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Blain Smith

@blainsmith.com
188 followers 233 following 662 posts

Staff Engineer at @fastly.com | Founding Member @limeleaf.coop | Currently building henhouse.coop and probes.dev Decentralize and self host as much as you can. www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9620 lr0.org/blog/p/crocker

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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 01/09/2026
It is a very odd feeling to be thinking about how a tool is now challenging my moral and philosophical views. I've never had to perform a thought experiment with my compiler, editor, or programming language.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 01/09/2026
If the LLM was acting more like a compiler we'd just have a normal compiler that deterministically produced the same instructions given the same input, but LLMs won't do that. Programmers have been yearning for determinism for so long and now there are folks who are ok with it not being the case.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 01/09/2026
I think there are just folks who feel generated content lacks a certain something though. The argument folks have is that LLMs were "trained" on all art and software everywhere without consent, whereas, artists/programmers were trained by other artists/books/courses/schooling with consent.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 01/09/2026
Results are in... - Node memory down - Resident memory down - Allocations / request down Even though it is only down a little bit it will add up across the whole fleet. #GoLang #Performance
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 31/08/2026
So far it looks like a `make()` adjustment I found has reduced allocations by 1-1.5k per request since the slice was undersized before being used in a loop where there was a conditional `append()` call to it. We'll see where it settles after 24 hours of soak testing. #GoLang #Performance
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Reposted by Blain Smith
Ben Werdmuller @werd.io · 04/07/2026
My entire political worldview is: what if you could maintain the optimism and energy of America but add an inclusive culture of support that gives everyone education, healthcare, a real safety net and a springboard for their lives, in a way that builds communities rather than extracts from them?
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 03/07/2026
I used the same actually and Sybase was the db. Simpler times.
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Reposted by Blain Smith
Ben Werdmuller @werd.io · 03/07/2026
My entire information diet relies on your site having a functional RSS feed, so it would be awesome if it did.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 03/07/2026
Tracing HTTP Requests with Rust blainsmith.com/articles/tra... #RustLang #HTTP #Tracing #Telemetry #Monitoring #Performance
blainsmith.com
Tracing HTTP Requests with Rust - Blain Smith
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 02/07/2026
So far so good. I am spoiled with Go having this stuff out of the box, but requiring `hyper` feels ok I suppose. #RustLang #HTTP #Telemetry #Latency
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 02/07/2026
Got a working version of httptrace-rs as a stand-alone client. I do, however, want to support hyper directly and offer a Connector so that's gotta be next. #RustLang #HTTP #Telemetry
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 28/06/2026
Uptime monitoring tools have too many features, confusing pricing, and aren't built for small teams or indies. So we built probes.dev. Add a URL, we ping it, and we tell you when it's acting flaky or goes down. $5 a month gets you 5 probes w/ status pages. Start probing today! #HTTP #Monitoring
probes.dev
Probes — Uptime & Performance Monitoring
Website and API uptime and performance monitoring for solo developers and small teams. DNS, TCP, TLS, and TTFB timing breakdowns to the millisecond. $1/site/month. Free trial, no credit card required.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 24/06/2026
The Joy and Power of Understanding binaryigor.com/the-joy-and-... #Fundamentals #Learning #Computing #ComputerScience
binaryigor.com
The Joy and Power of Understanding
Deeper understanding of the code and software systems we work on, is not only pragmatic and practical but highly enjoyable as well ... But, if it is both joyful and powerful, why are we so often prone...
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 22/06/2026
A Wake-Up Call for Kernel-Bypass on Modern Hardware dl.acm.org/doi/full/10.... #Linux #KernelBypass #Networking
dl.acm.org
A Wake-Up Call for Kernel-Bypass on Modern Hardware | Proceedings of the 21st International Workshop on Data Management on New Hardware
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Reposted by Blain Smith
Kris Walker @kriswalker.me · 22/06/2026
"My product is my garden" I absolutely love this concept: herman.bearblog.dev/my-product-i...
herman.bearblog.dev
My product is my garden
I’ve been part of the internet startup scene for a while. There are so many different camps: the bootstrappers, the VC-backed tech-bros, the crypto “investor...
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 22/06/2026
Hahahahaha the Steam Machine is over a grand? Hard pass.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 22/06/2026
Someone started paying for probes.dev Cool to have that first paying user! #HTTP #Monitoring #GoLang #Bootstrapped
probes.dev
Probes — Uptime & Performance Monitoring
Website and API uptime and performance monitoring for solo developers and small teams. DNS, TCP, TLS, and TTFB timing breakdowns to the millisecond. $1/site/month. Free trial, no credit card required.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 21/06/2026
Happy Father's Day to all you Dad's out there.
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Firmino @firmino.work · 20/06/2026
It looks slick, great work!
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 20/06/2026
Show day #Lexus #IS500 #FlareYellow
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Reposted by Blain Smith
John Luther @jluther.net · 19/06/2026
Probes.dev has launched! If you're a small team or independent developer and need affordable web service monitoring, sign up for a free 14-day trial today.
probes.dev
Probes — Uptime & Performance Monitoring
Website and API uptime and performance monitoring for solo developers and small teams. DNS, TCP, TLS, and TTFB timing breakdowns to the millisecond. $1/site/month. Free trial, no credit card required.
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Reposted by Blain Smith
Limeleaf Worker Collective @limeleaf.coop · 18/06/2026
Uptime monitoring tools have too many features, confusing pricing, and aren't built for small teams or indies. So we built probes.dev. Add a URL, we ping it, and we tell you when it's acting flaky or goes down. $5 a month gets you 5 probes w/ status pages. Start probing today!
probes.dev
Probes — Uptime & Performance Monitoring
Website and API uptime and performance monitoring for solo developers and small teams. DNS, TCP, TLS, and TTFB timing breakdowns to the millisecond. $1/site/month. Free trial, no credit card required.
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Reposted by Blain Smith
Mubashar “Mubs” Iqbal @mubashariqbal.com · 17/06/2026
Figured out how to get the goal scorers for the games. Still keeping things simple for now, but does the job. worldcupnext.com
screenshot for worldcupnext.com showing a game with goals and who & when the goal was scored.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 17/06/2026
Thoughts on RFC 10008: The HTTP QUERY Method blainsmith.com/articles/rfc... #GoLang #RustLang #Caching #HTTP
blainsmith.com
RFC 10008: The HTTP QUERY Method - Blain Smith
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 17/06/2026
Why stdx is not on crates.io kerkour.com/stdx-cratesio #RustLang #PackageManagement
kerkour.com
Why stdx is not on crates.io
Why stdx is not on crates.io While I think that the xxx aspect of stdx has been well received, a lot of Rust developers were suffering with the current status
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 17/06/2026
I can't believe it has been just over 4 years... github.com/subspace-com... #GoLang #AF_PACKET #Linux #Networking
github.com
GitHub - subspace-com/fast_afpacket: Go library for interacting with AF_PACKET sockets with socket timestamp support
Go library for interacting with AF_PACKET sockets with socket timestamp support - subspace-com/fast_afpacket
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 17/06/2026
*Blain has left #Engineering* I can't keep putting effort in there anymore. No one cares about anything unless is LLM related.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 17/06/2026
Ugh, I actually got so excited I read "Machina". :facepalm:
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 17/06/2026
It is soooo good!
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 17/06/2026
RFC 10008: The HTTP QUERY Method www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc10008/ #RFC #HTTP
rfc-editor.org
RFC 10008: The HTTP QUERY Method | RFC Editor
This specification defines the QUERY method for HTTP. A QUERY requests that the request target process the enclosed content in a safe and idempotent manner and then respond with the result of that pro...
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 16/06/2026
The $100 32GB Crucial RAM stick I bought a while ago is now $500. To all LLM sympathizers... Fuck you for continually supporting this tech. Feel free to unfollow and block me. You won't be missed.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 15/06/2026
Now we have a much needed Docs page to explain things more. probes.dev/docs/ #GoLang #HTTP #Monitoring #Documentation #BuildInPublic
probes.dev
Docs — probes
Product documentation for Probes — how probes, alerts, incidents, and status pages work.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 14/06/2026
Can't stop the signal. Poison it. blog.digitalgrease.dev/posts/fauxx-cant-stop-the-signal #DataPoisoning #Tracking #Privacy
blog.digitalgrease.dev
Can't Stop the Signal. Poison It. — digitalgrease
If you can't stop ad networks from collecting your data, make what they collect useless. Building Fauxx: an Android tool for behavioral data poisoning.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 13/06/2026
Some early feedback about probes.dev was folks wanted to also see a traditional timeseries of latency over time, so here we go... #GoLang #HTTP #Monitoring #BuildInPublic
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 13/06/2026
Both kids have graduated to better phones now. They each have a used Pixel 6 with /e/OS with privacy controls enabled. They are learning to treat their phones as a tool, not as an extension of their own person. I'll write a blog post on this topic since I have been researching this for a while.
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ɯlǝɥlᴉʍ @wilhelm.codes · 13/06/2026
I've been working on this stupid little #golang hobby project for literal years, but today I am finally ready to publicly release it. Here is Glazier, your over-engineered declarative tmux session manager. github.com/wilhelm-murd...
github.com
GitHub - wilhelm-murdoch/glazier: Declaratively manage tmux sessions, windows, panes and other things with HCL-based configuration files.
Declaratively manage tmux sessions, windows, panes and other things with HCL-based configuration files. - wilhelm-murdoch/glazier
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 13/06/2026
This is awesome! I always liked the presets from zellij, but I didn't like the rest of the tool and I preferred tmux. I'll definitely be trying this out!
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 12/06/2026
Another solid PR this week! Squatted 450lbs for 5 reps. #Powerlifting #Strongman
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 12/06/2026
Snuck in a quick, but important probes.dev feature and added the User-Agent header to be a good web citizen. `User-Agent: probes (+https://probes.dev)` #HTTP #UserAgent #Monitoring
probes.dev
Probes — Uptime & Performance Monitoring
Website and API uptime and performance monitoring for solo developers and small teams. DNS, TCP, TLS, and TTFB timing breakdowns to the millisecond. $1/site/month. Free trial, no credit card required.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 11/06/2026
I believe it also works in @vivaldi.com too, but that comes with its own decent blocking anyway.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 11/06/2026
Nice. New bench and shoulder press PRs... 240lbs for 8 reps on bench 135lbs for 5 sets of 10 on shoulder press #gainzZz
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 11/06/2026
Reuse Less Software wiki.alopex.li/ReuseLessSof... #SupplyChain #Dependencies #Programming
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 11/06/2026
Yeah, I do try to understand what non-developers would use this for, but I can never come up with an answer. Perhaps there are folks out there that want to chat with others, but don't want to give out their actual chat (texting, Signal, email) handles? Maybe it's my 'tism showing, IDK.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 11/06/2026
I don't understand why social networks feel the need to constantly offer chat features. It's always a security problem, always invites harassment, and never has the moderation features other well established (texting, Signal, email, etc.) already have. :eyeroll:
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 11/06/2026
Just looks so good and its quite informative! probes.dev coming soon! #DNS #TCP #HTTP #GoLang
Screenshot of https://probes.dev Timing view of request life-cycles and distributions.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 11/06/2026
That's how I made probes. It's all HTML and htmx sprinkled in.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 10/06/2026
The hardest part of building probes.dev for me was the UI. The actual core product of the network probes was the easiest part and I had that done as a proof of concept in an afternoon. #GoLang #HTTP #Monitoring #Telemetry #Networking
probes.dev
Probes — Uptime & Performance Monitoring
Website and API uptime and performance monitoring for solo developers and small teams. DNS, TCP, TLS, and TTFB timing breakdowns to the millisecond. $1/site/month. Free trial, no credit card required.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 10/06/2026
Another set of changes went out for probes.dev 1. "Past Hour" option to view your charts for the...wait for it...past hour ;-) 2. Geography map got a speed boost to render instantly 3. Alert flapping detection so a site triggering many down/up alerts will not spam you #GoLang #HTTP #BuildInPublic
probes.dev
Probes — Uptime & Performance Monitoring
Website and API uptime and performance monitoring for solo developers and small teams. DNS, TCP, TLS, and TTFB timing breakdowns to the millisecond. $1/site/month. Free trial, no credit card required.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 10/06/2026
Because that is when gameplay was the priority, right? Modern games have incredible art, but the gameplay is boring or bad. A fantastic 16bit game will always be more fun to play than a hyperealistic one with boring gameplay.
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Blain Smith @blainsmith.com · 10/06/2026
How are you liking your Fairphone use in the US? What model and provider do you use?
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