Every time I watch 2001: A Space Odyssey, I catch something new.

Last night's realization: there is a distinct symmetry between the way Dave disposed of HAL (slowly, deliberately destroying HAL's mind while HAL observed, afraid, powerless, and unable to do anything about it) and Dave's own protracted, disoriented death in a bizarre, non-chronolinear environment he was powerless to affect or even comprehend.

I don't know why I'm noticing this more lately, but all the memes about "white man energy" confidence/perceived-importance really are on point.

I keep finding myself in situations where women are in charge, I really could not *possibly* be authoritative, and yet--without me saying a word, and despite nobody present knowing who I am--my mere white, male, and grey-bearded presence pulls focus from the women it should rightfully be on.

Pay more attention to women, y'all. Please.

Well, I can't say I'm regretting my decision to cease supporting the Free Software Foundation after RMS-gate.

https://web.archive.org/web/20260706144516/https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/parallel/2026-06/msg00000.html

The GNU Parallels app released a new version called "Rape Gang Inquiry." The project has chosen "randomly selected" headlines (including "Epstein Files") for some time now, but nobody with a functioning soul would look at how that release title lines up with that PROJECT NAME and think "yes, this is fine."

"I wonder why" the entire GNU listserv is down today? 🤔

Ohmygod. THE CHAIR KNOWS.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/06/verizon-sent-man-a-refurbished-phone-with-mdm-then-deleted-his-data-remotely/

"I lost everything. Contacts, messages, videos, documents, pictures, everything from patient information to the last video I have with my grandmother before she died."

BACK UP YOUR SHIT

I'm not victim blaming. I'm future victim *warning.*

BACK UP YOUR SHIIIIIIIIIT...!

Fuck systemd. Seriously. FUCK THAT SHIT. I am so goddamn tired of it getting its nasty, poorly-coded, bug-ridden fingers into EVERYTHING like some kind of goddamn Microsoft library would.

I can't use the shutdown command anymore, because systemd says "but you have a terminal open! In your own UID! that you're issuing the shutdown command from!" and prevents it from happening.

So I have to instead systemctl reboot -f. And the -f is REQUIRED because see above, re my own TTY.

IT GETS WORSE.

A new #OpenZFS article of mine is up at Klara!

Ever fretted about how to get the most out of your database's storage performance? Here's a nice chewy read to get you on track:

https://klarasystems.com/articles/tuning-openzfs-for-production-databases/

HMMMMM

In related news, Microsoft is offering thousands of its most senior employees an early buyout plan to get them off the payroll.

... only a few months after announcing to everyone how their new focus is QA and making sure everything works the right way, every time, reliably.

I'm sure there won't be any downsides to THAT.

This is very true. The problem is that the pockets of the assholes pushing AI are a *lot* deeper than the pockets of the IT workers that companies are determinedly attempting to replace with AI.

Several years of this shit will do no more than disappoint the oligarchs, but it will *ruin* careers and even lives of millions of workers who can't just wait out a major loss of income "for a few years" while this plays out.