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Andy 🌎

@asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy
7 followers 3 following 70 posts

Curious human. I thrive on books, coffee, & big ideas. I was involved with open source for decades but have pulled back because "AI" companies ignore […] [bridged from fosstodon.org/@asmaloney on the fediverse by fed.brid.gy ]

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Reposted by Andy 🌎
WilliamNB 🇿🇦🇬🇧🏳️‍⚧️ @williamnb.social.vivaldi.net.ap.brid.gy · 14/10/2026
When driving, teach your kids to count cyclists, so it becomes second nature to them to look for cyclists, once they start driving.
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abadidea @0xabad1dea.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 13/10/2026
Everyone, I have a suggestion: New Skill November. #NewSkillNovember
NEW SKILL NOVEMBER

[an art nouveau painting in autumn colors of a woman playing the harp]

LEARN A NEW SKILL OR REBUILD AN OLD ONE; THE ONLY RULE: DO IT YOURSELF, DO NOT USE AI

Sketching, knitting, whittling, a musical instrument, a foreign language, a tricky video game, cooking, weaving, changing oil, riding a bike, painting, pixel art, website design, digital image editing, bookbinding, calligraphy, identifying mushrooms, embroidery, soldering, that one thing you've been putting off

Do the hard part yourself, no matter how imperfect it feels. Learn and internalize how it really works. Consult guides written by human experts, and ask your fellow human beings for help. Take pride in knowledge and abilities that are an intrinsic part of your existence and not dependent on renting from corporations.

art by Charles Louis Hinton for a November issue of Harper's Bazaar, 1896
banner by 0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange
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Bruce Lawson ✅ ♫ ♿ ✌️♂️✊ @brucelawson.vivaldi.net.ap.brid.gy · 12/10/2026
Finally, a CAPTCHA that doesn't require me to instantly know what American fire hydrants or school buses look like.
A grid showing 16 different Roman busts, with the rubric "Please click each image containing an emperor of the Flavian dynasty
If there are none, click skip"
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Hacker Memes @i0null.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 08/10/2026
trying to explain to normies how it's possible to be both a complete nerd and a total luddite.
infamous meme of Charlie Day chaotically gesturing infront of a corkboard covered in papers and red string.
credits: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
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DEF CON @defcon.defcon.social.ap.brid.gy · 07/10/2026
RIP Margaret Hamilton, software engineer extraordinaire. news.mit.edu/2026/margaret-hamilton…
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 05/10/2026
If you are running macOS 27, don't want "AI", and want to save some space, check out *RemoveMacAI*: github.com/omlahore/RemoveMacAI #macOS #macOS27 #AppleIntelligence #AI #GiveMeMyDiskSpaceBack
github.com
Turn off Apple Intelligence on macOS 27 and get its disk space back
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Reposted by Andy 🌎
Jess👾 @jesstheunstill.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2026
Wizards of the Coast has really been dropping the ball on a whole new segment of D&D players: Retirement Communities. You got millions of people all hanging out in the same place all the time with nothing to do. Get them into TTRPGs. Make large print versions of key books, oversized high […]
infosec.exchange
Original post on infosec.exchange
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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
My latest @newscientist.com cartoon
Image: A scientist proudly shows an extremely complicated machine to a colleague "My experiment is generating infinite power!". A screen displays the infinity symbol "∞" and a label reading "watts"

Caption: Simon assumed that Veronica was speechless with envy and awe, but she was actually wondering how to break it to him that the monitor was on its side.
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 22/09/2026
@drakakis Is your dog the "branch manager"? 😜
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2026
@USelaine I bought a non-fiction book and was surprised to find the appendix was one page: simply a URL. I complained to the publisher that I didn't receive the entire book and felt ripped off. They explained that it saved money on printing & gave me a voucher for other books (that more than […]
fosstodon.org
Original post on fosstodon.org
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 07/09/2026
@0xabad1dea Was this published pre-gen-"AI"?
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 23/08/2026
@Quasit I was alive then too, but not yet reading... 📚
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 23/08/2026
@Quasit I try to read SF with the time it was written (and what came before it) as context. He's writing this just after the civil rights movement, at the tail end of the sexual revolution, and with the Vietnam war still going on. As was pointed out he was a pretty progressive guy, so it's bound […]
fosstodon.org
Original post on fosstodon.org
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 23/08/2026
@Quasit I just found *The Towers of Utopia* at a second hand bookshop a couple of weeks ago. I'd read his *Commune 2000 A.D.* (1974) and enjoyed the ideas & writing, so I thought I'd give another one of his a try!
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mx alex tax1a - 2020 (6) @atax1a.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 13/08/2026
oh sure when _we_ depart from reality on some kind of psychotic break that's a "medical emergency" and "acute crisis" but when the entire tech field does it that's "just innovation" and "the future"
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abadidea @0xabad1dea.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 13/08/2026
so, (barely) reading between the lines of what Twitch's staff said: 1) they were forced by Amazon to add the AI training setting and to make it opt-out, because the overlords know perfectly well there's no reason anyone would ever opt-in 2) the actual Twitch staff who run Twitch do not like […]
infosec.exchange
Original post on infosec.exchange
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 13/08/2026
@Quasit Gollancz is a UK publisher and the *SF Masterworks* can be a little difficult to find where I am (Canada). I have bought them from my local independent bookshop (can order *some* of them from there), amazon*, and online from Kenneys in Ireland (now too expensive to ship). * Last resort […]
fosstodon.org
Original post on fosstodon.org
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 13/08/2026
@Quasit FYI there is a Gollancz *SF Masterworks* edition of it that should still be available. I bought it (new) last year I think? bookpile.org/b/0575094176
bookpile.org
Cities in Flight - Bookpile
James Blish’s galaxy-spanning masterwork, originally published in four volumes, explores a future in which two crucial discoveries – antigravity devices which enable whole cities to be lifted from the…
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Hacker Memes @i0null.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 19/07/2025
I think 90s toys were just training us to be developers. Presenting: Bop-It git edition.
Bob-It Extreme Toy (Hasbro, 1998) with custom labels:

Flick it: git stash
Spin it: git rebase
Twist it: git merge
Pull it: git pull
BOP-IT: git commit
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 05/08/2026
@0xabad1dea Good thing the "agents" are doing it so nobody is responsible!
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Tuomas Mattila @tuomasjmattila.eurosky.social · 02/08/2026
This part of 2026 is really scifi in a good way: this wall and a fridge-sized battery pack supplies 90% of our electricity. No noise, no smoke, no maintenance. #Solarpunk
A solar panel array on a shed wall, surrounded by a greenhouse and garden beds.
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 26/07/2026
@RanaldClouston @bookstodon Agree! I generally like their work, but this one was a slog. I just figured I wasn't steeped enough in political theory to "get" it all. Love the SF Masterworks series though—I've been working my way through them... Some greats, some duds!
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 25/07/2026
@Shanmonster That must be a great feeling! Congratulations! 🎉🎆
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 25/07/2026
@paninid What's a TV? 🤔😜
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Daphne Preston-Kendal @dpk.swhack.com.ap.brid.gy · 30/05/2026
Everyone talks about not having senior devs in the future because we’re replacing the juniors with LLMs, but nobody’s talking about losing senior devs now because people who are competent and care about the quality of their work are leaving this LLM-infested hellscape of a career path to go into […]
chaos.social
Original post on chaos.social
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Lee 🌏 @mrlee.aus.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/07/2026
#Climatechange
'STRAIT OF SUNSHINE
REMAINS OPEN
THE "Strait of Sunshine", the
93-million mile strategic route
this planet using only daylight. Ah well
between the Sun and the Earth,
The
Sun, which provides
remained open yesterday, as it has roughly 94,000 times mankind's
been for the last four and a half
energy needs and will do so for
billion years, providing endless free energy to the world.
billions of years to come, for free, remained open at the time of going
Scientists said, as the heatwaves to press.
hitting Britain continue to demolish
Meanwhile, America, Saudi
crops and ruin everyone's day and
Arabia, Russia, and more
kill the vulnerable, that it would continued to advise that it was best
be wonderful to be able to use this
to take sunshine from millions of
free sunshine somehow.
years ago, in the form of coal,
"It's very hot," one scientist
and use that to roast everyone on
observed. "If only we had invented
earth to death instead.
some kind of technology which we
Will this be better in the long
could use to power literally three-
run? Almost certainly, says our
quarters of everything we do on
editorial piece (see page 94).
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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
My latest @newscientist.com cartoon
Title: My confidence in my understanding of the scientific theory. 

A diagram where the confidence is marked in red on an otherwise white figure


Panel 1
"Before I got a book about it."
The figure is red up to about his stomach

Panel 2
"While I was reading the book."
The figure is reading a book. He is red up to his forehead.

Panel 3
"When I had finished the book." 
The red level has dropped  to around his mouth

Panel 4
"One week later."
Now it is at his chest.

Panel 5
"When I try to explain it to somebody." 
The level is back at stomach level.

Panel 6
"When they ask a follow-up question."
The red is so low we can barely see it.
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Reposted by Andy 🌎
Terence Eden @edent.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 02/07/2026
🆕 blog! “This blog is written in en-GB” Someone left a comment on my blog recently asking if I'd mind making my language more inclusive. They didn't get some of the cultural references I'd used and suggested it would be easier if I used tropes which were more globally known. Here's the thing […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 02/07/2026
@kboyd Yeah they've made that button super-obnoxious. No matter what colour scheme you change to it's in your face.
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 19/06/2026
@kboyd If you could align with some of the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs), you could apply to GoParity which does crowd-sourced loans for such things. Though $1 million might be a bit much for that platform, you could maybe cover part of it there. goparity.ca
goparity.ca
Goparity Impact Investing
## Build Setup
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Reposted by Andy 🌎
Darius Kazemi @darius.friend.camp.ap.brid.gy · 19/06/2026
The ActivityPub Trust & Safety Task Force is looking for a new Co-Lead (I'm stepping down because I'm leading the Social Web Working Group now). Specifically we'd like someone with trust and safety experience! Doesn't have to be paid/professional experience (volunteer moderation workers […]
friend.camp
Original post on friend.camp
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 18/06/2026
@darius 💯 Same boat. Can't be bothered putting anything online anymore—it will just feed the beast.
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 16/06/2026
I just discovered a great little charity in Ottawa 🇨🇦 called StoryBook. They give books 📚 to children in lower-income neighbourhoods to help foster an interest in reading & to improve literacy skills. As an avid reader, I would love to help pass on a passion for reading to at least one child! […]
fosstodon.org
Original post on fosstodon.org
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Ottawa Public Health @ottawapublichealth.ca · 11/06/2026
Have you noticed a new magnifying glass on the front of your foods and drinks? 🔎 It's the new front-of-package symbol. This new symbol by Healthy Canadians can help you identify foods and drinks that are high in saturated fat, sugars, and sodium. Learn more: canada.ca/front-package-labelling
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Dan Fixes Coin-Ops @ifixcoinops.retro.social.ap.brid.gy · 08/06/2026
It's 1998, you make a website in the copy of frontpage express that came with your computer, it's just like Word and it's very easy, you figure out how to upload it to the couple megs of web space that your ISP gives you (the instructions are on their website), you visit your site in your […]
retro.social
Original post on retro.social
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Bodo Tasche @bitboxer.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/05/2026
The suggestion page now links to a form for an easy way to suggest new stores and libraries. It would be amazing if you would suggest your local library or book store. Ideally with a way how we could link to an isbn search. bookpile.org/suggest #bookstodon
bookpile.org
Bookpile
Find the book you want at a bookshop or library near you. No affiliate links, no cookies.
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Bodo Tasche @bitboxer.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 27/05/2026
Hey #bookstodon, I built something and now need your help. Do you also struggle to share a link to a book? Don’t want to link to a specific store? This might be the solution: bookpile.org/b/9780356508191 A site that lists the reasonable places where to get the book, including […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
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TawdryHepburn @tawdryhepburn.mastodon.green.ap.brid.gy · 18/05/2026
Protecting home = Manyly Protecting planet = Not manly Protecting country = Manly Protecting many countries = Not Manly.
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Dr. Amy H. Sturgis 📖 @drahsturgis.universeodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 19/05/2026
The inaugural issue of the online periodical Small Planet: The Speculative Fiction in Translation Magazine is now available! #SFF #WorldSF #WorldLit #ScienceFiction #LitInTranslation #Bookstodon www.sfintranslation.com/?p=16928
sfintranslation.com
* * * Welcome to the inaugural issue of _Small Planet: The SF in Translation Magazine_ ! Each issue will be available for free on this site. This publication will bring readers reports on the SF scene in other countries, reviews of older and newer SFT, interviews with translators, editors, and authors, stats, news, and more. The website will focus more now on highlighting forthcoming books, updating source language lists, and publishing reviews of recent SFT, while the magazine will offer readers a more expansive vision of the broader SFT world over the years and today, with a vibrant mix of dedicated and guest authors. We hope that this magazine will enrich our understanding of SF around the world for years to come.
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Enalys :dragn_verified: @enalys.mastodon.zergy.net.ap.brid.gy · 05/05/2026
Still valid: #Javascript #Programming #UNIX #Meme
A meme in two cases:
1/ “Unix program written 30 years ago” : An antic Roman paved road, still in good shape.
2/ “JS package written 30 months ago” : A modern asphalt road partially destroy du to lack of maintenance.
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abadidea @0xabad1dea.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 05/05/2026
here I've been combing for old documents and stuff to free up disk space on my laptop, when all I need to do is do a little file system surgery to make sure Chrome will not be able to successfully redownload this *four and a half gigabyte* local model when […] [Original post on infosec.exchange]
screenshot of weights dot bin below the OptGuideOnDevideModel folder in Chrome's application support
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 04/05/2026
Dismay! I bought "Westviking" by Farley Mowat a while ago and just started it, only to find that the appendices aren't included in the book; they only included a page with a URL and a QR code. The intro suggests to read the appendices first and then references […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]
Cover of the book "Westviking" by Farley Mowat featuring a Viking ship.
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Tom Gauld @tomgauld.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
#ArtemisII My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com
Title: Artemis 2

Panel 1: 
Moon "Hi guys!"
Artemis 2"Hello Moon!"

Panel 2:
Moon "You're not landing"

Panel 3:
Artemis 2 "Just orbiting this time."
Moon "Oh."

Panel 4:
Artemis 2, leaving "But we'll be back soon."

Panel 5:
Moon thinking...

Panel 6:
Moon, sadly "That's what they said in 1972."
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Paco Hope @paco.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 23/04/2026
I just saw the most amazingly corporate expression of "we did what the bosses wanted us to do, even though the research didn't support that." The actual phrase was: > The research employed a methodology that prioritized stakeholder voice over researcher interpretation. I wonder if a data […]
infosec.exchange
Original post on infosec.exchange
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Hacker Memes @i0null.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 23/04/2026
what it was like writing code in the 90s
Peter Griffin at a desk with an obnoxiously Large Plume/Feather Pen

Credits: Family GuyIDE displaying code in an old style calligraphic typeface

Credits: programmerhumor.io
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 22/04/2026
@kboyd Yeah—I'm not even thinking about it. 🙃
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Wesley Moore @wezm.mastodon.decentralised.social.ap.brid.gy · 20/04/2026
Age verification
A dialog box in Platinum Mac OS style. The title is "Age Verification". The body of the dialog has the text "Does you neck hurt?" with Yes and No buttons.
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Stefan Bohacek @fediverse.stefanbohacek.online · 19/04/2026
Happy National Library Week! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Libr… #libraries #NationalLibraryWeek #LibraryWeek #books #reading #bookstodon
A two-panel Charlie Brown comic.

In the first panel, three young children (Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Linus) stand outside. One of the children, Linus, approaches the other two children, holding a library card, and says:

"Look! Library card! I've taken out a library card!"

He stands proud, holding his library card to his chest, and continues:

"I have been given my citizenship in the land of knowledge!"
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Andy 🌎 @asmaloney.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 18/04/2026
I saw this truncated CBC headline and was expecting a different ending... #RenewableEnergy #oil #headlines #BaitAndSwitch #CanWePleaseFocusOnRenewableEnergy
Truncated CBC headline: "Analysis: Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz sparks 'tremendous interest' in alternate..."

Me: Aha! People are FINALLY getting it!

Full headline: "Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz sparks 'tremendous interest' in alternate routes"

Oh.
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Mastodon @mastodon.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 14/04/2026
We’re happy to share that Mastodon has been awarded a service agreement from the Sovereign Tech Fund @sovtechfund 🎉 This covers five major initiatives through 2026 and 2027. We are very grateful for this support. Read about the details in our blog post […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
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