🎃 David Z Pumpkins 🎃

Software engineer, former particle physicist, occasional blogger. I support the principle of cake.

Posting habits: ~60% #Monsterdon, ~20% #Python/#tech, ~20% funny/uplifting/entertaining content. Rare politics-related posts, always using popular hashtags so they can be filtered out. I typically don't boost posts with images unless they have #AltText.

#books #bookstodon #reading #scifi #fantasy #programming #C #CPlusPlus #Linux #Git #KDE #bash #fedi22

Public Key

npub105vywj5u9qx5fkvuua6cq6xhmm2qmnltetnl0pqzk3wjn452fphsw0tsfs

NIP-05 Address

diazona@techhub-social.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs86xz8f2wzsr2ymxwwwavqdrtaa4qdel4u4elhssptghff669ysmcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsuz36sn

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub105vywj5u9qx5fkvuua6cq6xhmm2qmnltetnl0pqzk3wjn452fphsw0tsfs

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Last Notes

2026-10-19 02:13:07 UTC

Shaking someone's shoulders is used by all the world's major intelligence agencies for extracting information
#Monsterdon #TheLastManOnEarth1964

2026-10-19 01:04:25 UTC

I wonder if Vincent talking to us the audience counts as "awkward conversation"
for bingo purposes
#Monsterdon #TheLastManOnEarth1964

2026-10-07 20:33:38 UTC

This is beautifully cursed 😁 I have a bit of a soft spot for analyzing a complicated problem and concluding, legitimately and for good reasons, that the right way to solve it involves some horrible hacky logic hidden behind a simple abstraction
https://dev.arie.bovenberg.net/blog/pendulum-cursed-plus-operator/
#Python

2026-08-24 03:36:44 UTC

Funny how when the battle starts, two of the three protagonists immediately run and hide
#Monsterdon #MonsterdonDoubleFeature #Beastmaster3

2026-08-24 02:56:32 UTC

You only get truly lost when you wear pants
#Monsterdon #MonsterdonDoubleFeature #Beastmaster3

2026-07-27 03:03:06 UTC

Has *anyone* come out of this doctor's lab having been successfully treated?
#Monsterdon #MonsterdonDoubleFeature #TheUnearthly

2026-07-27 02:57:47 UTC

Be careful, if you don't get the frequencies exactly right you'll attract the giant locusts
#Monsterdon #MonsterdonDoubleFeature #TheUnearthly

2026-07-27 01:18:42 UTC

The fruit plants like to be tickled but you gotta limit their stimulation to only 30 minutes per day
#Monsterdon #BeginningOfTheEnd #GrasshoppersVsPostcards

2026-07-24 18:53:13 UTC

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@nprofile…vdqp Would a TUI (terminal UI) be a consideration here? Since it gives GUI-like behavior while still running in the terminal.

2026-07-21 18:32:13 UTC

Techies of the Fediverse, can you help me out here? I have a 3rd generation #Chromecast which has been factory reset and I'm trying to reconnect it to wifi. Supposedly the way to set up a fresh Chromecast and connect it to wifi is with the Google Home app... but the Home app stubbornly refuses to detect the thing, even if I connect my phone to the Chromecast's own wireless network. I tried going through Google's documentation but it's hard to navigate and has little to suggest.
Does anyone have a creative way I can try to activate this thing? Or other troubleshooting suggestions?
Alternatively, if I don't wind up getting it working: any recommendations for an alternate, preferably non-Google, device to buy and hook up to my TV as a replacement? Ideally something that supports the Google Cast protocol (since it's a very convenient way to get stuff to show up on my TV), but I'm open to losing that capability.
#AskFedi
https://files.techhub.social/media_attachments/files/116/959/369/522/956/737/original/33a56fa2350d1de3.jpg

2026-07-20 04:20:20 UTC

...do they have an electric sound system on this ship? Dictator dude is not speaking very loud
#Monsterdon #MonsterdonDoubleFeature #Waterworld1995

2026-07-20 04:14:05 UTC

I bet someone has made a porn version of this movie
#Monsterdon #MonsterdonDoubleFeature #Waterworld1995

2026-07-20 04:06:55 UTC

"breathe for both of us" with gills? Uhh I dunno if that works the way you think it does
#Monsterdon #MonsterdonDoubleFeature #Waterworld1995

2026-07-20 02:20:55 UTC

So what they spent hours cooking the orb with a laser only to need a precision machine to break it open?
#Monsterdon #SolarBabies

2026-07-18 01:27:55 UTC

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@nprofile…dyu0 Wasn't that a real movie? A sequel to the original, I think?

2026-07-07 20:54:02 UTC

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@nprofile…ef4c Apparently so 😅 I guess it's just that, while I definitely agree that science is clueless about consciousness, I don't think it follows that any sort of random stuff can be published in that field. Or it shouldn't, anyway.

2026-07-07 17:46:03 UTC

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@nprofile…ef4c oh lol I missed that it had actually been reviewed and published 😅
But yeah, I agree that this is fun to think about in an abstract or creative context like sci-fi. However a scientific publication is not that; it comes with a responsibility to readers to represent real, verifiable information, and personally I have a hard time looking past how the reviewers and editor of the journal (and to some extent the authors) seem to have abdicated that responsibility in this case.

2026-07-07 17:13:42 UTC

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@nprofile…ef4c I don't know about the psychological parts of it, but the sections about alternate realities and multiverse theory and whatnot are pseudoscientific BS. Fun for a blog post or a short story, but from a physics perspective it has no place in a scientific paper. So I am not getting a good first impression of the authors' judgment.

2026-05-14 21:30:34 UTC

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@nprofile…46jr @nprofile…mvm4 Yeah I would definitely be more interested in buying Codeberg merch if I knew part of the money I spend was going to benefit the organization.
I guess I could buy something and also send a donation on the side for the same effect, but it's less convenient.

2026-05-09 19:35:17 UTC

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@nprofile…dyu0 this is the truth 😀
Are you getting more into funk-like jazz than, say, swing-type jazz?

2026-05-09 19:32:02 UTC

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@nprofile…dyu0 oh yes definitely, there's probably even a lot of overlap between the two genres

2026-05-09 19:13:48 UTC

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@nprofile…dyu0 eh I can't really speak to this, I have been enjoying jazz since I was like 10
I would just say you're discovering your inner good taste, better late than never 😁

2026-04-30 17:20:36 UTC

Since it's the trendy thing to do, I guess, I might as well share my own deobfuscated version of the #CopyFail exploit code (by which I mean I did this anyway and figured there's nothing to gain by keeping it to myself 🤷)
https://static.ellipsix.net/ext-tmp/copy_fail_exploit.py

2026-04-21 02:16:28 UTC

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@nprofile…dyu0 Ah yeah I see what you mean. I kinda glossed over that on first reading, sorry.
Is it possible Grandboss didn't know or didn't remember you were going on vacation? Like if it's a large team with too many people to recall everyone's PTO plans on the spot? That's the one possibility I can think of that makes this seem more reasonable.

2026-04-21 00:36:00 UTC

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@nprofile…dyu0 (ignore if you are just venting)
I suppose my company culture or something might be very different from yours, but in mine I would hand the task off to someone else, and probably inform the requestor (grandboss, in your case) who is going to be handling it while I'm away. Pretty much what you did with your boss, actually. But it's a very normal part of vacation prep and not really seen as a big deal here.
Honestly, I'm a bit curious about what your company is like that makes this a notable event. (I haven't had that many jobs, this is how I learn)

2026-03-23 03:45:59 UTC

At least they're not actively *trying* to rap anymore, that was even worse
#Monsterdon #MonsterdonDoubleFeature #Kazaam

2026-03-02 02:24:45 UTC

wut
just, in general
wut
#Monsterdon #TheIncredibleHerc

2026-02-09 01:15:39 UTC

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@nprofile…galm Valentine's Day? 🤔

2026-02-08 23:47:07 UTC

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@nprofile…galm Yeah they really were! I hope the dogs weren't too disturbed after it ended.

2026-02-08 23:33:23 UTC

Aw I just heard the flyover for the #SuperBowl ... not often you get to see one in person, maybe I should have gone outside to catch it 🤷 Then again I am #reading a book that also involves airplanes and is infinitely more interesting!
(Blood Charged by Lindsay Buroker)
#books #bookstodon

2025-12-26 04:13:44 UTC

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@nprofile…m8jv I'll be doing that as well for the second time in recent memory, so I guess it might as well be my tradition too now. I have 1900 pages to read in the next week if I am to reach my (completely arbitrary) reading goal for the year 😮
I'll be working through the last couple books of The Stormlight Archive which should take care of most of that...
#books #bookstodon #reading

2025-12-26 03:56:50 UTC

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@nprofile…2whg
1. Very cool 😎
2. Would you consider linking to the abstract page on arXiv instead of directly to the PDF? I believe this is considered good etiquette so people can read the abstract before downloading the whole paper. (I might vaguely remember this being recommended by arXiv in its own documentation, but I'm not sure about that)

2025-12-22 03:06:13 UTC

Y'know what'd be fun: a movie from the perspective of the monkey's paw spirit, listening to wishes come in and trying to figure out how best to fuck with the people making them
...actually that'd be a sweet RPG campaign too
#Monsterdon #TalesFromTheCryptmas

2025-12-22 03:04:50 UTC

"I have considerable experience in dealing with men from my time in the army"
😜
#Monsterdon #TalesFromTheCryptmas

2025-12-22 02:54:24 UTC

More things should have their terms and conditions written as poems
#Monsterdon #TalesFromTheCryptmas

2025-12-22 02:30:59 UTC

It's Cahhhl
#Monsterdon #TalesFromTheCryptmas

2025-12-22 02:07:34 UTC

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@nprofile…zqpr You have to either lose none of your followers or ALL of your followers
#Monsterdon #TalesFromTheCryptmas

2025-12-21 19:20:07 UTC

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@nprofile…80d0 Thanks! Although... I just noticed it's under the AGPL, so I'll have to give some thought as to whether I want to relicense my site code accordingly 🤷

2025-12-21 19:15:40 UTC

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@nprofile…80d0 Cool!
Would you be okay with people copying this technique for other non-Mastodon websites? (like, I'd kind of like to add a version of it to my personal website)

2025-11-12 10:28:01 UTC

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@nprofile…escv I wouldn't trust wherever you got that information. requirements.txt is the opposite of the state of the art; it's practically on its way to being deprecated. pyproject.toml is the standard way of representing a project's dependencies now. It's often used together with some kind of tool-specific lock file which supports hashing and such things, and there's also a brand new *standard* lock file format which will be increasingly adopted over the coming months. (Even requirements.txt supports hashing now too, although it's a little crude.)
Of course there are lots of people and projects who don't keep up with modern best practices and are still using pip and requirements.txt because they don't know any better.
#Python

2025-11-08 23:58:41 UTC

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@nprofile…q6em @nprofile…p7lw That's good to know. But this whole discussion has piqued my curiosity about how well AI code contributions are being reviewed, and whether they really consistently get brought up to the same standard that contributions by a human expert would be before getting merged, and what that standard is. I'll have to take a closer look at the repo and development process to try to understand that. So it would be fair to say that this has diminished my trust in KeePassXC, though not to the point that I'm going to stop using it.

2025-10-26 10:21:55 UTC

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@nprofile…8eua Interesting indeed! But if I may nitpick something: would you consider correcting "Physics Overflow" to "Physics Stack Exchange"? I used to be a moderator on PSE and, if I remember correctly, Physics Overflow was a competing site run by some of the people who, shall we say, most frequently clashed with us mods. It's been a while and I've forgotten the details, but the visceral reaction I get when I read the words "Physics Overflow" is still there 😬

2025-10-18 09:25:10 UTC

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@nprofile…cjng It's so nice to see someone saying this! I am definitely in that majority.
One little thing I'd chime in from my perspective: there's some portion of tech people (or is it just me?) who aren't talking about this view not because we're afraid to, but because nobody (ish) listens to us average tech people, so it wouldn't matter.
#tech #programming

2025-10-05 21:44:23 UTC

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@nprofile…x9mm GoldenEye for me, because of the way it blends stereotypically British propriety with outlandish action and witty banter. I'm thinking of that ridiculous tank chase 😂 Also because Pierce Brosnan, Desmond Llewelyn, and Judi Dench all do an incredible job portraying their characters and the interactions among them are brilliant. I know it's not "classic Bond" in the sense of the books, but I'm not nearly such a fan of stories that take themselves too seriously.
#JamesBond

2025-06-09 01:55:39 UTC

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@nprofile…g2yn Do they really? Not that I was particularly paying attention but I would not have guessed that.
#Monsterdon

2025-06-09 01:52:39 UTC

Under the circumstances I kind of think two women screaming in the same scene should satisfy the Bechdel test 🤦
#Monsterdon

2025-05-12 02:04:35 UTC

Now thinking about how to reconcile "without blowing up the town" and "explodes when it comes in contact with water"
#Monsterdon

2025-04-09 06:27:56 UTC

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@nprofile…x7m7 So, is this a request for an explanation, or just venting, or...?
Not that I would be much help here, honestly; I know pretty well how pip and other pip-compatible tools handle things, but conda/mamba is a whole extra level of complication that I'm not familiar with. (But I'm guessing there is someone out there reading this who understands what's going on and is unclear about whether they should try to explain it.)
#Python

2025-04-07 02:49:18 UTC

An excellent week for bingo though - and I'm sure I could have gotten a few more of them, I wasn't paying all that much attention after a while though
#Monsterdon #MonsterdonBingo
https://files.techhub.social/media_attachments/files/114/294/398/997/935/092/original/8973f87d7c803534.png

2025-03-30 20:48:31 UTC

Don't miss out on the hottest phenomenon of this evening, The Cat Girl (1957)! Get your The Cat Girl (1957) from any of these fine retailers:
- Tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/496372/the-cat-girl (stream only unless you're techy)
- Pluto: https://pluto.tv/on-demand/movies/the-cat-girl-1957-1-1 (stream only)
- Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/catgirl1957_201910 (download or stream; thanks @nprofile…0n02 and @nprofile…d0vx
- Ryan's Owncast: https://miru.miyaku.media/ (stream only)
- Mediafire: https://www.mediafire.com/folder/e9po5d81mzr8j/Videos (download only; thanks @nprofile…5h0r)
*note: not guaranteed to contain actual cat
#Monsterdon

2025-03-18 06:54:29 UTC

10 minutes of work tweaking a preexisting program and I now have a functional archive file browser in the terminal 🎉
Stuff like this is what makes working with Python (and especially Textual https://textual.textualize.io/) enjoyable!
#Python #Textual
https://files.techhub.social/media_attachments/files/114/182/106/493/784/329/original/cb856581aef8dc28.png

2025-03-17 01:42:08 UTC

The yeti has much to teach us about grooming techniques
#Monsterdon

2025-03-16 01:33:00 UTC

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@nprofile…pye9 @nprofile…naem Ah I thought the comic page would have alt text but apparently not (at least not useful alt text).
The image is a Venn diagram with three overlapping circles. In one, labeled "Modern", are Slack, Facebook Messenger, Hangouts, Discord, and "various DMs". In another one, labeled "Encrypted", are PGP email, "various obsolete products", "Skype I think", and "Jabber + TLS". Then in the intersection of "Modern" and "Encrypted" are Signal, iMessage, and WhatsApp. The third circle is labeled "Supported by everyone" and is completely empty except for SMS, which appears in the non-overlapping region.
The title (mouseover) text is "SMS is just the worst, but I'm having trouble convincing people to adopt my preferred system, TLS IRC with a local server and a patched DOSBox gateway running in my mobile browser."

2025-03-16 01:20:29 UTC

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@nprofile…pye9 @nprofile…naem https://xkcd.com/2365/ nailing it as usual

2025-02-24 04:35:41 UTC

OMG this is amazing
#Monsterdon #WrongFrogs #MonsterdonDoubleFeature
https://files.techhub.social/media_attachments/files/114/057/000/216/669/485/original/32a58133702673d2.png

2025-02-24 03:41:06 UTC

A movie so boring that we have to watch another probably-bad movie afterwards to recover! (https://tubitv.com/movies/100024516/frogs #WrongFrogs) At least the frogs got to kill a dude though
Thanks as always @nprofile…73zc for hosting and everyone for posting!
#Monsterdon

2025-02-17 07:47:14 UTC

Every time I browse my notifications after #Monsterdon ends I get a happy feeling... like, this must be what acceptance feels like

2025-02-10 03:55:17 UTC

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@nprofile…args https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film) you mean? Seems like not my kind of movie (although it could be great for #Monsterdon)
TBH I'm probably going to be watching Dimension 20 again. I always plan to queue up something good after #Monsterdon

2025-02-08 00:29:44 UTC

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@nprofile…ug6l 😂😂😂omg I love this
It's especially great how the posts make accurate or at least plausible-sounding references to real American history. The attention to detail is fantastic.

2025-02-01 01:56:51 UTC

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@nprofile…wk38 Does this have any particular advantage over the standard library's mimetypes module? Granted, I haven't looked at your project very closely and maybe the difference would be obvious if I did, but based on a quick initial impression they seem to do the same thing 🤷
#Python

2025-01-26 22:21:00 UTC

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@nprofile…07t5 @nprofile…lcdx Hmm, now I'm wondering if it still makes sense to call it "tooting" on Pixelfed, or should that term be reserved for Mastodon posts? 🤷
Anyway, welcome Stephanie! It is indeed a nice photo.

2025-01-21 22:47:08 UTC

What self-hosted Git forge do people like these days for personal use? (and why? I'm always interested in why)
From what I've seen it sounds like the consensus is Forgejo > Gitea > Gogs, but I would like to know if I'm misreading the situation; or, if there are any other promising up-and-comers.
#Git #programming #OpenSource

2025-01-13 04:05:17 UTC

#Monsterdon
https://files.techhub.social/media_attachments/files/113/819/061/853/251/076/original/d92ec3ed392fce75.jpg

2025-01-11 01:58:59 UTC

Mildly pleased with myself for taking the opportunity to name part of our CI infrastructure "bootstrap build"
(if you saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2 you are either chuckling or groaning now)
#tech #DevOps

2025-01-02 20:12:19 UTC

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@nprofile…xcsy Small world, I just started The Hero of Ages yesterday 😛 I think I will take your list as inspiration to add a couple more of these to my own to-read list!

2024-12-30 04:01:06 UTC

And so we conclude a movie which I'm convinced is entirely too good for this venue, and needed way more giant spiders to be #Monsterdon material. #TeamSpider
Thanks @nprofile…cwlr for hosting and everybody for posting! See you next week!

2024-12-30 03:17:20 UTC

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@nprofile…s0cr I think the point is to do it without leaving her family behind
#Monsterdon

2024-12-30 03:14:20 UTC

The chemist looks evil 😢
#Monsterdon

2024-12-23 03:02:39 UTC

My sister ranks worst response to "I love you":
3. "It'll pass" (Fleabag)
2: "I know" (Star Wars)
1: "Did you say something?" (this)
#Monsterdon

2024-12-14 03:36:13 UTC

IT'S OVER
no wait
crap 🤦
#StarWarsHolidaySpecial #Chewbaccadon

2024-12-14 01:00:31 UTC

ONE HOUR from now, 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific: it's the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL watch party! Join us in watching this disaster of a movie and live-tooting it using the hashtag #Chewbaccadon
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0193524/
Available on the Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/star-wars-holiday-special-1977-ia-copy) and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxtSX1lg8rE), or choose your favorite source
Fair warning: https://xkcd.com/653/ is extremely accurate in this case, so I'm told (and I believe it)
#StarWarsHolidaySpecial #Chewbaccadon

2024-12-09 03:12:05 UTC

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@nprofile…mv6v Oh I'm down for that
#Monsterdon #TheRobotVsTheAztecMummy

2024-12-08 07:12:40 UTC

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@nprofile…gp6r Out of curiosity, why read the second one if you didn't like the first one?
I'm a few chapters into it right now and I'm getting quite a different impression than you are, but I wonder if I might feel differently by the end.
#books #bookstodon

2024-11-30 22:50:12 UTC

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@nprofile…gffv @nprofile…ae45 Yeah fair, I guess I'm just coming from a perspective where part of the case's job is to last longer than 4 years

2024-11-30 22:17:38 UTC

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@nprofile…gffv @nprofile…ae45 4 years seems like not that long TBH, that's a bummer 😢

2024-11-30 09:08:19 UTC

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@nprofile…qwwx @nprofile…hsx2 @nprofile…9vtz Libraries are awesome indeed, but for what it's worth, I've heard some concerning rumors about what the company behind Libby (OverDrive) is doing to libraries - things along the lines of abusing their market dominance to charge libraries exorbitant fees for the right to lend out e-books through the app. I can't remember the details, so don't take my word for it, but maybe keep an eye out for more information about this.
Librarians who I've talked to generally seem to think Hoopla is a little better (or, more library-friendly at least).
#books #bookstodon

2024-10-26 01:23:02 UTC

I'm taking a mental health break from Mastodon for a few weeks. Despite my best(ish) efforts using filters and curating who I follow, there's too much negativity in my feed.

2024-07-08 22:42:30 UTC

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@npub1pfe…e2dm In the not-so-distant past I've run into a site at work that has exactly that problem on its login page, such that our own gTLD fails validation 😂

2024-06-18 03:03:07 UTC

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@npub178r…qekt I kind of wanted reference 4 to be the Lock Picking Lawyer's channel page 😂

2024-05-02 22:50:02 UTC

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@npub1pfe…e2dm "simple" and "intermittent failure" in the same sentence, that's ambitious 😂

2024-04-24 21:24:38 UTC

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@npub1km9…rh4n I usually come here to get away from outrage so yeah, easy decision

2024-04-24 21:20:47 UTC

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@npub1km9…rh4n ooh I see.
I'm gonna guess this is not worth my attention though 😇

2024-03-03 04:45:56 UTC

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@npub1jeq…jglm Well yeah I knew it had to be something other than Mastodon (or at least something other than stock Mastodon). I didn't realize there was any ActivityPub-compatible software that supported custom formatting though. The only one I'd heard had started experimenting with it was CalcKey, and that seemed like a pretty big deal so I thought there would have been more buzz if another one came on the scene.

2024-01-29 03:26:08 UTC

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@npub1jpp…u59l wat that's actually a website? 😂

2023-08-30 23:14:44 UTC

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@npub1tx3…kxnn For the record, I appreciate that it has a pyproject.toml file with console script definitions and optional dependencies and everything, so people can just run `pipx run offpunk` (or `offpunk[http]` or whatever) if they like 😀 👏

2023-08-21 00:37:56 UTC

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@npub1gaj…78dz IMO definitely not something you should be expected to apologize for!