Nostr notes by Paul

I'm fascinated by the rapidity and depth of deskilling that ...

2026-10-26T08:41:03Z

I'm fascinated by the rapidity and depth of deskilling that comes from chatbot use. Today's example: say three things about your own child.

"Small, human, um, help me out here, chatbot, I'm drawing a blank."

It's sold in the language of feminism, of labour-saving technology for emotional labour, but it's really big tech spotting an untapped market (women) and encouraging you to outsource the last of your humanity for a monthly fee as your brain turns to paste.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/25/style/marissa-mayer-ai-assistants-women.html

> And, ick. Are all the X mirrors really all gone? No, e.g. ...

2026-10-22T09:49:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…fqj4
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> And, ick. Are all the X mirrors really all gone?

No, e.g. https://nitter.click/seanallen_dev/status/2112167799132979389

There's a usually-accurate list of live instances here: https://codeberg.org/shitter/shitter/wiki/Instances

It's called two factor authentication because there are two ...

2026-10-21T14:00:09Z

It's called two factor authentication because there are two factors and they're both two.

Not to be confused with Gwyneth Paltrow's big ass-coffee. ...

2026-10-20T16:17:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…m704
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Not to be confused with Gwyneth Paltrow's big ass-coffee.

(This is also the different between "but first coffee" and "butt-first coffee".)

"Not every billionaire is a policy failure," argues an ...

2026-10-19T07:42:00Z

"Not every billionaire is a policy failure," argues an opinion piece in the FT.

Comrades, we're winning the argument. They've conceded the broad principle and are reduced to haggling over details.

https://www.ft.com/content/2c8c610b-83f3-4cab-b409-bab69f4c2207

I no longer care to work on any Ruby gems so I've archived ...

2026-10-18T17:34:13Z

I no longer care to work on any Ruby gems so I've archived all my gems' repositories and added a link to a blog post explaining why: https://po-ru.com/2026/10/18/why-im-no-longer-updating-this-repository

not sure about the liability side, but @npub1d8t…g9uz are a ...

2026-07-28T20:51:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…02t0
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not sure about the liability side, but Go Free Range worker co-op (npub1d8t…g9uz) are a co-op and some of them are active on here.

Doing things the hard way is good, actually. ...

2026-07-28T15:24:40Z

Doing things the hard way is good, actually.

https://po-ru.com/2026/07/28/you-dont-just-have-to-give-in
#blog

and it did it after having been fed the source code of a number ...

2026-07-26T21:28:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…up3j
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and it did it after having been fed the source code of a number of pre-existing cycle-accurate 65816 emulators. I wonder if it would perform so well on a novel CPU.

Friend just lost their job, right after buying a new house, and ...

2026-05-21T12:25:13Z

Friend just lost their job, right after buying a new house, and because they're on a visa they have 90 days to find another job or get deported.

If anyone has any leads on software product/partner/customer management jobs in London, please send them my way.

it's not ideal, but the repairability problem is largely ...

2026-03-06T12:15:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…l92d
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it's not ideal, but the repairability problem is largely solved by the fact that an ecosystem of repairers had sprung up. It's just that these ones refuse to work on my phone unless I reset it to stock software. I'll probably find someone else. And using a second hand phone is less waste than a new repairable one, especially if it has software support for years to come.

it wasn't expensive. It was second hand. And there are no ...

2026-03-06T11:56:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…50zl
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it wasn't expensive. It was second hand. And there are no good alternatives except things like the very expensive and very poorly supported fairphone

I don't think I could have got it changed under warranty, but ...

2026-03-06T11:46:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…g6a2
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I don't think I could have got it changed under warranty, but didn't mind paying. They just wouldn't do it, and it's not a DIY job!

Useless bastards at ismash refuse to replace my battery because ...

2026-03-06T11:33:08Z

Useless bastards at ismash refuse to replace my battery because my phone runs GrapheneOS (npub1kwa…e0nj). Is every fucker in this world a running dog lackey volunteer soldier for the corporations?

Asking the doctor why their clinic notes say "please like and ...

2025-07-22T11:08:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…h4rl
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Asking the doctor why their clinic notes say "please like and subscribe" at the end

Still working for me! Also, @npub1x59…gect found that you can ...

2025-07-17T09:17:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…70xj
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Still working for me! Also, Terence Eden (npub1x59…gect) found that you can use Curve for contactless payments on GrapheneOS.

"professors with unpronounceable names" is not a good ...

2025-07-11T15:20:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…v8d3
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"professors with unpronounceable names" is not a good start for an adventure into linguistics.

You're right about West London (that's what Tory councils ...

2025-06-06T19:30:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…cjde
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You're right about West London (that's what Tory councils will do to the public realm), but you don't have to move all the way to Valencia to avoid that. My bit of South East London is very well served by segregated and quiet cycle routes.

Listening to @npub1nuu…gjr3 talking up the fediverse on 6music.

2025-04-23T19:11:26Z

Listening to Meljoann (npub1nuu…gjr3) talking up the fediverse on 6music.

I don't even think that serious religious readers are ...

2025-03-03T11:08:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…l4fy
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I don't even think that serious *religious* readers are approaching the Bible without that context, history, and awareness of translation.

The people from 18F were just following orders when they deleted ...

2025-03-01T11:20:11Z

The people from 18F were just following orders when they deleted all references to diversity, equity, and inclusion from their documentation. They have now all been laid off.

There is a lesson about principles here.

https://github.com/18F/handbook/pulls?q=is%3Apr+is%3Aclosed

Fascinating, captain. It seems that this species went extinct ...

2025-01-29T14:51:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…lzr2
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Fascinating, captain. It seems that this species went extinct after they spent so much time on Teams calls that they no longer had a chance to eat or sleep.

I'm wearing a teal jumper and black trousers today, and just ...

2025-01-29T11:28:39Z

I'm wearing a teal jumper and black trousers today, and just realised that I'm basically dressed like a science officer from the original Star Trek.

Week 207: The Incident ...

2024-12-24T09:03:56Z

Week 207: The Incident
https://po-ru.com/2024/12/23/week-207-the-incident
#weeknotes #blog

"Queen Elizabeth II memorial could cost up to £46 ...

2024-12-12T11:34:36Z

"Queen Elizabeth II memorial could cost up to £46 million" may I humbly suggest a polyvalent solution to the country's troubles:

**The Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Sewage Treatment Facility**

I'm sympathetic to your case, but I also think that people ...

2024-12-12T11:23:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…uck5
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I'm sympathetic to your case, but I also think that people who install Slack (or equivalent) on their phones and leave the notifications on have about as much right to complain as those people who install the BBC News app and moan about getting an alert about some celebrity trivia.

Or, to put it another way, if the purpose of a system is what it does, the purpose of the Slack app *is* to spam 1800 people's phones at once. NOTABUG works as intended.

That's what I mean: that's scenario b. The account host ...

2024-11-25T11:11:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…npu2
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That's what I mean: that's scenario b. The account host has to know who is subscribed. But if you look at my profile via your server (which it seems you can't do on the web as it redirects, but can do with a front end like elk.zone) you'd see fewer followers. If I look at your profile via my server, I can only see 4 of your followers!

This is what I expect based on my mental model of Mastodon – ...

2024-11-25T10:58:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…pzda
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This is what I expect based on my mental model of Mastodon – the *number* of followers is exposed by the API, but the identities of followers can only be either (a) inferred from data seen by the server you're looking at, or (b) retrieved from the account's host server *iff* it chooses to expose it – but I'd be interested to know whether that's correct.

A "standup" is a kind of debased and half-remembered ...

2024-10-09T08:36:37Z

A "standup" is a kind of debased and half-remembered ritual of a video call where everyone is sitting down, a daily reminder that Agile needs a Reformation.

funnily enough, a voucher is the reason I don't use Ocado. ...

2024-09-07T16:02:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…27lm
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funnily enough, a voucher is the reason I don't use Ocado.

Many years ago, I had a voucher for a discount off my first two purchases from them. My first purchase went very wrong: they turned up two hours late with only half the stuff. In compensation, they gave me a discount off my next purchase, but I already had a discount and couldn't use both, so it was nugatory. I was offended and never shopped there again!

I read the novel of Starve Acre a couple of years ago, but I had ...

2024-09-07T11:09:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…aw0p
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I read the novel of Starve Acre a couple of years ago, but I had no idea it had been turned into a film. The book was great, I thought.

I can't recommend that eBay seller: they didn't package ...

2024-08-01T12:25:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…dx46
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I can't recommend that eBay seller: they didn't package the case adequately (just a single layer of deflated thin bubble wrap in a grey polythene bag) and the case I bought was damaged in transit.