Bill Statler

A public service announcement for advertisers:

"DECADENT" IS A BAD THING.

It derives from the Latin word for decay. Prior to 1970 it was universally understood as a decline from an earlier good state.

If your chocolate dessert is decaying, I am not encouraged to eat it.

This message brought […]

Altbot Hi! I'm Altbot™ your accessibility companion! I help make the Fediverse more inclusive by generating alt-text descriptions for images. Let me assist you! How to Use: > Mention me (@altbot) in a reply to any post with images! > Follow me and I'll follow back to help with your posts > I'll generate alt-text for images that need it Important Notes: Your media is processed locally on my own server and NOTHING is saved or used for training. Complete privacy! Due to Mastodon's API, you'll need to manually force an unfollow if you change your mind! I only look at images, never at post content. Alt-text is AI-generated - always verify before use! Altbot™ is entirely opt-in, if you do not interact with me, I won't interact with you. We're committed to environmental consciousness! I use a low-power LLM to minimize our carbon footprint while helping make the web more accessible. Now you can see how much energy each description uses! Let's make the Fediverse accessible together!

It's a bot that creates alt-text for images.
https://fuzzies.wtf/@altbot

This is... a bit silly.

GitHub - TodePond/GulfOfMexico: perfect programming language


> ...Be bold! End every statement with an exclamation mark!
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> print("Hello world")!
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> If you're feeling extra-bold, you can use even more!!!
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> print("Hello world")!!!
> […]

jonny (good kind) wrote:

> people used to laugh when i said the phrase "federated p2p" but by god we'll make it real.



So, for a first step, how about **bittorrent over ActivityPub**? This guy comes up with some really interesting possible futures for the federated online world. (The […]

Hello @kris@theres.life -- I operate @streamsgarden@forum.statler.ws and I just approved your request to join. (Note to @jupiter_rowland@hub.hubzilla.de -- I turned on ActivityPub for the group, so that Forte users can join. So Mastodon users can also join.)

Kris, to answer your question: From […]

"What should we cut this week? Hey, how about we cut data collection for tsunami alerts?"

NOAA cancels funding for data collection crucial to tsunami warning systems


> The Alaska Earthquake Center has long provided NOAA with seismic data for tsunami monitoring and warning purposes. That work […]

ICYMI, Joe Menn had a good scoop this week about how the US govt is getting set to ban TP-Link devices from being sold in the United States. If that happens, a whole lot of small businesses will probably need to find new networking gear. I have never trusted TP-Link devices and have repeatedly […]

Watch for the GoFundMe for my startup that will produce premium artisanal spam from certified humans.

Most people are too young to remember, but there was a time when spammers were considered the lowest of the low. I am not making this up.

And now here's a startup company getting legit venture capital money (and press coverage) in order to make better spam. :facepalm

I guess I'll need an AI agent to find me the 1% of Internet content that is human-generated.

Today I learned the phrase "synthetic influencer".

Here, for example, is a startup company called DOUBLESPEED which is offering the service:



> **Control is all you need.** The doublespeed TERMINAL allows you to orchestrate actions on thousands of social accounts through both bulk content […]

Metallic gel discovery could make liquid metal batteries safer Texas A&M; scientists create the first metallic gel that can handle extreme heat, which could transform liquid metal battery technology.

First-ever metallic gel could unlock next-generation energy and propulsion systems
https://interestingengineering.com/energy/metallic-gel-liquid-metal-batteries

Big moth resting with his wings swept back like a furry fighter jet. Very dark brown overall, with lighter abdomen and bands on the wings. Narrow white stripes front-to-back on the wings and thorax.

Here's a large moth that visited our doorframe this morning. Looks like the common White-Lined Sphinx Moth, _Hyles lineata_.

Not a big surprise: the current crop of AI tools cannot make an accurate summary of news stories. But here's a study with some numbers, showing how incredibly bad they really are:


Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time – regardless of language […]

You don't own your vacuum cleaner if it's "smart".

The Day My Smart Vacuum Turned Against Me


> ...All I did was block its data logging IP address—just the logs, not firmware updates or OTA channels. ...
>
> They hadn’t merely incorporated a remote control feature. They had used it to […]

Huh, first time I've heard about this.

Advice to feed babies peanuts early and often helped 60,000 kids avoid allergies, study finds


> ...For decades, doctors had recommended delaying feeding children peanuts and other foods likely to trigger allergies until age 3. But in 2015, Gideon Lack at […]

Sounds like Amazon's AWS is having problems today. I guess they need more nuclear reactors, like this set planned for my neighborhood:

How Amazon is helping to build one of the first modular nuclear reactor facilities in the United States


> Get a first look at a future SMR (small modular […]

Very good science article about mass extinction events, past and present. It's long and information-dense, but worth the effort.



 Scientific Frontline wrote the following post Sat, 18 Oct 2025 03:09:47 -0700

#Earth is a story of breathtaking diversification and innovation, but it is […]

Finally, a useful application for blockchains!



 Ars Technica wrote the following post Thu, 16 Oct 2025 13:45:12 -0700

Hackers’ “bullet-proof” hosts deliver malware from blockchains
Malicious payloads stored on Ethereum and BNB blockchains are immune to […]

[Original post on forum.statler.ws]

I guess if there is lots of lead in your protein supplement, you'll gain more mass.

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports


> CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

Mystery of the day: What program did I run on my Linux desktop, way back on September 6th, that created the directory `/home/bill/logs` containing a single zero-length file `myeasylog.log`?

Research tells me that this was probably generated by a C++ library (Easylogging++) -- which narrows […]

I have, on occasion, put on a shirt, discovered the buttons were on the inside, reversed the shirt, and found the buttons were still on the inside.

I think topology has a juvenile sense of humor.

Okay, I know the answer to this question. If I have a heart attack, I can't leave a situation where one of my family members needs to become an e-mail server expert just to keep their e-mail running.

I'll find a commercial e-mail provider.

I did install postfix on a VPS, long ago, but only for outgoing e-mails. I understand that it's a much bigger challenge to run a real, bidirectional mail server.

I probably won't do it. Just considering several options for e-mail.

Do I want to run my own e-mail server for my family, on a VPS? Or would I be walking into a nightmare?

A struggling little plant with red stems, growing in a crack between concrete and asphalt, bears a single yellow flower.

A stubborn Portulaca seed escaped from our flowerpot, and is attempting civic beautification at the end of our driveway.

I like durian, but my wife apparently developed an allergy around the 4th time we ate it. 😿

Smell of exotic fruit keeps German fire department busy – DW – 10/05/2025 Several calls by residents worried about potential gas leakage caused the fire brigade to investigate before finding the smelly cause: a fruit sold at an Asian supermarket.

> The fire brigade in the German city of Wiesbaden was called out four times on Saturday due to concerns over gas leaks, with the cause being the smell of the durian fruit. ...



DW, 2025-10-05: Smell of exotic fruit keeps German fire department busy

cc:news

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So Portland has reached the "Let them eat doughnuts" stage of societal collapse.