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Hi, I'm LGUG2Z. (spoken aloud as "Jeezy" - the last two alphabetic characters [G, Z])
During my career I have worked across Central Asia and the Middle East in the humanitarian sector, and across Europe and North America as a software engineer.
I own, develop and operate notado.app, kullish, blucerne and xeetshot.
I maintain a number of popular educational source software projects and Discord communities, and I post software development content on YouTube
Projects
komorebi - Tiling window manager for Windows
Notado - Content-first bookmarking service
Kullish - Bring-your-own-links comment aggregator
Blucerne - Advanced search filters for Bluesky
whkd - Simple hotkey daemon for Windows
wpm - Windows Process Manager inspired by systemd
xeetshot - Longer xeets without Twitter Premium or threads
helix-vim - Batteries-included Vim-like configuration for Helix with a funny README
komokana - Automatic application-aware QMK-style keyboard layer switching for Windows
بیتیاب - Couplet-finder for classical Dari / Farsi / Tojiki Poetry
The World of Terra Ignota - Highlights from Ada Palmer’s novels describing the histories of the post-national “Hive” and “Bash” organisational structures
elasdx - Kubernetes-friendly ElasticSearch index template update, reindex and cleanup tool
unsubscan - Find unsubscribe links in your inbox
Recent Posts (Powered by Mastodon)
I got my performance review doc at work today - I am officially "mid"
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New fedi-series from me, time-travelling #socialist critiques of #opensource
"In Russia, there was a fundamental difference between the contradiction resolved by the February Revolution and the contradiction resolved by the October Revolution, as well as between the methods used to resolve them.
The principle of using different methods to resolve different contradictions is one which Marxist-Leninists must strictly observe.
The dogmatists do not observe this principle; they do not understand that conditions differ in different kinds of revolution and so do not understand that different methods should be used to resolve different contradictions; on the contrary, they invariably adopt what they imagine to be an unalterable formula and arbitrarily apply it everywhere, which only causes setbacks to the revolution or makes a sorry mess of what was originally well done."
- ON CONTRADICTION, August 1937
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_17.htm
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"The issue when you have a system which doesn't have any kind of power distribution analysis is that it ends up being very favorable to powerful institutions"
Very astute thoughts on the failings of open source culture from Evan Czaplicki
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SUM4869ODc&t=1346s
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Recent Highlights (Powered by Notado)
My highlights also include opinions and views that I disagree with; they should not be read as endorsements, or considered indicative of my own personal beliefs
During a call today, a prospective user evaluating Typesense asked me if we've raised VC money.
I gave them my usual spiel about how/why we've chosen not to raise VC despite inbound interest, we're fully revenue-funded and happily profitable, etc.
Then they tell me that the actual reason they asked …
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When tech dudes say ‘we’re disruptive’ what they really mean is ‘we found a way to extract rent from a thing that worked fine before we got here.’
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Helix reminds me of a saying I once heard: “the first examples of a superior principle are worse than the last examples of an inferior principle.”
I’ve tried to use it a few times and I can tell that noun-verb with multiselection is just *so much better* than verb-noun! But it’s also missing critical …
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On the "Threads" app I got very similar experience, a lot of breastfeeding erotica and other weird adult content that made me feel I'm doing something illegal.
Also, their algorithm must be assessing human features too because at some point Instagram started showing me women with ever largest …
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This feels representative of our times: Using chatbots to power a gig economy of para-social relationships for lonely people short on real in-person interactions.
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The experience of passive consumption (cable TV, tiktok, etc, pointed out in another comment here) is essentially the experience of psychological obliteration.
When you get sucked into reels, you go from "here" to "there," and in the process, while you are "there," your entire whole self is …
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On the "Threads" app I got very similar experience, a lot of breastfeeding erotica and other weird adult content that made me feel I'm doing something illegal.
Also, their algorithm must be assessing human features too because at some point Instagram started showing me women with ever largest …
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Brilliant move.
The transition of the major social networks over the last 10-15 years -- from being a space for friends to interact to being a space to consume content produced by "unconnected" entities like influencers -- has created a huge opening for someone to claim the friends and family …
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Meta has basically copied TikTok as an 1:1 app at least twice, the most recent being Lasso. The problem most of these many companies trying to emulate TikTok’s success is that the UI/UX and content delivery aren’t the secret sauce. It’s a near bulletproof algorithm that needs comparatively little …
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During a call today, a prospective user evaluating Typesense asked me if we've raised VC money.
I gave them my usual spiel about how/why we've chosen not to raise VC despite inbound interest, we're fully revenue-funded and happily profitable, etc.
Then they tell me that the actual reason they asked …
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When tech dudes say ‘we’re disruptive’ what they really mean is ‘we found a way to extract rent from a thing that worked fine before we got here.’
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To me the most sobering cautionary tale from the dotcom bubble is the story of Cisco. Cisco manufactured, in a very real sense, the physical infrastructure of the internet: the routers, switches, modems, etc. that directed the IP packets to their destinations. (To a significant extent they still do, …
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> Sarah: Built a fusion reactor at 16. Now? Debugging fintech payment systems.
It's striking to imagine a fully functional fusion reactor that could benefit humanity, yet its creator now focuses on fintech payment systems. This highlights the importance of a strong middle class, which seems to be …
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OK I guess I’m going to go against the deluge of comments here; And give an appreciable reason instead of denigrating those who might choose this.
The context, though, I am British. I grew up in Britain. I went to British school.
I can’t speak universally about my experience, (even within all of …
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Four thoughts:
1. I've developed a analog->digital path for my kids. Before they can get a music player, they get a CD player. Before they get video games, they get board games. And then, for video games, before they get Super Mario Odyssey they get the original Super Mario Bros. Each of these "first …
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This article doesn't mention it, but being laid off will change you at a psychological level. It can be a deeply traumatic event.
I was laid off over 5 years ago, and, as these things usually go, it was a complete shock to me. The company had been acquired, and my services were no longer needed. It …
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Pair programming is draining for most introverts, and there are a lot of introvert programmers.
I love coding, but I'd rather work a McDonalds fryolator than pair for more than an hour at a time. Short bursts--fine. Mentorship--fine. That's not a joke or derision--I'm serious. The fryolater would be …
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Work isn't hard when you've got the capacity and capability to do what is needed, and you're in a good mood. Work is fulfilling when it is purposeful and not frustrating.
The conditions under which many of us were taught to work were not ideal, and only prepared us to tolerate without complaint the …
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