pmk

u/pmk@piefed.ca
1 posts · 299 comments

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Plain TeX is simultaneously straightforward and impossibly complex. Want to change the left margin, just set hoffset to something, but if you want double sided output where the left margin changes depending on verso or recto page, then you need to redefine the output routine. Which admittedly is quite simple in TeX compared to the monster output routine in LaTeX, but still. To me, TeX is to LaTeX what C is to python.

There are many science articles that I personally do not understand, most of them in fact. But I trust that as long as the methodology and findings can be studied, people who are specialized in that area will point out mistakes and try to disprove and improve each other. We don't talk about phlogiston anymore, because science did its thing. I see free software in a similar way. As long as the source is free to study, and people are interested in finding errors, those errors can be fixed. Trusting software becomes more about trusting a community. It's not perfect, but what is.

on Speed Dating · c/linuxmemes · 5 pts · 4d

That's actually what I've seen a lot! After a few years of tinkering with your system, the idea of something stable and polished is very appealing, so you can focus on getting things done.

on Speed Dating · c/linuxmemes · 9 pts · 4d

"Zealot" is relative to where you currently are. Mint -> Debian -> Arch -> FreeBSD -> OpenBSD -> Plan 9 -> TempleOS

on Good effort · c/memes · 26 pts · 5d

If I remember right sweden lost a tiny colony because the guy who ran it just sold it without being authorized to do so and ran off with the money.

It's not stealing when you willingly allow someone to use it however they want. OpenBSD writes: "We want to make available source code that anyone can use for ANY PURPOSE, with no restrictions. We strive to make our software robust and secure, and encourage companies to use whichever pieces they want to." If your goal is to polish something like OpenSSH until it's as good as it can be, the world is better off when robust and secure software spread, also into proprietary systems. When companies use OpenSSH, it does not take away anything from OpenBSD, they are not competitors.

on Anon tries dating apps · c/greentext · 4 pts · 6d

You'd never guess if you just met her, she's a 5'2 ballet dancer but she knows everything about various serial killers. People are complex, we have many sides.

on Anon tries dating apps · c/greentext · 43 pts · 7d

I met my girlfriend on IRC, we've been living together for 7 years now. She was trolling people with goatse pics and we started talking about philosophy and poetry etc and then it turned out that she's a super cute canadian girl. This is usually not the story we tell people when they ask how we met.