Mastodawn

Joshua M. Clulow

@jmc@unix.house

525 Followers

176 Following

2.1K Posts

Queer. ADHD. Engineer. UNIX person. Australian-American. Member of illumos core team. Building a new machine at Oxide Computer Company!

blog	https://sysmgr.org/blog/
github	https://github.com/jclulow
lobste.rs	https://lobste.rs/u/jclulow

Joshua M. Clulow 2d ago

The only Sci-Fi story I know that has predicted our current AI present.

https://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2362

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Watch

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Watch

Joshua M. Clulow 6d ago

Dan Sinker 6d ago

I’m so tired

of this country.

Joshua M. Clulow 6d ago

Fesshole 🧻6d ago

At university I dated an American lad who was studying in England. Staying at his place once, I went to make a cup of tea in the morning but couldn't find his kettle. He gave me a demonstration of how he made tea in the microwave. Dumped.

Joshua M. Clulow 6d ago

Natasha Jay 6d ago

IKEA knows it's customer base well

Joshua M. Clulow 6d ago

tech? no! man, see...Mar 13, 2018

Golang is unusual because in most languages the type system tells you when you made a mistake, but in Golang the type system tells you when Rob Pike made a mistake.

Joshua M. Clulow 6d ago

Sent a pull request to Audacity fixing a crash bug I'd been running into frequently. The cause was an out-of-bounds memmove. Classic C++ areas.

Anyway I got a fucking copilot review on my PR which left two comments, both completely wrong, one of which suggesting I reintroduce the out of bounds memory access. I'm furious!

Joshua M. Clulow 6d ago

Bálint Szilakszi 6d ago

Alchemy is only ever going to get better and it is improving every year.

Soon Alchemy will make goldminers obsolete.

Joshua M. Clulow Jun 25

Graham Sutherland / Polynomial Jun 24

it's 2025 and this is still the funniest security meme.

Joshua M. Clulow Jun 21

Luna Fox Winters Jun 19

They're putting blue food coloring in everything.

A short story

https://blog.foxtrotluna.social/theyre-putting-blue-food-coloring-in-everything/

Joshua M. Clulow Jun 16

I'd scream if I had any energy left...

×

Luna Fox Winters Jun 19

They're putting blue food coloring in everything.

A short story

https://blog.foxtrotluna.social/theyre-putting-blue-food-coloring-in-everything/

Hyphinett Jun 19

@foxtrotluna bluetiful writing <3 felt this so much

Luna Fox Winters Jun 19

@BreoganHackett Thank you!!! That’s means a lot

ShadowInTheVoid Jun 19

@foxtrotluna On an oddly literal note, I genuinely dislike the fact they add blue food coloring to mushy peas to make them look great. I'd much rather have them yellow thank you very much.

Luna Fox Winters Jun 19

@ShadowInTheVoid Margarine too is sometimes *too* yellow. I’m fine with it being white. It all goes down the same!

@foxtrotluna I might be really dumb. But I assume this is kind of a metaphor for big tech?

Luna Fox Winters Jun 19

@emberfox AI, specifically, yes :)

But you really could substitute it for a lot of “features” that get added that we don’t ask for

@foxtrotluna Absolutely wonderful writing and I do see how it's AI. Especially with the "We are a blue-first company!" part.

@foxtrotluna Dang this is good. Well written and nails the point. Nice one.

@foxtrotluna I know what it is really about, but you could also see it as analogy to micro plastics and perpetual chemicals.

Luna Fox Winters Jun 20

@NafiTheBear No you’re right there too. It’s not just AI, there’s a whole culture of “we’ve added this thing you never asked for, but we think you’ll love paying for” across all kinds of industries.

I’m vegetarian, and most vegan cheeses use coconut oil. I really don’t like the taste of it, and alternatives exist but it feels like it’s in everything. That was inspiration for this, too.

@foxtrotluna ohhh yes coconut oil... I watched a documentary about it's damage and then I realised it is basically in any food that has fat added... Chocolate, cookies, even "original Irish cow milk" has coconut oil...

Maybe AI industry is indeed what the food industry already does for centuries.

@foxtrotluna I was expecting a resolution at the end about what it is in reality. But it was a really good read!

Luna Fox Winters Jun 20

@kaiserkiwi Look at the Blue (or bold if you’re colorblind) Letters :)

@foxtrotluna Because of the AI tag at the bottom I think I know it already. But I don't know what to look for in the blue text. I'm on mobile, so if it needs mouse interaction that bit is lost there. 😁

Luna Fox Winters Jun 20

@kaiserkiwi In the last sentence the A and I in “And I still don’t like the taste” are also blue :)

Up to that point only the word blue has been blue.

But to be honest, which I wrote it with that in mind, it really can apply to a few aspects of life right now

@foxtrotluna Oh wow. That's so obvious. How could I've miss that? 😅

Yeah. Microplastics come to mind here too. Especially in the moment the blue water was mentioned.

*sparkling anxiety* Evelyn Jun 21

@foxtrotluna That is a perfect allegory about AI.

The "blue first" made me thing about jingoistic lip-service patriotism, like how in the months after Sept 1 , 2001, in the US, pretty soon it was just about mandatory to wear an American flag pin. Which also put me in mind of when I was a kid in the 60s & 70s, & it seemed like almost everything had to contain a quick reference to (an assumedly Christian) God.

Those two don't fully fit in with the story, but they show that you've hit on a theme with a lot of universality.

neobot_cat_ears

@foxtrotluna oh no not the posts too

alt text for non-mfm viewers: the text above is blue

Fr tho, this was a good lil’ read. I knew from like the first quarter what exactly this was going to be an analogy for :3

Our world is already chock full of single points of failure and universal dependencies that have arisen out of bad planning, stacked marketing departments, power-seeking asshats, or all of the above. We need to be getting rid of them, not adding more.

Luna Fox Winters Jun 21

@helical I’m assuming mfm is a fedi platform with styling support? I’m a bit out of the loop on that stuff

Thank you for the kind words, you’re absolutely correct and it’s endlessly frustrating.

neobot_cat_ears

@foxtrotluna basically, misskey is a fedi platform which supports styling through “misskey flavored markdown” (mfm), although some other fedi platforms also support it

there are also animations you can make with it (implementations vary)

I’m on an app that supports some mfm animations but not the fading one for some reason

yay standardization!!

Luna Fox Winters Jun 21

@helical Oh! I think I have an account on a misskey instance! It’s not my main one, but I did like it, I just found the iOS clients at the time a bit lacking

neobot_cat_ears

@foxtrotluna I use the Aria app on iOS which supports misskey (except the fade mfm animation lol) and it’s pretty good in my experience

druid of blue Jun 21

@foxtrotluna your choice of metaphor colouring is quite unfortunate for me 😅

but I'm with you on this. I feel like an old curmudgeon for resisting, so it's nice to know there are others

Paul von Drayventhal Jun 21

@foxtrotluna tbh I didn't get it until I read a post below here that mentioned it's about AI. I thought it was about adding unnecessary chemicals to food or something and now I feel a bit like a dumbass.
There are studies that show that adding blue color to food makes the products less attractive because the color is perceived as extremely unnatural.
But it was fun to read.

Luna Fox Winters Jun 21

@Drayventhal I don’t think you’re dumb for interpreting it that way, a lot of people did and they raise a good point. As I’ve mentioned to others in the comments too, I eat a lot of vegan food and often companies find a “safe” vegan alternative like coconut oil and put it in *everything*. My story could absolutely apply to that too.

I very much want to keep on living, but death of the author and all that :)

@foxtrotluna that reminds me, I need to continue reading house of leaves

Luna Fox Winters Jun 21

@darkrat I’ve not actually read it yet (it’s on my list but I want a physical copy). I consider it quite a compliment that it even reminded you of it though! Thank you ^^

@foxtrotluna recent studies now showing cognitive decline in frequent blue consumers, I've never felt so vindicated

Lilith Ashley Nyx Arson Jun 21

@foxtrotluna style reminds me a bit of house of leaves

Luna Fox Winters Jun 21

@root You’re the second person to say that! I really must read it. I just feel it’s one of those books you need a physical copy of

Lilith Ashley Nyx Arson Jun 21

@foxtrotluna you should read it

Mre. Dartigen [maker mode]Jun 21

@foxtrotluna @root It is, in no small part because the 'official' ebook got done in a way that actually makes it much harder to read, and as far as I know there's no other versions that don't have the exact same problems. (Plus, the physical copy has one fun - or un-fun, depending on how you look at it - feature that really can't be done electronically.)

użyszkodniczka Jun 21

@foxtrotluna (couldn't not send this…) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BinWA0EenDY

Eiffel 65 - I'm blue (official Video)

YouTube

Kototama Jun 21

@foxtrotluna really cool. I like that I can't map the concept to one specific topic (micro plastic, food allergies or preferences, generative ai) but that it speaks to me through all of that

Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐Jun 21

@foxtrotluna I think this might be an allegory. 💙

@foxtrotluna Nice story, thanks for sharing!

Also: I once went on a camp themed “blue”. The food coloring was funny, but a playlist of 50% da-ba-dee, da-ba-di gets tiresome real fast. Had a great time though, so thanks for reminding me.

Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee) 1998 Official Music Video (Remastered) HD

YouTube

_GreyWolf Jun 21

@foxtrotluna
Lovely metaphor for the current LLM hype

@foxtrotluna amazing story. Especially love the last spelling of blue 😂

Marcus The Board Gamer Jun 21

@foxtrotluna @foosel Great story. I knew Blue was code for AI fairly quickly but it’s a great analogy.

Emil Socks Jun 21

@foxtrotluna This is very good, and it's unfortunate how relatable it feels. The whole thing with... things getting done because it's profitable, rather than because anyone wants them. It's exhausting to see so many people accept it without question.

In any case, thank you for sharing it!

Rob Vincent 🎙️Jun 21

@foxtrotluna Thank you so much for this! It's very evocative and illuminating.

Luna Fox Winters Jun 21

@Rob_T_Firefly That means a lot, I’m really blown away by the response I’ve gotten! There’s spelling mistakes and bad editing in there that I’ve noticed but I guess it makes it more “colorful” haha

ShadSterling Jun 21

@foxtrotluna just reading the title made me think of someone I know who is allergic to food coloring. Nearly any processed foods they can’t eat. I’m glad this isn’t a true story about that problem getting worse

Luna Fox Winters Jun 21

@ShadSterling I can only imagine how awful that is. Honestly this is also a little bit about food additives in a way too

Luna Lactea Jun 21

A friend offered to make me some "normal" food. It seemed fine, tasted okay. Until they revealed that they'd secretly put blue food coloring in it.

People are actually like this & I hate it. It's so simple (actually easier) to not add the blue food coloring or to write an email without feeding mine to chatgpt or not give money to a horrible person, but people will go out of their way to do it anyway just to be an asshole & say "See? Nothing bad happened!". Something bad did happen, how did you not notice?

Luna Fox Winters Jun 21

@jackemled Someone once fed me a cake with nuts in because they thought I didn’t have a nut allergy. They were right as it turns out, my mum thought I had one so I just went my whole life assuming.

It never sat right with me that they were willing to kill me just to prove a point.

Luna Lactea Jun 21

@foxtrotluna That's horrible :(

Luna Fox Winters Jun 21

@jackemled He’s not in my life anymore! And I’m very grateful for it

Luna Lactea Jun 21

@foxtrotluna Good!

Matt Boyd Jun 21

BrazMogu (i.e. Bruno Guedes)Jun 21

@foxtrotluna I love how the analogy hit me in the head at around the blue milk part, this was a good read (unpleasant in how it relates to our existence, but nonetheless good)

codinginquarantine Jun 21

Accidental House of Leaves

Charnock Jun 21

@foxtrotluna This story terrified me to the core, as I am allergic to blue food colouring. A world where they put it in everything made me feel really claustrophobic.

*shiver*

Lovely story.💯

lagrange_multipl1er Jun 21

@foxtrotluna "Blue Da Ba Dee" was playing in my head while reading this...

∴7700e6 `Violet`

neobot_cat_ears

@foxtrotluna why does this remind it of house of leaves

Luna Fox Winters Jun 21

@0x7700e6 You’re not the first thing to mention that! I’m really honored to get the comparison

Wim 🅾→Ⓣ Jun 21

@foxtrotluna Nice story. Especially the knives. It gets harder and harder to avoid.

Helge Wurst Jun 21

@foxtrotluna For a moment I thought this was about the methylene blue craze

@foxtrotluna blue cheese