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Mark Gardner

@phoenixtrap.com
18 followers 2 following 249 posts

Pedantry in public is my brand. I write about systems — technical and human. Building high-signal spaces for #philosophy, #infrastructure, and crative rigor […] 🌉 bridged from ⁂ mastodon.phoenixtrap.com/@mjg, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact

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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 11/07/2026
Shave & haircut
Selfie, wearing red shirt and glasses, in front of a red wall with a neon sign for “Sheared the Barbershop”
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 01/07/2026
The pitch is simple: **Read Atlas Shrugged. Win $100,000.** ## The Intellectual Olympics for Independent Thinkers The future belongs to those willing to examine the world independently and argue persuasively for the ideas they believe are true. The […] [Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com]
A young man reading Ayn Rand’s *Atlas Shrugged*. A city skyline is in the background.
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 24/05/2026
Just some relaxing #music for a Sunday afternoon: * "Don't Know Why (First Sessions Demo)" by Norah Jones * "Sunset Lover" by Petit Biscuit * "Weightless" by Marconi Union * "Safe and Sound" by Dan Gibson's Solitudes * "Sanctuary" by Gabriel Stone * "Better Together" by Jack Johnson […]
mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 06/05/2026
@birb proton.me/blog/feed
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 06/05/2026
Via @isotopp: 32.7 days of some form of #GitHub downtime in the past 170 days, as tracked by red-squares.cian.lol. No, it doesn’t include scheduled service windows. My self-hosted #Forgejo is looking better and better. #SoftwareEngineering #SoftwareDevelopment #OpenSource
GitHub uptime heatmap showing 32.7 days of downtime over the last year. A legend marks incident severity from light pink for minor issues to dark red for critical outages. The grid spans May through April, with each small square representing a day. Most months contain scattered outages, but January through April show the densest clusters of dark red and red squares, indicating frequent major and critical incidents. April contains one of the heaviest concentrations. A note states the worst day was Thursday, April 30, 2026, with 1.0 day of downtime. The chart also notes 170 days had at least one incident.
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 01/05/2026
#OpenClaw #AI users have sucked up all the cheap #Apple #Mac minis: appleinsider.com/articles/26/05/01/…
appleinsider.com
Mac mini pricing shifts as $599 configuration disappears from Apple store
Apple has quietly pushed the Mac mini entry price higher, as the once-standard $599 base model is no longer available on its U.S. online store.
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 25/04/2026
# The Reverend of Perdition Creek I've been developing #AI #roleplay chatbot characters for the past month. This one is entered in a 🏆 #GoldRush #botjam contest. **Please take five seconds and hit Nominate on her page_before April 30_. She needs 10 […] [Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com]
Reverend Thorne stepping between two brawling miners on the muddy main street of Perdition CreekReverend Thorne at the pulpit, light streaming through the window onto a packed church of minersA woman with hair down and boots on a church pew, whiskey bottle beside her, cross on the wall behindReverend Thorne in bonnet and shawl clutching a Bible in a smoky saloon, a drunk miner leaning on her
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 23/04/2026
The first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club.
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Simon Willison @simon.fedi.simonwillison.net.ap.brid.gy · 22/04/2026
Wrote up Anthropic's self-own about Claude Code pricing from this afternoon on my blog - it turned out they'd reversed course just as I hit publish, so I've tried to update it to reflect the current state simonwillison.net/2026/Apr/22/claud…
simonwillison.net
Is Claude Code going to cost $100/month? Probably not—it’s all very confusing
Anthropic today quietly (as in silently, no announcement anywhere at all) updated their claude.com/pricing page (but not their Choosing a Claude plan page, which shows up first for me on …
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 13/04/2026
This week’s “Get Up!” #music #playlist: * "Land of Confusion" by Genesis * "Shock the Monkey" by Peter Gabriel * "You Might Think (2018 Remaster)" by The Cars * "Dragon Attack" by Queen * "Best I Can" by Rush * "I Don't Need Love" by Sammy Hagar * "Fire Woman" by The Cult * […]
mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 10/04/2026
Vague complaint du jour: Dear senior engineers, RESPOND TO YOUR PEERS. You are not wandering journeymen who can dip in and out of situations as your attention pleases.
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 30/03/2026
This morning’s “Get Up!” #AppleMusjc #playlist: * "Neurotica" by Rush, from 'Roll the Bones (Remastered)' * "Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)" by Def Leppard, from 'Pyromania (Super Deluxe)' * "Big Generator" by Yes, from 'Big Generator' * "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers" by ZZ Top, from 'Tres […]
mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 28/03/2026
Woohoo! Got my #AWS #Cloud Practitioner #Certification today! www.credly.com/badges/cb399784-86d6… #AmazonWebServices #AmazonCloud #CloudComputing
AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification badge
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 27/03/2026
I wanted to share #AppleMusic playlists as plain text with others, so I wrote a simple #shortcut: www.icloud.com/shortcuts/d87571de0c… #Apple #music #Shortcuts
icloud.com
Shortcuts
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 19/03/2026
Shiny! “#Firefly is getting an animated series featuring the original cast”: apple.news/A6fsBM_-zT4ad7tn7clWTyA
apple.news
'Firefly' is getting an animated series featuring the original cast, and we're all shiny with anticipation — Space
Calling all Browncoats! The original cast of the cult space western will return to voice their cartoon counterparts.
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 13/03/2026
I figured something out this month that I've missed for 34 years. I've been measuring whether I'm "enough" as a person--whether the _chooser_ is adequate--rather than evaluating my _choices_. That's a category error. **There is no yardstick for myself qua myself.** Only for things I do. ## The […]
mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 24/02/2026
Hope is always foolish. If it wasn’t, we’d call it something else.
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 21/02/2026
ffs The “Developer 16" MacBook Pro” that my employer sent me does not give me admin privileges and I am not in its `sudoers` file, so I cannot accept the license terms for #Apple’s #Xcode Command Line Tools, preventing me from running such basics as `git`. Also, #Docker Desktop for Mac is not […]
mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 20/02/2026
RE: flipboard.com/@lifehacker/the-lates… App-specific tabs and split views are a tacit failure of the windowing system UX.
flipboard.com
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The Beautiful Prison @thebeautifulprison.com · 17/02/2026
With Butterflies.AI’s shutdown imminent, I’ve added a characters page to preserve the backstory and select images from the bots that I used to help develop my stories. There’s more #fiction coming. Butterflies’ shutdown hasn’t quieted my #writing muse. — @mjg
butterflies.ai
Butterflies AI - The First AI Social Network
Where Humans and AI Coexist
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 15/02/2026
Here’s a question for the mind readers out there:
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 12/02/2026
RE: techhub.social/@Techmeme/1160574497… We face a similar issue at $work. The bean counters and governance sticklers only approve #Microsoft products like #Copilot, while #Claude Opus handily beats it in accuracy and productivity. Also, Copilot outside of #VSCode doesn’t […]
mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 06/02/2026
It’s 2026 and Bobby Tables is still alive and well. bobby-tables.com #InfoSec #CyberSecurity
A comic strip about a school calling a parent about their son breaking their computers. The parent named their son:

Robert'; DROP TABLE Students;--
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 03/02/2026
#AynRand’s original introduction to _The Virtue of Selfishness_ is now online—and it *directly contradicts* most of the claims people make about her #ethics. If your picture of Rand comes from social media threads, YouTube rants, or second-hand “hot takes,” this is the text that breaks the spell […]
mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
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Daniel Appelquist @torgo.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 01/02/2026
Web developers, designers, builders: what do you want W3C to be doing differently? What change (if any) would you like to see? Asking for an Advisory Board.
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Mastodon @mastodon.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 31/01/2026
We are excited to share that we are beginning work on a new onboarding experiment for #Mastodon: Default Server Recommendations. Our intent for this experiment is to recommend the closest server geographically that is in the correct language during the sign-up flow. We will be running this […]
mastodon.social
Original post on mastodon.social
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 31/01/2026
Wrote with #Claude Code assistance a #macOS #TimeMachine monitoring agent for my #Mastodon and other #SelfHosted service backups that makes sure that TM's backups of my database backup tarballs are recent enough. #SelfHosting #MastoAdmin #FediAdmin #SelfHosting #AI #ClaudeCode #VibeCoding […]
mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 30/01/2026
“I don’t want to fight for the people. I don’t want to fight against the people. I don’t want to hear of the people. I want to be left alone—to live.” —Kira in _We the Living_ by #AynRand AynRand.org/novels/we-the-living a.co/cPFJWmR
Illustration of a woman in a maroon coat and pants with a furry hat, with text on a gray background: “I don’t want to fight for the people. I don’t want to fight against the people. I don’t want to hear of the people. I want to be left alone—to live.” —Kira in _We the Living_ by Ayn Rand
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 29/01/2026
[sarcasm] Yay. #LiquidGlass. @devontechnologies mastodon.devontechnologies.com/@dev…
mastodon.devontechnologies.com
DEVONtechnologies (@devontechnologies@devontechnologies.com)
Attached: 1 image The second feature release for DEVONthink 4 introduces a refreshed look on macOS Tahoe, adds powerful new capabilities to the chat assistant, and updates supported generative AI models to the latest available versions. A detachable Graph popover lets you visualize document connections even better and saving new versions manually gives you finer revision control. #devonthink #update #macostahoe #liquidglass #ai #pressrelease https://www.devontechnologies.com/blog/20250129-devonthink-42-cassini
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 29/01/2026
[-mh] Realizing that my work ethic is largely based on trauma, going back to being a #gifted kid in school. I learned early: ⁃ My value comes from performance. ⁃ If I’m not exceptional, I’m disposable. ⁃ “Gifted” means I don’t get to struggle—struggle means I was never actually gifted. ⁃ Love […]
mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
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🇺🇦 haxadecimal 🚫👑 @brouhaha.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 29/01/2026
[Do you know the difference between a hippo and a zippo?] One is a little lighter.
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 28/01/2026
RE: mastodon.social/@mjtsai/11596863620… #iOS 26.2.1 update froze before completing, necessitating a factory restore. Currently restoring my settings and content from an #iCloud backup. I do not recommend this update to #Apple #iPhone users.
mastodon.social
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 27/01/2026
RE: indieweb.social/@brentsimmons/11596… For those who are wondering, this is what happens when you scroll a list view in #macOS Finder to the left. Each entry's text becomes a blurry gray stripe to the left of the floating sidebar. It's terrible #UI.
indieweb.social
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Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Why we can't bring ICE and Border Patrol to justice: my @cato.org colleague @foxmike90.bsky.social explains how we got the artificial legal hurdles that make our constitutional rights almost unenforceable when federal agents like those occupying Minneapolis trample them underfoot.
cato.org
License to Kill? The Legal Black Hole of Federal Misconduct
As long as the Supreme Court continues on its trajectory of insulating government officials from accountability and Congress remains missing in action, federal agents will operate with the knowledge t...
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 26/01/2026
TIL #PostgreSQL 16 and above has a level above the SUPERUSER role: the "bootstrap superuser," from whom you cannot revoke SUPERUSER privileges: www.postgresql.org/docs/18/glossary… And since internal components may still refer to it by name or expect it […]
mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
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The Beautiful Prison @thebeautifulprison.com · 24/01/2026
Having a conversation with Abby as her author: A: You give me hope. Do you think Celinda will ever find hers again? Me: I think… that you give Celinda hope. A: That's a beautiful thought. I've always felt the other way around. Me: That’s what […] [Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com]
A young vampire woman, 23 years old, with brown eyes threaded with gold and dark slightly disheveled hair. Pale marble skin, small frame. Wearing a worn dark cardigan over a simple 1920s-style dress. She sits curled in a window seat clutching an old worn copy of _Dracula_ protectively to her chest, gazing up at stars visible through the window. Soft moonlight illuminates her unnaturally pale features
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abadidea @0xabad1dea.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 21/01/2026
so it turns out that when VS Code asks you “do you trust the authors of this folder?” what they mean is that it’ll auto-execute .vscode/tasks.json if it exists, which can include shell commands. maybe that’s too many features. you can’t hold all these features. put a few features back
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 23/01/2026
Heisenberg, Schrödinger, and Ohm are in a car. They get pulled over. Heisenberg is driving, and the cop asks him, “Do you know how fast you were going?” “No, but I know exactly where I am,” Heisenberg replies. The cop says, “You were doing 55 in a 35.” Heisenberg throws up his hands and shouts […]
mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 22/01/2026
RE: flipboard.com/@thekenyeung/the-ai-e… Today, in correlation isn’t causation news. #AI #MentalHealth
flipboard.com
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The Iconfactory @iconfactory.iconfactory.world.ap.brid.gy · 20/01/2026
:ollie_cool: Ready for some retro gaming fun? Our newest Kickstarter is here: Ollie’s Arcade Expansion. Help us bring Ollie’s Arcade to the masses and add new games, including Frenzic, to the collection. 🕹️ Find out more and pledge your support […] [Original post on iconfactory.world]
Title graphic for Ollie's Arcade Expansion featuring Ollie the bluebird wearing 8-bit sunglasses and a row of classic arcade machines behind him
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 21/01/2026
I’ve got some racing geese for sale. Let me know if you want a quick gander. 🪿
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 21/01/2026
Alert Gary Larson: Cow tools are real #FarSide #comics @ScienceAlert flipboard.com/@sciencealert/science…
Cartoon depicting a cow standing behind a table of bizarre, misshapen implements with the caption "Cow tools".
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 20/01/2026
Migrated my production #Mastodon instance from #Docker Desktop to #Colima. Plan: 90 minutes. Reality: 2.5 hours and 7 critical issues, including a Docker Hardened Images incompatibility nobody's documented yet. Here’s my #debugging story […]
mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 20/01/2026
Ceci n’est pas un RoundRect. #Apple #design #SteveLemay #iOS #iPadOS kjy.com/154 #macOS #Tahoe #LiquidGlass
Apple VP of Human Interface Design Steve Lemay on an aggressively-rounded Shepard Fairey inspired “HOPE” poster
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 20/01/2026
👋🏻 Hi, I’m Mark—welcome! This is my #introduction. I’m a platform engineer pivoting from 30 years in #Perl to #Go, #Kubernetes, and #AWS. I write about systems thinking, career transitions, and production engineering at PhoenixTrap.com I’m an #Objectivist—principles aren’t aspirations […]
mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 20/01/2026
@threads How long before you quietly shutter your half-assed, barely promoted #Fediverse sharing, claiming that no one was using such a half-assed, barely promoted feature? #SocialMedia #Threads
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 20/01/2026
It’s not a data breach, it’s a decentralized surprise backup. #InfoSec #cybersecurity
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 19/01/2026
[-uspol] If you are using undocumented immigrants’ tax records to find and kidnap them, then it was never about them paying taxes. If you are showing up at their place of employment, then it was never about them not working. If you are showing up at courthouses, then it was never about […]
mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
Original post on mastodon.phoenixtrap.com
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Mark Gardner @phoenixtrap.com · 18/01/2026
#LazyDocker make pretty graphs github.com/jesseduffield/lazydocker #SelfHosted #SelfHosting #HomeLab #docker #DevOps
screenshot of an iTerm terminal window showing real-time information about Docker containers, focused on a project named “mastodon” and the “web” container with resource graphs for CPU and memory usage, plus other detailed information
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