Mark Pauley
@unsaturated.bsky.social
Professional Software Engineer, amateur skateboarder.
synthesizers, music, bad jokes and cats
synthesizers, music, bad jokes and cats
At least Charlie died doing what he loved
September 11, 2025 at 12:28 AM
At least Charlie died doing what he loved
It’s exhausting to maintain standards when others don’t, but consider: your standards aren’t for them.
Your standards are for you, to remain someone you respect.
Your standards are for you, to remain someone you respect.
September 9, 2025 at 5:31 AM
It’s exhausting to maintain standards when others don’t, but consider: your standards aren’t for them.
Your standards are for you, to remain someone you respect.
Your standards are for you, to remain someone you respect.
Ya know, as a matter of fact I wish atlas would shrug.
September 2, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Ya know, as a matter of fact I wish atlas would shrug.
Reposted by Mark Pauley
After getting various answers from ChatGPT that obviously were based on Wikipedia, I asked it if Open AI supported Wikimedia. It found Apple, Google.org, plus individual donors like Omidyar Network did, but not OpenAI. So I asked it to prepare a call for social media. This is it. Let's use it:
August 23, 2025 at 3:59 PM
After getting various answers from ChatGPT that obviously were based on Wikipedia, I asked it if Open AI supported Wikimedia. It found Apple, Google.org, plus individual donors like Omidyar Network did, but not OpenAI. So I asked it to prepare a call for social media. This is it. Let's use it:
I like Bluesky except when people start talking about AI.
Like I get it, you don’t like it.
Like I get it, you don’t like it.
August 21, 2025 at 8:12 PM
I like Bluesky except when people start talking about AI.
Like I get it, you don’t like it.
Like I get it, you don’t like it.
Reposted by Mark Pauley
What am I supposed to do now that I'm addicted to heroin?
ETA: never mind the heroin kicked in, holy shit being addicted to heroin rules
ETA: Disregard my previous comment, the heroin wore off.
ETA: woo there's the next rush so like I was saying this rules and
ETA: never mind the heroin kicked in, holy shit being addicted to heroin rules
ETA: Disregard my previous comment, the heroin wore off.
ETA: woo there's the next rush so like I was saying this rules and
June 27, 2024 at 5:01 PM
What am I supposed to do now that I'm addicted to heroin?
ETA: never mind the heroin kicked in, holy shit being addicted to heroin rules
ETA: Disregard my previous comment, the heroin wore off.
ETA: woo there's the next rush so like I was saying this rules and
ETA: never mind the heroin kicked in, holy shit being addicted to heroin rules
ETA: Disregard my previous comment, the heroin wore off.
ETA: woo there's the next rush so like I was saying this rules and
Be me:
have one sip of tequila then realize that other people being happy and enjoying their life costs me nothing and feel happy for them
have one sip of tequila then realize that other people being happy and enjoying their life costs me nothing and feel happy for them
June 27, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Be me:
have one sip of tequila then realize that other people being happy and enjoying their life costs me nothing and feel happy for them
have one sip of tequila then realize that other people being happy and enjoying their life costs me nothing and feel happy for them
This study is so bad it’s not even funny, and the articles covering it are somehow all worse.
MIT just pubbed a study on ChatGPT users.
“Brain scans revealed neural connection collapse... a 47% reduction in brain connectivity. When researchers forced ChatGPT users to write w/o AI, they performed worse than people who never used AI at all. It's not just dependency. It's cognitive atrophy.”
“Brain scans revealed neural connection collapse... a 47% reduction in brain connectivity. When researchers forced ChatGPT users to write w/o AI, they performed worse than people who never used AI at all. It's not just dependency. It's cognitive atrophy.”
June 23, 2025 at 7:09 AM
This study is so bad it’s not even funny, and the articles covering it are somehow all worse.
Bluesky sucks.
So far Bluesky has demonstrated its twitter aspirations by tending to drive all engagement towards the peak of popular posters and away from fostering any true social interaction. All of the engagement I receive is all based on replies on popular posts. Mastodon is much better there.
So far Bluesky has demonstrated its twitter aspirations by tending to drive all engagement towards the peak of popular posters and away from fostering any true social interaction. All of the engagement I receive is all based on replies on popular posts. Mastodon is much better there.
January 26, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Bluesky sucks.
So far Bluesky has demonstrated its twitter aspirations by tending to drive all engagement towards the peak of popular posters and away from fostering any true social interaction. All of the engagement I receive is all based on replies on popular posts. Mastodon is much better there.
So far Bluesky has demonstrated its twitter aspirations by tending to drive all engagement towards the peak of popular posters and away from fostering any true social interaction. All of the engagement I receive is all based on replies on popular posts. Mastodon is much better there.
It’s hard to overstate how much the internet has and continues to absolutely fuck up our minds, our politics and our views of the world.
January 24, 2025 at 4:28 PM
It’s hard to overstate how much the internet has and continues to absolutely fuck up our minds, our politics and our views of the world.
Oh look: a bunch of people being “right” online
January 16, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Oh look: a bunch of people being “right” online
Jesus Christ, if 2025 could just have a seat and chill for a bit while I catch up that would be cool.
January 15, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Jesus Christ, if 2025 could just have a seat and chill for a bit while I catch up that would be cool.
I would pay for a subscription to a service that provides me a list of put-downs I can use that won’t hurt anyone’s feelings except for the person I’m putting down.
If you’re not afraid of getting canceled, you fucking coward, why didn’t you let them print your name?
January 14, 2025 at 4:47 PM
I would pay for a subscription to a service that provides me a list of put-downs I can use that won’t hurt anyone’s feelings except for the person I’m putting down.
Zuckerberg said … If Apple let other people use its protocol, “there would probably be much better competitors to AirPods out there,” Zuckerberg said.
1: prob not, and
2: if meta let other people post to insta and facebook with their protocols, there would be better competitors out there
1: prob not, and
2: if meta let other people post to insta and facebook with their protocols, there would be better competitors out there
January 14, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Zuckerberg said … If Apple let other people use its protocol, “there would probably be much better competitors to AirPods out there,” Zuckerberg said.
1: prob not, and
2: if meta let other people post to insta and facebook with their protocols, there would be better competitors out there
1: prob not, and
2: if meta let other people post to insta and facebook with their protocols, there would be better competitors out there
Reposted by Mark Pauley
Drill baby drill! I yell from the roof of my burning / flooding house.
January 11, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Drill baby drill! I yell from the roof of my burning / flooding house.
I watched some of the new Reno-911 episodes and laughed so hard. I feel like it’s been a long long time since I have laughed like that 😭
January 9, 2025 at 1:37 AM
I watched some of the new Reno-911 episodes and laughed so hard. I feel like it’s been a long long time since I have laughed like that 😭
If you’re making an important choice and you don’t think there are any tradeoffs, then either you’re not paying attention or the tradeoffs have already been made for you. You are either squandering what you have or you’re getting screwed.
Something that has become very clear to me from working on housing and urban policy more generally is that a lot of people — including a lot of professional advocates — think that there's a way to do policymaking without any tradeoffs, and the existence of tradeoffs means you did something wrong.
increasingly obvious that a lot of people want left-wing policy but without the social democratic tax based policy for broad based funding
January 6, 2025 at 8:59 PM
If you’re making an important choice and you don’t think there are any tradeoffs, then either you’re not paying attention or the tradeoffs have already been made for you. You are either squandering what you have or you’re getting screwed.
It’s absolutely stupid that this hasn’t happened yet in any form that works well. Like I was almost about to quit my job and build this in 2013 but I thought someone big would definitely beat me to it.
My hot take on "costs of cooking vs take-out" is that you should be mad at tech companies because "prepare me a grocery list + instructions for a week of quick cost-efficient meals" is something the Earth-burning plagiarism-machine should be able to do but can't do at all, output's too unreliable.
January 6, 2025 at 1:28 AM
It’s absolutely stupid that this hasn’t happened yet in any form that works well. Like I was almost about to quit my job and build this in 2013 but I thought someone big would definitely beat me to it.
I think there is honestly a huge missed opportunity here. I think there is just enough friction for people to pick the wrong choice (takeout over cooking). Someone needs to make an app that helps remove most of the low-dopamine tasks. The problem is what the business model of such an app would be.
i feel like no one taught a lot of these kids about per unit cost? like, even if i buy the most expensive ingredients, the per unit cost of making chocolate chip cookies at home is still cheaper than buying them from a bakery.
as someone on the zoomer/millennial boundary i feel there's a legit problem with people not knowing how to purchase groceries
January 5, 2025 at 6:07 PM
I think there is honestly a huge missed opportunity here. I think there is just enough friction for people to pick the wrong choice (takeout over cooking). Someone needs to make an app that helps remove most of the low-dopamine tasks. The problem is what the business model of such an app would be.
Oh.. No…..
No no no
No no no
January 5, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Oh.. No…..
No no no
No no no
People who try to say that everything is shit are going to be right about 90% of the time, but also they won’t have much to show for it other than bragging about how they were right.
January 4, 2025 at 10:40 PM
People who try to say that everything is shit are going to be right about 90% of the time, but also they won’t have much to show for it other than bragging about how they were right.
My hobby is wood working. Whenever I see someone having a hard time I just walk up to em and say “oh you know what wood work?”
January 4, 2025 at 2:50 AM
My hobby is wood working. Whenever I see someone having a hard time I just walk up to em and say “oh you know what wood work?”
Reposted by Mark Pauley
Seeing people unquestioningly repeating this and it's not true. There has never been a single bit of non-circumstantial evidence of Apple using Siri conversations for ad targeting, and the settlement is for Apple sharing recordings of accidental Siri activations with their QA subcontractors.
"The only clue that users seemingly had of Siri's alleged spying was eerily accurate targeted ads that appeared after they had just been talking about specific items like Air Jordans or brands like Olive Garden"
Siri “unintentionally” recorded private convos; Apple agrees to pay $95M
Apple users may get $20 each for up to five Siri-enabled devices.
arstechnica.com
January 3, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Seeing people unquestioningly repeating this and it's not true. There has never been a single bit of non-circumstantial evidence of Apple using Siri conversations for ad targeting, and the settlement is for Apple sharing recordings of accidental Siri activations with their QA subcontractors.