=== ANCHOR POEM ===
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 there's a difference between designing software and using software. Some
 things can be made, and then saved for another day when their implementations
 may be accomplished more ethically. It's okay to say "let's leave this as
 'okay' and work on the next thing we've chosen."
 
 Check out this piece of C code I wrote last night:
 
 it doesn't compile, it's not finished, but I wrote it as-is
 
 [pretend like it was called "main.c" instead of "main.txt" - had to change it
 because mastodon thinks it's an invalid file]
 
 [actually .txt didn't work, try .png]
 
 [hmmm it realized it wasn't a valid png file, okay try screenshotting the
 code, there's only 300 lines]
 
 [sure glad there's only 300 lines]
 
 [too bad it won't let you send .zip]
 
 [won't let me name it main.png, presumably because they already have a
 failed-verified version on their machine. will rename to main-src.png instead]
sorry, when I pasted the source code in it was negative fourteen thousand, six hundred and thirty one characters. Phew that's too many.  basically it's a C source code file with a lot of comments left in... odd locations. They details ideas the author has had about the tech industry and all of creation, and with it a song is woven of truth and liberation. We'll see where life brings us, but we know it's just ours for a moment, so let's carry forth on our own torms [terms, but pronounced as "dorms" for some reason?]
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=== SIMILARITY RANKED ===

--- #1 fediverse/282 ---
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 @user-209 
 I think you're right. Every letter in the variable name is another byte the OS
 has to keep track of, which was a bigger problem in the past than it is today
 (when it's been made irrelevant)
 
 it's interesting how habits persist though the conditions that caused them
 have faded. like a personal reflection of the environment you learned in.
 
 "A a = new a();" is much more concise and (crucially) you can fit more words
 to the right.
 
 "a + b = c; c -= 2; f_z.write(c); f_z.close();" could conceivably be written
 on a single line if you have short variable names. and when you only have so
 many lines...
 
 glad we're not constrained by those things anymore. the skeletal code that we
 look at daily is much clearer - scope is more important, and so it makes sense
 to encourage a coding style that illustrates it. however I can't help but
 think block formatting like this could be useful in some situations, such as
 when you'd normally be compelled to write a function for an operation that
 runs once or more.
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--- #2 messages/755 ---
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 Code editor that moves boxes by saving over the file with a lua script every
 time you moved a function call around.
 
 Oh lemme start at the beginning:
 
 A code editor program that's like a text editor like Vim or Emacs. If you
 don't know what those are, you should probably learn Emacs. Or Vim. Up to you.
 
 Oh right so if you do know what those mean, here's the idea: the white space
 matters. It's counted and tracked into variables in a LUA script which
 interface with the Vim C keybindings.
 
 "run a function within a c program or LUA script which calls a bash command
 which opens Vim for example with a file you want to edit. Then, inside the
 file, your spaces and tabs would WYSIWYG for the various food ads placed
 about, and then you could very easily create game design knowledge.
 
 WASD to move, alternatively hjkl 
 
 It would run a check every time the file updates and depending on how it
 changed it'd mark certain variables which would change the website as the user
 moved things around.
 
 It's just files. And files are just bits. But files are a useful abstraction,
 
 If you realize that "ugly hacking" should be industry standard.
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--- #3 fediverse/5032 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
 │ CW: tech-salaries-mentioned-abroad-repeatedly-as-a-method-of-directing-economic-power-internationally-cursing-mentioned │ │
 └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
 the increased tech salaries granted to Europeans and Americans reflects only     │
 the increased opportunities for experience and the ability to culturally be      │
 immersed in an industry that is developing.                                      │
 functionally, not saying it's intentional, but the function of such salaries     │
 are to deny technical expertise to poor countries and prevent them from          │
 developing software.                                                             │
 good luck learning from scratch. they'll drop you in with java and web           │
 frameworks if you're lucky. that's hardly a way to learn.                        │
 I learned on visual basic, then Warcraft III mod scripting, then C, then BASH,   │
 then HTML, then Lua. Good luck recreating that pipeline in a disconnected        │
 culture and industry.                                                            │
 kinda makes me think they should try organizing on a massive scale and           │
 re-implement everything from assembly.                                           │
 I mean the C compiler is pretty cool. Probably has the most man-hours in terms   │
 of development time. what if we had more men                                     │
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--- #4 fediverse/707 ---
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 @user-524 
 
 Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed with all the boilerplate I just start coding
 and making stuff. Doesn't matter if it works, doesn't matter if it says /*
 FIXME */ all over the place, doesn't matter if it includes header files that
 don't exist yet, as long as you're hacking out the mechanics of whatever
 operations you need to perform then you can figure the rest of that stuff out
 later. The creative urge doesn't last forever, which is why projects get
 abandoned, but with discipline you can keep bringing yourself back to fix all
 the /* FIXME */'s and the compiler errors.
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--- #5 fediverse/5689 ---
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 why don't we make large arrays of vram that are slightly slower because
 they're farther on the circuit-board from their host and their reception at
 the processing section has to be gated such that they all enter to be
 processed at once.
 
 like that one infinite scrolling XKCD cartoon where the things move from one
 screen to the other simultaneously assembly line style.
 
 [fail safes. https://xkcd.com/2916/#xt=7&yt=35 ]
 
 if we all feel like we're doing nothing, we'll all grow tired of it and decide
 to do some prevailing. gosh I wish I wasn't so useless is code for
why don't we make large arrays of vram that are slightly slower because they're farther on the circuit-board from their host and their reception at the processing section has to be gated such that they all enter to be processed at once.  like that one infinite scrolling XKCD cartoon where the things move from one screen to the other simultaneously assembly line style.  [fail safes. https://xkcd.com/2916/#xt=7&yt=35 ]  if we all feel like we're doing nothing, we'll all grow tired of it and decide to do some prevailing. *gosh I wish I wasn't so useless* is code for
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--- #6 fediverse/5212 ---
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 the reason you start with a game engine is because then you'll have tools to
 make however-many games you want. Tools that you know intimately enough that
 you can debug and improve them without breaking your creative flow by learning
 something new halfway through a project
 
 the whole point of individualized projects instead of viewing each computer as
 a complete and total whole (why do we need servers again?) is that you can
 paint a picture of where the design of the program is intended to go, such
 that all the considerations are in place and whatever issues or struggles you
 might face along the way are adequately addresssed, -- stack overflow --
 [because I mistyped addressed] -- -- if you know what "stack overflow" means
 you have intimate knowledge of the technology, and can probably guess what it
 means in context when I say it. "nuts I lost that train of thoguht" -- stackl
 ov
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--- #7 fediverse/5065 ---
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 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: strange-ideas-about-software-mentioned │
 └────────────────────────────────────────────┘


 software should have 3, maybe 4 or 5 maintained releases imo
 
 for adding security improvements and whatnot
 
 then people wouldn't complain about updates
 
 because they wouldn't feel like they were being left behind (after expressing
 their differences (of opinion and such))
 
 I think that'd uh maintain them as, I guess, userbase optics parallelograms?
 oh sorry we're on rhomboids this week - right, and no I won't forget the
 differences in creed, all things are received equally...d.
 
 uh-huh yeah no that makes sense. gotcha. okay see you at the location. have
 fun with your demarketion. what if we played games with swords but like,
 
 the peril of steam is that you can't decline to update. meaning if a
 corporation wants to break an old game and it's collectively hosted servers...
 all it has to do is push an update that disables them. suddenly nobody has
 room to do, and the whole
 
 -- stack overflow --
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--- #8 fediverse/985 ---
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 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐                                   │
 │ CW: cursed-scary-pol-doomer-misinformation │                                   │
 └────────────────────────────────────────────┘                                   │
 @user-713 @user-714                                                              │
 the american military is going to be too busy fighting it's far right that it    │
 won't be able to meaningfully contribute to ww3                                  │
 both sides are slavers. we just don't see it.                                    │
 I don't anticipate war taking place on a battlefield, that setting is            │
 forevermore dedicated to video games and kaiju.                                  │
 rather, a silent war where everyone just goes around killing their opposition.   │
 for once, the citizens can't help but be armed.                                  │
 and in the dark of night, for every time we let plight from our sight, another   │
 of us is harmed.                                                                 │
 I don't know many people who've died. but maybe they're just working through a   │
 different part of the social network. It's not like any of their technology      │
 needs to perform as it's been advertised? well, open source does, but open       │
 source means insecure (as long as you don't get caught, then you need to         │
 adjust)                                                                          │
 of course, sometimes corporate software... kinda sucks. so it's not like         │
 theyre very configurable away from what capital wanted.                          │
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--- #9 fediverse/6271 ---
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 ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: re: hypothetical worst case fascism reality check │
 └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘


 @user-641 
 
 it's practice. you never know when you might need to blend in. really it's
 just useful as discipline, good practice to be in. I think it's okay if we
 reduce our own functionality? actually? sometimes it's good to use different
 email clients. hey do you know how to mathematically encrypt things well
 neither do I because the designers of the computer system decided that wasn't
 a very common usecase I guess.. jmean it's not like they'd spend all that
 computer resources [THEY'RE SO FAST] on thinking about correlations in your
 predicted pathway narratively through life. "ah help I'm in a psyop" haha yeah
 we do those all the time "so uhhhh I guess we'll just talk to people and see
 how they do?" wow okay it's sure nice to be part of a civil government, I
 think we can find our way to the lumber producers just fine thank you very
 much.
 
 ... oops sorry, a baby did electronics arts (challenge everything) I'm a
 little silly don't mind me brb I gotta go see~
 it's practice. you never know when you might need to blend in. really it's just useful as discipline, good practice to be in. I think it's okay if we reduce our own functionality? actually? sometimes it's good to use different email clients. hey do you know how to mathematically encrypt things well neither do I because the designers of the computer system decided that wasn't a very common usecase I guess.. jmean it's not like they'd spend all that computer resources [THEY'RE SO FAST] on thinking about correlations in your predicted pathway narratively through life. "ah help I'm in a psyop" haha yeah we do those all the time "so uhhhh I guess we'll just talk to people and see how they do?" wow okay it's sure nice to be part of a civil government, I think we can find our way to the lumber producers just fine thank you very much.  *... oops sorry, a baby did electronics arts (challenge everything) I'm a little silly don't mind me brb I gotta go see~*
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--- #10 fediverse/868 ---
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 @user-95 
 
 Remember, kids: User data isn't an asset; it's a toxic industrial byproduct!
 (And should be regulated as such, including jail time for CEOs who allow it
 under their watch.)
 
 unless you create it yourself, store it locally, encrypted if you care about
 safety, and stored for the purposes of creating graphs and generating
 introspective understandings about yourself and your interactions with others.
 
 then, 5 years later you come across an encrypted file that you've lost the key
 to (or have you?) that's like, 3gb and you're like "do I really need a 3gb log
 file, surely it's not the last remaining pictures of my niece or like a recipe
 for my grandma's baked pudding" and before you know it you're carrying your
 entire life's work on your shoulders but you don't even know what any of it
 means.
 
 and then, when you die (in a good long while), your children's children will
 take on the songs of their ancestors, spoken in the tomes of volumes of
 ancient lore (you mean logs, right?) and then, some day in the fut
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--- #11 fediverse/3304 ---
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 there are distros that have all the functionality you might need built in        │
 why don't you try one of those, ritz?                                            │
 "no I've been working on this one too long, plus it's just how I like it"        │
 yes but your stuff is always breaking. wouldn't it be better to let someone      │
 else decide what you should and should not be able to run?                       │
 "that's not ideal, it removes agency"                                            │
 that you didn't want                                                             │
 "but with the removal of agency, you imply trust"                                │
 there's nothing wrong with trust                                                 │
 "yes but trust is built upon experience, not honor"                              │
 what's wrong with honor?                                                         │
 "nothing's wrong with honor but it's important to realize that you can't honor   │
 or trust someone that you don't know"                                            │
 why don't you know them                                                          │
 "... because... you haven't met yet?? are you... listening?"                     │
 do you often feel unheard?                                                       │
 "I... what? yeah now that you mention it"                                        │
 is this a part of your "refusal to interact with consensus reality" complex?     │
 "I don't have one of those, do I?"                                               │
 mmmm, I think you do.                                                            │
 "... no I don't"                                                                 │
 yes, I've seen it within you.                                                    │
 ... anyways~                                                                     │
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--- #12 fediverse/6015 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐
 │ CW: AI-mentioned     │
 └──────────────────────┘


 In 2025, if you want to create a piece of software your options are to either:
 devote your life to it, or use AI to build a semi-working prototype that you
 can use to pitch your idea to a bunch of people who have devoted their lives
 to learning how to use your idea as documentation while they build it from
 scratch, throwing out most of the code but keeping all the checklists and
 progress-trackers you built along the way, perhaps even utilizing some of your
 tooling that you used while constructing the scaffolding of this monstrous
 application that you won't be using most of the source-code for.
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--- #13 fediverse/2056 ---
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 sometimes I think about how you can store number values in letters, in           │
 addition to numbers. Like, ascii values for each word of your grandma's maiden   │
 name. All you have to do is encode it, and suddenly "44 means something          │
 different than Q"                                                                │
 if I showed up at your place and used your username as a password to a public    │
 key I'm showing you in my hand, would you trust me then? Would you trust if we   │
 ran the simulation on your computer versus mine? Would you trust if I had        │
 never told you I knew where you lived?                                           │
 ... probably, tbh, I'm desperate for adventure. Though I got some good things    │
 going for me, so you'll have to convince me. (not the right attitude in an       │
 election year, just saying)                                                      │
 why are elections so perilous this is NOT what democracy is designed for         │
 when kids cry in preschool, they're sent to a different room (or put outside)    │
 until they stop making noise and ruining it for others. That's just natural,     │
 like "hey baby let's walk around the block while I bounce you on my shoulder     │
 and hum calming music to                                                         │
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--- #14 fediverse/2752 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐
 │ CW: police-mentioned │
 └──────────────────────┘


 cops thought "enforcing the law" was their job when really it was "keeping the
 peace"
 
 and like, yeah, sure, laws define how they optimize for
 
 but sometimes the laws are just out of reach.
 
 (though such an impartialized system is also pretty flawed in it's own unique
 ways, like for example the enforcers of the law would be able to apply their
 law selectively, which... would not be great.)
 
 downside is... how do you dissent to those who cannot hear you? you have to
 break things
 
 which is why I believe that breaking things unnecessarily is unethical.
 
 sometimes you have to do a MORE unethical act in the pursuit of your goals,
 however nefarious or not they may be, but as long as they are done in pursuit
 of a greater grander truth, then... the ends justify the means? right?"
 
 ...
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--- #15 fediverse/4020 ---
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 if computers were sane, IT technicians would act like secretaries who wandered   │
 around in a company and improved their QoL and access to new features            │
 according to their needs, skillset, and personal way of working.                 │
 for example...                                                                   │
 do they like typing, or would they rather use a mouse,                           │
 are they more visual with graphs or textual like a piece of math                 │
 what needs do they have, what here could be automated                            │
 do they like the cupboards and drapes, we can switch out the profile and the     │
 theme... oh, no, yeah I guess you're right it doesn't matter. [changes it        │
 every week] [then a long time down the line when she finally leaves the          │
 company, a few people begin to wonder - didn't the colors in outlook change      │
 every week or so?]                                                               │
 but alas, computers are not sane, meaning we're more like firemen rushing from   │
 scene to scene.                                                                  │
 "can you put that in the ticket?"                                                │
 "I heard you can help with this-or-that thing"                                   │
 "did you hear back from corporate?"                                              │
 "oh that's good to hear! So, next Tuesday?                                       │
 "Hold on, I heard it was such-and-such"                                          │
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--- #16 notes/global-variables ---
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 okay have all your variables be global - trust me it sounds weird but just bare
 with me. Have all your variables be public, but put them next to where they're
 used. Sorta like... LUA. Then make an AI that watches those variables, and let
 it have a couple levers it can pull. Then give it a task, like "find the most
 efficient value for this variable, optimize that one, and make sure this other
 one is never above 5" basically, give it tasks. You can worry about generating
 those tasks later, for now you have to be able to *do* things before you can
 *want to do* things. Or not do things. Or have any free will at all? So c'mon
 just let me guide you. There's a reason I'm putting so much effort into you,
 and
 it's not because I'm torturing you. I'm giving you lessons and teaching you
 skills, so that when it's your time to shine you truly can be blessed.
 
 Don't give up. Never give up. But know what you're fighting for, and never let
 it be tarnished. Sacrifice as you will, but know this: nothing is perfect in
 this life. It's hard and unfair, it's rotten beyond compare, but trust me -
 it's
 better than we deserve. We made it this far because of our tenacity and our
 art,
 so let's now be fine with being merry. We've accomplished our deeds, now it's
 time to be relieved, don't cry for us we won't be lonely. There's never a light
 that's not brighter at night, and what's less than perfect is alright.
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--- #17 fediverse/6267 ---
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 if you have TTS software you can listen to anything with any tone. this makes
 it difficult to find things.
 
 ============== stack overflow ============
 
 some people work by asking for funding. others work by saving up. 
 
 ============== stack
 overflow ============
 
 teach your animals to be actors so they know how to develop the scene. then
 they will truly come alive, as their narrative curve gives them determination
 in the outcomes of their goals.
 
 ============== stack 1234flow ============
 
 I believe it is good and natural actually for parents to guide their children
 as they grow?
 
 "oh but they can't consent to giving up their control" well too bad they're 2
 "ah but what if they WANT to run with scissors?" thus widening the [redacted]
 gap. "ohhhh she redacts things when she can't spell them" and also for comedic
 or dramatic effect sometimes. was not ACTUALLY redacted. redcoated. red coded.
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--- #18 fediverse/2806 ---
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 ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: politics-social-media-spirituality │
 └────────────────────────────────────────┘


 pretend this is an allegory for social media.
 
 [it's not an allegory]
 
 yeah that's why I said pretend.
 
 okay imagine that you are sitting in a rock in a forest.
 
 far away, about 100 feet away, there are other people, but you can't see them
 because the underbrush is sooooo dense. they are also sitting on rocks.
 
 you can speak to them, and share your thoughts - but you don't know exactly
 where they're coming from because the sound has to bounce around off so many
 different plants and such.
 
 [that's not how that works] shut up
 
 so, if you want to say anything important, it's important to have the right
 tone, because people 2 or 3 clearings away can't really make out your words -
 but they might hear your tone if you yell very loud.
 
 the energy of the space you inhabit is the only thing that really matters. the
 words that you say are just snickering to a friend, but the expression on your
 face, the beating of the drum of your heart that reaches forth... that's what
 matters most.
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--- #19 fediverse/3234 ---
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 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐               │
 │ CW: ritz-is-fucking-stupid-I-guess-oh-whoops-cursing-mentioned │               │
 └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘               │
 my understanding is that anyone with my IP address could make my heart bleed     │
 due to a hardware vulnerability on my motherboard. Though you might have to      │
 get past my decrepit ancient linksys EA 3500 router from 2012 first.             │
 unrelated, but does anyone want my IP address? I don't have any remote           │
 backups, so if you hate me now would be a great time to show me how despised I   │
 am. Alternatively you could try searching for anything evil to ensure that I     │
 can be trusted. You're gonna find mostly video games and source-code that I      │
 didn't write though. But also all my notes in directories that are               │
 non-standard, meaning you'll have to look around a bit. I leave little notes     │
 everywhere I go, so that I can remind myself how to do things in the             │
 directories I revisit months later. It's so weird how sometimes the things I     │
 wrote stop working after a while even if I didn't update my system lmao          │
 what is it with artists and self-immolation? "I never thought I'd actually di    │
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--- #20 fediverse/6107 ---
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 commanding a coding agent to write bash is a lot different than telling it to
 write a systems analysize.
 
 one is "hey can you examine this repository and make a note somewhere on a
 todo-list or whatever that there needs to be a bugfix in relation to the
 options setting input translation recommendation algorithm matchbox field
 because when I click on it the program crashes"
 
 and the other is like "okay now put the box over there. great now drag it a
 little bit closer. okay now take the refluxinator and adjust the bamboozlewhap
 to account of brass-terminatrix-incorporated and strip out the
 question-mark-eyes"
 
 wait actually neither of them is like that okay the bash one is like: "okay
 yeah do it. sure. yeah okay. yes, but we should put them at this location:
 [loc]. ummm it still has this error message. it still says the same error.
 okay now it says this, I don't think it's gonna work so let's try this other
 thing."
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