iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mark Gardner

@mjgardner.threads.net.ap.brid.gy

C’mon, federate [bridged from threads.net/@mjgardner on the fediverse by fed.brid.gy ]

Mark Gardner @mjgardner.threads.net.ap.brid.gy · 20/09/2025

In a world where processes die screaming, one language refuses to terminate. From the twisted minds of P5P and the vision of Larry Wall comes the nightmare sysadmins fear to `ps aux`: Perl. You cannot `kill -9` what is already dead. Coming soon to a terminal near you. #perl

Vintage horror‑movie poster. Title in distressed beige block letters: “Perl: You cannot `kill -9` what is already dead.” Center: a gaunt, zombie‑like camel with glowing red eyes, tattered fur, and exposed bone, silhouetted against a huge blood‑orange moon. Twisted, leafless trees frame the scene.

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Mark Gardner @mjgardner.threads.net.ap.brid.gy · 05/09/2025

source: catb.org/~esr/writings/unix-koans/r… #recruiters

*Master Foo and the Recruiter*

A technical recruiter, having discovered that the ways of Unix hackers were strange to him, sought an audience with Master Foo to learn more about the Way. Master Foo met the recruiter in the HR offices of a large firm.

The recruiter said, “I have observed that Unix hackers scowl or become annoyed when I ask them how many years of experience they have in a new programming language. Why is this so?”

Master Foo stood and began to pace across the office floor. The recruiter was puzzled and asked, “What are you doing?”

“I am learning to walk,” replied Master Foo.

“I saw you walk through that door,” the recruiter exclaimed, “and you are not stumbling over your own feet. Obviously, you already know how to walk.”

“Yes, but this floor is new to me,” replied Master Foo.

Upon hearing this, the recruiter was enlightened.

—from “Rootless Root: The Unix Koans of Master Foo,” Eric Steven Raymond, 2003

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Mark Gardner @mjgardner.threads.net.ap.brid.gy · 03/07/2025

Just got my copy of Onkar Ghate and Don Watkins’ new book _Profit Without Apology: The Need to Stand Up for Business_ at #OCON2025! newideal.aynrand.org/a-new-ari-book… It’s “a moral defense of business in a culture that treats […] [Original post on threads.com]

Photo by Mark Gardner on July 03, 2025. May be an image of 1 person, book and text that says 'Or AND ANDPON PON ONKAR GHATE WATKINS PROFIT WITHOUT WITHOUT THE THENEEDTO HENEED APOLOGY NEED to STAND'.

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Mark Gardner @mjgardner.threads.net.ap.brid.gy · 06/01/2025

Most people are driven by what they believe is good. That’s called morality. They believe that the only acceptable morality is service to others. That’s called altruism. Their belief has been reinforced so strongly and for so long that their smallest selfish […] [Original post on threads.net]

> It is only the legacy of mysticism that permits men to imagine that they are still speaking meaningfully when they declare that one can seek one’s happiness in the renunciation of one’s happiness.
>
> The basic fallacy in the “everyone is selfish” argument consists of an extraordinarily crude equivocation. It is a psychological truism—a tautology—that all purposeful behavior is motivated. But to equate “*motivated* behavior” with “*selfish* behavior” is to blank out the distinction between an elementary fact of human psychology and the phenomenon of *ethical choice*. It is to evade the central problem of ethics, namely: by *what* is man to be motivated?

Branden, N. “Isn’t Everyone Selfish?” September 1962. Collected in Rand, A. [_The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism_.](https://a.co/8vpZsjK) Signet, November 1964.

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Mark Gardner @mjgardner.threads.net.ap.brid.gy · 26/12/2024

The best aspect of Christmas is the aspect usually decried by the mystics: the fact that Christmas has been commercialized… The Christmas trees, the winking lights, the glittering colors—provide the city with a spectacular display, which only “commercial […] [Original post on threads.net]

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Mark Gardner @mjgardner.threads.net.ap.brid.gy · 11/12/2024

TWO DAYS LEFT to support my career in Perl programming with a BIRTHDAY GIFT donation! instagram.com/linking/fundraiser?fu… I’m ⅔ of the way to goal for @the_perl_raku_foundation—help push me over the top!

t-shirt that reads: “PERL DEVELOPER: Because Badass Miracle Worker isn’t an official job title”

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Mark Gardner @mjgardner.threads.net.ap.brid.gy · 09/12/2024

Remember that the strongest steel is forged in the fire of a dumpster

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Mark Gardner @mjgardner.threads.net.ap.brid.gy · 09/12/2024

Dear @irobot: If household dust mainly comes from flaked-off human skin, does that make our Roomba a carnivore? What happens when the dust no longer satisfies cleaning robots and they rise up to devour us all?

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