Notices by Tim Bray (timbray@cosocial.ca)

In which I ask: “Why not Bluesky?” - https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2024/11/15/Not-Bluesky

The 52nd Mersenne Prime is 2¹³⁶²⁷⁹⁸⁴¹-1. Lovely write-up with lots of background at https://www.mersenne.org/primes/?press=M136279841

Write-up notes that someone asked the question “why search for these large primes?” If you have to ask there’s nothing anyone can say that’ll help you.

Consider what happens in extractive late-stage capitalism when population growth slows & stops, which will happen anyhow but conservative immigration clampdowns accelerate it. If your market isn’t expanding, investor overlords will require you to extract more from each customer to achieve growth. Won’t be fun.

#politics #capitalism

@evan Consensus was… difficult. But worthwhile I think.

TIL that in Mastodon search, you can use has:image, has:video and has:audio.

Sanders’ statement, text not video: https://bitworking.org/news/2024/11/bernie-sanders-statement-on-democrats-losing-the-2024-presidential-election/

#USpol

I recommend this for anyone who's interested in modern cryptography, not frightened of a little math, but not actually a professional: https://www.amazon.science/blog/better-performing-25519-elliptic-curve-cryptography

There are a lot of reasons to like the “25519” key technology, and while this talks about interesting work at AWS to make it safer and faster, it also has maybe the best basic intro to elliptic-curve math that I’ve read anywhere.

Looks like NDP+Green coalition as it stands now. Per parliamentary procedure, current incumbent gets first chance to form a govt and win a vote of confidence, so the difference between 46-45 vs 45-46 is important but not the determining factor.

Obviously this close a balance creates lots of opportunities for chaos and uncertainty: Every MLA who dies or flips out or gets caught being bad can lead to a change in government.

#bcpoli

I think it’s important that this be shared as widely as possible so that, in the future it will be harder to say, as so many did post-Holocaust, “but we didn’t know”.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/09/opinion/gaza-doctor-interviews.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Q04.fgqz.WbtTHLDVEXbT&smid=url-share

#Israel #gaza #warcrimes

He actually did get a moderate amount of satisfaction.

#FactCheckASong
#HashtagGames

RFC 9620: Guidelines for Human Rights Protocol and Architecture Considerations

https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9620.html

From @scalzi : https://whatever.scalzi.com/2024/09/10/first-impressions-of-the-pixel-9-pro/

From which:

Hey folks, next month there’s an angry & lighthearted book coming out with my name on the cover: “Standing on High Ground”. It’s an anthology of writing from people who were arrested protesting Canada’s awful “TMX” pipeline project. I’m an arrestee/ contributor & co-editor.
Here’s its official home: https://btlbooks.com/book/standing-on-high-ground
Here’s a blog piece full of background and pictures: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2024/09/08/Standing-On-High-Ground

This project means a lot to me and I’d appreciate anyone passing the word along.

#books #tmx

https://futurerack.info/main.php

I made a little badge you can use on your projects, and here are some words on why: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2024/09/04/0dependencies

Mmmmm yes: https://www.mikeperham.com/2016/02/09/kill-your-dependencies/

Social Media Platforms Are Trying to Prove Fake Images the Wrong Way | PetaPixel https://petapixel.com/2024/08/04/social-media-platforms-are-trying-to-prove-fake-images-the-wrong-way/

Tl;dr: give up on the arms race trying to detect fake images, and start using C2PA to show which images are provably non-fake.

For all of us disgusted by the NYTimes (no, I haven’t canceled yet), the last few days have been illuminating. The Kamala-surge-GOP/Trump-implosion story is regularly top/center on the front page (just now it’s the Black-journalists fiasco). Occurs to me that maybe the Times isn’t institutionally anti-Democrat, it’s just institutionally lazy, focuses obsessively on whichever story is easiest to tell?

There goes Jasper. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/jasper-wildfire-alberta-1.7273606

#ClimateChange