Notices by Scott Francis (darkuncle@infosec.exchange)

man, the absolute madness as people try to squeeze in whatever they can before end of fiscal year is in full swing

"Everything had terms then. The modem sang its negotiation out loud, and that shriek was two machines arguing about how to speak to each other, and after enough times you could hear when the argument was going south and the call was about to drop. You set little jumpers on drives with your fingernail. You knew which interrupt your sound card answered to, because if you guessed wrong it answered to nothing. The machine was made of edges and you cut yourself on them, and that is how you found out where they were.

This might sound like I’m complaining, but I’m not.

The difficulty was the knowledge. You came to know that machine the way you come to know anything that pushes back. The resistance was the whole medium. You only ever know the things that you can lose to.

...

And a machine that cannot challenge you is a thing you cannot know. You can only use it."

absolutely brilliant, via @jbz

https://unix.foo/posts/last-people-who-know-how-it-works/

RE: https://flipboard.com/@spacecom/all-about-mars-5qr0ks4ez/-/a-RNHdFPZEQsWSiukFUwvuJA%3Aa%3A1693190246-%2F0

Kinda feel like the minimum bar to terraforming other planets is proving we can take care of one that is already terraformed

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.