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Liam Proven

@lproven.bsky.social
1.1K followers 312 following 3.9K posts

Tall, dark, black-clad, atheist, skeptic, vegetarian, SF fan; writes (mostly about computers) for a living. All opinions expressed are my own & not those of any employer.

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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 2h
8Y stuck on the Suez Canal buff.ly/zEuT0oQ « … in 1967 the outbreak of conflict led to several boats being stranded in Egypt for 8 years. In DG #42 we told the story of how an autonomous floating community formed in the middle of a warzone » (A longer version of the story in my previous post)
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Eight years stuck on the Suez Canal
The crew on the Melampus faced a dilemma. War between Israel and Egypt appeared imminent, and passing through the Suez Canal could place them right in
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 5h
Canonical begins pushing Resolute Raccoon www.theregister.com/os-platforms... Users on Ubuntu 24.04 will begin to get nagged to update to 26.04.1. Here's how to proceed <- by me on @theregister.com
theregister.com
Canonical begins pushing Resolute Raccoon
Users on Ubuntu 24.04 will begin to get nagged to update to 26.04.1. Here's how to proceed
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 6h
Stuck in the Suez Canal – the short version buff.ly/gEQ22in <- the 1967 "6 day war" stranded 15 ships in the Great Bitter Lake – for 8 years. A condensed version of the Yellow Fleet's story
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Stuck in the Suez Canal – the short version - Cath Senker
Never got round to reading Stranded in the Suez Canal? Don't worry - here's the short version.
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Tallulah Cunningham @yesthattallulah.bsky.social · 14h
Here for ever "æ" I can wedge into a conversation. ægean ægis, æther :D
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billkittle.bsky.social @billkittle.bsky.social · 13h
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badly drawn boo! 🎃👻🧛🏼‍♀️ @soapachu.bsky.social · 7h
I guess we've just given up noticing that the weather is insane
Screen grab from my phone home screen showing that it's the first of October but will be 21°c / 70°F today
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Kanbaru 🌟 (one hikari of too many) @hikari.noyu.me · 31/12/2025
let's start a thread to collect little things we learn about WINE as we tumble down the rabbithole
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Lee Hurley @hleehurley.com · 20h
Esther Rantzen has left us. Thank you, especially for Childline.
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 23h
Announcing Cornell University’s Newest Writing Course: Rape Essays 101 buff.ly/5na4oMY « Here at Cornell, we aim to prepare our students for a wide breadth of challenges with our academic offerings. Recent criticism of our assigned Rape Essays has made us reflect on our approach. »
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Announcing Cornell University’s Newest Writing Course: Rape Essays 101
“Can a rapist’s prose effectively elicit remorse for sexual assault? What word count best equates to appropriate jail time? In this class, we will dissect wh...
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Jeff VanderMeer @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
They quoted me in this New Yorker piece about AI today. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
“Let’s say there’s a world or time line I exist in where A.I. has been subject to regulation. It is ethical. It has no footprint environmentally,” the novelist Jeff VanderMeer, a prominent critic of A.I., told me over the phone. “With those guardrails in place, would I read an A.I. book? All I can say is no. And the reason is, in part, because I want to read something coming from a particular mind.” Using A.I., he said, “feels like a betrayal of the whole point of why you’re a writer.”
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Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A screenshot from the trailer of the upcoming Godzilla movie: Tokyo, blue-lit, in chaos, with the subtitle: "Another moral boundary mankind shouldn't cross."
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VØ₦ ฿Ø₲ ₩ł₮₵Ⱨ @bogwitch.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Yeah, that checks out
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
What Would A Serious AI Product Look Like? buff.ly/TX5VstB Every “AI” tool is missing critical features that you would need if you wanted to do real work with them. What would those look like, if they existed?
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What Would A Serious AI Product Look Like?
Every “AI” tool is missing critical features that you would need if you wanted to do real work with them. What would those look like, if they existed?
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
KDE turns 30 with Plasma 6.8, but the X11 session isn't invited www.theregister.com/software/202... Plus, Klassik recreates the KDE 3 desktop experience on Qt 6 <- by me on @theregister.com
theregister.com
KDE turns 30 with Plasma 6.8, but the X11 session isn't invited
Plus, Klassik recreates the KDE 3 desktop experience on Qt 6
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Dan of the Year @downwithdan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
When you have no concept of how people engage with music
nicksaraev ~
@nicksaraev
X.com
I am not joking when I say this.
Spotify, Apple Music, and streaming in general is over.
Al music is now very, very good. You just don't know yet because all Al music circulating today is from ~2-3 generations ago.
Suno v6 pro et al has solved infinite personalized music.
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Ed Morrish @edmorrish.com · 27/03/2025
sorry aesop, but now we have fed your fables into our llm we have to let you go; we can generate our own version of the goose that laid the golden eggs without having to pay *anyone*.
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
In an $80 Motel Room, a Discovery to Shed Light on the Origins of Life buff.ly/HNk3qmU A scrappy science project led to a significant discovery: two new species of a rare organism that could elucidate a fundamental transition in the history of life on our planet.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/26/science/motel-science-discovery.html
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McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 29/09/2026
"Can a rapist’s prose elicit remorse for sexual assault? What word count best equates to appropriate jail time? In this class, we will dissect what empathy and accountability might look like so undergrads may successfully mimic them on paper in pursuit of avoiding just punishment." buff.ly/5na4oMY
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Announcing Cornell University’s Newest Writing Course: Rape Essays 101
“Can a rapist’s prose effectively elicit remorse for sexual assault? What word count best equates to appropriate jail time? In this class, we will dissect wh...
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Who Killed Paulina Borsook’s Career? buff.ly/3j23Db7 A quarter-century ago, Borsook published a wildly prophetic, penetrating book about Silicon Valley called Cyberselfish. Then she disappeared.
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Who Killed Paulina Borsook’s Career?
A quarter-century ago, Borsook published a wildly prophetic, penetrating book about Silicon Valley called Cyberselfish. Then she disappeared.
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The Bayeux Tapestry... of Reading buff.ly/1rTsK00 ... a full-size full-colour fully-embroidered copy of the original and entirely free to view. To view it all you need to do is go to Reading, make your way to Reading Museum & head upstairs.
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diamond geezer
click for Older Posts >>
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Dutch government turns to NixOS for a sovereign desktop www.theregister.com/os-platforms... DAWO combines a Linux-based client with open source tools for cloud, communications, and collaborative work <- by me on @theregister.com
theregister.com
Dutch government turns to NixOS for a sovereign desktop
DAWO combines a Linux-based client with open source tools for cloud, communications, and collaborative work
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
“They had no concept of a duty of care to their users.” buff.ly/LD68vS6 <- on Vim, NeoVim, and violating Jef Raskin's 3 Laws of human-computer UI
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“They had no concept of a duty of care to their users.” – Unsung
A blog about software craft and quality
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Column: All A.I. Projects Are Digital Asbestos buff.ly/t5LIEYg <- they're writing about games on a console I've never touched. I have no view on this. But the point stands.
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Column: All A.I. Projects Are Digital Asbestos
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of all SHIRO! Media Group contributors. The cost of modern day video game consoles and personal computers have skyrocketed…
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Edzard Ernst @edzard.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
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Ruairi Dubh @ruairidubh.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
✨Bullet Shattered Cafe windows in Paris 1944 by Photographer Lee Miller✨🇨🇵💥
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Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Norway produces more oil than Venezuela. And yet, between January and August 2026, electric vehicles made up 97.8 percent of all new cars sold in that country. Moving to EVs is often based on intelligence, not need. Which is why it lags in the notoriously short-sighted and stupid United States.
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#BruceSterling @bruces.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"The big problem with AI is that Grandma, Dad, Sis and the dog are not upbeat enough about our nerve-shredding wails of pain next to our titanic Moloch" *The AI Age is growing old just like the Space Age and the Atomic Age. How do you off-the-wall weirdos expect this situation to play out
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DC @tanngrisnir.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
But the people pushing it, on the other hand …
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Apple buried Copland 30 years ago. Now the failed OS boots in a browser www.theregister.com/os-platforms... The final developer build offers a glimpse of the future Cupertino abandoned for NeXT <- by me on @theregister.com
theregister.com
Apple buried Copland 30 years ago. Now the failed OS boots in a browser
The final developer build offers a glimpse of the future Cupertino abandoned for NeXT
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Elites Have No Plan for Climate Collaps buff.ly/0JihSya «Prof Bill McGuire, UCL, is unique within the scientific community. He claims that scientists have a public duty to tell the unvarnished truth no matter how alarming... he embraces the label “climate alarmist”»
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Elites Have No Plan for Climate Collapse
Bill McGuire, emeritus professor, Geophysical & Climate Hazards, University College London is unique within the scientific community. He claims that
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
AI is not “just a tool” buff.ly/UOKmUA4 « AI is not just a tool. AI is an industry led by psychos. AI is LLMs. AI is agents. AI is the massive expansion of data centers. AI is shitty features crammed into software that doesn’t need it. AI is a product. »
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AI is not “just a tool”
Why it is irresponsible to continue to frame the use of AI-powered software as “just a tool.”
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Paul Duane 🥔 @paulduane.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It is wild how, in the North of Ireland, it is the costumed bigots with tribal drums & emblems, led by convicted paedophiles, who are on the side of the law, while bereaved mothers are the illegal gathering. Oh I forgot, that's just the new normal now.
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Luke Ontario @coolhand.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Chris does it occur to you that you are a problem
Al props up those of us who remain curious into old age. We're experienced enough to recognize its inaccuracies, shortcomings and dangers. It may be the end of civilization but that will be up to others, hopefully in future generations. For now, it is the quickest, most egalitarian source of information that has ever been known to man and my subscription to ChatGPT is one of my most prized possessions (after my guitars and mountain bikes).
—Chris Beaty, 69
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Old British Telly @oldbritishtelly.co.uk · 27/09/2026
[1964] Tonight - "What genius arranged such a happy and satisfying marriage?". From Dundee, the first spot where chips were sold, Fyfe Robertson explores the origins of the perfect pairing of fish and chips.
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
This is a modern motherfucking website. And it’s still fucking perfect. buff.ly/lwpisvx
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This is a modern motherfucking website.
Zero of the bullshit.
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The "PSU PC" buff.ly/JcrJWna <- a long time ago I wrote for Custom PC magazine. I saw some _amazing_ handmade builds, but this one absolutely takes the cake.
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mini-itx.com - projects - psu pc
July 15, 2024KUBIC is a Nintendo-themed, 3D Printable Mini-ITX case
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
August 27 TCRF DDoS Attack Postmortem buff.ly/ZUhuVlG <- or " Postmortem of a little community hobby wiki struggling to survive an extinction-event-tier DDOS purely because they banned one guy for using Claude on the wiki » (0xabad1dea)
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August 27 TCRF DDoS Attack Postmortem – Xkeeper's blog
Xkeeper's blog
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Eugene Vinitsky 🍒 @eugenevinitsky.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A rich person can never be held accountable. Therefore, a rich person must never make a societal decision
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Liam Proven @lproven.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
How often do you think about the 1893 World's Fair? buff.ly/v2Djd61
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How often do you think about the 1893 World's Fair?
Be honest.
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Auschwitz Memorial @auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
25 September 1938 | A French Jewish boy, Abel Bac, was born in Paris. On his 4th birthday, he was deported from Drancy to #Auschwitz. On 27 September 1942, he was murdered in a gas chamber. --- The first two gas chambers created near Auschwitz II-Birkenau: youtu.be/Rr6lF75fDmU
A vintage black and white photo of a young child sitting  beside a vase of flowers.
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paulpro @mariopro.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
@lartist.bsky.social
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HappyToast @happytoast.co.uk · 25/09/2026
Happy Birthday Felicity Kendal
Drawing of Barbara after she buried Tom in the Good life
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Tess,, agreeable grunt @brandysaurian.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
babe babe babe do you wana get coffees from the cafe what looks like two grasshoppers in flagrante delicto ?? yeah south korea
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VINE Sanctuary @vinesanctuary.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Pygmy raccoons are a critically endangered species of which there are fewer than 200 individuals left in the wild www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/s...
nytimes.com
On This Mexican Island, Raccoons Make and Play With Toys (and Also Sip Margaritas) (Gift Article)
Scientists observed a family of pygmy raccoons near a Cozumel beach club learning from one another how to craft balls from paper, an indication that the animals have a culture.
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root@eruditorum.œrg @root2702.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
'Glad may your father be to learn that he has such a son: as learn he shall.' And Túrin being under the spell of Glaurung hearkened to his words, and he saw himself as in a mirror misshapen by malice, and he loathed what he saw.
Sears Braggin' Dragon polo shirt blue
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Andrew Plotkin @eblong.com · 25/09/2026
I've been quoting bits of John M. Ford, who died twenty years ago this morning. blog.zarfhome.com/2026/09/twen... “There's not the time to stand still in the corridor / waiting for life to make sense after all.”
blog.zarfhome.com
Twenty years without a Christmas card
I wasn't blogging in 2006, but I was a regular commenter on the Nielsen Haydens' blog Making Light in the year and on the morning that I read "Mike Ford is gone." I found the comment which I posted tw...
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Alex Ries @alexries.com · 25/09/2026
The 'thats a cool painting' to 'climate change is going to burn your face of, and the living will envy the dead' rollercoaster of Bluesky
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Baldur Bjarnason @baldurbjarnason.com · 25/09/2026
That feeling when people in tech finally opt out of “AI” because of sci-fi nonsense and not because of the endless societal, environmental, and economic harms to actual people today I’m glad, I guess, that they aren’t contributing to the problem anymore But also, fuck them, up down and sideways.
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Standplaats Kraków could really use some cash! @standplaatskrk.pl · 10/09/2025
ruler of Seattle (@ThoughtSlime) on twitter: "People who become right wing because they get annoyed by leftists are weak willed, most leftists are annoyed by leftists every single day."
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fesshole 🧻 @fesshole.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I felt very old when I had to ask a 24-year-old what "Tommy K" was. Expected it was some brand of clothing. She looked at me like I was living under a rock and said "Tomato ketchup".
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