"You cannot follow both Christ and the cruelty of kings. A leader who mocks the weak, exalts himself and preys on the innocent is not sent by god. He is sent to test you. And many are failing."

-- Pope Leo XIV

#politics #PopeLeoXIV #fascism #FascistAmeriKKKa #Nazis #tyranny

Today I was unable to deploy a brand-new Windows 11 PC that I spent more than half the day prepping because the OS broke itself and couldn't recognize any keyboard plugged into it. No problems in the BIOS, either.

Congratulations, #Microsoft, #Windows is capable of screwing up tasks even toy OSes get right.

👿 👿 👿 👿 👿

@vwbusguy I think Harry Potter and Baldur's Gate 3 went a long way to do that to me, for sure

Newly-elected Pope Leo XIV will not be a playable character in the upcoming Mario Kart World.

@rl_dane ....and today I learned a thing! Thanks!

Seeing the news the last few hours about the new pope is such a welcome break from the the last 100+ days of Everything Is On Fire AAAAAAH.

As I suspected... the #AI hype train, while much, much huger than blockchain, is more or less the same. A good technology for specific use cases, and cryptocurrency ain't one of them.

In many, many ways I've very much against AI as we see it now, but I've found a few specific instances where it's been genuinely useful.

Specialized scope, human review, low-stakes, extra care regarding copyright. It's not all bad, but oh, wow, the tech sector is doing a great job making us think it is.

I was asked by a 20 year younger friend how my internet was back then. I needed a moment but then I told her the story of an IRC channel and how we made the day for a young girl who happened to be on our IRC channel. Because this is what my internet was like back then and I wish sometimes it still was like this. Let me tell the story:

I was 25, the channel members were like 20 to 30 years old. Somehow this young girl found her way to us. She was 14 when she joined the channel. >>

Hi everyone! 👋 We still see people on the fediverse recommending OpenOffice, despite it having year-old unfixed security issues: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_OpenOffice#Security – So if you see someone recommending it, please inform them about the risks – but also that there are actively maintained successor projects (like LibreOffice). #foss #OpenSource

> In 1974, Bill Hoyt, part of the original Blackmoor Bunch, started playing Dungeons & Dragons, which he'd got at Gary Gygax's house. Soon after, he began his own campaign.

These are rare maps and campaign notes from the very beginning of D&D.
SECOND EDITION: Contains more information from the Old Campaign, and also "Hlákku and the Jakálla Underworld", Bill's account of his early days playing Empire of the Petal Throne with M.A.R. Barker.
<
https://smolderingdung.itch.io/bill-hoyt-my-old-campaign

#ttrpg #dnd #osr

Tech Companies Apparently Do Not Understand Why We Dislike AI

It's becoming increasingly apparent that one of the reasons why tech companies are so enthusiastic about shoving AI into every product and service is that they fundamentally do not understand why people dislike AI. I will elaborate. I was recently made aware of the Jetbrains developer ecosystem survey, which included a lot of questions about AI. After I answered some of them negatively (and possibly…

http://soatok.blog/2025/05/04/tech-companies-apparently-do-not-understand-why-we-dislike-ai/

#quotes #books #CSLewis

@bookstodon

Actually, I take that back. Don't use *anything* from Big Tech if you can help it.

If Satya Nadella says 30% of the code #Microsoft is "writing" is generated by AI, I don't think I'll ever count on #Windows to be anything but a steaming pile of manure. Mark my words: it's not getting the level of human review that it needs, hence my conclusion.

Do yourself a huge favor. Use anything but Microsoft and Google products if you want a decent life.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/29/microsoft-ceo-says-up-to-30-of-the-companys-code-was-written-by-ai/

@solusspider Best wishes on your special day!

@cenbe
Good. 👿

My unproductive thing of late has been designing a new magic system for #D&D 5th Edition.

It uses a mana system like many others, but spells have been consolidated and each one can do more. Spells are organized thematically.

I'm still putting together the document and I'm SO EXCITED!! I can't wait to share it with you all when it's ready for the light of day.

#dnd #dnd5e #dnd2024

I have been reminded that having something in your life that you do just for fun with no other motivation is not only a good thing, but a necessary thing.

Not everything you do needs to be 'productive'. Being intentionally unproductive is good for you. Take a few minutes today and breathe, clear your mind, and rest. We all need it, including you. ❤️

This is pretty awesome: Free music to use for whatever. From Moby. https://mobygratis.com