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James

@jamesmackinnon.ca
176 followers 209 following 310 posts

Canadian web geek.

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Reposted by James
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 18h
Margaret Hamilton, who led the 100-person team that wrote the onboard software for the Apollo missions, has died.
nyti.ms
Margaret Hamilton, Whose Software Guided the Apollo Missions, Has Died
Margaret Hamilton, the first female programmer hired to work on the space project at M.I.T., was 90.
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James @jamesmackinnon.ca · 06/10/2026
when they ask for a well so you sell them a bucket that can also make shitty sand castles
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Patrick "Inverted Vibe Curve" Blanchfield @patblanchfield.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
new wolfenstein looks like shit
its pete hegseth splaying his arms christlike at a podium with all sorts of americana bunting thats got a distinct fash aesthetic
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James @jamesmackinnon.ca · 04/10/2026
RIP Robert X Cringely I stumbled across Accidental Empires in my high school’s library, and it helped open my eyes to an industry when I was still opening my eyes to the technology. I have my own copy now. It’s sits on my shelf, a cheeky reminder to the crazy world us geeks have patched together.
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James @jamesmackinnon.ca · 01/10/2026
I am not joking when I say this. Spotify, Apple Music, and streaming in general is over. Dad's Mix CD is now very, very good. You don't know yet because all brunch bangers circulating today is from 2-3 boxes of assorted USB cables. Loud sneezes et al has solved infinite bangers.
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Scoiattolo @scarnecchia.net · 29/09/2026
Anthropic is just directly fearmongering about the open weight models that are eating their lunch on price now huh
anthropic.com
GLM-5.3 and the Spread of Advanced Cyber Capabilities
GLM-5.3 can autonomously build end-to-end cyber exploits, but unlike other frontier models, it was released without meaningful safeguards to limit misuse.
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
In the autumn of 1883, a national paper reported that "an Iowa woman has spent seven years embroidering the solar system on a quilt." Ellen Harding Baker used her stunning quilt to teach astronomy in an era when women could not attend college www.themarginalian.org/2018/12/06/e...
themarginalian.org
Cosmic Threads: A Solar System Quilt from 1876
A serenade to the universe in wool and silk.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 29/09/2026
Jack Smith: "History teaches that the rule of law is rarely destroyed all at once. It's often weakened by attacks on the institutions and the public servants sworn to uphold it. Since January 2025, we have witnessed precisely such an effort."
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James @jamesmackinnon.ca · 29/09/2026
Dots is actually a portmanteau of "Don't!" and "You little shits!"
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daniel wraith @danielroe.dev · 19/09/2026
don't be nice.
roe.dev
Don't be nice
Sometimes, it's more important to be good than it is to be nice.
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Andrew Weinstein @andrewjweinstein.com · 09/09/2026
You know who actually did show up at Ground Zero? Canadian emergency rescue crews.
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James @jamesmackinnon.ca · 11/09/2026
Robot uprising? Pssh.
Scene from The Simpsons where the family is cornered by malfunctioning robots at Itchy & Scratchy land with the caption "Nobody kills my species but me and maybe the space rocks."
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James @jamesmackinnon.ca · 08/09/2026
Zelda's hat is a bit too much.
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James @jamesmackinnon.ca · 01/09/2026
Omarchy is actually an old grey-beard expression, roughly translated to "Our IT and blue teams never got this nervous when asked to install Debian".
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Aboogail Screamini @abbeyperini.dev · 24/08/2026
Don't know who needs to hear this today, but React isn't the only front-end web development tool.
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James @jamesmackinnon.ca · 17/08/2026
Github, what the shit, bub? Geeks made you, enterprise came through, now you're shedding nines like It's Fine? Nah, that doesn't pass the review. The robots have spoke? Our damn workflows broken! Fuck it. Gimme a hit of whatever they are token.
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Accessibility Awareness @a11yawareness.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Some are suggesting you deliberately write inaccurate or confusing alt text, because they say this confuses AI scrapers that are analyzing images. The purpose of alt text is to help people who cannot see the image. Deliberately misrepresenting the image is a gross misuse of alt text. Don't do it.
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James @jamesmackinnon.ca · 11/08/2026
"automation" Executives: increase efficiency and hit those KPIs! Accounting: did someone say recurring revenue? Devs: don't make me deal with the same issue twice. fresh hells only please.
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Brandi Buchman @brandibuchman.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Library funding is tied to usage.
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WebDesignMuseum @webdesignmuseum.org · 06/08/2026
Happy 35th Birthday The World's First Website! On August 6, 1991, the World Wide Web (WWW) creator, Tim Berners-Lee launched the world’s first website. #InternetHistory
The world's first website in 1991
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kottke.org @kottke.org · 23/07/2026
It’s our ethical duty to understand large numbers. “Our world is increasingly moving towards extreme values: Damages from climate change, deaths due to genocide, wealth that knows no bounds. We can’t tackle them if we can’t wrap our heads around [them].” [not-ship.com]
not-ship.com
Understanding large values: It's our ethical duty
We can't be numb to big numbers.
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PBF Comics @pbfcomics.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
“What a beautiful universe, hon" says a telescope as gazes upon an aurora borealis. “It really is”, responds the telescope's partner, who it turns out is not a telescope, but a microscope. Hands full of algae, she wades waist deep in a disgusting swamp, amazed by the heavenly microscopic life all around them.
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
People who spiral out overusing LLM chatbots are really just experiencing the kind of brain-damaging stream of unconditional validation that’s always been the norm for the hyper-wealthy, which explains a lot.
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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Currently going mad viral on TikTok
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joannes @playthroughline.com · 30/06/2026
A vicious cycle of four steps surrounding a black cat with a thousand-yard stare and a dapper little tie. The four endlessly cycling steps read:

-going forward we're gonna need more of your data to make sure it's you

-ahaha youre not gonna believe this but we had a bit of a data breach

-your data is probably for sale online now

-that means someone could easily impersonate you
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Heather Hogan @heatherhogan.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Older lady peeped the rainbow flag on my bike, asked in a thick Russian accent “It’s your Pride?” She told me her youngest grandchild is “not she berry or he berry but no berry.” I said “Nonbinary?” She got so excited. Yes! Yes! And “Is a secret, but they are my“ *looks around, whispers* “favorite.”
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Mychal Threets @mychal3ts.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Storytime for Chicago library kids with LeVar Burton at the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Library 🤯✨📚 @obamafoundation.bsky.social
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Cameron 🇺🇸🗽🦅 @cameroncorduroy.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
>renames it to the Department of War >names himself the Secretary of War >fights one war >loses
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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
There's a far better case for banning social media for people 65+ than for people 16-18
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James @jamesmackinnon.ca · 06/06/2026
Perfectly cromulent.
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Kelsey Hightower @kelseyhightower.com · 04/06/2026
Productivity doesn't matter if you're working on the wrong thing.
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Alice Averlong 🏳️‍⚧️ @alice.averlong.com · 01/06/2026
Happy Pride month, from VGAPride and my 60mhz Pentium running MS-DOS.
A beige computer from the 90s with a CRT monitor, displaying the 6 stripe Gilbert Baker rainbow pride flagA beige computer from the 90s with a CRT monitor, displaying the progressive pride flagA beige computer from the 90s with a CRT monitor, displaying the trans pride flagA beige computer from the 90s with a CRT monitor, displaying a lesbian pride flag
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G. Willow Wilson @gwillow.me · 26/05/2026
People don't long for "inconvenience." They long for permanence. And though streaming services may be convenient, people are waking up to the fact that we are paying rent-seeking middle men month after month for things we will never actually own.
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James @jamesmackinnon.ca · 25/05/2026
To err is human, but it takes a cluster to raise a clusterfuck.
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Alex Elizabeth Byrne McMillan @undeniablyalex.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
YOU’RE LISTENING TO SISYPHUS FM, THE HOME OF NON-STOP ROCK
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Chasbell 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇮🇹🇨🇦 @chasbell.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
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James @jamesmackinnon.ca · 08/05/2026
Build good software for humans, the robots will figure it out for themselves.
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Steven @stvn.sh · 21/04/2026
I wrote a love letter to Peter Welch's "Programming Sucks" essay, about the state of the tech industry in the age of AI. Hope you'll give it a read & tell me what you think: stvn.sh/writing/prog...
stvn.sh
Programming Still Sucks. — Writing
Sorry Peter. — I'm at a birthday party, and while most people here also work in tech, there's always a Guy with a Real Job. You know, a physical job, building some or other thing people need. And this...
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Dan @d4m1n.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
there is only one correct way to redesign GitHub and this is it
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Craig Calcaterra @craigcalcaterra.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
It's important to remember that, yes, sometimes good things still happen. www.dailymail.com/news/article...
dailymail.com
Millionaire US big game hunter is trampled to death by elephants
A millionaire US big game hunter was ambushed and killed by FIVE angry elephants whilst hunting a small forest antelope in Central Africa armed with a shotgun.
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Garth Marenghi's Catbus @catbus.phd · 23/04/2026
I use technology in order to hate it properly - Nam June Paik
TV Buddha is a video sculpture by Nam June Paik first produced in 1974, but exists in multiple versions. In the work, a Buddha statue watches an image of itself on a TV screen. The screen's image is produced by a live video camera trained on the Buddha statue.
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alexandra @bigmoodenergy.bsky.social · 28/12/2024
here come old laptop he come bootin up slowly he got broken touchpad he need one more update he got no space on this pc one thing i can tell you its got no warranty
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 22/04/2026
LUTNICK: It is outrageous that Canada will not put US spirits on the shelf. It is insulting and disrespectful to America SHAHEEN: They won't do it because of the insults from this president and comments like yours
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Eb @ebthen.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
The desire for a semblance of control. Fucking obviously.
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James @jamesmackinnon.ca · 21/04/2026
He will be remembered as Tim Cook, not Tim Cooked.
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👁️🍄🪸 @bloomfilters.plus · 17/04/2026
unironically a beautiful and effective way to keep grifters out. if you get filtered by an anime catgirl popping up for 2 seconds because it's too cringe and gay for you was your heart really in the systems programming?
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Clare Blackwood @clareblackwood.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Doug Ford vs. Socialist Groceries youtube.com/shorts/U5zV_...
youtube.com
Doug Ford vs. Socialist Groceries
YouTube video by Clare Blackwood
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regular meghan 나영지 🇵🇸 @ruemcclammyhand.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
damn aaron swartz tried to warn everybody about sam altman
One of Altman's batch mates in the first Y Combinator cohort was Aaron Swartz, a brilliant but troubled coder who died by suicide in 2013 and is now remembered in many tech circles as something of a sage. Not long before his death, Swartz expressed concerns about Altman to several friends. "You need to understand that Sam can never be trusted," he told one. "He is a sociopath. He would do anything.
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Dare Obasanjo @carnage4life.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
The biggest leadership downgrade in the history of the world.
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
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