Will Richardson

Computer enthusiast and photographer.

In Sydney, Australia. From Christchurch/Otautahi, New Zealand.

Software engineer at Google. Personal opinions only.

Public Key

npub137ddq8nm77tmwhc6gkhugwfvn7f74fdrmn6tgd3nel777z5mr7qqsrf0xv

NIP-05 Address

willhbr@ruby-social.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsglxksreal09ahtudytt7y8ykflyl25k3aea95xceull00p2d3lqqpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43qz9thwden5te0wfjkccte9ekk7um5wgh8qatzpmva7z

Publishing to

relay.ditto.pub

relay.mostr.pub

Author Public Key

npub137ddq8nm77tmwhc6gkhugwfvn7f74fdrmn6tgd3nel777z5mr7qqsrf0xv

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-10-26 08:41:27 UTC

I just swapped my NixOS test laptop to KDE and wow guys I think it's the year of Linux on the desktop
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/506/315/565/561/777/original/25fe60919f271c4a.jpeg

2026-10-25 11:27:05 UTC

I've had no real luck with using opencv to align images from different years, so this automated account is actually just me manually cropping images 🫠

2026-10-25 08:26:19 UTC

What Can You Do for Your Compiler?
https://willhbr.net/2026/10/25/what-can-you-do-for-your-compiler/

2026-10-24 01:58:28 UTC

I can't make a bsky account for @nprofile…250q, since they require age/id verification for users in Australia.
I don't even think the government asked them to do it, they just wanted to.

2026-10-21 23:27:02 UTC

me when @nprofile…250q hits double digit followers
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/481/486/258/860/508/original/707b41203a8ce8a6.jpeg

2026-10-21 03:24:56 UTC

If you're not following @nprofile…250q, you're missing out on both cool old aerial photos AND my mildly obsessive comments trying to work out what's in the picture.
Also outhouses.

2026-10-20 22:50:57 UTC

Big day for xkcd 221
https://xkcd.com/221/

2026-10-20 03:56:44 UTC

Perfect place for a go-kart track IMO
(This is all I know about eastern creek)

2026-10-19 02:38:08 UTC

The weird triangular bit is still there! The racetrack is now approximately a million new homes. It's a shame there's no space for any more housing here 👀🏌️
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/465/250/765/494/739/original/1103f1f43aa72322.png

2026-10-18 07:34:16 UTC

Maybe I should just run this account manually

2026-10-17 01:43:28 UTC

I made an account that toots pictures from the NSW historical image archive, which has images going back to the 1920s
Still a work in progress, pls follow if you're interested

2026-10-13 22:05:18 UTC

@nprofile…p8gx markdowno in AirTag post: "[Eva Galperin put it][eg]"

2026-10-11 09:05:17 UTC

Inevitably, NixOS
They finally got me
https://willhbr.net/2026/10/11/inevitably-nixos/

2026-10-10 11:38:49 UTC

Bogong moths? More like be gone, moths!
Can't open a door or window without having a million moths fly in.

2026-10-09 08:44:01 UTC

@nprofile…p8gx wrt the maintainers of SQLite, the project is like no other, and is quite interesting: https://avi.im/blag/2024/sqlite-facts/

2026-10-03 09:31:50 UTC

I found a projector in the garbage room of my apartment building. My apartment doesn't have any space for a projector. What should I do with this??
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/376/280/580/950/931/original/0b5272fc12bbadab.jpeg

2026-10-02 05:40:38 UTC

It's Bandcamp Friday in an hour and 20 minutes and I'm ready to make poor financial decisions

2026-09-30 13:15:38 UTC

Anyone that's got Opinions™ on licenses for small personal projects, what're your fave licenses and why? For libraries versus applications? Any resources that you found particularly useful?

2026-09-28 13:16:04 UTC

Owning My Streaming With #Navidrome
Alternate title: how to spend more money by cancelling subscriptions
https://willhbr.net/2026/09/28/owning-my-streaming-with-navidrome/

2026-09-26 08:46:20 UTC

- reply

I've now got this shortcut on the action button. Shows recent notes or creates a quick note. Seems to work ok.
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/336/465/432/024/910/original/d5b70fa689863f94.png

2026-09-26 07:41:40 UTC

Even more #shotoniphone 18 Pro photos of the #Sydney opera house
https://photography.willhbr.net/2026-09-26/

2026-09-25 10:49:19 UTC

Running Code in the Crystal Type System
Type resolution is just running your program at compile time.
https://willhbr.net/2026/09/25/crystal-type-system-code/

2026-09-24 11:58:52 UTC

Amazonbot has replaced ClaudeBot in scraping my site, only 0.3qps though
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/325/897/936/775/756/original/63b7c89c9894b481.png

2026-09-23 13:28:31 UTC

@nprofile…p8gx "While there are more granular controls for individual features in Golden Gate, Apple’s way of limiting access in older versions is only through Screen Time."
"limiting access in older versions" shouldn't this be "newer versions", or is there another word missing? (or am I misreading)

2026-09-22 09:29:11 UTC

@nprofile…ne3h I also thought the colour temperature was different between my 15 Pro and 18 Pro while setting them up (I can't remember which one was warmer/cooler though 😬)

2026-09-22 08:42:21 UTC

If git submodules were better, do you think we'd have so many language package managers?

2026-09-20 08:15:12 UTC

More iPhone 18 Pro shots. #Sydney opera house and harbour bridge #shotoniphone
https://photography.willhbr.net/2026-09-20/

2026-09-12 04:58:58 UTC

Cook at home?
You mean self-host a restaurant?

2026-09-11 12:43:58 UTC

The sight right at the back just says "potato potato potato" and I don't understand
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/252/465/205/846/145/original/f9f6b98b45efde0b.jpeg

2026-09-11 11:06:36 UTC

man if Tailscale donates to omarchy I'm going to have learn to setup wireguard
pssshhhhhhh

2026-09-06 13:53:41 UTC

Scam or legit?
(I'll do a poll)
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/224/427/486/259/860/original/0421d5418af798f3.png

2026-09-06 12:03:43 UTC

No parking
https://photography.willhbr.net/2026-09-06/

2026-09-06 11:18:04 UTC

My role for buying micro SD cards (was) that $40 is the sweet spot of price vs capacity. In 2016 this was 32GB, 2018: 64GB, 2021(ish): 128G.
In 2023 I got some of the fancier, slightly faster cards because at 128G, those were about $40. 256G was almost there.
128G is now $99. $40 gets you 32G again 🥺
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/223/815/831/596/557/original/1437a6a7a69107e4.png

2026-09-06 03:41:53 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…pcl0 ok it's monthly, reset back to zero
... does this mean I should re-enable the whole process again 🤔
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/222/022/137/628/091/original/a01a57bc8a1b5471.png

2026-09-05 08:18:30 UTC

Hahahaha $40 for 2GB of DDR2
This is fine.
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/217/447/109/382/311/original/f3d7b959b9d66e8d.png

2026-09-02 08:12:08 UTC

idk what's worse: fascism, or calling poorly-implemented shell scripts a "distro"
https://brennan.day/normalized-fascism-in-open-source-12-million-given-to-dhh/

2026-08-31 00:31:23 UTC

Why would I want this, Wordpress? If I wanted to publish podcasts, surely I'd record a podcast?
(Not my personal website, just one I maintain)
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/187/299/151/815/559/original/a868d9dd5840acb3.png

2026-08-22 23:41:05 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…5rsp their website has some more info (for others that are curious) https://www.rheinmetall.com/en/products/charging-infrastructure/curb-charger
Socket is water resistant, has sensors to cut power if immersed, has drainage.
IMO a box attached to a lamppost is easier, but 乁_(ツ)_ㄏ there are probably situations where this is better

2026-08-22 09:00:34 UTC

Unmetered parking is just socialised housing for cars. send toot

2026-08-22 06:02:38 UTC

I love environmental storytelling
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/137/640/925/535/028/original/14dbc46df53f60d8.jpeg

2026-08-22 05:11:42 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…8jn0 and their QR code has "expired" because it redirects through some middleware 😆
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/137/440/663/084/228/original/f2c3b8fab2dffcc8.png

2026-08-21 23:55:15 UTC

This looks cool! I'm not short on ram, but I'm not getting more any time soon so might as well make the most of it
https://matklad.github.io/2026/08/21/rust-glancer.html

2026-08-21 13:14:21 UTC

- reply

Good news, you can make an arbitrary compile-time string in the type system using a NamedTuple with a single key.
Bad news is that for conditionals I'll need to map every code branch which will be a faff, but maybe that'll help with other projects.

2026-08-21 05:04:07 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…upyy I knew I'd seen something come across my timeline, here's someone looking to hand off some projects https://www.massicotte.org/blog/looking-for-maintainers/

2026-08-20 11:01:42 UTC

- reply

Oh I need to work out strings. If named tuple keys can have spaces (and other characters) in them then we're all good. Otherwise it might be like, a global constant with string literals in it? We'll see.

2026-08-20 10:56:39 UTC

I think I've worked out all the components needed to compile Python code so it can be evaluated by the Crystal type resolution algorithm.
It doesn't feel super exciting since you can already do whatever you want with macros, but I should be able to do it without using the "macro" keyword.

2026-08-19 23:17:53 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…p4ca but Zuck said that people with super intelligent AI lawyers would always win, surely the visionary behind our all-encompassing metaverse couldn't be wrong?

2026-08-19 13:21:27 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ln7g I just serve a static file with Disallow: * and trust bots to do the right thing

2026-08-19 08:18:48 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…vhdg if you're not applying software updates and unsubscribing for email newsletters, are you really living?

2026-08-19 02:17:15 UTC

- reply

Claude is doing two checks every half hour just in case my robots.txt has changed 🤦🏻‍♂️
Extra credit for checking, I guess. B-
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/119/767/732/190/665/original/aa9666dab86c9141.png

2026-08-18 22:56:50 UTC

- reply

Back down to a normal level again
If you want interesting Wikipedia articles in your RSS feed, have a look! https://wiki-rss.javanut.net
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/118/979/694/669/047/original/2aec1e30f1571e90.png

2026-08-18 13:30:40 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…x373 I learnt a bunch by hacking around a custom SSH server using the go library (https://pkg.go.dev/golang.org/x/crypto/ssh) and seeing what the API exposed

2026-08-18 09:57:55 UTC

- reply

ClaudeBot has got the memo and stopped all requests. GPTBot still chugging along.

2026-08-18 09:41:49 UTC

- reply

Two requests to /robots.txt so far, hopefully that's both GPTBot and ClaudeBot and they get the message that I don't want to play with them any more

2026-08-18 09:36:15 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…pcl0 乁_(ツ)_ㄏ its billed annually and is only $20 so being pretty low isn't a surprise. Didn't really look on the dashboard whether it was monthly

2026-08-18 09:27:23 UTC

- reply

It's done 7GB of traffic just while I've been turning it off 😳

2026-08-18 09:20:28 UTC

- reply

It either recurs on the 6th of Jan or 1st of June (no way to tell, obviously) so maybe I'll need to find an interim server for @nprofile…herz (which is what I got this server for in the first place)

2026-08-18 09:17:30 UTC

- reply

Alright, party's over. In the last like 2 days I've sent over 1TB of rubbish and I'm about to hit my annual bandwidth cap.
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/115/757/616/762/936/original/cd55881bc0976e6f.png
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/115/757/946/198/332/original/e37a208b5492e874.png

2026-08-18 03:00:09 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…zgz0 the threat of more debugging scared it into working (on the latest TF)
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/114/273/941/235/994/original/418c0d4cc94b3f71.png

2026-08-17 13:59:10 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…5nzc I did think about a generic impl when I did the HTML-Safe ECR (by passing an object into the macro that would have "write_string" and "write_object") but didn't see myself needing it to be generic compared to the extra complexity.
It would be neat if Crystal had something like Elixir sigils (https://elixir.hexdocs.pm/main/sigils.html#custom-sigils) so you can define custom string macros, like the existing %(string syntax)

2026-08-17 11:09:01 UTC

"in an ECR template, simply using <%= user.comment %> will convert potentially malicious characters like < and > into their HTML entities (< and >)."
I love how there are endless websites producing authoritative-sounding misinformation like this
https://compile7.org/escaping/how-to-use-html-escaping-in-crystal/#basic-escaping-with-htmlescape

2026-08-17 09:50:17 UTC

HTML-Safe String Interpolation
More #crystallang macro nonsense
https://willhbr.net/2026/08/17/html-safe-string-interpolation/

2026-08-17 07:03:41 UTC

@nprofile…zgz0 I'm still not able to load widgets with the new TF build (see screenshot)
But appreciate the other fixes ☺️
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/109/569/224/768/560/original/7834a7ef5eb76bf3.png

2026-08-16 09:33:48 UTC

@nprofile…zgz0 when you're selecting a dashboard (eg in the "All dashboards" screen) only the dashboard title responds to a tap, whereas I'd expect the whole row to be tappable

2026-08-15 10:21:35 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…zgz0 IMO missing data should be omitted (like the web UI), rather than interpolated
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/099/022/369/340/349/original/805869810941f613.png
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/099/022/961/410/095/original/daf03ffd93780af5.png

2026-08-15 07:18:03 UTC

Type-Checking SQL Queries With Crystal Macros
My macro powers are unmatched.
https://willhbr.net/2026/08/15/crystal-macro-sql-type-checking/

2026-08-15 02:45:35 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…zgz0 the "inspect panel JSON" tab seems to be loading synchronously, it blocks while swapping to the tab, and other UI doesn't respond while it's loading
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/097/229/946/269/435/original/b524faf139d7d2be.mp4

2026-08-14 23:59:58 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…wfz4 I also got a human response ("To update the firmware on your Clicks, you’ll indeed need to have an account. This is in place to ensure that firmware updates are secure and properly linked to your device.")
I've asked them what possible security benefit it could have, and am waiting to hear back

2026-08-14 23:58:04 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…zgz0 this is on iOS. I would expect after I press "back" that I'd end up on the list of dashboards (caddy,Steve)
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/096/571/205/784/227/original/5feadbb2dac6cf14.mp4

2026-08-14 13:29:55 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…zgz0 if I open "all dashboards" then select a dashboard, then press back/up in the top left, I go back to the main page but I'd expect to go back to the list of my dashboards
(do you want feedback here or through TF?)
Also my widget just says it can't connect to Grafana, unsure if that's just iOS being wacky. Is this worth getting debug info for if it doesn't resolve itself?

2026-08-14 08:12:32 UTC

- reply

Fixed URL handling for redirects to keep the extension, so the final result file type is the same as the original request (after the redirects) and sending 1000x700px images seems to be enough data to make a difference
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/092/853/176/642/295/original/d4b30ab53d172bb9.png

2026-08-14 06:58:14 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…zgz0 this is sick! Got it setup and will let you know how I go

2026-08-14 00:22:05 UTC

If you use a computer to design a boat with two hulls, that's a CADamaran

2026-08-12 23:12:11 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…pcl0 oh I hadn't thought about DNS cost, the TTL is 15 minutes so if they're caching correctly it should be no more load than the few requests per minute I was getting before. The scrapers have consistent IPs, not like they're doing a residential proxy with a new device for each request.

2026-08-12 12:14:51 UTC

- reply

Experimenting with larger responses, almost getting to 1MB/s
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/082/481/449/188/425/original/e68e8dc1a1151ee5.png

2026-08-12 10:43:10 UTC

- reply

Worth remembering that this whole thing is the stock Crystal HTTP server (sitting behind Caddy) running on a server that costs $20 per *year*
Admittedly it's not doing anything interesting with these requests, but it still has to terminate TLS, parse the request headers, etc.

2026-08-12 10:37:56 UTC

- reply

My code was slightly conservatively stopping one redirect before the limit, updated to stop at the limit and we're hitting 116QPS

2026-08-12 10:26:30 UTC

- reply

Important caveat here: redirects have to be within the same domain, redirecting across sub-domains drops the QPS back down below 100 again.

2026-08-12 08:48:40 UTC

- reply

Now doing redirects on 100% of requests, hitting 100QPS 😆
(Yes I'm doing flag-controlled feature rollouts to experiment)
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/081/670/298/062/239/original/b68ae5ccf5db1a8b.png

2026-08-12 08:26:55 UTC

- reply

Hahaha so I made a few requests to redirect loops, found out the limits for ClaudeBot and GPTBot (10 and 5) and now serve half the requests with juuust enough redirects to keep them interested 😆 their rate limiting clearly doesn't count a redirect as a separate request.
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/081/585/095/179/984/original/564e4f1e1125aa88.png

2026-08-12 03:48:57 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…ln7g yeah I eventually realised that (https://ruby.social/@willhbr/117080330897637606)
Context menu > open didn't skip it.

2026-08-12 03:07:52 UTC

- reply

I found out the solution, you need to go to system settings, go to security and privacy, then click "open anyway" on the little section (like you get for un-notarised apps) and then another dialog pops up and you click "open anyway" again and then you type your password, and then you've opened your file. Repeat for each file you want to open.

2026-08-11 09:06:39 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…lyr4 there should be some national survey to find who that person is

2026-08-10 13:02:50 UTC

Safari won't open web archives created in Safari, because they might contain malware. The only option is to delete the archive. What's the point of creating the archive in the first place?
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/071/339/849/907/788/original/8d90d8442b0f259e.png

2026-08-10 12:50:31 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…4z20 🦜🦜
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/071/297/047/682/245/original/780c918074e069a9.jpeg

2026-08-10 12:47:53 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…zfcw I don't think the training turnaround time is fast enough for that, but I could be wrong.
It would be interesting to compare the code of both projects and see if they've got structural similarly as well as name/features/etc

2026-08-10 11:06:27 UTC

Commenters on Hackernews call the original article "TFA" which I always read as "the fucking article" and I hope you do too

2026-08-10 07:46:25 UTC

Check out this bird
https://photography.willhbr.net/2026-08-10/

2026-08-10 03:08:14 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…krmf I'd be surprised if Claude would generate such similar projects from separate prompts, down to adding the same bug. I wouldn't be too surprised if the original app made it into Claude's context (intentionally or unintentionally) and that guided the buggy behaviour, but since Godier is an unreliable narrator I don't think we'll know that for sure.

2026-08-09 23:48:20 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…tvg4 the author of the original posted on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/mmmeh.bsky.social/post/3msjump44fs2h) and linked their repo (https://github.com/mbeher2200/DarkHours)

2026-08-09 23:45:11 UTC

- reply

As fun as this is, I should probably work out my exit strategy, since I'm burning through my bandwidth allowance (albeit slowly) options include:
Redirect them somewhere funny (where?)
Redirect loop
Zip bomb
Hang every request
Just update robots.txt to block them (they are checking it)
Something else?

2026-08-09 23:42:15 UTC

- reply

Added two more subdomains and GOTBot is *loving* it. Claude is laser-focussed on only one.
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/068/197/315/213/305/original/c146f7112b471f37.png

2026-08-09 08:58:28 UTC

- reply

@nprofile…edfj AI generated images yearning for protecting the beauty of nature are surprisingly common over on Bluesky 😆

2026-08-09 08:08:28 UTC

✅ piss yellow
✅ emdash
✅ No X, no Y, just Z
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/064/525/649/286/044/original/ed74202a461450e8.jpeg

2026-08-08 07:13:12 UTC

- reply

So I updated my status page library to be able to merge requests instead of grouping just by method and path.
There are so many requests that iOS thinks it's a phone number. This is for less than 24h (since last restart)
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/058/645/996/786/685/original/17695024a92d0013.png

2026-08-07 02:50:27 UTC

- reply

The only way my account would know what device I have is by the app telling it, so if I've already tampered with the device or whatever then me being signed in isn't going to make that any "safer"

2026-08-07 02:44:12 UTC

Clicks Power Keyboard app requires you to be signed in to install firmware updates, and you can only sign in by linking an Apple or Google account.
I emailed support and this was their official response:
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/051/925/601/220/668/original/ee5f83707c3ee842.png
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/051/925/954/306/371/original/e4ed6829f4e69af8.png

2026-08-07 01:42:04 UTC

- reply

This is probably because my logic was to add links to the secondary domain, or a relative link. So if you moved over to the second domain, nothing would link back.

2026-08-07 01:18:43 UTC

- reply

Interestingly, Claude has all but given up on the original domain and is now focussing on the second domain. GPTBot is doing both.
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/051/589/703/582/779/original/73cc408ea62070d4.png

2026-08-06 23:26:12 UTC

- reply

Results from overnight are IN!
ClaudeBot seemingly rate limits on IP address rather than domain, so I need to setup a second VPS to induce some more traffic out of it. GPTBot is 2QPS per domain, so I could setup a wildcard domain and see if that scales up.
https://cdn.masto.host/rubysocial/media_attachments/files/117/051/147/324/247/143/original/7acc6ce9a8f10e35.png