Esme Povirk @madewokherd@computerfairi.es
Joined Aug 2018
Pinned post
she (in a binary way) / any (in an I want people to be absolute goblins about it way)
Pinned post
Finally starting that "bookmarks" site I talked about a while back. Decided to just edit HTML straight up, rather than come up with some system to build the site for me.
My thinking is that whenever I go to look something up, I'll leave the tab open until I've added it to this system.
Already finding that providing context for these links is encouragement to write in more detail.
Pinned post
Hey if any friends are on other socials more (been hearing about bluesky a lot), I would like to follow you there. I have feed-merger to conveniently pull everything together, although I need to update it with bsky api (rss feed has some annoying limitations), and it doesn't work with Twitter because Twitter charges unreasonably for API access.
Probably will still only post here though, as much as I do at all.
starting a Linux distro argument probably
Trying to figure out what Linux distro I'd recommend and I'm coming up with Debian (for stability), Arch (for tinkering and frequent updates), Bazzite (for gaming if you don't want to tinker), AntiX (if you have <=4GB of RAM).
I know Ubuntu's value-add is supposed to be usability, but I don't feel like it's more usable in practice than one of those alternatives depending on your situation.
Esme Povirk
boosted
When we start to get in touch with our physical reactions towards things, we start to gain information about what we really feel about things, because our nervous systems have had years and years and decades of experiences reacting to things.
Esme Povirk
boosted
I've accidentally discovered something seemingly counter intuitive. I get much more done, and done at higher quality, if I just sit and relax and do nothing when I'm tired or stressed or overwhelmed.
All my life I've been called lazy and told to just push through it. If there's a hard deadline I may have no option but to just pushing through, but if not, if I can give myself some time and space (and not stress on it or feel guilty) then in time I will be full of energy and brain power to be productive. How did it not occur to me to try this before now? (Okay, okay, I know why it didn't. Still it would have been a grand bit better to have had this information oh, say, five decades ago.)
Esme Povirk
boosted
I was contemplating on what makes "good taste". And in the end I came to think that it mostly has to do with the appreciation for skill, effort, and expertise. People with "good taste" are people who value other people and the efforts they make to do something they care about...be it mundane or spectacular. It's all about people. And process.And caring.
re: LLM uses
So far ChatGPT seems to be pretty good at this.
Esme Povirk
boosted
It would be easy to make the world a better place, but if people were happier, they’d probably buy less stuff
I think maybe the reason I don't like debuggers (the kind you type commands into) is that it feels like an execution challenge, where I have to perform the correct sequence of commands and actions to get the information I want. With print statement debugging I just write more code and if it's not good enough I fix it.
So basically I want a debugger I can program ahead of time.
Finding that in difficult debugging situations where I'd previously give up, my response now is more often to improve my tools.
LLM uses
Hypothesis: One of the few things LLMs are good at is metaphor. Human minds respond well to metaphor and can be changed and observed via imagination (which doesn't have to be visual - anything you can experience is a possible way to imagine). The problem is often finding the right metaphor what you want.
Therefore, LLMs may be good for helping to observe and make changes in one's mind through metaphor.
I am either too tired to give my talk, or the perfect amount of tired to give my talk.
I have begun to think that any action that slows down oppression, even a little bit, matters. Any additional resources used means fewer available to oppress other people, and a delay to those plans. It doesn't have to change the winds to make a difference.
Esme Povirk
boosted
Hopelessness is manufactured. Hopelessness is part of Neo-Liberalism.
They want you to believe there is no hope and no possible alternative.
Planning a 27-hour train trip because flying (not the actual "being in the air" part but everything around it) sucks that much.
Being sober and going to bed at a reasonable time is underrated.
Esme Povirk
boosted
spider (+++)
This morning I set a roll of toilet paper so it would hang down the side of my bathtub, so that a spider could use it to climb out. It was adorable to watch. I love spiders.
(Usually I try to grab them by holding something flat underneath them and then drop that outside the tub, but I thought this might be less scary for them? Plus, it can still help while I'm away.)
Bathtubs should have textured bits so spiders can climb out.
Joined Aug 2018
