Notices by Scott Francis (darkuncle@infosec.exchange)

Taipei just named the best global city for remote workers, thanks to strong health care, affordable rent, and work-life balance. https://apple.news/ALnDsq25VQZy9_8iWe_r4kA

curious what @skinnylatte thinks (she's the most well-traveled expat I know on here)

This is really well stated:

“I guess what I’m saying is great consumer products don’t make young people feel anger and despair the more they use them.” — Nilay Patel on AI

https://bsky.app/profile/reckless.bsky.social/post/3mj3vb6wxnc2l

@ai6yr @nazokiyoubinbou this is the inevitable evolution of #BikeTooter

@ai6yr @nazokiyoubinbou I am looking for a large sign that I can mount at the entrance to the nearby hiking trail that reads “if it isn’t powered by legs you cannot ride it here” because the proliferation of kids on motorcycles (gas and battery alike) is completely out of hand lately

@Sempf @cR0w "We have a different question. When did zero days become the threat you were supposed to be worried about?"

I mean, yeah, but also just because somebody is doing the basics poorly does not mean that advanced techniques are not *also* a threat. Many threats simultaneously! And some of them just became more risky and easier for attackers to leverage ...

@aral I guess I haven't seen that particular design pattern (just disabled notifications, restarted Signal, and got prompted -- "not now / enable" -- so yeah, confirming what you see. It's IMO on a par with prodding the user about their PIN, which is at worst mildly annoying but serves a useful purpose).

(I still maintain that a messaging app that supports audio and video calls, but has no notifications enabled, is effectively useless -- but end users should have the option to choose that. I'd argue a better UX here would be "yes / no / ask me later" and if you pick "no" you get an explicit warning that you will never be notified of any incoming calls or messages; at least that way unsophisticated users are aware of the risks and sophisticated ones can still make that tradeoff.

Tradeoffs are really key here, and we should support maximum end user control while also being very explicit about tradeoffs to avoid surprises.)

@aral I must not see what you see (but also don't understand the logic in having a messaging app with no notifications; how would you know somebody messaged or called?)

last time I installed, I set notifications (just show there is one, do not show details) and that's the last I've ever seen or heard about it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Just got notified from the American Astronomical Society that their survey on anticipated impacts of Reflect Orbital (whose business model is "we will beam sunlight down to Earth at night because woo space”; never mind the titanic impacts on circadian rhythms of every living thing on the planet) has really gained traction.

DarkSky International has an open letter you can sign, and we expect a public comment period from the FCC on this in the next few weeks. Hit up public.policy@aas.org if you have questions. #space #astronomy

(and shout out @sundogplanets for raising the profile of this issue before I heard about it anywhere else)

https://darksky.org/news/organizational-statement-reflect-orbital/

@douglasvb @claralistensprechen5th @ai6yr @autolycos

@Unixbigot ngl, kind of digging the implicit (intentional?) contrast between USA and the free world

@thomasfuchs “listen to music or sports instead of irritating noise”

I have some genres to introduce this copy writer to

@killyourfm I’m gonna restart blogs I first posted to 20 years ago, and I’m gonna host out of my house on OpenBSD again 🤌

I’m convinced: time to resurrect blog.darkuncle.net, set up Ghost on my own server, and start self-hosting things from my house again. This is my only personal tech goal for 2026 thus far. https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-case-for-blogging-in-the-ruins/

“ I appreciate you when you’re here” is better than “ I miss you when you’re gone”

@prettygood @da_667 *nod* good people don't ever want to punch down, but sometimes we make mistakes and our frustration shows. Owning up to it, apologizing and being transparent, really earns trust (sometimes more than if you hadn't goofed up in the first place)

@stshank I don’t think I ever really understood this until I saw this diagram and the Cecil Adams quote, and it *instantly* made sense to me.

25+ years and I’ve never had a bad In-N-Out burger even once — not ever. It’s a pretty remarkable track record.

@ryanc @paul_ipv6 as much as I love operating systems I have never personally seen a BeBox or somebody running BeOS (and I've run both plan9 and inferno at home). I never had a NeXT system either. :(

@ryanc congrats on keeping the culture alive

@paul_ipv6 @ryanc this reminds me instantly of Neal Stephenson's "Hole Hawg” metaphor for UNIX in his short story "In The Beginning Was The Command Line” http://www.team.net/mjb/hawg.html