"Tor users who ignored warnings that the SSH host key had changed would then enter their SSH passwords."

So, you're concerned enough about security and privacy to use Tor. But you're NOT concerned enough to stop when you see the host key has changed? And you're using passwords instead of SSH keys? Or SSH certificates?

Finally getting my books out. NOW it's feeling like home.

One of my oldest memories is my sister taking me to the public library, because I wasn't old enough to read books outside the children's area. But my parents never censored what we read, watched, or listened to, so I was going to get that book. It was Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles", and my first experience of science fiction. No zap guns here, no "Wagon Train to the Stars". Stories about people, and all their yearnings.

"...There she was, oblivious to man and dog, listening to far winds and whispers and soap opera cries, sleep walking, helped up and down curbs by a husband who might just as well not have been there. This was not fiction." 2/2

Fahrenheit 451 was published in 1953. Those "four or five decades" puts it somewhere in 1993-2003. Which sure seems to track with me. Read the book again (or watch the 1966 movie -- I haven't seen the 2018 version), and you will instantly recognize today.

Ray Bradbury:

"In writing the short novel Fahrenheit 451 I thought I was describing a world that might evolve in four or five decades. But only a few weeks ago, in Beverly Hills one night, a husband and wife passed me, walking their dog. I stood staring after them, absolutely stunned. The woman held in one hand a small cigarette-package-sized radio, its antenna quivering. From this sprang tiny copper wires which ended in a dainty cone plugged into her right ear..." 1/2

This. This is the nonsense. mastodon changed their code. Not, AFAICT, in any technical way, but they changed the *look*. I'm not here for the art. In fact, when art is posted, it's *harder* to see because some moron thought "I'll just blur out the top of all posts to make sure it's harder to read."

Stop tweaking the looks, and focus on fixing the many bugs. I'd much rather have reliable software than "pretty" images.

My quest for Old Skool Tech continues. I find that the screen on my Palm IIIxe does not have enough contrast. Not sure if that's an old screen, or my old eyes. ;)

I have a Palm Zire 71 as well (I never throw stuff away...) It's a high-res, full-color screen. I had to buy a cable for it, so the internal battery could recharge. While waiting, I find that the screen is fine, and reading on it is pleasant. BUT, the battery no longer holds a charge.

So I'm waiting for a repaired one to arrive.

This morning, I thought one of my neighbors was washing clothes. I heard the whump-whump-whump of the spinning basket. Then I noticed my eyes were watering. And I realized I was hearing a leaf blower down the street. Obviously so _far_ down the street that I couldn't recognize it at first.

My allergies are so bad that even inside a closed house, pollen disturbed a block away cause a reaction.

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 76:

"It will readily be comprehended, that a man who had himself the sole disposition of offices, would be governed much more by his private inclinations and interests, ...candidates who had no other merit than... possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure."

(It's very wordy. I had to cut out the fluff.)

I saw my gastro doc today. I only see her about twice per year to check up on labs, and meet the requirement for the meds she prescribes.

As usual, I start the visit with, "I do not want to be recorded." To my surprise, she replied, "I don't even have the equipment to do that." Then went on with her take, that even if Epic's AI transcribed things, she'd *still* have to check it for accuracy, and that seemed like extra work over just writing her notes.

I'll keep this one.

"Civilized countries don't have a death penalty"

I guess you have to define "civilized" carefully, because Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore have it.

Japan executed a man in August of this year. They even have a _mandatory_ death penalty for specific crimes.

I'm not arguing for or against. I just hate it when people make statements which show they haven't bothered to check their facts.

The only way that statement works is if "civilized" means "no death penalty", in which case it's a tautology.

Look at the nonsense that came across my email this morning. Someone connected AI to IDA Pro (as disassembler):

"Semantic knowledge graph of the entire binary"

OK, let's define "semantic":

"Semantics refers to the study of meaning in language"

So, no. An LLM is not going to give you the _meaning_ of anything.

"knowledge graph":

What you meant to say was "call tree".

I've been reversing binaries since the 6502. It takes minutes to find all the subroutines and entry points. It's trivial.