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AlSweigart

@AlSweigart@mastodon.social

Author of "Automate the Boring Stuff with Python" and other programming books. Mostly harmless. he/him

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

AlSweigart , to random
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I'm looking to hire someone to redesign the http://automatetheboringstuff.com site. I want a lightweight site that uses static files, has a clean look like Wikipedia, without React or animated nonsense. Boring is good.

Any recommendations? Any advice on how to hire a web designer?

AlSweigart , to random
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Pro-tip: dish washing detergent is a really basic chemical.

Just buy the absolute cheapest powder kind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHP942Livy0

AlSweigart , to random
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There's only one industry in modern capitalism:

Selling hot tubs to frogs.

PallasRiot , to random
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[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

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    AlSweigart ,
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    @PallasRiot I find this believable: social media is fairly easy to quit when I have some new thing that takes my focus.

    AlSweigart , to random
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    My PyTexas 2024 talk on scroll art, an artistic way for beginners to get into coding, is up on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyKUBXJLL50

    AlSweigart , to random
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    On this date in 1856, John Brown and a group of militant abolitionists killed 5 pro-slavery settlers in Kansas.

    This was in response to a violent attack on the city of Lawrence by pro-slavery terrorists. It became part of what was later known as Bleeding Kansas.

    AlSweigart , to random
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    What's funny about the "put glue on pizza" advice from Google AI is that that screenshot could have easily been faked... but you can't prove the AI didn't make this recommendation.

    AlSweigart , to random
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    CAPITALISM: Competition ensures that companies are constantly striving to offer superior products at lower prices.

    ACTUAL CAPITALISM:

    AlSweigart , to random
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    "Go slow and fix things."

    peterfr , to random
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    you are a genius mister @pluralistic

    AlSweigart ,
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    @pluralistic @peterfr I half expected the Audible sample to just be 30 seconds of modem noises.

    AlSweigart , to random
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    What is your honest, first gut reaction to hearing someone describe themselves as a "digital artist"? (Feel free to PM me if you don't want to reply publicly.)

    AlSweigart , to random
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    Hey, did you realize you could play chess online (or really, any board game with any number of people) with Google Slides? Just invite them to edit the slidedeck:

    AlSweigart , to random
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    I've added color schemes to my Scroll Art website. Here's the "test tube" color scheme:

    Check it out yourself in the browser and also look at the other scroll art pieces on the website: https://scrollart.org/static/diamond-sky-fullscreen.html

    AlSweigart , to random
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    I'm in NYC and I visited Penn Station today. It's a good metaphor for America because it's new and shiny and recently remodeled but everyone is sitting on the floor because benches would attract homeless people.

    AlSweigart , to random
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    "Scroll art" is a form of program-generated ASCII art that beginners can do in any language with minimal knowledge that creates something cooler than interest rate payments. I've collected a few examples online here: https://scrollart.org

    AlSweigart , to random
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    "Scroll art" is a form of program-generated ASCII art that beginners can do in any language with minimal knowledge that creates something cooler than interest rate payments. I've collected a few examples online here: https://scrollart.org

    AlSweigart , to random
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    Suffragetto was a board game published around 1908 where two teams, "women" and "police", vie to move past each others blockades.

    Just in case if you were wondering if riots for social justice was anything new.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffragetto

    AlSweigart , to random
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    I've had this exact same thought with those ipads at airport restaurants that force you to order with your credit card.

    https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/02/vending-machine-error-reveals-secret-face-image-database-of-college-students/

    AlSweigart , to random
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    If you have union organizing experience, I'd like your consult. I'm creating a mod for Stardew Valley that adds a storyline where the JojaMart workers form a union. Details in this slide deck:

    https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1f8-L0c2Bas6fzTsbney-DIXEm672kJcHlcqgkm2tYCA/edit?usp=sharing

    epidiah , to random
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    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

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    AlSweigart ,
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    @epidiah It's a pure-OOP language, except for the primitive types. And the final static classes, which do the same thing as modules. Also, don't forget that == is the equality operator but it doesn't work on String objects, which are not primitive types but do have literals.

    AlSweigart ,
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    @epidiah I spent a long time thinking, "This is so confusing, or is Java a poorly-designed language?" before realizing that Java is a poorly-designed language.

    But it was better than C++ at the time.

    AlSweigart , to random
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    Do I know anyone who knows anyone who does union organizing work, especially initial organizing at new workplaces?

    I'd like to create a Stardew Valley mod in which the JojaMart employees form a union. It's a fictional video game, but I'd like it to serve as a plausibly realistic demonstration/how-to guide. I'd like some guidance on what the experience is like.

    AlSweigart , to random
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    Retired software engineer and national treasure K Lars Lohn uses math and some Python code to track an irritating early morning booming noise that was waking the community: https://www.twobraids.com/2024/01/air-cannon.html

    AlSweigart , to random
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    I found this about cats using toilets:

    "I trained my cat to do this. I can only urge you to not do this as well. My cat associated the smell of drains with a place to piss and shit. Any sink. The bathtub. She once hopped into the dishwasher and pissed in it. Then without noticing we ran it. When the dishwasher finishes the door automatically opens and hot steamy piss clouds are released. Teaching your cat to use the toilet is wrong and you will be punished for your hubris. Turn back."

    AlSweigart , to random
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    I use the same copy of Photoshop CS 6 that I've had for two decades because it works. But it doesn't run on modern macOS and I'm afraid Windows will follow suit. What should I use instead? Gimp? Something else? (Please only respond if you have personal experience with the software, not just stuff you heard about.)

    AlSweigart , to random
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    If you're self-employed in America, your IRS estimated tax payment is due today.

    epidiah , (edited ) to random
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    30 years ago, I had a CD player that played CDs when you put the CDs in and pushed play. It was awesome.

    Now I have a laptop with orders of magnitude more computing power than what was needed to orchestrate the moon landing. I put a CD in it and it takes 5 minutes to figure out what just happened.

    Any sufficiently advanced technology will render the technology of the past indistinguishable from magic.

    [This is starting to flood my notifications, so I'm just going to mute it. Have fun folks!]

    AlSweigart ,
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    @epidiah A couple months ago I bought a basic record player to digitize my parents' small vinyl collection. It has an automatic start and stop feature. I put the record on and press play and it plays a bunch of songs.

    Record players are great. I get it now.

    AlSweigart ,
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    @epidiah "...on a sesame seed bun."

    AlSweigart , to random
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    Republicans are all Nazis and Nazi sympathizers and we will eventually have to deal with them as such.

    AlSweigart , to random
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    I really like https://svg-tutorial.com/ as a nice, low-stress way to learn SVG. It's made me realize how much SVG is sort of like how Descartes married algebra and geometry. SVG is a neato system of tying together text syntax into graphics. I kind of already knew this, but it wasn't until I started typing the SVG out myself that I appreciated it.

    It's giving me ideas for programming tutorials.

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