Liam Proven
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lproven.bsky.social
Liam Proven
@lproven.bsky.social
930 followers 290 following 2.8K posts
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.
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lproven.bsky.social
Apocalypse no: how almost everything we thought we knew about the Maya is wrong

buff.ly/TL6iCRU

For many years the prevailing debate about the Maya centred upon why their civilisation collapsed. Now, many scholars are asking: how did the Maya survive? — Guardian long reads
Apocalypse no: how almost everything we thought we knew about the Maya is wrong
For many years the prevailing debate about the Maya centred upon why their civilisation collapsed. Now, many scholars are asking: how did the Maya survive?
buff.ly
February 20, 2026 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Liam Proven
ajshepherd.bsky.social
Similarly, we hope so, The i Paper.
A front page piece from The i Paper, which reads:- Adam Boulton Andrew can still bring the royals crashing down with him.
February 20, 2026 at 8:07 AM
Reposted by Liam Proven
ajshepherd.bsky.social
Don't get our hopes up, Daily Mail.
A heading from the Daily Mail on the 20th February 2026. It reads as such:- RICHARD KAY I fear Andrew will bring down House of Windsor
February 20, 2026 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Liam Proven
angryrobotbooks.bsky.social
We have been long standing enthusiasts for the science fiction novels of Adam Roberts (and would trust that all right-thinking fans of the genre would share this belief) however we also believe he should be sent to prison for his jokes.
adamroberts.bsky.social Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · 1d
IN SPACE, NOBODY CAN SMEAR YOUR CREAM
Headline: "Worcester scientist uses organism from space to create skincare line"
February 19, 2026 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Liam Proven
eleanormorton.bsky.social
Someone with a connection to Angela Morley read my book and got in touch with this anecdote from when his dad and Angela played in the Goon Show band:
Text reads: A story from the Goon show days: there was an undertaker near the studio and during a break in rehearsals Sellers and Milligan wandered in to reception. Milligan lay down on the floor and Sellers pinged the bell on the counter and called out “Shop!”
February 19, 2026 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Liam Proven
banxtoons.bsky.social
From today's @financialtimes.com #socialmediatrial
February 19, 2026 at 6:23 PM
lproven.bsky.social
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
February 19, 2026 at 9:53 AM
Reposted by Liam Proven
cathywilcox.bsky.social
Vale Jesse Jackson.
My @smh @theage cartoon.
Three frames. 1. Afro-American mother and and child walking along street, dressed for winter, behind them a silhouette of armed man. Child says, “Momma, who was Jesse Jackson?” Mother says, “He was a leading civil rights activist.” 2. Still walking along street, behind them silhouette of man holding up “ICE OUT” placard. 3. Still walking. Silhouette shows man from frame 1 seizing placard and aggressing man from frame 2. Child says “Momma, what were civil rights?”
February 18, 2026 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by Liam Proven
bornmiserable.bsky.social
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
Reposted by Liam Proven
rincewind.run
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."
rincewind.run Micah @rincewind.run · 2d
Discworld QOTD, from Hogfather
February 18, 2026 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Liam Proven
antlervel.vet
THEY HAD THE “NO TAKE ONLY THROW” DOG MEME SIX THOUSAND YEARS AGO
Sumerian proverb library entry: (cf. 6.2.3: UET 6/2 225) The dog understands "Take it!", but it does not understand "Put it down!"
February 18, 2026 at 9:20 PM
Reposted by Liam Proven
rawstory.com
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
Reposted by Liam Proven
catebridget.bsky.social
i included this in my syllabi this year
anti-AI “credo” I have a religious exemption from using all generative “A.I.” I am not a member of the Silicon Valley sect. Their beliefs and practices are an affront to my sensibilities. The tech is trained on stolen intellectual property. The output is riddled with mistakes, and it is incapable of comprehending the weight of its errors. It is not even an “it.” But sometimes, it is filtered and massaged by unaccountable human sweatshop workers and bad actors. I am not required to use “A.I.” any more than I am required to join Amway, buy black market rhino horn, or attend the Fyre Festival. As a human, I have a duty and right to limit my carbon and water footprint and protect my fellow human. As a union worker, I have a duty and right to oppose tech that is used to threaten workers or cheapen our product. As a tech consumer, I have a duty and right to oppose scams that lower the quality of our tools. As a scholar, I have a duty and right to oppose anti-intellectualism. As a taxpayer, I have a duty and right to oppose the misallocation of public funds and data. As a grown up, I have a duty and right to protect young people from predators. As a person with a conscience, I am appalled at the decadent disregard for user safety, the callous dismissal of responsibility for lives ruined and slaughtered. My religion is related to my identity, geography, and family, making it an irrelevant accident of birth. What matters is that I was born. I have an exemption from their digital rapture, their cultural austerity, their intellectual poverty. I practice wholesome hedonism and First Do No Harm. CS 12/9/2025
January 21, 2026 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by Liam Proven
electriceden92.bsky.social
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
lproven.bsky.social
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.
bouletcorp.bsky.social -Boulet- @bouletcorp.bsky.social · 3d
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...
Baby Got Back Boulet est debout, à l'agonie, chez le médecin. Celle-ci lui écrit une prescription. La doctoresse: "C'est une bonne grosse lombalgie... Je vais vous prescrire des anti-inflammatoires. En attendant faites attention, pas de charges lourdes, pas de mouvements trop brusques..." Boulet rentre chez lui douloureusement, un sac de pharmacie à la main. On voit le centre de contrôle du cerveau. Des petits Boulets sont devant une console, et commentent: Mini-Boulet 1: "Vous avez entendu le docteur... On passe en vigilance maximale." On voit Boulet tremblottant porter un cachet à sa bouche. Dans le corps: mini-Boulet regarde la colonne vertébrale qui craque doucement, soutenue par des des câbles organiques. Mini-Boulet 1: "Voilààà... Chaque muscle en douceur, on garde l'équilibre..." Boulet avance à petits pas douloureux. Mini-Boulet 1, devant la colonne bien droite: "Gentiment... Parfait ! Une symphonie de délicatesse ! Merveilleux ♥" Dans le cerveau, un autre mini-Boulet est vautré sur son siège, les pieds sur une console qui porte la mention "REFLEX". Écouteurs sur les oreilles, il lit un magazine en chantant "Golden" de K-Pop Demon Hunter. Soudain son chant s'interrompt parce qu'il voit flotter une petite boule épineuse devant lui. Il enlève son casque et hurle "POLLEN !" en tapant sur un gros bouton. Dans le centre voisin, mini-Boulet 1 voit une trappe s'ouvrir, déchargeant une cargaison de bombes nucléaires, tandis que l'autre mini-Boulet hurle toujours "POLLEN ! POLLEN !" Boulet éternue bruyamment, plié en deux. Dans le corps, on voit un immense flash, et les mini-boulets tombent en miettes dans l'explosion tandis que la colonne vertébrale s'écroule et tombe en miettes comme un verre en cristal. Boulet est au sol, et on voit son âme quitter son corps. Natalie passe derrière lui, souriante. Natalie: "Ah tu te reposes, c'est bien. Laisse à ton corps le temps de se réparer !"
February 18, 2026 at 9:25 AM
Reposted by Liam Proven
lproven.bsky.social
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
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
lproven.bsky.social
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
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
lproven.bsky.social
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
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
Reposted by Liam Proven
rsdoiel.bsky.social
I enjoyed this take on LLM.
February 14, 2026 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by Liam Proven
standplaatskrk.pl
InsiderTreat (@InsiderTreat@infosec.exchange) on mastodon: "An air freshener that can make any smell you imagine. It sounds dumb but if you think about it, it makes scents."
February 14, 2026 at 8:58 PM
lproven.bsky.social
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.
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
lproven.bsky.social
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
lproven.bsky.social
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.
February 14, 2026 at 1:22 PM
lproven.bsky.social
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.
eliasisquith.blog elias isquith @eliasisquith.blog · 7d
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...
Meta’s internal memo said the political tumult in the United States was good timing for the feature’s release. “We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” according to the document from Meta’s Reality Labs, which works on hardware including smart glasses.
February 14, 2026 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Liam Proven
vespavixen.bsky.social
Roses are red.
Sugar is sweet.
I’ve never snorted cocaine
off a toilet seat.
February 14, 2026 at 10:59 AM