@dbsmasher.com
All sorts of SRE things. Breaker of all things. Source of the #botrosd hashtag. Professional finder of problems.
Author of High Performance MySQL 4th edition
Author of High Performance MySQL 4th edition
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@marcprecipice.bsky.social hot takes:
good management *is* hating things all the time
why bother to fight it?
good management *is* hating things all the time
why bother to fight it?
September 22, 2026 at 4:54 PM
@marcprecipice.bsky.social hot takes:
good management *is* hating things all the time
why bother to fight it?
good management *is* hating things all the time
why bother to fight it?
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I've been baking this "law" for awhile:
Rule: As a system becomes more reliable, the "cognitive distance" of its remaining failure states from the normal operating procedure grows rapidly.
Corollary: The more reliable a system is, the more exotic and unrecoverable its failure states are.
WDYT?
Rule: As a system becomes more reliable, the "cognitive distance" of its remaining failure states from the normal operating procedure grows rapidly.
Corollary: The more reliable a system is, the more exotic and unrecoverable its failure states are.
WDYT?
September 19, 2026 at 4:04 PM
I've been baking this "law" for awhile:
Rule: As a system becomes more reliable, the "cognitive distance" of its remaining failure states from the normal operating procedure grows rapidly.
Corollary: The more reliable a system is, the more exotic and unrecoverable its failure states are.
WDYT?
Rule: As a system becomes more reliable, the "cognitive distance" of its remaining failure states from the normal operating procedure grows rapidly.
Corollary: The more reliable a system is, the more exotic and unrecoverable its failure states are.
WDYT?
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As always, @tressiemcphd.bsky.social ’s analysis of the “AIs gone rogue” bullshit is spot on.
“Why do the powerful leaders of A.I. want us to panic? Because panic sells the idea that A.I. is ungovernable.” They show their unseriousness when “[n]one of them are enthusiastic about accountability."
“Why do the powerful leaders of A.I. want us to panic? Because panic sells the idea that A.I. is ungovernable.” They show their unseriousness when “[n]one of them are enthusiastic about accountability."
Opinion | A.I. Is a Threat, but Not in the Way You Think (Gift Article)
The threats from A.I. are real — and they’re ones we know how to deal with.
www.nytimes.com
September 19, 2026 at 1:49 PM
As always, @tressiemcphd.bsky.social ’s analysis of the “AIs gone rogue” bullshit is spot on.
“Why do the powerful leaders of A.I. want us to panic? Because panic sells the idea that A.I. is ungovernable.” They show their unseriousness when “[n]one of them are enthusiastic about accountability."
“Why do the powerful leaders of A.I. want us to panic? Because panic sells the idea that A.I. is ungovernable.” They show their unseriousness when “[n]one of them are enthusiastic about accountability."
We need to bring back product liability laws.
September 19, 2026 at 4:27 PM
We need to bring back product liability laws.
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This is why I think it's so important to push back against the personification of LLMs.
If a person shoots someone while wearing a hand puppet, they can't claim the hand puppet did the murder.
If a person shoots someone while wearing a hand puppet, they can't claim the hand puppet did the murder.
Referring to the harm as being caused by LLMs, when it is caused by people, actually serves to exonerate the people as if they did not make explicit decisions.
September 19, 2026 at 1:30 PM
This is why I think it's so important to push back against the personification of LLMs.
If a person shoots someone while wearing a hand puppet, they can't claim the hand puppet did the murder.
If a person shoots someone while wearing a hand puppet, they can't claim the hand puppet did the murder.
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The US already got a do over. A mulligan. A second chance.
Much of the world, especially US allies, were ready to write off Trump’s first term as a fluke.
The American people’s choice to put him back in power—as a convicted felon, after an openly bigoted, anti-democracy campaign—showed it was not.
Much of the world, especially US allies, were ready to write off Trump’s first term as a fluke.
The American people’s choice to put him back in power—as a convicted felon, after an openly bigoted, anti-democracy campaign—showed it was not.
This is the part many Americans -- including the Bezosites at the Washington Post -- don't understand. Canadians don't see this just as a Trump thing. It's that America elected him twice, and the second time with an even bigger mandate.
The problem we're addressing is America, not Trump.
The problem we're addressing is America, not Trump.
"Out of spite for President Donald Trump, Carney is accelerating the decoupling of a trade bloc that has generated enormous prosperity for North America." Seriously, Wapo editorial - you're going with Canadian spite? www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
September 18, 2026 at 12:14 AM
The US already got a do over. A mulligan. A second chance.
Much of the world, especially US allies, were ready to write off Trump’s first term as a fluke.
The American people’s choice to put him back in power—as a convicted felon, after an openly bigoted, anti-democracy campaign—showed it was not.
Much of the world, especially US allies, were ready to write off Trump’s first term as a fluke.
The American people’s choice to put him back in power—as a convicted felon, after an openly bigoted, anti-democracy campaign—showed it was not.
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every single republican president of my lifetime has started a war in the middle east and destroyed the economy
September 16, 2026 at 6:24 PM
every single republican president of my lifetime has started a war in the middle east and destroyed the economy
Who knew Matthew Rhys could do physical comedy like this.
September 17, 2026 at 2:15 AM
Who knew Matthew Rhys could do physical comedy like this.
Absolutely not on that Emmy’s opening number
September 15, 2026 at 12:03 AM
Absolutely not on that Emmy’s opening number
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This attempt to construct a narrative of persecution around being a white guy in America is at base, an expression of profound jealousy and insecurity towards people who have to overcome challenges they will never face
September 13, 2026 at 3:23 PM
This attempt to construct a narrative of persecution around being a white guy in America is at base, an expression of profound jealousy and insecurity towards people who have to overcome challenges they will never face
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How did he pass is job interview?
The same reason he's all over the press & everyone in the "left" is captured by these people.
I'm gonna call it like it is, once again, its
******RACISM*********
Y'all can't imagine that WE are the experts.
The same reason he's all over the press & everyone in the "left" is captured by these people.
I'm gonna call it like it is, once again, its
******RACISM*********
Y'all can't imagine that WE are the experts.
September 12, 2026 at 8:06 PM
How did he pass is job interview?
The same reason he's all over the press & everyone in the "left" is captured by these people.
I'm gonna call it like it is, once again, its
******RACISM*********
Y'all can't imagine that WE are the experts.
The same reason he's all over the press & everyone in the "left" is captured by these people.
I'm gonna call it like it is, once again, its
******RACISM*********
Y'all can't imagine that WE are the experts.
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Well well well
September 12, 2026 at 12:56 PM
Well well well
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D’une baguette
PAUL: What’s in the box?
REVEREND MOTHER: Pain.
[PAUL hesitantly puts his hand in the BOX, then FROWNS IN CONFUSION. He pulls out A BAGUETTE.]
REVEREND MOHER: Hōn hōn,
REVEREND MOTHER: Pain.
[PAUL hesitantly puts his hand in the BOX, then FROWNS IN CONFUSION. He pulls out A BAGUETTE.]
REVEREND MOHER: Hōn hōn,
September 11, 2026 at 11:21 PM
D’une baguette
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Today is the most Monday of Tuesdays ever
September 8, 2026 at 10:31 PM
Today is the most Monday of Tuesdays ever
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![President Grover Cleveland was one of those concerned that a labor holiday on May 1 would tend to become a commemoration of the Haymarket affair and would strengthen socialist and anarchist movements that backed the May 1 commemoration around the globe.[18] In 1887, he publicly supported the September Labor Day holiday as a less inflammatory alternative,[19] formally adopting the date as a United States federal holiday through a law he signed in 1894.[2]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:grvqetqdu4ws6qbb5wfah5go/bafkreigpuwpu7jsvpkci3dg646miegx5cpfvuyim3aolrq7brc7a2hhs44)
September 7, 2026 at 2:42 PM
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incredible work by 1PW leadership fucking up bad enough that a fight over Arch Linux for Racists escaped containment so completely that now Jamelle Bouie's telling 750k very online millennials, almost certainly the demographic most likely to pay for 1PW, to go cancel their 1PW subscription tonight
September 3, 2026 at 2:59 AM
incredible work by 1PW leadership fucking up bad enough that a fight over Arch Linux for Racists escaped containment so completely that now Jamelle Bouie's telling 750k very online millennials, almost certainly the demographic most likely to pay for 1PW, to go cancel their 1PW subscription tonight
/me looks at @alfredapp.bsky.social …you better not disappoint me.
Chat is it bad that every single website / app / tech product that we have found ourselves entangled with over the past 15 years eventually reveals themselves to be pro-fascism
In an internal Slack message obtained by The Verge, 1Password’s Karimov downplayed the overtly racist comments from DHH, telling staff the following:
www.theverge.com/tech/988536/...
www.theverge.com/tech/988536/...
September 3, 2026 at 3:28 AM
/me looks at @alfredapp.bsky.social …you better not disappoint me.
Instead of “assume good intent” I’d like people to recognize impact instead.
September 2, 2026 at 1:13 AM
Instead of “assume good intent” I’d like people to recognize impact instead.
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fwiw I think that AI is very clearly leading to a huge huge uptick in security issues everyone but it doesn't require extreme AGI so much as man we have a lot of bad code to exploit, not to mention how much easier phishing has gotten
August 30, 2026 at 5:48 PM
fwiw I think that AI is very clearly leading to a huge huge uptick in security issues everyone but it doesn't require extreme AGI so much as man we have a lot of bad code to exploit, not to mention how much easier phishing has gotten
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The overreaction to this Hugging Face thing is driving me nuts. Come flay me for being wrong but... 1/x
Does anyone know of a good counterpoint (eg, the Hugging Face incident was no big deal, it's better than you think, etc) to this? I am genuinely curious to read it to see what the counter-arguments are.
The Hugging Face incident is a 5-alarm fire. joshuagans.substack.com/p/its-worse?...
August 30, 2026 at 4:12 PM
The overreaction to this Hugging Face thing is driving me nuts. Come flay me for being wrong but... 1/x
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Tell you what, I’ll worry about the imaginary oppression of robots in the future when you worry about the real oppression of humans right now
August 26, 2026 at 2:40 PM
Tell you what, I’ll worry about the imaginary oppression of robots in the future when you worry about the real oppression of humans right now
Cancer can fuck off
In a new statement, Dolly Parton’s publicist says she passed away “after a brief battle with cancer.”
August 26, 2026 at 1:16 AM
Cancer can fuck off
Today my 15 yr old came back from school and I found her on the couch scrolling thru Dolly Parton videos
The kids are alright.
The kids are alright.
August 26, 2026 at 1:14 AM
Today my 15 yr old came back from school and I found her on the couch scrolling thru Dolly Parton videos
The kids are alright.
The kids are alright.
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Lady Liberty, with some statue in the background
August 26, 2026 at 12:59 AM
Lady Liberty, with some statue in the background