Had a great time at #gaussfest today. Excellent work by @Extelec and the rest of the exhibitors.
I didn't take many photos, but I did get this one of a giant @shieladixon having a hair raising conversation with a tiny Tim!

If you're struggling with time management, learn about how others approach it. Here's some information that may help: https://socialwork.buffalo.edu/content/dam/socialwork/home/self-care-kit/exercises/time-management.pdf

I have started interviewing people to learn more about how they shut down scientific research projects and/or software projects (both open source and commercial). If you have done this, either deliberately (on your own timeline) or abruptly (looking at you, DOGE) and are willing to talk about your experience, please reach out: I'm gvwilson@third-bit.com.

Something that grizzles my noodle in tv and movies is when two people are passing info between them on the phone, in some dark espionage situation where lives are riding on everyone's tiniest decisions, and one person is like, "I've got a name for you, it's McFlarfentot," and the person at the other end just nods and writes it down. Isn't some clarification in order? What if it's MacFlarfentotte? What if you send your goons after the wrong McFlarfentot? Doesn't anyone care about goon efficiency?

Open source is a civic imperative, not just a tech choice. It hands power back to people — transparency that prevents surveillance and corruption, freedom from corporate gatekeepers, and the ability to fix what’s broken instead of waiting for permission. Societies that embrace open source cut costs, harden security through mass peer review, and ignite waves of local innovation and jobs. It levels the playing field so citizens everywhere can learn, build, and defend their digital rights. Losing open source is losing democratic control of our infrastructure. Defend it.🛡️
#OpenSource #DigitalFreedom #CivicTech #Privacy #TechForGood #Cybersecurity

Also, the Trend Micro story about a billion Google accounts being breached is also bullshit - the story is written using GenAI. That one also went global.

We've reached the point where vendors are just throwing shit at customers and journalists are just single source running it, nothing matters basically.

Blogged: “Rethinking my backups”
https://strugglers.net/posts/2025/rethinking-my-backups/

#memes #dinosaurs

As long as we’re in the “September Surge” (that trend where there’s a noticeable uptick in job vacancies and hiring around September and October, when companies ramp up for year-end and the upcoming year), you might as well also ask “What DON’T I want in a new job?”

https://www.globalnerdy.com/2025/09/06/what-dont-you-want-in-your-next-job/

All the cool kids are going floppy

I'm paying Google ~100 euros a month for their services and the privilege of publishing Conversations on the Play Store.

For a week now, I have been unable to release any updates because I'm still hoping to talk to someone at Google about their false accusation that I'm collecting users' email addresses, and any publication would reset my slot in the queue.

I like hard video games because it lets you live out the fantasy that if you overcome something challenging you’ll be rewarded

Getting ready for the pre-dawn "Glow Show" at the Great Reno Balloon Race!
1/n

#Balloon #HotAirBalloon #Night #NightPhotography #Photography #Darktable

Who knew that the most profound information
That we would learn
In the Information Age
Would be
That most people are stupid and wrong about almost everything

I came across refrakt yesterday, which seemed like a decent, minimalist, photo-sharing site but, sadly, I couldn't upload anything to it from my Android tablet. 🙃

https://refrakt.app/

#Photography

Walking back from a gig tonight, I noticed lots of people in Castle Street taking pictures. So I turned around to see what they were photographing.

And this is what I saw.

#Edinburgh #castle #moon #photography #clouds

Firefox is rapidly becoming a one-stop destination app for every thing I don't want Firefox to be doing https://floss.social/@omgubuntu/115152464864842429

"Where there is no boredom, there can be no reflection. Where there is no pause, there can be no real choice."

https://theconversation.com/put-down-your-phone-and-engage-in-boredom-how-philosophy-can-help-with-digital-overload-262396

at this point i think proton and mozilla should merge. they're so compatible! they both:
- abandoned fedi when the privacy and open source communities criticised them
- are more interested in chatbots than actually improving the products people use
- are continually trying to burn all the goodwill they've gained over the years