iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Is it normal to have to provide a copy of the deed to your house to sign up for garbage collection service?

Dear Ben,

Thank you for contacting WM. I appreciate your patience with your request to set up the service. I apologize for the back and forth of the emails.

As per the area guideline, service are setup in the property owner's name. To very this please reply to this email which attached copy of the Sale Deed showing you as the owner, so we can setup the new service in your name.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

@edzitron.com Probably someone pointed this out already but 1 MW is a thousandth of 1 GW (not a hundredth).

Take, for example, American Tower Corporation’s edge data center in Raleigh, North Carolina, which I’ll mention a little later. This is a 1MW facility — or one-hundredth the size of a gigawatt facility — occupying 4000 sq ft of real estate at first and expanding to 16,000 if ATC actually gets it up to 4MW. That’s about two-and-a-bit times larger than the typical American home. And, from ground-breaking to ribbon-cutting, it took eleven months to complete. And that’s not including all the other necessary time-consuming bits, like finding land, securing permits, and so on.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Google's new "partner ad settings" do not work.

A webpage titled "Google partner ad settings" that is otherwise a blank skeleton.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Through a series of coincidences I now possess three mini bottles of Scotch that were stored in a drawer at Donald Knuth's house from 2018 until today.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

"Between 100 and 150 ICE officers" at airports? The US has more than 150 airports, so that is an average of zero.

Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement were deployed at airports across the United States on Monday, but their presence did not initially appear to ease the pain of many travelers.

Between 100 and 150 ICE officers were sent to the airports to assist Transportation Security Administration agents, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because that person was not authorized to discuss the matter.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Need advice on leather shoe repair. A small part of my shoe has peeled away from the sole. I'd like to reattach it but I don't understand how. The stitches that appear to run along the some are fake, decorative only. Is the leather supposed to be glued in or how otherwise would I reattach it?

My thumb lifts a small section of leather shoe upper away from the sole, where it has separated.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

I conducted an international study on this matter, and the results are in: most people like peanut butter. framapiaf.org/@blp/1160593...

A screenshot of a Mastodon post:

Ben Pfaff
@blp@framapiaf.org

A Scot told me the other day that only people who grew up in America like peanut butter.

38% Grew up in US, like peanut butter.
3% Grew up in US, don't like peanut butter.
42% Didn't grow up in US, like peanut butter.
16% Didn't grow up in US, don't like peanut butter.

· 1,378 people · Closed

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

The second is Computers and Typesetting, Volume E, by Donald Knuth. He was really amused by my choice of book. I explained that it was that one because I figured I might be the only one to ask for that particular one. Don is a friend of a friend so I could always get more signed if I really wanted.

Title page of Computers and Typesetting, Volume E, by Donald Knuth, signed by the author.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

I have two books that I got signed by the author in person. The first is Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams. I waited in line and when I got to the front I was startled by the idea of asking for a personal message. He didn't know me, how could it really be that personal? So I just got the signature.

Title page of Mostly Harmless, signed by Douglas Adams.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

I assumed that something was mixed up I got the shipping notification for the @techdirt.com commemorative coin, because it said it was coming from Redwood City, which is where I live. And then it arrived and I found out that Techdirt is *based* in Redwood City. I was so surprised!

Techdirt commemorative coin, along with a paper label that says "Our 2026 Commemorative Coin celebrates 30 years of Section 230. Thank you for contributing to Techdirt's fundraiser. Your support helps keep independent media alive at a time when it's needed more than ever."

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Why does openssl have credit cards in it

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Ate lunch at Javelina Cantina in Sedona AZ and I took this mirror selfie there

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

The sure sign of an email from @edzitron.com or @techdirt.com is at the end.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Just keeping a look out at Stanford Shopping Center

Selfie gazing into the camera in front of a mural of a woman doing the same thing

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Reddit sends an email once a day with some links in it. If I try to click on any link in it from my phone I get an error like this. Works fine from a real computer. WTF Reddit.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

I've never been threatened by a CI system before but Slack thinks that I have

:sparkle: CI Memes and Warnings
@lalith warns about posting CI memes, as the CI system does not take kindly to these insults.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

I made mapo tofu. Mapo isn't supposed to have peas, green beans, mushrooms, and pineapple, but I like them.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

I know there's some controversy over the plural of "virus" but I'm confident this one is wrong.

Small screenshot showing the text "0 viruseses/problems found"

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

I love getting this kind of email.

Hi Ben,

Thank you so much for your warm reply—it really means a lot to me. Even though it has been nine years, your 2016 talk at Tsinghua continues to inspire our work today.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Some of my work at @feldera.bsky.social involves containers. I keep getting spam from some vendor who wants to sell me casters to put on the containers 🤣

Hi Ben,

I wanted to follow up on my recent note about your containerized solutions. If Feldera is exploring ways to improve mobility or streamline deployment, our container wheels could be a great fit.

Here’s what our solutions offer:

Increased flexibility
Reduced operating costs
Safe and practical mobility
A more sustainable option

With logistics hubs in both the US and EU, our casters are already helping teams in container rental, storage, and logistics cut down on equipment costs, labor, and time.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Copilot sure likes to make stupid and useless comments.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

At @feldera.bsky.social I've been doing a lot of performance work. I needed an easy way to watch the Prometheus metrics for a pipeline, so I wrote a simple tool for the Feldera CLI that shows the pipeline metrics. Here's the progress of a pipeline that runs in about 30 seconds.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 07/08/2025

Same thing in Google Search, fewer details.

Google search for "how many bs in blueberry". The AI Overview says: "The word "blueberry" has three "b"s."

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Or I can hover over a line number and my mouse cursor turns to something that indicates I should be able to click, but clicking does zilch. Surely there must be some way to see more without going to the file and then scrolling madly until I find the particular lines.

Zoomed in version of previous image, showing a "hand pointing" cursor pointing to a particular line number in the patch fragment.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

#GitHub question. On the "conversation" pane of a pull request, how do I get more of the code context around a comment that someone made. Here's an example. I can click on the filename, which takes me to the top of the changes to that file but not to the particular change.

A comment on a change in the GitHub conversation viewing, showing a patch fragment and a comment on it.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

My girlfriend took this candid photo of me while I was working yesterday.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Oh also you might want to update this setting.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Left-click on a folder and you get it, right?

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

I use the expandable hierarchy along the left side.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

OK, for my current #coffee beans, 1/2 c. weighs 33 g. These beans grind faster: about 20 seconds for the amount I use for a cup. Further experiments will have to wait until I finish this bag and buy another. I fully expect that I'll get followup comments criticizing my choice of beans :-)

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

Someone got this pic of me at the Shasta Renaissance Faire and I *love* it.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

My RenFaire group, Guild of St. Margaret of Scotland, served as the court of King James I of England at Shasta Renaissance Faire in Shasta, California last weekend.

In back, Queen Anne and King James I of England and Scotland (Erin and Spencer), and King Christian IV and Queen Ana of Denmark and Norway (Ben and Jayme); in front, Princess Augusta of Denmark and Norway (Vanessa).

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

My partner and I spent the weekend playing Robert and Elizabeth Cecil at the KVMR Celtic Festival in Grass Valley.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Here's the #nsdi25 Time of Time Award certificate!

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

Next weekend I'll be participating in the KVMR Celtic Festival with my RenFaire guild, the Guild of St. Margaret of Scotland. We'll be portraying the court of King James VI/I in the year 1603. Also appearing elsewhere in the faire is the Guild of St. Andrew, as the court of Queen Mary in 1562.

Promotional photo for the KVMR Celtic Festival, May 2-4.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Drove by VMware's Palo Alto campus today and I guess it is officially dead now.

VMware sign with the letters removed leaving only a faint rusty shadow.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

How does this window stay unsmashed?

Window depicting a Cybertruck with Bitcoin logos, at Draper University in San Mateo.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Why C++ books are shelved next to The Mothman Prophecies, in @hillelwayne.com's latest newsletter (buttondown.com/hillelwayne/...):

Take the idea that "in software, hacks are forever." My favorite example of this comes from a different profession. The Dewey Decimal System hierarchically categorizes books by discipline. For example, Covered Bridges of Pennsylvania has Dewey number 624.37. 6-- is the technology discipline, 62- is engineering, 624 is civil engineering, and 624.3 is "special types of bridges". I have no idea what the last 0.07 means, but you get the picture.

Now if you look at the 6-- "technology" breakdown, you'll see that there's no "software" subdiscipline. This is because when Dewey preallocated the whole technology block in 1876. New topics were instead to be added to the 00- "general-knowledge" catch-all. Eventually 005 was assigned to "software development", meaning The C Programming Language lives at 005.133.

Incidentally, another late addition to the general knowledge block is 001.9: "controversial knowledge".

And that's why my hometown library shelved the C++ books right next to The Mothman Prophecies.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

My alma mater, Michigan State University, says it won't knuckle under. 🎉

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

Go home LinkedIn, you're drunk.

LinkedIn email excerpt suggesting that I should get an internship as a software engineer.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

I'm at a fintech trade show today. All the booths had to be reserved last year. For some reason, the CFPB booth is unstaffed. Gosh, I wonder what could have happened?

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

It came with a certificate.

Certificate for subscribing to The Onion.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

Preparing for a D&D session later.

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Ben Pfaff @benpfaff.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

I use a Firefox shortcut for docs.rs so that I can just type, for example, "d bytemuck" into the URL bar to go to the docs for bytemuck. #rust #rustlang #firefox

(screenshot of Firefox bookmark manager)

Name: docs.rs shortcut

URL: http://docs.rs/%s

Tags:

Keyword: d

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