ZephyrXero

@zephyrxero@layer8.space
60 Followers
70 Following
1.2K Posts

Some guy on the internet...

Posts about art, music, movies/shows, politics, science, videogames, technology, and humor.

Twitterhttps://twitter.com/zephyrxero
Musichttps://nutron.audio
ZephyrXero2d ago
nixCraft 🐧2d ago
🤣 senior devs or sysadmins on the weekend be like …
ZephyrXero2d ago
Sheril Kirshenbaum2d ago
ZephyrXero3d ago

They're coming after the fact checkers now

https://www.theverge.com/news/705802/doj-antitrust-childrens-health-defense-covid-fact-checking-misinformation

#usPol #fascistAmerica #freeSpeech #journalism

DOJ paves the way for a legal war on fact-checking

The DOJ says US antitrust law can protect “viewpoint competition” in an interest statement in a case filed by an RFK Jr.-founded group.

The Verge
ZephyrXero4d ago
George Takei  🏳️‍🌈🖖🏽4d ago
Now, look here, Donald. I was born during the Great Depression. The tariffs had already happened. And it was over by the time I was five. This is all false.
ZephyrXero4d ago
Tim Bray4d ago

Mastodon 4.4, now available, has a small setting that’s a big deal. See Administration/Server Settings/Discovery, “Allow external sites to see your Mastodon server as a traffic source”.

It means that every time you post a link to a site, that site is going to see as many hits as the number of instances that you have followers on, and those hits are going to be labeled as coming from Mastodon.

This is going to seriously increase Fediverse visibility. Get your instance admin to turn it on!

ZephyrXero5d ago
Ricki Bowie Knives Tarr5d ago
One of the reasons I think people are so fascinated by the Space Race is it is one of the few times in history that so many people have banded together toward a common goal. It's proof, that if institutions and organizations really wanted to, they can make big positive changes. Imagine that much money, time, and expertise was put into ending poverty and homelessness.
ZephyrXero5d ago
internetarchive5d ago

The Internet Archive is excited to host The Golden Gate Stereoscopic Society as they share their most accomplished 3D photography and an in-depth workshop of 3D photography techniques.

📅 Tues, July 22
🕕 6:00 PM doors open
📍 IN-PERSON, 300 Funston Ave, San Francisco
ℹ️ https://blog.archive.org/event/stereo-vision-the-art-of-3-d-photography/

ZephyrXero5d ago
NPR5d ago

U.S. measles cases hit highest level in 33 years, CDC reports
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/07/09/nx-s1-5461155/measles-outbreak-cdc-vaccination-health?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into Shots — Health News @shots-health-news-npr

ZephyrXero5d ago
Mission Local6d ago

Video: ICE agents brandish rifles, drive through protesters at S.F. immigration court

Immigration agents clashed protesters, who were trying to stop an arrest at the courthouse, in San Francisco’s most violent ICE encounter of 2025.

https://missionlocal.org/2025/07/video-ice-agents-brandish-rifles-drive-through-protesters-at-s-f-immigration-court/

Video: ICE agents drive SUV through protesters at S.F. immigration court

Immigration agents clashed with protesters, who were trying to stop an arrest, in San Francisco’s most violent ICE encounter of 2025.

Mission Local
ZephyrXero5d ago
George Takei  🏳️‍🌈🖖🏽5d ago
I hoped never to see concentration camps like the ones I grew up in appear again in this country. Reading this breaks my heart.
×
Lesley Carhart Jul 7
Show threaddelProfundoJul 7
@hacks4pancakes there’s still mess on the wall from when my brain exploded the first time I saw this. 🤣🤣😭
Show threadLesley Carhart Jul 7
@delProfundo needed a funny one with all the dismal news
Show threaddelProfundoJul 7

@hacks4pancakes absolute classic of the genre. Made me chuckle.

Cold enough down Melbourne way?

Show threadC++ Wage SlaveJul 7

@hacks4pancakes @delProfundo

256 isn't dismal, it's binry. 😏

Show threadOldTurk🗽Focus: #FreePeltier6d ago
@CppGuy @hacks4pancakes @delProfundo be careful someone doesn’t put a hex on you for such a bad pun
Show threadRyan FinnieJul 7
@hacks4pancakes My biggest question is why is it not 255? I would expect the group chat to be able to be represented at a time before or after people were using it; i.e. 0 people in it.
Show threadclayoteJul 7
@ryan @hacks4pancakes There'll be a table in memory somewhere that maps each of the 256 IDs, including 0, to a user. When that table has no entries in it, there's nobody in the room.
Show threadzbrownJul 7

@clayote @ryan @hacks4pancakes yeah I'd imagine user here IDs are essentially indexes into an array with the number of actually allocated users being indicated by other means (maybe there is a literal array where unused indexes can be ‘nulled’, making length the product of a strnlen(…, 256) style operation, what do I know of WhatsApp's implementation)

Which would of course, given zero-indexing, make user 0 a perfectly reasonable thing, as well as 255.

Show threadJargogglesJul 7
@ryan @hacks4pancakes
Maybe a null value?
Show threadKommentatorJul 7
@ryan @hacks4pancakes 👍
Show threadLeelooJul 7

@ryan @hacks4pancakes
Making the count 8 bits instead of 16 bits saves one byte. Making the userid 8 bits instead of 16 bits saves 256 bytes. And you don't need a userid for no users.

Of course the system was built long after sub 1MB computers had gone out of fashion, so probably not done for that reason.

More likely a manager said "make it at least 250" and a developer chose 256 either just because it's 256, or because some code uses bit manipulation, and it was easier to change the number of bits than to rewrite the code.

Show threadDillon 🏳️‍🌈Jul 7
I want to be in a 0 person group chat
Show threadXCondEJul 7
@ryan maybe the creator is always in the group. Ie the group must have at least one element.
Show threadOldTurk🗽Focus: #FreePeltier6d ago
@ryan @hacks4pancakes zero was probably set to the creator of the chat
Show threadedd5d ago
@ryan @hacks4pancakes It's probably that members are stored in an array indexed by an unsigned byte which gives you the full 256 range. No members just means no user ids in the array. The visual count then is just a UI value calculated from the array (and maybe stored for convenience).
Show threadLegit_SpaghettiJul 7

@hacks4pancakes I'm choosing to believe that this was done deliberately to get people to share the article, kind of like when TV show writers make hacking scenes outrageously stupid on purpose.

Because the alternative is, uhhh, not great.

Show threadMark T. TomczakJul 7

@Legit_Spaghetti @hacks4pancakes The story appears to be from 2016. In this The Year Of Our Boards 2025, it appears it is now 1,024. So I think your "uhhh, not great" note may be spot-on.

(Wild-ass guessing, but I assume the number is so power-of-2 because they're encoding recipient or sender ID in binary directly in the packet to save bandwidth, not unlike a good ol' TCP-IP packet. If that's the case, 210 is a weird choice since it won't word-align nicely and I have to wonder if the rest of the word is being used for status flags or if they've left padding in for future revisions and the 1,024 limit is more about "nearest power of 2 where our architecture doesn't whine at us" than header size).

Show threadUli Kusterer (Not a kitteh)Jul 7
@Legit_Spaghetti @hacks4pancakes
Show threadMark T. TomczakJul 7

@hacks4pancakes Delightfully, they issued a clarification. https://www.the-independent.com/tech/whatsapp-group-chats-bigger-maximum-size-256-people-users-a6856491.html

Meanwhile... "Doug Bolton is wondering why they chose a number like 256. I'm wondering why it isn't 255 and what symbol they're using to denote 'user index unknown' instead. We are not the same." ;)

WhatsApp increases group chat size limit to 256 people | The Independent

Bigger groups are now available to all WhatsApp users on iOS and Android

The Independent
Show threadScriptFanix ❤️ ⏚ ⸫Jul 7
@mark @hacks4pancakes #TIL Blackberry is still a thing...
Show threadZimmieJul 7
@ScriptFanix @mark @hacks4pancakes The article is from 2016. Blackberry the company still exists, mostly because they own QNX, a RTOS popular in certain markets like car infotainment units.
Show threadC++ Wage SlaveJul 7

@mark @hacks4pancakes

I had exactly the same thought!

Show threadSteveJul 7
@hacks4pancakes I’ve seen this at least a dozen times, but every time I see it, I’m reminded by just much journalism is so often factually inaccurate.
Show threadkwayk42Jul 7
@hacks4pancakes I bet those people build computers like this
Show threadMx VerdaJul 7
@kwayk42 @hacks4pancakes hey! 
Show threadkwayk42Jul 7
@MxVerda @hacks4pancakes
Show threadMx VerdaJul 7
@kwayk42 @hacks4pancakes 
Show threadkwayk42Jul 7

@MxVerda

(Sorry, I can be a bit of a snob with computers)

@hacks4pancakes

Show threadNoortje Van LeeuwenJul 7
@kwayk42 @hacks4pancakes thats how you are supposed to build one...right?
Show threadkwayk42Jul 7
@Noortjevee @hacks4pancakes
Show threadNoortje Van LeeuwenJul 7
@kwayk42 @hacks4pancakes i knew it...if you werent supposed to use 2 tubes of thermalpaste they would not sell em that way.
Show threadkwayk42Jul 7

@Noortjevee

It's important to squeeze every last drop too, they wouldn't sell you more than you need right?

@hacks4pancakes

Show threadNoortje Van LeeuwenJul 7
@kwayk42 @hacks4pancakes exactly...
Show threadDennis Faucher  Jul 7
@hacks4pancakes Oh my. AI has made us stupid.
Show threadMx VerdaJul 7
@dennisfaucher @hacks4pancakes not everyone had the same education, training, practical experience, or motivation to memorise the "right" details as you did.
Show threadFlorianTischnerJul 7
@MxVerda @dennisfaucher @hacks4pancakes absolutely. But just as I would expect a journalist reporting election news to know what "first past the post" means I would expect a tech journalist to know the significance of 256, FF, 1337 and 42.
Show threadTofuTheSquirrelJul 7
@dennisfaucher @hacks4pancakes 2016 article though 😆
Show threadBill SeitzJul 7
@hacks4pancakes http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/GellMannAmnesia
Gell-Mann Amnesia

Gell-Mann Amnesia

WebSeitz
Show threadAlan Miller  🇺🇦Jul 7
@hacks4pancakes gotta admit, if I was coding it I'd probably cap it a bit lower to leave a couple 'special' participant IDs available (notably 0 and 255).
Show threadFurbland's Very Cool Mastodon™Jul 7
@hacks4pancakes cannot boost without (improved) alt text. The current state of it does not properly reflect or even get across the funny part of the post
Show threadFurbland's Very Cool Mastodon™Jul 7
@hacks4pancakes …and they blocked me. cool. /s
Show threadChris Hessert 🐧 🇺🇦Jul 7

@hacks4pancakes

🤣🤣🤣

Show threadVoracious ReaderJul 7

@hacks4pancakes

Shouldn't it be "evenly specific"?
256 is divisible by 2. 🤔

Show threadEka A.Jul 7
@lnlyisol @hacks4pancakes
It's 2 to the 8 power.
Show threadJohn WilsonJul 7

@hacks4pancakes
wait!

I prefer 400 (in octal)

Show threadJohnMasheyJul 7
@hacks4pancakes
Such numbers would be more recognizable to all if humans had 8 fingers and 8 toes, ideally adopting hexadecimal rather than decimal. Tables would be denser, less time wasted in binary<=>decimal conversions, computers simpler.
Show threadStefan MonnierJul 7
@JohnMashey @hacks4pancakes Sooner or later cartoon characters will takeover the world, just for that reason
Show threadDavid H. McCoyJul 7

@JohnMashey @hacks4pancakes

You don’t?

Show threadHelga Secures All the ThingsJul 7
@hacks4pancakes bwahaha omg. That's priceless.
Show threadJohn SocksJul 7

@hacks4pancakes it's kind of funny though, because I was under the impression that nobody uses bytes anymore.

I thought they were an anachronism, slower on most modern CPUs than 32-bit math?

I guess it's possible that in some early, old, record structure they had a spare byte.

Or maybe somebody used 256 for old time's sake ;-)

Show threadAndrewJul 7
@John @hacks4pancakes yeah it does open some questions into how their stuff is designed. It's not like theyre beholden to chat protocols from the 80s this is a recent app they control fully.
Show threadargonautJul 7
@John @hacks4pancakes There's a lot of misunderstanding here. I guess they use 32 bytes to store a bitmap, maybe to keep track with the recipients who already got a message. And maybe 2048 bytes to store the 64bit ID of the members.
Show threadJohn SocksJul 7
@argonaut @hacks4pancakes I get what you're saying, but once it's a table ..
Show threadFish in the PercolatorJul 7
@hacks4pancakes wait until they discover the devil's 65536! (Also in WhatsApp).
Show threadSebastian "En3pY" ZdrojewskiJul 7
@imrehg @hacks4pancakes imagine someone typing a 64K long message to a group of 256 people...
Show threadFish in the PercolatorJul 7
@en3py @hacks4pancakes I've got 2,147,483,647 problems but this ain't one 😅
Show threadDr Daniel, Photon Shepherd🇸🇪🇦🇺Jul 7

@hacks4pancakes
I'm more dismayed when tech writers don't know who the Luddites where and what they were fighting for.

Instead, the term is used as a shorthand for 'dimwitted tech-haters'.

Show threadAnselm "Two Sheds" SchülerJul 7
@hacks4pancakes ok but why is not knowing that such a big problem
Show threadDavid Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)Jul 7

@anselmschueler @hacks4pancakes

If someone is writing about technology, you'd hope that they understand technology. The fact that you need n bits to index 2n things is fundamental to a huge number of things in technology. If you don't understand that, you probably don't have the background knowledge required to report accurately on the subject.

Show threadAnselm "Two Sheds" SchülerJul 7
@david_chisnall @hacks4pancakes I don't think so. Technology as a consumer product usually doesn't require specialist knowledge like binary coding to interact with it, and questions like "How strong is the fan motor in my vacuum?" and "How many photos fit on this hard drive?" can be discussed by a journalist without this specialist knowledge. The article here is listed as in the "Lifestyle" rubric, so it's probably not aimed at programmers or policy makers.