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  #Rstats life-changing but abominable hack of the day: system2("open", ".") (Replace xdg-open for open if you're on Linux instead of a Mac. This is more useful to the Vim + REPL set than RStudio users. Not guaranteed to actually change your life.) Edit: thanks @bastistician for pointing out that browseURL(".") does the same thing (and probably works on Windows—IDK and fortunately have no way to check).

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  What programming languages are cool? I'm not asking which ones are good, or useful. Or even which is your favorite (unless you like cool things—not everybody does and that's fine).

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  I finally published a post about my feelings about AI today: https://www.eamoncaddigan.net/posts/ai-in-2026/ I've been blocked for months, trying to figure out a tone and framing that I feel good about sharing publicly. To be honest I'm kinda proud of this one, but even if nobody cares it feels so good to just get these thoughts out of my head.

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  I'll try to put this succinctly: when you participate in a system that does harm, you bear some responsibility for that harm. Yes, "it's complicated"—we are all compelled to participate in various harmful systems even if we'd rather not, and the people who derive the most benefit or exert the most control over these systems are most responsible for their harms. But when you opt in to a harm-machine that nobody is forcing you to use, you're disgracing yourself. And the...

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  Call it Friday the 13th the way JSON is out to kill me

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  @lzg Are we not low-key judging people who participate enthusiastically in fast fashion—and getting into mending our own clothes and thrifting harder?

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  @troublewithwords Did you see this article when it went around? https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/24/rise_and_fall_of_cua/

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  Today's idiosyncratic opinion: I like physical calendars that start the week on Sunday (because they're what I'm used to), but Monday should be the first day of the week on digital calendars and week numbering systems.

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  Vibe check: is software getting worse? Or does it just feel like it's getting worse because more things depend on software (which has always been bad), and my exposure to software-being-bad has simply increased? This particular post is prompted by a notification that the door code system at my child's preschool is glitching out, letting some parents in but not others. But this has been on my mind for some time. Another example: the amount of times I find myself rebooting someth...

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  Anyway let me take a break from complaining about complexity. I dug into the Willow protocol a bit after seeing the terrific video from @gwil: https://worm-blossom.org/#y2026w6 The protocol seems... pretty simple for what it does? This is not a complaint! Maybe I'm overestimating my understanding but the data model feels straightforward and the things you can do with it are powerful. There IS great stuff going on in software these days but you have to know where to look.

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  If you're in a position to choose between saying "thanks" and saying "sorry", express thankfulness every time.

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  The thing about fixing an intermittent issue with a computer—or really any sort of machine—is... Did You?

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  Can anyone recommend a good LoRa device to use with #Meshtastic if I want to buy, like 10 of them (to give to friends, use at events, keep in my car "just in case")? I guess now that the tarrifs are struck down it's a good time to move on this.