skybrian's recent activity
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Comment on Microsoft patches a record 570 security flaws in ~comp
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Microsoft patches a record 570 security flaws
12 votes -
Comment on Control the ideas, not the code in ~comp
skybrian Link ParentCoding agents benefit from high-level languages too. For example, finicky high-level type systems will catch more bugs, and coding agents can usually fix them. So you want the sort of language...Coding agents benefit from high-level languages too. For example, finicky high-level type systems will catch more bugs, and coding agents can usually fix them. So you want the sort of language where, if it compiles, it probably works. That's not going to be true of assembly.
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Comment on 'Asia's cleanest village' bans tourists on Sundays in ~travel
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...] [...]From the article:
Located a few kilometres from the border with Bangladesh in India's Meghalaya state, Mawlynnong became a popular tourist attraction after Discover India magazine named it Asia's cleanest village in 2003. In a country known for its lack of sanitation, this is no small feat. But in Mawlynnong, children are taught to tidy up from a young age, with many taking to the streets each morning before school to sweep the town of dead leaves and empty rubbish bins. Villagers see to the disposal of biodegradables and take pride in public landscaping.
Shortly after launching his national Clean India Mission campaign in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi drew further attention to the village in a radio address.
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The accolades made Mawlynnong famous across India. Residents pivoted from agricultural work to tourism, opening guesthouses and restaurants. They built a car park bordered with souvenir and tea stalls, all serving the daily procession of tourist vans filled with visitors.
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Two decades after tourists first started coming to the village, with social media attracting new generations, Mawlynnong's village committee decided that rebalance was needed and imposed the Sunday ban on day trippers. The main reason, residents said, was that it allowed the village's predominantly Christian population to spend Sundays at church rather than catering to visitors.
Precious Khongdup, a committee member, told Indian media that the proposal was introduced "to preserve both the cultural identity of the village and the discipline that once made Mawlynnong stand out in the first place".
"It's good for us," said local resident Festival Kharrymba, who charges tourists 30 rupees (23p) to cross the large bamboo walkway in the village centre. "We have time to go to church, for service, for praying," she added. "If tourists are here on Sunday, it's a problem for us."
Even before the ban, most tourism businesses chose not to open on Sundays. Khongdup said only two restaurants operated, leaving visitors able to walk around the village but with few places to eat or buy drinks.
"We don't want visitors to feel uncomfortable," Khongdup said. "If they want to buy a water bottle [on Sundays before the ban] they couldn't get it, because all the shops were closed… We want visitors to feel the hospitality of the villagers, so that's why we are closing on Sundays."
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Khongdup told me that before 2003 Mawlynnong wasn't connected to nearby villages by proper roads, and its change from isolated village to beautiful tourist destination had been swift. When I asked if this change had been good for the villagers, he pointed to some new concrete homes, which he said were bought with tourism income. Just one generation ago, he added, many families here could only afford thatched grass houses.
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'Asia's cleanest village' bans tourists on Sundays
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Comment on A philosopher’s one-word theory to explain why the world feels so weird: uni-context in ~humanities
skybrian Link ParentMaybe a good way to think about it is that people try to get justice in a variety of ways and they're all imperfect? None of these work in every case: government justice systems traditional...Maybe a good way to think about it is that people try to get justice in a variety of ways and they're all imperfect? None of these work in every case:
- government justice systems
- traditional journalism
- getting shamed in social media
- kinship networks
- religious institutions
- activism
- ... what else?
They can all be problematic. They all miss stuff. Perhaps pluralism is good when they can counter each other's abuses?
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Comment on A philosopher’s one-word theory to explain why the world feels so weird: uni-context in ~humanities
skybrian Link ParentI liked them too. I think the closest modern equivalent is private chat groups? They are pretty popular, easier to understand, and security can be better.I liked them too. I think the closest modern equivalent is private chat groups? They are pretty popular, easier to understand, and security can be better.
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Comment on Who cleans up after the vibe-coding party? in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentRather than going out of date, I think it's closer than it ever was to becoming real. From a practical point of view, an app being modifiable by its end user has not been true for most end users,...Rather than going out of date, I think it's closer than it ever was to becoming real.
From a practical point of view, an app being modifiable by its end user has not been true for most end users, who wouldn't know how to change and rebuild the software anyway.
You can say, oh, but they can get someone else to do it, but hiring programmers is very expensive and out of reach for most people.
So instead people file bugs and feature requests, and hope.
Now with coding agents, you have a chance. When creating a new VM on exe.dev, you can give it a prompt and tell it to install some open source software for you. While using it, if you notice a bug or want something to work differently, you can ask it to fix it. It's quite an empowering way to do self-hosting. (I mean, self-hosted other than relying on exe.dev.)
Of course exe.dev is a rather obscure and geeky service that most people won't use. But this seems promising! It makes FSF's theoretical justification from way back then real, or closer to real anyway.
This all relies on open source though. You can empower end users, but they mostly won't know who you are, let alone pay you. You have to do it for the love of the game or something like that. (Or influencers can do influencing.)
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Comment on A philosopher’s one-word theory to explain why the world feels so weird: uni-context in ~humanities
skybrian LinkI agree that assuming a universal audience is quite limiting. It’s like you’re building a government website that has to work for everyone, so better get to work on the corner cases. This somewhat...I agree that assuming a universal audience is quite limiting. It’s like you’re building a government website that has to work for everyone, so better get to work on the corner cases.
This somewhat comes with the territory for websites (that’s the “universal” in URL) but for most people doing their own thing, it’s not actually necessary to write for everyone.
But on the Internet, you don’t get to choose who attacks you and it really could be anyone, from any country. And that’s why Cloudflare makes money.
The words “universal” and “everyone” and “global” are hints that perhaps you’ve increased scope too much.
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Comment on Who cleans up after the vibe-coding party? in ~tech
skybrian Link ParentOpen source licensing isn’t going away, and it’s independent of the community and fund-raising aspects of it. There are multiple ways to maintain open source code that people can mix and match....Open source licensing isn’t going away, and it’s independent of the community and fund-raising aspects of it. There are multiple ways to maintain open source code that people can mix and match.
One is to “throw it over the wall” and not maintain it, as researchers sometimes do when they wrote the code in support of writing a paper. After the paper is done, they publish the paper and the code and move on to something else. Or they might reuse the code by modifying it in support of another paper.
Another approach is corporate sponsorship. There are open source projects that are well-supported by tech companies for various reasons. The Go and TypeScript languages come to mind. They don’t monetize it directly but it’s software that they use to build other products. Both Redis and Valkey get financial support from companies, with somewhat different approaches.
Another approach that might work better now that coding agents are a thing is crowdfunding. Writers and artists often do that. They’re making what they want to make. Musicians aren’t asking strangers to edit their work, but you can donate to their Patreon and they might pay attention to what fans like. Zig seems to be supported by crowdfunding. It works if you can get people’s attention.
The decentralized model with contributors coming from all over and core contributors deciding what to merge is common, but it’s only one way to do it and there are others.
So, my guess is that there will be an adjustment period as people figure out new approaches that work for them. Or not. Less popular open source software usually ends up being abandoned.
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Comment on Control the ideas, not the code in ~comp
skybrian Link ParentI noticed that too. I assume it was hastily written. These days, though, the bad grammar is a good sign that he wrote it himself :)I noticed that too. I assume it was hastily written.
These days, though, the bad grammar is a good sign that he wrote it himself :)
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Comment on Who cleans up after the vibe-coding party? in ~tech
skybrian LinkI imagine there will be more open source projects that rarely accept pull requests and ask for donations instead, because they’d rather use a coding agent themselves.I imagine there will be more open source projects that rarely accept pull requests and ask for donations instead, because they’d rather use a coding agent themselves.
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Comment on Control the ideas, not the code in ~comp
skybrian Link ParentLooks interesting but it doesn’t mention support for Deno. (Generic TypeScript support won’t do because import resolution is custom.)Looks interesting but it doesn’t mention support for Deno. (Generic TypeScript support won’t do because import resolution is custom.)
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Comment on Control the ideas, not the code in ~comp
skybrian Link ParentI haven’t really seen this in TypeScript, perhaps because types are non-null by default and you have to write “| null” to make them nullable.I haven’t really seen this in TypeScript, perhaps because types are non-null by default and you have to write “| null” to make them nullable.
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Comment on Are we burning it down by proxy? in ~talk
skybrian Link ParentYes, inflation-adjusted. I added a second chart below the first one that has percentages, much like the original chart I saw.Yes, inflation-adjusted. I added a second chart below the first one that has percentages, much like the original chart I saw.
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Comment on Control the ideas, not the code in ~comp
skybrian Link ParentWell, I'm a hobbyist programmer so I have no deadlines and I'm not competing with anyone. So that's a different situation.Well, I'm a hobbyist programmer so I have no deadlines and I'm not competing with anyone. So that's a different situation.
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Comment on Are we burning it down by proxy? in ~talk
skybrian Link ParentI don't think the right way to think about it is maximizing disposable income. People will give up some income (including taking a different job) in order to pay for other advantages that result...I don't think the right way to think about it is maximizing disposable income. People will give up some income (including taking a different job) in order to pay for other advantages that result from living in a nice location. For all sorts of reasons, but one example would be living closer to work to minimize commute or not have to drive.
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Comment on Control the ideas, not the code in ~comp
skybrian (edited )Link ParentMy tip is to add this to AGENTS.md: And in the first prompt I always ask a question. If it's about a bug it's "why did this happen?" If it's a feature request, I describe the change and say...My tip is to add this to AGENTS.md:
If a prompt contains questions, stop after answering the questions, so the user has a chance to reply before you edit any more code.
And in the first prompt I always ask a question. If it's about a bug it's "why did this happen?" If it's a feature request, I describe the change and say "what's involved in making this change?" If there's an API change then I ask "How should we change the API?" I don't tell it to go ahead until I'm pretty sure I understand what it will do.
Also, if it's a new project, I write a plan.md first and we go over it, making multiple passes. Then I ask "are there any important questions to answer before starting work?" And I edit the plan myself until it's good enough to start Phase 1, because coding agents tend to put in excessive detail.
I guess Claude Code has a /plan mode, but my coding agent doesn't and I find I don't need it. I just make sure to ask a question if I don't want it to start right away.
Then again I'm just writing web apps, not anything complicated.
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Comment on New US-Canada bridge to open after delay in ~transport
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...]From the article:
The Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, will open before the end of the month following a delay stemming from President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada.
Canada’s Housing and Infrastructure Department and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Friday that the bridge will open July 27. A statement from the Canadian government said the agreement was made “with the support of the United States Government.”
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The announcement appears to mark the conclusion of the 1.5-mile long bridge’s role in a broader trade disagreement between the two countries. In February, Trump threatened to block the opening of the bridge — named after the famed Canadian-born hockey player — over what he viewed as unfair trade practices.
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New US-Canada bridge to open after delay
20 votes
From the article:
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