Richard Esplin

"hulking"‽ Why go to the effort to insert a subjective and unnecessary pejorative?

YouTube video by Hannah Morris Bouldering The Controversy Of Alex Honnold’s Taipei 101 Free Solo

As someone who has followed free #climbing since the 90s, I'm really impressed with this nuanced analysis by Hannah Morris Bouldering. I'll be watching more of her channel.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbJE...

My only challenge in buying #Linux machines is the awful state of #NVIDIA drivers. Next time I'm buying #AMD.

I should also note how happy I've been with @system76.bsky.social . The machines I've bought from them have worked well, and the support is better than the "big vendors".

YouTube video by The Friday Checkout Plot twist: Windows 11 is doing great

@techaltar.bsky.social 's Friday Checkout is great. This week's episode on @nebula.tv closes by speculating that one day large manufacturers may preinstall #Linux.

Dell sells desktops and laptops with Linux preinstalled. I've been happy with them for over 10 years.

www.dell.com/support/kbdo...

This series on the history of Lebanon is a masterfully crafted recounting of a complicated story. It makes clear that no single group is responsible for the suffering in the region. It makes me reflect on human nature.

I highly recommend you watch it, starting with this prelude.

#HistoryMatters

* When a window expands due to interaction with an active edge, it leaves a gap with the screen edge. I don't see how to change that.
* I'm losing confidence that I can adjust to active edges being on.

So far I'm still glad I migrated.

More updates:
* Notifications from Google Calendar in Chrome are raw HTML in the top right corner.
* Notifications from Steam are cut-off in the bottom right corner.
* I have a bunch of zombie processes that have a Cosmic process as a parent.

Update: the Steam games worked fine once I realized that my settings didn't carry through the upgrade.

In summary, I'm confident I can use Cosmic for my daily work and I'm excited about its potential.

Frustrations continued:
* The Cosmic clipboard manager applet doesn't work. Building from source helped, but it crashed a lot. I had to build Ringboard from source.
* Changing the monitor used by my graphics tablet styles took research into command line Wayland tools.

Frustrations continued:
* Focus-follows-cursor is included out of the box, but it always raises the focus window.
* Can't disable windows triggering from active edges.

Frustrations:
* The upgrade defaulted to only use integrated graphics, and they removed the GUI for changing modes. Switching to Hybrid on the command line worked once I figured out what was going on.
* Cosmic doesn't yet support applications spanning monitors. That's going to annoy me.

HiDPI handling under Wayland is more consistent than it was with X11. Only Firefox needed a special setting to be large enough.

All my applications appear to work with Wayland, except for some Steam games that I still need to troubleshoot.

I love how configurable Cosmic is. The panel and dock are great. Floating and tiled windows coexist. I'm glad to retire all the Gnome plugins that I used.

The Cosmic file browser and terminal apps might actually lure me away from KDE Dolphin and Konsole.

The included Cosmic applets work well.

Spent the last two days playing with #linux toys. I upgraded to Pop!_OS 24.02 and adopted the Cosmic Desktop as my daily driver. I was nervous it wouldn't be ready for prime-time, but it's generally been a smooth update. I'll share some thoughts in the thread.

Thank you @system76.bsky.social !

This is a legitimately good idea. It could attract others from the community to mingle with the residents.

I recently discovered that our local libraries have makerspaces.

My care home mental checklist now includes communal gaming and easy transportation to a library.

Dock Labs Live Event—EUDI in Practice: Inside Germany's Digital ID Strategy with Mirko Mollik, Identity Architect at SPRIND, Germany's Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation. December 10th at 9AM PST / 5PM GMT. Includes a picture of Mirko.

Mirko Mollik from @sprind-de.bsky.social answered an hour's worth of questions about #Germany 's work on digital identity. He covers the current state of #EUDI and what is needed to be ready for the 2026 deadline to offer a #DigitalIdentity wallet to all citizens.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9mn...

Gandalf | Lakera – Test your AI hacking skills Trick Gandalf into revealing information and experience the limitations of large language models firsthand.

These are fun exercises in #AI prompt #security: gandalf.lakera.ai/baseline
gandalf.lakera.ai/agent-breaker

AMD vs. NVIDIA on Linux: 2025 Showdown - LINUX NEST Deciding between AMD vs. NVIDIA on Linux? Get the final answer. Our 2025 guide covers drivers, gaming, AI, and Wayland.

I'm once again dealing with awful #NVIDIA drivers on #Linux and wondering why I didn't save myself pain by buying #AMD.

An excellent breakdown of the current state of affairs:
www.linuxnest.com/amd-vs-nvidi...

Banner for a Dock Labs Live Event: Introduction to Decentralized ID October 9th at 9am PDT | 5pm WEST

Not all #digitalID is dystopian. Next week my team will host a free "Intro to Decentralized ID" workshop where we will explain how #digitalidentity can be user-centric and privacy-preserving. We'll cover the basics and provide time to answer questions.

Register here:
www.dock.io/introduction...

mDLs, Privacy, and User Tracking: What You Need to Know [Video and Takeaways] Mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) and mobile identity documents (mDocs) are rapidly moving from pilot projects to mainstream adoption. With more than five million mDLs already in circulation and half of...

www.dock.io/post/mdls-pr...

Here is a recent discussion the mDL standard (ISO 18013) and #onlineprivacy. Andrew Hughes and Ryan Williams shared insights from developing and implementing the standard. We discussed the concerns from the #NoPhoneHome statement and how privacy will improve in the future versions.

#digitalidentity

#NewsYouCanUse

YouTube video by Family Tech WARNING New Tech Laws Could Affect Your Family's Safety

I appreciated this thorough but digestible breakdown of the recent #Utah legislation restricting children's use of digital devices and apps in app stores. I still have concerns, but I'm better informed because of @familytech.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbC_...

#onlinesafety #kids

I think @sjvn.bsky.social knows more about this than anyone.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one!

<quote>
…the plaintiffs asserted that “open banking [in the United States] is already flourishing through a private, market-based ‘consumer data sharing ecosystem,’”
<endquote>

By this logic, mob protection rackets are flourishing private market ecosystems because you pick who will rob you!

The Future of the CFPB Open Banking Rule Remains…Open On July 29, 2025, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) stated in a legal briefing that it has decided to reconsider an agency rule “with a view to substantially revis[e] it and provid[e] a ...

Trump's CFBP will reconsider Rule 1033 on Open Banking “with a view to substantially revis[e] it and provid[e] a robust justification.”

Another loss for the average American against big business.

#openfinance #opendata

⚠️ T-Mobile’s 2025 Privacy Overhaul — What You Need to Know and Do Now T-Mobile’s August 2025 policy overhaul introduces deeper data tracking, tighter dispute limits, and expanded post-cancellation contact. This guide outlines key changes and actionable steps customer…

An excellent guide to #t-mobile 's changes to their #privacy policy:
ozamora.com/2025/07/t-mo...

tl;dr: #tmobile is not one of the good guys