengineering )
>

2025-11-01 15:31:14 GMT

https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pxl_20251101_1525496952025248202590233686.jpg?resize=696%2C313&ssl=1

2025-10-21 03:25:37 GMT

[
](https://snarfed.org/wall-e.png )
[WALL·E](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL-E )
Lately I’ve been thinking about orphaned code. Code that’s still running, live, with no remaining developers or users.
Forgotten hardware devices. Deserted VMs on cloud free tiers. Smart contracts whose DAOs disbanded years ago. Old school internet worms. Abandoned, starving Tamagotchi.
Can you think of other examples?
There are obvious conclusions here about maintainability, ecosystem security, etc, but I’m not here to lecture, I have no particular conclusions. Just a vibe.
It’s a very, very…mad world.
https://snarfed.org/wall-e.png

2025-10-19 18:04:36 GMT

We had some downtime bridging to Bluesky last night, roughly 10:30-15:30 UTC. Back up and running as of a couple hours ago. Bridging from Bluesky, and between web and fediverse, were unaffected. Apologies for the outage!
Will investigate, feel free to follow https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/2150 for details.

2025-10-14 15:51:19 GMT

[*Art of Manga*](https://www.famsf.org/exhibitions/art-of-manga ), [de Young Museum](https://www.famsf.org/ ), Oct 2025
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/wp-17604569241857140102810488841982.jpg?resize=696%2C522&ssl=1
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2025-10-10 17:01:48 GMT

- reply

(…ideally)

2025-10-10 17:00:14 GMT

standards bodies: “bureaucracy for good”

2025-10-05 18:18:01 GMT

A glimpse into the [Bridgy Fed](https://fed.brid.gy/ ) monitoring dashboards. Pretty conventional mix of infra, OS, and app level metrics.
Note the delay numbers. When you do something in one network, how quickly do we bridge it across? We pay a lot of attention to that, we try hard to keep it as fast as possible!
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/bridgy-fed-monitoring-2.png?ssl=1 )
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/bridgy-fed-monitoring-3.png?ssl=1 )
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/bridgy-fed-monitoring-4.png?ssl=1 )
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/bridgy-fed-monitoring-1.png?ssl=1 )
I wish we could [make these dashboards public](https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1546 )! Google Cloud Monitoring doesn’t support that right now; [hopefully they will eventually](https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/354101899 ).
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/bridgy-fed-monitoring-2.png?resize=696%2C400&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/bridgy-fed-monitoring-3.png?resize=696%2C388&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/bridgy-fed-monitoring-4.png?resize=696%2C385&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/bridgy-fed-monitoring-1.png?resize=696%2C348&ssl=1

2025-09-18 20:20:41 GMT

office
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/pxl_20250918_2016332535507422044960198036.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/pxl_20250918_2016332535507422044960198036.jpg?resize=696%2C523&ssl=1

2025-09-17 14:27:27 GMT

[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/pxl_20250917_1406252307E25639909999823527709-1024x769.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/pxl_20250917_1406252307E25639909999823527709.jpg?resize=696%2C523&ssl=1

2025-09-16 15:51:12 GMT

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right! and multi-homing is more and more the norm these days, what with cloud providers, CDNs, DoS shields, etc. fortunately ECH fixes that part of SNI that requires domain in the clear: https://blog.cloudflare.com/announcing-encrypted-client-hello/

2025-09-16 13:33:40 GMT

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Hmm. With DoH/DoT, as mentioned, your ISP knows the IP, but not the domain, right? And the IP on its own is far less useful.

2025-09-16 04:02:20 GMT

I don’t understand the value of consumer VPNs. Can someone explain it to me?
We do pretty much everything over SSL these days. Definitely everything that matters. That provides confidentiality, so network intermediaries can’t see the data, and server authentication, so they can’t impersonate the server.
Yes, DNS is the exception, it’s not encrypted, but more and more browsers and other user agents are building in DoH and DoT, and even enabling it by default.
So, given all that, what do general purpose VPNs add? What am I missing? Are they just security theater marketing? Or do they bundle other security features like anti-malware etc, and the term “VPN” now means a bundle of miscellaneous endpoint security features, like (shudder) anti-virus used to?

2025-09-08 23:14:25 GMT

[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/pxl_20250908_2215164097E28773628817179012772-1024x1024.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/pxl_20250908_2215164097E28773628817179012772.jpg?resize=696%2C696&ssl=1

2025-09-07 15:36:47 GMT

In 100 years, when people look back on health care today, I suspect they’ll think our dependence on symptoms was a bit…barbaric.
“So if something went wrong, they didn’t notice until it got bad enough to *hurt*? Really?! They just ignored it until then? But that’s so late! How crude. Thank God we don’t have to live like that now.”
Yes, we do blood panels and biomarkers and imaging and “wellness.” And yes, we have wearables and CGMs and other devices. Most are nowhere near medical grade, but they’re getting better, and more accessible.
Still, for lots of diseases, even critical ones like cancer, where catching them early can make all the difference, most of the time we’re still waiting until someone shows up in clinic, coughing up blood and complaining that their side hurts, or poking at a bump on their skin and saying, unconvincingly, “This isn’t a big deal, right? This is fine…right?”
I can’t imagine we’ll still be this symptom-driven in 2125. After all, even now, when you think about it, it seems pretty…barbaric.

2025-09-06 01:23:01 GMT

[
](https://snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/stitch_portrait_2.jpg )
We lost our cat Stitch a couple weeks ago. She was 13 years old. She had a fast-growing form of bone cancer, osteosarcoma. We noticed a lump on her side a month or two ago, and by the time we got the X-rays and an oncologist, they gave her just a couple weeks. When we put her down, here at home, the lump had grown into a monstrous bulge on her side, jutting out from her ribs. It was heartbreaking.
I’m not here to talk about cancer though. Stitch was a character, a real personality. Especially over the last three or four years, she’d become my buddy, one of my best friends. I miss her so much.
We got Stitch and her sister, Marley, back in 2012 when they were just a couple months old. When we arrived and met them, and Stitch immediately sunk her tiny claws into my jeans, climbed up my side, and perched on my shoulder, as if to say, “This one’s mine, I claim him. See how high I am, on top of him? I’m the queen of the world!”
[
](https://snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/wpid-marley_on_top_of_stitch1.jpg )
We brought them home, and they immediately set about showing us who they were. Marley has always been a bit high strung, but not Stitch. She did whatever she wanted, got into everything she wasn’t supposed to, ate as much food as she could get her paws on, and didn’t care what anyone thought. Right from the beginning, she knew who she was, and made no apologies. If someone had a problem, it was their problem, not hers.
Stitch did everything big. She was big, her fur was big, her appetite was big. When she slept, she snored, loudly. When she sat down in your lap, or jumped up into bed, she made an audible *thump*, enough to shake the furniture. When she rolled over on her back, she looked like a giant round mass of fluff. Sometimes you could see her legs and her head, sometimes not. She never seemed self aware in the slightest, or if she was, she didn’t care.
One year, Brooke got a birthday card that played the “Happy Birthday” song when it opened, sung entirely in meows. Stitch *loved* that card. No matter where she was, when we opened it, she’d come running. She’d get right up to it, cock her head, and listen to the invisible cats singing. Sometimes she’d paw at the speaker. We used it to call her home at dusk when she was still outside. We’d walk around the back yard, waving the card up high as it meowed, clinking bowls together and calling “Dinner time! Dinner time!” Eventually we’d see her crawl out from under a bush, or squeeze between slats in the fence, fresh off her latest adventure and ready to eat.
[
](https://snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/stitch_yawning.jpg )
Stitch had the loudest purr of our household, by far. When she got going, you could hear her from across the room. One quiet night, I managed to hear her purring through a *wall*. Even as a kitten, she was noisy. She’d march over to full-grown [Snoopy](https://snarfed.org/2019-01-17_snoopy ), flop down on him, turn her motor up to full throttle, and immediately fall asleep. He’d look at her, then at us, bemused at this little creature with the temerity – and the lungs – to drown him out.
She didn’t just have volume, though. She had stamina. The girl seemed to purr all the time. We joked that if you heard her purring, that’s how you knew she was alive. It was true all the way to the end.
The other thing Stitch had as a kitten was stinky farts. She’d often jump up into our laps, roll over onto her belly, start purring, and then we’d catch a whiff of something….awful. Rotten fish. Baby poop. It wasn’t overwhelming, and it didn’t last long, but for such a cute little animal, she was capable of some impressively foul odors.
[
](https://snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2003/05/stitch_in_planter.jpg )
Not long after we got her, we lost her in the house. We searched high and low, and I eventually found her in our closet. She was lying down on a shelf, eyes glazed, shivering, dangerously warm. I’d never seen her in such a state. We rushed her to the vet, they confirmed that she had a fever, and they immersed her bodily in an ice bath. She was pretty out of it at the time, but still, it was shocking to see.
They didn’t know what caused the fever. We suspect she ate a berry pod from a tree outside that disagreed with her, but we don’t know. We did notice a change in her afterward, though. She didn’t seem quite as sharp, and when she saw something interesting moving around, she’d open her eyes wide and [wobble her head back and forth like a Bollywood dancer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_bobble ).
Stitch loved food. Dry food, wet food, human food, small animals, bugs, she ate it all. She was always a big girl, often weighing 17-18 lbs. She was big-boned, and carried it well, but still, vets over the years pushed us to put her on a diet and slim down. We tried, with mixed results.
[
](https://snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/stitch_cat_bed_lean.jpg )
One technique we tried was an automatic feeder that rationed out her food. She learned the sound it made, and its schedule, and became something of a savant. She’d stand on point, ears cocked, and when she heard its motor start, she’d take off toward it at a full gallop. She knew the sound well enough that it would wake her up out of a sound sleep. She’d practically fall off the couch trying to get to her feet, ready to trample anyone and anything between her and dinner.
She also learned the sound of Gina opening a cat food can in the kitchen and filling her bowl. She knew the difference between cat food cans and other cans, and between her bowl and other dishes and kitchen sounds. We went great lengths trying to feed Marley separately, singing and clanging around and closing doors and wrapping towels around cans as we opened them, but no matter what we did, Stitch would always appear in the doorway, perched at attention, eyes open wide, staring at us politely but firmly.
Stitch’s drive for food made her pre-diabetic and mildly asthmatic for much of her life. She developed a persistent cough, which we initially chalked up to hairballs. We forced an anti-hairball oil down her throat every day for many months, which she hated, and didn’t help at all. We finally asked the vet, who told us no, it wasn’t hairballs, it was asthma. We switched to an inhaler, with a big chamber and funnel on the end, and that did the trick. The cough disappeared.
[
](https://snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2003/05/stitch_eating_ferns.jpg )
Stitch *loved* the outdoors. She didn’t get to go out on her own at first, but when she did, there was no turning back. Our old house’s back yard bordered a number of our neighbors’ yards, and the old fences were no match for a determined cat, so Stitch had the whole area at her disposal, free from cars and coyotes and other dangers. She’d head out the cat door, and a minute later we’d see her three houses away, walking across a fence or stalking a bird or basking in the sun.
She lost that pastoral cat wonderland when we moved a few years ago, but she adapted admirably. We have a small garden here that she fell in love with. It connects to a few other yards and patios that she explored thoroughly, marking her territory, but she spent most of her outdoor time in the garden. She’d wander up and down the stairs, sniffing the air, feeling the breeze through her fur and the sun on her face. I often sat out there and watched her wander while I worked. She’d jump up in my lap for a bit and purr, or rub my legs in between jaunts through the bushes.
[Stitch was a hunter.](https://snarfed.org/2014-07-23_stitch-chirps-while-stalking-a-hummingbird ) She caught bugs, mice, lizards, squirrels, and even the occasional bird. One day, Gina managed to look out the window at just the right time to see her leap up high, grab a bird out of the air, and clamp her mouth down on its neck. Gina screamed, ran outside, and yelled at her so loudly that she opened her mouth in shock. The bird flew away, and Stitch was left nonplussed, not entirely sure what happened. I don’t think she ever fully forgave Gina.
Stitch was a fighter, too. She wasn’t shy about scratching or biting someone if they pissed her off. She rarely did any real damage, though. It was just part of how she communicated. If you were petting her, and she didn’t want you to, she’d happily nip your hand to say, “No, stop, enough.” Likewise, if you *weren’t* petting her, and she wanted you to, she’d often swat your hand as if to say, “This hand. Pet. Now!”
Stitch seemed to have no fear. She was always ready to go after intruders, whether they were people, coyotes, hawks, or dogs. She never really developed much fear or respect for us either. If one of our other cats snuck outside when they weren’t supposed to, they’d generally know it, and they’d run and hide or slink back inside as soon as we went after them. Not Stitch. She’d bound outside, tail wagging, make it a few steps, then stop and look around in wide-eyed wonder. When we got to her, she’d look up at us with bright shining eyes that said, “Are you seeing this? Isn’t it great! Let’s go explore!”
One of her favorite places at our old house was the small, fenced-in patio in front. She’d sit at the fence, and when someone with a dog passed by on the sidewalk, the dog would go crazy, barking and pawing and trying desperately to stick their nose through the fence to see who was there. Stitch would snort and hiss, but she’d never back down. We think she liked antagonizing them. The dog owners would always apologize to us, saying they didn’t know what came over their dogs, but we knew Stitch was taunting them. “Look at you, chained to that leash, what a miserable excuse for an animal. Your mother has combat paws! Oh yeah? Come over here and say that!”
[
](https://snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/stitch_on_gina_1.jpg )
Her belligerence wasn’t limited to dogs and people. One night, Gina and I woke up to an alarmingly loud banging noise. *THUD! BANG! …bump bump bump THUD BANG!* I ran downstairs and turned the lights on, just in time to see a cat fly down the hall at full speed into the sliding glass door. *BANG!* It was Stitch. A family of four huge raccoons was just outside the door, and she was trying as hard as she could to get them. They were twice her size or more, and her antics hadn’t scared them a bit, but no matter. She was ready to take them all on.
Later in life, Stitch sat in my lap regularly, expecting pets and a warm place to nap. Sometimes I’d be typing, which she sometimes tolerated, but not always. She didn’t like my hands moving while she tried to sleep. After a while, she’d swat them or bite them, then look up at me with self-righteous indignation. The message was clear. “I’m not leaving, this is my lap. If you don’t like it, *you* leave!”
[
](https://snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/brooke_stitch_piano_2.jpg )
Even so, she spent a lot of time with me, especially later in life. She’d stretch her legs out, crank her purr up to a steady rumble, and keep me company. She was big enough that I couldn’t always manage to work while she sat on me, so I’d be forced to read instead, or do nothing and look at Gina helplessly while she laughed. Stitch wasn’t the most convenient companion, or good for productivity, but she was my buddy.
When we felt the lump in her side, we hoped for the best, but in the back of our minds, we knew. Lumps tend to be cancer. Lumps that get bigger over time instead of going away…cancer.
Stitch slowed down over her last month or so, but she was still always herself. She wasn’t eating as much, or galloping around the house, or jumping up and down with gusto, but she still made her presence known. She was our big, shameless, larger than life girl.
The day we put her down, I took her around the house to all her favorite spots. Her bed, her blankets, her feeder, especially outside in the garden. She was moving slow, but she climbed the garden stairs, poked her nose into the bushes, chewed on some leaves, sniffed the air, and felt the wind in her fur. She was home.
We plan to scatter her ashes here, in the garden. She’ll always be home.
[
](https://snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2003/05/workout_stitch.jpg )
Stitch is survived by her sister, Marley, who’s kept us company and consoled us. We eventually got a couple new two-month-old kittens, too, who are rambunctious and full of life.
Even so, it’s hard to believe Stitch is really gone. Mornings are the hardest. I’m usually the first one awake in the house, and I’m often up for an hour or more before anyone else. I usually work out, next to the garden, and Stitch was always up and around with me, underfoot, purring her diesel motor purr, begging to go outside, jumping up into my lap as I tried to lift weights.
Nowadays, every morning, I’m alone. The house has other people and cats in it, but the mornings are empty. Downstairs, everything is silent and still and wrong. When she was alive, Stitch filled the space with her presence, her big yawns, her belly full of fur, and her purring. Always, her purring.
We’ll always remember you, girl. You were such a character. You had a good life, we loved you and you loved us, you’ll always be part of our family. We know you’re not in pain any more. We’ll see you on the other side.
[
](https://snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/stitch_portrait_1.jpg )

2025-09-02 19:26:44 GMT

I’ve been paying for Bridgy Fed myself, out of pocket, since the beginning. I’m happy to, and I’ll continue to, but it’s not cheap. We have big ideas and plans for the future, and funding is our main blocker. Please help if you can! <a class="u-quotation-of" href="https://mastodon.social/@anewsocial/115136283384486432"> </a>

2025-08-17 21:44:46 GMT

- reply

(He continues: *Looking at today’s landscape, the world of work is a long way from solving the problems of chronic disease, burnout, and emotional health.* Very true. There's a lot about work these days that needs improving. Still though.)

2025-08-17 21:41:04 GMT

> In 200 years, the bar has gone from > *don’t die*> to > *don’t get hurt*> to > *don’t burn out*> to > *love your job*> .
– Timber Stinson-Schroff, *[Safe New World](https://summerofprotocols.com/safe-new-world-web#footnote-012-backlink )*, [Summer of Protocols](https://summerofprotocols.com/ )

2025-08-02 16:42:27 GMT

Hi from afar to everyone at [Fedicon](https://fedicon.ca/ ) this weekend! Miss you all. Hope it’s great!
I’ve been vicariously enjoying the stream of #Fedicon posts, almost makes me feel like I was there. Props to all of the speakers, [@deadsuperhero](https://social.wedistribute.org/@deadsuperhero )
and others for the live blogging, and most importantly @npub16d5…u6mu for organizing Fedicon itself!

2025-08-01 23:52:47 GMT

[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/pxl_20250801_2344131737E24011223420106942189-768x1024.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/pxl_20250801_2344131737E24011223420106942189.jpg?resize=696%2C928&ssl=1

2025-07-31 20:59:28 GMT

[Over 10% of people in the US have type 2 diabetes.](https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/about/about-type-2-diabetes.html ) One in ten! I had no idea it was that high. Holy crap.

2025-07-27 15:11:58 GMT

Why do fingernails and toenails keep growing? Why don’t they stop?

2025-07-22 18:27:51 GMT

- reply

hah, good eye! safe, no, not yet, I don't think we'll call it "safe" for a while, and we haven't officially launched it yet, but you're welcome to try it anyway if you want!

2025-07-20 14:51:56 GMT

[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/pxl_20250719_2054127282290679905737362589.jpg?ssl=1 )
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/pxl_20250719_2054127281633808589735939870.jpg?ssl=1 )
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/pxl_20250719_2054127285673441428930973370.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/pxl_20250719_2054127282290679905737362589.jpg?resize=696%2C927&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/pxl_20250719_2054127281633808589735939870.jpg?resize=696%2C1023&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/pxl_20250719_2054127285673441428930973370.jpg?resize=560%2C518&ssl=1

2025-07-19 20:36:01 GMT

- reply

This was clearly an awful situation for everyone involved. Sorry @npub1qqm…v4e4 and @npub1q2e…weuj! Neither of you deserved this.
I investigated and confirmed that this was due to a bug in the bridge. It was always designed to avoid link previews for @-mentions, and usually did, but in a few rare cases like this one, it didn’t. That bug was fixed back in March, just days after the post in question here. Tough timing. Details: https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1987
Apologies again for the bug and misunderstanding here.

2025-07-11 05:06:46 GMT

[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/marley_white_oak.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/marley_white_oak.jpg?resize=696%2C523&ssl=1

2025-07-09 18:32:14 GMT

>
> These two statements are both true: > *all accidents are preventable*> and > *we cannot prevent all accidents.*
>
– [Timber Stinson-Schroff](https://www.timberschroff.com/ ), *[Safe New World](https://summerofprotocols.com/safe-new-world-web#footnote-012-backlink )*, [Summer of Protocols](https://summerofprotocols.com/ )

2025-06-23 23:44:14 GMT

- reply

You want to bridge to Bluesky, right? If it's a WordPress web site, I'd bridge from the web directly and cut out the AP middleman: https://fed.brid.gy/docs#web-get-started

2025-06-17 21:25:06 GMT

- reply

Your Bluesky account will become the bridged version of your AP account. It'll be fully owned and managed by Bridgy Fed, you won't be able to log into it directly any more. https://fed.brid.gy/docs#use-like-normal

2025-06-11 20:01:42 GMT

For me, the defining characteristic of open source is that you’re *giving up control* over your code. You can choose how much to give up, based on the license, but you pretty much always end up with less control than if you kept it closed source.
That’s good! It’s the point. I tend to license [my open source work](https://snarfed.org/software ) as public domain, which gives up as much control as possible, but that’s just me.
Regardless, once you’ve given up control, it’s gone. You can re-license going forward, but not retroactively. You can’t – or at least, shouldn’t – try to claw back control later. You gave it up. That’s the whole point.

2025-06-11 00:32:08 GMT

[Morpheus, *The Matrix*, 1999](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z47MEtn4O8E ):
>
> What we know for certain is that at some point in the early 21st century, all of mankind was united in celebration. We marveled at our own magnificence as we gave birth to…A.I.
>
🤔

2025-06-08 21:24:51 GMT

The organizations with offices here in the [Mechanics’ Institute](https://www.milibrary.org/ ) building have some pretty wild names.
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pxl_20250128_2116044147E26639932791249238260-1024x769.jpg?ssl=1 )
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pxl_20250128_2117132937E23160997433571111020-1024x769.jpg?ssl=1 )
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pxl_20250128_2115462827E22913428626601123748-1024x769.jpg?ssl=1 )
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pxl_20250128_2117179114691454895553934921-1024x769.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pxl_20250128_2116044147E26639932791249238260.jpg?resize=696%2C523&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pxl_20250128_2117132937E23160997433571111020.jpg?resize=696%2C523&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pxl_20250128_2115462827E22913428626601123748.jpg?resize=696%2C523&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/pxl_20250128_2117179114691454895553934921.jpg?resize=696%2C523&ssl=1

2025-06-03 13:22:03 GMT

Last night’s dream: I was on a TV game show where I had to search for Snoop Dogg, Tupac, and other ’90s rappers dressed in furry animal costumes, hiding in a basement. When I found one, they’d try to convince me to let them go. Nas said he was a nuclear scientist on the run from the Iranian government.

2025-05-29 18:37:18 GMT

[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/techbro_techdad_meme.png?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/techbro_techdad_meme.png?resize=490%2C490&ssl=1

2025-05-26 18:35:28 GMT

[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pxl_20250524_2024115305672502834071950881-1024x769.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pxl_20250524_2024115305672502834071950881.jpg?resize=696%2C523&ssl=1

2025-05-18 20:00:31 GMT

[*Alebrijes & Nahuales*](https://nahualesfromoaxaca.com.mx/ ), Yerba Buena, San Francisco
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pxl_20250518_1718426598128337498654651889.jpg?resize=696%2C927&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pxl_20250518_1719562594606708145531711106.jpg?resize=696%2C927&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pxl_20250518_1718098256929591976344819470.jpg?resize=696%2C927&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/pxl_20250518_1918570493613538809204117467.jpg?resize=696%2C927&ssl=1

2025-05-16 05:52:27 GMT

>
> Too much Harvard, not enough Harlem.
>
– [Clarence Avant](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Avant ), the “Godfather of Black Music,” [via Bobby Kotick](https://youtu.be/D2urSgcuyyo?t=7232 )

2025-05-09 22:12:06 GMT

typo of the day: big fux
(bug fix)

2025-05-07 20:32:55 GMT

group chat topic of the day: papal conclave betting odds

2025-05-02 18:38:38 GMT

Periodic reminder: we still don’t have a comprehensive threat model for social software. We need one!
Of everything I want as a social software developer, a real threat model might be at the top of the list. It would help *so much*.

2025-04-27 18:18:10 GMT

It’s an age-old cliche that hip-hop and rap music are crude about sex and love, at best, but the exceptions always manage to surprise me. Back in the day, artists like LL Cool J were out here spitting bars straight out of romance novels. Take 1995’s [*Hey Lover*](https://genius.com/Ll-cool-j-hey-lover-lyrics ):
>
> I touched you gently with my hands
>
We talked about traveling to distant lands
>
Escaping all the madness out here in the world
>
Becoming my wife, no longer my girl
>
Then, you let your dress fall down to the floor
>
I kissed you softly and you yearned for more
>
We experienced pleasure unparalleled
>
Into an ocean of love, we both fell
>
Swimming in the timeless currents of pure bliss
>
Fantasies interchanging with each kiss
>
Undying passion unites our souls
>
Together we swim until the point of no control
>

2025-04-25 19:20:16 GMT

- reply

Hi! Bridgy Fed doesn't support fediverse account migration right now, but it's a good feature request: https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/330
…and yes, we support Bluesky custom domain handles! https://fed.brid.gy/docs#bluesky-enhanced

2025-04-23 03:01:17 GMT

Word of the day:
>
> *[> aleatory (adj)](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aleatory )*
>
> random, left to chance
>

2025-04-20 18:22:05 GMT

current status
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/vis_two_deep_split_before.png?ssl=1 )
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/vis_two_deep_split_after.png?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/vis_two_deep_split_before.png?resize=677%2C445&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/vis_two_deep_split_after.png?resize=696%2C546&ssl=1

2025-04-18 21:15:07 GMT

Error from [Emacs vc-mode](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Version-Control.html ) just now:
>
> Hunk seriously messed up
>
…you and me both, Emacs, you and me both

2025-04-01 18:47:44 GMT

[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1000018190.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1000018190.jpg?resize=696%2C181&ssl=1

2025-04-01 18:34:56 GMT

[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pxl_20250401_1555531894969468957714265676.jpg?ssl=1 )
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pxl_20250401_1555589958222286131542173546.jpg?ssl=1 )
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pxl_20250401_1556037291615861197700053309.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pxl_20250401_1555531894969468957714265676.jpg?resize=696%2C927&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pxl_20250401_1555589958222286131542173546.jpg?resize=696%2C927&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/pxl_20250401_1556037291615861197700053309.jpg?resize=696%2C927&ssl=1

2025-03-28 17:02:08 GMT

If you find yourself saying “this time is different,” think first. History rhymes pretty damn hard, human nature doesn’t change much, if at all, and the very few times that genuinely do turn out to be different, we don’t tend to see or call out early on. Predicting the future is difficult, and we’re not good at it.
It may feel good to think we’re special, living in a special unique time, and occasionally we are, but not often. End of history illusion, etc.
This time is probably not different. At least, not significantly. And that’s ok.
(This is not a subtweet about anything in particular, not even politics. Promise. But whatever you’re thinking about, it may still apply!)

2025-03-28 05:32:13 GMT

For years now, we’ve been giving our 10yo a weekly allowance, and generally not buying her toys or video games etc, so that she has to buy them herself. Finally got some real world evidence that it might be working.
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/pxl_20250327_1955326407E21862372584556779646-1024x769.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/pxl_20250327_1955326407E21862372584556779646.jpg?resize=696%2C523&ssl=1

2025-03-26 15:12:42 GMT

https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/pxl_20250325_2131123598242164812099403798.jpg?resize=696%2C523&ssl=1

2025-03-18 22:42:21 GMT

systemd, but make it French
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/pxl_20250318_2233364417E26711527227255379427-769x1024.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/pxl_20250318_2233364417E26711527227255379427-300x400.jpg?resize=300%2C400&ssl=1

2025-03-11 17:30:32 GMT

#nofilter
[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/pxl_20250310_1417136373649627970318344414.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/pxl_20250310_1417136373649627970318344414.jpg?resize=696%2C523&ssl=1

2025-03-09 19:00:49 GMT

Lake Merced
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/pxl_20250309_1859239051666893294373266703.jpg?resize=696%2C523&ssl=1

2025-02-08 01:28:18 GMT

[Learned just now](https://tech.lgbt/@LilahTovMoon/113965145146561081 ) that my name Ryan comes from Gaelic and supposedly, maybe apocryphally, [means “short king.”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_(given_name) ) I am…neither of those things. 😆

2025-02-05 18:59:14 GMT

Another stunning statistic: Google and Apple’s income from app store fees on games is likely higher than *all game publishers’ combined income*, both mobile and non-mobile.
Holy crap. Talk about egregious rent-seeking.
([Matthew Ball](https://www.matthewball.co/ )‘s *[The State of Video Gaming in 2025](https://www.matthewball.co/all/stateofvideogaming2025 )*, page 42)
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/matthew_ball_state_of_gaming_2025_app_store_fees.png?resize=696%2C392&ssl=1

2025-02-04 19:12:35 GMT

Hi everyone! It’s been a while [since last time](https://snarfed.org/2024-12-21_54377 ), and we’ve been busy, so here’s another [Bridgy Fed](https://fed.brid.gy/ ) status update.
First, [we’ve made progress on cutting costs](https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1149 ). They’re down by half from their peak back in mid Nov, even though our user base and load has roughly doubled since then. [I still think I can get them lower](https://github.com/snarfed/arroba/issues/34 ), but for now, I’m ok with where we are.
We’re also still pushing [A New Social](https://www.anew.social/ ) forward. Paperwork, people, and plans (ie roadmap), oh my. More when we know it!
Other than that, I [wrote up a developer design doc](https://bridgy-fed.readthedocs.io/source/design.html ), and I managed to fix some bugs and add some features. Here are a few:
<li><a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1406">New <code>block</code> and <code>unblock</code> DM commands to block/unblock accounts that aren’t bridged</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/39#issuecomment-2525113104">Improved PixelFed compatibility</a></li>
<li>Improved UI and accessibility of <a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1043">finding user pages</a> <a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1666">and rendering them</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1571">Added aspect ratio for images in Bluesky</a></li>
<li>Bug fixes for <a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1750">DM command parsing</a>, <a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1712">web site feed polling</a>, <a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/636">large objects</a></li>
<li>Skip <a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1737">blank posts</a>, <a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1736">old backdated posts</a>, <a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1669">follow spam</a></li>
<li>Store activities <a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1360">more</a> <a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1359">efficiently</a></li>
<li>ATProto: <a href="https://github.com/snarfed/arroba/issues/33">finish <code>com.atproto.repo.describeRepo</code></a>, <a href="https://github.com/snarfed/lexrpc/issues/19">validate XRPC call parameters</a>, <a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1201">refresh DID docs more often</a></li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues/1509">Add per-protocol user counts to nodeinfo</a></li>
As usual, feel free to ping us with feedback, questions, and [bug reports](https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues ). You can follow the [*now* label on GitHub](https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Anow ) to see what we’re currently focusing on. See you on the bridge!
[
](https://snarfed.org/bridgy_fed_costs_2025_02.png )
https://snarfed.org/bridgy_fed_costs_2025_02.png

2025-01-31 19:32:30 GMT

I’ve used [Emacs](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/ ) for the last 25 years or so. Over half my life!
There are lots of other great editors, I try them now and then, but I realized a while back that I’ll probably use Emacs until I die.
I’m ok with that.

2025-01-30 22:21:39 GMT

- reply

Yes! Bridgy Fed bridges edits, and ATProto supports them, but Bluesky doesn't yet show them. https://fed.brid.gy/docs#bluesky-edits

2025-01-30 20:06:51 GMT

- reply

Understood! I definitely get how that uncertainty is frustrating. I doubt it though, I don't want to make those requests public and put people on blast. You're welcome to ping people publicly yourself!

2025-01-30 19:55:26 GMT

Wrote up a [technical design doc on Bridgy Fed’s internals](https://bridgy-fed.readthedocs.io/source/design.html ), hopefully useful for anyone who wants to contribute or just see how it works. Feedback is welcome!
[](https://bridgy-fed.readthedocs.io/source/design.html )
[](https://bridgy-fed.readthedocs.io/source/design.html )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/diagram-tasks.png?resize=696%2C260&ssl=1
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/octopus_attacks_ship_bridgy_fed.jpg?resize=696%2C545&ssl=1

2025-01-29 21:56:38 GMT

>
> In research, if you know what you are doing, you should not be doing it. In engineering, if you do not know what you are doing, you should not be doing it.
>
– Richard Hamming, via [South Park Commons, *The Case for Talent Density in -1 to 0*](https://blog.southparkcommons.com/case-for-talent-density-minus-one/ )

2025-01-27 16:39:45 GMT

Heard a stunning statistic just now: new WDM gear can do 1.6Tbps on a *single strand* of fiber. Holy crap.
([*Decoder*](https://www.theverge.com/24351247/ciena-fiber-optic-internet-subsea-cables-wdm-ai-hyperscale-data-decoder-podcast-interview )[, Gary Smith / Nilay Patel](https://www.theverge.com/24351247/ciena-fiber-optic-internet-subsea-cables-wdm-ai-hyperscale-data-decoder-podcast-interview ), 13:46)

2025-01-27 15:56:10 GMT

- reply

hmm, sorry for the trouble! Have you looked at https://fed.brid.gy/docs#troubleshooting ?
(@npub1pnw…qhcz love the instance btw! I've worked in climate tech for the last 4+ yrs, I'm a big fan of nuclear, cost notwithstanding.)

2025-01-23 23:03:00 GMT

My one and only superpower as an open source maintainer is the phrase “Sorry for the trouble!”

2025-01-23 22:09:58 GMT

Discussed a fascinating idea for a foundation model tool at lunch today: interactive navigation in embedding space.
Right now, you prompt most generative models with human language. That works, but it’s imprecise and coarse. If you’re generating an image of an outside scene, and you want the sunlight ever so slightly brighter, you could add the phrase “and ever so slightly brighter” to the prompt, and it might work, but it’s clunky, and not great, and clearly doesn’t scale. Maybe good enough for recreational use cases; clearly not professional grade.
What you really want to do is move your target in embedding space directly, without the lossy indirection of going through human language. Ideally, you’d have a dial that mapped directly to sunlight luminance, and you could bump it up just a bit. Similar to temperature for LLMs, but for fine control over direction and distance in high-dimensionality embedding space, as opposed to overall stochasticity.
Imagine a big mixing board at a professional music studio. You generate an initial image as a starting point, and the model analyzes it and gives you the top 100 principal components as vectors in embedding space, each [grounded](https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/fasttrackforazureblog/grounding-llms/3843857 ) to the closest embedding and human word that describes them. Smiles, spikiness, wood, buttons, height above the ground, crowd density, all sorts of concepts, each with a knob you can dial up or down. They won’t be entirely independent, so cranking up smiles may also move the warmth, happiness, and sociability knobs, which is ok.
It’s a complicated UI! Definitely not as approachable as “just type into the text box.” And typing into a text box has gotten us pretty far! But if we’re stuck with human language as our main interface to generative models, that’s extremely limiting. Professionals won’t tolerate that for long; they need more powerful, fine grained interfaces that give them a high degree of interactive control and ability to iterate. Language prompts may have gotten us here, as they say, but they may not get us there.
AI researchers will note that this has lots of prior art in grounding and interpretability, among other areas. I’m no expert, I’d love to hear any thoughts!

2025-01-23 07:22:41 GMT

Enjoyed this early proposal for an alternative to BGP/OSPF [from way back in 1964](https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM3420.html ). Even more bottom-up! ASes don’t claim routes or prefixes at all, they just send packets with source IPs and per-hop TTLs, and shortest paths converge backward based on those.
>
> Assuming symmetrical bi-directional links, the postman can infer the “best” paths to transmit mail to any station merely by looking at the cancellation time or the equivalent handover number tag. If the postman sitting in the center of the United States received letters from San Francisco, he would find that letters from San Francisco arriving from channels to the west would come in with later cancellation dates than if such letters had arrived in a roundabout manner from the east. Each letter carries an implicit indication of its length of transmission path. The astute postman can then deduce that the best channel to send a message to San Francisco is probably the link associated with the latest cancellation dates of messages from San Francisco. By observing the cancellation dates for all letters in transit, information is derived to route future traffic. The return address and cancellation date of recent letters is sufficient to determine the best direction in which to send subsequent letters.
>

2025-01-08 23:01:23 GMT

[](https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/pxl_20250108_2225550088906147705959531347-1024x477.jpg?ssl=1 )
https://i0.wp.com/snarfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/pxl_20250108_2225550088906147705959531347.jpg?resize=696%2C324&ssl=1

2024-12-31 05:16:45 GMT

I’ve been a fan of [Stewart Brand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stewart_Brand )‘s *[Pace Layering](https://longnow.org/ideas/pace-layers/ )* for [decades](https://snarfed.org/2015-01-27_12755 ) [now](https://snarfed.org/2022-04-25_46706 ). Really great framework for thinking about how different ecosystems and emergent forces interact. I’ve been thinking about a tech version of it for the better part of a year, and I finally took advantage of the holiday break to bang out a rough draft. Thoughts?
[
](https://snarfed.org/pace_layering.jpg )
[
](https://snarfed.org/tech_pace_layers.png )
Product includes devices like XBox, TiVo, and PalmPilot; apps like Firefox, MS Office, and Lotus 1-2-3; and services like Google, Facebook, and Wikipedia.
Components include libraries and frameworks: glibc, LLVM, Django, React, Docker, Arduino, etc.
Organizations involve some form of human governance, eg companies like Bell Labs, IBM, Microsoft, and ARM; non-profits like ICANN, the FSF, and the Linux and Apache foundations; and standards bodies like IETF, W3C, ECMA, and OASIS.
Standards are open via standards bodies, proprietary to individual companies, and de facto. Examples include networking protocols like TCP/IP, HTTP, and SMTP; file formats like HTML, JPEG, and WAV; character encodings like ASCII, ISO 8859-1, and Unicode; operating system interfaces like Win32, POSIX, and Cocoa; and hardware languages like Verilog, VHDL, CUDA, FPGAs, etc.
Computer science and electrical engineering are the academic fields that provide the direct foundations for software and hardware, respectively, and math and physics underneath them. Number theory and cryptography, information theory, combinatorics, Boolean logic, digital and analog circuit design, and arguably even materials science processes like EUV lithography all live here.
I’m far from the first to think along these lines. [Erik Samsoe on Twitter](https://x.com/eriksamsoe/status/1600899162907717634 ) ([with Brand himself](https://twitter.com/stewartbrand/status/1600912558008848386 )), Dmitri Glazkov’s *[Forces of the pace layering confusion](https://glazkov.com/2021/06/04/forces-of-the-pace-layering-confusion/ )*, and [Gartner’s Pace-layered Application Strategy](https://www.thoughtworks.com/en-us/radar/techniques/pace-layered-application-strategy ). Taking a wider view, the classic 7-layer ISO network model and 4-layer IETF model are a form of pace layering applied to networking protocols.
https://snarfed.org/pace_layering.jpg
https://snarfed.org/tech_pace_layers.png

2024-12-27 17:44:51 GMT

everyone’s always donating their body to science when they die. I want to donate my body to art