Mastodawn

*Close To the Machine* is Ellen Ullman's classic memoir of writing software in Silicon Valley at the start of the dotcom bubble; it was originally published in 1997 and reprinted in 2022 for the 25 annniversary by Farrar, Straus and Giroux's MCD books:

https://www.mcdbooks.com/books/close-to-the-machine-25th-anniversary-edition

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/07/16/beautiful-code/#hackers-disease

-rb 5h ago

Vee 8h ago

Now he's just saying the quiet part out loud.

-rb 5h ago

Jay Kuo 9h ago

It’s become so corrupt and full of conflicts that we’ve apparently given up trying to stop it.

-rb 6h ago

Mike Olson 11h ago

This fascinating, and damning, deep dive into Google search results came my way via @pluralistic:

https://housefresh.com/beware-of-the-google-ai-salesman/

I switched to @kagihq as my default search engine more than a year ago. I don't have to worry about hallucinations or SEO spam. The monthly cost is modest and search feels like it did when "I'm feeling lucky" really made me feel lucky.

No affiliation, not a bot. Actual human deeply disappointed by Google's enshittification.

Beware of the Google AI salesman and its cronies

Exposing the overly salesy AI Overviews that will push you to buy bad products and exploring the system making it possible.

HouseFresh

-rb 6h ago

Radley Balko 12h ago

Baltimore has started treated violent crime like a public health issue. The city is literally "sending social workers," as the law-and-order right derisively puts it. And it's working. popular.info/p/the-secret...

The secret to Baltimore's extr...

The secret to Baltimore's extraordinary year

This April, Baltimore saw five homicides.

Popular Information

-rb 6h ago

Uncle Duke 5d ago

On March 28th, 1962, Brian's mom said she would pick him and his friend Tom up at 3pm, and they absolutely weren't, under any circumstances, to leave.

-rb 6h ago

National Security Counselors 🕵19h ago

You know, maybe pointing out that Donald Trump was friends with Epstein isn't the way to go here. I think people should be reminded that Donald Trump was once a friend of the Clintons, and it's possible he's trying to do Bill a solid. His base will respect that, I'm sure. Just tell them.

-rb 6h ago

Show thread

CheapPontoon 10h ago

@codinghorror
I hate it!

I’m not the guy who goes around correcting bad commas and apostrophes, but the beauty of Shroedinger is that the cat is both dead AND alive, the gun is both loaded and unloaded, the razor solves and does not, and things will go wrong AND not.

Or maybe I AM that guy.

-rb 7h ago

Broadwaybabyto 22h ago

Disabled people are begging you to stand in solidarity with us.

Fight cuts to Medicaid. Fight cuts to healthcare. Fight eugenicist rhetoric.

The Nazis started with disabled people. They tested the gas chambers on us because they knew no one would fight for us.

We were the easiest group to vilify because people fear and hate the disabled.

Remember this when Dr. Oz and RFK Jr start talking about how it’s a ‘patriotic duty to be healthy’

Or when they say that Medicaid recipients aren’t being ‘fair to hard working Americans’.

They’re training you to see us as acceptable losses. Un-patriotic. Fakes and scammers.

They’re prepping you to accept our deaths as inevitable.

Don’t let it happen.

My latest explains why the big ugly bill will cost disabled lives, and why the concept of the “genuinely disabled” is just a eugenics talking point:

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/the-genuinely-disabled-dont-have

#uspol #fascism #BigUglyBill #maga #maha #medicaid #disability #ableism #eugenics

The "Genuinely" Disabled Don't Have to Worry About Medicaid Cuts

Trump's "Big Ugly Bill" will kick 12 million people off Medicaid, many of whom are disabled. They're trying to convince the public that we're scammers in order to justify leaving us to die.

The Disabled Ginger