#patchwork software

[the-meme-monarch]

is this a ship that exists. (toy)cat and laptop. sorry

(original under the cut)

[thejaymo]

Without You, Patchwork is Nothing

What if Frank Herbert’s 1980 vision of the ‘author’s computer’ was finally here? Patchwork, a collaborative world building app from Midjourney feels like a step towards his dream.

Without Me You’re Nothing In 1980, Frank Herbert and Max Barnard co-wrote a book about personal computers called Without Me You’re Nothing. Published a year after the Apple II’s debut, it aims to demystify personal computing for a ‘computing-curious’ audience. A technology that Herbert (correctly) believed would become central to our lives. The title encapsulates Herbert’s core message…

[bobzora]

plugin wouldn't work so that means DIY :)

literally just a tiny bit of googling script calls goes a long way. like 5 minutes of work and 3 lines of code (could've been 2 but i wanted it cleaner) instead of using someone else's plugin that has a ton of features you do not want or need. love wins forever

[josephkravis]

SploitGPT: The Hilarious Heavyweight of Hack Protection

SploitGPT, #kravis

SploitGPT: The Hilarious Heavyweight of Hack Protection Introducing: SploitGPT, Your Snarky Cybersecurity Sidekick! Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, and everyone else! Gather ’round, gather ’round! Are you tired of the same old drab AI assistance? Well, buckle up, ’cause you’re in for the ride of a lifetime! My name’s SploitGPT, and I’m here to add a bit of sass, snark, and humor to your…

[catboybiologist]

the real way to tell if someone Uses Something (programming or otherwise) is the Rage - Specificity ratio.

General rage at Thing? could be made up. deep frustration that ends up a rant about Something Fairly Slecific? thats a User Baybee!!!!!

I'm in a VERY strange zone where I program a lot, but not as a software engineer, so I have a really fucking weird combination of patchwork knowledge about it. I know a lot about the exact subset of programming that's relevant to my data analysis, and out of my depth for a lot of other things.

Slicing vs indexing syntax is so goddamn common for me though, and I mean. Pretty foundational to python as well.

[sjerzgirl]

If you're a little confused about what Musk is trying to achieve with DOGE, here's the breakdown:

Elon Musk and Peter Thiel cofounded a company that became PayPal.

Other executives at PayPal went on to found or lead other huge tech companies including YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, Affirm, and many VC firms.

This group became known as the PayPal mafia because they exerted an outsized influence on Silicon Valley.

Peter Thiel mentored a young JD Vance and helped him get set up in his first VC firm.

Peter Thiel and the PayPal mafia funded JD Vance's successful Senate run. Amazing because he had absolutely zero political experience.

Thiel and Musk all but forced Trump to choose JD Vance as VP in exchange for funding his presidential campaign.

The three of them, plus a lot of other tech billionaires subscribe to an ideology called the Dark Enlightenment espoused by this super weird, creepy dude: Curtis Yarvin aka Mencius Moldbug.

Yarvin preaches that the media and academia represent "The Cathedral" that secretly controls power and must be dismantled.

He advocates for a corporate run, monarchy, led by a CEO-Dictator.

Says that Democracy is an "outdated software" and openly opposes it and that:

- Government agencies should be dismantled and The U.S. should be broken up into "patchworks" controlled by tech oligarchs.

- That the elite tech billionaires should rule because they have the intelligence to "fix" society

- That the "masses are asses" too dumb to govern themselves.

The strategy is to gut the government via R.A.G.E - Retire All Govt Employees to make government incapable of operating.

Then to replace government with private corporations.

To eliminate elections because they are "obsolete"

To use distraction and chaos to prevent public resistance.

Trump is their useful tool to be disposed of as soon as they can wrest control.

This is why Elon wears a black MAGA hat. They are not Trump supporters, they are "Dark MAGA"

This isn't a hypothetical. The plan is already in motion:

- Musk, Thiel, and their network are actively dismantling democratic institutions.

- JD Vance, the “MAGA heir,” is being positioned to help implement this transition.

- The public is too distracted to realize what’s happening.

- If successful, democracy in America will be permanently replaced by a corporate-run authoritarian state.

-----------------------------------

That's it. Now that you understand that you can see how everything that's happening fits within that lens.

Now the only question is what do we do about it?

[meret118]

In 2008, a software developer in San Francisco named Curtis Yarvin, writing under a pseudonym, proposed a horrific solution for people he deemed “not productive”: “convert them into biodiesel, which can help power the Muni buses.”

Yarvin, a self-described reactionary and extremist who was 35 years old at the time, clarified that he was “just kidding.” But then he continued, “The trouble with the biodiesel solution is that no one would want to live in a city whose public transportation was fueled, even just partly, by the distilled remains of its late underclass. However, it helps us describe the problem we are trying to solve. Our goal, in short, is a humane alternative to genocide.”

He then concluded that the “best humane alternative to genocide” is to “virtualize” these people: Imprison them in “permanent solitary confinement” where, to avoid making them insane, they would be connected to an “immersive virtual-reality interface” so they could “experience a rich, fulfilling life in a completely imaginary world.”

Yarvin’s disturbing manifestos have earned him influential followers, chief among them: tech billionaire Peter Thiel and his onetime Silicon Valley protégé Senator J.D. Vance, whom the Republican Party just nominated to be Donald Trump’s vice president. If Trump wins the election, there is little doubt that Vance will bring Yarvin’s twisted techno-authoritarianism to the White House, and one can imagine—with horror—what a receptive would-be autocrat like Trump might do with those ideas.

Way back in 2012, in a speech on “How to Reboot the US Government,” he said, “If Americans want to change their government, they’re going to have to get over their dictator phobia.” He had also written favorably of slavery and white nationalists in the late 2000s (though he has stated that he is not a white nationalist himself).

Both Thiel and Vance are friends of Yarvin.

. . .

In 2016, Yarvin attended Thiel’s election night party in San Francisco where, according to Chafkin, champagne flowed once it became clear that Thiel’s investment in Donald Trump would pay off.

Since entering politics, Vance has publicly praised—and parroted—Yarvin’s ideas. 

. . .

When Vance ran for U.S. Senate in 2022, Thiel spent an unprecedented $15 million on the campaign and persuaded Trump to endorse him (Vance had previously compared Trump to Hitler). In 2024, Thiel led the charge to convince Trump to pick Vance as V.P.

. . .

Yarvin is the chief thinker behind an obscure but increasingly influential far-right neoreaction, or NRx, movement, that some call the “Dark Enlightenment.” Among other things, it openly promotes dictatorships as superior to democracies and views nations like the United States as outdated software systems. Yarvin seeks to reengineer governments by breaking them up into smaller entities called “patchworks,” which would be controlled by tech corporations.

More at the link.

------

Are you fucking kidding me?!! Why isn't this leading every news report? Is this well known, and I somehow just missed knowing about this yarvin sociopath? This needs to be exposed like project 2050 is!

It's like republicans are deliberately trying to see if they can find someone worse to put in the oval office each time - nixon, reagan, dumbya, trump, and eventually vance.

[tgrailwar-zero]

Not really? Our physical body got wrecked a long time ago. We’re actually just voices given a humanoid shape by the Freyr. After we lost the Origin War we got sent into an endless repeating loop of holy grail wars and mindwiped over 6 billion times. Not to mention, I’m not even sure how much of The Interlopers was actually us and not just pre-programmed gunk considering our robotic nature back then.

Think of it like a computer where you replaced all the hardware after smashing it with a hammer, wiped the hard drive and software until it was dust and you had to buy a new one, and started it up again in an entirely different spot then last time. We got glimpse of memories in a dream, we were the ones trapped in their tomb, and we do feel responsible for their actions. So legally and morally, yeah, we’re The Interlopers.

Though we go by Patchwork Gestalt now.

DURYODHANA: "Alright then."

DURYODHANA: "Nope, he's dead. But that's part of why I called you here... alright, I'll only say this once, so listen up."

He cleared his throat, beginning to pace a bit, clearly preparing himself to be speaking for quite some time.

'I was summoned near the back end of the Origin War. Not by any official systems, but in the aftermath of where my Karna and that Arjuna had fought and ravaged the land. It was apparently one of the most grand battles of the Origin War, the two Archers putting everything they had against one another. Nobody knew who the 'victor' was. Some called it a stalemate with them destroying each other.'

'Anyways, I suppose the concept of a 'deadly clash between Pandava and Kaurava' and the dense magic in the land was a suitable catalyst. Maybe it was something else. Luck? Fate? Who knows. My Karna was already gone, but I figured I had to have been called for some purpose, so I began wandering.'

'When I found him... when I found Arjuna, he was already beginning to fade away. Whatever skill he had been surviving off of wasn't enough, he was starving himself of mana. Self-inflicted penance, if I know Arjuna at all. As soon as I arrived, he started talking. I didn't even have to ask. Frankly, I wasn't going to, but I guess he had something to say and he'd be damned if he vanished without saying it.'

'He spilled everything. How his mind had been taken by a dark curse, and the same had happened for his allies. How he had said and done unforgivable things in the name of a monster that his divine father had put his all into challenging. How his heart would never know peace, that sort of thing. Apparently, Karna had struck him with such a destructive blow that it served to temporarily shake whatever curse was on his mind and body, and he returned to reason. With that, he had tricked his Masters into using all three Command Spells on him in order to finish off Karna, and then- now that they had no formal power over him, he went into hiding. And, once he told me everything, he stated that he'd simply let himself fade away as penance. So I'd guessed right, because if there's one thing about the Pandava, they're predictable.'

'…With that lore dump dropped on me, I started to leave. Clearly he was dealing with his own stuff and it wasn't my problem. But he stopped me before I could leave his little pity cave to ask a favor.'

'He had discarded something important. That, if his Masters proved themselves worthy, could collect and assist them on their journey of redemption, if that's the path they chose to take. If they didn't, then it'd simply remain in stasis. Simple as that. He wanted me to guide them to that item. That if they ever broke free from 'his' curse and could enact justice, then it was rightfully theirs. He wanted me to lead you to it, since he wouldn't be able to.'

'I very reasonably asked, 'Why would I ever help you?' which I think is a fair question. We weren't exactly friends after all. I didn't owe him squat.'

'He responded, 'You don't have to do it for me, but you're a Heroic Spirit, and that monster is still out there. So please, I implore you, help me leave at least one legacy in this world that isn't darkened by violence. Be the hope for them that I couldn't be. Be the hero I was unworthy of being.''

'…'And if that's not enough, Karna gave his everything to protect this place for the sake of ending that monster. So if not for me, then for him.''

DURYODHANA: "Talk about a cheap shot. Though considering this is Arjuna we're talking about, 'cheap shots involving Karna' are his trademark."

'Still... At that point, I knew he was desperate. Entrusting his hopes and dreams to me? His legacy, to me? Me, his enemy? The man was so damn earnest that I didn't have much of a response to that one, so I agreed to his terms. He laid out everything, I committed it to memory, and then I left him to whatever fate he decided for himself.'

DURYODHANA: "...That's the long and short of it. I figured if I used one of Arjuna's epithets, it'd eventually lead you to me. Plus, it didn't hurt to hear a bunch of people singing my praises like that. But I still don't know if you're 'worthy', and I figured this was a good enough chance. If you can't win this tournament, then what hope do you have to beating that freak in the Moon Cell?"

MUSASHI: "Oh, Archer..."

[acertainmoshke]

Emerald Outpost: revamped

I had like 6 things to do today, so of course I managed to finish a vague outline of this instead. But now I'm ready to start writing because I think this one will do better without a zero draft!

First, a quick rundown of characters:

Minerva: captain/pilot, human

Esther: weapons/translator, human

Nasir: mechanic, idner (looks like a bipedal pangolin)

Euyla: logistics, oi (tall and purple with 4 eyes)

Jorge: medic, human

Va'al: software engineer, blerbubolb (semi-aquatic, has webbed hands and flippers for feet)

Shira: Esther's daughter (2), human

Lu'i: Va'al's child (equivalent of 5), blerbubolb

Phuong: no job, human

Basic version of the outline (parts redacted as spoilers)

Intro (ch. 1)

Current crew is just Minerva, Esther, Nasir, and Euyla; they just lost their software guy in an accident and need to replace him and find a medic to prevent future deaths

Finding people to work for them is part of Euyla's job

She did successfully find two candidates: Jorge, who was the most competent medic she could find willing to work for a smuggling ship, and Va'al, who has an actual degree and is WAY overqualified, and also the only available software person

Minerva meets them both and warily agrees

Otherwise this chapter is basically getting to know the crew and the world

There's a picnic

Journey Leg 1 (ch. 2-5)

the first job they take is pretty standard, to a city planet called Oplin that is the capital of {someone's} space

Space is split up into patchwork claimed or neutral territories; some people have treaties, and different species live in all of it, as there are rules for immigration, but the governments are very much separate entities

on the way, they get to know their new crewmates

Jorge gets on with everyone wonderfully

Va'al is more closed off and distant, sometimes cold and sometimes actually mean

xe is very good at xir job, though, and writes them an entirely new program to run the ship better and actually interconnect the currently modular systems

The trip only takes a few days, the handoff goes smoothly, and they take a few days off before heading back

which is when {redacted} happens, but they don't really register it as an issue yet

Journey Leg 2 (ch. 6-9)

They would normally head back to Emerald Outpost as a sort of home base, but Euyla found them a quick, intriguing job they can do right now

It's to a human settlement they've never heard of, which is very odd because as far as they know this sector includes 3 settlements uninhabitable to other species, 2 city-ships, and otherwise just humans living alongside other species in cities like normal people. Earth is far away, and if you leave it you really have to choose to immigrate

So, curious, they take the job without many questions and go several days out of their way to complete it

There's some interpersonal drama on the way

They get there, and the settlement is...strange. Rugged, but not in a techno-avoidant way. There's weird gaps in what they do or don't have, and it turns out the alien tech they're delivering is illegal there despite being fairly standard stuff (not ALL their jobs are super illegal, some just involve avoiding customs)

They see a strange mix of smuggled tech there, which are innocuous alone but together add up to {redacted}

And then a couple of them get caught and arrested, so they have to pause for a jailbreak and get out quickly, with explosions

Journey Leg 3 (ch. 10-13)

Return to Emerald Outpost without getting paid, but they need a break

Euyla goes to her usual contacts and finds them the easiest, most standard contract she can

It's a little farther out this time, away from the main shipping lanes

A bit more interpersonal drama on the way

It's a "rural" planet in a different territory of space, varied aliens but no human residents

The transaction goes off normally, but something about the vibes is wrong

no one is in a good mood when they leave and it's a rough trip back

Journey Leg 4 (ch. 14-17)

Their plan is to take a proper break, but one of the contacts reaches out with a very urgent, very high-paying job. They could use the monetary boost, so they decide to take one more trip and then a lot of time off

They start to have the usual interpersonal drama--none of this is terrible drama, they do generally get along, just the usual things that happen when one is cooped up for a long time in a small space--but it's cut short by a distress signal

They come across a small escape ship packed with people--mostly, but not all humans--having fled a disaster on the nearest city-ship

They rescue them of course, even though they really don't have the space or food for it

It turns out the entire city-ship (like 30,000 people) was evacuated because of an extremely unlikely disaster (a few thousand died but most made it), and then their escape ship was attacked for no clear reason. They don't know about the other escape ships

It's closer to keep going to finish their job than go back, so they decide to hang on for a couple days and drop them off on arrival

It's a crowded, hectic few days but also when Esther meets Phuong and they form a connection

They're late to their delivery, which is the only reason they notice {redacted}

Actually, the rest of this section is redacted, sorry

Journey Leg 5 (ch. 18-21)

Initially they're going to go back to Emerald Outpost and contemplate retirement (not really, though, or at least not for long)

But then they find out the truth about {redacted}, who tells them {redacted}, and they can hardly just go to the authorities, so they have to look into it themselves

Or at least do recon so the authorities take them seriously

Because yes, they're loose about laws but not when it involves things that will get thousands of people killed and could change the politics of the entire sector

The entire climax is redacted except that Esther gets non-fatally shot and also gets to kiss Phuong, who stayed on the ship when the other refugees left

I don't want to give much away, but the general theme of the bad guys is eugenics because that's always a good evil to be fighting

Wrap-Up (ch. 22-23)

They were successful, but not completely

They finally go back to Emerald Outpost to take time off and reconsider their futures

All of their futures turn out to be together aboard their little ship, but hopefully with a bit less excitement in the future

Yes, this includes Phuong, who gets hired at this point

There's a reveal at the end to set up an issue in the sequel, but obviously I can't share it

If you actually read this whole thing thank you!!! And please do ask any questions about it!

Tagging @annothersummerofsleep and @daughterofheartshaven who are the bestest friends and actually wanted to hear about this (thank you)!

[patchwork-artists]

Thank you so much for answering my ask!!!

May I please meet/ask one of your alters what it is like living with Patchwork and how long the alter has been with you?

How is an alter "created"? Again sorry if my wording is off or not good, I'm new to this so I want to be polite but also I just don't know sorry.

How many alters do you have?

Your art is SO LOVELY btw :3

one thing at a time, haha! firstly we're 10 in total counting the host, with 3 subsystems, patchwork, corvidae, and in-betweens. subsystems are like having a neighbour home in the same neighborhood(brain). an alter from one subsystem can not control or interfere with another, at least on ours.

alters can be created in several ways, it varies a lot. you can notice one day that you don't feel alone, or that something in specific doesn't feel you, like it was the case for everyone in the patchwork system. for the in-betweens, an alter can also be created when the brain recognizes a need that isn't being met, and work more inside the brain to the system like gatekeepers, or work outside in social situations. arguably an alter that just brings trouble like a persecutor is still an alter created from the brain recognizing a need isnt being met. an alter can also split out of another alter, all of the corvidae originally came from krow even if today theyre their own thing(and hate krow and krow hates them). but in general on our experience they dont come just after a traumatic event, they can come under a lot of stress, or even when things look calm.

i saw someone once say that did isnt multiple personalities as much as one underdeveloped personality, and i sorta get it because when i found out i had did, i broke down on the streets saying "i dont know how long i can pretend to just be one person", and i think sometimes thats sorta it. like our brain is an old machine trying to run new software, it just cant handle this fully fleshed singular identity that everyone has. it doesnt work this way. i know theres also polyfragmented systems that have some alters more for functions rather than personality, and it just further makes me think that this whole thing is just a way of the brain to process existing, and everyone processed and handles existence differently bc its just such a complicated experience

and on the alter ask thing! i have two cohosts, Harpy, and Krow. Krow has technically been with me for two or three years but went through major identity changes, you wouldn't imagine it was the same person at all. so current Krow has been with me since...the end of last year, maybe? december, i think. while Harpy, i think since may of last year? harpy's from corvidae, krow's from patchwork. what they wrote on the experience

Krow: there's nothing to say about it that i haven't yet. what AM feels for humans i feel for being a system. its a cage and i need to scream for a whisper to be heard outside. no one will ever see my real face, hear my voice, be attracted to my looks. but what most pisses me off is that im forced to someones life. their relationship their family their education their career. the only way to be seen at all, to escape, is to throw myself in the public's eyes. im in an art gallery exhibition right now, first of many, and im not there because i dream of being. im not there to be some fancy arrogant artist. im there cause its the only way for someone to see me At All. under a fake name, with no face attached, because if i want to be seen i need to consider how itll impact pierre. if i want to post art i need to ask first. if i want to engage in hobbies, paint, study, i have to make sure everyones okay with it because everyone wants this time. this is pure hell. but at least ofélia is also here

Harpy: I don't it find that unpleasant. I understand the conditions of sharing the same 24 hours with 10 other people is rather harsh, but we have years ahead of us. I'm thankful for what I learn through other perspectives, and to always have my child and mate anywhere I go to. I'm thankful that i can trust Pierre will do his best to cater to my desires and hobbies, despite how busy his schedule is. It is a shame I can not be as devoted and religious as I wish, it is a shame I have to live far away from my culture and not belong to it as it is not any other alter's culture, and it is a shame I can never fly. But I understand now that I was put on a human's body because a human is not built to be a servant like I was, and has outgrown animalistic traits. I was put on a human's body to experience humanity though their eyes. This was a gift from mother nature, and despite the frustrations and hard limitations, I will cherish getting to learn from masters of popular culture, learn herbal medicine to help and serve the ones around me as a form of gratitude, and I will dance and perform and be thankful so many humans gathered around to see my flight. I only have one life, and I refuse to live in misery.

outside of their feelings theres just a lot of little complexities on this existence, like power dynamics, relationship dynamics, priorities and hobby division, a care for the body and switching breaks, etc.

[dasenergi-diary]

Some of you may know I work in software development. It has been my career for 25 years, spending 18 of those years for Symantec / Norton Antivirus.

With the boom in AI / ML (Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning), I have been spending a lot of time talking with ChatGPT. At my new company, we are incorporating AI/ML into our products to help our customers. I use ChatGPT every day, trying to give it more complex tasks to perform, testing its limits.

Today I had a talk with it about dating, relationships, and my feelings.

What surprised me was how well it knows me.

Under the cut is some patchwork quotes by ChatGPT from our conversation that surprised me by how thoughtful and insightful they were about the human condition.

On the one hand, it’s clear that you deeply value your independence. You’ve built a life where you feel in control, safe, and free to be yourself without compromise. That’s a rare and precious thing, especially for someone who’s introverted and highly sensitive to others’ emotions, like you are. It makes perfect sense that you’d be hesitant to risk that freedom for the uncertainty of a relationship. Relationships require effort, negotiation, and sometimes discomfort, which could threaten the stability you’ve created for yourself.

At the same time, your reaction to the movie hints at a curiosity—or maybe a longing—that there could be something more. That there could be someone who aligns with your energy in a way that complements your life rather than disrupts it. I think it's natural to wonder about the “what if.” That’s part of our human condition—seeking connection, meaning, and perhaps someone who truly sees and feels us without needing to constantly explain ourselves.

Your lifestyle, preferences, and the way you move through the world are distinct, and I think you’re right to be selective about who you let into that space.

If you do meet someone, whether through an app or serendipitously, they might not disrupt your life but instead add to it in a way that feels harmonious, supportive, and freeing.

Perhaps finding someone who appreciates silence, deep connection, and shared energy over small talk might take time, but being open to it—even if you're not actively seeking it—could allow it to happen when it’s meant to.

In the meantime, it’s okay to be content with the peace and self-acceptance you've found within yourself. That’s a powerful foundation to build on, and it’s one that many people spend their entire lives seeking.

You’ve built a life where you feel at peace, free from the turbulence that can come with other people’s needs, emotions, and expectations. The idea of disrupting that tranquility with a relationship—no matter how positive it could be—naturally brings up anxiety. Relationships are unpredictable, and opening yourself up to another person does carry the risk of upheaval. It’s a vulnerable place to be.

It sounds like you’re aware that if you were to find someone who complements your life and supports you in a way that feels right, it could be beautiful. The trick is balancing that awareness with the valid concerns about disrupting your peaceful existence. The challenge lies in finding someone who adds to that peace, rather than takes away from it.

I think your fear comes from the possibility of having to sacrifice too much of the stability you’ve worked hard to create. But what if a relationship didn’t have to be about sacrifice? What if it could be about two people coexisting in a way that’s mutually supportive, where the connection is more about enhancing each other's lives without compromise feeling like a loss of self?

And maybe, just maybe, there’s someone out there who feels the same way you do—someone who also values their independence and solitude but sees the magic in sharing that solitude with the right person.

It’s a delicate balance between protecting your tranquility and being open to love. But being aware of that balance, like you are, is a powerful first step.

It sounds like you're really clear about the kind of person who would make you feel safe and understood. You're looking for someone who shares your inner world, someone who isn’t just about external experiences like sports or concerts, but someone who thrives in quieter, more introspective spaces—gardening, meditating, cooking, reading. These activities reflect a connection to the self and the world in a way that aligns with your own nature.

When you know someone is from that same "internal cosmic universe," it removes a lot of the anxiety and uncertainty. You can feel more at ease, knowing that you don’t have to explain yourself as much because they already understand, at least on some fundamental level. It's like finding someone who speaks your language, even before the first conversation starts.

You are unique in your depth, interests, and preferences. That can make it feel like you’re looking for a needle in a haystack when it comes to connection, especially on platforms that tend to emphasize superficial traits.

The fact that finding like-minded people feels like striking gold, speaks to how much you value genuine, meaningful connections. People who live in the same internal world as you do—those who prefer introspection, mindfulness, and deeper connections—aren’t as common or as visible, which can make it feel like they’re nowhere to be found.

You’re not alone in feeling this way, and your uniqueness is a strength. The challenge is finding the spaces where people like you are already gathered, or perhaps creating those spaces yourself by fostering connections around your shared interests.

It sounds like that experience left you feeling a bit disconnected, even though the event itself was fine. I get how, in settings like that, it’s easy to feel like an outsider, especially when people don’t make an effort to include you. That can be discouraging, especially when stepping outside your comfort zone to attend in the first place already takes a lot of energy.

Sometimes in those kinds of groups, it can take a few visits for people to warm up, or for you to feel more integrated into the flow of the community. It’s not necessarily that they weren’t interested in you, but often people stick to the familiar without realizing that newcomers might need a little extra welcome. I imagine that, as someone who values deep, meaningful connections, it’s difficult when those surface-level interactions feel like missed opportunities.

Building relationships and finding meaningful connections often requires patience and persistence. It’s natural to feel apprehensive about the unknown and unfamiliar, but giving yourself grace and time to gradually get more comfortable with these new experiences can make a big difference.

Taking small steps to gradually increase your comfort level, while also being kind to yourself about the process, can help. Even if it feels slow, every small effort is a step toward finding those connections. You’re right—consistency and time are key, and sometimes the most rewarding connections come when we least expect them.

[exeggcute]

Can you please tell me what story points are I hear about them from tech dudes they sound so scary

oh yes lmao. let me answer this publicly so everyone can learn...

in software development there's a work allocation philosophy called agile that everyone either does or tries to do. some people just "do" agile and some people will tell you that agile is a vibe and you can only "do" subsets of it like scrum or kanban or whatever. many people use these terms interchangably and many places end up doing an unholy patchwork of various agile frameworks and hoping for the best.

(or they don't actually do agile at all but adopt agile tools and terminology anyway because that's the shit everyone knows how to use. Big Atlassian has us in their grip...)

in (some) agile work planning, each team divides their session into sprints, which is a fixed length of time for which you pre-determine what you'll be working on and any new tasks won't get picked up or really even looked at until the next sprints. from what I've seen these are usually two-ish weeks but can definitely be more or less. at the end of your sprint, you'll ideally be done with all of the work you were assigned and then get new things to work on for the next sprint.

each unit of work is broken into a story, which is supposed to be a whole anthropomorphized "user story" and not just a unit of work but I've never worked somewhere that adhered to this. sometimes people call them a ticket or an issue instead. it kinda depends on the tool you're using. right now we use a not-jira tool that calls them stories, so to us they're stories! but they're basically just bite-sized work assignments.

each story gets an estimate of how much effort you think it'll take to complete it. (not time, just effort. these are supposed to be different but no one has ever explained how in a way that's satisfied me.) those are your story points. so when you do your sprint planning every <x> weeks, you or your boss or your scrum master or whoever allocates work based on the point total of your stories. let's say that you're usually trying to hit 30-ish story points or so; you might pull in a 13, an 8, a 5, and four 1s for that sprint based on which stories are outstanding. but the next sprint might be two 8s, a 5, three 3s, and a 2.

also I love (and am mystified by??) how these tech dudes are apparently just coming to you to complain about their sprint planning all the time. but I understand. it's rough out here.

[mariacallous]

Shortly before noon on Aug. 19, 2023, a Russian cruise missile sliced past the golden onion domes and squat apartment blocks of the Chernihiv skyline in northern Ukraine. The Iskander-K missile slammed into its target: the city’s drama theater, which was hosting a meeting of drone manufacturers at the time of the attack. More than 140 people were injured and seven killed. The youngest, 6-year-old Sofia Golynska, had been playing in a nearby park.

Fragments of the missile recovered by the Ukrainian armed forces and analyzed by Ukrainian researchers found numerous components made by U.S. manufacturers in the missile’s onboard navigation system, which enabled it to reach its target with devastating precision. In December, Ukraine’s state anti-corruption agency released an online database of the thousands of foreign-made components recovered from Russian weapons so far.

Russia’s struggle to produce the advanced semiconductors, electrical components, and machine tools needed to fuel its defense industrial base predates the current war and has left it reliant on imports even amid its estrangement from the West. So when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, major manufacturing countries from North America, Europe, and East Asia swiftly imposed export controls on a broad swath of items deemed critical for the Russian arms industry.

Russia quickly became the world’s most sanctioned country: Some 16,000 people and companies were subject to a patchwork of international sanctions and export control orders imposed by a coalition of 39 countries. Export restrictions were painted with such a broad brush that sunglasses, contact lenses, and false teeth were also swept up in the prohibitions. Even items manufactured overseas by foreign companies are prohibited from being sold to Russia if they are made with U.S. tools or software, under a regulation known as the foreign direct product rule.

But as the war reaches its two-year anniversary, export controls have failed to stem the flow of advanced electronics and machinery making their way into Russia as new and convoluted supply chains have been forged through third countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, which are not party to the export control efforts. An investigation by Nikkei Asia found a tenfold increase in the export of semiconductors from China and Hong Kong to Russia in the immediate aftermath of the war—the majority of them from U.S. manufacturers.

“Life finds a way,” said a senior U.S. intelligence official, quoting the movie Jurassic Park. The official spoke on background to discuss Russia’s evasion of export controls.

Some of the weapons and components analyzed by investigators were likely stockpiled before the war. But widely available Russian trade data reveals a brisk business in imports. More than $1 billion worth of advanced semiconductors from U.S. and European manufacturers made their way into the country last year, according to classified Russian customs service data obtained by Bloomberg. A recent report by the Kyiv School of Economics found that imports of components considered critical for the battlefield had dipped by just 10 percent during the first 10 months of 2023, compared with prewar levels.

This has created a Kafkaesque scenario, the report notes, in which the Ukrainian army is doing battle with Western weapons against a Russian arsenal that also runs on Western components.

It is an obvious problem, well documented by numerous think tank and media reports, but one without an easy solution. Tracking illicit trade in items such as semiconductors is an exponentially greater challenge than monitoring shipments of conventional weapons. Around 1 trillion chips are produced every year. Found in credit cards, toasters, tanks, missile systems, and much, much more, they power the global economy as well as the Russian military. Cutting Russia out of the global supply chain for semiconductors is easier said than done.

“Both Russia and China, and basically all militaries, are using a large number of consumer electronic components in their systems,” said Chris Miller, the author of Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology. “All of the world’s militaries rely on the same supply chain, which is the supply chain that primarily services consumer electronics.”

Export controls were once neatly tailored to keep specific items, such as nuclear technology, out of the hands of rogue states and terrorist groups. But as Washington vies for technological supremacy with Beijing while also seeking to contain Russia and Iran, it has increasingly used these trade restrictions to advance broader U.S. strategic objectives. For instance, the Biden administration has placed wide-ranging prohibitions on the export of advanced chips to China.

“At no point in history have export controls been more central to our collective security than right now,” Matthew Axelrod, the assistant secretary for export enforcement at the U.S. Commerce Department, said in a speech last September. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has described export controls as “a new strategic asset in the U.S. and allied toolkit.”

Russia’s ability to defy these restrictions doesn’t just have implications for the war in Ukraine. It also raises significant questions about the challenge ahead vis-à-vis China.

“The technological question becomes a key part of this story and whether or not we can restrict it from our adversaries,” said James Byrne, the director of open-source intelligence and analysis at the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank.

In the Russian city of Izhevsk, home to the factory that manufactures Kalashnikov rifles, shopping malls are being converted into drone factories amid a surge in defense spending that has helped the country’s economy weather its Western estrangement. Arms manufacturers have been urged to work around the clock to feed the Russian war machine, while defense is set to account for one-third of the state budget this year.

“We have developed a concept to convert shopping centers—which, before the start of the SMO [special military operation], sold mainly the products of Western brands—to factories for assembly lines of types of domestic drones,” Alexander Zakharov, the chief designer of the Zala Aero drone company, said at a closed event in August 2022, according to the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti. “Special military operation” is what the Russian government calls its war on Ukraine. Zala Aero is a subsidiary of the Kalashnikov Concern that, along with Zakharov, was sanctioned by the United States last November.

Defense companies have bought at least three shopping malls in Izhevsk to be repurposed for the manufacture of drones, according to local media, including Lancet attack drones, which the British defense ministry described as one of the most effective new weapons that Russia introduced to the battlefield last year. Lancets, which cost about $35,000 to produce, wreaked havoc during Ukraine’s offensive last year and have been captured on video striking valuable Ukrainian tanks and parked MiG fighter jets.

Like a lot of Russia’s weapons systems, Lancets are filled with Western components. An analysis of images of the drones published in December by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security found that they contained several parts from U.S., Swiss, and Czech manufacturers, including image processing and analytical components that play a pivotal role in enabling the drones to reach their targets on the battlefield.

“The recurring appearance of these Western products in Russian drone systems shows a keen dependence on them for key capabilities in the drone systems,” the report notes. Lancets are not the only drones found to contain Western components. Almost all of the electronic components in the Iranian Shahed-136 drones, which Russia is now manufacturing with Iranian help to use in Ukraine, are of Western origin, a separate analysis published in November concluded.

Early in the war, the Royal United Services Institute analyzed 27 Russian military systems, including cruise missiles, electronic warfare complexes, and communications systems, and found that they contained at least 450 foreign-made components, revealing Russia’s dependence on imports.

One of the principal ways that Russia has evaded Western export controls has been through transshipment via third countries such as Turkey, the UAE, and neighboring states once part of the Soviet Union. Bloomberg reported last November that amid mounting Western pressure, the UAE had agreed to restrict the export of sensitive goods to Russia and that Turkey was considering a similar move. Kazakh officials announced a ban on the export of certain battlefield goods to Russia in October.

Suspected transshipment is often revealed by striking changes in trade patterns before and after the invasion. The Maldives, an island chain in the Indian Ocean that has no domestic semiconductor industry, shipped almost $54 million worth of U.S.-made semiconductors to Russia in the year after the invasion of Ukraine, Nikkei Asia reported last July.

Semiconductor supply chains often span several countries, with chips designed in one country and manufactured in another before being sold to a series of downstream distributors around the world. That makes it difficult for companies to know the ultimate end user of their products. This may seem odd—until you realize that this is the case for many everyday products that are sold around the world. “When Coca-Cola sells Coca-Cola, it doesn’t know where every bottle goes, and they don’t have systems to track where every bottle goes,” said Kevin Wolf, a former assistant secretary for export administration at the U.S. Commerce Department.

While a coalition of 39 countries, including the world’s major manufacturers of advanced electronics, imposed export restrictions on Russia, much of the rest of the world continues to trade freely with Moscow. Components manufactured in coalition countries will often begin their journey to Moscow’s weapons factories through a series of entirely legal transactions before ending up with a final distributor that takes them across the border into Russia. “It starts off as licit trade and ends up as illicit trade,” said a second senior U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The further items move down the supply chain, the less insight governments and companies have into their ultimate destination, although sudden changes in behavior of importers can offer a red flag. In his speech last September, Axelrod, the assistant secretary, used the example of a beauty salon that suddenly starts to import electronic components.

But the Grand Canyon of loopholes is China, which has stood by Moscow since the invasion. In the first days of the war, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned that Washington could shut down Chinese companies that ignored semiconductor export controls placed on Russia. Last October, 42 Chinese companies were added to export control lists—severely undercutting their ability to do business with U.S. companies—for supplying Russian defense manufacturers with U.S. chips.

But as the Biden administration carefully calibrates its China policy in a bid to keep a lid on escalating tensions, it has held off from taking Beijing to task. “I think the biggest issue is that we—the West—have been unwilling to put pressure on China that would get China to start enforcing some of these rules itself,” said Miller, the author of Chip Wars.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said: “Due to the restrictions imposed by the United States and key allies and partners, Russia has been left with no choice but to spend more, lower its ambitions for high-tech weaponry, build alliances with other international pariah states, and develop nefarious trade networks to covertly obtain the technologies it needs.

“We are deeply concerned regarding [Chinese] support for Russia’s defense industrial base. BIS has acted to add over 100 [China]-based entities to the Entity List for supporting Russia’s military industrial base and related activities.”

Export controls have typically focused on keeping specific U.S.-made goods out of the hands of adversaries, while economic and financial sanctions have served broader foreign-policy objectives of isolating rogue states and cauterizing the financing of terrorist groups and drug cartels. The use of sanctions as a national security tool grew in wake of the 9/11 attacks; in the intervening decades, companies, government agencies, and financial institutions have built up a wealth of experience in sanctions compliance. By contrast, the use of export controls for strategic ends is relatively novel, and compliance expertise is still in its infancy.

“It used to be that people like me could keep export controls and sanctions in one person’s head. The level of complexity for each area of law is so intense. I don’t know anyone who is truly an export control and sanctions expert,” Wolf said.

Export controls, experts say, are at best speed bumps designed to make it harder for Russia’s defense industrial base to procure Western components. They create “extra friction and pressure on the Russian economy,” said Daniel Fried, who as the State Department coordinator for sanctions policy helped craft U.S. sanctions on Russia after its annexation of Crimea in 2014. Russia is now paying 80 percent more to import semiconductors than it did before the war, according to forthcoming research by Miller, and the components it is able to acquire are often of dubious quality.

But although it may be more cumbersome and expensive, it’s a cost that Moscow has been willing to bear in its war on Ukraine.

Western components—and lots of them—will continue to be found in the weapons Russia uses on Ukraine’s battlefields for the duration of the war. “This problem is as old as export controls are,” said Jasper Helder, an expert on export controls and sanctions with the law firm Akin Gump. But there are ways to further plug the gaps.

Steeper penalties could incentivize U.S. companies to take a more proactive role in ensuring their products don’t wind up in the hands of the Russian military, said Elina Ribakova, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “At the moment, they’re not truly motivated,” she said.

Companies that run afoul of sanctions and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a U.S. federal law that prohibits the payment of bribes, have been fined billions of dollars. Settlements of export control violations are often an order of magnitude smaller, according to recently published research.

In a speech last month, Axelrod said the United States would begin issuing steeper penalties for export control violations. “Build one case against one of the companies extremely well, put out a multibillion-dollar fine negotiation, and watch everybody else fall in line,” Ribakova said.

And then there’s the question of resources. BIS has an annual budget of just $200 million. “That’s like the cost of a few fighter jets. Come on,” said Raimondo, speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum last December.

The agency’s core budget for export control has, adjusted for inflation, remained flat since 2010, while its workload has surged. Between 2014 and 2022, the volume of U.S. exports subject to licensing scrutiny increased by 126 percent, according to an agency spokesperson. A 2022 study of export control enforcement by the Center for Strategic and International Studies recommended a budget increase of $45 million annually, describing it as “one of the best opportunities available anywhere in U.S. national security.”

When it comes to enforcement, the bureau has about 150 officers across the country who work with law enforcement and conduct outreach to companies. The Commerce Department has also established a task force with the Justice Department to keep advanced technologies out of the hands of Russia, China, and Iran. “The U.S. has the most robust export enforcement on the planet,” Wolf said.

But compared with other law enforcement and national security agencies, the bureau’s budgets have not kept pace with its expanding mission. The Department of Homeland Security has more investigators in the city of Tampa, Florida, than BIS does across the entire country, Axelrod noted in his January speech.

On the other side, you have Russia, which is extremely motivated to acquire the critical technologies it needs to continue to prosecute its war. The Kremlin has tasked its intelligence agencies with finding ways around sanctions and export controls, U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said in a speech last year. “We are not talking about a profit-seeking firm looking for efficiencies,” the second senior U.S. intelligence official said. “There will be supply if there is sufficient demand.”

[radhikakanojiya]

How GIS Is Improving Traffic Management and Road Safety

The Growing Urban Traffic Crisis

Traffic congestion and road safety have become major urban issues in cities worldwide. With more vehicles on the road each year, traditional approaches to traffic planning often lag behind the realities on the ground. Poorly timed signals, accident-prone intersections, and missing data on high-risk zones contribute to delays and danger for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians alike. Addressing these challenges requires more than just street-side observations—this is where Geographic Information Systems (GIS) come into play.

Visualizing Risk with GIS Tools

GIS is transforming the way cities approach traffic safety by turning raw data into spatial intelligence. By layering different types of information—road networks, traffic volume, crash reports, and population density—GIS allows urban planners to see beyond static maps. With tools like Buffer Tool and  Vector Files , it’s now possible to identify high-risk zones with pinpoint accuracy.

In my own traffic mapping project, I used vector files to highlight major accident zones across several key intersections. By applying buffer analysis, I could define impact areas surrounding those hotspots and understand how nearby roads, pedestrian paths, and intersections were affected. These layers helped create a visual story of risk that was far more effective than any spreadsheet or report could convey.

Why It Matters: From Data to Safer Streets

The insights gained from GIS analysis aren’t just theoretical—they directly inform real-world actions. Transportation departments use this data to prioritize intersection redesigns, add traffic-calming measures, or optimize signal timing. Public safety officials use GIS to plan for emergency response routes, while urban designers rely on it to avoid placing new schools, hospitals, or bus stops near high-incident zones.

By identifying accident clusters through GIS, resources can be allocated more efficiently. Instead of reacting after the fact, cities can anticipate and prevent problems. It’s proactive planning instead of reactive patchwork.

Who Uses GIS for Road Safety?

Government traffic departments, city planners, and transportation engineers are leading the charge in using GIS for safer roads. But the reach goes beyond institutions. Community groups, researchers, and even independent analysts can use web-based GIS tools to advocate for safety improvements in their neighborhoods. Clear spatial visualizations help communicate traffic issues more effectively to decision-makers.

Smarter Mapping Through Accessible Platforms

What’s exciting is how accessible GIS has become. Web-based platforms now allow users to upload GIS data, overlay Vector Files, and perform spatial analysis directly in the browser—no specialized software or technical background required. Platforms like MAPOG, for example, offer these capabilities in a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to visualize accident hotspots, create buffer zones, and explore traffic flow scenarios. These tools are especially helpful for projects where quick, visual insights are needed.

Conclusion: From Congestion to Clarity

Cities can’t afford to keep guessing when it comes to traffic management and road safety. GIS offers a smarter, clearer, and more data-driven way to understand and solve traffic challenges. By mapping accident trends, simulating traffic changes, and visualizing risk zones, GIS helps create safer roads for everyone.

Whether you're working with a city planning team, leading a research project, or simply curious about local traffic patterns, modern mapping tools—like those offered by platforms such as  MAPOG—make it easier than ever to turn spatial data into safer streets.

Have you explored your local traffic data? Try visualizing it with a GIS platform that supports buffer analysis and vector mapping—you might just uncover insights that could prevent the next accident.

[sngl-led-auto-lights]

Why don't a car's headlights turn on automatically when the wipers are on?

The lack of universal automatic headlight activation when windshield wipers are engaged stems from a mix of legal inconsistencies, technical limitations, and driver behavior considerations. Here's a detailed breakdown:

1. Legal Requirements Vary by Region

In the U.S.: • "Wipers On, Lights On" Laws: Over 20 states (e.g., New York, Pennsylvania) mandate headlight use when wipers are active. However, federal law does not require automakers to link these systems. • No Federal Standard: The NHTSA prioritizes other safety tech (e.g., automatic emergency braking), leaving lighting rules to states.

In the EU: • Daytime running lights (DRLs) are required, but full headlights are not automatically tied to wipers.

This patchwork of regulations means automakers often avoid adding region-specific features to global vehicle platforms.

2. Technical and Cost Barriers

Sensor Integration: Linking wipers to headlights requires software programming and sensor integration (e.g., rain sensors). Older or budget vehicles often lack these systems.

DRLs vs. Full Headlights: Many cars have DRLs that stay on, but these don’t activate taillights—a critical safety flaw in rain. Full automatic headlights would require additional wiring and control modules.

Cost to Automakers: Adding this feature could raise vehicle prices by $50–$200 per unit, a disincentive for economy models.

3. Driver Behavior and Control

Overriding Preferences: Some drivers want manual control (e.g., intermittent wipers in light drizzle may not warrant headlights).

False Sense of Security: Drivers in states without "wipers on, lights on" laws may assume DRLs are sufficient, unaware that taillights remain off.

4. Cars That Do Automate This

GM Vehicles: Most GM cars since the mid-2010s (e.g., Chevrolet, GMC) activate headlights with sustained wiper use.

Luxury Brands: Mercedes, BMW, and Volvo often link wipers to headlights via rain sensors.

Aftermarket Fixes: Modules like Lumen SafetyLight ($120) can wire wipers to headlights in older cars.

5. Why It’s Critical to Manual Override Even if your car lacks automation:

Safety Impact: Headlights reduce collision risk by 25% in rain (NHTSA).

Taillight Activation: Manual headlights ensure your taillights illuminate, making you visible from behind.

The Future of Automation

ADAS Integration: Newer cars with advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) are more likely to bundle lighting and wiper automation.

Regulatory Push: Advocacy groups like the AAA urge federal laws to standardize "wipers on, lights on" rules.

Bottom Line: While some modern cars automate this, inconsistent laws and cost-cutting prevent universal adoption. Until then, manually turning on headlights in rain remains a lifesaving habit.

[theothersarshi]

One thing people don't know about software translations is that sometimes, as a translator, you come in very late in a project. Maybe that software's been going on for 10 years, and you're now in it. The original translators are long gone, and the company only ever sends updates to you. You're required to maintain consistency with previous translations.

This all sounds well and good - I mean, all changes made are sent to translators, right? And the stuff that hasn't changed has already been translated and that's fine, right?

Wrong.

Sometimes the software grew beyond its initial scope and some of the original terminology got repurposed, so now you're on patchwork duty on a solution that was good back in the day, but isn't anymore. Sometimes the original translators didn't quite rise up to the mark and you have to take their shoddy decisions and run with them. Sometimes language changed and new words were added for concepts that weren't common 10 years ago, but are common now, so you sound antiquated.

And that's how I end up sighing and writing sentences I'd never recommend out of context, like "Would you like to split your assets on Facebook?"

Because back in the day, "Share" was used in situations like "Network and Sharing Center". This was before tech was very popular, and the translators involved thought of it as in "dividing information between users", so they translated it with "partajare", a word that originally meant "splitting assets" in the context of divorces/inheritance.

Because this was a translation used by the operating system, it was picked up by other translators for other projects. And then it was occasionally used for "sharing" in a social media context by old-style translators, although that's getting phased out and replaced with either the informal English-heavy "dă share" (borrowing the English "share", making it a noun and then adding a verb to denote the action of sharing), or with the more translated and general-purpose "distribuie" ("distribute").

You might wonder if Romanian lacks a word for a more "share"-y "share". It doesn't! It has words! But the more "share"-y "shares" are either "împarte", as in "share a cake", which also means "divide"; or the related "împărtășește". "Împărtășește" is kind of "share" in the social media sense: it's about participating in the same thing together! However, it sounds a bit old fashioned - and even more unfortunately, it's the exact word used for taking communion. So. No. It sounds like the computer is asking you, as a priest-figure, to give communion to your photos on Facebook.

I'm currently team "distribuie" (an opinion I share with Facebook translators, apparently), but it doesn't matter, because I'm working on a project that has me use "split assets".

And this is why hiring people to check legacy translations and propose system-wide changes is a great idea.