This is the multi-million dollar .unwrap() story. In a critical path of infrastructure serving a significant chunk of the internet, calling .unwrap() on a Result means you're saying "this can never fail, and if it does, crash the thread immediately."The Rust compiler forced them to acknowledge this …

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If you really want to be safe in case your server goes down, then setup a second version of your site at another location and point to that server via the A and AAAA records, see "round-robin DNS".

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ActivityPub is Deeply Underspecified because it was created by Semantic Web people who think that if you create a detailed enough *syntax* for something, the *semantics* appear by magic. It turns out that they don't, and so a lot of the actual protocol design has to happen outside of the specificati…

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It’s obvious that this tool was made by people who care about data and care about humans. It’s not even that it’s •perfect•; it’s just that it’s •thoughtful•.

That kind of human-to-human feeling of “we did our best because we care about the strangers who use this tool” just seems almost l…

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A lot of people on Lobste.rs do not want to talk about the effects of technology, they want to discuss the instruments of technology. Take writing, for example. Many people feel that these topics are "about technology": pens, pencils, paper, alphabets, scripts, how cuneiform works, printing tools, i…

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As a matter of science, an attempt to sort good porn from bad is futile. The brain's reward circuitry, which drives sexual arousal, has no definition of 'porn'. It just sends a ‘go get it!’ signal in response to whatever releases sufficient dopamine.

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‘Double-blind’ means that neither the investigator nor the subject knows that a variable has been altered. For example, neither knows who is receiving drug or placebo. ‘Single-blind’ means the investigator knows but the subject doesn't. It should be evident that neither type of study is possible in …

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Whenever something becomes the norm, there's an unexamined assumption that it must be harmless or 'normal', that is, that it cannot produce abnormal physiological results. However, that proved not to be the case with smoking.

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Big Tobacco's campaign to cast doubt on the link between smoking and disease is now a classic case study in a science called agnotology: the study of the cultural production of ignorance.

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Quitting internet porn is the equivalent of removing refined sugar or trans-fats from your diet. It is simply the elimination of a form of entertainment that no one had until recently, and everyone got along without.

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ActivityPub is Deeply Underspecified because it was created by Semantic Web people who think that if you create a detailed enough *syntax* for something, the *semantics* appear by magic. It turns out that they don't, and so a lot of the actual protocol design has to happen outside of the specificati…

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Mildly reminds me how being online on AIM or ICQ was an actual invitation to chat. I had so many interesting conversations with people I barely knew.

There's no source of that signal that someone is open to chitchat these days, and it's in my opinion kind of killed what was once great abo…

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Everyone is blaming AI, and it's undoubtedly a factor.

But also, the culture of Stack Overflow has changed significantly over the years. It used to be a place where anyone could ask a question and get help with a problem ... and it was amazing.

Today, you're far more likely to …

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Effective error messages are one of my platonic ideals about how documentation is supposed to work. The docs shouldn't be shoved off to the side. They should appear just-in-time, when you need them. If you can fix the error within the product (e.g. when Rust tells you exactly how to fix the typo), j…

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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 lar…

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Production becomes social, but appropriation remains private. The social means of production remain the private property of a few. The general framework of formally recognised free competition remains, and the yoke of a few monopolists on the rest of the population becomes a hundred times heavier, m…

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An approximate estimate of the capacity of markets is also made, and the associations “divide” them up amongst themselves by agreement. Skilled labour is monopolised, the best engineers are engaged; the means of transport are captured—railways in America, shipping companies in Europe and America. Ca…

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You are Thomas Watson, the founder of IBM, and you face a choice. Hitler has just come to power in Germany, and you are considering whether to direct your German subsidiary, Dehomag, to bid for the job of tabulating the results of a census the Nazi government wants to conduct. While you are making u…

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This is most likely going to be downvoted to oblivion by my western comrades but the stance communist parties have had in the past and present is this.

Regardless of the industry, workers are workers; they are a part of the proletariat and as such the nature of their work is irrelevant. W…

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> Many in the FFmpeg community argue, with reason, that it is unreasonable for a trillion-dollar corporation like Google, which heavily relies on FFmpeg in its products, to shift the workload of fixing vulnerabilities to unpaid volunteers.

That's capitalism, they need to quit their whinin…

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I hate ‘self-taught’. You’re not self-taught, you’re community taught. Self-taught is erasing all the work that allowed you to learn from freely available materials and people.

It’s a poor phrase for the idea that you are degreeless. And there’s nothing wrong with skipping formal educati…

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It is ironic that people so often “contrast” the rising popularity of the four-day school week with the relatively slow uptake of the four-day work week.

The four-day school week is driven ENTIRELY by teachers wanting shorter weeks. It’s a (arguably short-sighted) labor demand.

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Please don't act surprised that kids are using AI in college. Most are only there to get a degree in the hopes that they won't be forced to work for minimum wage for their entire life. Capitalism has turned higher education into a means to an end.

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The main issue I see is that papers are actually becoming so focussed on form that they are now unreadable. People prefer reading my blog for my papers than reading the papers themselves. In fact I hear people telling me they understood the blog _better_. The whole academic writing shtick has become…

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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 see…

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Burnout syndrome is considered by some to be a type of depression. But while depression begins with stress or fatigue or a large shock like an accident or a loss, burnout syndrome originates with the thought that all of one’s efforts were in vain. It strikes at a time when life is not turning out as…

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This is not talked about nearly enough, there are so many factors for being childless. I think there is a thought that if you “decide” not to have children that there is no grieving involved because of being lucky enough (biologically) to have a choice in the first place.

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Stories of people who find their own pace and direction, of people who believe in others and wait by their side as they go through difficult times, lost in worry. Stories of those who support others, who celebrate small efforts and resolve in a society that puts people – and everything about them – …

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A space we can escape to, a refuge from the intensity of daily life where we can’t even pause to take a breather. A space to shelter us from the harsh criticisms whipping us to do more, to go faster. A space to snuggle comfortably for a day. A day without something siphoning our energy, a day to rep…

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I had thought of work as stairs. Stairs to climb to reach the top. Now, I see work as food. Food that you need every day. Food that makes a difference to my body, my heart, my mental health, and my soul. There is food you just shove down your throat, and food that you eat with care and sincerity. I …

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