Journal

127 entries under "article"

Thursday, December 7, 2023

How Close Is That Photo to the Truth? What to Know in the Age of AI

[The camera’s photon sensor converts light into pixel data and makes guesses about how much red, green, and blue to represent in each one.]

[Breaking up the image into multiple frames helps better represent shadows and skies while reducing noise.]

[Cameras make choices about how to make photos more vivid or different skin colors better represented, and decide how to store them for maximum compression.]

More Money For Better Open-Source Software

I am going to emphasize, in the docs, the license file, and the communication surrounding the project, that free-loading is not socially acceptable. Along with this, I will provide convenient mechanisms to donate. The code of financial conduct would be something like this:

  • If you are a non-commercial user, don’t worry about it.
  • If I fix a bug you reported or add a feature you wanted and you have the financial means, a one-time tip is much appreciated. Even if this is unlikely to add up to serious money, it takes the one-sidedness out of the process of responding to user requests.
  • If you are extracting value from your use of my software, set up a proportional monthly donation.

The monthly part is the important thing here. Having to periodically beg a user base to please contribute to a donation drive again is a drag, and not very effective. Convincing users to donate as long as they get value from the software gives a maintainer a more or less predictable, low-maintenance source of compensations for their work.

Thursday, November 30, 2023

The German prefix “zer-” is a tiny Terminator.

legen: to lay zerlegen: to destroy

teilen: to share, to split zerteilen: to destoy

siedeln: to settle zersiedeln: to destroy (by settling)

setzen: to set zersetzen: to destroy (by corrosion)

drücken: to press, to squeeze zerdrücken: to destroy (by squeezing)

Zerjoy our language!

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Using all flavours of Solid

Whereas classically we think of the situation where a user interacts with one identity provider, one storage provider, and multiple applications, recent experiments in practice have moved more towards also using multiple storage providers linked to a single identity.

There is an example app called Projectron which is mentioned throughout the Solid Application Interoperability spec and which can be used to track projects and issues; a first step would be to make this app compatible with the SolidOS Issue tracker, so that issues created through Solid OS will “magically” show up when you open Projectron.

Problems and Goals for Interoperability, Collaboration, and Security in a Solid Pod

Applications must have a shared understanding of data

Data must be discoverable.

Data must be durable.

Data must be portable.

Problem #3 - Disparate entities using different applications must be able to safely and effectively interoperate within their scope of authorization

Problem #4 - People shouldn’t need to think about how to physically organize their data to use Solid.

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

moleza

After eating a rich and filling tapioca, I sat satisfied, staring into space. The woman who cooked it saw me and asked if it ‘deu uma moleza?’.

Friday, November 24, 2023

My name changed from Yasin to Jack. A/B test it.

[I got 0 interviews with my real name Yasin, but by using the name Jack, 40% gave me interviews and over 70% gave me offers. I took one of those offers and was Jack for over a year!]

Sunday, November 12, 2023

Principles for sharing on the Internet

[Your opinion has more credibility the better you can argue against your own points.]

[Social media systematically pushes you to ideological extremes.]

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Callings & Roles for Collective Liberation | Slow Factory 🌍

Abolitionist, favors the end of forced labor and carceral punishment

Advocate, holds a cause or series of causes to heart and carries them to justice

Analyst, applies critical and systemic thinking, maps methods to understand issues

Architect, plans, and designs new structures for collective liberation

Artist, inspires people to be in touch with their humanity

Communicator, tells stories and touch the soul of millions of people

Designer, works in service to create for collective liberation

Developer, contracts and supervizes the building of new structures

Engineer, invents designs, analyzes, builds and tests complex systems & machines

Healer, heals intergenerational wounds and provides a path forward

Inventor, invents a particular process, system, culture or device that are good for people & planet

Luminary, inspires people to rise beyond their expectations

Negotiator, comes to an agreement with someone else in favor of the collective

Problem Solver, engineers tangible solutions to real life problems

Researcher, carries out academic, scientific, or investigative research

Scientist, has expert knowledge of one or more of the natural or physical sciences

Strategist, skilled in planning action or policy especially in climate crisis, war or politics

Trouble Maker, isn’t afraid to ruffle some feathers

Visionary, receives downloads from the Universe to guide people

Writer, writes books, stories, poetry, films, TV shows, articles, Op-Eds for new paradigms

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

What Great Listeners Actually Do - A Visual Guide

[A good listener bounces ideas like a trampoline rather than absorbing like a sponge.]

[Good listeners: 1) ask questions that promote discovery and insight; 2) cultivate spaces to promote self-esteem; 3) challenge or disagree cooperatively, without making others defensive; 4) suggest open alternative paths in the conversation.]

[Levels of listening: 1) create a discussion environment safely; 2) remove distractions; 3) understand the substance and clarify or confirm with questions; 4) observe nonverbal cues, which may make up 80% of the conversation; 5) empathize with emotions about the topic; 6) gently encourage and help them to see the issue in another light.]

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Jojoba oil

Hydrate skin without blocks.

Monday, October 9, 2023

Critique, The Internet, and You

[Offer critique only when you understand: 1) is it for you?; 2) under what conditions was it created?; 3) who is your audience? 4) what are your goals?. Important not to misalign by simply sharing whether you ’like’ it, or by complaining that “your seafood is bad because I don’t like seafood”.]

The Art of Documentation

[Note the context for when something is relevant so that it can be easily removed when things change.]

[Use git commit messages to document the reasoning behind certain changes.]

So you have to do a layoff.

[Do it only once, not in multiple rounds. Consider salary reductions instead (also only once), accompanied by lower labor expectations. Be very direct without trying to lighten the mood. Management signed up for this.]

Monday, October 2, 2023

The Oxymoron of “Data-Driven Innovation”

[What we label ‘visionary’ from the past was often an effort to center needs of the marginalized. At that time, as the privileged were unserved in ways similar those at the margins, making an app or internet product was an example of ‘building those with special needs improves it for everyone’. But it isn’t visionary any longer when privileged people do it because they’re already marginalized. The ‘data-driven’ development popular today tends to favour majorities, and thus consistently results in bland, incrementalist ideas not serving the marginalized.]

[‘Do it for yourself’ fell out of fashion because white cis men weren’t getting visionary ideas that way. The potential is still there if the doer is a marginalized voice.]

We gotta get over this idea that we’re being mensches by handing over our stolen power to unworthy or inexperienced charity cases. No. Marginalized people out-qualify mainstream existing leadership on injecting vision because only their perspectives can deliver a visionary product in an industry already optimized for mainstream perspectives.

What do we do with the Twitter-shaped hole in the internet

[Prefering ‘accounts’ to ‘users’ enables people to compensate for shortcomings of the system when organizing their interests.]

Saturday, September 30, 2023

The Bio-Emotive Framework: An Escape from the Hell of Unprocessed Emotions

[NEDERA: Notice when emotionally activated; Experince the emotion; Differentiate by finding the words that best describe what you’re feeling; Express by speaking it out loud; Resonate by allowing any body changes as a result; Resolve through crying; Act and update to create any boundaries needed around what provoked you.]

We Don’t Sell Saddles Here

[By focusing promotion less on a specific product and more on compelling future outcomes, you can become a go to point for the larger activity or lifestyle and be perfectly positioned to point towards what your business offers: for example, Lululemon selling yoga, the ACME Saddle company selling horseback riding, designer brands selling desirability, Nike selling success…]

[When offering something people have no references for, or that they don’t know they want, copy needs to be framed not in terms of simply features but outcomes that speak to where the customer is. Doing a better job providing what customers want goes hand-in-hand with communicating that as well as possible. It’s imperative to eliminate every little thing that could get in the way of a fluid experience, because the person using this already has too much to deal with and now they have to learn your random piece of software.]

[No points for features if they don’t squarely address the larger purpose.]

Every bit of grace, refinement, and thoughtfulness on our part will pull people along. Every petty irritation will stop them and give the impression that it is not worth it.

Saturday, September 16, 2023

‘Toragesic’ is a brand of Brazilian back pain medication recommended by my therapist. I took sublingual tablets; was pretty fast and effective; tried to use it while also resting (not stressing or working during recovery) and I usually was normal after a few days. Some information in Portuguese from tuasaude.com and less in English from rxreasoner.com and drugs.com

Category is ‘anti-inflamatorio analgésico’ (translation I guess is ‘Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug’)

Active ingredient is ’trometamol cetorolaco’ (translation Ketorolac tromethamine)

Saturday, July 22, 2023

The unconference toolbox

Create a way for people to keep up the discussion after. Start a group chat, promote a mailing list, or plan a dinner after the event.