Stephan Sokolow @ssokolow@qoto.org

Fun find with a USB-DVI KVM I just got. The manual says the "double-tap scroll lock to switch" feature only works on Windows... it turns out that, instead of listening for the scroll lock KEY, it's listening for the scroll lock LED... and macs have no Scroll Lock while modern X11 leaves it unbound by default. Probably a hack for regional keyboard layout variations and keymap customization. On the plus side, the KVM can be scripted using `xset`. :) #kvm #linux #keyboard #cool

This anecdote has some of the most "I actually LOLed" lines I've heard in a long time. →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHmgpIqqXtI
#story #funny #anecdote #video

I forgot to mention it for a week, but my StuffIt test files now include proper "made using the mac version of StuffIt" ones, and I've added a repo of legally clear integration test files for DiskDoubler extractors. → https://github.com/ssokolow/diskdoubler-test-files/ #retro #mac #testing

For fun, I decided to theme up my retro LAN's file server to match the OS each folder is for.

I decided to do the Mac 68k stuff first, and I got a little carried away with seeing what I could do without relying on CSS, so what you see is an interesting mix of "tables for presentation" plus role=none and aria-hidden=true to absolve my sins. Now to retro-test it.

(Please excuse Firefox's flaky pixel positioning when rendering the fan-made Chicago and Monaco TTFs.)

#retro #html #mac #macos #web

I just got around to watching the Defunctland video from three days ago. What starts as a simple question about who wrote the Disney Channel mnemonic jingle turns into a moving piece about an uncredited artist and a work of art in its own right. HIGHLY recommended. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_rjBWmc1iQ #documentary

A huge thanks to Corel for being willing to support buyers with legacy use-cases. I am now a registered owner of that copy of WinZip Self-Extractor 2.2 (non-Personal Edition) that I wanted as a kid and, once my Windows 9x retro projects are ready, I can complement the more FOSS-friendly InnoSetup installer with a retro-authentic "InstallShield Express 2 inside WinZip Self-Extractor 2.2" distributable. (I lucked into a sealed retail copy of ISExpress2.) #retro #windows95

A deeply insightful and under-viewed video that my brother introduced me to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=darxphvk058

#politics #economics #society

I just got really nerd-sniped and rewrote my command-line launcher generator for Flatpak in Python+PyGObject, solving pretty much every flaw it had along the way.
https://gist.github.com/ssokolow/db565fd8a82d6002baada946adb81f68

If you've been reluctant to use Flatpak-packaged apps because of the bad command-line user experience, give it a try. Aside from not being able to expose manpages that were just plain omitted from the packages, I'd call it perfect in all ways that matter.
#linux #flatpak #cli #commandline #shell #terminal

Cathode Ray Dude just ended his most recent video with an excellent little "anticapitalist diatribe" (as the section title calls it) expressing his frustration at how nobody makes offbeat products with the intent to actually be products anymore. → https://youtu.be/PDjleq0PJX0?t=2644

In case anyone's planning to thumbnail some PNGs and JPEGs in Python, whether you use PyQt, PyOpenCV, or write your own little wrapper around Rust's `image` crate using PyO3 or rust-cpython, I recommend not using Pillow.

On my test corpus with a warmed cache, the others consistently took about 2/3rds the time Pillow did... though PyOpenCV was a hair slower than the others at ~25 seconds rather than ~23. (Pillow was ~33.)

I knew the fiasco that was the Russo-Japanese war was instrumental in leading to the overthrow of the Tsar, but I never realized that the "sailed half-way around the world" part of "sailed half-way around the world to get smashed at the Battle of Tsushima" was the most hilarious comedy of errors I've ever heard of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mdi_Fh9_Ag

Folding Ideas just put out an excellent 2-hour deep dive into how everything blockchain-related works and how the blockchain ecosystem is effectively "Amway, but everywhere you look, people are wearing ugly-ass ape cartoons", started by wealthy rich programmers who are frustrated that the ultra-rich have shut them out and are trying to synthesize the opportunity to be the next Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_xWvX1n9g

A great analogy for SIMD just developed over on /r/rust/: SIMW: Single Iron, Multiple Waffles

https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/qucind/stdsimd_is_now_available_on_nightly/hkpy4y4/

If anyone's getting an annoying donation nag from LibreOffice, this solution worked for me: https://www.remembertheusers.com/2019/11/0580-libreoffice-nag-notices.html

I just got introduced to this "Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Phone Numbers" page.

https://github.com/google/libphonenumber/blob/master/FALSEHOODS.md

.. which reminds me of a previous good one it's probably referencing: "Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names":

https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/

...both excellent documents.

In case the embed doesn't show up, it's an interview with Alan Kay on the iPhone, the effect of these sorts of ultra-simplified computing technologies on society, and various related and important bits of insight on learning, teaching, and how the human brain works.

Just discovered this excellent article from 2017. It's the kind of deeply insightful thing I wish wasn't such an exception.

https://www.fastcompany.com/40435064/what-alan-kay-thinks-about-the-iphone-and-technology-now

Just got another of those "You're infringing my copyrights. Take the image down or I'll sue"-as-a-comment-on-a-random-blog-post scam messages.

They're learning.

This time, they copy-pasted the DMCA boilerplate you'd send to "a service provider" like WordPress.com or Blogger (i.e. not the blogger themself) and you get to the download link without being asked to log into your Google account... but the "download proof" link is broken so I still don't know what the scam is.

For anyone following my blog for the fanfiction reviews, I've started to build a section for brief links to stories with "Magical-Muggle Cooperation" elements at the bottom of the "Recommended “Politics in Harry Potter” fics" page, pending my having time to give the topic a proper list post of its own.

http://blog.ssokolow.com/archives/2017/08/09/recommended-politics-in-harry-potter-fics/