LLMs (Large Language Models, colloquially referred to as "A.I.") are perfect...
Much like so many loud voices in society today, the LLM is incapable of discerning reliable from unreliable sources, identifying the origin and validity of a …
Category: Ethics
Tags:
Computing
Ethics
Life
Non-religious post
Philosophy
Polemic
I've heard about NaNoWriMo going back at least eight years. I had classmates (back when I was a middle-aged college student ;) talk to me about it, but I always thought the 50,000 words goal was just unattainable.
This year, I finally stepped up to the plate and participated, although …
Category: Writing
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Non-religious post
Non-technical post
Podcasts
Writing
WritingMonth
One thing I've noticed as someone who has lived in *gulp* six decades is that we Americans have a thing for generations. Well, in broad terms, looking at life generationally is absolutely not new, nor uniquely American. But naming generations just might be. Several European FediFriends have expressed to me …
Category: Life
Tags:
Life
Non-religious post
Non-technical post
Philosophy
WritingMonth
I resolved never to put a web browser on this machine, which is a Thinkpad X200t from early 2010 with the Libreboot firmware flashed to it, and the wifi card replaced with a FOSS-driver-loving atheros-based card. Ever since I got it in early 2019, it's been my "writing machine …
Category: Tech
Tags:
Computing
Ethics
FOSS (Free and Open Source Software)
Linux
Non-religious post
Productivity
UNIX
Unix Tips
WritingMonth
You may have seen me mention The Fediverse or "FediFriends" in previous posts. Now, I anticipate that 100% of my readers are already in the Fediverse (or within a rounding error of 100% 😄), but just in case someone doesn't know, the following is a succinct description and discussion of the …
Category: Tech
Tags:
Computing
Ethics
FOSS (Free and Open Source Software)
Federated Services
Non-religious post
Non-technical post
WritingMonth
Back in September, I posted about using the output of cal and plain text to track things. Here is the example of that format I listed in the post:
August 2023
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
. 2 3 . 5
. 7 . . . . .
. . . 16 . . .
. . . . . 25 .
. . . 30 .
2023/08/02 326 45 …Category: Tech
Tags:
BSD
Computing
FOSS (Free and Open Source Software)
Linux
Non-religious post
Productivity
Unix Tips
Have you ever had a lucid dream? One where you could just bend reality to your will — fly freely by thinking, become POTUS, rule a banana republic (two things that are becoming tragically similar), or propose marriage the famous person …
Category: Life
Tags:
Content Warning
Life
Non-religious post
Non-technical post
Prose
WritingMonth
I was watching a youtuber I rather like, and he closed out his video talking about his pragmatic approach to operating systems. He said he used multiple OSes (some FOSS and some non-FOSS), and he summed up his approach with "Use what works for you."
This is not a polemic …
Category: Ethics
Tags:
BSD
Computing
Ethics
FOSS (Free and Open Source Software)
FreeBSD
Linux
Non-religious post
UNIX
WritingMonth
I was re-reading my original UNIX is dead. Long live UNIX article, and I realized something that helped me better classify the various types of UNIX OSes:
I see OSes like the BSDs as UNIXes, while I view MacOS and many Linux distros (particularly the Gnome-oriented ones, more about that …
Category: Tech
Tags:
BSD
Computing
Ethics
FOSS (Free and Open Source Software)
Linux
Non-religious post
Philosophy
UNIX
WritingMonth
Yet again, I had planned to write about healthy mourning, and yet again, what's on my mind being hijacked by what's rattling around in my heart.
There is this innocent, necessary, and healthy stage of mourning that is also so terribly cruel: the …
Category: Life
Tags:
Content Warning
Life
Loss
Non-religious post
Non-technical post
Philosophy
Prose
WritingMonth