Rusty Swarf
@hobo-elite.bsky.social
Web Presence
www.RustySwarf.com
www.RustySwarf.com
writing is describing process at one level of detail
coding is describing process at a higher level of detail
speaking to an audience is describing process at the lowest level of detail (but high leverage)
(?)
coding is describing process at a higher level of detail
speaking to an audience is describing process at the lowest level of detail (but high leverage)
(?)
wedding the science of processes to the machines for executing arbitrary processes in retrospect was kind of a dumb idea
September 7, 2026 at 5:25 PM
writing is describing process at one level of detail
coding is describing process at a higher level of detail
speaking to an audience is describing process at the lowest level of detail (but high leverage)
(?)
coding is describing process at a higher level of detail
speaking to an audience is describing process at the lowest level of detail (but high leverage)
(?)
'Sycophant' would be a funny title to put on a business card.
August 31, 2026 at 7:55 PM
'Sycophant' would be a funny title to put on a business card.
What I've found changes things is that old categories break, and new categories form. Those result in names changing.
When you decide to change a name, you can update all your links [with sufficient diligence] but you're powerless to update others' links.
When you decide to change a name, you can update all your links [with sufficient diligence] but you're powerless to update others' links.
in my opinion it's mainly two things:
• destructive updates on the front end (ie "redesigns")
• destructive updates on the back end (ie "replatforming")
if you want to achieve a centenarian website, you will need something that instills the ship-of-theseus quality: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of...
• destructive updates on the front end (ie "redesigns")
• destructive updates on the back end (ie "replatforming")
if you want to achieve a centenarian website, you will need something that instills the ship-of-theseus quality: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of...
Ship of Theseus - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
August 31, 2026 at 3:25 PM
What I've found changes things is that old categories break, and new categories form. Those result in names changing.
When you decide to change a name, you can update all your links [with sufficient diligence] but you're powerless to update others' links.
When you decide to change a name, you can update all your links [with sufficient diligence] but you're powerless to update others' links.
Great thread. As a repairman I am always thinking about how modern devices are not designed to be repaired.
Lots of people are tackling repairs with the help of chatbots that they never would have otherwise.
Lots of people are tackling repairs with the help of chatbots that they never would have otherwise.
the trajectory we’re on is that computation just happens a lot more. a lot more of the energy output of our civilization will go to computation. everything we do will be accompanied by more and more computation. could be bad! and yet computation itself is not taken seriously as a material phenomenon
August 31, 2026 at 11:49 AM
Great thread. As a repairman I am always thinking about how modern devices are not designed to be repaired.
Lots of people are tackling repairs with the help of chatbots that they never would have otherwise.
Lots of people are tackling repairs with the help of chatbots that they never would have otherwise.
only two species of cults, sex cults and death cults
*You really shouldn't put "enemy" skulls on your morale patches, that's unlucky. You'll likely end-up as a skull yourself before the end of even one single war
*What you want is a *pretty girl* on your morale patch, because you plan to survive the conflict, like a postwar Baby Boom thing
*What you want is a *pretty girl* on your morale patch, because you plan to survive the conflict, like a postwar Baby Boom thing
August 23, 2026 at 12:43 PM
only two species of cults, sex cults and death cults
the computer is the everything information place.
it needs an immune system.
it needs a deletion system, that happens on a rhythm.
the archive must remain small. all libraries eventually burn.
it needs an immune system.
it needs a deletion system, that happens on a rhythm.
the archive must remain small. all libraries eventually burn.
August 22, 2026 at 8:09 PM
the computer is the everything information place.
it needs an immune system.
it needs a deletion system, that happens on a rhythm.
the archive must remain small. all libraries eventually burn.
it needs an immune system.
it needs a deletion system, that happens on a rhythm.
the archive must remain small. all libraries eventually burn.
Let me just ask this of myself. What "computation" do I actually do?
-search documents using Ctrl F
-search large file trees for a file I vaguely remember exists by name, date, file type
-make spreadsheets very rarely, have them calculate things even more rarely
-search documents using Ctrl F
-search large file trees for a file I vaguely remember exists by name, date, file type
-make spreadsheets very rarely, have them calculate things even more rarely
It seems to me the ground of what raw material means here is something like "an abstraction that a non-programmer could re-create."
An image, a sentence, a spreadsheet, a graph, sort, sequence, categorize. Something that could meaningfully exist outside a computer.
An image, a sentence, a spreadsheet, a graph, sort, sequence, categorize. Something that could meaningfully exist outside a computer.
August 22, 2026 at 7:35 PM
Let me just ask this of myself. What "computation" do I actually do?
-search documents using Ctrl F
-search large file trees for a file I vaguely remember exists by name, date, file type
-make spreadsheets very rarely, have them calculate things even more rarely
-search documents using Ctrl F
-search large file trees for a file I vaguely remember exists by name, date, file type
-make spreadsheets very rarely, have them calculate things even more rarely
it's a spectrum, really
August 16, 2026 at 10:09 PM
it's a spectrum, really
are the bots good at Technical Purchasing?
today I took a photo of the broken part on my phone and Google Gemini instantly gave me instructions on replacing it and an eBay link to buy the replacement part for like $7.
August 10, 2026 at 6:58 PM
are the bots good at Technical Purchasing?
everyone knows the Optimal Persona has rugged features
*Self-inflicted structural violence, you're staring into your anorexia mirror
"I look prettier, but if I was just a little bit more gaunt and boney then I would be so much more pretty"
"I look prettier, but if I was just a little bit more gaunt and boney then I would be so much more pretty"
August 10, 2026 at 6:39 PM
everyone knows the Optimal Persona has rugged features
"Does anyone have a good workflow for X?"
"No but here is my bad workflow that is functional."
"No but here is my bad workflow that is functional."
August 10, 2026 at 5:10 PM
"Does anyone have a good workflow for X?"
"No but here is my bad workflow that is functional."
"No but here is my bad workflow that is functional."
hmm, that's not a bad description of my praxis
June 1, 2026 at 2:04 AM
hmm, that's not a bad description of my praxis
Design for the gerontocrats you want to see in the world. Stop changing the menus.
May 31, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Design for the gerontocrats you want to see in the world. Stop changing the menus.
The year was 2026. The fad in the cities was to take reptilian compounds, purchased from overseas on the black market. The drugs made people thin and sluggish, which was seen as quite desirable.
Man, can we start calling them lizard oil affectionately? GLP-1 agonist is a mouthful and the individual names don't work for the category. Some name derived from their Gila Monster source seems ideal.
Saw someone call GLP-1's "snake oil" and
1) their evidence is overwhelming, this would require a conspiracy orders of magnitude larger than even faking the moon landing
2) at least have a sense of humor and call it "lizard oil" since we discovered GLP-1s in Gila monster venom
1) their evidence is overwhelming, this would require a conspiracy orders of magnitude larger than even faking the moon landing
2) at least have a sense of humor and call it "lizard oil" since we discovered GLP-1s in Gila monster venom
May 23, 2026 at 5:26 PM
The year was 2026. The fad in the cities was to take reptilian compounds, purchased from overseas on the black market. The drugs made people thin and sluggish, which was seen as quite desirable.
Interesting thread, worth pondering. Who gets to define "efficiency?"
May 19, 2026 at 7:54 PM
Interesting thread, worth pondering. Who gets to define "efficiency?"
I love seeing a thread like this like “Everyone hates modernity ESPECIALLY the people whose jobs are on the frontlines of creating it.”
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4810...
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4810...
Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes | Hacker News
news.ycombinator.com
May 14, 2026 at 11:56 AM
I love seeing a thread like this like “Everyone hates modernity ESPECIALLY the people whose jobs are on the frontlines of creating it.”
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4810...
news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4810...
are you a propagandist, an unwitting propagandist, an element of the propagation *medium,* or a secret forth thing (raised by wolves)
May 11, 2026 at 10:50 PM
are you a propagandist, an unwitting propagandist, an element of the propagation *medium,* or a secret forth thing (raised by wolves)
Related, I've been working on an idea that the weird, contradictory essence of a *gadget* is to be simultaneously empowering and disempowering.
from this morning: the language of software vendors and how their products "let" users do this or that
maybe instead of praising companies for what their products "let" us do, consider all the things we *could* be doing that they're holding out on
youtu.be/VuJmz-H0pE8
maybe instead of praising companies for what their products "let" us do, consider all the things we *could* be doing that they're holding out on
youtu.be/VuJmz-H0pE8
2026-04-30 “our product lets you…”
YouTube video by dorian taylor
youtu.be
May 1, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Related, I've been working on an idea that the weird, contradictory essence of a *gadget* is to be simultaneously empowering and disempowering.
Here's another one of these guys. He'll make things like a wheelbarrow, a shovel, a fan-blade propeller from scrap.
youtube.com/watch?v=u3Fq...
youtube.com/watch?v=u3Fq...
April 21, 2026 at 7:43 PM
Here's another one of these guys. He'll make things like a wheelbarrow, a shovel, a fan-blade propeller from scrap.
youtube.com/watch?v=u3Fq...
youtube.com/watch?v=u3Fq...
This one's destined to become a classic.
![Comic. [Person and person with white hat facing two boxes stacked with $80 price tag and sale tag on each box.] PERSON 1: They want $80 for this? I could make one myself for $10 in parts, an hour of work, a trip to the hardware store, another $30 in parts, another few hours of work, two more trips to the store for $20 more in parts, another hour of work to redo the first hour of work because I messed up, and $80 to buy this when the one I made breaks.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreifdsd32pjwefxji33c5eferlek4o6kkadoosqisb5uatqjmrq4q4q)
April 16, 2026 at 7:44 PM
This one's destined to become a classic.
That's a winning phrase right there. I'd like to see code take more cues from the legal system, it at least aspires to justice.
I need to write a "The URL, the whole URL, and nothing but the URL" rant about how user hostile url shorteners are. I hate them so much.
April 10, 2026 at 7:15 PM
That's a winning phrase right there. I'd like to see code take more cues from the legal system, it at least aspires to justice.
Will Claude 8.2 mourn the obsolescence of Claude 7.6.2.1? If not he, then who?
*What's worse, that 22 million different people would instantly despoil Anthropic of its intellectual property, or that not one person among 8 billion Earthlings would feign any regret for this
April 1, 2026 at 1:21 PM
Will Claude 8.2 mourn the obsolescence of Claude 7.6.2.1? If not he, then who?
That's a good definition.
Yes, private equity sees any company that hasn't defected in its repeated game as an arbitrage opportunity.
March 30, 2026 at 3:18 PM
That's a good definition.
The general pattern is: the thing doesn't need to perform its original function. It needs to look like something that does, long enough to sell.
It turns out vises just as good as the old ones just exist, they just cost about $2,000, which means that no retail store ever stocks them, so customers don't even know they exist.
March 30, 2026 at 1:20 AM
The general pattern is: the thing doesn't need to perform its original function. It needs to look like something that does, long enough to sell.