Erica "digifox" Kovac
@digifox.binaryden.net
Software Engineer | Social Democrat | Pro-Nuclear, Pro-Growth | in the vicinity of "Tomboy Transfemme", she/her | Opinions are mine, not my employer's.
Pfp by @nicnak044.bsky.social
Pfp by @nicnak044.bsky.social
Pinned
let the version of the industry that does this repent through bankruptcy; if I pay for technology I expect it to serve *my* interests, not those who wish to control and surveill me
Software is a tool, and tools should serve the user above all else.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
We are spending $1 trillion on debt service alone at this point, the fiscal crisis is here, and we gotta soak everybody up and down the scale to get out of it with our hair intact
One of my more controversial opinions is that the US needs to significantly raise taxes to the tune of a couple % of GDP right now, even before any expansive social democratic reforms, and that means you—yes you, dear highly educated professional—will need to pay up, not just nebulous billionaires.
December 30, 2025 at 1:58 AM
We are spending $1 trillion on debt service alone at this point, the fiscal crisis is here, and we gotta soak everybody up and down the scale to get out of it with our hair intact
I worry a lot about the fact that there's an entire generation that isn't really familiar with the idea of multiple client applications for the same protocol.
December 30, 2025 at 1:07 AM
I worry a lot about the fact that there's an entire generation that isn't really familiar with the idea of multiple client applications for the same protocol.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
I see a lot of complaints about untested AI slop in pull requests. Submitting those is a dereliction of duty as a software engineer: Your job is to deliver code you have proven to work simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/18/...
Your job is to deliver code you have proven to work
In all of the debates about the value of AI-assistance in software development there’s one depressing anecdote that I keep on seeing: the junior engineer, empowered by some class of …
simonwillison.net
December 18, 2025 at 2:57 PM
I see a lot of complaints about untested AI slop in pull requests. Submitting those is a dereliction of duty as a software engineer: Your job is to deliver code you have proven to work simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/18/...
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
If like me you have a mental model that SQLite doesn't accept outside contributions you should update it, I just got called out by D. Richard Hipp for spreading that misinformation in a comment on Hacker News simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/29/...
Copyright Release for Contributions To SQLite
D. Richard Hipp called me out for spreading misinformation on Hacker News that SQLite refuses outside contributions: No, Simon, we don't "refuse". We are just very selective and there is …
simonwillison.net
December 29, 2025 at 8:08 PM
If like me you have a mental model that SQLite doesn't accept outside contributions you should update it, I just got called out by D. Richard Hipp for spreading that misinformation in a comment on Hacker News simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/29/...
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
The thing is I've heard this so many times over the past two years and every time I touch these tools they seem like more work than they are worth
The real annoying thing about Claude Opus 4.5 is that it's impossible to publicly say "Opus 4.5 is an order of magnitude better than coding LLMs released just months before it" without sounding like a AI hype booster clickbaiting, but it's the counterintuitive truth, to my personal frustration.
December 30, 2025 at 12:09 AM
The thing is I've heard this so many times over the past two years and every time I touch these tools they seem like more work than they are worth
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
“Regular elections provide regular opportunities for mistakes to get corrected, which in an imperfect world is far preferable to having one man or one party permanently in charge and hoping you just so happen to get the correct man or party for the job.” (from
January)
January)
Defending Democracy When Voters Make Bad Choices
It is precisely when the largest bloc of voters has chosen poorly that we need democracy the most.
www.liberalcurrents.com
December 29, 2025 at 11:53 PM
“Regular elections provide regular opportunities for mistakes to get corrected, which in an imperfect world is far preferable to having one man or one party permanently in charge and hoping you just so happen to get the correct man or party for the job.” (from
January)
January)
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
The assumption that middle aged adults could win a conflict about computer security with teenagers who have
a) more motivation
b) more time
c) more patience
d) more creativity
e) a much faster brain
f) with much higher plasticity
is just silly. Do they think their kids are as daft as them?
a) more motivation
b) more time
c) more patience
d) more creativity
e) a much faster brain
f) with much higher plasticity
is just silly. Do they think their kids are as daft as them?
December 23, 2025 at 9:45 AM
The assumption that middle aged adults could win a conflict about computer security with teenagers who have
a) more motivation
b) more time
c) more patience
d) more creativity
e) a much faster brain
f) with much higher plasticity
is just silly. Do they think their kids are as daft as them?
a) more motivation
b) more time
c) more patience
d) more creativity
e) a much faster brain
f) with much higher plasticity
is just silly. Do they think their kids are as daft as them?
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
Ah yes, we could never have predicted this, never www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12...
Teens flock to alternative apps after social media ban
The Commonwealth's long-awaited social media ban for under-16s came into effect this month. But some experts note a rise in alternatives to popular platforms as teens find ways to stay active on socia...
www.abc.net.au
December 22, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Ah yes, we could never have predicted this, never www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12...
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
A video game is an intrinsically bad medium for romance because romance is about people choosing to be together and video games are about player agency.
idk if i’ve ever seen a “romance subplot” in a video game that I thought was handled well. maybe cyberpunk 2077’s judy is the best by default? maybe zagreus and thanatos in hades as a runner-up?
December 29, 2025 at 10:27 PM
A video game is an intrinsically bad medium for romance because romance is about people choosing to be together and video games are about player agency.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
if you are telling me to figure out why a user can't log in and there's a really cool paper on arxiv the user is going to have to wait. it simplifies things to, uh, not give me users
December 29, 2025 at 10:14 PM
if you are telling me to figure out why a user can't log in and there's a really cool paper on arxiv the user is going to have to wait. it simplifies things to, uh, not give me users
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
i am sufficiently obsessed with my subfield of choice that it actively makes me worse at doing jobs not directly concerning it at this point so i am actually employed in ai but this happened in a via negativa sort of way
to get real analysis you gotta come to the people whose brainworms are so powerful they can’t shut up even if it’s not their job
December 29, 2025 at 10:13 PM
i am sufficiently obsessed with my subfield of choice that it actively makes me worse at doing jobs not directly concerning it at this point so i am actually employed in ai but this happened in a via negativa sort of way
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
Remember when we told them to do air-land battle without the air component and when asked "what do we do about the ungodly number of minefields observed by drone corrected artillery?" we just told them "just go around lmao"
I actually sort of worry that a lack of American military presence even purely as observers not only means we’re not learning the right lessons but not even learning lessons at all
Ukrainians are Woke, you see.
The US Army Field Artillery can’t learn from them.
The US Army Field Artillery can’t learn from them.
December 29, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Remember when we told them to do air-land battle without the air component and when asked "what do we do about the ungodly number of minefields observed by drone corrected artillery?" we just told them "just go around lmao"
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
Analysis: 2025 may be remembered as the year a reckoning began over the unholy marriage of sports and legalized gambling.
Analysis | Is anything real anymore? In 2025, even sports fans started to doubt.
The integrity of games might be sports’ most precious commodity. This year’s gambling scandals have fans questioning it — a trend some view as an existential threat.
wapo.st
December 29, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Analysis: 2025 may be remembered as the year a reckoning began over the unholy marriage of sports and legalized gambling.
The free and open internet and computational autonomy are immutable facts and every attempt to try to pen those things in just limits the upsides while doing very little to limit the downsides of those things.
December 29, 2025 at 8:47 PM
The free and open internet and computational autonomy are immutable facts and every attempt to try to pen those things in just limits the upsides while doing very little to limit the downsides of those things.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
The answer to waste, fraud and abuse in government programs is they can’t be eliminated but we can safeguard against them and go after them when they do happen, which is rarely, and the systems we have in place to do so mostly work, so you don’t need to know every detail of those times. Live life.
December 29, 2025 at 8:45 PM
The answer to waste, fraud and abuse in government programs is they can’t be eliminated but we can safeguard against them and go after them when they do happen, which is rarely, and the systems we have in place to do so mostly work, so you don’t need to know every detail of those times. Live life.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
This famous meme post encapsulates a *conservative* reaction to social media-induced pathologies, because it poses people reaching out and forming howsoever-messed up communities as the problem, and waxes nostalgic for social isolation. This is what TERFs think about trans people.
December 29, 2025 at 8:39 PM
This famous meme post encapsulates a *conservative* reaction to social media-induced pathologies, because it poses people reaching out and forming howsoever-messed up communities as the problem, and waxes nostalgic for social isolation. This is what TERFs think about trans people.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
thinking about how the majority of content on the web is advertising material and they just put it all into the pay per use or pay per month machine
December 29, 2025 at 8:31 PM
thinking about how the majority of content on the web is advertising material and they just put it all into the pay per use or pay per month machine
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
Y’all ever walk into a public restroom and immediately whisper “Jesus Christ”
December 27, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Y’all ever walk into a public restroom and immediately whisper “Jesus Christ”
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
So, if I'm reading this correctly, recent USPS reforms are making it logistically impossible for the agency to postmark all letters on the date received, and services that rely on postmarks to prove deadline adherence shouldn't do so anymore.
Important US Postal Service change regarding postmarks and deadlines. Effective Dec 24, mail may receive a postmark several days after it has been received.
www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com/blog/2025/12...
www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com/blog/2025/12...
USPS Changes to Postmark Date System Taking Effect December 24, 2025 — Current Federal Tax Developments
Summary of the Final Rule The United States Postal Service (USPS) has adopted a final rule ( FR Doc. 2025-20740 ) adding Section 6 08.11, "Postmarks and Postal Possession," to the Domestic Mail Manu...
www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com
December 29, 2025 at 7:29 PM
So, if I'm reading this correctly, recent USPS reforms are making it logistically impossible for the agency to postmark all letters on the date received, and services that rely on postmarks to prove deadline adherence shouldn't do so anymore.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
One widespread narrative from earlier this year that was proven almost hilariously incorrect: US capital flight. The 6 months ended October saw the largest foreign inflows to US financial markets in history, mostly thanks to record equity net buys of $532bn, with over $200bn UST purchases too.
December 29, 2025 at 8:22 PM
One widespread narrative from earlier this year that was proven almost hilariously incorrect: US capital flight. The 6 months ended October saw the largest foreign inflows to US financial markets in history, mostly thanks to record equity net buys of $532bn, with over $200bn UST purchases too.
Reposted by Erica "digifox" Kovac
The Second-Order Streisand Effect is a social phenomenon where if a party makes an effort to censor information, discussion and news about the censorship paradoxically leads to an increased awareness of Barbara Streisand, a musician whom most "Zoomers" would probably have otherwise never heard of
December 29, 2025 at 7:27 PM
The Second-Order Streisand Effect is a social phenomenon where if a party makes an effort to censor information, discussion and news about the censorship paradoxically leads to an increased awareness of Barbara Streisand, a musician whom most "Zoomers" would probably have otherwise never heard of