@floe@hci.social cover
@floe@hci.social avatar

floe

@[email protected]

Research Hobbyist, Tenured Hacker, Antifascist.
Jack of all trades, master of some.

Associate Professor for Computer Science, Aalborg University, Denmark.
Founding Editor of @jovi, the Journal of Visualization and Interaction.
#HCI, #UbiComp, #P2P, #FLOSS, #openscience, #decentralization.

Coffee ️& cheese addict. Reluctant dog owner. Wearer of nerdshirts. Shaver of yaks. Builder of bikesheds.

All posts are CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

#hacking #making #3dprinting #compsci

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@floe@hci.social avatar floe , to random

Hello ! Thanks to my new DFF grant, I'm now looking to hire a PhD student to join me at AAU in Aalborg 🇩🇰 to work on "usable decentralization", i.e. on making distributed and federated cloud services accessible to the everyday user. For more details, see link below, and please don't hesitate to DM me with questions!

https://www.vacancies.aau.dk/phd-positions/show-vacancy/vacancyId/895183

@floe@hci.social avatar floe , to random

TIL that the kids use "shadery" as an adjective for "good graphics", as in "OMG your Minecraft is so much more shadery than mine!" 🤷

@regehr@mastodon.social avatar regehr , to random

dude submits large, LLM-generated pull request to OCaml. community reacts more or less as expected.

https://github.com/ocaml/ocaml/pull/14369

floe ,
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@rygorous @regehr I don't get this sort of huge un-understandable LLM patch. Why do people do that, fame? Certainly not working for this dude here. 🙄

floe ,
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@dotstdy @regehr @datarama @rygorous you might be on to something here: LLMs let those guys cosplay as a CEO. "Look how my willing code monkeys are building my grand visions!"

@lritter@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar lritter , to random

german mainstream news are preparing germans for an AI stock crash. we're all set up over here for the bubble pop.

floe ,
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@lritter@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar lritter , to random

interesting that mary shelley wrote frankenstein during the height of the abolitionism debates. feels like this is the right way to read the story. i also detect a bit of an inverse pygmalion structure in there.

floe ,
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@lritter TBH, I don't think there's any deeper thoughts than "Berlin = dark and gritty" here?

@cdarwin@c.im avatar cdarwin , to random

Elon Musk is having a very bad week.

The man who bought Twitter for $44 billion to secure unaccountable power over public discourse
is discovering what unaccountable power actually looks like when wielded by someone who understands dominance even better than he does.

Trump just stripped SpaceX of a government contract and handed it to Jeff Bezos.

Musk’s response?
Rage-tweeting at Trump officials, including the immortal question
“why are you gay”
—the rhetorical sophistication we’ve come to expect from the richest man-child on the planet having a public meltdown

https://www.techdirt.com/2025/10/22/elon-musk-discovers-what-hierarchy-actually-means/

floe ,
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@randahl@mastodon.social avatar randahl , to random

I kid you not: This is an actual post from the actual White House account, showing Donald Trump and JD Vance wearing crowns and the Democratic top figures wearing Mexican sombreros.

When the regime finally falls, I have a feeling posts like these will be submitted as evidence in the upcoming trials.

It will be like prosecuting the Nazi leadership — only this time with dumb people.

floe ,
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@randahl this doesn't even look AI-generated, more like "intern with bad Photoshop skills" 🤔

@floe@hci.social avatar floe , to random

I'm extremely prone to getting a melody stuck in my head (an "earworm"). It's basically free music streaming all day with an extremely unimaginative DJ. 🙄

Now, as anyone who knows me personally can attest, I'm not entirely neurotypical (slight understatement perhaps 😅). So I've been wondering: is this "melody stuck in head" thing a common side effect of being neurospicy? Because I haven't heard about it so far... 🤔

@floe@hci.social avatar floe , to random

Alright, I give up. Dear Fediverse folks, I've been looking for a SPARCstation IPX or IPC for quite some time; anyone around who'd be willing to sell one? Preferably within Europe (I've found one offer on eBay, but it would be from the US and I don't have any confidence in overseas shipping right now.) RT for reach, please 🤞

P.S. I'd be even happier about a SPARCstation IPC or SLC, but those are literal unobtanium 😭

@grumpygamer@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar grumpygamer , to random

Mastodon users who reply only to correct someone spelling or grammar are very sad people. From now on you will be blocked.

floe ,
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@grumpygamer such sneaky, much honeypot, wow 😁👌

@aeva@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar aeva , (edited ) to random

I added a place holder program icon to mollytime but I'm not sure anyone will ever see it, at least not on Linux because not only does it seem to be completely ignored by the various wayland window managers I tried, gnome also ignores it on x11 for reasons unknown.

I hate wayland so much, and also gnome. fuck you anti fun police

EDIT: please do not tell me about .desktop files I will make fun of you for going to bat for bad solutions to indefensible problems

a screenshot of icewm's "alt tab" menu popup thing showing three programs: mollytime, a terminal emulator running for "aeva@suggestionbox", and a text editor that has a program called "pygame_setup.py" all three have program icons. the first is a gray rectangle containing hyphenated text that reads: "moll- ytime" the other two are a generic computer and a blue orb thing with a forgettable logo on it
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floe ,
@floe@hci.social avatar

@aeva well, icon handling on WMs obviously sucks and all that, but your hyphenation is criminal 😖😉

@jboy@post.lurk.org avatar jboy , to sociology group

I am the current owner of the domain sociologists.digital. It currently hosts a web presence for a defunct Slack-based community of sociologists studying digital things that had a thousand active members from around the world before falling victim to the enshittification of Slack.

I will not pay to renew the domain again unless somebody can think of a good use for it. Anyone?

sociology@a.gup.pe icon sociology group @soziologie academicchatter@a.gup.pe icon AcademicChatter group

floe ,
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@jboy sociology@a.gup.pe icon sociology group @soziologie academicchatter@a.gup.pe icon AcademicChatter group well, how about a Mastodon server? There's a bunch of them that are dedicated to smaller research communities, e.g. HCI.social or vis.social.

@randahl@mastodon.social avatar randahl , to random

This is the best news I have read all week. Let us hope more European countries join Germany in boycotting the genocidal Netanyahu regime.
https://mastodon.social/@gl33p/114994443625087658

floe ,
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@randahl Better late than never. (IIRC it was Churchill who said "You can count on the Germans to do the right thing once all other options are exhausted." 😑)

@aeva@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar aeva , to random

fuck I've got ideas

floe ,
@floe@hci.social avatar

@aeva it me. 😑

@floe@hci.social avatar floe , to random

The kid was sitting mesmerized in front of their computer for at least an hour thanks to this randomly found gem: https://paveldogreat.github.io/WebGL-Fluid-Simulation/

@briankrebs@infosec.exchange avatar briankrebs , to random

If the stated goal of banning Nvidia chips sales to China is to keep China from eating our AI lunch (as claimed by this administration) , this is truly baffling. My guess is repealing the ban is just another way for the POTUS to undo the work of his predecessor.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/technology/nvidia-ai-chip-sales-china.html

A NYT story on the front page today reads: Nvidia Says U.S. Has Lifted Restrictions on A.I. Chip Sales to China The Silicon Valley chip giant said the Trump administration, which had shut down its sales to China three months ago, had assured it that licenses for the sales would now be granted.
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floe ,
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@briankrebs Maybe try telling Trump that Biden regularly drank water in hot weather? It's worth a shot 🤷

@floe@hci.social avatar floe , to random

Mechanic: Resurrection (Netflix, 2016).

In short: this is the Hitman movie they should have made in the first place. A bunch of nasty weapon dealers get disposed of in very creative ways, and Jason Statham even looks the part 👌

Certainly better than "Hitman: Agent 47" (cf. https://hci.social/@floe/113392757423335697). Could just as well do without the shoehorned-in love story, though.

6/10.

@floe@hci.social avatar floe , to random

The Equalizer 1-3 (Netflix, 2008-23).

Ex-CIA black ops dude decides to use his "special set of skills" for good and cuts a bloody path of vengeance through 1) the Russian mafia, 2) some corrupt CIA ex-colleagues, and 3) the Camorra in Sicily.

Part 1 is mostly just bad guys getting sliced up by the dozen, 6/10.
Part 2 has a decent bit of backstory, 7/10.
Part 3 is a rehash of 1 & 2, just in Italy. 🤷 6/10.

@floe@hci.social avatar floe , to random

The Beekeeper (2025, Netflix).

A man with "a particular set of skills, acquired over the course of a long career" mows his way through a crime syndicate.

How original. 😑

Still, a satisfying collage of bad guys getting what they deserve in creative ways, just the last part takes it a bit too far (he's probably dispatched 50 special forces mooks before even getting his suit wrinkled).

6/10.

P.S. No, it's neither Liam Neeson nor Denzel Washington, but Jason Statham 🤷

@tante@tldr.nettime.org avatar tante , to random

In the end it seems to me that one of the main distinctions between people who see LLMs as good and those who don't is whether they see the digital part of the world as "content" or "people".

If it's all just content, LLMs make sense. If it's where people live LLMs become a somewhat dumb idea.

floe ,
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@tante Good point. I feel like "content" is our current golden calf. 😑

@floe@hci.social avatar floe , to random

Spectral (2016, Netflix).

Special forces unit fights invisible phantom enemies, accidentally created by evil military-industrial corporation. Remind you of something, maybe the Final Fantasy movie? 🤷

Bonus points for absolutely bonkers Startrek-worthy techobabble (Hyperspectral imaging! Bose-Einstein condensate!) and a supercharged A-Team build scene where the hero hotglues a complete hi-tech arsenal out of a few pieces of scrap.

All in all, very meh. 3/10.

@floe@hci.social avatar floe , to random

Havoc (2025, Netflix).

Corrupt cop gets caught in the crossfire (literally) between a Chinese Triad gang war and some even more corrupt cops.

Very divided opinion: it's dark, gritty, and atmospheric, and reminds me a bit of Sin City. OTOH, the shootouts are so far over the top that I have doubts whether the whole invasion of Iraq needed this much ammo 😑

Still, it did keep me on the edge of my seat. 6/10.

@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io avatar molly0xfff , to random

Elon Musk's favorite supposed data expert, who he's retweeted at least a dozen times, claims she can only process 60,000 rows of data before her "hard drive overheats".

Perhaps someone should rescue her from where she's apparently stuck twenty years in the past, which is the only possible explanation for those hardware limitations and the apparent lack of access to cloud compute.

Unless, of course, she's just completely making shit up.

Tweet by @DataRepublican: "In my initial run, which processed the first 60,000 rows, I did not find these awards—my hard drive overheated long before I could complete a full pass through the database. In a later run, which I referenced in another post, I did identify two such awards. That discrepancy is a matter of sampling size, not an issue with the query itself. I’ll now attempt a full run, which should capture the awards you found."
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floe ,
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@molly0xfff it's grifters all the way down. 🤷

@LenaOetzel@historians.social avatar LenaOetzel , to AcademicChatter group German

Die großen Momente im akademischen Leben: der Vergebührungsbescheid für das Habilitationsverfahren.
@academicchatter

Screenshot: Habilitationsverfahren: Vergebührung Bescheid
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floe ,
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@LenaOetzel @academicchatter Amtsdeutsch. So beautiful 🥹

@tante@tldr.nettime.org avatar tante , to random

As part of my job I write a lot of grant applications.

The EU is just asking people in current EU projects for feedback on their (admittedly garbage, massively complex) process. Here's a screenshot from the questionaire:

The EU grant application process is a shit show demanding you to fill in all kinds of bullshit documents often at a level of specificity that nobody can really give in good conscience at the point of project application. But what would "AI tools" do?

Help generate the garbage text. Okay so who does this help?

  • the applicants are handing in even more text they've hardly read nor understood potentially tanking their application
  • the reviewers have to wade through a lot of text that nobody has written, that doesn't mean anything and that by definition does not help evaluating proposals.

The fucking brainrot runs so deep.

JUST FUCKING SIMPLIFY THE APPLICATION PROCESS AND FORMS FOR FUCKS SAKE.

EU Form asking for the potential of measures to lower the burden of application. Last suggestion: "Offering AI tools to support applicants (e.g. introduction of AI-based co-drafting tools, auto-completion of text fields, or AI-driven support agents)"
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floe ,
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@tante I applaud your tenacity. Last time I was considering an EU grant application, I began reading the relevant documents for the process and my eyes soon started to try and rotate inwards by 180°. 🥴

@lritter@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar lritter , to random

Optimist: the cup is half full

Pessimist: the cup is half empty

CUPS: G6050LAN lritter 89 [05/Dec/2023:18:11:16 +0100] total 0 - Failed to print: Possibly paper jam?

floe ,
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@lritter lp0: printer on fire.

@rygorous@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar rygorous , to random

Me, a week ago: "Vote? Oh no, see, I'm a German citizen, I won't get to vote until around this time next year."
Me, today: ...

floe ,
@floe@hci.social avatar

@lritter @rygorous Mir ist 2021 exakt das gleiche passiert, und Dänemark ist jetzt wirklich nicht so weit weg 🙄

@grumpygamer@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar grumpygamer , to random

In RPGTBD @vampiress made a map were we test out weapons on hoards of enemies.

The npc can spawn a number of different enemies.

Welcome to the sausage factory.

dev.

floe ,
@floe@hci.social avatar

@grumpygamer @vampiress Cutesy massacre, 10/10, no notes 👌😉

@lritter@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar lritter , to random

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    floe ,
    @floe@hci.social avatar

    @lritter That's easy, Rheinmetall and Northrop Grumman will be very pissed at you 🤷

    @patrizia@hachyderm.io avatar patrizia , to AcademicChatter group German

    Yesterday I finished writing a research paper that I've been working on (as time permitted) for about the last 9 months or so.

    The only thing left to do is find a journal or conference to send it to.

    Is it better to submit it to a journal, or should I wait until next year for a conference? There's follow-up work that I plan to do, but the paper is already pretty condensed, so I'm not sure if expanding it before submitting somewhere makes sense.

    Any advice?

    academicchatter@a.gup.pe icon AcademicChatter group

    floe ,
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    @patrizia academicchatter@a.gup.pe icon AcademicChatter group It depends 😉 From your bio, I'm assuming this is a CS-related paper? What would be an example conference or journal you have been considering, for context?

    floe ,
    @floe@hci.social avatar

    @patrizia academicchatter@a.gup.pe icon AcademicChatter group Ah, memories, GRAPP was my very first conference 😁 Fun to see it's still around, that was ~ 15 years ago 👴

    In any case, journals usually have higher expectations than conferences, so a conference might generally be a better place to get started.

    To get a feeling for how "high-level"/competitive a specific conference is, have a look at https://portal.core.edu.au/conf-ranks/ and https://scholar.google.de/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en&vq=eng (pick a suitable subcategory near the top).

    floe ,
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    @ItsGhost@sh.itjust.works avatar ItsGhost @avidamoeba@lemmy.ca avatar avidamoeba I sense an extremely embarrassing ER visit in someone's near future 😬

    @floe@hci.social avatar floe , to Coffee

    Pulled a ~ 600 € DeLonghi coffee maker out of the dumpster and invested about 50 € in spare parts (water tank, grounds container, and a new magnet valve). Seems like I have a new coffee machine now 😁☕

    (It would have gone even faster and without a puddle on the kitchen counter if I had put in the gaskets from the start. 🤦 Ah well.)

    /cc @coffee

    Coffee machine with removed side cover and mechanism visible, a hand doing a thumbs-up in front
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    floe OP ,
    @floe@hci.social avatar

    @workerONE Officially, I'm a computer scientist 😉 But over the years, I've fiddled around with enough electronics and mechanical engineering as well that I'm overall pretty good at fixing stuff 🤷

    @floe@hci.social avatar floe , to Coffee

    Anyone around who has experience with magnet valves? I got one here (in a coffee machine) that buzzes loudly when active, is that a sign it's going to bite the dust soon? Any suggestions for fixes, like repeated descaling, or simply giving it a good whack? Or save myself the hassle and just get a replacement part?

    /cc @coffee

    A CEME 3-way magnet valve, type 5330VN27P28AVF, 250V, 50 Hz.
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