myrmepropagandist

pro-ant propaganda, building electronics, writing sci-fi teaching mathematics & CS. I live in NYC.🎖️(<<Medal Awarded for the time when there were too many people.)
Proverbs 6:6

bug haters DNI

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I am a single human person not an ant colony.

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give me your stray bits and I'll spend it promoting ants $: 1DS6Qg8UgDws3kJ5qWa24agrVvP8j7iuUU

Last Notes

2026-10-11 20:59:49 UTC

There are all these services that claim they can remove you from mailing lists, protect you from data breeches, or alert you when your data are on the dark web.
I'm really skeptical of all of them.
* Are there any standards or regulations about running such services?
* Are there any independent reviews of their effectiveness?
In the end it sounds like just one more group that would have your data.

2026-10-06 11:46:51 UTC

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This has been applied enough that I suspect that for most people, their last bad experience with bureaucracy is more likely to be one with a corporate bureaucracy.
* The insurance company denying the claim
* The online payment service charging unexpected fees
* The large online retailer doing nothing about an obvious scam.
* The social media platform messing up your online forum for your local sports club
etc.
Companies have filled the power vacuum and it is terrible in new ways.

2026-10-06 10:47:12 UTC

The eight most terrifying words in the English language:
"I'm from facebook and I'm here to help"

2026-10-06 10:29:54 UTC

Is there a word for when a dataset is created, possibly not even intentionally but then some other group of people swoop in and analyze and apply that data in a new unexpected, strange possibly evil way?
Like taking all of the attendance data from a school and using it to predict real estate prices?
(Which happened.)

2026-10-06 10:03:01 UTC

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This might not seem obvious but when you write something in an email it is FOREVER. The stakes are way too high.
There was an older system of paper technology where that wasn't the case.
Nonetheless all of this stuff is kind of ominous.

2026-10-06 10:01:08 UTC

Thinking about the intrinsic privacy protections of paper vs. digital bureaucracies.
In my search for photos of hall passes I found this company that makes forms for schools. Many of them have duplication layers. So you could write a hall pass and keep a copy of all the passes you'd written.
But think about this "note from teacher" pad. One copy for the kid to take home, one for you. No electronic footprint. Almost seems quaint.
https://cdn.masto.host/sauropodswin/media_attachments/files/117/393/381/538/621/356/original/492606c2b426673b.png

2026-10-01 22:41:27 UTC

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Selling sad apples in NY state should be a crime. It's one of our top produce exports as a state. The whole place is full of apples. I don't get how they find the bad ones.

2026-10-01 22:32:54 UTC

"it's a banana what could it cost? $5?"
"..."
"no... no it can't be."

2026-10-01 22:28:32 UTC

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I'm just really really cheap about food prices.
I haven't eaten cereal for two years since I *saw* a box that cost like $7 and it made me so angry that now I hate cereal.

2026-10-01 22:25:44 UTC

When I first signed up for the vegetable co-op I thought $350 for eight weeks of veggies was exorbitant. But it's locally grown fresh food and they throw in honey and bread now and then... so I thought it was a nice way to make our meals a little more fancy and nice.
Grocery prices have gone up so much that now it seems like a deal?

2026-05-03 23:54:53 UTC

Most places with a cryptid try to make it make a little sense. "Well, you see there are these primates from the last Ice Age and ... " or " ... this lake is very old and catfish never stop growing so you can't rule out that one is the size of bus..."
But not NJ. "There is a devil in the woods. It's gonna get you."
"so... how did it get there? what's the deal?"
"... it's the devil."

2024-08-28 23:59:43 UTC

I was too scared to ask when I got it for a wedding gift like 18 years ago... but does this rice cooker *really* have "fuzzy logic"? What exactly does that mean? Is that why it is so magical and cooks the rice perfectly with no thinking?
Will looking into its secrets cause it to stop working?