Part of the ongoing Big Tech's War on Users series. A follow-up to Prove You're Human. Pay With Your Data. Back in May I wrote about the whole "prove you're human" racket. reCAPTCHA going from digitizing books to labeling Google's image data, the phone number push, the research showing bots beat humans at the image challenges anyway. Near the end I gave Cloudflare's Turnstile some partial credit. No traffic lights, no Google, genuinely better. But still a checkpoint you didn't agree to, run by…

In my latest post, Who I blog for, I mentioned that “blogging is my number one hobby”. I’ve written about it several times, how there’s so much to it that makes it the perfect creative outlet, IMHO. Personally, that also includes playing around with different platforms and publishing tools. I really enjoy it, just as I enjoy trying different restaurants and cafes. Recently, I’ve received a few messages from people seeing me playing around with other blogging tools, wondering if I’m planning on…

Early surgical diagrams that present patients prying themselves open for our anatomical gaze.

Did you know that most law firm owners work over 50 hours a week and constantly worry about court deadlines? Team communication is often scattered across different channels like WhatsApp, email, and texts. In this episode, we show you how to regain control over your deadlines and bring peace of mind to your law firm’s daily operations. Learn how to organize work in a law firm using a simple tool like Nozbe and streamline company operations and team communication without major overhauls -…

When we were first introduced to the X68000 ACE, we saw that the board was very corroded from battery damage. Later on, I whacked the battery out of it and did my best to clean up the corrosion without completely dismantling the machine. This time, it’s personal. Workstation, that is. My initial assumption was that all I’d really need to do is get the I/O board out and repair the obvious battery damage. But, as we all know, old plastics can conspire to slow you down on a project. In the end,…

It's 1984, and for Doctor Who it's a year of two Doctors - and they're starting to look at risk of outnumbering the viewers...

Shortly after my wife and I rescued our dog, we realized how much there was to learn. We were trying to learn it all ourselves, which felt challenging, and we could continue doing that. Or, we could do something else, like hiring a professional trainer. The specific trainer mattered, of course. However, it mattered less than our belief that hiring any trainer would probably be much more constructive than not hiring a trainer. We conducted a quick search, found someone we liked, and booked the…

I hate having to talk about gen AI. I live my life way better when I avoid anything AI related. I do my best to avoid playing games containing any trace of gen AI. I wish it could die, this is why I am pretending it doesn’t exist. But the horror of modern life is that it is unavoidable for a simple fact: It is making everything worse. The reality of indie game making is dire, especially if you are a solo developer. And now generative AI is making everything worse. Consider the concept of “vibe…

There's not really any juicy details, but I figured since I made a post about getting the job, I should make one now that I've quit. I only worked two shifts. When I called my manager about my availability she made it clear that because of my role, my hours can't change. It seemed like she didn't want to fire me, maybe if she did there would be some extra paperwork she has to do. So even though I did end up quitting, it felt like we were playing a game of who would say the thing first. At least…

I’ve found, recently, there are at least two very distinct ways to experience being in the present. Each is its own kind of box. Instead of being smooshed across space and time, I come into the present — this place and time. Here’s the thing, it turns out my actual experience of this thing called … Continue reading Being Present → The post Being Present appeared first on Xxaxx.

Sharing a passage from an article can mean copying the quote, opening Mastodon, finding the article again for its title and URL, and assembling the post by hand. I wanted to highlight the part worth sharing, click an extension icon, and have those pieces waiting in an editable draft.That is the workflow behind Drift — Share to Mastodon, my new Chrome extension. The highlighted passage comes first, followed by the title and link. You can add your thoughts, choose a saved server, and continue to…

Note: This article was published in the Dutch Java Magazine in September 2026If you read this magazine, it most likely means that you're already using AI every day to assist you in your development. Depending on where you work and your taste, it could be Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor or any of the millions of other options.For me, the workflow has been like this: Start using the Junie features from within IntelliJ IDEA. Things like "explain issue" or "generate unit tests". As models grew…

I think it's time... #Ubuntu Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is ace, and so are you. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email, or leave a comment.

The Sourdough Co. in St. Pete has some pretty nice digs now in St. Pete’s EDGE District, but their upgrade is going to be impressive. They’re moving to the Union Trust Bank building at 895 Central, which will give them an impressive storefront: This is a big step up: the building has three levels with a mezzanine and basement (basements are rare here) for nearly 11,000 square feet of floor space. And yes, it has one of those classic bank vaults! The building’s been empty for three decades,…

A classic string board is assembled in The PrimeTime’s “I can’t believe this is happening” video (18 September 2026). From contributor Patrick Fadely.

Jeff Horwich serves as interlocutor in “Interview with Ariel Pakes: To understand the broader economy, unlock the inner workings of product markets” (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, September 25, 2026). Pakes is an industrial organization economist, so he is congenitally suspicious of macroeconomics aggregates and broad statements about “how markets work.” Instead, he wants to examine actual markets. One of his most prominent papers, written with Steven Berry and James Levinsohn, was…

I love wearing my Apple Watch. Not only does it tell me that I apparently lost the ability to stay in Zone 2 while running, it also tracks everything else, lets me quickly set timers, pause my podcast without fishing my iPhone out of my pocket, and gives me glanceable information about my life. Unfortunately, it looks like shit. That’s why I invested quite some money (€40) and bought this very pretty Casio watch. I love it! It’s shiny and has much more of a visual opinion than the Apple Watch,…

The Settlement Administrator has given claimants another extension. This morning, the official site states: For claims where all claimants do not agree on the appropriate allocation for a work, claimants may submit additional information supporting their proposed allocation. The Settlement Administrator asks that claimants submit this information expeditiously and within 60 days of receiving

After a hiatus, the Silent Movie Day Blogathon is back on Silent-ology! An official, yearly celebration that was kicked off just a few years ago, Silent Movie Day takes place every September 29th. Film lovers from all over the world … Continue reading →

This morning, I killed my Gumroad stores. I hadn’t been watching Gumroad. I kept them around to support VAT, and a handful of you used them. This morning I learned that gum road has gone fully AI. I can’t trust them with my intellectual property. Their support is also managed by AI, so I can’t trust them with money. This is disappointing, but mostly it’s a reminder that I need to keep a better eye on my retailers. European folks, I’m considering other retailers that will support VAT.…

Bob Dylan - Rolling Thunder Rehearsals (1976)You’ve probably heard — there’s a gargantuan 39-disc set of soundboards from Bob Dylan’s 1976 Rolling Thunder Revue tour headed our way in early November. Is this kind of object ridiculous? Yeah. Do I want it? Ohhhh yeah. As with the recent 1974 box — only 27 discs! — it’ll be a blast to comb through these weird and wild performances, any of which have never circulated in any form. And hey, the 1976 collection could’ve been even bigger! The compilers…

And here we are. Right where the tech bro oligarchy wanted us. Giving in to the onslaught, mindlessly turning over all of our data to be chopped up and sold to the highest bidder. Any bidder actually. If you’ve spent half a millisecond online in the last few weeks you’ve been exposed to the relentless onslaught from Mark Zuckerberg about Muse, the latest incantation dreamed up from the demon spawns of hell that is Meta. Yes, it’s another way to grab your data and use it for their purposes…

Being good enough is not enough. Others must also know that you are good. But you are never going to be the absolute best. There will always be someone better than you. Such is the world. In that case, all you have to do is be more popular than the person who is better than you. That’s how brands always win. The brands at the top aren’t necessarily the best ones. They are there because they won the race for popularity. Social media has made this abundantly clear. You will often find the best…

Anonymous photographer circa 1920? Now in a private collection.

I saw this going viral: “An Open Letter to Scott Alexander,” by Steven Pinker He writes: I stand by my claim that most of the doomer scenarios are preposterous (beginning with the AI paperclip maximiser that consumes our bodies as raw materials). But as rationalists we should agree that attacking an idea should not be confused with attacking a person. I broadly agree with Pinker, even if he does not adequately address the latest literature. He’s still focused on the paperclip maximizer…

Part of my cookie series. This is for September. Read about the introduction and idea of this project in the inaugural post. Over the summer, I took a break from baking cookies because it was very hot. Our apartment doesn't have air conditioning and it didn't seem worth it to increase the heat in the building. That was the main reason. The second was because I already felt burnt out by the project. Baking cookies became a chore rather than a hobby. Well, I'm happy to report that the summer…

PlayersAarav Bautista/Scout - VinegarSyndrome Ser Hart Lieber/Scout - Gourd Dwarf Zoe Santos/Other - Oldskol SummaryThe crew starts on Wippletree with a disheveled, stumpy woman approaching them. Cassandra Yuan offers them a job to hunt down a stolen sailing ship. A playboy came in and borrowed it for a test drive but hasn't returned it for three weeks. She offers 80k but the crew counters with 100k. She accepts. The crew sets up their medical clinic and treat a group of locals with compromised…

Guest Post by: David Tonaszuck A reflection on the Gospel of Matthew 13:24-30 Dear Friends in Christ, There was once a boy, not much older than fourteen, who wandered the dusty back roads near a small farming town at the turn of the century. He was an orphan, left to fend for himself in a … Continue reading Rest for the Weary: Trusting Jesus to Lighten Our Burdens The post Born Again in the Spirit first appeared on The Simple Catholic. The post Born Again in the Spirit appeared first on The…

From a book I'm reading for review (of which more in due course, no doubt), I learn of a surprising business venture undertaken by Daniel Defoe, a man full of bright ideas but entirely devoid of commercial nous. Finding himself broke and heavily in debt in 1692, having run through his wife's considerable fortune and lost money on one failed venture after another, he saw a wonderful chance to make big money fast – civet farming. Civets were highly prized for the pungent musk that could be…