Posts by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
(DIR) Post #AZKUJsTKLjlLk3jjEW by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2023-09-01T16:56:37Z
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@clive aaaand, this is why I get so cranky with engineering students and techbros who think they don’t need to understand literature or learn how to write effectively. The Russian Lit department was pretty hardcore about memorizing poetry (“You’ll always have something to read on the subway!”) but none more than the poetry prof who wouldn’t let us memorize translations and therefore assigned a bunch of Frost, Dickinson, Auden, Burns, etc…
(DIR) Post #AZKUJucGNU6COLvtRI by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2023-09-01T16:56:37Z
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@clive …for a class on 19th c Russian poetry! He assigned a poem for each session and we would start the session writing them out. He marked down for incorrect punctuation! Never assigned his own poems, though, though I eventually took my internet handle from one of his essays: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Brodsky
(DIR) Post #AkAXeSuYAmr24HqgpE by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2024-07-21T22:23:20Z
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@futurebird I had an uncle who used to drink root beer because it tasted bad enough that my cousins wouldn't drink it and he'd have the bottle to himself. When they developed a taste for root beer he switched to Moxie. It's pretty powerful stuff, but an acquirable taste.
(DIR) Post #AnOsjXcsZ6ZyFcYbtg by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2024-10-26T14:02:00Z
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@futurebird With apologies to William Goldman: Life is political. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
(DIR) Post #AoWbkEm8Fm2th1cyqu by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2024-11-28T22:06:09Z
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This is the outdoor sensor to an indoor/outdoor thermometer. It does not connect to the base station. The LED on the front does not light. The battery is good. So, I suspect something in here is toast. I have a soldering iron, multi-meter, an entry-level understanding of #electronics , and an excess of confidence. Where would I start figuring out what’s wrong, and if this is worth #repair ?
(DIR) Post #AodUsoh3Fu75pp7AZ6 by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2024-12-02T12:41:38Z
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@NocturnalNessa @futurebird I remember the first time I was in Moscow, in 1994, stepping out of the University metro station and looking up at the Moscow State University (МГУ). My roommate said in a low voice, “We can’t stay here. The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man is going to come and fuck this place up.”
(DIR) Post #ArMOfypo0eTRA6zHHc by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2025-02-22T00:44:12Z
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@futurebird I found this which makes it sound like the bill is real, and it's bad (like all this BS, it's claiming to solve a problem that's not real and creates a lot of other problems in doing so) but it's "massive inconvenience for everyone, worst for people who've changed their name, thereby lowering turnout" and not "mass statutory disenfranchisement." It's death by a million paper cuts, not a boot to the head. https://thedispatch.com/article/assessing-claims-about-the-save-act/@cookiesinheaven
(DIR) Post #Asn3iBRhdely1SLtqK by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2025-04-05T18:48:17Z
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@ai6yr Not knowing exactly when this was taken, but there were still people flowing in from the left edge of this image... biggest crowd I've been in for years.
(DIR) Post #AubYI1u33po0fNQBM0 by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2025-05-30T00:54:13Z
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@mmiasma my father is a veteran (Navy, late ‘60s) and a lifelong Republican. His sign for the busy road near his house is “No parades for draft dodgers”.
(DIR) Post #AxQm3GFAqdFLiOy7nc by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2025-08-22T14:37:33Z
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@futurebird We all know where the majority of the crime is concentrated, both in DC and in NYC, and it's not where the cops are. If someone *really* wanted to crack down on crime in NYC, they would deploy battalions to Wall Street.
(DIR) Post #AxfWeEXpRaL9GShXUG by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2025-08-29T17:25:36Z
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@stux I feel like I remember a story about how the people who *really* understand computers would say things like, "The only technology I allow my computer to connect to is this printer, and I keep this axe handy in case that goes rogue."
(DIR) Post #AzOf8h00knmdOY6x9s by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2025-10-20T09:54:52Z
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@futurebird Thanks to air conditioning, our electric bills always go up in the North American summer. They are on the downslope now but will be countered by the rising gas bills (heat)
(DIR) Post #AzaCHslFpJV1hrl2BM by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2025-10-25T23:28:07Z
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@futurebird ah yes, singing the song of her people
(DIR) Post #B1PQ9CaCHfO0gKa0PI by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2025-12-19T12:53:37Z
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@futurebird So... auth* is genuinely difficult. It's really two projects, authentication (you are who you say you are) and authorization (this authenticated user is allowed to read/write/execute this resource). I think explaining this to your CS club kids is good and might lead some of the curious ones to look into it more deeply.
(DIR) Post #B1PQ9JqPHnVnCdDY92 by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2025-12-19T12:58:14Z
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@futurebird You'll need to do authorization for your project(s), authorization is hard to outsource. But every employer I've had since grad school has outsourced authentication (Google or MS) because it's HARD to do correctly and these companies have it *solved*. (The thing that worries me is that by relying on them, we risk losing the skill that solved it, just like fewer and fewer admins want to run mail servers.)
(DIR) Post #B1gIZnAFfVRyBkgZuq by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2025-12-27T17:51:04Z
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@futurebird 1) ELO, "Mr. Blue Sky" - Someone said ELO was the band the Beatles would've been had they lasted into the '70s. I can't really wear them out.2) The Weakerthans, "Plea From a Cat Named Virtute" - The Weakerthans had the sound of the band I would've wanted, and this song is both catchy and kind of poignant.3) 80's hair metal. It's all kinds of awful and problematic and should mostly go in the dumpster, but it still has a nostalgic pull for me.
(DIR) Post #B1iAKhsqbpK09LlETA by flashesofpanic@ruby.social
2025-12-28T15:28:07Z
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@futurebird oh, Pica. At least they’re easy to tell apart.