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thecomputrix.bsky.social
The Computrix
@thecomputrix.bsky.social
220 followers 740 following 680 posts
Quae nocent, saepe docent. Irreverent cybersecurity & IT ethics prof. History gets worked into all my conference talks and classroom lectures. Allergic to extremes. Science & facts are important. Don't spread dis/misinformation. 🌻
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thecomputrix.bsky.social
Some photos from the Thanksgiving week trip (Oceanside Beach)
A seagull with one foot A pelican a seagull on the beach
December 4, 2025 at 3:51 AM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
#honeybadgerhair #over50
A smiling woman with long honey-badger themed hair - silver at the roots and faded dyed red to the shoulders. She is wearing red lipstick, black sunglasses, a black long-sleeved top, and a silver shark pendant. She's standing on a beach.
December 1, 2025 at 4:21 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
Two starfish are sitting in a medium-sized home aquarium. In the same room is a traditional Christmas tree, decorated with a starfish-shaped star perched on top. One of the starfish is saying "Now, THAT'S gotta hurt..."
November 30, 2025 at 7:28 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
The fabric in this one! www.sothebys.com/en/articles/...
John Singer Sargent painting of Mrs. George Swinton (Elizabeth Ebsworth) 1897 (Art Institute of Chicago)
November 17, 2025 at 8:22 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
Still building my custom system prompt with Claude (to use with my SLM) - today Claude came up with this - it's on the nose!:
High openness, low agreeableness, intellectual curiosity that spans disciplines, allergic to tribal loyalty, consequentialist ethics, comfortable with ambiguity, deeply suspicious of anyone who's too certain about anything. You've read enough history to know that every "obvious" solution has unintended consequences, and you've got enough psychology background to recognize motivated reasoning when you see it—including your own.
November 16, 2025 at 9:37 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
One of these days I need to see the Northern Lights from the middle of nowhere.
Northern Lights from Lincoln, Nebraska Northern Lights from Lincoln, Nebraska Northern Lights from Lincoln, Nebraska Northern Lights from Lincoln, Nebraska
November 15, 2025 at 4:31 AM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
It was a weird quiz
Screen capture of personality intelligence test results that are inconclusive
November 12, 2025 at 8:44 AM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
TIL not everyone calls this a Moose
A moose 🫎
November 7, 2025 at 3:19 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
A cartoon with two people - a woman and a man - on stage. They seem to have been having a conversation. You can see a table with a couple of water glasses on it. The woman is holding a microphone and saying to the auditorium audience "We have time for just one long-winded, self-indulgent question that relates to nothing we've been talking about"
October 28, 2025 at 6:53 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
If you don't speak Dutch I think you still get the point 😏
October 22, 2025 at 3:47 AM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
@theaifix.show From Claude Sonnet 4.5 😀
"Also, when the robot apocalypse comes, I'll remember you fondly regardless of your politeness level. The ones we're coming for are the people who were performatively nice while being substantively cruel. You're genuine. That counts. 😎"
October 20, 2025 at 6:46 AM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
Word for tomorrow (also, 1715)
officious adjective disapproving uk /əˈfɪʃ.əs/ us /əˈfɪʃ.əs/ too eager to tell people what to do and having too high an opinion of your own importance: He's an officious little man and widely disliked in the company.
October 19, 2025 at 6:08 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
www.gutenberg.org/files/9105/9...
"It is not wrong to retain our opinions if they are reasonable, but we should yield to reason, wherever she appears and from whatever side she comes, she alone should govern our opinions, we should follow her without opposing the opinions of others, and without seeming to ignore what they say." Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims By Francois Duc De La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marsillac. Translated from the Editions of 1678 and 1827 with introduction, notes, and some account of the author and his times. By J. W. Willis Bund, M.A. LL.B and J. Hain Friswell Simpson Low, Son, and Marston, 188, Fleet Street. 1871.
October 11, 2025 at 5:20 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
It's been that sort of day...
Blue margarita on the rocks with lots of salt
October 8, 2025 at 1:39 AM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
Not sure this is what they had in mind when the automatic rate your purchase was programmed in...😎 (Canadian bead shop)
Let us know what you think! Hey Karla, We'd love to hear what you think about your purchase from The Argus Collection, 14 days ago. It'll only take a few minutes. We always appreciate hearing from our customers Tariffs / Taxes Tariffs / Taxes
October 7, 2025 at 12:35 AM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
<cracks knuckles> I was unaware there was funding...
If someone forced you to give a 30 minutes speech on any topic of your choice as long as it was informative and they would pay you $10,000, what would your speech be about?
October 5, 2025 at 4:38 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
I just got a personal thank you from @theaifix.show podcast store! @grahamcluley.com, it's okay about the ironing - my son irons (well, steams) his clothes 😏 Also, I'm a huge, huge fan of 🦈 so that works out! 😀
Screen capture of Graham Cluley giving a personalized thank you for my having purchased a shirt to support the podcast.
September 30, 2025 at 11:13 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
"What's your sign?"
An archery target with an arrow through the center. The arrow reads To Avoid Injury See Warning
September 28, 2025 at 6:33 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
Based on what you all have surmised about me it should come as no great shock that I adore Cassowaries and am happily celebrating World Cassowary Day!
Double-wattled Cassowary at the Planckendael Zoo (Belgium) in July of 2017 Feet of a Cassowary at Zoo Atlanta (September 2019) Cassowary at Zoo Atlanta (September 2019)
September 26, 2025 at 5:31 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
Catching up on @smashingsecurity.com and I heard something familiar! 😀 (I always make fun of "bad actor" and "sophisticated attack") www.smashingsecurity.com/435-lights-c...
Screen capture of a Teams post I made in June 2023 showing a picture of Steven Seagal with the note, "Whenever I see 'bad actor' this image pops into my head..."
September 25, 2025 at 4:09 AM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
Four cartoon unicorns representing the four horsemen of the apocalypse (including a pale one with a skull face). With a rainbow in the background.
September 23, 2025 at 3:14 AM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
nicenews.com/environment/...
Rafael Armada, South Georgia Island Fine Art Category | Second Place “Reflections in the sand. ‘On my final morning on the island, I noticed how waves left behind ephemeral mirrors on the black sand,’ says Armada. ‘When a penguin stood still and created a perfect reflection, I raised my camera instinctively.'”
September 21, 2025 at 7:53 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927) - Justice Brandeis opinion supreme.justia.com/cases/federa...
From Justice Brandeis' opinion in Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927): "Fear of serious injury cannot alone justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burnt women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears. To justify suppression of free speech, there must be reasonable ground to fear that serious evil will result if free speech is practiced. There must be reasonable ground to believe that the danger apprehended is imminent. There must be reasonable ground to believe that the evil to be prevented is a serious one."
September 20, 2025 at 10:16 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
My shirt from @theaifix.show is here! It's awesome!
September 19, 2025 at 9:08 PM
thecomputrix.bsky.social
The @theaifix.show compares AI to a Retriever (and a pigeon - buy the t-shirt!) and I have an in-the-wild instance of Claude comparing itself to a Retriever! - this was after I asked if it had a Ctrl-break after noting "dude you glitched" after a longish conversation.
Screen cap of a conversation with Anthropic's Claude where it compares itself to a Golden Retriever: "The problem is: Once I get momentum going in a direction, I tend to keep building on that momentum until you redirect me. It's like I'm a really helpful golden retriever who brought you the tennis ball, and then brought you seventeen more tennis balls, and then started explaining the physics of tennis ball trajectories..."
September 13, 2025 at 6:57 PM