Sep 20, 2023
1:05 AM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

Since, alas, econtwitter.net is shutting down, this may be my last post here.

I'm off to zirk.us. (Thanks to @DontMindMe, who was kind enough to make me feel welcome!)

If all goes well, my follows and followers should come with me (but please find me @interfluidity@zirk.us if that doesn't happen!)

See you on the other side, I hope!

My econtwitter archive is available at interfluidity.com/microblog-ar

Prior fosstodon archive at interfluidity.com/microblog-ar

cc @jpkoning

Sep 19, 2023
10:48 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

i love badly computerized bureaucracies. i signed up in May for insurance with a company i'd occasionally used in the past. when i logged in, their site directed me to archival information about expired policies, with no access to the new one.

After multiple go rounds with their customer service—phone, webform—it seemed resolved. i could login.

but it turns out, the way they fixed the problem was to misspell my name in their system. today i noticed that, told them.

now i'm locked out again.

Sep 19, 2023
6:12 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

what if we have reached peak pique?

Sep 19, 2023
3:52 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

a good, very short post. earthmart.blogspot.com/2019/12

Sep 19, 2023
3:26 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

@jpkoning i'm not sure your piece addresses how ZCash is very different from base-layer protocols like ETH or BTC. with ETH/BTC, transactions can be pseudonymous, but they're public and so traceable with elbow grease. OFAC can sanction ZCash addresses all it wants, but for "shielded" transactions, they have no way to observe violations, let alone trace them.

there's reason to treat ZCash (maybe Monero) differently than ETH/BTC. That OFAC hasn't demands some explanation.

jpkoning.blogspot.com/2023/09/

Sep 19, 2023
9:02 AM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

how long until we invent artificial suffering?

Sep 18, 2023
11:19 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

a static site generator implemented in POSIX sh. git.acdw.net/vienna/

this person looks like fun. acdw.casa/

Sep 18, 2023
4:17 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

fascists work to divert your attention from the people who are robbing you to people they can make disgust you.

Sep 18, 2023
4:07 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

if you favor free speech, you should support smaller forums, with no employees subject to "hostage taking" by authoritarians in the name of global presence or reach.

cf @yoyoel nytimes.com/2023/09/18/opinion

Sep 18, 2023
3:33 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

a thing i didn't know, but now do (thanks to !), is that you can fetch an unmerged pull request from github like git fetch origin pull/2752/head (where '2752' is github's identifier for the pull request), and then checkout or even merge FETCH_HEAD to play with it.

Sep 17, 2023
6:44 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

TIL emacs has built-in tetris. my productive life is over.

Sep 17, 2023
2:59 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

if you don't regulate to prevent it, in many contexts the form of "merit" that will be selected for is organized viciousness.

Sep 17, 2023
2:27 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

[tech notebook entry] Taking control of podcasts via RSS tech.interfluidity.com/2023/09

Sep 16, 2023
1:57 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

"Against the Eugenicons" by compactmag.com/article/against via @adamserwer

Sep 16, 2023
1:34 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

"There is no great mystery as to why eugenics has exerted such a magnetic attraction on the wealthy. From god emperors, through the divine right of kings, to social Darwinism, the rich have always sought an uncontestable explanation for why they have so much more money and power than everyone else." @adamserwer theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/ ht @binaryphile @philipncohen

Sep 16, 2023
1:07 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

"My wife and I experienced it as a miracle drug for coughs and colds. A box cost 8€. Why is ambroxol not available in the US? A…review published by NIH…found it safe and effective. But no drugmaker has…sought FDA approval… Why not? [They] could not make enough money with a generic to justify the expense. It’s obviously crazy to require this laborious review process for a generic that has been widely used in Europe since 1978, but this is how our system works." prospect.org/blogs-and-newslet

Sep 16, 2023
11:45 AM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

how my child praises his food: “it’s good enough that i won’t puke it out.”

Sep 16, 2023
10:40 AM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

Why we need a much deeper state theatlantic.com/politics/archi cc @DetroitDan

On Gingrich's role:

Text: From the 1980s to the mid-1990s, congressional capacity flatlined. Then, when Newt Gingrich and the Republicans swept into power after being in the House minority for forty years, they decided that what Congtess really needed was less professional staff. Some of this was driven by a belief that such capacity allowed Congress to do too much, or that the staff was a third column of liberals pretending to be experts. Whatever the motivation, Gingrich cut committee staff by a third, reduced the legislative support staff by a third, and killed the Office of Technology Assessment. Historians differ on whether Gingrich was a successful speaker, and how deep his impact was on public policy. But his impact on Congress as an institution is unquestionable. The changes he wrought in the analytical capacity of Congress stuck, with staff levels still more or less at the level he helped cut them to. And this understates how durable the Gingrich-era reforms have been, since the flatlining of congressional capacity has happened at a time of exploding social complexity and lobbying demands. With staff numbers fixed and the demands on them increasing, the actual capacity of congressional staff to engage seriously with issues has gone down—and stayed down. Text: From the 1980s to the mid-1990s, congressional capacity flatlined. Then, when Newt Gingrich and the Republicans swept into power after being in the House minority for forty years, they decided that what Congtess really needed was less professional staff. Some of this was driven by a belief that such capacity allowed Congress to do too much, or that the staff was a third column of liberals pretending to be experts. Whatever the motivation, Gingrich cut committee staff by a third, reduced the legislative support staff by a third, and killed the Office of Technology Assessment. Historians differ on whether Gingrich was a successful speaker, and how deep his impact was on public policy. But his impact on Congress as an institution is unquestionable. The changes he wrought in the analytical capacity of Congress stuck, with staff levels still more or less at the level he helped cut them to. And this understates how durable the Gingrich-era reforms have been, since the flatlining of congressional capacity has happened at a time of exploding social complexity and lobbying demands. With staff numbers fixed and the demands on them increasing, the actual capacity of congressional staff to engage seriously with issues has gone down—and stayed down.
Sep 16, 2023
10:48 AM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

@DetroitDan A bit more on this by baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed

in reply to self
Sep 15, 2023
8:38 PM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

throwing stones will turn your house to glass.

Sep 15, 2023
11:02 AM
interfluidity
@interfluidity

it's amusing that, etymologically speaking, manufactured means hand-made.