Nathan J. Williams
@nathanjw.bsky.social
Boston-area nerd, computer professional, parent, cook, brewer, award-winning cidermaker. Xoogler. He/him.
Also @[email protected] (fediverse), nathanw.62 (Signal)
Also @[email protected] (fediverse), nathanw.62 (Signal)
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
My public service announcement for today is that America’s Test Kitchen, which is infinitely better then NYTimes Cooking, has introduced a new gift link option that has no limit on how many you can share and each link lasts 30 days.
November 25, 2025 at 10:05 PM
My public service announcement for today is that America’s Test Kitchen, which is infinitely better then NYTimes Cooking, has introduced a new gift link option that has no limit on how many you can share and each link lasts 30 days.
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
every day we stray further from god's light
November 26, 2025 at 12:09 AM
every day we stray further from god's light
I mostly agree with this, but an Alexa (and compatible smart plugs, etc) has been a boon for an elderly relative who is losing their vision to macular degeneration.
From the article: "Truthfully, how hard is it to put on some music...". With poor vision and other contemporary tech it's quite hard!
From the article: "Truthfully, how hard is it to put on some music...". With poor vision and other contemporary tech it's quite hard!
Let’s run through a few of them: first up, of course, is the smart speaker.
Do you really need an Alexa listening in on everything you do? Even more, is that something you want to foist on someone you love? I don’t think so!
disconnect.blog/a-tech-criti...
Do you really need an Alexa listening in on everything you do? Even more, is that something you want to foist on someone you love? I don’t think so!
disconnect.blog/a-tech-criti...
November 25, 2025 at 8:52 PM
I mostly agree with this, but an Alexa (and compatible smart plugs, etc) has been a boon for an elderly relative who is losing their vision to macular degeneration.
From the article: "Truthfully, how hard is it to put on some music...". With poor vision and other contemporary tech it's quite hard!
From the article: "Truthfully, how hard is it to put on some music...". With poor vision and other contemporary tech it's quite hard!
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
do you have any idea how much you have to piss somebody off to make them change their gauge
#Finland will begin to #Russia - proof its rail network, integrate with EU train infrastructure.
The Finnish government has announced the conversion of its rail network from Russian gauge (1,524 mm) to European standard (1,435 mm).
www.trenvista.net/en/news/flas...
The Finnish government has announced the conversion of its rail network from Russian gauge (1,524 mm) to European standard (1,435 mm).
www.trenvista.net/en/news/flas...
November 23, 2025 at 4:40 PM
do you have any idea how much you have to piss somebody off to make them change their gauge
"I'm in this post and I don't like it."
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
November 23, 2025 at 10:58 PM
"I'm in this post and I don't like it."
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
November 23, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
since the "google is now training gemini on your email contents" thing keeps bumping around here: it's _not happening_. I say this not to defend google but because I know a lot of people that have broken their filtering and made their lives much more annoying from sheer misinformation.
The malwarebytes Google opting-your-emails-into-ai-training thing is not true. The post is based on one bad tweet.
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.
www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
Google denies ‘misleading’ reports of Gmail using your emails to train AI
Google says “we do not use your Gmail content for training our Gemini AI model.”
www.theverge.com
November 22, 2025 at 9:30 PM
since the "google is now training gemini on your email contents" thing keeps bumping around here: it's _not happening_. I say this not to defend google but because I know a lot of people that have broken their filtering and made their lives much more annoying from sheer misinformation.
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
when the edible and adderall kick in at the same time
November 22, 2025 at 6:27 PM
when the edible and adderall kick in at the same time
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
Yes. This. Please.
You don't need to use the industry's marketing terms when informing your readers, because those terms are actively misinforming them.
You don't need to use the industry's marketing terms when informing your readers, because those terms are actively misinforming them.
Journalist challenge: Use “Machine Learning” when you mean machine learning and “LLM” when you mean LLM. Ditch “AI” as a catch-all term, it’s not useful for readers and it helps companies trying to confuse the public by obscuring the roles played by different technologies. 🧪
November 22, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Yes. This. Please.
You don't need to use the industry's marketing terms when informing your readers, because those terms are actively misinforming them.
You don't need to use the industry's marketing terms when informing your readers, because those terms are actively misinforming them.
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
big bugs bunny getting elmer fudd to marry him vibes in the white house currently i see
November 21, 2025 at 9:30 PM
big bugs bunny getting elmer fudd to marry him vibes in the white house currently i see
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
Her first film will be g rated
United Talent Agency has signed literal type of cheese Parmigiano Reggiano to its roster with the goal of finding product-placement opportunities for the brand in film and TV
www.vulture.com/article/parm...?
www.vulture.com/article/parm...?
Beloved Cheese Parmigiano Reggiano Signs With UTA
The blonde Italian bombshell is about to be all over film and TV.
www.vulture.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Her first film will be g rated
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
Needs no introduction.
June 11, 2024 at 10:52 PM
Needs no introduction.
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
Happy GIS Day to all who celebrate!
Just remember that some of us are non-denominational geospatial engineers and many of us prefer Happy Holidays.
Let's be inclusive of our CAD operators, drafters, surveyors and opensource colleagues in addition to ESRI users during these festive times! 🌈
Just remember that some of us are non-denominational geospatial engineers and many of us prefer Happy Holidays.
Let's be inclusive of our CAD operators, drafters, surveyors and opensource colleagues in addition to ESRI users during these festive times! 🌈
November 19, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Happy GIS Day to all who celebrate!
Just remember that some of us are non-denominational geospatial engineers and many of us prefer Happy Holidays.
Let's be inclusive of our CAD operators, drafters, surveyors and opensource colleagues in addition to ESRI users during these festive times! 🌈
Just remember that some of us are non-denominational geospatial engineers and many of us prefer Happy Holidays.
Let's be inclusive of our CAD operators, drafters, surveyors and opensource colleagues in addition to ESRI users during these festive times! 🌈
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
The drinking water fandom is dying. Like and share if you're still sipping that clear stuff in 2025
November 19, 2025 at 2:39 PM
The drinking water fandom is dying. Like and share if you're still sipping that clear stuff in 2025
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
American single stair regulations are *not* "written in blood." We know this because the proponents literally wrote that they did it as pretext to ban tenements.
![Early zoning proponents understood how zoning could be used to effectively ban certain housing typologies without having to ban them, simply by making them prohibitively expensive to build. Veiller recommended the use of fire codes for this purpose, because “zoning legislation will no doubt be fought strenuously and perhaps defeated." No one would question the importance of fire safety regulations, even when they were used to achieve other aims:
[D]o everything possible in our laws to encourage the construction of private dwellings and even two- family dwellings, because the two-family house is the next least objectionable type, and penalize so far as we can in our statute, the multiple dwelling of any kind... If we require multiple dwellings to be fireproof, and thus increase the cost of construction; if we require stairs to be fireproofed, even where there are only three families; if we require fire escapes and a host of other things, all dealing with fire protection, we are on safe grounds, because that can be justified as a legitimate exercise of the police power... In our laws let most of the fire provisions relate solely to multiple dwellings, and allow our private houses and two-family houses to be built with no fire protection whatever (NHA Proceedings 1913, 212).
The legacy of this strategy remains evident today. The model building codes used by virtually every U.S. city include one code for most residential and commercial buildings, and a separate, simpler code exclusively for one- and two-family structures.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:navu7ggn7ytkcw5bvb7w35d4/bafkreicztuk3q3m5fxnzh5o76em4h3tk4iajixewhho3no277ptyfgg6ky@jpeg)
November 19, 2025 at 12:27 AM
American single stair regulations are *not* "written in blood." We know this because the proponents literally wrote that they did it as pretext to ban tenements.
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
oh, I'm extremely familiar with the word "parasocial," we're basically besties
Cambridge Dictionary have declared "parasocial" their word of the year, but 59% of Britons say they've never heard the term before
Confident know what it means: 11%
Vaguely know what it means: 15%
Have heard it, but don't know what it means: 15%
Have not heard it: 59%
yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
Confident know what it means: 11%
Vaguely know what it means: 15%
Have heard it, but don't know what it means: 15%
Have not heard it: 59%
yougov.co.uk/topics/socie...
November 18, 2025 at 4:54 PM
oh, I'm extremely familiar with the word "parasocial," we're basically besties
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
Ahahah. Yes. Y2K bug opinions.
One of the strangest aspects of aging that they don't warn you about is watching as history gets rewritten right in front of your face and people 20 years younger than you confidently tell you about something you lived through and get it completely wrong.
November 18, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Ahahah. Yes. Y2K bug opinions.
Food delivery is a menace. We're tolerating parking on top of a crosswalk so somebody can get a slop bowl brought to them?
November 17, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Food delivery is a menace. We're tolerating parking on top of a crosswalk so somebody can get a slop bowl brought to them?
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
Brush your teeth after eating these or else you'll get calculus.
November 16, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Brush your teeth after eating these or else you'll get calculus.
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
New Englanders eat more ice cream in the winter than the rest of the country does all summer.
November 14, 2025 at 1:24 AM
New Englanders eat more ice cream in the winter than the rest of the country does all summer.
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
you've heard of elf on the shelf, now get ready for
November 13, 2025 at 10:39 PM
you've heard of elf on the shelf, now get ready for
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
a “Space Force”, if you will
November 13, 2025 at 2:27 PM
a “Space Force”, if you will
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
Me: Can we get a Steam Machine?
Mom: We already have a Steam Machine at home.
Mom: We already have a Steam Machine at home.
November 13, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Me: Can we get a Steam Machine?
Mom: We already have a Steam Machine at home.
Mom: We already have a Steam Machine at home.
This is how I feel about the Legend of Zelda games. Continuity doesn't bring anything valuable to them.
James Bond is not a “series,” and should not bother with “continuity.” James Bond is something closer to haiku, or twelve-bar blues: a format which can be repeated with endless variations.
James Bond’s death in No Time to Die is causing a nightmare for the next film. Writers are stuck because Bond “was blown to pieces.”
Anthony Horowitz, author of three 007 novels, says:
“You can't have him wake up in shower and saying it was all a dream."
radaronline.com/p/james-bond...
Anthony Horowitz, author of three 007 novels, says:
“You can't have him wake up in shower and saying it was all a dream."
radaronline.com/p/james-bond...
November 11, 2025 at 7:58 PM
This is how I feel about the Legend of Zelda games. Continuity doesn't bring anything valuable to them.
Reposted by Nathan J. Williams
The sum total of that knowledge? Big boat crash, song written, midwesterners obsessed for generations.
I don't understand any of it, but thank you for sharing your culture with me.
I don't understand any of it, but thank you for sharing your culture with me.
November 11, 2025 at 5:29 PM
The sum total of that knowledge? Big boat crash, song written, midwesterners obsessed for generations.
I don't understand any of it, but thank you for sharing your culture with me.
I don't understand any of it, but thank you for sharing your culture with me.