Bruce Dawson
@randomascii.bsky.social
Retired tech-nerd. Unicyclist, kiteboarder, juggler, hiker, plays tennis and pickleball, advocates for pedestrian/cyclist safety. Windows ETW expert. LGBTQ supporter. Vancouver, BC
he/him
https://randomascii.wordpress.com/
he/him
https://randomascii.wordpress.com/
I just posted part two of my career retrospective during which time I work at four different companies, blog, and then retire:
randomascii.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/r...
randomascii.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/r...
November 11, 2025 at 6:32 AM
I just posted part two of my career retrospective during which time I work at four different companies, blog, and then retire:
randomascii.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/r...
randomascii.wordpress.com/2025/11/10/r...
PSA: when taking selfies using a mirror you need to look at the reflection of your phone, not at your phone.
Looking at your phone means you are looking away from the camera and it feels disconnected and sloppy
Looking at your phone means you are looking away from the camera and it feels disconnected and sloppy
November 9, 2025 at 7:07 PM
PSA: when taking selfies using a mirror you need to look at the reflection of your phone, not at your phone.
Looking at your phone means you are looking away from the camera and it feels disconnected and sloppy
Looking at your phone means you are looking away from the camera and it feels disconnected and sloppy
While showing a friend some old photos in Google Photos yesterday I noticed that one of my pictures is corrupted. The bottom half is just gray. How did this happen? Bad upload? Corrupted at rest? It looks the same both on my phone and on the web.
November 8, 2025 at 6:38 PM
While showing a friend some old photos in Google Photos yesterday I noticed that one of my pictures is corrupted. The bottom half is just gray. How did this happen? Bad upload? Corrupted at rest? It looks the same both on my phone and on the web.
Reposted by Bruce Dawson
BREAKING: Jury finds “sandwich guy” NOT GUILTY
A loss on several levels for Justice Dept:
youtube.com/shorts/KsymL...
A loss on several levels for Justice Dept:
youtube.com/shorts/KsymL...
BREAKING NEWS: Jury finds so-called “sandwich guy” Sean Dunn NOT GUILTY
YouTube video by Scott MacFarlane CBS
youtube.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:42 PM
BREAKING: Jury finds “sandwich guy” NOT GUILTY
A loss on several levels for Justice Dept:
youtube.com/shorts/KsymL...
A loss on several levels for Justice Dept:
youtube.com/shorts/KsymL...
Reposted by Bruce Dawson
Finally got a group shot!
November 5, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Finally got a group shot!
I kind of expect HP's software to gradually leak process handles, triggering zombie processes, but I'm more surprised - and disappointed - when Visual Studio does the same thing. The PerfWatson2.exe leak always happens. The vcpkgsrv.exe leak I cannot repro - sorry!
November 5, 2025 at 7:36 PM
I kind of expect HP's software to gradually leak process handles, triggering zombie processes, but I'm more surprised - and disappointed - when Visual Studio does the same thing. The PerfWatson2.exe leak always happens. The vcpkgsrv.exe leak I cannot repro - sorry!
Every now and then I like to test AI to see how its letter counting is going. It's hilarious inaccuracies amuse me. The "common confusion" where it hallucinates an inaccuracy that I didn't even ask for is just perfect
But sure, evaluate resumes based on this crap
But sure, evaluate resumes based on this crap
November 4, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Every now and then I like to test AI to see how its letter counting is going. It's hilarious inaccuracies amuse me. The "common confusion" where it hallucinates an inaccuracy that I didn't even ask for is just perfect
But sure, evaluate resumes based on this crap
But sure, evaluate resumes based on this crap
Reposted by Bruce Dawson
The hierarchy of controls in this article is excellent!
November 2, 2025 at 10:26 PM
The hierarchy of controls in this article is excellent!
Reposted by Bruce Dawson
Honestly can’t understand why the whole country isn’t up in arms over the Trump gang’s illegal and monstrously immoral murders of fishermen in open water, based on NOTHING. Random murders committed by the US military! Shouldn’t this be a bigger issue?
November 2, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Honestly can’t understand why the whole country isn’t up in arms over the Trump gang’s illegal and monstrously immoral murders of fishermen in open water, based on NOTHING. Random murders committed by the US military! Shouldn’t this be a bigger issue?
Reposted by Bruce Dawson
Reposted by Bruce Dawson
More than 100 former top Justice Dept officials, including dozens of former prosecutors, file court brief opposing James Comey's prosecution:
"not the judgment of an impartial prosecutor, but rather an expression of retributive animus by the President"
washingtonlitigationgroup.org/news/over-on...
"not the judgment of an impartial prosecutor, but rather an expression of retributive animus by the President"
washingtonlitigationgroup.org/news/over-on...
October 27, 2025 at 10:55 PM
More than 100 former top Justice Dept officials, including dozens of former prosecutors, file court brief opposing James Comey's prosecution:
"not the judgment of an impartial prosecutor, but rather an expression of retributive animus by the President"
washingtonlitigationgroup.org/news/over-on...
"not the judgment of an impartial prosecutor, but rather an expression of retributive animus by the President"
washingtonlitigationgroup.org/news/over-on...
Reposted by Bruce Dawson
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
Reposted by Bruce Dawson
Here is the video or Ronald Reagan saying church and state must remain separate.
October 25, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Here is the video or Ronald Reagan saying church and state must remain separate.
Reposted by Bruce Dawson
So they didn’t like the ad. Let’s just post Reagan’s 5 min speech against tariffs as it appears on YouTube.
Over and over. On all platforms (some of y’all are still on X).
*1981 Sherrilyn horrified by 2025 Sherrilyn saying “let’s post Reagan’s speech.”
youtu.be/5t5QK03KXPc
Over and over. On all platforms (some of y’all are still on X).
*1981 Sherrilyn horrified by 2025 Sherrilyn saying “let’s post Reagan’s speech.”
youtu.be/5t5QK03KXPc
President Reagan's Radio Address on Free and Fair Trade on April 25, 1987
YouTube video by Reagan Library
youtu.be
October 24, 2025 at 5:14 PM
So they didn’t like the ad. Let’s just post Reagan’s 5 min speech against tariffs as it appears on YouTube.
Over and over. On all platforms (some of y’all are still on X).
*1981 Sherrilyn horrified by 2025 Sherrilyn saying “let’s post Reagan’s speech.”
youtu.be/5t5QK03KXPc
Over and over. On all platforms (some of y’all are still on X).
*1981 Sherrilyn horrified by 2025 Sherrilyn saying “let’s post Reagan’s speech.”
youtu.be/5t5QK03KXPc
Reposted by Bruce Dawson
Welp.
Here’s the original clip of Ronald Reagan from April 25, 1987, where he delivered a complete and total rebuke against tariffs. Trump's calling Reagan’s words here “FAKE” and “fraudulent.” They’re 100% real. And the original clip is actually far worse for Trump, as much is left out of the ad:
October 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Welp.
A retrospective of my tech career - a work-focused autobiography, basically - feels a bit vain, but I'm hopeful that it is interesting or useful enough to justify that.
If nothing else writing it up forced me to try to remember what actually happened.
randomascii.wordpress.com/2025/10/22/r...
If nothing else writing it up forced me to try to remember what actually happened.
randomascii.wordpress.com/2025/10/22/r...
Reflections on My Tech Career – Part 1
I’ve been lucky enough to have had a successful career as a software developer. Spanning six companies and thirty-seven years I’ve had the opportunity to work on Elastic Reality, Xbox, Windows, Ste…
randomascii.wordpress.com
October 22, 2025 at 9:05 PM
A retrospective of my tech career - a work-focused autobiography, basically - feels a bit vain, but I'm hopeful that it is interesting or useful enough to justify that.
If nothing else writing it up forced me to try to remember what actually happened.
randomascii.wordpress.com/2025/10/22/r...
If nothing else writing it up forced me to try to remember what actually happened.
randomascii.wordpress.com/2025/10/22/r...
Apparently I still remember the clock speed of the original NTSC Amiga computer to six digits of precision - 7.15909 MHz. I also remember my late grandparents phone number. Just don't ask me for any phone numbers from this millennia please
And yes, I'm working on a retrospective blog post
And yes, I'm working on a retrospective blog post
October 22, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Apparently I still remember the clock speed of the original NTSC Amiga computer to six digits of precision - 7.15909 MHz. I also remember my late grandparents phone number. Just don't ask me for any phone numbers from this millennia please
And yes, I'm working on a retrospective blog post
And yes, I'm working on a retrospective blog post
Reposted by Bruce Dawson
In case you missed it, read our original investigation:
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.
The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...
www.propublica.org
October 21, 2025 at 10:22 PM
In case you missed it, read our original investigation:
It seems like a small thing but a "Back" button that behaves predictably is actually pretty important. It gives users confidence to explore, knowing that they can always get "back" to where they were.
October 22, 2025 at 12:58 AM
It seems like a small thing but a "Back" button that behaves predictably is actually pretty important. It gives users confidence to explore, knowing that they can always get "back" to where they were.
Smart App Control on Windows checks for signatures when loading EXEs and DLLs. This can lead to about one-second delays on each DLL load whenever I have rebuilt my project from source on my machine.
So I guess the solution is to enable Developer Mode or turn off Smart App Control
So I guess the solution is to enable Developer Mode or turn off Smart App Control
October 22, 2025 at 12:54 AM
Smart App Control on Windows checks for signatures when loading EXEs and DLLs. This can lead to about one-second delays on each DLL load whenever I have rebuilt my project from source on my machine.
So I guess the solution is to enable Developer Mode or turn off Smart App Control
So I guess the solution is to enable Developer Mode or turn off Smart App Control
I recently learned from a Jimmy Carr clip that the Catholic Church in around 1,200 AD banned marriage between close cousins and that this is credited with making the rise of modern societies and democracy possible, by weakening clan/family ties.
ionainstitute.ie/the-forgotte...
ionainstitute.ie/the-forgotte...
The forgotten way the Church helped create modern society
Sweden is moving to ban marriage between close cousins. Such bans were once common, but oddly enough some have been rescinded as laws around marriage have been liberalised. However, sometimes we disco...
ionainstitute.ie
October 21, 2025 at 11:11 PM
I recently learned from a Jimmy Carr clip that the Catholic Church in around 1,200 AD banned marriage between close cousins and that this is credited with making the rise of modern societies and democracy possible, by weakening clan/family ties.
ionainstitute.ie/the-forgotte...
ionainstitute.ie/the-forgotte...
Micro transactions in Windows. Playing video from my GoPro requires buying a codec.
Or I could download VLC. Done.
Or I could download VLC. Done.
October 21, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Micro transactions in Windows. Playing video from my GoPro requires buying a codec.
Or I could download VLC. Done.
Or I could download VLC. Done.
Reposted by Bruce Dawson
EXCLUSIVE: One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone lit up with a notification.
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
October 20, 2025 at 10:09 PM
EXCLUSIVE: One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone lit up with a notification.
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
Reposted by Bruce Dawson
These NC Republicans who sit in gerrymandered seats have no scruples. Here they are saying the quiet part out loud, we will gerrymander our maps once again to give Trump another Republican seat in Congress. This isn’t Democracy!Let’s help CA get the word out, #YesOnProp50
October 20, 2025 at 10:36 PM
These NC Republicans who sit in gerrymandered seats have no scruples. Here they are saying the quiet part out loud, we will gerrymander our maps once again to give Trump another Republican seat in Congress. This isn’t Democracy!Let’s help CA get the word out, #YesOnProp50
I've been encountering a new and annoying form of spam lately. The spammers seem to be tricking Google into sending me delivery status notifications for emails that I did not send. I can't block the sender or mark them as spam because I'd be blocking Google.
October 20, 2025 at 6:22 PM
I've been encountering a new and annoying form of spam lately. The spammers seem to be tricking Google into sending me delivery status notifications for emails that I did not send. I can't block the sender or mark them as spam because I'd be blocking Google.