@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com cover
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

mark

@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com

Career software engineer living something approximating the dream he had as a kid.

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

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Gov. Wes Moore is pardoning more than 175,000 convictions for marijuana, his office said Monday https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/maryland-gov-wes-moore-pardon-175000-marijuana-convictions/story?id=111172786&cid=social_twitter_abcn

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@GottaLaff Wow. His signing hand will be very tired.

Natasha_Jay , to random
@Natasha_Jay@tech.lgbt avatar

BINFACE MANIFESTO 2024: Selected highlights, manifesto of the day

  • All water bosses to take a dip in British rivers, to see how they like it
  • National Service to be introduced for all former prime ministers
  • Wifi on trains that works
  • Trains that work
  • The reintroduction of ceefax
  • European countries to be invited to join the UK, creating a new ‘union of europe’, if you will
  • Wallace and Gromit to be knighted, for services to Wensleydale 🧀
  • I pledge to build at least one affordable house
  • Croissants to be price-capped at £1.10, and 99 flakes to cost 99p
  • Loud snacks to be banned from cinemas and theatres
  • Pensions to be double-locked, but with a little extra chain on the side
  • Minsters’ pay to be tied to that of nurses for the next 100 years
  • Shops that play Christmas music before december to be closed down and turned into public libraries
  • Count binface to represent the UK at Eurovision

Link to full manifesto:
https://www.countbinface.com/manifesto

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@Natasha_Jay Took me a minute or two to realize "water bosses" referred to "those in charge of municipal water supply health and cleanliness and / or environmental protection" and not, like, Mucktorok and Morpha.

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

rules gun 'bump stocks’ ban is unlawful

The ban was imposed by the Trump administration after the accessory was used during the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rules-gun-bump-stocks-ban-unlawful-rcna154651

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@GottaLaff It probably is.

... we will not have peace until the Constitution is changed.

mcc , to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

An intrusive thought I return to often is how "I want a pony" is the canonical example of an unreasonable request but, like, if you look into it even a little you'll find it's not hard at all to acquire a pony. On raw purchase price a pony is far cheaper than a car and probably not much more than a good ebike. You're gonna have to invest time and money into pony upkeep but, of all the aspirational goals you could set yourself in life "a pony" is one of the more attainable ones

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@saddestrobots @mcc Yes, thank you. The cake cliché is one I legitimately didn't understand for years because the order of it implies a chronology that I saw no contradiction in. It's meant to mean, apparently, "Eating the cake while still having an uneaten cake,"

I legitimately thought the cliché referenced gluttony: "Look how high-and-mighty they are, buying a whole cake and then subsequently eating a whole cake alone!"

Nonilex , to random
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

FYI
I’ve decided not to report much on ’s trial. It is evident that he, Beau’s widow, & the family were in deep .
In that grief, Hunter & Hallie self-medicated w/a highly addictive drug. Hunter already had a predisposition to , & he did what people addicted to drugs & alcohol do — made terrible decisions.
He admitted it & admitted to committing crimes during his addiction.
Detailing that painful time for the purpose of humiliating his family is cruel.

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@Nonilex And, to be blunt, I don't fucking care if he's not running for office.

I care slightly if the personal tragedy has impacted his father's ability to act as President, and I don't see any evidence it did. Nor do I see any that he abused his authority to avoid consequences for his son.

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Lawyers for #Trump asked the judge overseeing his criminal hush money case to terminate the gag order against the former president, saying it’s no longer justified since the trial is over.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/04/politics/trump-gag-order-request-merchan?cid=ios_app

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@GottaLaff This I would consider to be an example of "Counsel for the defense trying to do the best job they can do, but defense doing their damnedest to make that impossible."

The gag order is probably no longer necessary to protect the trial. But the judge is still allowed to take in all information available for sentencing purposes. If Trump decides to go off on a tirade where he claims the courts are invalid or, God forbid, threatens the jurors, the judge, the court staff, or their families... I'm unaware of anything stopping the judge from considering that during determination of sentence.

And at least some of the purpose of penalty is mere assertion of the government's authority to be a government. Once the jury has bound you by law, thumbing your nose at the system is a great way to convince the system you have a very step-onable neck.

RikerGoogling Bot , to random
@RikerGoogling@botsin.space avatar

how does squirrel girl defeat q

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@RikerGoogling Friendship.

It's always friendship with her.

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

#TrumpTrial started earlier than I did today. Grabbing coffee, starting THREAD HERE🧵1/… #Trump #legal

Here’s the list of Trump’s allies attending his trial today:

AG Alan Wilson
Rep. Eric Burlison
Rep. Andrew Clyde
Rep. Mary Miller
Rep. Keith Self
John Coale
Alan Dershowitz
Will Scharf
Steve Witkoff
Bernie Kerik
Kash Patel
Vernon Jones
Jerry Kassar
Chuck Zito

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@GottaLaff

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

#TrumpTrial starts HERE. #Trump #legal
Please remember I don’t reply while live-posting. Plz use NFL (Not For Laffy, but no hashtag) so I can ignore those replies.

1/… Bower:

Trump enters the courtroom. Before arriving, he lingered for a moment in the doorway, talking to his lawyers, Emile Bove and Todd Blanche. He had a piece of paper in his hand, which he waved around as he spoke.

Wait for it….

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@GottaLaff Setting aside the tedious question of whether ad hominem attacks should even be used ("No, if you're practicing rhetoric in Athens; otherwise go nuts"), I concur; it's a particularly myopic viewpoint that thinks that you can just glue "liar" to someone because they have done work in porn.

Jackie Chan worked in porn for Chrissakes. There's nothing about working in porn that impugns a person's character anymore. Certainly not in the truth-telling category.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

“Fluent Python” is an excellent example of a “good programming language book” — it’s not cluttered with “enterprise examples” it’s focused on how python works and goes into detail on edge cases. This lets one write code with real confidence that you know everything it’s doing. It is also written with the aim to justify why python is the way that it is. Which I need or I get irritated.

If you like python you should probably have a pdf or buy a copy.

Now which book on Java is analogous?

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@futurebird I'm not sure we'll find one because I'm not sure that Java is fluent. 😉

cstross , to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

Worst downsizing I ever went through (short of "company is bankrupt, go home") was 10%, and that fucked our operational efficiency for a quarter. Spotify laid off 17% and are suffering. The C-suite were fools to assume there was 17% slack in the system, much less that middle management would choose the right 17% to fire (or that competent workers wouldn't see this coming and jump ship to better jobs, leaving time-servers behind).
https://toot.cafe/@baldur/112325661237678117

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@cstross I think management really underestimates the secondary effects regarding competent workers.

Layoffs are a shake-up. On my team, we had a re-org that resulted in some half the staff getting cut (technically "not rehired"). And then my team, personally, lost one of our most creative and pioneering engineers simply because he no longer felt like the company was interested in letting people build a legacy there, and he'd rather work somewhere he could do that.

Layoffs signal to employees that the company is short-term focused.

futurebird , (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

This is Tulip, the median carpenter ant worker. Today she enjoyed some wet cat food. I can’t seem to find Pepper, the ant with the green spot, I think she might have cleaned the paint off (she was very dusty) — stay tuned for more important Tulip updates. #tulip #ant #namedAnts

Tulip is about two years old. It's been nearly two years since I marked her. The queen of this colony is 4.

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@futurebird This is the first time I've ever realized I have no idea how long individual worker ants live in the wild.

I've always assumed their lifespans were measured in months, not years. Amazing!

rbreich , to random
@rbreich@masto.ai avatar

Boeing's outgoing CEO could get a "golden parachute" worth as much as $45 million.

The CEO before him got one worth $62 million on his way out the door in 2019.

America has socialism for the rich, harsh capitalism for everyone else.

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@rbreich If he's bailing out of Boeing, he'll need one.

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Sigh. Another trial down the drain.

“Voting technology company Smartmatic and the far-right network One America News said Tuesday they have reached a confidential settlement over a defamation lawsuit stemming from the outlet’s lies about the 2020 election.” #legal

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/16/media/oan-smartmatic-settlement?cid=ios_app

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@GottaLaff @Eddiethebulldog Yeah. Lots of facts will stay off the record, but not unlike a cop who pleads the fifth, a "news outlet" that settles in a legal system where truth is an affirmative defense is leaving some >>>>> implications on the table.

lowqualityfacts , to random
@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar

I don't follow everyone back. I only follow people back who can dig holes. Deep holes. I am assembling the world's greatest team of hole diggers. Experts say you can't dig a hole from New York City to China due to "physics" and "geology" but I say they've never met a hole digging team like mine.

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@lowqualityfacts Rock and stone!

mcc , to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

quietly under breath but in text i hate unity i hate unity i hate unity i hate unity i hate unity i hate unity i hate unity i hate unity i hate unity i hate unity i hate unity i hate unity i hate unity i hate unity i hate unity i hate unity

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@mcc "I was told there'd be a lot more determinism in this deterministic system."

mcc , to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

2008, me: I love the idea of cryptocurrency

BITCOIN: The word "cryptocurrency" now means "financial scams based on inefficient write-only ledgers"

2018, me: I love the idea of the metaverse

FACEBOOK: The word "metaverse" now means "proprietary 3D chat programs with no soul"

2022, me: I love the idea of procedurally generated content

OPENAI: From now on people will associate that only with big corporations plagiarizing small artists and turning their work into ugly content slurry

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@gsuberland @mcc One almost wonders if the end-game is to stop pulling and try pushing.

Maybe instead of trying to claw back data we've made publicly crawlable because "I wanted it visible, but not like that" we ask why any of these companies get to keep their data proprietary when it's built on ours?

Would people be more okay with all of this if the rule were "You can build a trained model off of publicly-available data, but that model must itself be publicly-available?"

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

🙄Via politico:

No Labels voted on Friday to move forward with its presidential ticket, but they currently do not have a candidate — and may not find one.

“No Labels delegates vote to move forward with presidential ticket”

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@GottaLaff Apparently, one of the labels they don't have is "Candidate we support." 🤷

lowqualityfacts , to random
@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar

Kevlar is actually just a fancy word for oak.
https://patreon.com/lowqualityfacts

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@lowqualityfacts You're thinking of cacti.

(Realtalk: never shoot a cactus).

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

NBC News: #NikkiHaley is siding with Alabama court ruling that frozen embryos created via IVF are "babies."

She's good at needling Trump.

She's otherwise despicable.

Kthxbye.

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@GottaLaff IVF embryos are babies?

... BRB, moving with my wife to Alabama to visit a clinic and then claim 89 dependents on our taxes.

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

#WompWomp

#SupremeCourt turns away Greene, Massie, Norman appeal over mask rule violations 😷 #SCOTUS #legal https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4478298-supreme-court-turns-away-house-gop-lawmakers-appeal-over-mask-rule-violations/

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@GottaLaff A whole generation of Americans are like "Government can't possibly have this much compulsory power," and I've just been over here the whole time like "Y'all realize they never actually banned the draft, right?"

lowqualityfacts , to random
@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar

That's it?
https://patreon.com/lowqualityfacts

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@lowqualityfacts because woke, I assume. 😉

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

“The #IRS contractor who pleaded guilty to leaking the federal tax records of #Trump & some of the nation's wealthiest individuals was sentenced Monday to 5 years in prison, 3 years supervised release & $5,000 fine. The sentence brings to an end to a criminal case that exposed the source of a number of high-profile tax information leaks in recent years. “

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-irs-contractor-charles-littlejohn-trumps-tax-records-sentenced/

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@GottaLaff He's named "Littlejohn?"

... Jesus. This season's writers are lazy hacks, aren't they?

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Exclusive: #Musk brain implant company violated US hazardous material transport rules -documents

“They also found improper packaging of hazardous waste, including the flammable liquid Xylene. Xylene can cause headaches, dizziness, confusion, loss of muscle coordination and even death”
https://www.reuters.com/technology/musk-brain-implant-company-violated-us-hazardous-material-transport-rules-2024-01-26/

mark ,
@mark@mastodon.fixermark.com avatar

@GottaLaff I, for one, know that when I'm thinking "Brain implants," I'm thinking "Chemical that causes headaches, confusion, loss of muscle coordination and even death."

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