Al Sweigart
@alsweigart.bsky.social
Author of "Automate the Boring Stuff with Python" and other books. Mostly harmless. he/him
When push comes to shove, capitalism will always side with fascism over democracy. But that doesn't mean it won't try to make a few bucks both ways.
November 26, 2025 at 2:29 PM
When push comes to shove, capitalism will always side with fascism over democracy. But that doesn't mean it won't try to make a few bucks both ways.
StackOverflow would always shoot down "low quality questions" because they were trying to build an high quality Q/A archive for search engines.
But what if they had allowed poor questions? Or helped improve people's questions? People with poor questions still have questions that need answers.
But what if they had allowed poor questions? Or helped improve people's questions? People with poor questions still have questions that need answers.
November 26, 2025 at 12:00 AM
StackOverflow would always shoot down "low quality questions" because they were trying to build an high quality Q/A archive for search engines.
But what if they had allowed poor questions? Or helped improve people's questions? People with poor questions still have questions that need answers.
But what if they had allowed poor questions? Or helped improve people's questions? People with poor questions still have questions that need answers.
When Timon and Pumbaa first find Simba, they see an opportunity to help someone who is in a weak position now, but can later be a strong ally. Meanwhile, every bug who crosses their path gets eaten.
I think a lot about the relationship between the strong and the weak in our society.
I think a lot about the relationship between the strong and the weak in our society.
November 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
When Timon and Pumbaa first find Simba, they see an opportunity to help someone who is in a weak position now, but can later be a strong ally. Meanwhile, every bug who crosses their path gets eaten.
I think a lot about the relationship between the strong and the weak in our society.
I think a lot about the relationship between the strong and the weak in our society.
Helping my young nephew with homework pulled me in two directions: I want to go into all these tangents and explain how this fits into the world. On the other hand, it was already 8pm and his shit ton of homework was due tomorrow, so I just needed to help him get answers to write down.
Cooked.
Cooked.
November 25, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Helping my young nephew with homework pulled me in two directions: I want to go into all these tangents and explain how this fits into the world. On the other hand, it was already 8pm and his shit ton of homework was due tomorrow, so I just needed to help him get answers to write down.
Cooked.
Cooked.
Reposted by Al Sweigart
I'm going insane because people constantly recommend using AI for things and it is always, ALWAYS worse than repeatedly bashing my head on a brick.
It's like you have an actual problem & all anyone recommends is "have you tried talking to my cousin? He drinks bleach & doesn't wash his pants"
It's like you have an actual problem & all anyone recommends is "have you tried talking to my cousin? He drinks bleach & doesn't wash his pants"
November 24, 2025 at 6:34 PM
I'm going insane because people constantly recommend using AI for things and it is always, ALWAYS worse than repeatedly bashing my head on a brick.
It's like you have an actual problem & all anyone recommends is "have you tried talking to my cousin? He drinks bleach & doesn't wash his pants"
It's like you have an actual problem & all anyone recommends is "have you tried talking to my cousin? He drinks bleach & doesn't wash his pants"
I don't hate public libraries, or even people who pirate my books (would they have bought a copy otherwise? Maybe.) I hate people *selling* bootleg ebook copies of my books. That *does* cost me. Etsy has a chronic problem of enabling these. Why would they solve the problem when they profit from it?
Always worth taking a moment to remind you if you’re pirating authors’ book you’re a shitty person. You can rail that our profession isn’t a profession all you want. You can paint yourself as an online revolutionary liberating ideas. It’s all bullshit.
You’re just a shitty person who hates writers.
You’re just a shitty person who hates writers.
November 24, 2025 at 7:29 PM
I don't hate public libraries, or even people who pirate my books (would they have bought a copy otherwise? Maybe.) I hate people *selling* bootleg ebook copies of my books. That *does* cost me. Etsy has a chronic problem of enabling these. Why would they solve the problem when they profit from it?
The fundamental assumption of machine learning is that a model that does well with the training set data will do well in the real world.
You know, just like how the best politician is the one that can get the most people to vote for them.
You know, just like how the best politician is the one that can get the most people to vote for them.
November 24, 2025 at 7:07 PM
The fundamental assumption of machine learning is that a model that does well with the training set data will do well in the real world.
You know, just like how the best politician is the one that can get the most people to vote for them.
You know, just like how the best politician is the one that can get the most people to vote for them.
"I disagree with music piracy because artists deserve to get paid for their work. That's why I have a Spotify subscription."
😐
😐
November 24, 2025 at 6:27 PM
"I disagree with music piracy because artists deserve to get paid for their work. That's why I have a Spotify subscription."
😐
😐
Reposted by Al Sweigart
It's incredibly easy to interpret laws if you understand the original reason the law was passed.
But 99% of politics is disguising the real reason you pass the laws you do.
But 99% of politics is disguising the real reason you pass the laws you do.
November 24, 2025 at 6:21 PM
It's incredibly easy to interpret laws if you understand the original reason the law was passed.
But 99% of politics is disguising the real reason you pass the laws you do.
But 99% of politics is disguising the real reason you pass the laws you do.
My shoes have lasted longer than the Confederacy.
November 24, 2025 at 4:26 PM
My shoes have lasted longer than the Confederacy.
"People have trouble separating tv and reality." Does this phrasing make sense? Do people still say "tv"? So much is streaming shows or internet videos or movies. "Fantasy and reality" won't work because I want to emphasize the media-industry aspect. Any suggestions?
November 23, 2025 at 6:29 PM
"People have trouble separating tv and reality." Does this phrasing make sense? Do people still say "tv"? So much is streaming shows or internet videos or movies. "Fantasy and reality" won't work because I want to emphasize the media-industry aspect. Any suggestions?
AI telling you things and the verification is citing search results from Google of AI-generated slop content.
Fuck.
Fuck.
November 23, 2025 at 6:10 PM
AI telling you things and the verification is citing search results from Google of AI-generated slop content.
Fuck.
Fuck.
"It's just a name, it doesn't matter."
"Well if it doesn't matter, let's change the default from 'master' to 'main'."
"I WILL FIGHT YOU TO THE END OF TIME FOR DESTROYING OUR SACRED TRADITIONS."
"Well if it doesn't matter, let's change the default from 'master' to 'main'."
"I WILL FIGHT YOU TO THE END OF TIME FOR DESTROYING OUR SACRED TRADITIONS."
November 21, 2025 at 9:27 PM
"It's just a name, it doesn't matter."
"Well if it doesn't matter, let's change the default from 'master' to 'main'."
"I WILL FIGHT YOU TO THE END OF TIME FOR DESTROYING OUR SACRED TRADITIONS."
"Well if it doesn't matter, let's change the default from 'master' to 'main'."
"I WILL FIGHT YOU TO THE END OF TIME FOR DESTROYING OUR SACRED TRADITIONS."
Reposted by Al Sweigart
I'm sure LLMs are reasonably good at helping people put together .bat files for ffmpeg and such. That's fine.
I'm pretty confident LLMs can also generate more readable text than the median American is capable of writing. That's a nightmare.
I'm pretty confident LLMs can also generate more readable text than the median American is capable of writing. That's a nightmare.
November 18, 2025 at 6:08 PM
I'm sure LLMs are reasonably good at helping people put together .bat files for ffmpeg and such. That's fine.
I'm pretty confident LLMs can also generate more readable text than the median American is capable of writing. That's a nightmare.
I'm pretty confident LLMs can also generate more readable text than the median American is capable of writing. That's a nightmare.
Reposted by Al Sweigart
Checking in on MechaHitler
November 20, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Checking in on MechaHitler
Reposted by Al Sweigart
I love telling people about the PageRank paper. Be sure to take a big sip of coffee before you read the PageRank paper. bsky.app/profile/dani...
"Advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers. The better the search engine is, the fewer advertisements will be needed." —Sergey Brin and Larry Page, "The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine" (1998)
![Currently, the predominant business model for commercial search engines is advertising. The goals of the advertising business model do not always correspond to providing quality search to users. For example, in our prototype search engine one of the top results for cellular phone is "The Effect of Cellular Phone Use Upon Driver Attention", a study which explains in great detail the distractions and risk associated with conversing on a cell phone while driving. This search result came up first because of its high importance as judged by the PageRank algorithm, an approximation of citation importance on the web [Page, 98]. It is clear that a search engine which was taking money for showing cellular phone ads would have difficulty justifying the page that our system returned to its paying advertisers. For this type of reason and historical experience with other media [Bagdikian 83], we expect that advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of the
consumers.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:pd2tgefn43k46ww7uaxfr7gs/bafkreib6zzluwxvtvwatgkbjhbynqh5ulg2j3lewlsgfid3y2bluo3grye@jpeg)
November 19, 2025 at 6:53 PM
I love telling people about the PageRank paper. Be sure to take a big sip of coffee before you read the PageRank paper. bsky.app/profile/dani...
I'm tired of hearing "It's a little more complicated than that" as a default response to criticism. Yes, it's ALWAYS more complicated than any explanation can capture.
November 21, 2025 at 4:16 PM
I'm tired of hearing "It's a little more complicated than that" as a default response to criticism. Yes, it's ALWAYS more complicated than any explanation can capture.
I miss thinking that nanotechnology was the thing that would change our lives and society completely. It was all Star Trek replicators and bucky balls and grey goo fear. Simpler times.
November 21, 2025 at 4:02 PM
I miss thinking that nanotechnology was the thing that would change our lives and society completely. It was all Star Trek replicators and bucky balls and grey goo fear. Simpler times.
Reposted by Al Sweigart
Quite frankly, I think non-fascists who are still using Twitter and somehow still believe it’ll help them achieve non-fascist aims are 100% delusional. It’s pathetic.
It's a censorship engine designed to promote ideas that Elon Musk likes and suppress ideas that Elon Musk does not like. I really don't get why this evident fact - that Musk openly admits! - is so hard for so many people to understand
An X user asks Elon Musk why they’re seeing tweets from left-wing lawmakers.
Musk: “Because we are failing very badly with the recommendations algorithm. Doing my best to address this.”
Musk: “Because we are failing very badly with the recommendations algorithm. Doing my best to address this.”
November 21, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Quite frankly, I think non-fascists who are still using Twitter and somehow still believe it’ll help them achieve non-fascist aims are 100% delusional. It’s pathetic.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but is the life hack around folding laundry to just put everything on hangers and have enough closet space?
November 21, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but is the life hack around folding laundry to just put everything on hangers and have enough closet space?
Would it be entertaining at all for me to stream myself watching PyCon talks?
November 20, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Would it be entertaining at all for me to stream myself watching PyCon talks?
How many times can a corporation leak private information or be caught surreptitiously gathering private information before a court should just say, "Your company cannot have private information anymore for any purpose"?
November 20, 2025 at 5:38 PM
How many times can a corporation leak private information or be caught surreptitiously gathering private information before a court should just say, "Your company cannot have private information anymore for any purpose"?
Reposted by Al Sweigart
The crime is not what we were doing protesting in the 10th floor elevator lobby of 26 Federal Plaza.
The crime is what ICE agents are doing on the other side of the door.
The crime is what ICE agents are doing on the other side of the door.
NEW: Brad Lander says he wants a trial, not a deal to drop his charge stemming from an arrest by ICE.
After Arrest by ICE, City Comptroller Rejects Deal and Seeks Trial
Other officials arrested while protesting at 26 Federal Plaza in September will have their federal charges dropped if they avoid arrest inside a federal building for six months.
www.thecity.nyc
November 18, 2025 at 10:12 PM
The crime is not what we were doing protesting in the 10th floor elevator lobby of 26 Federal Plaza.
The crime is what ICE agents are doing on the other side of the door.
The crime is what ICE agents are doing on the other side of the door.
Real question: Who's in line to fill in the conservative vacuum if Trump gets ejected anyway? Doesn't seem like JD Vance. Charlie Kirk is dead. Ron DeSantis? Mike Pence comeback? Nikki Haley because only a woman has absolute immunity from being seen as a possible Epstein buddy?
November 18, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Real question: Who's in line to fill in the conservative vacuum if Trump gets ejected anyway? Doesn't seem like JD Vance. Charlie Kirk is dead. Ron DeSantis? Mike Pence comeback? Nikki Haley because only a woman has absolute immunity from being seen as a possible Epstein buddy?