Peter Magenheimer

rfd.shared.oxide.computer/rfd/0576#_ll...

Excerpt from https://rfd.shared.oxide.computer/rfd/0576, with a passage highlighted: "our writing is an important vessel for building trust — and that trust can be quickly eroded if we are not speaking with our own voice." Full text: If, however, prose is LLM-generated, this social contract becomes ripped up: a reader cannot assume that the writer understands their ideas because they might not so much have read the product of the LLM that they tasked to write it. If one is lucky, these are LLM hallucinations: obviously wrong and quickly discarded. If one is unlucky, however, it will be a kind of LLM-induced cognitive dissonance: a puzzle in which pieces don’t fit because there is in fact no puzzle at all. This can leave a reader frustrated: why should they spend more time reading prose than the writer spent writing it? This can be navigated, of course, but it is truly perilous: our writing is an important vessel for building trust — and that trust can be quickly eroded if we are not speaking with our own voice. For us at Oxide, there is a more mechanical reason to be jaundiced about using LLMs to write: because our hiring process very much selects for writers, we know that everyone at Oxide can write — and we have the luxury of demanding of ourselves the kind of writing that we know that we are all capable of. So our guideline is to generally not use LLMs to write, but this shouldn’t be thought of as an absolute — and it doesn’t mean that an LLM can’t be used as part of the writing process. Just please: consider your responsibility to yourself, to your own ideas — and to the reader.

Seeing people use LLMs to generate entire documents feels kinda bad, but I've struggled to express *why* exactly it feels bad. I think this articulates it really nicely — it's about trust.

DOG AT THE OLYMPICS
FULL COMPETITION HIGHLIGHTS

This GOOD BOY ran onto the course during the Women’s Cross-Country Skiing Team Sprint event, crossing the finish line and being automatically recorded by OMEGA’s photofinish camera 😆

Quoting myself in an attempt to tie these threads together cause there are a lot of threads: bsky.app/profile/pete...

Ah sorry I meant to say that the updated diagram on the MS docs site looks very similar to the Atlassian one — didn't mean to imply that Atlassian stole anything themselves! bsky.app/profile/pete...

Incidentally, the Atlassian doc does a decent job of giving historical context. Given that the original git flow blog post is nearly 16 years old now, I feel like the MS doc should do the same (and/or as @nvie.com suggested, link back to his own blog post, which includes a helpful update from 2020)

Oops added the link to the alt text but I meant to include it in the post body too: www.atlassian.com/git/tutorial...

A git flow diagram from Microsoft's docs as of Feb 18 2026: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/introduction-to-github/3-components-of-github-flow#git-flow

An excerpt from Atlassian's git flow docs, with the text "Hotfix branches" and a git flow diagram. Screenshot taken Feb 18 2026 from here: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/comparing-workflows/gitflow-workflow#:~:text=finish%C2%A0%270.1.0%27-,Hotfix%20branches,-Maintenance%20or

I don't mean to pile on here, but it looks like the updated version of the diagram was heavily cribbed (if not outright ripped off) from Atlassian's docs without attribution

"Hotfix branches" git flow diagram from Atlassian's docs: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/comparing-workflows/gitflow-workflow

Oh fun this time it's Atlassian: www.atlassian.com/git/tutorial...

Quoting this post cause I think "slop laundering" is the perfect term for this kind of thing

A successful Git branching model In this post I present a Git branching strategy for developing and releasing software as I’ve used it in many of my projects, and which has turned out to be very successful.

nvie.com/posts/a-succ...

It's even worse than that — it's a poor ripoff of a real diagram that @nvie.com created years ago for the original git flow blog post. Like, there clearly was never even the *intent* to generate a meaningful diagram, it's just sheer plagiarism

ALL IMLS grants restored in every state & territory.

In response to a ruling from a federal judge in Rhode Island, the Institute of Museum and Library Services reinstated all previously canceled grants in every state and territory. It's a huge win for libraries and our communities.

"The reinstatement of all IMLS grants means that libraries across the country will be able to resume vital services for learning, imagination, and economic opportunity. We are breathing a sigh of relief, but the fight is not over." ALA President Sam Helmick. Show up for our libraries, American Library Association.

NEWS: The Institute of Museum & Library Services has restored ALL previously canceled federal grants to libraries, following a ruling by a federal judge in Rhode Island last month.

This is a massive win for libraries & communities in every state & territory!

Learn more: www.ala.org/news/2025/12...

Like half of my feed right now is pictures of your wife at varying levels of shrunkenness, it’s cracking me up

Yep you should be fine with a new car, and agreed, it’s a huge mess 🙃

Apple Maps displaying route options for driving directions between two cities, with an arrow pointing to a “more” link next to a “low emission zones” message

Looks like they’re low emission zones (any that might be relevant for your drive). Tap on the “more” link here to see the full list.

Question posed to Claude, an LLM: Is it a crazy idea to do a road trip from Rome to Munich on a Vespa Answer: It’s definitely an adventurous idea rather than a crazy one! Vespa road trips have a romantic appeal and many people have done epic journeys on scooters. The Rome to Munich route would be roughly 800-900 miles through some beautiful Alpine scenery. Here are the main considerations: **The realistic aspects:** - Modern Vespas (especially 300cc+ models) can handle highway speeds and longer distances - The route through northern Italy, Switzerland, and into Bavaria is stunning - Plenty of places to stop, refuel, and rest along the way - It’s been done before by other riders **The challenges:** - Takes significantly longer than a car (probably 3-4 days minimum with stops) - Weather exposure, especially crossing the Alps - Limited storage space for luggage - Potentially expensive tolls and fuel stops - Physical fatigue from long riding days - Mountain passes can be demanding on smaller engines **Sweet spots for success:** - Late spring through early fall for weather - A 250cc+ Vespa for better highway capability - Planning shorter daily distances (200-300 miles max) - Proper gear for weather and safety - Flexible timeline in case of delays If you’re an experienced rider who enjoys the journey as much as the destination, it could be an incredible trip. The key is realistic planning and embracing the slower pace as part of the adventure rather than seeing it as a limitation. Have you ridden long distances on a Vespa before?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

See previous image for full text

See previous image for full text

Interestingly, Claude’s more of a practical optimist about the whole thing

Thanks I hate it

I know it only applies to people making more than the Pflichtversicherungsgrenze, but it feels like skilled labor (e.g. exactly the kinds of people Germany wants to attract) could fall prey to this pretty easily

I know someone who switched to private cause they were going freelance and needed to save money. They later got a full-time job and found out they basically could never switch back unless they lost their job or got a serious pay cut

Might not be the kind of thing you're looking for exactly, but it's really unclear for new folks that, barring major life changes, you can't easily switch from private insurance back into the public system

Express lines on the U-Bahn would be so cool

I’m sure it’ll never happen, but a boy can dream

I lose consciousness once a day for several hours.

Business Costco has confirmed it will shut all 624 locations for 24 hours in just days - leaving Walmart to scoop up business By James Evenden, 9 hrs ago The US Sun Follow

This is such a bizarre headline for something as simple as “Costco locations close for Memorial Day”

Also happy belated 10th birthday (wtf) to this tweet

Screenshot of an old tweet from @iamdevloper on April 13 2015: “How to choose between rem and em” 1. question css 2. question your life 3. throw away laptop 4. scamper into forest

I think about this like once a week

Many in tech value brutal honesty, but people often focus more on the brutality than the honesty, making them defensive. Instead, aim to be “direct yet kind.” Start with curiosity and a desire to help before offering criticism.

When others see empathy in your words, your feedback is more effective.

I wrote a letter to Jan-Marco Luczak, the CDU Spitzenkandidat in Berlin, member of the Bundestag and candidate in my district of Tempelhof Schoneberg.

We do not defeat fascists by wearing their clothes.

Please share.

christopherward.medium.com/offener-brie...

Oh cool, I didn’t know she’d written Stargate books! I just finished the most recent Murderbot book, looking forward to reading more stuff by her