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Random Geek
@randomgeek@masto.hackers.town
mastodon 4.7.350-something artsy he/him nerd in Tucson. On Fedi since 2017. Not tall. 25y FOSS-powered dev -> low-level cog in prison-industrial complex, so self-censoring & occasionally cranky.
Follow requests: mainly I look for a bio in the profile, a little bit of visible post history, with the overall vibe not feeling too manufactured or confrontational. Shitposters ok, trolls not so much.
1156 Followers
747 Following
50 Posts
Joined April 12, 2025
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Replying to
@yojimbo@masto.hackers.town @davidgerard@circumstances.run @oxy@social.bsdlab.au a thing I do enjoy about my job is once out in the world when someone tried an “ethics aside,” I nodded and “yeah I hear that sometimes at work from folks that have been there for decades.”
“Where do you work?”
“State prison.”
“[scoff] it’s not the same.”
“Yep they say that too. Have you been there already?”
RE: https://mastodon.social/@HitchhikersGuideQuoteBot2/116905063508849487
still mad that Douglas Adams ended up being the most spot-on futurist about life in this timeline
Quoting
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ... says of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation products that "it is very easy to be blinded to the essential uselessness of them by the sense of achievement you get from getting them to work at all."
#HitchhikersGuide #DouglasAdams #quotes #quote #bot
Open quoted postI don't want to accidentally give anyone the impression that I know what I'm doing.
One of the newer workers is a reader of books and an enjoyer of bad jokes for readers.
So among other things we have reached silent agreement that one of our customers is only to be addressed in-store as "The Scottish Inmate" (despite the fact that I'm pretty sure James Doohan is more Scottish than said inmate) and if anyone mentions said inmate's actual name we mock spit, genuflect, etc.
#PrisonSubContractLife
RE: https://mstdn.social/@spaf/116947410206949102
I get it but also can't help feeling this is a grave insult to Rocky, Dr Furter, and Dr Furter's motivation.
Dr Furter may be villainous, but would never hide kinks under banal business wear and neo-fascist Christian demagoguery.
I take that back. Modern Frank N Furter would absolutely have something for "tradwife via Parker Posey."
RE: https://mstdn.social/@MaryAustinBooks/116822794494385859
"if you stand on a soapbox and you match him with rhetoric, you’re just as bad as he is…but if you can make people laugh at him, then you’re one up on him."
Mel Brooks is a genius about the utility of comedy. "As bad as he is?" Maybe? Engage as if their angle is worth debate, you lower yourself and elevate the fascist. I can see it.
But Mel Brooks and Blues Brothers in my head, that skinhead never had a chance recruiting me in high school. "I hate Bremerton Nazis" and half the bus busted up.
Quoting
Mel Brooks is turning 100 years old tomorrow. Everyone knows and loves his comedy. Not everyone knows he served as a US Army combat engineer in WWII and was in the Battle of the Bulge.
Happiest of birthdays to the GOAT of mocking Nazis. ❤️
https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-hilarious-way-mel-brooks-taunted-nazis-on-the-world-war-ii-battlefield/
Open quoted postAs someone the same age as or older than many of the folks saying "when I was your age there was none of this"
They are not just lying. They are not just full of shit. They are telling on themselves.
The vocabulary has evolved, but the people were there. Even just 30-40 years ago you had to make the active choice not to see them.
Replying to
@cwebber@social.coop @glyph@mastodon.social "vibe bobsledding" and "vibe sickness" add some color to the landscape.
Good analogies for why I experience something like motion sickness trying to process agentic code changes. Too much going by too fast and does anyone else hear toast?
Came up with a workflow once using LLMs to go Socratic on me and slow me down. Kinda liked it. Mentioned in a job interview ("Sure I can use AI. Check this out") and it went about as well as that time I brought up unions at a dot-com startup.
Replying to
@maddiefuzz@masto.hackers.town what honestly shocks me is how many people are taking the list (provided second or third hand at this point) at face value. I’ve made it to this calendar year in life knowing that I’m more gullible than most folks, and thus trying to be careful what information I accept without verification.
But folks all over Fedi, bsky, Reddit, just going “yep this confirms my bias, so it must be true.”
Am I maybe not more gullible than most people?!
Replying to
@dabeaz@mastodon.social @GeePawHill@mastodon.social @robpike@hachyderm.io y’all know all the pains. The tech domain has been increasingly uncomfortable over the last 10-15 years, with the generative and agentic push marking where things got unrecognizable.
I like code and solving problems. I can live without code if I must, but I don’t see problems being solved either.
I’m not currently interested in what they’re making, why they’re making it, or how they’re making it. That’s a sad state of affairs for this brain.
"I will now sell five copies of The Three EPs by The Beta Band."
"Do it." — High Fidelity (2000)
The Beta Band — "Dry The Rain (Live on KEXP)"
The Beta Band - Dry The Rain (Live on KEXP)
Today's "what's the German word for ___" is "Fremdscham," vicarious embarrassment on seeing the actions or encountering the words of another.
Can be thought of as the opposite of Schadenfreude.
Fremdscham is what I get when watching a Ben Stiller comedy, or reading the absolute WTF Richard Dawkins was writing about his chatbot crush.
Replying to
@MissConstrue@mefi.social @earthshine@masto.hackers.town @maddiefuzz@masto.hackers.town people named on the list are getting defensive. I facepalm in acknowledgment that your low opinion of corporate practices was more accurate than my skeptical expectation of social engineering.
https://www.thewrap.com/industry-news/tech/joseph-gordon-levitt-addresses-peter-thiel-dialog-secret-society/
Replying to
@earthshine@masto.hackers.town @maddiefuzz@masto.hackers.town the other day I verified the presence of the list, as a static element in a React tabbed view component that never renders.
What I’m talking about verifying is the content of that list. Right now in my head it’s just text with names, titles, and encoding artifacts.
I’d also like to see the referenced Airtable document, but only if I can see edit history.
Replying to
@MissConstrue@mefi.social @earthshine@masto.hackers.town @maddiefuzz@masto.hackers.town I've worked at enough EBI's and PTDC's to know it's well within the realm of possibility.
I've just got my caution up, because we live in the age of the bias confirmation generator, and "this is possible and sounds like something part of me wants to hear" has an off smell.
Replying to
@earthshine@masto.hackers.town @MissConstrue@mefi.social @maddiefuzz@masto.hackers.town honestly two thoughts that occurred to me “I wouldn’t let this slide if I was an evil billionaire mastermind,” followed by “but if I’d been an evil billionaire mastermind too long I might think I already won and get sloppy.”
18,600 steps. Day’s high temperature 101F. Enough humidity to sweat.
Overall, do not recommend.
Recorded three Minecraft sessions, verified overall sound quality, held my nose a little at quality of material, and am in the process of prepping for probably scheduled video posts.
It's certainly an experience seeing my own video recommended at me.
OTOH I am trying to make the sort of videos I would want to watch, and I might be succeeding?
Watching with delight this morning as @IamMrsGeek@masto.hackers.town comes down the stairs blasting Beastie Boys “She’s Crafty”
Replying to
@averagehousewife @the_etrain this articulates my current state of mind perfectly.
The jobs burned me out a little. The job search has burned me out the rest of the way. Looking at my resume like "do I even want to do these things anymore?"
Third time's a charm. Recorded a Minecraft session where I was happy with the sound levels, and found my own babble acceptably pleasing.
I'll see what I can do to post it tomorrow.
quick morning chat with @IamMrsGeek@masto.hackers.town. She says she's got site-seeing to do today, so she's gotta prepare.
Obviously I sent her this.
Replying to
Replying to
@maddiefuzz@masto.hackers.town I remain skeptical that the site and Airtable hold the list, but hey people are stupid so you never know.
Replying to
@flyingsaceur@ioc.exchange I think I need to see that movie again. Maybe get my own copy.
Too many favorites I've been content to watch as clips on YouTube.
Playing low and slow with Homestead, "the cozy modpack for Minecraft!" Today, mostly reviewing the quest book and thinking about guidelines for expanding my starter home.
Me — Minecraft Homestead 03: A Random Collection of Quests
Third attempt at a second episode.
Me — Minecraft Homestead 02: I Skipped a Beat
(youtube still doing its checks but I gotta get to work so hopefully no hiccups)
On July 4th Americans celebrate the birth of Blonde Jesus with meat, trauma, dangerous explosions, and semiautomatic firearms, just like their messiah did to the poor and the dirty foreigners and especially the elite globali—hang on let me check my notes again
Ridiculous heat. Red flag day. Got to make sure and get everyone’s ice cream delivered while it’s nice and cold. Nothing will slow me down.
“Incident in house [the one I’m going to]. Inmate altercation.”
Well—
“Pepper spray deployed.”
Uh.
“Taser deployed.”
*(awkward cough)*
“Control, be advised, inmate B has a chunk of their ear bitten.”
You know what. It can wait.
Control: “could you repeat that last bit?”
#PrisonSubcontractLife
Replying to
@bitprophet@social.coop Thanks I hate it.
I have avoided embarrassment humor for decades now. Jeez I still remember squirming in my seat at "Meet the Parents" while most of the audience was just roaring with laughter. Happy for them I guess, but my every nerve wanted to get away.
Replying to
@drwho@masto.hackers.town @maddiefuzz@masto.hackers.town ah if only Moore ever met me.
That line would be prepended “MOST people” and possibly suffixed with “except these fucking nerds over here.”
Replying to
@drwho@masto.hackers.town @earthshine@masto.hackers.town @MissConstrue@mefi.social @maddiefuzz@masto.hackers.town there are options, but no channel is ever secure enough and it's a lovely day out isn't it.
Replying to
@drwho@masto.hackers.town @earthshine@masto.hackers.town @MissConstrue@mefi.social @maddiefuzz@masto.hackers.town Yeah I work at a state prison. I might have more insight into the global assassination job market if I was handing out snickers to customers doing federal time.
Replying to
@futurebird Life around the Arizona Sky Islands has me appreciating the overwhelming variety of ants!
One type near work nearly always scuttering around spring and summer, butts high so consistently I thought maybe they're stuck that way. Looked them up and perhaps some kind of crematogaster?
Same ones I've mentioned carting peanuts around. The other day they made pragmatic use of an expired spider, taking turns bringing it back home with chaotic efficiency.
Replying to
@semifor@ack.nerdfight.online Interesting to me, and maybe similar for you: I am more comfortable with embarrassment humor when there's a clean resolution. Ideally a happy ending, but I'll take painful consequences if it means I get closure.
So much of the trope is "isn't this hilariously awful? ok bye"
Replying to
Replying to
@cczona@hachyderm.io very much all of this.
As an aside, I appreciate that it was Mel Brooks who taught me about the pink triangle, in To Be or Not to Be.
Replying to
@siina@social.criminallycute.fi *crabby "these toys they want us to use are too shiny and breakable" high five*
Replying to
@genehack@dementedandsadbut.social @minego@pdx.social @WuMargaret@ack.nerdfight.online well if they don't they may end up with a lot of child processes
Not being that guy¹ but I get real frustrated with programming editors that panic if they don't have an LLM hookup or at least a language server.
When I'm puttering to learn, all I want is consistent indentation and maybe syntax highlighting.
¹: totally being that guy
Replying to
@drwho@masto.hackers.town @foone@digipres.club *(raises hand)* TUI in concept is not bad, but with so many implementing React etc in my precious terminal emulator, I assert that modern TUI is another terrible GUI.
A good TUI is a convenience wrapper around a solid CLI which should present a robust and even RESTful API. Or a wrapper for useful chaos, but you’re responsible for the illusion of order.
“Imma make a—” show me the API first. Otherwise, touch my computer and I will [redacted] your [redacted] until they [redacted].
Replying to
@c0debabe@masto.hackers.town @drwho@masto.hackers.town @foone@digipres.club exactly this. Ink is the main implementation I'm aware of, but no doubt there are others.
https://github.com/vadimdemedes/ink