Nostr notes by John Ripley

I'm not the only one who gets kept awake at night about this, ...

2026-07-23T06:10:57Z

I'm not the only one who gets kept awake at night about this, right? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_in_the_atmosphere_of_Earth#/media/File:Mauna_Loa_CO2_monthly_mean_concentration.svg

Not the graph itself—it's horrifying—but the misinterpretation of how urgent it is. At 500ppm, CO2 begins to have measurable impact on human cognition. We're almost there.

But it also means there's *no margin any more*. Any closed room now quickly results in CO2 issues in humans.

It's not a smooth, linear thing—we hit a point where it's a huge problem all of a sudden, with big consequences.

It's really as simple as that: If you're running for ...

2026-05-14T17:40:49Z

It's really as simple as that: If you're running for public office, and you don't vote for the Right Thing To Do, and instead vote for the VIP Box with a Limo Entrance in your Big Tent, you don't get my vote. You should stop running for public office, because what you really are is a pawn for billionaires.

There's definitely a need for an actively _anti-fascist_ ...

2026-04-21T22:55:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…knum
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There's definitely a need for an actively _anti-fascist_ approach to tech, and in particular as you point out, software licensing. Restrictive free/open licensing has been eroded over the decades, and the time really is _now_ for an ecosystem attached to an explicitly political license.

It's no accident that one of the uses of "AI" is to launder copyright violation, and that further erodes open source licensing. "The robot did it" gets you a copy of any licensed code, lawyer-free.

Every time someone in the last few years told me "You cannot ...

2026-04-21T17:02:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…p62v
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Every time someone in the last few years told me "You cannot use that microcontroller because it doesn't have control-flow-integrity extensions", I pictured them as the guy in the middle of that graph.

Was about to suggest Linode/Akamai too. There's even cheaper ...

2026-04-20T21:29:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…50wj
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Was about to suggest Linode/Akamai too. There's even cheaper options if you can fit in less RAM (e.g $7/1GB). If your network bandwidth is capped at 1gbit/sec, at the prices I'm quoted you'd incur $50/day for a 100% flood if you didn't get around to shutting down, which isn't terrible.

Can we have a secret menu version where the lamb is mutton, and ...

2026-04-14T06:49:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…8ekt
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Can we have a secret menu version where the lamb is mutton, and the bun is pita bread instead? Also just insanely hot chili sauce smothering everything. (Maybe only in the UK)

RE: https://wandering.shop/@cstross/115967024834089192 It's ...

2026-01-27T17:47:08Z

RE: https://wandering.shop/@cstross/115967024834089192

It's worse than that. Mandatory, authoritatively checked age verification is a short, slippery slope directly to mandatory, authoritatively checked internet access. This isn't hyperbole. Gating VPN access is just a short stop in between.

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/115957156730683593 Reminder ...

2026-01-25T19:20:29Z

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/115957156730683593

Reminder that all the DHS, ICE, CBP, and TSA, have only existed ~25 years, as an authoritarian power grab post-9/11 by the Republican Party, and they could easily *stop* existing. Their function wasn't necessary before, and isn't now.

Thought of the day, and I wish there were a way to get this to ...

2025-12-21T17:26:08Z

Thought of the day, and I wish there were a way to get this to legislators:

Come the next Big One earthquake, all of San Francisco’s emergency services will be blocked by Waymos.

Gains in efficiency made solar a viable power source, but ...

2025-08-21T19:48:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…dgcx
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Gains in efficiency made solar a viable power source, but unfortunately that's also reaching physical limits. (Had to look this up) https://www.reddit.com/r/Infographics/comments/vbhf94/timeline_of_solar_panel_efficiency/#lightbox There's another couple of doublings, maybe, but otherwise the only gains in cost will be from making the panels more compact, or easier to install.

On this graph of the price of solar panels, you will note that ...

2025-08-21T19:16:16Z

On this graph of the price of solar panels, you will note that the X axis (year) is linear, while the Y axis ($/W) is logarithmic. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/solar-pv-prices

Why I’m in no hurry to get back into gainful employment in big ...

2025-06-22T17:07:02Z

Why I’m in no hurry to get back into gainful employment in big tech. https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@_benui/109852367054141914

Reminder Trump has zero authority to just sign a piece of paper ...

2025-02-06T04:19:26Z

Reminder Trump has zero authority to just sign a piece of paper and expect people to follow his orders like he’s a fucking king.

You’re not servants of a king.

Branches of government are who act on it. Not you. If you’re, say a hospital enacting his EOs, that is an administrator doing it. Not an EO.

Apple is putting DEI to a shareholder vote, without actually ...

2025-01-20T06:38:26Z

In reply to nevent1q…s5aa
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Apple is putting DEI to a shareholder vote, without actually being asked by a shareholder group. The vote is five-nines of fund managers so DEI will be gone.

"Stick Reagan on a graph" is one of my favorite pastimes! ...

2024-12-10T07:51:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…vw75
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"Stick Reagan on a graph" is one of my favorite pastimes! Works for pretty much everything which has been going wonky, and not just limited to the US.

Aviation is bad, but it always feels like active misdirection, ...

2024-11-25T21:14:25Z

Aviation is bad, but it always feels like active misdirection, considering it’s such a small fraction of the entire problem space. There are far bigger targets out there, and at least aviation has a societal benefit. https://mastodon.energy/@drsimevans/113544525380527791

These rules have a practical use in software, in compilers. ...

2024-11-14T18:12:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…4hyv
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These rules have a practical use in software, in compilers. Knowing for sure that a number is constrained to be positive, zero, or negative can be used as an optimization: eliminating code altogether, or allowing more efficient operations (in particular if negative is not possible). Computer math being modular (finite word size) makes this applicable in fewer cases though.

Enjoying Harris using the primary tool you should use to take ...

2024-09-11T05:18:54Z

Enjoying Harris using the primary tool you should use to take down narcissists and fascists: “You are weak”. He recoils like being punched every time she calls him that.