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Jay McGavren

@jaymcgavren.bsky.social
24 followers 30 following 403 posts

Author of the O'Reilly Media books Head First Ruby and Head First Go. Software developer with 20 years of experience. Portrait by dribbble.com/drawsgood

PostsRepliesMedia
Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I have forbidden Claude Code from writing memory files without permission, and yet it often says "I will keep [thing that just happened] in mind in the future". I know it's hallucinating because it doesn't ask to write a memory file. Its "mind" will be wiped when the session ends.
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Learned from this article that AWS just implemented this. That'll make me consider AWS for personal projects for the first time ever.
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
One of the needed labels wasn't even a mailing label. But I stuck the label sheet in the printer's manual feed slot, and they all printed right up. Stuck 'em on the appropriate envelopes and I was good to go!
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Had to do a complicated filing process requiring multiple mailings. I asked Claude Code: ❯ I have a partially-used sheet of Avery 8160 mailing labels. Rows 9 and 10 are still available. Create a PDF with all the labels I'll need on rows 9 and 10. (I already have return address labels printed.)
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It occurred to me that I haven't heard anything about acid rain in decades. Sounds like, much like CFCs and the ozone layer, it's a mostly-solved problem. web.archive.org/web/20260924... Now, about the climate crisis...
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Highest-rated #pico8 carts: www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?cat=7#s...: Highest-rated #picotron carts: www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?cat=8#s...:
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I wish "reputation managers" had taken off. Are they not a good idea, or were they torpedoed by the bad-faith interactions of self-interested parties? www.nngroup.com/articles/rep...
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"Editing a template is more enticing and has a gentler learning curve than facing the horror of a blank page. In avatar-based systems like Second Life, for example, most users modify standard-issue avatars rather than create their own." www.nngroup.com/articles/par...
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Lately I've been thinking that many of the people who post most frequently on the Internet are precisely the ones you should NOT listen to. This bolsters that: www.nngroup.com/articles/par...
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
@moralanxiety.bsky.social I thought of you: "Photographs alone can't convey the atmosphere or the scale. When you actually go, you see the way mist rises from the valleys." Rephrased as: "Look at the world. Draw it." youtu.be/d7rIO6791vQ...
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
OMG, Blender's command palette is freaking amazing. I don't know why people tolerate software that doesn't provide good support for mouse-free usage.
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
You know what the best sound is? A snorting dog. Snorting dogs are happy dogs.
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Healthcare, childcare, jobs, inflation. If someone isn't buckling under the strain personally, you can bet someone in their family is. Leads to personal matters. Leads to good work stopping cold.
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I keep seeing the creative people I follow apologize because their work is being delayed by personal matters. Like, the incidence of personal matters is increasing for everyone, across the board. Which is not surprising. Exploitation of the middle class by the 1% is increasing across the board.
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
#SuperMarioWorld #GameGenie Yeah, there's some fun to be had with SubUpdateSprPos github.com/IsoFrieze/SM...
Super Mario World. Mario is standing beneath a ledge as 4 Red Koopas walk off the ledge and float in midair over his head.
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
#SuperMarioWorld: "SubUpdateSprPos" is the subroutine that moves sprites (mostly enemies) around. Seems like it (and the routines it calls) would be REALLY high-leverage for hacks. github.com/IsoFrieze/SM... #ROMHacking
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Why nature isn't dominated by one or two species: www.nature.com/nature-index...
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
In which a couple people freak out that a project is (openly) coded with AI assistance, but are completely drowned out by the people who just care about the results: www.reddit.com/r/macgaming/...
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Never hand God a #GameGenie
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I don't think I understood how many dungeon walls were bomb-able in NES Legend of Zelda. Like, there are more bomb-able ones than not.
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
"Skynet, the computer which controlled the machines, sent two terminators back through time. Their mission: to destroy the leader of the human Resistance..." --Terminator 2: Judgement Day Yeah, that totally sounds like something an AI would do, doesn't it?
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Wait... does this mean that I just evicted Yoshi?! 😱
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I'm not the first to discover the screen with the "No Yoshis" sign in #SuperMarioWorld that wasn't used in the original game. But I did just make a #GameGenie code that loads that screen when you visit Yoshi's House! 033D-A7F0 Confirmed on original hardware! #Emulation #RetroGames #RetroGaming
An outdoor scene in Super Mario World. Mario has dismounted Yoshi in front of a cartoonishly-drawn sign with a "no Yoshis" symbol.
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Z for 2: This 2-player shared-screen #ROMHack for #NES Legend of Zelda is bonkers. I'd expect it to slow the game down like crazy, but it doesn't seem to. www.timeextension.com/news/2026/08... #Emulation #RetroGames #RetroGaming
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Have I really not posted about my cylindrical kirigami here yet? Simple cut rectangles become stair-step patterns when you roll the cardstock into a cylinder. (Tabs and slots eliminate the need for tape or glue.) And the white cardstock looks amazing in black light!
A cardstock cylinder with a stair-step pattern spiralling around it stands next to a pair of folded cardstock icosahedrons. One of the icosahedrons has triangles cut out of the center of each face, giving it a wireframe-like look.Three cardstock cylinders with different stair-step patterns spiralling around them. They are sitting atop a black light, which makes the cut out stairs glow brighter than the cylinders themselves.
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Reposted by Jay McGavren
Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
I found 12x24-inch cutting mats, meaning I can finally use @heatsynclabs.bsky.social 's USCutter LaserPoint II (aka Sir-Cuts-a-Lot) to cut posterboard! Started with the usual icosahedron (much scaled-up), but this is just the beginning! #VinylCutter #Cricut #Silhouette #MakerSpace
A posterboard icosahedron net sits unfolded on a table top. Written in Sharpie on the net is "Heatsync Labs", "Mesa AZ", "Sir-Cuts-a-Lot".

A banana sits atop the net, for scale. The net is approximately 3 bananas wide.A, icosahedron, made from folded posterboard, sits unfolded on a table top. Written in Sharpie on the solid is "Heatsync Labs", "Mesa AZ".

A banana leans on it, for scale. The icosahedron is as wide as the banana is long.
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Reposted by Jay McGavren
Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Simple prototype, manually composed. And look how much space I still have to work with! Next step is hopefully to write a program to do it so I can get MOAR BLOCKS. Wonder what level of detail the cardstock will support? #VinylCutter #Cricut #SilhouetteCameo #Inkscape
Cardstock that was cut and scored on a Silhouette Portrait 3 vinyl cutter and folded into a 3D scene. The result looks like boxes resting in a divot cut into another box.Cardstock that was cut and scored on a Silhouette Portrait 3 vinyl cutter and folded into a 3D scene. The result looks like boxes resting in a divot cut into another box.A set of paths in the Silhouette Studio program, ready to be cut. It's a series of nested rectangles. The vertical sides of each rectangle are solid lines (for cuts), while the top, bottom, and middle of each rectangle are dashed lines (for folding).
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Reposted by Jay McGavren
Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
I'll be one of the vendors. Excited for this! Already had several late nights at the makerspace in preparation.
VIRTUE VENDING @ HEATSYNC
ART FAIR
Florence Project
CHARITY RAFFLE
LIVE ACOUSTIC MUSIC
4/11 * 1-6PMSeveral stacks of laser-cut wood ornaments. In the background is a sheet of acrylic with the outlines of more cut-out ornaments.
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Reposted by Jay McGavren
Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
#Inkscape lets you "clone" an object throughout your design. When you update the original, the clones update too. Made an updated icosahedron net with a group of objects for the "tab" and another for the "slot". Then I cloned those into all the appropriate positions on the net. Made tweaks easier!
Editing an icosahedron net in Inkscape. To the left, outside the page, are a dashed line for a folded edge, a triangle "face" made out of three cloned edges, a "slot" at the bottom of a short, wide trapezoid, and a "tab" with hooks sized to fit into that slot.

Within the page is the icosahedron net, composed out of clones of the objects on the left.

The "Layers and Objects" panel on the right has groups named "tabs", "lone edges", "face-edge-groups", and "slots". The "tabs" group is expanded to show objects named "use1", "use25", etc. Lock icons on each object indicate that they are clones.A folded icosahedron sits atop the sheet of cardstock its net was cut out of. Scrawled across its face (prior to folding) are the words "AstroBrights 8.5 x 11" and "This might be the one!"
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
I've been taking a brief break from vinyl cutter kirigami, though I'm excited to get back to it. Gonna repost some of my existing work to the top of my feed, though. For reasons. 😉
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I'm calling it: After 3 decades of design-by-committee, GUIs are a hopeless mess. We need to burn them all down and start over. I recommend CLIs: - LLMs can easily work with them - They're not being used for advertising (yet)
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
OMG. tiktok dot com has figured out how to hack Chrome to repeatedly pop its tab to the front of the window, and pop that window in front of other apps. I'm not sure I want this audience bad enough.
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Finally installing TikTok. See you in hell.
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
For Zelda: A Link to the Past, it looks like the cool kids all work with the Japanese ROM. (I bet the shorter text slows down speedruns less.) github.com/spannerisms/... archipelago.gg/tutorial/A%2...
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
"it is in the interests of almost every actor in the space – boards, executives, employees, vendors, consultants – to obfuscate and misrepresent the success rate of AI projects." hermit-tech.com/blog/ai-mani...
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
So, how are we defining the term "AI psychosis" THIS week?
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
This is probably not news to collectors but I was at the used book shop this week, and 75% of the Genesis stuff on their shelf was sports titles. Is that the fate of all retro consoles, where all the platformers get snapped up, and the sportsball games are regarded as shovelware?
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Claude is yelling at subagents for something *I* did. ⏺ That leaves the two gist pushes — were those you as well? ...I keep briefing Phase-2 subagents that a previous one ignored the "never push" instruction. If the pushes were yours, that briefing is unnecessary noise and I'll drop it.
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
New Sun Glitters album "Out of Phase" sounds really really promising! distrokid.com/hyperfollow/...
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Reposted by Jay McGavren
Aureus (Moral Anxiety Studio) @moralanxiety.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Past, level 1: Spots like these were taken over by the regular folk once the armies have dwindled. While they may last for the foreseeable future, there haven’t been any new fortresses like this getting raised in recent generations. #screenshotsaturday #indiedev
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
LOVE the irony. "This time it was the UK government's AI Security Institute who accidentally attacked other companies while running an evaluation with models with the safety filters turned off." simonwillison.net/2026/Aug/5/i...
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Funny you should mention that...
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
I had Claude create me a massive Rube Goldberg machine of scripts to try and make use of RetroArch's cheat code and movie recording features on MacOS. Result was totally unusable due to RetroArch bugs. In the end, I wind up using just regular Mesen plus Mac's built-in screen recording.
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
An improvement?
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Heh, well, not... with these settings.
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Testing how well-behaved (or not) video is on Bluesky
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
❯ @~/Documents/3esl.txt contains a dictionary of English words. Give me all 8-letter English words that can be spelled in the NES Game Genie alphabet (APZLGITYEOXUKSVN) gist.github.com/jaymcgavren/... among those 178 words: ELONGATE GENITALS SEXUALLY and SPANKING 👍
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Viable viruses designed from scratch not by a "large language model", but a "large genome model". The medicinal applications are potentially world-changing. And it could ALSO be an existential threat to our species. www.bbc.com/news/article...
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
OWASP on AI vulnerabilities. Valuable and informationally rich as with all OWASP publications, but this time it's also fascinating stuff you haven't read about before. genai.owasp.org/resource/owa...
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Jay McGavren @jaymcgavren.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
1. Don't pop content over the place the user's trying to work 2. Don't pop up alerts on anything but failure 3. Don't make it possible for basic functionality like pasting to fail The Zoom UI has been designed by a committee of petty tyrants.
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