Liam Proven
@lproven.bsky.social
Tall, dark, black-clad, atheist, skeptic, vegetarian, SF fan; writes (mostly about computers) for a living. All opinions expressed are my own & not those of any employer.
Reposted by Liam Proven
From today's @financialtimes.com #socialmediatrial
February 19, 2026 at 6:23 PM
From today's @financialtimes.com #socialmediatrial
Memory Safety for Skeptics (Communications of the ACM)
buff.ly/v1YiaxM
If you’re tired of hearing about memory safety, this article is for you.
buff.ly/v1YiaxM
If you’re tired of hearing about memory safety, this article is for you.
buff.ly
February 19, 2026 at 9:53 AM
Memory Safety for Skeptics (Communications of the ACM)
buff.ly/v1YiaxM
If you’re tired of hearing about memory safety, this article is for you.
buff.ly/v1YiaxM
If you’re tired of hearing about memory safety, this article is for you.
Reposted by Liam Proven
Vale Jesse Jackson.
My @smh @theage cartoon.
My @smh @theage cartoon.
February 18, 2026 at 9:09 PM
Vale Jesse Jackson.
My @smh @theage cartoon.
My @smh @theage cartoon.
Reposted by Liam Proven
sorry Pink Floyd, turns out that we needed education. a lot of it. all of the education, really
February 15, 2026 at 5:38 AM
sorry Pink Floyd, turns out that we needed education. a lot of it. all of the education, really
Reposted by Liam Proven
Discworld QOTD, from Mort
"‘You’re dead,’ he said.
Keli waited. She couldn’t think of any suitable reply. ‘I’m not’ lacked a certain style, while ‘Is it serious?’ seemed somehow too frivolous."
"‘You’re dead,’ he said.
Keli waited. She couldn’t think of any suitable reply. ‘I’m not’ lacked a certain style, while ‘Is it serious?’ seemed somehow too frivolous."
Discworld QOTD, from Hogfather
February 18, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Discworld QOTD, from Mort
"‘You’re dead,’ he said.
Keli waited. She couldn’t think of any suitable reply. ‘I’m not’ lacked a certain style, while ‘Is it serious?’ seemed somehow too frivolous."
"‘You’re dead,’ he said.
Keli waited. She couldn’t think of any suitable reply. ‘I’m not’ lacked a certain style, while ‘Is it serious?’ seemed somehow too frivolous."
Reposted by Liam Proven
THEY HAD THE “NO TAKE ONLY THROW” DOG MEME SIX THOUSAND YEARS AGO
February 18, 2026 at 9:20 PM
THEY HAD THE “NO TAKE ONLY THROW” DOG MEME SIX THOUSAND YEARS AGO
Reposted by Liam Proven
A decades-long study suggests that men with higher intelligence quotient ratings are less likely to hold conservative political views.
Higher IQ leads to lower conservatism in men in decades-long study
A decades-long study suggests that men with higher intelligence quotient ratings are less likely to hold conservative political views.The study comes from researchers at Saarland University and Philipps-University Marburg, institutions in Germany.According to PsyPost, "The team based their research ...
bit.ly
February 19, 2026 at 3:00 AM
A decades-long study suggests that men with higher intelligence quotient ratings are less likely to hold conservative political views.
Reposted by Liam Proven
i included this in my syllabi this year
January 21, 2026 at 10:10 PM
i included this in my syllabi this year
Reposted by Liam Proven
A lot of very smart people have essentially adopted the position of really really wanting there to be a middle ground here, because there's so many people already using it, and it's such a NEAT bit of tech that moral suasion won't deter, and it can't be ALL bullshit and it's not going away and
February 18, 2026 at 6:55 AM
A lot of very smart people have essentially adopted the position of really really wanting there to be a middle ground here, because there's so many people already using it, and it's such a NEAT bit of tech that moral suasion won't deter, and it can't be ALL bullshit and it's not going away and
A favourite. Thank feck that while most of the rest of my skeleton is FUBAR, my back is all right and gives me very few problems.
Rogatons Rediffusions - 30/05/2025 - "Baby Got Back"
Source: www.bouletcorp.com/rogatons/202...
LES LIVRES
Rogatons tome 1: www.exemplaire-editions.fr/exemplaire/l...
Rogatons tome 2: www.exemplaire-editions.fr/exemplaire/l...
Source: www.bouletcorp.com/rogatons/202...
LES LIVRES
Rogatons tome 1: www.exemplaire-editions.fr/exemplaire/l...
Rogatons tome 2: www.exemplaire-editions.fr/exemplaire/l...
February 18, 2026 at 9:25 AM
A favourite. Thank feck that while most of the rest of my skeleton is FUBAR, my back is all right and gives me very few problems.
Reposted by Liam Proven
Price of popularity: Linux Mint's success also means maintainer stress
www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/m...
Lots of donations, but lots of pressure to go with it
<- by me on @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/m...
Lots of donations, but lots of pressure to go with it
<- by me on @theregister.com
Linux Mint's success also means maintainer stress
: Lots of donations, but lots of pressure to go with it
www.theregister.com
February 16, 2026 at 11:28 PM
Price of popularity: Linux Mint's success also means maintainer stress
www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/m...
Lots of donations, but lots of pressure to go with it
<- by me on @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/m...
Lots of donations, but lots of pressure to go with it
<- by me on @theregister.com
Price of popularity: Linux Mint's success also means maintainer stress
www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/m...
Lots of donations, but lots of pressure to go with it
<- by me on @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/m...
Lots of donations, but lots of pressure to go with it
<- by me on @theregister.com
Linux Mint's success also means maintainer stress
: Lots of donations, but lots of pressure to go with it
www.theregister.com
February 16, 2026 at 11:28 PM
Price of popularity: Linux Mint's success also means maintainer stress
www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/m...
Lots of donations, but lots of pressure to go with it
<- by me on @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2026/02/16/m...
Lots of donations, but lots of pressure to go with it
<- by me on @theregister.com
Contain your Windows apps inside Linux Windows
www.theregister.com/2026/02/14/w...
Can't live without Adobe? Get on board WinBoat – or WinApps sails a similar course
<- by me on @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2026/02/14/w...
Can't live without Adobe? Get on board WinBoat – or WinApps sails a similar course
<- by me on @theregister.com
Contain your Windows apps inside Linux Windows
Hands-on: Can't live without Adobe? Get on board WinBoat – or WinApps sails a similar course
www.theregister.com
February 15, 2026 at 10:55 AM
Contain your Windows apps inside Linux Windows
www.theregister.com/2026/02/14/w...
Can't live without Adobe? Get on board WinBoat – or WinApps sails a similar course
<- by me on @theregister.com
www.theregister.com/2026/02/14/w...
Can't live without Adobe? Get on board WinBoat – or WinApps sails a similar course
<- by me on @theregister.com
Reposted by Liam Proven
I enjoyed this take on LLM.
The AI hater's guide to code with LLMs (The Overview)
buff.ly/CH1CJQ6
<- TBH: I still hate it, still consider it a scam, & am only interested in takes from the hardcore skeptics. But I learned stuff from this.
buff.ly/CH1CJQ6
<- TBH: I still hate it, still consider it a scam, & am only interested in takes from the hardcore skeptics. But I learned stuff from this.
The AI hater's guide to code with LLMs (The Overview) | All Confirmation Bias, All The Time
This is the post I don’t think many people expected me to write, and I have (rightly!) surrounded myself with people who are generally uncomfortable to somewhat hostile to “AI”, mostly for good…
buff.ly
February 14, 2026 at 5:41 PM
I enjoyed this take on LLM.
Reposted by Liam Proven
The AI hater's guide to code with LLMs (The Overview)
buff.ly/CH1CJQ6
<- TBH: I still hate it, still consider it a scam, & am only interested in takes from the hardcore skeptics. But I learned stuff from this.
buff.ly/CH1CJQ6
<- TBH: I still hate it, still consider it a scam, & am only interested in takes from the hardcore skeptics. But I learned stuff from this.
The AI hater's guide to code with LLMs (The Overview) | All Confirmation Bias, All The Time
This is the post I don’t think many people expected me to write, and I have (rightly!) surrounded myself with people who are generally uncomfortable to somewhat hostile to “AI”, mostly for good…
buff.ly
February 14, 2026 at 4:23 PM
The AI hater's guide to code with LLMs (The Overview)
buff.ly/CH1CJQ6
<- TBH: I still hate it, still consider it a scam, & am only interested in takes from the hardcore skeptics. But I learned stuff from this.
buff.ly/CH1CJQ6
<- TBH: I still hate it, still consider it a scam, & am only interested in takes from the hardcore skeptics. But I learned stuff from this.
How Serifs Lost the Road War but Won the Streets
How Serifs Lost the Road War but Won the Streets
It is 1961. At Benson Airfield in south Oxfordshire, a test car driver employed by the Roads Research Laboratory is revving the engine of his Morris Oxford and preparing to release the handbrake. W…
buff.ly
February 14, 2026 at 1:40 PM
How Serifs Lost the Road War but Won the Streets
RFK Jr: MAGA's Mengele. This should go viral.
The trouble is that the people who need to know have no idea who Dr Josef Mengele was & think where he did it is fictitious.
It's not. I've been there.
The trouble is that the people who need to know have no idea who Dr Josef Mengele was & think where he did it is fictitious.
It's not. I've been there.
Maga’s Mengele
February 14, 2026 at 1:22 PM
RFK Jr: MAGA's Mengele. This should go viral.
The trouble is that the people who need to know have no idea who Dr Josef Mengele was & think where he did it is fictitious.
It's not. I've been there.
The trouble is that the people who need to know have no idea who Dr Josef Mengele was & think where he did it is fictitious.
It's not. I've been there.
Make social media companies fully responsible for their members & content. All the laws are there. They are not carriers, they are publishers. Apply the existing laws to them that apply to legacy broadcast media.
this is comically evil. brazenly anti-social. just absolute black-pilled nihilism. we will not have a republic, we will not be free, until we regulate these companies to the point where — at a bare minimum — they're too afraid to put stuff like this down on paper.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
February 14, 2026 at 1:18 PM
Make social media companies fully responsible for their members & content. All the laws are there. They are not carriers, they are publishers. Apply the existing laws to them that apply to legacy broadcast media.
Reposted by Liam Proven
Roses are red.
Sugar is sweet.
I’ve never snorted cocaine
off a toilet seat.
Sugar is sweet.
I’ve never snorted cocaine
off a toilet seat.
February 14, 2026 at 10:59 AM
Roses are red.
Sugar is sweet.
I’ve never snorted cocaine
off a toilet seat.
Sugar is sweet.
I’ve never snorted cocaine
off a toilet seat.
Reposted by Liam Proven
if you're an older person who finds words like mogg and maxxing annoying, just starting using them. people over the age of 30 have the superpower to end trends by simply adopting them
February 14, 2026 at 1:50 AM
if you're an older person who finds words like mogg and maxxing annoying, just starting using them. people over the age of 30 have the superpower to end trends by simply adopting them
China has planted so many trees around the Taklamakan Desert, it's turned this 'biological void' into a carbon sink
buff.ly/6MycaRz
Huge-scale ecological engineering around the edges of 1 of the world's largest, driest deserts has turned it into a carbon sink that absorbs more CO2 than it emits
buff.ly/6MycaRz
Huge-scale ecological engineering around the edges of 1 of the world's largest, driest deserts has turned it into a carbon sink that absorbs more CO2 than it emits
China has planted so many trees around the Taklamakan Desert that it's turned this 'biological void' into a carbon sink
Huge-scale ecological engineering around the edges of one of the world's largest and driest deserts has turned it into a carbon sink that absorbs more CO2 than it emits, research suggests.
buff.ly
February 14, 2026 at 9:53 AM
China has planted so many trees around the Taklamakan Desert, it's turned this 'biological void' into a carbon sink
buff.ly/6MycaRz
Huge-scale ecological engineering around the edges of 1 of the world's largest, driest deserts has turned it into a carbon sink that absorbs more CO2 than it emits
buff.ly/6MycaRz
Huge-scale ecological engineering around the edges of 1 of the world's largest, driest deserts has turned it into a carbon sink that absorbs more CO2 than it emits
Reposted by Liam Proven
i often think about this review
February 14, 2026 at 3:13 AM
i often think about this review
Reposted by Liam Proven
And here's a somewhat different view which I'm sure you've seen before. Beinerts is often good value on such matters.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKor...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKor...
The Expert (Short Comedy Sketch)
YouTube video by Lauris Beinerts
www.youtube.com
February 13, 2026 at 4:51 PM
And here's a somewhat different view which I'm sure you've seen before. Beinerts is often good value on such matters.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKor...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKor...
Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit: Tools for Thinking Critically & Knowing Pseudoscience When You See It
buff.ly/ewHbj6g
«
… This assembled metaphorical box of tools for diagnosing fraudulent arguments & constructing reasoned ones involves 9 principles…
»
buff.ly/ewHbj6g
«
… This assembled metaphorical box of tools for diagnosing fraudulent arguments & constructing reasoned ones involves 9 principles…
»
Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit: Tools for Thinking Critically & Knowing Pseudoscience When You See It
Though he died too young, Carl Sagan left behind an impressively large body of work, including more than 600 scientific papers and more than 20 books.
buff.ly
February 13, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit: Tools for Thinking Critically & Knowing Pseudoscience When You See It
buff.ly/ewHbj6g
«
… This assembled metaphorical box of tools for diagnosing fraudulent arguments & constructing reasoned ones involves 9 principles…
»
buff.ly/ewHbj6g
«
… This assembled metaphorical box of tools for diagnosing fraudulent arguments & constructing reasoned ones involves 9 principles…
»