Dan Slimmon
@danslimmon.bsky.social
Techno-pessimist and software engineer and podcaster https://techblows.net/
November 14, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Watching Hitchcock's "Lifeboat" (1944). Everybody's speaking in the mid-Atlantic accent, but they're in the middle of the Atlantic so it's appropriate
November 11, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Watching Hitchcock's "Lifeboat" (1944). Everybody's speaking in the mid-Atlantic accent, but they're in the middle of the Atlantic so it's appropriate
They seem kinda mad about how much of their work was discarded in building Clippy 😅 Lumière put a lot of effort into trying to guess *whether* a user needed help at the current moment… Clippy not so much
November 7, 2025 at 11:56 PM
They seem kinda mad about how much of their work was discarded in building Clippy 😅 Lumière put a lot of effort into trying to guess *whether* a user needed help at the current moment… Clippy not so much
Just finished reading this fascinating Microsoft Research paper from 1998 about "Lumière," a project which directly informed Clippy. It presages many modern difficulties with automated help agents and AI systems arxiv.org/pdf/1301.7385
November 7, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Just finished reading this fascinating Microsoft Research paper from 1998 about "Lumière," a project which directly informed Clippy. It presages many modern difficulties with automated help agents and AI systems arxiv.org/pdf/1301.7385
Fantastic news: the tech industry has reinvented "quietly succumbing to censorship," with the modern twist that now you get to pay a fee to them
November 7, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Fantastic news: the tech industry has reinvented "quietly succumbing to censorship," with the modern twist that now you get to pay a fee to them
Dog got my 5-year-old's toy. Had to tell her, "It's okay, the giraffe is just shedding its neck"
October 24, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Dog got my 5-year-old's toy. Had to tell her, "It's okay, the giraffe is just shedding its neck"
*furiously checks math* #amazonaws #s3
September 15, 2025 at 2:18 PM
*furiously checks math* #amazonaws #s3
* have a brilliant idea
* go to write it down
ah shit. damn
* go to write it down
ah shit. damn
September 3, 2025 at 4:18 PM
* have a brilliant idea
* go to write it down
ah shit. damn
* go to write it down
ah shit. damn
Used to love these!
August 29, 2025 at 1:48 AM
Used to love these!
ah, the joys of researching via old PPT files on the Wayback Machine
August 18, 2025 at 1:29 AM
ah, the joys of researching via old PPT files on the Wayback Machine
What is it with fucking mathematicians. They always have to turn all the goddamn numbers into letters
July 28, 2025 at 4:04 PM
What is it with fucking mathematicians. They always have to turn all the goddamn numbers into letters
When I die, I want to be buried in a tomb just like this, with a gigantic bust of Karl Marx on top
July 25, 2025 at 12:19 AM
When I die, I want to be buried in a tomb just like this, with a gigantic bust of Karl Marx on top
what the fuck is the value-add here? if i meant "terrifying" i would've written "terrifying"
July 22, 2025 at 7:46 PM
what the fuck is the value-add here? if i meant "terrifying" i would've written "terrifying"
Apparently Thesaurus dot com and I have differing concepts of "659"
July 21, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Apparently Thesaurus dot com and I have differing concepts of "659"
How did we ever accept that 80 MHz of bandwidth around 2.4 GHz was an acceptable amount for like, almost all short range consumer radio applications? "Oh we'll just use frequency hopping" They have played us for absolute fools
July 15, 2025 at 6:57 PM
How did we ever accept that 80 MHz of bandwidth around 2.4 GHz was an acceptable amount for like, almost all short range consumer radio applications? "Oh we'll just use frequency hopping" They have played us for absolute fools
in case you were disconsolate about the fact that products only get worse and not better, good news: Dr Pepper has dinosaurs on their cans now. Kickass!!
July 10, 2025 at 8:24 PM
in case you were disconsolate about the fact that products only get worse and not better, good news: Dr Pepper has dinosaurs on their cans now. Kickass!!
this DJ Ice Cream Taco Bar set is gonna be lit
July 9, 2025 at 10:29 PM
this DJ Ice Cream Taco Bar set is gonna be lit
If I were in charge of this brewery's marketing, I would be sweating BULLETS about accidentally putting a neonazi symbol on our cans 😰
July 3, 2025 at 2:19 PM
If I were in charge of this brewery's marketing, I would be sweating BULLETS about accidentally putting a neonazi symbol on our cans 😰
This is the Eiffel Tower we could have had if the French respected Cars. SMDH ma tête
June 28, 2025 at 1:13 PM
This is the Eiffel Tower we could have had if the French respected Cars. SMDH ma tête
Well, the stop & shop directory says mac and cheese is in this aisle. And yet… mac and cheese is definitely not a member of any of these categories. I'm about to head on in. Wish me luck
June 8, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Well, the stop & shop directory says mac and cheese is in this aisle. And yet… mac and cheese is definitely not a member of any of these categories. I'm about to head on in. Wish me luck
Built a visual aid for an upcoming talk on queuing theory
May 21, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Built a visual aid for an upcoming talk on queuing theory
cool gemini, thanks for clearing that up for me
May 17, 2025 at 1:41 AM
cool gemini, thanks for clearing that up for me