Thomas Cannon

@tcannonfodder
272 Followers
280 Following
856 Posts
Web developer, writer, semi-pro party mom. +3 to Persistence Rolls. Operations & systems nerd
Personal Sitehttps://thomascannon.me
Githubhttps://github.com/tcannonfodder
Bandcamphttps://tcannonfodder.bandcamp.com
Practical Computerhttps://practical.computer
Thomas CannonMar 10
Show threadEugen RochkoMar 10
Technology is not inevitable. We've decided not to have asbestos in our walls, lead in our pipes, or carginogenic chemicals in our food. (If you're going to argue that it's not everywhere, where would you rather live?) We could just not do LLMs. It's allowed.
Thomas CannonMar 10
Show threadEugen RochkoMar 10
From what I've observed, people who claim that LLMs can replace artists don't understand art, people who claim that they can replace musicians don't understand music, people who claim that they can replace writers don't understand literature, and people who claim they can replace translators don't rely on translations. If I had a button that would erase LLMs from the world but it would take machine translations away (which is a false dichotomy anyway), I would absolutely still press it.
Thomas CannonMar 10
Show threadEugen RochkoMar 10
I have the impression that primarily anglophone people don't read as much translated literature, because so much good literature already exists in their language, so this issue may not be as familiar within that demographic. As someone who did not grow up anglophone, I can tell you there is a world of difference between a good and a bad translation even when done by humans. Machine translations are not even on the scale.
Thomas CannonMar 9
Another great thing about Oaken: as I rip out old models, I have so much less finagling to do because with Oaken’s seeds, I only have a small dataset that’s logically broken up. So I nuke the old seeds, work on a single test until it passes; then the whole suite.
Thomas CannonFeb 11

A truly amazing gift that my dad made; a 3D woodcut of the Practical Computer logo. And the color matching is perfect too!

It deserves to be right under @jennyrjohnsonart.bsky.social’s amazing work. http://jennyrjohnsonart.bsky.social

Thomas CannonJan 26
Dave SHJan 26

I feel like people who are using LLMs for their work are not considering the motives and impact of the corporations hosting and serving the model. The goal isn't to make you a better developer, or even a more productive developer, its to make you dependent on their service and start driving up the rents to access it.

The goal is to extract your time, your money, and your knowledge feeding these models your plans for the work you want to achieve. They are not benevolent.

Thomas CannonJan 26
Thomas CannonJan 24

If you're using `puma-dev` (having `.test` domains and automatic HTTPS is super nice!) but want HTTP2+ support + all the benefits of caddy, I've started work on a small script/setup that provides a `puma-dev` like experience, but using `caddy`!

And best of all, there are no intermediary steps/tools, it's just a setup that strings together 2 out-of-the-box programs.

https://github.com/practical-computer/caddy-dev

GitHub - practical-computer/caddy-dev: a small utility script for Caddy to behave like puma-dev

a small utility script for Caddy to behave like puma-dev - practical-computer/caddy-dev

GitHub
Thomas CannonJan 26
Pavel A. SamsonovJan 26

Every non-hype defense of #LLMs starts with "you must already understand your work really well." But the people vibe coding prototypes *don't*.

As a result they scale up thoughtlessness. "Bulking out" a slapdash idea with hallucinated details only displaces the real thinking that could have led to actual innovation. The very teams the tool was supposed to help instead end up with more noise to dig through.

But teams can (and do) fight back.

https://productpicnic.beehiiv.com/p/vibe-prototyping-isn-t-solving-any-problems-but-it-s-creating-many-new-ones

#tech #softwaredevelopment

Vibe prototyping isn't solving problems. It's creating new ones.

It's easy to prototype and so everyone is prototyping, without really knowing why they are doing it. The resultant noise drowns out thoughtful work.

The Product Picnic
Thomas CannonJan 24

If you're using `puma-dev` (having `.test` domains and automatic HTTPS is super nice!) but want HTTP2+ support + all the benefits of caddy, I've started work on a small script/setup that provides a `puma-dev` like experience, but using `caddy`!

And best of all, there are no intermediary steps/tools, it's just a setup that strings together 2 out-of-the-box programs.

https://github.com/practical-computer/caddy-dev

GitHub - practical-computer/caddy-dev: a small utility script for Caddy to behave like puma-dev

a small utility script for Caddy to behave like puma-dev - practical-computer/caddy-dev

GitHub
Thomas CannonJan 20
Daniel KennettJan 19

I wrote a blog post about why we in the photography space *still* complain about Apple's Aperture going away over a decade later.

It was a *really* good app.

New blog post: A Lament For Aperture, The App We'll Never Get Over Losing

https://ikennd.ac/blog/2026/01/old-man-yells-at-modern-software-design/

Daniel Kennett - A Lament For Aperture, The App We'll Never Get Over Losing

I'm an old Mac-head at heart, and I've been using Macs since the mid 1990s (the first Mac I used was an LC II with System 7.1 installed on it). I don't tend to think that the computing experience was better in the olden days — sure, there's a thing to be said about the simplicity of older software, but most of my fondness for those days is nostalgia. An exception to that, however, is Apple's Aperture.