Misinformation-Superhighwayman
@damienwise.aus.social.ap.brid.gy
Misinformation-Superhighwayman, Writer, Photographer, Maker, Arduino-wrangler, Synthesizer-dabbler, Cyberflâneur, Cyclist.
Pronouns: he/him/they.
Trans rights […]
[bridged from https://aus.social/@DamienWise on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
Pronouns: he/him/they.
Trans rights […]
[bridged from https://aus.social/@DamienWise on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
Fans of Adafruit may recall a couple of months ago that one of the key people at the company made a series of posts on social media (including Mastodon and BlueSky) that looked awfully like online harassment. Besides some unprofessional stuff like name-calling, there were more serious […]
Original post on aus.social
aus.social
January 14, 2026 at 7:21 AM
Fans of Adafruit may recall a couple of months ago that one of the key people at the company made a series of posts on social media (including Mastodon and BlueSky) that looked awfully like online harassment. Besides some unprofessional stuff like name-calling, there were more serious […]
Reposted by Misinformation-Superhighwayman
EVERYONE!! Fomalhaut is at it again!! Crashing its planetesimals together and making dust clouds!!!!
I am very excited because I and others wrote papers saying that this would happen: if Fomalhaut b (the first directly imaged "exoplanet" oops) was actually a dust cloud, it should fade away and […]
I am very excited because I and others wrote papers saying that this would happen: if Fomalhaut b (the first directly imaged "exoplanet" oops) was actually a dust cloud, it should fade away and […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 13, 2026 at 8:19 PM
EVERYONE!! Fomalhaut is at it again!! Crashing its planetesimals together and making dust clouds!!!!
I am very excited because I and others wrote papers saying that this would happen: if Fomalhaut b (the first directly imaged "exoplanet" oops) was actually a dust cloud, it should fade away and […]
I am very excited because I and others wrote papers saying that this would happen: if Fomalhaut b (the first directly imaged "exoplanet" oops) was actually a dust cloud, it should fade away and […]
Reposted by Misinformation-Superhighwayman
Oh ghod now the workshop landlord is threatening to evict me unless I pay him tomorrow. I need work.
Things i can do
* $80 “tech concierge” product research https://calendly.com/accelerando/technology-concierge - seriously i just had a call from an IoT meetup member, a farmer, “I need to fix X […]
Things i can do
* $80 “tech concierge” product research https://calendly.com/accelerando/technology-concierge - seriously i just had a call from an IoT meetup member, a farmer, “I need to fix X […]
Original post on aus.social
aus.social
January 13, 2026 at 2:49 AM
Oh ghod now the workshop landlord is threatening to evict me unless I pay him tomorrow. I need work.
Things i can do
* $80 “tech concierge” product research https://calendly.com/accelerando/technology-concierge - seriously i just had a call from an IoT meetup member, a farmer, “I need to fix X […]
Things i can do
* $80 “tech concierge” product research https://calendly.com/accelerando/technology-concierge - seriously i just had a call from an IoT meetup member, a farmer, “I need to fix X […]
PSA: if all you ever post is screenshots of other people's viral posts, but you omit the Alt-text, and you cannot be bothered to edit your post to add Alt-text even after other people comment to supply the Alt-text, then you're an absolute shit-heel and deserve to be blocked.
#alttext […]
#alttext […]
Original post on aus.social
aus.social
January 11, 2026 at 5:36 AM
PSA: if all you ever post is screenshots of other people's viral posts, but you omit the Alt-text, and you cannot be bothered to edit your post to add Alt-text even after other people comment to supply the Alt-text, then you're an absolute shit-heel and deserve to be blocked.
#alttext […]
#alttext […]
Thought-provoking thread by @minxdragon regarding that region where there's an interaction between: drinking deeply from your social media feed, current news, mental wellbeing, LLMs, machine-generated content, and art/writing/creativity.
https://wandering.shop/@minxdragon/115867917476321219
https://wandering.shop/@minxdragon/115867917476321219
J. Rosenbaum (they/them) (@[email protected])
I took a break from social media yesterday. Normally I love fact checking, but I had to check a really rough one yesterday and decided to prioritize my mental health. I detest how some people mine the news and use generative AI to get attention and money in the wake of a crisis. 🧵...
wandering.shop
January 10, 2026 at 12:35 AM
Thought-provoking thread by @minxdragon regarding that region where there's an interaction between: drinking deeply from your social media feed, current news, mental wellbeing, LLMs, machine-generated content, and art/writing/creativity.
https://wandering.shop/@minxdragon/115867917476321219
https://wandering.shop/@minxdragon/115867917476321219
[Victorian bushfires, Melbourne weather]
Good news: the cool change has reached this part of Melbourne.
Bad news: for many rural parts of Victoria, the Bureau of Meteorology's rain radar is functionally also a bushfire map due to pyrocumulonimbus clouds.
#victorianbushfires #pyrocumulonimbus […]
Good news: the cool change has reached this part of Melbourne.
Bad news: for many rural parts of Victoria, the Bureau of Meteorology's rain radar is functionally also a bushfire map due to pyrocumulonimbus clouds.
#victorianbushfires #pyrocumulonimbus […]
Original post on aus.social
aus.social
January 9, 2026 at 6:36 AM
[Victorian bushfires, Melbourne weather]
Good news: the cool change has reached this part of Melbourne.
Bad news: for many rural parts of Victoria, the Bureau of Meteorology's rain radar is functionally also a bushfire map due to pyrocumulonimbus clouds.
#victorianbushfires #pyrocumulonimbus […]
Good news: the cool change has reached this part of Melbourne.
Bad news: for many rural parts of Victoria, the Bureau of Meteorology's rain radar is functionally also a bushfire map due to pyrocumulonimbus clouds.
#victorianbushfires #pyrocumulonimbus […]
44°C is a totally fine and normal maximum temperature.
#melbourne #australia #weather #melbourneweather #weathertoot
#melbourne #australia #weather #melbourneweather #weathertoot
January 8, 2026 at 11:17 AM
44°C is a totally fine and normal maximum temperature.
#melbourne #australia #weather #melbourneweather #weathertoot
#melbourne #australia #weather #melbourneweather #weathertoot
PSA: if your website loads for a fraction of a second, then vomits-up a fake error such as "This website cannot load because you're blocking html-load-dotcom" (or css-load-dot-com), your Web Devs are bad people and should reconsider their career decisions.
It's a deceptive design that breaks […]
It's a deceptive design that breaks […]
Original post on aus.social
aus.social
January 8, 2026 at 1:33 AM
PSA: if your website loads for a fraction of a second, then vomits-up a fake error such as "This website cannot load because you're blocking html-load-dotcom" (or css-load-dot-com), your Web Devs are bad people and should reconsider their career decisions.
It's a deceptive design that breaks […]
It's a deceptive design that breaks […]
Reposted by Misinformation-Superhighwayman
Over the last 50 years, computer science went from being primarily women, to half men, to being dominated by men, and then we spent the last 20 years scrounging for 10-20% gender minorities in tech, far far from returning to a representative population.
And the men and White people tolerated […]
And the men and White people tolerated […]
Original post on infosec.exchange
infosec.exchange
January 6, 2026 at 5:24 AM
Over the last 50 years, computer science went from being primarily women, to half men, to being dominated by men, and then we spent the last 20 years scrounging for 10-20% gender minorities in tech, far far from returning to a representative population.
And the men and White people tolerated […]
And the men and White people tolerated […]
Reposted by Misinformation-Superhighwayman
And that brings us to one of the worst examples of what continues today to be among the most highly recommended leadership books: High Output Management, by Andrew Grove.
The historic context above ties into what Andrew Grove writes here. When Andrew Grove […]
[Original post on infosec.exchange]
The historic context above ties into what Andrew Grove writes here. When Andrew Grove […]
[Original post on infosec.exchange]
![For most of Western history, including the early days of the Industrial Revolution, motivation was based mostly on fear of punishment.
[margin note: and this is BAD]
Over the past thirty years or so, a number of new approaches have begun to replace older practices keyed to fear. Perhaps the emergence of the new, humanistic approaches to motivation can be traced to the decline in the relative importance of manual labor and the corresponding rise in the importance of so-called knowledge workers. The output of a manual laborer is readily measurable, and departures from the expected can be spotted and dealt with immediately. But for a knowledge worker, such departures take longer to determine because even the expectations themselves are very difficult to state precisely. In other words, fear won't work as well with computer architects as with galley slaves; hence new approaches to motivation are needed.
My description of what makes people perform relies heavily on Abraham Maslow's theory of motivation, simply because my own observations of working life confirm Maslow's concepts. For Maslow, motivation is closely tied to the idea of needs, which cause people to have drives, which in turn result in motivation. A need once satisfied stops being a need and therefore stops being a source of motivation. Simply put, if we are to create and maintain a high degree of motivation, we must keep some needs unsatisfied at all times.
[Margin note: i.e., abuse]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cfgbrfpstdsfosvd4glv5gaw/bafkreifsccswjdsbsgm5gfhoyzvb5s3janwbzvqdtksyf4zacrgs33n5gy@jpeg)
January 6, 2026 at 3:41 AM
And that brings us to one of the worst examples of what continues today to be among the most highly recommended leadership books: High Output Management, by Andrew Grove.
The historic context above ties into what Andrew Grove writes here. When Andrew Grove […]
[Original post on infosec.exchange]
The historic context above ties into what Andrew Grove writes here. When Andrew Grove […]
[Original post on infosec.exchange]
In today's episode of "Mansplainers of Mastodon", I saw someone unironically mansplain Terry Pratchett's writing style to a prolific writer/publisher of Fantasy and Science-Fiction books.
#mansplaining #mansplainersofmastodon
#mansplaining #mansplainersofmastodon
January 4, 2026 at 11:48 PM
In today's episode of "Mansplainers of Mastodon", I saw someone unironically mansplain Terry Pratchett's writing style to a prolific writer/publisher of Fantasy and Science-Fiction books.
#mansplaining #mansplainersofmastodon
#mansplaining #mansplainersofmastodon
[CW: CSAM, Elon Musk, AI]
If Elon Musk is so clever and his xAI chatbot Grok is intelligent, why did they design it to produce CSAM and let users publish CSAM on Twitter?
Serious question: if the system-design and reasoning-faculties of Grok are as good as AI-proponents claim, shouldn't it be […]
If Elon Musk is so clever and his xAI chatbot Grok is intelligent, why did they design it to produce CSAM and let users publish CSAM on Twitter?
Serious question: if the system-design and reasoning-faculties of Grok are as good as AI-proponents claim, shouldn't it be […]
Original post on aus.social
aus.social
January 2, 2026 at 10:49 PM
[CW: CSAM, Elon Musk, AI]
If Elon Musk is so clever and his xAI chatbot Grok is intelligent, why did they design it to produce CSAM and let users publish CSAM on Twitter?
Serious question: if the system-design and reasoning-faculties of Grok are as good as AI-proponents claim, shouldn't it be […]
If Elon Musk is so clever and his xAI chatbot Grok is intelligent, why did they design it to produce CSAM and let users publish CSAM on Twitter?
Serious question: if the system-design and reasoning-faculties of Grok are as good as AI-proponents claim, shouldn't it be […]
Reposted by Misinformation-Superhighwayman
This is a very good point, and something I need to keep at the front of my mind. Even if there was somehow a magic use case for LLMs and other AI bullshit machines, that would not justify:
• Making fascists rich.
• Displacing labor rights.
• Fucking over the environment.
• Enclosing culture […]
• Making fascists rich.
• Displacing labor rights.
• Fucking over the environment.
• Enclosing culture […]
Original post on wandering.shop
wandering.shop
December 24, 2025 at 9:43 AM
This is a very good point, and something I need to keep at the front of my mind. Even if there was somehow a magic use case for LLMs and other AI bullshit machines, that would not justify:
• Making fascists rich.
• Displacing labor rights.
• Fucking over the environment.
• Enclosing culture […]
• Making fascists rich.
• Displacing labor rights.
• Fucking over the environment.
• Enclosing culture […]
Reposted by Misinformation-Superhighwayman
I offer Cassandra's Complete Class Theorem¹.
All "good use cases for AI" break down into one of four categories:
I. Bad use case.
II. Good use case, but not something AI can do.
III Good use case, but it's already been done without AI.
IV. Not AI in the LLMs and GANs sense, but in the machine […]
All "good use cases for AI" break down into one of four categories:
I. Bad use case.
II. Good use case, but not something AI can do.
III Good use case, but it's already been done without AI.
IV. Not AI in the LLMs and GANs sense, but in the machine […]
Original post on wandering.shop
wandering.shop
December 24, 2025 at 5:23 AM
I offer Cassandra's Complete Class Theorem¹.
All "good use cases for AI" break down into one of four categories:
I. Bad use case.
II. Good use case, but not something AI can do.
III Good use case, but it's already been done without AI.
IV. Not AI in the LLMs and GANs sense, but in the machine […]
All "good use cases for AI" break down into one of four categories:
I. Bad use case.
II. Good use case, but not something AI can do.
III Good use case, but it's already been done without AI.
IV. Not AI in the LLMs and GANs sense, but in the machine […]
Today I saw a job ad that said, among other things:
- Nice to have use of generative Al tools such as claude.ai.
- Duties of the role include developing an Al-assisted Knowledge Base that we plan to integrate into our software products.
But, it also said:
- Answer the application criteria […]
- Nice to have use of generative Al tools such as claude.ai.
- Duties of the role include developing an Al-assisted Knowledge Base that we plan to integrate into our software products.
But, it also said:
- Answer the application criteria […]
Original post on aus.social
aus.social
December 29, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Today I saw a job ad that said, among other things:
- Nice to have use of generative Al tools such as claude.ai.
- Duties of the role include developing an Al-assisted Knowledge Base that we plan to integrate into our software products.
But, it also said:
- Answer the application criteria […]
- Nice to have use of generative Al tools such as claude.ai.
- Duties of the role include developing an Al-assisted Knowledge Base that we plan to integrate into our software products.
But, it also said:
- Answer the application criteria […]
Reposted by Misinformation-Superhighwayman
My cat has 100% subject mastery of the word "no" but seemingly does not know the word "yes." This is the knowledge asymmetry of someone who has never sought permission to do something in their entire life.
December 27, 2025 at 7:45 PM
My cat has 100% subject mastery of the word "no" but seemingly does not know the word "yes." This is the knowledge asymmetry of someone who has never sought permission to do something in their entire life.
Reposted by Misinformation-Superhighwayman
Tragedy has struck the 2025 Sydney to Hobart yacht race fleet with four vessels crossing Bass Strait taken by Kraken. Monash University Professor of Cryptidology Alison Price has suggested that the adoption this year of black carbon-fiber spinnakers has been interpreted as a territorial display […]
Original post on aus.social
aus.social
December 26, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Tragedy has struck the 2025 Sydney to Hobart yacht race fleet with four vessels crossing Bass Strait taken by Kraken. Monash University Professor of Cryptidology Alison Price has suggested that the adoption this year of black carbon-fiber spinnakers has been interpreted as a territorial display […]
Reposted by Misinformation-Superhighwayman
Current AI Downsides:
> Stole all creative works from everyone ever
> Eats so much power that they need tons of nuclear plants yesterday
> Eats up so much electricity that everybody else is priced out
> Eats up so much GPU & DRAM that everyone else is priced out
> Devours jobs like Ghibli's […]
> Stole all creative works from everyone ever
> Eats so much power that they need tons of nuclear plants yesterday
> Eats up so much electricity that everybody else is priced out
> Eats up so much GPU & DRAM that everyone else is priced out
> Devours jobs like Ghibli's […]
Original post on zeroes.ca
zeroes.ca
December 26, 2025 at 4:06 AM
Current AI Downsides:
> Stole all creative works from everyone ever
> Eats so much power that they need tons of nuclear plants yesterday
> Eats up so much electricity that everybody else is priced out
> Eats up so much GPU & DRAM that everyone else is priced out
> Devours jobs like Ghibli's […]
> Stole all creative works from everyone ever
> Eats so much power that they need tons of nuclear plants yesterday
> Eats up so much electricity that everybody else is priced out
> Eats up so much GPU & DRAM that everyone else is priced out
> Devours jobs like Ghibli's […]
Reposted by Misinformation-Superhighwayman
My spouse has earwormed me by telling me that there are no native vampires south of the Sahara due to the local practice of blessing the rains.
December 23, 2025 at 4:09 AM
My spouse has earwormed me by telling me that there are no native vampires south of the Sahara due to the local practice of blessing the rains.
Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope it's a day of celebration, delicious food, relaxation, and shared joy for you and your [chosen] family. And, if you have the opportunity, you should absolutely pat that scam-cat or boop that random dog toting a Santa hat on a neighbourhood walk.
December 24, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope it's a day of celebration, delicious food, relaxation, and shared joy for you and your [chosen] family. And, if you have the opportunity, you should absolutely pat that scam-cat or boop that random dog toting a Santa hat on a neighbourhood walk.
Approximately 15 years ago, I worked with a company that made software to create, edit, and convert PDF files (from _and_ to Word, Excel, etc). We had pride in our work for doing a far better job of it than Adobe.
Examples of features we got right and Adobe botched included doing text reflow on […]
Examples of features we got right and Adobe botched included doing text reflow on […]
Original post on aus.social
aus.social
December 23, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Approximately 15 years ago, I worked with a company that made software to create, edit, and convert PDF files (from _and_ to Word, Excel, etc). We had pride in our work for doing a far better job of it than Adobe.
Examples of features we got right and Adobe botched included doing text reflow on […]
Examples of features we got right and Adobe botched included doing text reflow on […]
TIL: you can give yourself something like a paper-cut on the edge of a sheet of aluminium foil.
December 20, 2025 at 6:31 AM
TIL: you can give yourself something like a paper-cut on the edge of a sheet of aluminium foil.
Jonathan Oxer has announced Freetronics has run its course, and remaining products and stock will be merged in with SuperHouse.
I've always seen the Freetronics logo as a mark of quality, and am grateful to Jonathan Oxer for designing and building a bunch of feature-packed Arduino compatible […]
I've always seen the Freetronics logo as a mark of quality, and am grateful to Jonathan Oxer for designing and building a bunch of feature-packed Arduino compatible […]
Original post on aus.social
aus.social
December 19, 2025 at 3:57 AM
Jonathan Oxer has announced Freetronics has run its course, and remaining products and stock will be merged in with SuperHouse.
I've always seen the Freetronics logo as a mark of quality, and am grateful to Jonathan Oxer for designing and building a bunch of feature-packed Arduino compatible […]
I've always seen the Freetronics logo as a mark of quality, and am grateful to Jonathan Oxer for designing and building a bunch of feature-packed Arduino compatible […]
My copy "Mileships" by Ian McQue has arrived, and it's absolutely magnificent!
Ian McQue is best known for his work as a Concept Artist for films ("Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse", "Mortal Engines", various "Star Wars" projects), computer games ("Grand Theft […]
[Original post on aus.social]
Ian McQue is best known for his work as a Concept Artist for films ("Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse", "Mortal Engines", various "Star Wars" projects), computer games ("Grand Theft […]
[Original post on aus.social]
December 13, 2025 at 4:06 AM
My copy "Mileships" by Ian McQue has arrived, and it's absolutely magnificent!
Ian McQue is best known for his work as a Concept Artist for films ("Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse", "Mortal Engines", various "Star Wars" projects), computer games ("Grand Theft […]
[Original post on aus.social]
Ian McQue is best known for his work as a Concept Artist for films ("Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse", "Mortal Engines", various "Star Wars" projects), computer games ("Grand Theft […]
[Original post on aus.social]
UPS emailed me to say they're about to deliver a parcel "Sat, 12th April". Or, maybe part of their system is cursed and uses middle-endian date format, which screwed-up how about part of their system parses dates, and the parcel is due to arrive today? 🤷🏼♀️
December 4, 2025 at 12:52 AM
UPS emailed me to say they're about to deliver a parcel "Sat, 12th April". Or, maybe part of their system is cursed and uses middle-endian date format, which screwed-up how about part of their system parses dates, and the parcel is due to arrive today? 🤷🏼♀️