Nostr notes by Moriel 🏳️‍⚧️

Large study shows that people who use AI to solve simple problems ...

2026-10-27T11:07:13Z

Large study shows that people who use AI to solve simple problems become less motivated to solve problems on their own if the AI tool is removed from them.

#AI #LLM

https://www.livescience.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/10-minutes-is-all-it-takes-for-ai-assistance-to-erode-your-motivation-study-shows

Police were called on 3 year old Black boy and he and his family ...

2026-10-26T10:44:49Z

Police were called on 3 year old Black boy and he and his family were banned from the youth soccer league because he was *too good at playing soccer*.

But don't you dare say we still have a racism problem in the USA! It's just all about fairness in childrens sports.

#racism #soccer #BlackMastodon

https://blacksportsonline.com/2026/10/police-called-on-3-year-old-black-boy-because-he-was-too-good-at-soccer

i woke up this morning at 4:30am to use the bathroom and could ...

2026-10-08T23:52:26Z

i woke up this morning at 4:30am to use the bathroom and could not get back to sleep afterwards. As i lay in bed in the pre-dawn dark my mind went down strange pathways and i found myself having a revelation: there is an unmet need in the world for a program that can sort files - at the bit level! Thus, i wrote sortbits.py a simple command line tool to let you sort all of the bits in a file. You can either sort it in ascending order so the zeros come before the ones, or you can sort it in descending order so the ones come before the zeros. Once your file is sorted you will be able to use efficient search algorithms to find the exact bit that you are looking for. So here is the script for all to use and enjoy!

You're welcome.

#python #humor #programming

https://moriels-musings.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/sortbits.py

Well what do you know! I just double checked and Win-L does work ...

2026-10-08T01:36:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…8ueg
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Well what do you know! I just double checked and Win-L does work after all. I was probably checking Alt-L without thinking about it. I have never bothered using the Windows or menu keys because they always seemed kind of pointless to me. TIL! Thank you!

Ah, now this would be useful, but unfortunately that doesn't ...

2026-10-08T00:51:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…ap6g
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Ah, now this would be useful, but unfortunately that doesn't work on my company laptop. I'm not sure if our admins deliberately disabled it for some reason, or if Windows itself disables it when you set Windows to use Ctrl-Alt-Del to access the login menu.

On my Windows 11 laptop for work, i can lock the screen by using ...

2026-10-07T23:25:35Z

On my Windows 11 laptop for work, i can lock the screen by using Ctrl-Alt-Del then hitting Enter, because Ctrl-Alt-Del brings up a small menu and the lock screen option is selected by default. This has become muscle memory.

On my Kubuntu laptop at home, i can lock the screen by typing Alt-L. This is also muscle memory.

But which combo i actually type at any given time is a bit random now. If my brain is on autopilot i might use Alt-L at work, wonder for a second why nothing happened and then correct myself. But at home, if i accidentally Ctrl-Alt-Del, Enter something does happen, because Ctrl-Alt-Del is a default keyboard shortcut in KDE to bring up the session management menu. Do you know what menu item is selected by default? That's right. Shut down the system. No confirmation dialog. No way to interrupt it.

Accidentally did that again this morning, so i finally looked it up, and yes i can disable the keyboard shortcut entirely in KDE, so that's what i've now done. My system is protected from accidental shutdowns now.

But seriously, KDE devs, what made you decide to have no confirmation dialog when selecting to shut down a running system, and what absolute demon from Hell inspired you to make that the default option so the shortcut is the same as locking the screen on the world's most widely used operating system?

#KDE #linux #ubuntu

#penguins #linux #humor ...

2026-09-07T17:59:28Z

#penguins #linux #humor

Attention developers of KDE, Gnome, Libreoffice, GIMP, and any ...

2026-09-05T19:19:06Z

Attention developers of KDE, Gnome, Libreoffice, GIMP, and any and all applications that let you use fonts: We need to talk about font management.

i run Kubuntu and when i am editing a document or an image and need to select a font, i am presented with a single scrolling list of all the fonts installed on the system, which is several hundred and includes fonts not only for every language currently used in the world, it also includes languages such as Linear A, which has not been spoken in more than 3500 years! Now it's great that my system can display all these different things, and it's really useful in a multilingual environment such as the social media services i use, but at the same time when i need to find a font to use for my own languages it becomes and overwhelming task! We need to fix this.

What we need is for font selectors to have a way to filter the fonts displayed to you. Preferably a filter by language, though i can see how that would need a lot of work and cooperation from the font package maintainers since the language isn't really a characteristic stored in a font file as i understand. Being able to filter by other characteristics, such as serif/sans serif would also be useful.

i recognize that this is not a small or easy task, but i think it is one that desperately needs a solution. And no, uninstalling fonts is not a solution since that breaks the display of text in social media by people from other countries. Breaking the ability to communicate across international borders is not the solution to managing the list of available fonts.

i really don't know how to get this message to the right people, so i'm throwing it out into the Fediverse in the hope that someone either knows of a good workaround, or can point me in the direction of who to talk to in order to get the conversation about this issue started among the right people.

#debian #ubuntu #gnu #gimp #linux #kde #gnome #fonts

I want this t-shirt. If you don't get it, read the alt text. ...

2026-09-05T16:34:04Z

I want this t-shirt. If you don't get it, read the alt text.

https://bsky.app/profile/rob-sheridan.com/post/3muqhhfdl6k2r

Nostr event nevent1qqsytxkk6ndpyecv0srud4y706azww4zama2zspa2lsjnpm45n9280szypq3yfkr9lsudleax9dgw6084889vqjcq9qq8yvta843ps3rug2m530v59f

2026-08-30T23:44:24Z

Yeah. fuck Trump and all his racist bastard friends. ...

2026-08-21T12:12:55Z

Yeah. fuck Trump and all his racist bastard friends.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/20/politics/navy-weighs-renaming-carrier-black-war-hero-to-trump

#Trump #BlackMastodon

This may be premature since you may still be posting more to this ...

2026-08-11T19:34:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…778w
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This may be premature since you may still be posting more to this thread, but interestingly the state of Texas in the USA did actually try to define standards for and licensure of software engineers. Sadly there was so little interest in the program that it was discontinued. I worked in software development in Texas for most of 30 years and only even heard about the program as it was winding down.

People who think that anti-fascism is a threat are, almost by ...

2026-08-07T17:21:55Z

People who think that anti-fascism is a threat are, almost by definition, fascists.

Nostr event nevent1qqspgt3ma5rpza7uxqflkps60wytg6f2dqglcyc7wwzf58py66al55qzypq3yfkr9lsudleax9dgw6084889vqjcq9qq8yvta843ps3rug2m5pmqj47

2026-07-28T01:00:09Z

#Accessibility

Well i had penile inversion 28 years ago and i certainly have no ...

2026-07-21T18:09:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…m9sm
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Well i had penile inversion 28 years ago and i certainly have no clitoris. It may have depended on which surgeon you saw, but i don't recall it being common at the time.

#d&d #dnd #MentalHealth ...

2026-07-14T14:05:49Z

#d&d #dnd #MentalHealth

Because of the existence of pregnant people, the average number ...

2026-07-02T00:15:06Z

Because of the existence of pregnant people, the average number of skeletons in a human body is more than one.

Oh no! It isn't possible to be 100% pure, therefore we must ...

2026-05-17T08:08:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…nje4
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Oh no! It isn't possible to be 100% pure, therefore we must give in entirely!

OK, i see where you are coming from now, and i'm afraid it's a position that I can have no respect for. I've heard this argument used my whole life to oppose everything from environmentalism, to anti-racism, and now AI. Same old broken record.

It does? Hmm. Didn't know that. What is GCC's policy, i ...

2026-05-16T15:45:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…4gnx
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It does? Hmm. Didn't know that. What is GCC's policy, i wonder?

[EDIT] Ah. Ask, and ye shall receive. Polciy working group created a few weeks ago, so no decision yet but still time to influence them.

https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/working-group-ai-policy

i don't know enough details about this yet to reach a firm ...

2026-05-16T14:07:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…s005
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i don't know enough details about this yet to reach a firm conclusion, but i do know that if the Rust maintainers end up accepting LLM generated code then i won't be willing to learn or use the language. i'm old enough that my career is in a maintennance phase now, and i feel less pressure to constantly be learning new things. i'm getting back to where i started from in college where programming is something i do for fun, so i really have no need to learn or use tools that i find personally distasteful.

i expect i will still learn something of Rust - might even start today since i've got nothing else planned - but i will have to keep half an eye on this situation to see how it develops.

Just the other day i installed Rust on my laptop so i could start ...

2026-05-16T13:33:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…9j4d
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Just the other day i installed Rust on my laptop so i could start learning it and now this happens. This does not encourage me.

Well here's something that doesn't surprise me in the ...

2026-05-10T18:23:31Z

Well here's something that doesn't surprise me in the least.

> People with similar levels of autistic traits show greater social attraction to one another, and their brains synchronize in unique ways during active conversation. A recent experiment published in Biological Psychiatry suggests that social difficulties related to autism might be a problem of mismatched communication styles rather than an inherent social deficit.

This matches with our own life experience very well. It is much easier for us to be social with other autistics than to do so with neurotypical people.

https://www.psypost.org/brain-scans-reveal-how-people-with-autistic-traits-connect-differently/

#Autism #ASD

Research like this bothers me a lot. What is the end goal of this ...

2026-04-12T16:58:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…wsz5
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Research like this bothers me a lot. What is the end goal of this research? Is it to eliminate autism? How is that not eugenics? Autism is not inherently negative.

On the one hand, i love it when Ukraine scores a victory over ...

2026-04-12T02:11:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…xxqd
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On the one hand, i love it when Ukraine scores a victory over Russia. On the other hand, just a few days ago people were calling US destruction of civilian infrastructure in Iran, including bridges, a war crime, which i believe it is. Therefore i have to conclude this is a war crime too, and i can't celebrate it just because it was done in a new and different way.

I tried to read the Kama Sutra once, but accidentally read the ...

2026-03-28T17:43:28Z

I tried to read the Kama Sutra once, but accidentally read the Comma Sutra by mistake. My sex life isn't any better, but I'm now a senior editor for a major publishing company.

i am reminded of this ...

2025-12-23T21:44:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…c6m8
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i am reminded of this

Sounds like most governments are not fulfilling their function.

2025-12-20T03:35:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…6a0m
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Sounds like most governments are not fulfilling their function.

As a native English speaker who also has a degree in mathematics, ...

2025-12-11T13:37:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…vpyt
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As a native English speaker who also has a degree in mathematics, i have never encountered this distrinction between "number" and "amount" that you cite. Also, "countable", to me with my math background, means "able to be placed into a one to one correspondence with the set of all positive integers". Other than that technical definition, i've never encountered it to mean anything beyond "able to be counted by a regular human being". (So for example, the number of grains of sand in the world is certainly mathematically countable, but is not able to be counted by any human being, so it is both countable and uncountable at the same time.)

Ultimately, the only meaning a language has is in the mind of the person speaking and a different meaning in the mind of the person hearing. The fact that we are mostly able to have similar enough understandings to communicate is astonishing to me.

Thre is no purpose to this post except to muse randomly about the nature of language and our understanding of it while sitting at my desk early on a winter's morning before having had coffee or any other source of caffeine that might help me to be more coherent.. No judgement of participants in this conversation is intended. And i do hope the meaning of that is clear! :D

For me it's even worse, because i not only got that in the ...

2025-10-14T15:24:19Z

For me it's even worse, because i not only got that in the 90's, i also grew up in the 70's during the oil crisis. Speed limits were lowered to 55 mph to save gas, fuel efficiency standards were first introduced, President Jimmy Carter had solar panels installed on the White House roof and addressed the nation on TV about saving energy while wearing a sweater so the White House thermostat could be set lower in the winter, and all the schools had stickers on the light switches reminding you to turn the lights off when leaving a classroom empty. Energy conservation was huge when i was growing up. Now it's "go ahead and use enough electricity to power a house for a month so you can make a video of a three eyed cat playing a banjo"

#AI #energy

The Tolkien über nerd in me is trying to scream right now, but i ...

2025-09-06T00:00:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…9h5v
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The Tolkien über nerd in me is trying to scream right now, but i put a gag in her mouth and tied her up so i can listen to you in silence and give you my complete attention.

(And don't worry about the nerdy girl - she likes being tied up.)

Redirect them all to a domain like ...

2025-09-04T13:59:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…7qh7
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Redirect them all to a domain like transgendergenocide.YOURFAVORITETLD that talks about how bad things are getting?

Attention Canadians, French people, and anyone outside the United ...

2025-08-21T19:12:25Z

Attention Canadians, French people, and anyone outside the United States: Microsoft says your country's data protection laws are void and null if the US government says so. Microsoft will turn over any and all information about you to the US government at that government's request no matter what your country's laws say. Time to stop using Microsoft if you value your own privacy and your nation's sovereignty.

And hey, fellow Americans: time for you to stop using Microsoft, too, and start putting your data overseas in the servers of non-American countries. The only way any of us are going to protect our privacy is to have as little to do with our own country as is possible, and in the digital realm, there's actually a lot we can do. My Mastodon server is not the US. My personal server and email is not in the US. My company email is not in the US. I don't use Google or Meta at all, and the only thing I "use" Microsoft for is Visual Studio, which I'm even moving away from now that I'm getting out of programming for good.

Take back your privacy by boycotting the companies willing to spy on you, either for their own profit or for the corrupt, fascist American government.

#Microsoft #Canada #France #UnitedStates #USA #privacy #DataPrivacy

https://www.digitaljournal.com/tech-science/microsoft-says-u-s-law-takes-precedence-over-canadian-data-sovereignty/article

I relate to this way too much for someone without ADHD. The part ...

2025-08-17T11:49:21Z

I relate to this way too much for someone without ADHD. The part labeled "the other day" hits especially hard because it's something I have to constantly remind myself of when talking to people.

#adhd