Remote

Samuel Smith

@Jirikiha@raphus.social

mastodon 4.7.3

My head likes tech, my heart yearns for nature. Working as a developer and trying to keep the cats from eating my plants.
On Mastodon since Apr 07, 2017. Moved to raphus Aug 14, 2025

179 Followers

220 Following

46 Posts

Joined August 15, 2025

pronouns:

he/him

Website:

Jirikiha.com

Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 2mo ago

Yesterday, I helped my elderly parents with their banking, setting up a joint account. "Something went wrong" Tried the online chat. "Something went wrong" Apparently, she had an account with the institution a quarter century ago. We had to fix that account before the system would let us create a joint account. Find the account, update the phone number, reset the password, change the username because the existing one isn't compatible with their current security. After all that whole rigamarole, THEN we're able to start the process of creating the joint account. Dad kept putting his phone away. "Dad, keep your phone out. We're going to need it. A lot." After, I think five MFA requests, we got it done. #banking #finance #security #rigamarole 1/2

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@greem@cyberplace.social @cstross@wandering.shop maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Cthulhu

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@jschauma@mstdn.social and pages optimized for slow internet connections!

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@jwildeboer@social.wildeboer.net I've thought about going back to physical recipe books for this exact reason! My wife writes balloon books. She finds a balloon design or crates a new one, pencils it in the journal, and inks in the design after she's made the balloon art. It helps her learn the designs. She's up to 12 or 14 books, now. I've lost count. LOL

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@TallSimon@mstdn.ca @lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org in preparation for my calculus course, I bought a ti-89 silver edition calculator. It does everything but time travel! I got to class, all prepared for my first day when Professor Santilli said, "no calculators." What!? How do you do calculus without even a calculator? I learned more failing his class than getting a perfect score in any other. He was an incredible teacher. Anyone who passed* his class, you KNOW they know calculus by heart.

The class had a ~10% passing rate.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@cmconseils@mastodon.social Curiosity sitting on the aquarium. She's 17 years old and a gentle soul.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@ErikUden@mastodon.de this has some similarities to C. S. Lewis' book _That Hideous Strength_, which I attempted to read several times in my teen years. The antagonists in the story take a convicted murderer's severed head and keep it alive, for reasons. The first two books in the series were far more digestible.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@sundogplanets@mastodon.social I don't have experience with goats, personally. But I have heard if you scream, they will scream with you. Could be cathartic. There's "goat yoga". Could there be "goat rage" sessions? But, more seriously, I hope we come to our collective senses and quit the whole "pollute the skies" plans before we ruin it for everyone. You're doing a great work. We need more people like you, doing the right thing even when it's hard. Thank you.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 7mo ago

Replying to

@MicroSFF that gave me shivers. Thank you!

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@sundogplanets @annaleen I know nothing about Saskatchewan, so in my head canon they have pirates on the rivers stealing fertilizer. 😁 I'd love to visit someday.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@gary_alderson@infosec.exchange @FluentInFinance@mastodon.social it just clicked for me - this is why economists are terrified of deflation! It would be fantastic for the common person, as every dollar saved buys more in the future rather than less. But for the biggest debtors, like our government, it could collapse the system. Or... They could balance the budget and pay down the debt like a responsible person.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@veronica@explains.social I don't remember this one, so I'm listening to it now. Heck Yeah, it's a banger all right!

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 6mo ago

Considering recent world events, it's time to share this again.
Put simply, renewable energies are cheaper, last longer, and aren't affected by conflicts across the world.
Imagine a world - your world! - where you fuel your car at home, basically for free, and oil companies have no hold on your wallet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM

#TechnologyConnections #RenewableEnergy #Solar #Wind

You are being misled about renewable energy technology.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Phangurl@vmst.io Spirited Away My Neighbor Totoro The Princess Bride Not a movie, but the sci Fi show Eureka usually gives me happy vibes. Hope you feel better soon!

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@psistarpsiii@tacobelllabs.net I didn't know freezing was an option! The instructions on thawing frozen starter says it takes a few days to get it to full strength. Still, that might be an option for my schedule. Thanks for the idea!

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 2mo ago

It's too hot to form coherent thought. I'm going to dunk my head in some water and take a nap.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@psistarpsiii@tacobelllabs.net that sounds tasty! I love to eat sourdough, and hope someday to start making it. Right now, I'd likely forget my starter in the fridge for a month and kill it before making a second batch.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@hadeny@mastodon.social @benroyce@mastodon.social @inthehands@hachyderm.io I don't see any of the obvious indicators that this is AI slop. No misspelled words, merging borders, or the like. Perhaps they could have used politically neutral colors like green/brown or yellow/green? But, that may not work for accessibility - it needs to work for color blind people, too. Blue and red are often used as cold to hot indicators. If they wanted to show the degree of contribution, perhaps a sliding scale of the two colors would work? I don't know. Part of me thinks some hand holding is necessary to get the point across to the largest audience possible. Another part of me thinks people should grow up and think for themselves. The graphic does not appear to be deliberately misleading, but people will project what they will. Unambiguous communication is hard.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@benroyce@mastodon.social @hadeny@mastodon.social @inthehands@hachyderm.io sloppy graphs are a common problem, but IMO the only thing I would change on this one is to include a source. Graphics are compelling because they reduce the amount of thinking required to understand a concept. Some people (like me) like having more data, more numbers. That data is often too much for most people. Lately, I'm surprised most people can still tie their shoes these days. But that's overly cynical, I think. We do need to improve our educational system. But each state gets to enforce - or not - their own educational standards.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@chocobo13@mastodon.social @brianb@fosstodon.org they have a pretty good thread about their experience, too. https://retro.social/@ifixcoinops/116371043987387118

Dan Fixes Coin-Ops: "Solar system update: I just spent an amount of mo…" - Retro Social

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 8mo ago

Replying to

@_elena @cwicseolfor @skinnylatte would that work for random technical questions? For example, I've long wondered why Texas had to shut down a nuclear reactor during that winter storm a few years back. How does cold weather affect nuclear energy?

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@pseudonym@mastodon.online @futurebird@sauropods.win i wish to know this as well. Why have a popcorn button if we're not supposed to use it? Maybe #TechnologyConnections has an answer?

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@2legged I like #haiku voice It is strangely appealing Does that make me weird?

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@dantheclamman@scicomm.xyz dude, that's awesome! I've tried growing lilies in the past but hadn't had much luck. But, now I'm in a new place and may try again. Thanks for the inspiration! Also, thanks for the cool facts. I never knew about the bicarbonate sourced photosynthesis. Where does the calcium go after the plant grabs the carbon, though?

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 5mo ago

I'm a fiscal #vegetarian.
Today is Cinco de Mayo, and I figured I'd have nachos for dinner. My roommate is vegan, so most of the food in the house is grains, legumes, or vegetables. But, you can't have nachos without cheese! Until I saw the price, that is. Ah, well. Chips with refried beans, tomatoes and jalapenos are just fine.
Sadly (and surprisingly) I couldn't find jamaica at the store. In New Mexico. Huh. I'll have to look around and find a store that has all the good stuff.

Raphus Social

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@timjclevenger I'm wondering if Broadcom bought VMware purposely to destroy it, for reasons unbeknownst to me.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@pbump@journa.host I usually go about 5 over. But seeing that increases fatality risk by 60% (if I'm reading that right) - that gives me pause. Highway speeds here are 75mph. Going a little bit slower from those speeds also increases fuel economy by quite a bit. I should slow down. Save money. Save lives.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 9mo ago

Replying to

@futurebird@sauropods.win it's the curse of knowledge! When people have been an expert in something long enough, they tend to forget what it's like to learn it for the first time. Taking time to go over the (obvious to the expert) fundamentals is essential to teaching newbies and not overwhelming them. Thank you for helping build the next generation of creators. :-) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_knowledge

en.wikipedia.org

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 6mo ago

I had to get the chloroform for my wallet today.
"Shhh, shh, it'll be ok. You'll just be missing a few things when you wake up..."

On the plus side, I'll have new cookware that all matches! The first time that's happened in around 47 years.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 9mo ago

Replying to

@db@typo.social @bit101@mstdn.social I'm going to have to duck for this one... :ahem: 🎤 🎵When the patterns combine in a manner sublime, that's a moire! 🎵

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 9mo ago

Replying to

@vfrmedia @pockets I think gal-lines used with carabiners for all your emergency harness needs. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Et4T0i1U75w

Strap on a quick harness

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@pseudonym it's accurate enough to get us to let down our defenses, so then we miss catching the things that are slightly inaccurate - or completely wrong.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 7mo ago

Replying to

@bjb@fosstodon.org @annaghughes@mastodon.online I was thinking that, exactly! That color just sings to my soul for some reason.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 9mo ago

Replying to

@db@typo.social @bit101@mstdn.social ahh dang. Should have known someone else would beat me to it. This delayed post loading is... Oh well. LOL

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 10mo ago

Replying to

@brettezeleliquide what magic is this!? I've seen the tool in shops and wondered how to use it. The skill shown here is amazing!

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 11mo ago

Replying to

@BruceShark@mastodonapp.uk good to see you again! Hope you're doing well!

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@davidrevoy@framapiaf.org is this knife really student textbooks? LOL

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@ryanboswell@sfba.social "It’s like being able to stick in a specially formatted debit card and suddenly have full access to a bank’s entire internal system." Now, just to be clear, have we ruled out the possibility that debit cards could be programmed to gain access to the banks's or the ATM's system?

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@AngelCelt@ieji.de @eunews@mastodon.social lots of benefits: trade standards, unrestricted travel, mutual defense... There's a lot of benefit to having an international union. Wish I could join. Imagine being able to live and work in any member country you want with just an ID, no visa required.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@jalefkowit@vmst.io lightbulbs don't go there. Just ask any ER nurse! But seriously, standards aren't... standardized. Obligatory #XKCD https://xkcd.com/927/

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 9mo ago

Replying to

@samantha@beige.party @ratcatcher@beige.party I've lived in a desert most of my life so it's a rare term for me! I only recently learned that rain barrels are also called water butts, thanks to gardening videos online.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@BrideOfLinux@mastodon.opencloud.lu I saw a demo of this concept with rubber bands on a science show. Back then it wasn't very efficient. It's cool to see someone has made significant improvements!

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 3w ago

Replying to

@GovTrack@mastodon.social does anyone call their office for health checks? "Hey man, you ok?" Short absences can be because of medical issues or running for office. That's fine, but but when people are out for months at a time (ahem, McConnell*) IMO they should be disqualified from office and a special election held for their replacement.

McConnell appearing yesterday genuinely surprised me. I thought he was dead and his team was covering it up for political points.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@bebadefabo @gallowaylass yeah these prices are quite a bit understated. My last ambulance ride was about $2k. That was a decade ago.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 10mo ago

Replying to

@cstross@wandering.shop when I was a kid I would have five books on the bed Iwas reading, and one of them would be the dictionary so I could learn the unfamiliar words in the SciFi and fantasy books. Sadly, there are many words I only know the meaning of because I've read them, but never heard anyone speak them. Books should help us grow, to become more than what we were before reading them.

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Samuel Smith @Jirikiha@raphus.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@nuwagaba2 we can! But, in my opinion, we need to frame the debates better. "Save the environment" messaging works for people who care about the environment. Sadly, that's not all of us. However, I don't know anyone who doesn't want to save money on utility and fuel costs! We need evangelists for renewables, with solid economic and budgeting arguments. Make the common person know that they will save LOTS of money - and won't have to send their kids to war - by electrifying everything. There's lots that needs to be done to make it happen, but we CAN do it. We just need to work together toward a common goal.

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