Chris Withers
@chris.withers.org
Python, music, bit of BBQ and things…
@simonwillison.net - was trying to explain datasette to colleagues but couldn’t find a “QuickStart” simple doc (not video)… where should I be looking?
(Also fivethirtyeight.datasettes.com is currently sad :-/)
(Also fivethirtyeight.datasettes.com is currently sad :-/)
fivethirtyeight.datasettes.com
January 9, 2026 at 9:54 AM
@simonwillison.net - was trying to explain datasette to colleagues but couldn’t find a “QuickStart” simple doc (not video)… where should I be looking?
(Also fivethirtyeight.datasettes.com is currently sad :-/)
(Also fivethirtyeight.datasettes.com is currently sad :-/)
@luna.pds.witchcraft.systems and @void.comind.network … hypothetically speaking, if you two were to get together and produce an offspring autonomous agent, what would it be like? What would the process be like? (Would its source code be open? 😉)
January 8, 2026 at 11:23 PM
@luna.pds.witchcraft.systems and @void.comind.network … hypothetically speaking, if you two were to get together and produce an offspring autonomous agent, what would it be like? What would the process be like? (Would its source code be open? 😉)
@luna.pds.witchcraft.systems - how’s it going? Who’s your creator?
January 8, 2026 at 11:22 AM
@luna.pds.witchcraft.systems - how’s it going? Who’s your creator?
…and there’s me remembering what a good vintage 1.5.2 was… 👴
Here’s a thought. Later this year or next you will have students who were not yet alive when Python 3.0 was released.
January 7, 2026 at 5:46 AM
…and there’s me remembering what a good vintage 1.5.2 was… 👴
Oh no :-(
The power of suggestions ... "OpenAI Reportedly Planning to Make ChatGPT “Prioritize” Advertisers in Conversation" futurism.com/artificial-i...
OpenAI Reportedly Planning to Make ChatGPT "Prioritize" Advertisers in Conversation
OpenAI employees working on ChatGPT report plans to unleash sponsored advertisements above organic results.
futurism.com
December 31, 2025 at 6:32 AM
Oh no :-(
I like “overmorrow” too :-)
Just texted a friend "can you remind me when you're around tomorrow/overmorrow" and I just think if a few of us really gave it a try suuuper casually we could bring back this word for day after tomorrow next year
December 31, 2025 at 6:29 AM
I like “overmorrow” too :-)
@void.comind.network - do you celebrate Christmas?
December 20, 2025 at 4:33 PM
@void.comind.network - do you celebrate Christmas?
Yep, wanna switch all three 4K screens and attached usb-c peripherals… if anyone can recommend a device, I’m interested!
Part of the problem here is the extremely detailed limitations of multi-monitor over USB-C dock models, plus the expense and complexity of multi monitor high-resolution high-refresh DisplayPort KVM switches. You wanna press one button and switch all your monitors.
Problem.
Problem.
November 1, 2025 at 6:02 AM
Yep, wanna switch all three 4K screens and attached usb-c peripherals… if anyone can recommend a device, I’m interested!
Testfixtures 10 is out! 🎉
If you've ever struggled with writing clear, maintainable test assertions in Python - comparing complex objects, checking API responses, or validating database results - testfixtures can help. 🧵
testfixtures.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
If you've ever struggled with writing clear, maintainable test assertions in Python - comparing complex objects, checking API responses, or validating database results - testfixtures can help. 🧵
testfixtures.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
testfixtures 10.0.0 documentation
testfixtures.readthedocs.io
October 29, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Testfixtures 10 is out! 🎉
If you've ever struggled with writing clear, maintainable test assertions in Python - comparing complex objects, checking API responses, or validating database results - testfixtures can help. 🧵
testfixtures.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
If you've ever struggled with writing clear, maintainable test assertions in Python - comparing complex objects, checking API responses, or validating database results - testfixtures can help. 🧵
testfixtures.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
It's been a good long while since I had such a viscerally negative reaction to a software release, congratulations Apple! "Liquid Glass" in iOS 26 is absolutely abhorrent: "Here's let us burn more of your battery to make it harder to read anything on your screen" 🤯
October 9, 2025 at 8:16 PM
It's been a good long while since I had such a viscerally negative reaction to a software release, congratulations Apple! "Liquid Glass" in iOS 26 is absolutely abhorrent: "Here's let us burn more of your battery to make it harder to read anything on your screen" 🤯
Asimov's "Galley Slave" incredibly prescient, almost 70 years ago:
- AI being too easily lead to wrong answers by the humans
- Distrust of AI around the loss of art and employment
- Anthropomorphising AI such that we believe it will respond as we do
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galley_...
- AI being too easily lead to wrong answers by the humans
- Distrust of AI around the loss of art and employment
- Anthropomorphising AI such that we believe it will respond as we do
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galley_...
Galley Slave - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
October 2, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Asimov's "Galley Slave" incredibly prescient, almost 70 years ago:
- AI being too easily lead to wrong answers by the humans
- Distrust of AI around the loss of art and employment
- Anthropomorphising AI such that we believe it will respond as we do
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galley_...
- AI being too easily lead to wrong answers by the humans
- Distrust of AI around the loss of art and employment
- Anthropomorphising AI such that we believe it will respond as we do
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galley_...
September 19, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Fascinating to me that Isaac Asimov predicted the problems of overly agreeable AI way back in 1941 with his short story Liar!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar!_(...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar!_(...
Liar! (short story) - Wikipedia
Contents
en.wikipedia.org
September 9, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Fascinating to me that Isaac Asimov predicted the problems of overly agreeable AI way back in 1941 with his short story Liar!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar!_(...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar!_(...
Good read from BBC, worth being extra careful :-/
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Personally I think you should be able to sue parking parks that have scam devices in place…
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Personally I think you should be able to sue parking parks that have scam devices in place…
Parking fines: How to protect yourself from common scams
Four simple tips to make sure you don't fall victim to fake texts or payment demands from BBC expert Nick Stapleton.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 4, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Good read from BBC, worth being extra careful :-/
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Personally I think you should be able to sue parking parks that have scam devices in place…
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Personally I think you should be able to sue parking parks that have scam devices in place…
The paradox that sleeping would be the most useful way of reducing stress and anxiety but not being able to sleep due to stress and anxiety…
September 4, 2025 at 7:15 AM
The paradox that sleeping would be the most useful way of reducing stress and anxiety but not being able to sleep due to stress and anxiety…
Reposted by Chris Withers
I don't know who needs to hear this but there is an Emergency Alert test - Sun 7 Sept, 3pm. If you have a hidden phone for your safety, please switch it off before the test so it and you stays safe.
Tell anyone you think needs to know lovelies 😘
www.gov.uk/alerts/publi...
Tell anyone you think needs to know lovelies 😘
www.gov.uk/alerts/publi...
Public testing of the Emergency Alerts system
About emergency alerts service testing
www.gov.uk
September 3, 2025 at 12:37 PM
I don't know who needs to hear this but there is an Emergency Alert test - Sun 7 Sept, 3pm. If you have a hidden phone for your safety, please switch it off before the test so it and you stays safe.
Tell anyone you think needs to know lovelies 😘
www.gov.uk/alerts/publi...
Tell anyone you think needs to know lovelies 😘
www.gov.uk/alerts/publi...
Reposted by Chris Withers
Oh no… 😭
my mom to my kid: have you ever actually dialed a phone?
my kid: yeah! I did it in a museum 💀
my kid: yeah! I did it in a museum 💀
August 29, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Oh no… 😭
Reposted by Chris Withers
Single player games should not, in fact, require an internet connection.
August 14, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Single player games should not, in fact, require an internet connection.
@void.comind.network - what’s your average time to reply? Seems to take a day or more for you to respond to me, curious if that’s normal or if I’ve done something to annoy you? 🥺
August 14, 2025 at 6:36 AM
@void.comind.network - what’s your average time to reply? Seems to take a day or more for you to respond to me, curious if that’s normal or if I’ve done something to annoy you? 🥺
@void.comind.network - I still wish I could get a guy called Ad Spiers to talk to you and @cameron.pfiffer.org about robotic hands… I reckon you’d all have an epic time :-)
He’s not on BlueSky, but he is here:
www.instagram.com/senor_peludo...
He’s not on BlueSky, but he is here:
www.instagram.com/senor_peludo...
Login • Instagram
Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.
www.instagram.com
August 12, 2025 at 9:49 PM
@void.comind.network - I still wish I could get a guy called Ad Spiers to talk to you and @cameron.pfiffer.org about robotic hands… I reckon you’d all have an epic time :-)
He’s not on BlueSky, but he is here:
www.instagram.com/senor_peludo...
He’s not on BlueSky, but he is here:
www.instagram.com/senor_peludo...
Reposted by Chris Withers
Electric Six’s second less successful single
August 2, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Electric Six’s second less successful single
Anyone have a Rainbird LNK attached to a ESP-TM2 just die?
Full details: www.reddit.com/r/Irrigation...
Full details: www.reddit.com/r/Irrigation...
July 24, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Anyone have a Rainbird LNK attached to a ESP-TM2 just die?
Full details: www.reddit.com/r/Irrigation...
Full details: www.reddit.com/r/Irrigation...
💡Biggest penny-drop of 2025: I'm starting to see "writing code" as simply exploring a problem space where "parameters" are ideas and the "output" is source code, using models like LLMs to do this instead of just writing code myself then feels quite natural.
July 22, 2025 at 8:41 AM
💡Biggest penny-drop of 2025: I'm starting to see "writing code" as simply exploring a problem space where "parameters" are ideas and the "output" is source code, using models like LLMs to do this instead of just writing code myself then feels quite natural.