@tbray.org
Web geek and environmentalist with a camera at the bottom left corner of Canada. He/him. I’m mainly on Fedi, @cosocial.ca@timbray. On this account I mostly post #blueskyabove photos; for more, if you’re not on Fedi try @timbray.cosocial.ca.ap.brid.gy
The covers of "Because Internet" by Gretchen Mcculloch and "Algospeak" by Adam Aleksic.
“Recently I read Because Internet by Gretchen McCulloch and Algospeak by Adam Aleksic. The language we speak (and text) to each other is at the core of who and what we are, and the Internet is the strongest among the forces that channel and fertilize its growth […]
[Original post on cosocial.ca]
4th ave in Kits?
1/2 Two new blog pieces. In which I have opinions about GenAI and open-source: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2026/02/16/GenAI-and-OSS-opinion
#GenAI #opensource
I leave the video on for hours sometimes
In which Claude Opus invades my open-source hobby project. The experience was… surprising.
Fairly raw anecdata here, analysis and reactions still to come: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2026/02/06/Q-Plus-C-Ch1
#GenAI #claude
“Welcome to the first Long Links of this so-far-pretty-lousy 2026. I can’t imagine that anyone will have time to take in all of these, but there’s a good chance one or two might brighten your day.” https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2026/02/03/Long-Links
This time out, featuring lots of […]
powder room with lurid floral-against-black wallpaper.
Holy crap we have that in our powder room too! Where does one get the apron?
Thanks!
I assume there are how-to-migrate-to-Blacksky docs somewhere? First step: Move PDS, right?
It took a year, but Quamina now has a full regular-expression capability, so I released 2.0.0. https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2026/01/20/Quamina-2.0
#Golang #automata #opensource
Huh, @icegov.bsky.social is an interesting case. In the Fediverse, most instances probably wouldn’t host that account, but some would. The account would be broadly blocked, and some instances would probably block the hosting instance. Some folks would migrate between servers based on these choices.
Also, I've been told that the Enterprise AI stream is less cluttered and easier to parse and consume, without all the HTML & JS apparatus that come with regular Wikipedia access.
It's just that when I find myself using a valuable service that is expensive to run, and not paying for it, my flesh starts to crawl a little.
Interestingly, I see no fundraising efforts in my Bluesky feed. Over on the Fediverse, it's very common to see instance operators asking for contributions via Patreon or whatever to support their instance. While we lose instances, it's usually due to operator fatigue rather than money.
I like Bluesky and hope it finds a way to keep working on the problem and eventually show that the ATmasphere can decentralize in practice not just in theory. Just as the Fediverse already has.
as noted, am very dubious about VC investment in general and Bsky corp's investors in particular. Maybe there's a path to true decentralization… but right now in 2026, the Fediverse is de facto decentralized in a low-rent, VC-uninvestable, resilient way. Having said that…
I don't think the technology or the protocol is a big issue. We could make either AT or ActivityPub work at the required scale. My problem is that I don't think Bluesky or the ATProto ecosystem could survive if Bsky corp gets into trouble, and I have no notion of its business model and…
January 3, 2025: Start of the Epstein Files War.
I thought the video was very clear and made some important points, in particular its conclusion, but there's no requirement that your take-away be the same as mine. If it's not for you it's not for you.
Try watching the video.
“What happened was, a faucet started dripping. And then I managed to route around the malignant machineries of late-stage capitalism. These days, that’s almost always a story worth telling.” https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2025/12/18/Humanist-Plumbing
Deeply-flawed-but-still-great stretches back in history from Lost through Herman Melville and Herodotus.
˚The GenAI bubble is going to pop. Everyone knows that. To me, the urgent and interesting questions are how widespread the damage will be and what the hangover will feel like.”
www.tbray.org/ongoing/When...
A black cat with a colorful collar is examining a Gankoquim a dual-cowbell instrument from Ghana.
Tracy Numbers: “Here’s a story about African rhythms and cancer and combinatorics.” https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2025/12/02/Bell-Combinatorics
(Also #caturday)
Whitecaps fans gather in a nearby pub before the game.
A portion of a large crowd at an indoor stadium, displaying a huge banner. Left of the banner is text “fire that burns”, center is a vaguely Tolkienesque photo of scary reptilian eyes, right is text "blue melts gold"
Whitecaps fans parade cheerfully down Granville, singing dopey songs and chanting dopey chants.
In which I write about the pretty-awesome experience of attending the MLS quarter-final game with my son and 53,095 other good friends, and how getting interested in fútbol has had the side-effect that I’ve lost most of my interest in football (as in NFL) […]
[Original post on cosocial.ca]
There are powerful older politicians who are gay? I'm shocked… shocked.
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I thought the @sarahkendzior.bsky.social suspension was an interestingly nontrivial moderation scenario. I wrote up a little case study/explainer on how it might have been handled on Mastodon. Probably only for people who care about moderation nitty-gritty.
www.tbray.org/ongoing/When...
“permanent” and “irrevocable” is just not correct. Which server was that, btw?
Dear World: Now is a good time to get off social media that’s becoming any combination of “less useful”, “less safe”, or “less fun”. I’ve been on Mastodon for 3 years and am convinced that right now, in late 2025, it’s the best place to go. Come join me. Here’s why.
www.tbray.org/ongoing/When...
