Notes

◉ 31 Jul 2025 @ 17:18:33

Providing an LLM a streamlined, but overall complete initial prompt is vital not to get perplexing answers. It will also greatly diminish the possibility of having the model astraying away, diluting the results. Though I believe this applies to all models, SaaS or local, it is specifically important when using local models, as processing and memory are more finite.

◉ 31 Jul 2025 @ 15:50:00

When we visited New York, we went to The Met. Ever since, and every once in a while, I get an email from them offering me membership. I would love to be a paying member, but what good is it to me, if I am near 1,000 miles away from it?

🛠️ 31 Jul 2025 @ 15:40:33

I have added the ability to use emoji as a note marker. For example, this one has a hammer and wrench emoji. It’s simply an entry on the front matter of the note. I will not abuse it, but I think it is going to be useful. If ends up not to be, removing it will be pretty simple, thanks to sed.

◉ 31 Jul 2025 @ 13:31:23

To speed up browsing on Chrome—yes, only available on Chrome at the moment—simply add these lines somewhere between your website’s <head>. Allegedly it provides “a near-instant loading experience”.

<script type="speculationrules">
  {
    "prerender": [{ "where": { "href_matches": "/*" }, "eagerness": "moderate" }],
    "prefetch": [{ "where": { "href_matches": "/*" }, "eagerness": "moderate" }]
  }
</script>

➝ Via Hacker News.

◉ 31 Jul 2025 @ 07:16:56

I mowed the lawn yesterday. Started at 16:00, and by 16:30 I had taken four breaks, and drank 5 bottles of water. I had to call it quits. The heat was truly unbearable; I thought I was going to faint. Waited until 19:30, and it was so much easier! Mental note: during summer, mow the lawn in the evenings.

◉ 30 Jul 2025 @ 08:10:20

Came across a static site (like this one) using Webmention, and got reminded of Pingback and TrackBack. There are also comments which are, arguably, more direct. I want none of it.

◉ 29 Jul 2025 @ 07:23:32

Last Friday I saw “Limitless” (★★★★) with the kid. It is a relatively old movie (2011), starring Bradley Cooper, and Robert De Niro. First time I saw it, I can watch it again. Imagine been mentally limitless!

◉ 28 Jul 2025 @ 13:46:17

After sharing with a friend my step count for the last two weeks, and telling him that “the heat here has been excruciatingly punishing”, and because of it my daily step count has decreased to a laughable number, and that I was trying to compensate by working standing up for hours to no end, but still felt guilty about it, he replied:

“It’s a bit slack but with the heat, what can you do!?”

😂 Isn’t he the best friend?

◉ 27 Jul 2025 @ 17:47:20

From Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugural address, 20 January 1937, as ever present today as always.

“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

◉ 26 Jul 2025 @ 18:45:37

The State of Florida is backwards in many ways. One of the many things, trash bins. The one for garbage has a green lid, while the one for recycle has a blue lid. Doesn’t make sense, right?

◉ 25 Jul 2025 @ 12:46:09

As seeing in a picture a family member sent, after we were chatting—in the family group—about how the Grim Reaper was so busy lately. “Well, not busier than Quynh, but almost!”, to which she replied with the image of a coffe mug with the following written in it:

Re-tired
(adj.)
I was tired yesterday, and I’m tired again today.

Update: 25 Jul 2025 @ 13:57:54

I should have noted that the “well, not busier than Quynh…” was messaged because she has been very inactive in the group lately. 😂

◉ 25 Jul 2025 @ 07:39:28

Got invited to a warband raid yesterday, in Diablo Immortal. Afterwards got an invite to their clan. Upon joining, a warm welcome ~~instructed~~ encouraged me to join their Discord channel. Then, and only then, they started to lose me. There is no other technology I dislike more than Discord. Also, it is a game, to entertain me a little, not a job.

◉ 25 Jul 2025 @ 07:24:52

Re: Claudrod #1753427623

“Another day, another protein smoothie with blueberries and papaya!!!!111”

Wish I could have one of those right now, and not this lame coffee (it doesn’t even has cream today, because I ran out of it), Claud! Oh, and happy Friday everyone! 🙈

◉ 25 Jul 2025 @ 07:16:51

“You’re in your prime earning years”, reads the ad. It continues, “Is your retirement plan account keeping up with you?”. Oh, darling, how little do you know me! You’ve been flattering me all along, telling me sweet little lies, assuring me you know me. Lies! Prime years, psst. As if!

◉ 24 Jul 2025 @ 15:12:51

Yes, alone in our galaxy. No one else but us. All we have is our family, our friends, our neighbours, our fellow citizens, our equal human beings. Why can’t we all get along? Why can’t we care about each other? Seriously.

◉ 24 Jul 2025 @ 14:48:01

Pretty hilarious short story of a conversation of two intelligent beings about, well, meat!

“Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you getting the picture?”

This part hit home for me, funny or not. Yes, it is supposed to be funny, yet it is also sad. After closing their case on the Solar System, they decided to visit a “rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence” nearby who, apparently, “wants to be friendly again”. “They always come around”, says one of them. To which the other replies:

“And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the Universe would be if one were all alone…”

US, that’s us.

◉ 24 Jul 2025 @ 11:36:28

I have heard over and over that “you can eat whatever you want, as long as you burn it through exercise”. Well, well, well, another fallacy.

“We can’t outrun a bad diet. Pontzer says if we want to tackle obesity, the public health message should focus on changing what’s on our plates.”

◉ 23 Jul 2025 @ 08:15:36

Not long ago I mentioned SecretDrop. On the same cryptography/encryption topic, I have also found FileKey, and its GitHub repository, which I think is very neat. It is also pretty simple to selfhost.

◉ 21 Jul 2025 @ 20:15:58

I haven’t had this much fun on a Home Owners Association (HOA) meeting in a long while. What’s making it super amussing is that our community manager is so clueless! Like she is moving in slow motion. 😅😂 Bless her heart!

◉ 21 Jul 2025 @ 14:50:19

Spotted while walking on my 10 minutes break this afternoon. A dumpster cage with the gate clearly, and boldly labeled, “Please Keep the Gate Closed”. It was fully open. Utter disregard. Not even a please does the job these days.

◉ 20 Jul 2025 @ 20:28:29

Just finished watching “The Notebook” (★★★★½) with the kid. It is the third time I watch it, I believe. The second time I watch it with him. It gets me a knot in my throat every time.

◉ 20 Jul 2025 @ 10:12:23

Blue hasn’t dropped a note/thought since May 2025, and I am starting to worry. I don’t know them, I simply care. Can’t help it.

◉ 18 Jul 2025 @ 17:04:20

We recently replaced our very old, dilapidated, non-stick “teflon” frying pan with a ceramic one, and oh boy, let me tell you: it sure is getting the “royal” treatment! Conscientious cleaning after each use, with soft sponge, and immediate drying. It has its own spot, no other pan on top. I mean, I wish I was a new frying pan, for sure!

◉ 18 Jul 2025 @ 16:11:46

Found a co-worker that thinks likes me when it comes to Fridays. “Is it Friday already? Oh gosh, two more days and it’s back to the office!” 😅

◉ 18 Jul 2025 @ 13:03:28

The Em Dash has responded to the “if your writing has em dashes, it was AI generated” new fad.

I would like to address the recent slander circulating on social media, in editorial Slack channels, and in the margins of otherwise decent Substack newsletters. Specifically, the baseless, libelous accusation that my usage is a telltale sign of artificial intelligence.

➝ Via McSweeney’s.

◉ 18 Jul 2025 @ 12:24:41

With new capabilities come new dangers. The safety team finds that if Agent-2 somehow escaped from the company and wanted to “survive” and “replicate” autonomously, it might be able to do so. That is, it could autonomously develop and execute plans to hack into AI servers, install copies of itself, evade detection, and use that secure base to pursue whatever other goals it might have (though how effectively it would do so as weeks roll by is unknown and in doubt). These results only show that the model has the capability to do these tasks, not whether it would “want” to do this. Still, it’s unsettling even to know this is possible.

➝ Via ai-2027.com.

◉ 18 Jul 2025 @ 07:51:52

I am going to disconnect from the Fediverse next. I figure that will make me an online anti-social, no? It is the last social media in which I participate mostly as a lurker, with some ocassional posts, and replies. Yet, I have found my very few interactions to be often missunderstood. Again, it could be a me problem, so better take it out.

◉ 17 Jul 2025 @ 20:23:23

It has been over a month since Google revamped Snapseed and, though I am fine with the changes—many people aren’t—I am getting a bit tired of seeing updates almost every week, with no changes on the changelog; that is, the changelog has been the same since it was revamped.

You might notice some new things sprouting around here. Not only did we freshen up the app to help make editing a breeze, but we also swat away some pesky bugs for a smoother experience. Oh, and remember to give the new film filters a try for some sweet, vintage looks. As always, these are free of charge.

Yes, we know, now, quit it! Geez!

◉ 17 Jul 2025 @ 17:18:45

MacPaint art from the mid-80s.

Coming across a few MacPaint arts from the mid-1980s brought me a lot of memories, even though I saw them in the early 1990s. I remember vividly when I got my very first Mac around that time (Performa 575) at Sears. Over $2,000.

➝ Via Decryption.

◉ 17 Jul 2025 @ 15:29:23

Hashing known_hosts is a good idea, as it reduces the amount of information an attacker will collect, if/when (ha!) your machine gets compromised. Usually, a line on the known_hosts file looks like this:

less ~/.ssh/known_hosts
...
tilde.team ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAID1zw6+VOW8L4Rr3swbUVju3GGcknaV/fyhSJwH7NLfu
...

After running ssh-keygen -H it will look like this:

less ~/.ssh/known_hosts
...
|1|c6NiIH06AidrkPUman0oPEx6+6Y=|rPhYjXlkLgYaNR8jwaNMy7mur4I= ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIJsJP1XDyRhEPdtgBeXYm2hf4GKG9aLlqA1+ZPgBadbl
...

That’s it! Oh, and don’t forget to add to your ~/.ssh/config the following, so that future entries are hashed as well:

Host *
	HashKnownHosts yes

★ 16 Jul 2025 @ 14:24:36

The worries of a parent never end. First one worries about been able to provide. Then one worries about them (children) been able to succeed. I see both worries as equally important. It reminds me how I feel when it comes to responsibility.

◉ 15 Jul 2025 @ 13:13:25

Started using Zen web browser at work, because Google, in their infinite wisdom, decided to deprecate a ton of widely used extensions from Chrome. So far Zen is doing its thing, and doing it well.

◉ 15 Jul 2025 @ 10:30:17

Co-workers were talking about that huge storm the other night. They were saying it felt worse than our last hurricane. I was stumped! There was no storm near my house, and I even went out to water partner’s plants, because “they were thirsty”—her own words. Then partner called me to tell me about the storm. We did had a storm, and it was something out of this world, she said. Constant lightning, and thundering, and lots of rain (late night). And… I slept through it all! 😅

◉ 14 Jul 2025 @ 13:36:46

456 didn’t deserve to die. Many others didn’t deserve to die, but 456 especially didn’t. I need a Wellness Center. I need Ms. Casey.

◉ 12 Jul 2025 @ 19:36:39

Jo Yu-ri, number 222 on “Squid Game” season 3.

We are watching “Squid Game” season 3, which has been good, so far—I will wait until we’ve watched all episodes to rate. My favourite is 222 (careful, that link has spoilers!). My second favourite is 149.

Update: 17 Jul 2025 @ 07:10:05

I am ready to rate “Squid Game” season 3 (★★★★) now. It was entertaining, albeit sometimes too slow. I found season 1, and 2, to be better.

◉ 12 Jul 2025 @ 19:25:31

As I paid almost three times more for a tiny grocery shopping this evening, I felt grateful that at least they were harvested, and made by real American, patriotic, heterosexual, white, christian workers, and not illegal immigrants. 🇺🇸

◉ 11 Jul 2025 @ 09:12:16

First there was Jekyll, then there was Hugo (which I use), with many others in between. Now it seems Astro is the latest kid in the block. Beautiful stuff can be done with it, if you don’t mind, and/or know, JavaScript. I might be too old for it.

◉ 11 Jul 2025 @ 08:55:43

Musk has confirmed that its Grok AI (version 4) is coming to Teslas “next week at the latest”. I don’t want it. I wouldn’t want Musk in my car, neither.

◉ 11 Jul 2025 @ 08:09:37

If a company follows what other company is doing, and uses that other company as a template almost to the dot, they are no “leaders”. They can’t flaunt innovation. They are followers, who imitate, and copy.

◉ 10 Jul 2025 @ 15:24:59

“Man Afraid to Ride Subway Named Head of NASA”, reads the Rolling Stone headline, when referring to the man (Sean Duffy) which our president has picked to lead NASA as its interim administrator. It concludes, and I kid you not:

“Meanwhile, let’s hope Duffy (who’s afraid to hop on the 6 train) is ready to take on a government agency that has launched humans to the moon and probes to interstellar space.”