whyfly
@whyfly.bsky.social
Tech, Politics, Lit, etc. Burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night. Quiet Mefite. Once & future www true believer. Enlightenment progress.
Long-term tend to follow interacting mutuals & list-follow others.
Long-term tend to follow interacting mutuals & list-follow others.
With the right engineering mindset, you can solve any problem.
Why go to Mars when we can just turn earth into Mars, problem solved.
August 9, 2026 at 10:18 PM
With the right engineering mindset, you can solve any problem.
TO THOSE WHO HAVE LOVED ME
When I am gone
Let me lie in state
in your heart
for a day or two
or more.
Then plant me
deep in the soil
of your best work
And let me help
toward harvest.
When I am gone
Let me lie in state
in your heart
for a day or two
or more.
Then plant me
deep in the soil
of your best work
And let me help
toward harvest.
Legendary Latter-day Saint poet, playwright and activist Carol Lynn Pearson has died at age 86. "The Mormon people were truly blessed to have her as a companion," a historian says, "and the institution would have done well to listen to her.”
Legendary LDS writer and advocate Carol Lynn Pearson dies, leaves a final poem to her fans
Legendary Latter-day Saint poet, playwright and activist Carol Lynn Pearson has died at age 86. "The Mormon people were truly blessed to have her as a companion," a historian says, "and the institution would have done well to listen to her.”
www.sltrib.com
July 30, 2026 at 7:49 PM
TO THOSE WHO HAVE LOVED ME
When I am gone
Let me lie in state
in your heart
for a day or two
or more.
Then plant me
deep in the soil
of your best work
And let me help
toward harvest.
When I am gone
Let me lie in state
in your heart
for a day or two
or more.
Then plant me
deep in the soil
of your best work
And let me help
toward harvest.
Rejection is a dish best served warm? 🤔
Fucking hell as if receiving automated rejection letters for jobs wasn't bad enough.
July 28, 2026 at 3:02 PM
Rejection is a dish best served warm? 🤔
Was thinking "I might need to create a custom feed that just shows relatively quiet posters" because cool as some people are, favoring sheer volume is a bug, not a feature. And lo: Someone has already done it!
bsky.app/profile/why....
bsky.app/profile/why....
July 17, 2026 at 9:56 PM
Was thinking "I might need to create a custom feed that just shows relatively quiet posters" because cool as some people are, favoring sheer volume is a bug, not a feature. And lo: Someone has already done it!
bsky.app/profile/why....
bsky.app/profile/why....
Reposted by whyfly
Meta glasses ad vandalized in London https://manualdousuario.net/en/they-live-meta-glasses-kylie-jenner/
Meta glasses ad vandalized in London
Everything about this story is wonderful, from the activist group’s name to the surgical vandalism to the not-so-subtle nod to the classic ”They Live”, John Carpenter’s 1988 film…
manualdousuario.net
July 16, 2026 at 1:50 PM
Meta glasses ad vandalized in London https://manualdousuario.net/en/they-live-meta-glasses-kylie-jenner/
Freesound seems OK. YouTube, not IMO.
And at some level we collectively decided this was OK when we let Spotify with its pittance payouts and who's-going-to-stop-me approach become a thing.
If we want other outcomes, we're going to have to collectively decide this is not OK and remake law.
And at some level we collectively decided this was OK when we let Spotify with its pittance payouts and who's-going-to-stop-me approach become a thing.
If we want other outcomes, we're going to have to collectively decide this is not OK and remake law.
New: the highly controversial AI music generator Suno was hacked. The hacker sent us Suno source code; it shows the company scraped YouTube Music, Deezer, and Genius. In all, Suno scraped *decades* worth of music from the internet. Obviously didn't pay artists www.404media.co/hack-reveals...
July 16, 2026 at 1:39 PM
Freesound seems OK. YouTube, not IMO.
And at some level we collectively decided this was OK when we let Spotify with its pittance payouts and who's-going-to-stop-me approach become a thing.
If we want other outcomes, we're going to have to collectively decide this is not OK and remake law.
And at some level we collectively decided this was OK when we let Spotify with its pittance payouts and who's-going-to-stop-me approach become a thing.
If we want other outcomes, we're going to have to collectively decide this is not OK and remake law.
Kisses from the earth to the sky.
Wildflowers in the Albion Basin on the way to Cecret Lake, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah
#photography #landscape #wildflowers #sunrise #utah
#photography #landscape #wildflowers #sunrise #utah
July 16, 2026 at 6:23 AM
Kisses from the earth to the sky.
Reposted by whyfly
Terracotta vase in the form of a mouse Mid-5th century BC.
The mouse crouches with its front paws under its chin and its tail curled up beneath itself. The mouth of the vessel, in the centre of the back, is flanked in front and back by a pair of string holes
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
#History
The mouse crouches with its front paws under its chin and its tail curled up beneath itself. The mouth of the vessel, in the centre of the back, is flanked in front and back by a pair of string holes
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
#History
July 14, 2026 at 5:32 PM
Terracotta vase in the form of a mouse Mid-5th century BC.
The mouse crouches with its front paws under its chin and its tail curled up beneath itself. The mouth of the vessel, in the centre of the back, is flanked in front and back by a pair of string holes
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
#History
The mouse crouches with its front paws under its chin and its tail curled up beneath itself. The mouth of the vessel, in the centre of the back, is flanked in front and back by a pair of string holes
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
#History
"Mathematics will draw the soul toward truth" - Plato
hey bad news just found out God has been hiding out in geometry and now I have to get really good at math
July 14, 2026 at 3:57 PM
"Mathematics will draw the soul toward truth" - Plato
Reposted by whyfly
in addition to his movies and warmly genial public persona, I always liked Sam Neill’s tiktoks etc, increasingly rare kind of celeb just posting cute little daffy personal clips along with famous person stuff. here’s Sam Neill with one of his beloved chickens
July 13, 2026 at 12:01 PM
in addition to his movies and warmly genial public persona, I always liked Sam Neill’s tiktoks etc, increasingly rare kind of celeb just posting cute little daffy personal clips along with famous person stuff. here’s Sam Neill with one of his beloved chickens
Bird sight on bird-site-like.
The strangest thing happened today. We went to the uninhabited island of Lunga, west of Mull, to look at the puffins nesting there. I was just taking photos when I felt a thump as something landed quite heavily in my head. It was a puffin! It stayed for about a minute before flying off.
July 8, 2026 at 8:44 PM
Bird sight on bird-site-like.
I spoke to Mitch McConnell for 20 minutes this morning. He said "pity this busy monster, manunkind, not. Progress is a comfortable disease: your victim (death and life safely beyond)
plays with the bigness of his littleness."
plays with the bigness of his littleness."
July 8, 2026 at 2:56 AM
I spoke to Mitch McConnell for 20 minutes this morning. He said "pity this busy monster, manunkind, not. Progress is a comfortable disease: your victim (death and life safely beyond)
plays with the bigness of his littleness."
plays with the bigness of his littleness."
Janet Mills has won statewide office in Maine twice. She's done good things for healthcare, education, housing, & other things that help people.
She's probably the only other candidate who can make the 5 mo runway left in the race (besides the guy who won the primary but might have to drop out).
She's probably the only other candidate who can make the 5 mo runway left in the race (besides the guy who won the primary but might have to drop out).
July 7, 2026 at 4:29 AM
Janet Mills has won statewide office in Maine twice. She's done good things for healthcare, education, housing, & other things that help people.
She's probably the only other candidate who can make the 5 mo runway left in the race (besides the guy who won the primary but might have to drop out).
She's probably the only other candidate who can make the 5 mo runway left in the race (besides the guy who won the primary but might have to drop out).
I've never thought Jung's statement "People don't have ideas. Ideas have people" was the whole story, but people like Rogan going human bot does make a case for it.
We talk a lot about bots online, but less about the secondary effect, which is turning people like Joe Rogan into effectively human bots who only repeat the engagement bait posts they see on the timeline
July 3, 2026 at 1:43 PM
I've never thought Jung's statement "People don't have ideas. Ideas have people" was the whole story, but people like Rogan going human bot does make a case for it.
The water used in power generation, the waste heat from power generation & use, and the economics involved mean that current LLM-"AI" has never been likely to work out environmentally and economically.
-Water used at power plants that supply electricity to data centers can be greater than the amount of water used in the data centers themselves.
-" $170 billion of AI data-center capacity has been blocked, stalled or canceled since 2024"
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-d...
-" $170 billion of AI data-center capacity has been blocked, stalled or canceled since 2024"
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-d...
AI Data Centers Use Far More Water Than Most Tech Giants Report
Water used at the power plants that supply electricity to data centers can be much greater than the water used in the data centers themselves.
www.wsj.com
July 3, 2026 at 1:36 PM
The water used in power generation, the waste heat from power generation & use, and the economics involved mean that current LLM-"AI" has never been likely to work out environmentally and economically.
Uncomfortable truths in jest.
Not a great economy alert! Wall Street Bets users think Palantir spiked today because The Onion story titled “Palantir Acquires Pentagon for $800 Billion” hit their front page.
They’re guessing trading bots indexed the top post on the subreddit reddit not understanding source.
They’re guessing trading bots indexed the top post on the subreddit reddit not understanding source.
July 1, 2026 at 4:46 AM
Uncomfortable truths in jest.
Beyond FOMO, there is FWAMO (Fear We ALL Missed Out).
June 28, 2026 at 12:37 AM
Beyond FOMO, there is FWAMO (Fear We ALL Missed Out).
The vulnerability affects *smart tvs*? That’s a whole mess right there. People who manage app servers or linux desktops are going to update pronto. Who knows what smart tv manufacturers are going to do?
Whelp, this is a pretty major vulnerability. If you use ffmpeg make sure you update
www.securityweek.com/ffmpeg-pixel...
www.securityweek.com/ffmpeg-pixel...
FFmpeg PixelSmash Flaw Allows RCE on Video Players, Media Servers, NAS Appliances
PixelSmash is a vulnerability in the FFmpeg framework that can be exploited via crafted media files for remote code execution.
www.securityweek.com
June 26, 2026 at 9:48 AM
The vulnerability affects *smart tvs*? That’s a whole mess right there. People who manage app servers or linux desktops are going to update pronto. Who knows what smart tv manufacturers are going to do?
Stack Overflow is still a great resource for the same reasons it was a great resource to train models on. I'm glad some models will give references to it in their answers; I often learn something from reading those.
File this under takes that'll be popular, predictive, and still wrong.
File this under takes that'll be popular, predictive, and still wrong.
June 25, 2026 at 8:22 PM
Stack Overflow is still a great resource for the same reasons it was a great resource to train models on. I'm glad some models will give references to it in their answers; I often learn something from reading those.
File this under takes that'll be popular, predictive, and still wrong.
File this under takes that'll be popular, predictive, and still wrong.
This post is hilarious.
And banging on "we lost because corrupt establishment didn't do my things" *is* functioning as cog in that political machinery.
The opposition knows this. Do you?
Advocate for the things. Work for the party that does them. But it's hard to punish your allies to victory.
And banging on "we lost because corrupt establishment didn't do my things" *is* functioning as cog in that political machinery.
The opposition knows this. Do you?
Advocate for the things. Work for the party that does them. But it's hard to punish your allies to victory.
you people need to show more respect for the political machinery that lost to donald trump twice
June 25, 2026 at 4:07 PM
This post is hilarious.
And banging on "we lost because corrupt establishment didn't do my things" *is* functioning as cog in that political machinery.
The opposition knows this. Do you?
Advocate for the things. Work for the party that does them. But it's hard to punish your allies to victory.
And banging on "we lost because corrupt establishment didn't do my things" *is* functioning as cog in that political machinery.
The opposition knows this. Do you?
Advocate for the things. Work for the party that does them. But it's hard to punish your allies to victory.
Watching the web and search get better for the first 15 years and then watching search get worse as the web fills with garbage over the last 15 years has been a hell of a lesson in incentives and how humanity can follow them to ruin.
I am an old man now. I remember when search engines were both comprehensive and accurate, returned results for exactly what you looked for, allowed for advanced Boolean and wildcard querying, did not return paid results, and were not searching billions of fraudulent AI fantasies
June 22, 2026 at 3:17 PM
Watching the web and search get better for the first 15 years and then watching search get worse as the web fills with garbage over the last 15 years has been a hell of a lesson in incentives and how humanity can follow them to ruin.
So (a) not my favorite green but I really like this color and (b) LOL
June 20, 2026 at 11:52 PM
So (a) not my favorite green but I really like this color and (b) LOL
Reposted by whyfly
The most dangerous thing about AI is not that the machines might one day think. It is that we are being trained, by men with enormous financial gains riding on our acquiescence, to stop thinking for ourselves.
June 19, 2026 at 6:46 PM
The most dangerous thing about AI is not that the machines might one day think. It is that we are being trained, by men with enormous financial gains riding on our acquiescence, to stop thinking for ourselves.
Reposted by whyfly
Hundreds of strangers in Belfast working together. Doing shopping, providing accommodation, driving kids to school, people to hospital appointments.
Have just been told of a woman close to us who hasn't left her house since Monday so we'll be sorting her out today and getting her anything she needs
Have just been told of a woman close to us who hasn't left her house since Monday so we'll be sorting her out today and getting her anything she needs
June 12, 2026 at 7:18 AM
Hundreds of strangers in Belfast working together. Doing shopping, providing accommodation, driving kids to school, people to hospital appointments.
Have just been told of a woman close to us who hasn't left her house since Monday so we'll be sorting her out today and getting her anything she needs
Have just been told of a woman close to us who hasn't left her house since Monday so we'll be sorting her out today and getting her anything she needs