Nelson's Linkblog

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Release notes for the excellent Linux backup software

2024-07-26 backup • restic • linux • sysadmin

Secure Boot fiasco

Another failure of this incredibly complicated and brittle system that turns out to provide no actual security

2024-07-26 badtech • security • bios • uefi

Z-Library clone

Popular site for downloading unlicensed books was cloned with someone collecting financial data

2024-07-25 zlibrary • piracy • books • scam • fraud

Reddit vs. search engines

Monopoly deal struck with Reddit. Terrible precedent and should be illegal.

2024-07-24 reddit • google • monopoly • antitrust • search • competition • bing

Miyazaki’s Weird Little Guys

Lovely grace note from the animator

2024-07-24 miyazaki • via:kottke • movies • animation • sprites • warawara • kodama

NYT renewal class action

Interesting application of California's special laws about online renewal of subscriptions. A $2.375M settlement of a class action lawsuit.

2024-07-22 nytimes • california • privacy • righttocancel • subscription • politics

American Violence

A brief historical review the odd embrace of political violence in American discourse

2024-07-20 uspol • politics • guns • fascism • america • trump

Late 70s NYC photos

Willy Spiller's photos from the subway (ignore the stupid text)

2024-07-18 newyork • nyc • photos • streetphotography • 70s • subway • transit

The Commercial and Political Atlas

William Playfair's 1786 book in which he invents a bunch of now-common infographic techniques like time series charts

2024-07-18 infographics • playfair • visualization • history • books

Right-to-left time series

A few examples where time moves to the left. Uncommon but not entirely unknown

2024-07-18 visualization • arabic • rtl • timeseries

Yet another Python packaging implementation, hatchling is the replacement for setuptools

2024-07-17 python • setuptools • pip • pypa • packaging • software

Revisit the sights and sounds of DOS filesystem maintenance

2024-07-17 windows • win98 • retro • defrag

"jury-rigged" and "jerry-built" are two English expressions that mean similar things but have different etymologies. "jerry-rigged" seems to be a malapropism.

2024-07-16 language • english • slang • juryrigged • etymology

Mozilla CTO on ad tracking

Explanation for the new ad surveillance feature in Firefox: they claim it's more privacy-protecting than other ad surveillance.

2024-07-15 facebook • mozilla • ads • surveillance • privacy

Snowflake and AT&T

Major security breaches seem to be the fallout of hackers exploiting the cloud provider's lack of multi-factor authentication.

2024-07-15 security • badtech • snowflake • att • authentication • 2fa • mfa

Perceptual color space support in browsers

2024-07-13 color • colorspace • lch • oklch • css • javascript • design

A list of Mastodon servers and their policy towards Threads. Many are in the Fedipact, declaring their intent to block Facebook's entry to the fediverse

2024-07-12 fediverse • meta • facebook • policy • banning • mastodon • techlgbt

Firefox 128 ad settings

New version of Firefox opted everyone in to a new form of surveillance

2024-07-12 ads • firefox • mozilla • surveillance • privacy • internet • web • browser

Follow the Crypto

Tracks crypto industry expenditures on US political races

2024-07-12 crypto • politics • election • corruption

Just Use Postgres

List of various advanced database features like spatial queries and fulltext

2024-07-11 database • architecture • postgres • webapp • infrastructure

Sneaked references

Science fraud: authors embed hidden references in papers so people don't see them but the impact measurement robots do

2024-07-11 science • scam • fraud • steganography • references

Baysean phylogenetics running in a browser with a live visualization. Just a crazy-powerful webapp.

2024-07-10 webapp • genetics • visualization • benfry • wasm

SignPath Foundation

Free code signing for open source projects

2024-07-09 security • codesigning • microsoft • windows • apple • opensource

Russia v. children's hospital

Russia hits Kyiv's biggest children's hospital with a guided cruise missile

2024-07-09 politics • war • russia • ukraine • warcrime • atrocity • hospital • children

An argument that reporting on Trump is being skewed by journalists' fears of a coming attack on them

2024-07-08 uspol • trump • politics • journalism • fascism

Python whenever

A new date and time library accelerated by Rust native code. Thoughtful about why it's better than Pendulum

2024-07-08 python • datetime • pendulum • arrow • rust

Details of all the various ways shells and terminals read lines of input from the user and let them edit what they're typing

2024-07-08 readline • linux • tty • shell • tui • ui

A remarkably good roundup of screenshots and discussion

2024-07-06 web • internet • history • websites • culture • 1994 • oldwebtoday

accession-numbers

A library for extracting museum object ID numbers from larger text

2024-07-05 museum • archive • extract

In 1962 the US set off a hydrogen bomb in the upper atmosphere causing an EMP that damaged a lot of stuff on the ground and in orbit

2024-07-05 space • warfare • nuclear • history • america • hawaii • emp • fusion

“Some folks need killing"

North Carolina governor candidate leans in on the fascism.

2024-07-05 uspol • politics • fascism • northcarolina • maga • republicans • gop

EV sound design

Short video on the artificial noises electric cars make

2024-07-05 avas • evs • safety • noise • cars • sound • sounddesign

Google Gemini Nano

New LLM you can install in your browser, a Chrome experimental thing

2024-07-05 chrome • ai • llm • google

Alternate screen buffer

xterm's tty has a second buffer you can swap to: programs like vi use this to preserve the old screen. maybe dates to a DEC terminal feature?

2024-07-05 tty • xterm • console • terminal

Canadian archive of LGBTQ2+ content

2024-07-05 lgbt • gay • video • archive • history • canada

Eliza Custis Law

George Washington's step-granddaughter who married a man twice her age. Including some children partially of South Asian descent

2024-07-04 history • georgewashington • mixedrace • washington • america

Common Locale Data Repository

A Unicode publication of localization strings in many languages for concepts like month names, country names, numbers.

2024-07-04 localization • unicode • i18n • l10n • translation • cldr

Regional indicator symbol

Details of how Unicode encodes a bunch of country and region flags with digraphs

2024-07-04 unicode • flags • localization • nations • regions • emoji • text

Kenyan protests

A backgrounder that explains what's going on in Kenya's unstable and deadly politics.

2024-07-04 kenya • politics • protest • middleclass • violence

Heritage Foundation threat

Head of the conservative group talks about a "second American revolution" and implies bloodshed if they aren't allowed to succeed

2024-07-04 uspol • fascism • politics • trump • revolution • accelerationism • civilwar

Winnie the Pooh fetish

Funny, cute, also intense sex fetish described by the woman's husband.

2024-07-03 winniethepooh • fetish • nsfw • sex • reddit

EAD3 tag library

Readable web pages about the metadata standard for library archives

2024-07-02 metadata • library • archive • ead • ead3

--with-app-store-compliance

Python comes up with a horrible hack to optionally remove features from the programming language in order to satisfy Apple's opaque software review processes

2024-06-29 hack • apple • security • python • itms-services • appstore

r/longrangechaos

Examples of GFS weather model giving absurdly unlikely forecasts

2024-06-28 gfs • weather • forecast • chaos • models

factorio-server-manager

Software for managing the game server

2024-06-28 factorio • games • hosting • server

A modern(ish) computer built with vacuum tubes

2024-06-27 computer • vacuumtube • retro • electronics • via:hackernews • art

Arrow Collar Man

Classic homoerotic commercial art by J.C. Leyendecker

2024-06-27 art • lgbt • history • Leyendecker • gay • shirts • arrow

ChromeOS Sommelier

A way to run X11 apps on a Chromebook using a guest Wayland compositor

2024-06-27 chromebook • chromeos • gui • x11 • wayland • linux

One Million Checkboxes

Cute collaborative web game

2024-06-26 games • checkboxes • experiment • webapp

A new NTP implementation in Rust

2024-06-24 time • ntp • programming • timekeeping • rust

Montreal NFC chip

A teardown of a very tiny chip used in subway tickets

2024-06-24 nfc • manufacturing • smartdust • chip • hardware • subway • ticket

Tool to remove a bunch of ads from Windows 11

2024-06-24 windows • microsoft • ads • antitrust • opensource

AI models aren't open

Looking at what "open source AI model" actually means.

2024-06-24 ai • opensource • scam • llm • software • freesoftware • osi

In the 20s/30s in America where camp humor became a popular fad

2024-06-23 gay • lgbt • history • pansycraze • drag • genderqueer • broadway

Gay 80s comedians

Wonderful appreciation of Paul Lynde, Charles Nelson Reilly and Rip Taylor and what their camp humor meant

2024-06-23 comedy • acting • gay • lgbt • camp • queen

Facebook small claims

People are taking Facebook to small claims court because there's no customer support to resolve problems like lost accounts

2024-06-22 facebook • smallclaims • law • legal • california

Chinese science

Detailed overview of how China has become such a scientific research powerhouse

2024-06-21 china • science • research • politics

Classic role playing game originally from the 80s, very funny writing

2024-06-21 games • paranoia • rpg • tabletop • parody

Internet Archive is on fire

Company is being forced to destroy hundreds of thousands of books

2024-06-21 copyright • internetarchive • books • library • lawsuit

Chinese LLM price war

Startups in China are competing to offer the cheapest AI access

2024-06-20 china • ai • llm • startup • tech • pricewar

57 NY sandwiches

Excellent light article highlighting delicious food in New York

2024-06-20 newyork • food • sandwich

SQLite for servers

Tips for configuring SQLite for server work loads, including the BEGIN IMMEDIATE workaround

2024-06-19 sqlite • database • webapp • server • performance

Juneteenth and freedom

Juneteenth and the long struggle for meaningful freedom for Black people.

2024-06-19 history • civilwar • america • texas • black • slavery • freedom • africanamerican

A fancy word for mooning

2024-06-19 english • butt • flashing • protest • language • greek

Great Highway Park

A political plan to turn San Francisco's Pacific coastline into a proper park

2024-06-19 park • sf • sanfrancisco • oceanbeach

beets media organizer

Music library manager in Python

2024-06-18 music • beets • metadata • musicbrains • python • library

IAMA hacker of North Korea

Reddit thread where a Colombian-American who took down North Korea's Internet freely answers questions

2024-06-18 reddit • hack • cyberwar • northkorea • hacking • security

Ukraine has an LGBT pride event despite the war

2024-06-18 pride • lgbt • kyiv • ukraine • gay

Major new database of financial filings for PACs and other political non-profits

2024-06-18 pac • politics • irs • elections

A spreadsheet of a bunch of small form factor PC hardware

2024-06-18 hardware • pc • minipc • gaming

Simple explanation of using IPv6 for home admins who know IPv4

2024-06-17 networking • ipv6 • ipv4 • firewall • internet

How I use Obsidian

One engineer's configuration of the note taking app

2024-06-17 obsidian • notes • writing • ui • productivity

Adjective ordering

Linguistics review of research on the way multiple adjectives are ordered in human language

2024-06-16 linguistics • language • adjectives • ordering

Celebrity gay dads

Nice puff piece on gay celebrity fathers and their kids

2024-06-16 fathersday • lgbt • gay • dads • family

Drawing Machines

A catalog of various mechanical drawing aids

2024-06-16 plotter • drawing • art • history • via:metafilter

Micropolis WASM

Web browser work-in-progress of the original Sim City published by Don Hopkins, part of the original Maxis team

2024-06-15 games • simcity • maxis • wasm • browser • donhopkins

California aerial photographs

UCSB has an online database of historical aerial photos. Geotagged and on a map browser UI.

2024-06-15 framefinder • ucsb • photos • maps • aerial • history • california

"I was gay all my life"

Heartbreaking story of an 85 year old man who came out in his obituary

2024-06-15 gay • lgbt • comingout • military

David Beebe profile

Marfa, TX musician, barkeep, former Justice of the Peace has a radio show popular at Fort Stockton prison

2024-06-14 music • marfa • texas • beebe • sjs

Cross stitch map

Geology of Tennessee in embroidery

2024-06-14 maps • textiles • embroidery • crossstitch • geology • tennessee

US military anti-vax propaganda

US military ran a social media campaign in the Philippines claiming the Chinese COVID vaccine didn't work

2024-06-14 uspol • politics • china • vaccine • covid • sinovac • philippines • trump

ARM vs Qualcomm

There's a major licensing dispute at the core of the hardware Microsoft is hanging their new AI push on.

2024-06-13 arm • cpu • licensing • qualcomm • nuvia • windows • microsoft

AI and team building

Long essay on the theme that training junior engineers is a good investment of time because they learn: AI does not learn from you.

2024-06-12 ai • engineering • training • culture • apprenticeship • hiring • programming

Houston LGBT radio archive

Tapes of radio shows dating back to the 70s were saved, now digitally archived

2024-06-12 archive • lgbt • history • texas • houston • gay • kpft

Musk's SpaceX sex

More news of inappropriate relationships with employees, including punishing an employee who refused to have his babies

2024-06-12 elonmusk • harassment • spacex • tirefire

SpaceX orbital bombardment

Company's launch vehicles are not burning up properly on re-entry, crashing all over the planet

2024-06-12 spacex • spacejunk • liability • space • elonmusk

Sculpture artists making large geometric forms with cutouts

2024-06-12 art • sculpture • burningman • geometry • platonicsolids

Accessible explanation of all the weird particle physics with neutrinos

2024-06-12 via:kottke • science • physics • neutrinos • particles

Orville Peck / PAPER

Interview and some not-very-explicit nude photos with the country musician

2024-06-11 orvillepeck • nsfw • photos • music • interview

Paywall bypassing

Simple list of various techniques to read paywalled web articles without paying

2024-06-11 paywall • journalism • news • drm • archive

nanoGPT spreadsheet

Visual programming for what's going on in modern neural networks

2024-06-11 ai • llm • chatgpt • spreadsheet • demo • visuazliation • programming

Clear article explaining a change in billing to include a flat $24/mo fee. Outcome is worst for existing solar customers

2024-06-11 pge • power • electricity • solar • rates • corruption • politics

Apple private cloud

Tech details on some interesting privacy tech for their AI deployment

2024-06-10 apple • privacy • ai • encryption • computing • verifiability

Kellan's linkblog

Yay, a new linkblog!

2024-06-09 kellan • linkblog • pinboard • bookmarks • blogs

Food carbon footprint

Beef is way worse than chicken or pork for global warming

2024-06-08 beef • globalwarming • food • methane • co2 • farming

Starlink maritime latency

Interesting unique data, measuring Internet speed from ships around the world

2024-06-08 starlink • internet • leo • latency • maps

Māori data storage

An experiment in indigenous sovereignty for cloud services

2024-06-08 Māori • newzealand • activism • datastorage • cloud • infrastructure

The Making of the Stonewall Myth

Academic treatment of why US LGBT liberation marks Stonewall as the main precipitating event, including prior history

2024-06-08 lgbt • history • via:aphyr • pride • newyork • stonewall • commemoration

Queer Vexillology

A subreddit with 21,000 members discussing various forms of Pride flags

2024-06-06 pride • lgbt • reddit • flags • symbols

More Is Different

Classic Paul Anderson systems science paper from 1972 arguing for the value of synthesis and emergent behavior and how reductionism is not sufficient for science

2024-06-06 science • sfi • systems • philosophy • reductionism