Nick @internic@social.cleverlibre.org
- Pronouns
- he/him/his
Theoretical physicist by training (PhD in quantum open systems/quantum information), University lecturer for a bit, and currently paying the bills as an engineer working in optical communication (implementation) and quantum communication (concepts), though still pursuing a little science on the side. I'm interested in physics and math, of course, but I enjoy learning about really any area of science, philosophy, and many other academic areas as well. My biggest other interest is hiking and generally being out in nature.
Joined Nov 2022
Nick
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Out of the Software Crisis and The Intelligence Illusion are my two main ebooks. I probably don't talk about them enough but they got pretty solid reviews and sales, so right out of the gate I think $49 bucks for those two is a solid deal.
But the full price of the Uncluttered course/web-book is $59 USD, so even if you've already got the two ebooks, you're still getting a discount off the course.
And Yellow is a bit of an experiment on my part
Nick
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@internic @LinuxAndYarn If you buy the ebook at my shop (craphound.com/shop), I get ~200% of what I get if you buy it elsewhere. For hardcovers, there's no difference.
I've been wanting to get a copy of The Internet Con, so this is interesting, but @pluralistic do you get a bigger cut if we buy it via the link on your website?
https://craphound.com/internetcon/
Or is it all basically equivalent?
I'm sure you'd rather people read it than not read it and buy it than not buy it, so I'm not saying there's anything wrong with people using the sale, but I am curious for myself.
Nick
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For Black Friday instead of fighting over a new TV why not support independent, investigative technology journalism. 404 Media is offering 25% off today only:
- extra podcast content
- behind scenes articles
- FOIA live stream
- directly support our work
https://404mediaco.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/3202bdea0da18a08179
Nick
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COOL! The spicy article I wrote about satellite pollution is FINALLY published! "Bright satellites are disrupting astronomy research worldwide" in Nature News & Views.
This article required weeks of back-and-forth with the editor, the editor-in-chief, and Nature's lawyers, so I hope that means it's a good one.
During this process, I learned that satellite companies are so powerful and litigious that even giant publishers like Nature are terrified of getting sued. Which is...rather worrying.
Nick
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For data brokers dealing with our personal information, our data can either be useful for their profit-making or truly anonymous, but not both. Our privacy rights online must not be sacrificed so corporations can fill their pockets. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/11/debunking-myth-anonymous-data
Nick
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A handful of billionaires now have unprecedented control over banking, the food we eat, the health care we can access and, now, the information we receive.
This is what oligarchy looks like.
@cyberjunkie As someone else mentioned, I think it's huge because of the dependencies. So you might not need to install nearly so much stuff if you use numerous other FlatPacks, since the dependencies might already be installed for other stuff.
@wyndon I use Mint (which means an Ubunu package would work), but my impression is that they only distribute via Flatpack. It looks like someone maintains something for Arch, but that's all I saw.
Nick
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Nick
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The next killer internet product is going to be a search engine that doesn't index LLM generated noise.
Nick
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In the mid-70s, Doug Lenat (who sadly passed away this summer) wrote two #AI programs that were widely celebrated for their ability to discover new mathematical concepts.
In 1983, he wrote a critical reflection "Why AM and Eurisko Appear to Work", which I regard as one of the most important papers in AI ever. Short version: they were just re-discovering structures built into their programming language.
Those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221605660_Why_AM_and_Eurisko_Appear_to_Work
Nick
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Nick
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This just went live: The John Scalzi Humble Bundle! Get a whole bunch of my books really cheap - and support the literacy charity First Book, which provides books and literary resources to kids in need. A perfect way to stock up on my eBooks. Please feel free to share around!
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/john-scalzis-interdependency-old-mans-war-and-more-tor-books
@wyndon Yeah, I figured the issue was dependencies. I don't use many (any?) things that come packaged as FlatPacks, though, so it doesn't make sense to install this; I guess I'll use a different reader, which is too bad since NewsFlash looked potentially like a nice one.
In the bigger picture, since there are also Snap and AppImage, it seems like one would end up having at least 4 copies of all dependencies then (setting aside the issue of versions). I'm not unsympathetic to the motivations, but in practice it doesn't seem to work out too well.
@Pxtl @SwiftOnSecurity I wish more organizations would realize this. I always think of the line from Star Wars, "the more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
I have seen organizations with security rules that preclude some workers from using the tools they need to use for their core job functions, and, guess what, people circumvent the restrictions rather than just saying "well, you've made my job impossible" (in no small part because no one seems to be interested in hearing the latter anyway).
I've also seen people go through gymnastics of rationalization to avoid asking legal about something because they know that legal just reflexively says no to almost everything (unless someone very powerful asks about it). Ultimately, that dynamic does not work to the benefit of the organization.
I was interested in the NewsFlash #RSS reader, until I saw that installing the FlatPack required 3.6 GB, whereas installing Liferea required about 3 MB. I assume this is a #FlatPack issue rather than NewsFlash being bloated. It was funny, since an article mentioned their slimmed down code base. In related news, if people have RSS feed readers they really like using on #Linux I'm open to suggestions. Some way of syncing across devices (including Android) would be a plus.
Nick
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The thing about Security is it’s doing procedures in a safe way, not preventing them. This is the benefit of practitioners in Security roles, alongside traditional policy folks.
Otherwise you just say no and people do it anyway. Which means you have lost control, not gained it. You have abdicated responsibility instead of directing action.
- Pronouns
- he/him/his
Theoretical physicist by training (PhD in quantum open systems/quantum information), University lecturer for a bit, and currently paying the bills as an engineer working in optical communication (implementation) and quantum communication (concepts), though still pursuing a little science on the side. I'm interested in physics and math, of course, but I enjoy learning about really any area of science, philosophy, and many other academic areas as well. My biggest other interest is hiking and generally being out in nature.
Joined Nov 2022
