=== ANCHOR POEM ===
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 @user-456 
 
 Hi, I'm an undergrad computer science student at Western Governor's
 University. I'm interested in applying for this job posting, and I was
 wondering if I could ask you some questions about it?
 
 I have experience as a lab technician working at Intel and an interest in
 multiprocessor computing. I primarily program in C but have experience in
 other languages and Linux. In addition I am fascinated by the fundamental
 questions of the universe and I'd love to discover things that nobody else
 knows.
 
 Let me know if I can ask you some questions.
 
 I'm pretty sure I'm using Mastodon correctly, and I've set this such that only
 you can see it (direct message) but if I'm wrong I apologize!
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=== SIMILARITY RANKED ===

--- #1 fediverse/3155 ---
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 @user-1461 
 
 my issue is that I've never really had project-mates. Every time I try nobody
 will work with me. I applied to like, fifty different jobs, and nobody
 interviewed me! Sheesh, guess they don't want me. FIFTY JOBS. Entry level.
 Beginner programmer.
 
 ah well. I guess they confused someone who would work for 40,000$ per year
 with someone who was 1/3rd as useful as someone who deserved 120,000$ per year.
 
 I'd love to get experience. I'm sure I'd feel significantly differently with
 as much. Perhaps I'd even decide that programming professionally isn't for me,
 which would feel... quite defeating
 
 who can say. Not I, for I have not experienced it. Though I will say my time
 in hardware taught me that I'm fragile and can't work too much. Like a scalpel
 that dulls when used consistently, I am a scalpel that gets no practice... Is
 that really useful at all? who can say. Not I, for I have not experienced it.
 Though I do like writing logical machines. Laying out data. Picturing
 structures.
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--- #2 fediverse_boost/3435 ---
◀─[BOOST]
  
  You may not be aware of the economics of Mastodon if you're used to Twitter, or Insta, or Facebook.  
                                                                              
  Please - go look at the /about page for whatever server you're on, and see who's running it and now to contribute, financially.  
                                                                              
  You are not the product on Mastdon. Your information is not being sold to other companies or advertisers. So your activity here *costs the person running your service money*. It's often a person, not company.  
                                                                              
  If you value Mastodon, and you can, please cover your cost.                 
  
                                                            
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--- #3 fediverse/1173 ---
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 hey does anyone want to hire me to do literally anything?
 
 I'll work for peanuts, and I'm pretty good at programming in C. I write pretty
 well, and I'm excellent at customer service (though my profile would beg to
 differ.)
 
 I have experience at large corporations and small ones, and I live in Portland
 OR
 
 I do game design, and many other things besides, and I'm friendly and kind. I
 promise I won't wear my witch hat to the meeting with investors, unless you
 think they'd be into that?
 
 I'm great with animals, better than people in fact, and I'm quite good with
 people, as they're just animals at best. I'm not as strange as I seem to be,
 at least not when you're dancing with my mask.
 
 I've grown quite bored, you see, and what better thing is there to be? than a
 working professional who knows what's best.
 
 I believe in our shared future, so if you'd like to work on a project just let
 me know - I work hard. A little too hard, because odds are I'll burn out after
 a year or so.
 
 I'm quite sharp, and I learn quickly.
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--- #4 fediverse/4596 ---
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 @user-1707 
 
 hey, I'm working on a project. Might need some python, I tend to prefer Lua
 but it's pretty similar. It uses fediverse software and cheap hardware, think
 raspberry pi's except risc-v
 
 also it might use distributed local LLMs not to generate text, that's garbo
 and lame and stupid. Instead it uses them to transform text, maybe even
 translate text, into a more summarized form. Intentionally losing data, like a
 jpeg compression but for text.
 
 Might need some python for that. To glue it all together. The "distributed"
 part is a whitelist, so we'd need to write that too. Various small little
 utilities like that for connectivity.
 
 oh also there's a one-way ethernet cable that connects two of the boards so
 we'd need to store some information (easy) and send some UDP packets (hard)
 
 anyway it's pretty neat, lmk if you want my contact details and I can tell you
 about it. I might even be able to pay you.
 
 (everything open source, no telemetry, no backdoors, everything private is
 encrypted, etc etc)
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--- #5 fediverse/2064 ---
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 if I lived in a forest, free from needing to grow my own food, I'd definitely
 bring as many books as I could carry. Probably also some card and board games,
 but not like, too many.
 
 Probably my computers as well, fully outfitted with all the compilers I could
 think of and every neat local-first library (including a local LLM that can
 tell you everything about syntax and wildlife exploration or car mechanics or
 carpentry or - just saying Wikipedia is like thousands of terabytes but an LLM
 is like, 16. Who cares if it hallucinates SOMETIMES? Just ask it twice, doh)
 
 ("I'm sorry, you are absolutely correct. 2+2 is indeed 5, I had the wrong
 text-strings encoded in my memory. Let me just adjust all my other
 understandings to align with this new strange world-view in the best way that
 I, an imperfect computer being, can.")
 
 vs
 
 ("Here's how you format C code to automatically apply a function (in this case
 encryption and decryption) to a string of text. Please describe the format of
 the next function to describe.")
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--- #6 fediverse/5911 ---
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 I was always fascinated by the Linux way of programming. Need to do something?   │
 write it into a script! You never know when you'll need it again. Then, just     │
 stay organized, religiously so, and understand that you will forget about        │
 stuff. But, you'll come across it eventually, ready and willing and able to      │
 help you.                                                                        │
 if you don't want me using AI, then give me ~20 junior developers. Which is      │
 more efficient, do you think?                                                    │
 "girl you haven't even tested your vibe-coded slop, how do you know if it        │
 works"                                                                           │
 oh I'm sure it doesn't, but it's the thought that counts                         │
 ... I guess I'm just saying, please don't burn the data centers. Computers are   │
 not only bad for the environment when they're burnt, but also we can use them    │
 for all kinds of neat things. Even if it takes a lot of energy, just... build    │
 more solar panels and only use the computers for important stuff?                │
 timeshare-style?                                                                 │
 \@/documents/books/man-and-the-computer.pdf                                      │
 that was my mother's book... I love her. I miss that side of her. She fled       │
 when the cancer came.                                                            │
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--- #7 fediverse/3586 ---
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 I love programming!! Currently working on learning decentralized and GPU
 oriented computing. It's lots of fun! Plus Bash is a great language, it's not
 funky or hacky at all. Just a great language. Haha suuuuch a great thing to
 play with.
 
 But GPUs are legitimately cool, aside from Bash's purported funkiness /
 hackiness. You can do all kinds of cool things at scale that just don't make
 sense up close.
 
 EDIT: oops sorry forgot the content warning
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--- #8 fediverse/1504 ---
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 @user-1013 
 
 posting any kind of link to externally hosted content (even a miniature DNS
 like link shorteners) is risky because you don't control the data you're
 sharing / pointing to.
 
 If you can, try and remember to download videos you like. Save songs that
 resonate with you. Take screenshots of important tweets that other people
 make. Then, you can share them when they're thoroughly divorced from the
 context in which they were made, and in doing so share information to a group
 of people who might not otherwise have heard the words you're sharing.
 
 Like posting Mastodon links on Facebook - can you imagine!
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--- #9 messages/181 ---
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 I know you don't want to hear this, but there is a chance that there will come
 a time where your life depends on your ability to debug a computer without the
 internet. To set up an SSH server. To install Linux. To program in C. To do
 something else that I'm not prepared for... If StackOverflow didn't exist
 because network connectivity has been lost, could you remember syntax? Maybe
 it's a good idea to set up a local LLM that can answer basic questions about
 technology. Maybe it's a good idea to set up on your parents computer, just in
 case you have to hide out there for a couple months. Maybe it's a good idea to
 download wikipedia, just in case.
 
 If I need to use a mac, I'm screwed
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--- #10 fediverse/572 ---
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 Hi, I'm learning about semaphores right now and trying to explain them to a
 friend. But I only sorta understand how they work - can anyone look at this
 pseudocode and tell me if I'm on the right track?
Some C pseudocode working through the semaphore design pattern. Here's the text of the pseudocode:  /* no lock example */  void start_thread(int* x) {   *x += 1; }  int main() {   int x = 0;   for (1000 times){     start_thread(&x);   }   print(x); }  /* in this case you have no idea what will print because thread A will take x and be like "ah yes it's 423" and then in the next instruction it'll be like "I'll increment this to be 424" and in the next one it'll say "okay now it's time to store 424 in the variable X" but like... there's a thousand threads all doing that at the same time, so odds are you'll have 5 that are like "ah yes this is 423 I'll set it to 424" */  /* not a good plan. Need a lock, so only one thread can use it at once. */ /* mutex example: */  void start_thread(int* x, int* x_mutex) {   *x += 1;   *x_mutex = 0; }  int main() {   int x = 0;   int x_mutex = 0;   for (1000 times){     while (x_mutex != 0){ } /* do nothing */     x_mutex = thread_id;     start_thread(&x, &x_mutex);   }   print(x); }  /* this should print 1000, but it's basically as slow as doing it single threaded. */  #define MAX 10  void start_thread(int* x, int* x_semaphore) {   *x += 1;   *x_semaphore += 1; }  int main() {   int x[MAX];   int x_semaphore = MAX;   for (1000 times) {     for (int i = 0; i < MAX; i++) {       x_semaphore -= 1;       start_thread(&x[i], &x_semaphore);     }     while (x_semaphore != MAX) { } /* do nothing */   }   int value = sum(x, MAX);   print(value); }
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--- #11 fediverse/3488 ---
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 "computer science degrees don't prepare you for what the industry is really
 like"
 
 okay great that's the kind of stuff I want to learn
 
 "but in order to excel you need to know how to update legacy spaghetti
 applications and work with java spring-boot and front-end frameworks"
 
 no thanks, I kinda just want to do computation with my computer by learning
 computer science
 
 "... what kind of computation? the kind that can get you paid?"
 
 no the kind that looks pretty and/or uses a lot of threads and manual memory
 management to do very little of importance
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--- #12 fediverse/1317 ---
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 ... if I don't do this deadline by tomorrow they'll kick me out of school.       │
 again.                                                                           │
 how am I going to be a programmer without a degree? feels useless to be me.      │
 wish I could code my own horoscope >.>                                           │
 o wait dummy that's called "motivation" and "the ability to follow through on    │
 your ideas and planned machinations" - yeah can I get some of that, if you       │
 please? surely just a taste of discipline, through laboring to alter             │
 conditions, surely a bit would suffice.                                          │
 c'mon don't fail me now. I can do this. I know I can. I know because I've been   │
 told that I can, now and again through time and time yet again, always I seem    │
 to [stack overflow]                                                              │
 what's time if not the present amiright                                          │
 ...                                                                              │
 anyway...                                                                        │
 it's just git, how hard could it be? it's just calculus, it's just java, it's    │
 just... well, it's not any of those things, not really. it's memorization,       │
 it's application of tools that you've been shown (not that you've grown). It's   │
 a lack of responsibility, where is my honor? ah but I digress, I'm a carpenter   │
 at heart I guess                                                                 │
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--- #13 fediverse/4521 ---
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 I have between one and ten hundred visits to my website every day, but I don't
 really post it anywhere new anymore. I also have zero followers on Neocities.
 
 On Mastodon, I have ~70 followers, most of whom are inactive. Seventy is a
 good amount, a normal amount, a reasonable amount, an unsuspicious amount, and
 yet every time I see someone wearing the colors I can't help but wonder if
 they know me.
 
 I'm too busy being furious to be lonely. I used to be, before I realized how
 important I am. How important? Just as much as you are, I know it.
 
 I'm a sprinter. I didn't spec into endurance at character creation. Nobody
 chastises the mage for skipping leg day.
 
 I act in fits and bursts. I am sharp like a scalpel, but needles dull just a
 bit when piercing the lid of the HRT. Good thing I'm not made out of metal, I
 can bend myself back into place, so long as everyone else can keep pace.
 
 I don't know who needs to hear this, but you do. you are crucial. Listen to
 this. Care for yourself and for others, do it for u
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--- #14 fediverse/2 ---
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 hey I'm Ritz I'm a perpetual student studying computer programming and I like
 play Supreme Commander (Forged Alliance Forever!!) and Star Realms. I write
 "poetry" and make art and stuff about computers. Looking for people to follow
 I guess so hit me up if I sound cool.
 
 #Introduction
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--- #15 fediverse/4603 ---
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 @user-1713 
 
 Don’t be fooled. Casting doubt about rigorous peer reviewed science
 doesn’t mean you are just “asking questions,” it means you are a
 conspiracy theorist.
 
 or it means you're so remarkably ignorant that you shouldn't even be in the
 room where people are talking about this.
 
 Unless your questions are very basic. "can someone explain to me what XYZ term
 means?" or "how long has this particular application method been in common
 use?" that kind of thing. Even still, either do some basic research or
 relinquish your decision making power until you understand.
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--- #16 fediverse/4831 ---
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 the neat thing about mastodon is someone can just... bookmark your profile       │
 page and always keep track of what you're up to by going through their firefox   │
 tabs and checking people one-by-one                                              │
 could also have like, several different tabs open, one for each profile you      │
 post from.                                                                       │
 "oh on twitter you can only have one account, but Mastodon you can have as       │
 many as you want"                                                                │
 I have one account                                                               │
 this account                                                                     │
 I'm nobody else                                                                  │
 just me                                                                          │
 just here,                                                                       │
 and my neocities page.                                                           │
 sometimes I post things on facebook. But only political things that are pretty   │
 normie for my family and stuff. Things that make sense to "regular" people or    │
 whatever.                                                                        │
 like, c'mon, they're normal too. You just gotta listen to them when they tell    │
 you their heart. which they don't often do. Why would they? you're from far      │
 away! plus they're all friends from high school, so whatever, right?             │
 ... sorry got off track. anyways the point is I only have one account on         │
 Mastodon so I pretty much could go wherever I choose.                            │
 like... I'll just make another one~                                              │
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--- #17 fediverse/2124 ---
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 seriously, just google docs mixed with WC3 editor.                               │
 boom, infinite storytelling device. As long as you were good with it, which      │
 was something that a CHILD could learn in like 3-6 months.                       │
 Seems like it could be an ENTIRELY NEW SKILL that people could play with.        │
 But no, we learn excel and word in class at middle school.                       │
 boring.                                                                          │
 I'd rather learn Bash or terminal customization or memory hierarchy              │
 organization.                                                                    │
 Yeah I mean that's cool but dude have you heard of multithreading? It's so       │
 cool, you can run like 500 different thoughts at once. It's amazing.             │
 ... I dunno, but I'm sure there's times when you'd want to use it. Like,         │
 processing a lot of data little-by-little.                                       │
 like, what if you had a camera feed of EVERY social media perspective AT ALL     │
 TIMES. Like, an instance admin streaming your inputted text to their databanks   │
 that they can project onto an LLM which interprets and identifies mis-aligned    │
 or altered direction units and mark them as "flagged", whatever that means,      │
 for their future the algorithm doesn'                                            │
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--- #18 fediverse/4828 ---
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 whenever you have the opportunity to "translate" a post on Mastodon, try
 reading it in the native language first. Then re-read it after translating and
 see how much you picked up.
 
 unless it's in a language where you don't recognize the characters. That makes
 it more difficult to practice.
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--- #19 fediverse/1612 ---
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 @user-1040 
 
 also, I miss most of the names and faces in this archive and I think it'd be
 neat to say "oh yeah I remember them because it wasn't so long ago and it's
 weird how they're not around these days but I forgot about them because their
 profile pic changed or maybe they stopped using mastodon or whatever" - idk it
 feels empty sometimes because your follow list is always growing, but the
 number of people who post seems to always go down. Or maybe I just read
 Mastodon at unfortunate times when there's nothing going on. Who can say
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--- #20 fediverse/175 ---
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 @user-95 I like to think of each reply as the start of a new thread. sorta
 like... multidimensional arrays that contain arrays that contain arrays that
 contain...
 
 that's how it worked on Reddit so that's how I'm going to use Mastodon, hope I
 don't step on any toes...!
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