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@ramsey@phpc.social avatar

ramsey

@[email protected]

Coder, Author, & Speaker. PHP 8.1 & 8.2 RM. ramsey/uuid. Open Source. Staff+ Engineer. he/him

Co-admin of https://phpc.social

All original content © me & licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, unless otherwise specified. :cc: :ccby: :ccsa:

The opinions expressed on this profile are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer or any affiliated organizations. Any information shared is intended solely for informational purposes and should not be construed as professional advice.

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@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar futurebird , (edited ) to random

Writing a program to teach programming is NOTHING like writing a program. Here is a binary conversion program 5th graders can understand. First I tell them we are making a program that will check the ages of people in a family. You must be over 10 to ride the roller coaster.

ages = [45, 50, 4, 13, 62, 21, 7]

for a in ages:
if a>=10:
print(a, "is old enough!")
else:
print(a, "is", 10-a, "years too young to ride!")

Clunky right? Well here comes the binary:

1/2

ramsey ,
@ramsey@phpc.social avatar

@kboyd @futurebird That’s pretty cool. I don’t think I’ve ever stumbled on this way of doing binary conversion using powers of 2, but I love how simple and easy-to-understand it is.

ramsey ,
@ramsey@phpc.social avatar

@futurebird @kboyd To be fair, I don’t have a CS degree, and I don’t recall ever doing that exercise in any of the programming classes I did take, though I have needed to write binary conversion algorithms, but it wasn’t until later in my career (and a lot of it was done for fun and personal understanding). 🙂

ramsey ,
@ramsey@phpc.social avatar

@futurebird @kboyd I did the copy and change things method of learning programming, too. 😁

@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar lowqualityfacts , to random

Today's Low Quality Ad is for this Everything's Computer Pin. Go ahead and try to name one thing that's not computer. I dare you.
https://collabs.shop/lf5d6j

A circular enamel pin featuring a retro, cream-colored desktop computer with a smiling face on its teal screen. The computer is centered on a black background, framed by the words "EVERYTHING'S COMPUTER" in bold, gold lettering.
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ramsey ,
@ramsey@phpc.social avatar

@lowqualityfacts Bread!
Apples!
Very small rocks!
Cider!
Great gravy!
Cherries!
Mud!
Churches -- churches!
Lead -- lead!
A duck.

ramsey ,
@ramsey@phpc.social avatar

@lowqualityfacts They also all float in water, which implies computer floats in water.

@randahl@mastodon.social avatar randahl , to random

It would be wise to ensure the security cameras work outside Ghislaine Maxwell's cell tonight. Her deposition before the House Oversight Committee is tomorrow, Monday, and she knows what Trump did.

ramsey ,
@ramsey@phpc.social avatar

@randahl @JosephLeedy She will lie under oath.

@dansup@mastodon.social avatar dansup , to random

I'm not just working on @loops , @fedidb , @webintents , @activityrank , and other initiatives.

I'm also quietly rebuilding @pixelfed , preparing it for a major release that solves every bug and issue you've ever had.

It's not easy, or quick. I have to redesign and rewrite every page, including the admin dashboard.

But trust me, it will be worth the wait.

If you run a Loops server, you know what I mean 😉

Pixelfed Admin Dashboard Search preview

Pixelfed Admin Dashboard Search preview
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ramsey ,
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@dansup @loops @fedidb @webintents @activityrank @pixelfed Why do you need to completely rebuild it to fix bugs and issues?

@ramsey@phpc.social avatar ramsey , to random

Really weird to see scans of printed out Wikipedia pages in the Epstein documents, and they’ve redacted names from them, but the URLs and dates are printed in the footer, so you can go look up the pages from those dates and see all the names.

@ramsey@phpc.social avatar ramsey , to random

I love how all the kids these days use “slop” to refer to any generative AI content, and the CEOs of companies who have placed big bets on AI are trying to do damage control because associating “slop” with AI is hurting their brands. 🍿

@ramsey@phpc.social avatar ramsey , to random

Is there an official or “blessed” vulnerability database for plugins? I’m looking for what the community uses as the definitive resource.

@ramsey@phpc.social avatar ramsey , to random

It's a big month! PHP 8.1 is EOL on the 31st.

Barring any unforeseen emergency security releases, this week will mark the final PHP 8.1 release.

Dr. Evil from Austin Powers pouring some liquid from a bottle, saying, “and one for my homies.”

@ramsey@phpc.social avatar ramsey , to random

I want to start a folk slash Americana slash pop band named Haulin’ Oats.

ramsey OP ,
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Dammit! I just bought a domain name.

vkc , to random

Static site folks: what's your favorite way to put comments on a static site?

I want to host on object storage in order to cut down costs, but I want some form of blog comments over there.

I'm familiar with Disqus and Hyvor, but interested in exploring other options as well.

ramsey ,
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@vkc I used Disqus for many years and was pleased with it. Ultimately, I decided I preferred to self-hosted, so I exported the comments, closed my Disqus account, and then…promptly did nothing, for 4 years. 😳

Following this thread to see what others recommend.

@GetCarter@mastodonapp.uk avatar GetCarter , to random
ramsey ,
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@w7voa@journa.host avatar w7voa , to random

The Fulton County judge overseeing the 2020 election interference case against President Trump and more than a dozen others agrees to kill the probe after a Georgia prosecutor said the alleged criminal conduct amounted to more of a federal, not state, case. https://www.ajc.com/politics/2025/11/georgia-dismisses-trump-election-case-ending-his-last-criminal-prosecution/

ramsey ,
@ramsey@phpc.social avatar

@w7voa @Npars01 I’d like to understand how the prosecutor argued this and on what basis the judge agreed, since elections are a State concern, according to the Constitution.

@ramsey@phpc.social avatar ramsey , to random

The 8.5 release announcement page looks amazing! https://www.php.net/releases/8.5/en.php

I’d love to see this design treatment applied to the rest of php.net.

@carnage4life@mas.to avatar carnage4life , to random

Being an AI-enabled worker is essentially about letting AI do all of your work and being competent enough to review & catch its errors.

This leads to two thoughts

  1. This will create a huge divergence in output between the best and average workers.

  2. Entry level workers are now at a huge disadvantage in the workforce.

ramsey ,
@ramsey@phpc.social avatar

@carnage4life I’ve been saying this for a while—AI only works well for senior developers who have the knowledge and experience required to review the code it writes. However, senior developers don’t necessarily want to spend all their time merely reviewing code; they got where they are because they like building things. And reviewing massive amounts of auto-generated code will lead to skimming and laziness, so senior devs will miss small mistakes that can be costly.

ramsey ,
@ramsey@phpc.social avatar

@carnage4life I see @tante mentions “reviewer fatigue,” which I think it what I mean by “lead to skimming and laziness.” I’ll need to go check out the Microsoft Research papers on this.

@ramsey@phpc.social avatar ramsey , to random

Is there an analogue to open source in any other industry? That is, is there any other profession where people spend their personal time working on hobby projects they give away for free, which others (including companies) use to augment and improve their own projects, adding value to their businesses?

Edit: This isn’t a rhetorical question. I’m looking for responses because I’m having trouble coming up with examples from other professions.

vkc , to random

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    ramsey ,
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    @vkc Starting all Christmas music on November 1st is perfectly fine, in my book.

    @ramsey@phpc.social avatar ramsey , to random

    IMO, the PSF has always been the ideal any software foundation should aspire to be. I’m so happy to see them make this decision.

    https://pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-funding-statement.html

    @mcc@mastodon.social avatar mcc , (edited ) to random

    Poll: If you were abruptly called on to operate a sailboat, do you believe you would be able to do it?

    ramsey ,
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    @mcc @GeePawHill Does Ikki Tousen count for Romance of the Three Kingdoms? 😅

    vkc , to random

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    ramsey ,
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    @vkc @ian It helped me to think about a container like a chroot jail, since I had experience with that from years back.

    @randahl@mastodon.social avatar randahl , to random

    In Oregon, a judge rules that Trump cannot mobilize the Oregon national guard in Portland, because it is a violation of the 10th Amendment and infringes on Oregon’s state sovereignty.

    That is not just an opinion. That is an expert's legal assessment of legality.

    But in the eyes of Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff, the ruling represents a "legal insurrection", because citizens of Oregon are carrying out "an organized terrorist attack".

    This administration is steering straight for civil war.

    ramsey ,
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    @randahl @tschew Soldiers are conditioned to accept orders of a superior officer without question. This can be good on a real battlefield and bad in situations like this. I expect most will obey. Those who do not will be discharged or disciplined. However, this is the National Guard and not active duty. When the Guard are “called up,” they must leave their civilian jobs (still guaranteed to be there when they get back, but they aren’t guaranteed pay). This is bad for them and their employers.

    @ramsey@phpc.social avatar ramsey , to random

    I don’t know when came out for macOS, but I just discovered it’s available on Steam, and I’m finally playing it. So far, it feels a little like a cyberpunk version of Fallout 4. A lot of the gameplay is figure-it-out-on-your-own.

    ramsey OP ,
    @ramsey@phpc.social avatar

    This wasn’t a great time to discover this game is available, since I really should be working on my keynote and tutorial for . 😳

    ramsey OP ,
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    I wish there was an open world game that actually rewarded the player for trying to talk to all the people on the street by letting you have actual conversations with them, and maybe even some randomized little side quests and loot to go along with it. Has any game tried doing this with AI yet?

    @Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar Daojoan , to random

    I am increasingly convinced that more than half the planet thinks the word “gate” simply means scandal and that Nixon’s troubles were aquatic

    ramsey ,
    @ramsey@phpc.social avatar

    @Daojoan @paninid Sadly, Nixon never learned to swim.

    @ramsey@phpc.social avatar ramsey , to random

    Canceled my Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max streaming services today. I will cancel the TV part of my fiber internet/TV bundle this week so that my money no longer supports Nexstar or Disney.

    ramsey OP ,
    @ramsey@phpc.social avatar

    @randahl I keep confusing Disney’s acquisition of most of 20th Century Fox’s assets with Warner Bros., for some reason.

    However, the payment plan I used was a bundle of Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max, further confusing things. I might get a separate subscription to HBO Max, in light of this.

    https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-hulu-max-streaming-bundle/

    @ramsey@phpc.social avatar ramsey , to random

    Finally listening to @pluralistic ’s Picks & Shovels. I have to admit the Prologue took me a while to get through (sorry, Cory!), though I think it was essential. The first few chapters are excellent! As always, Wil is amazing, and I can tell he’s been working on his accents—they all sound fantastic. I love where the story is going so far.

    @lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar lowqualityfacts , to random

    That's so interesting.

    The English alphabet originally had 2 letters, and a Q could be used to make the sound of G, 5, N, and 2.
    ALT
    ramsey ,
    @ramsey@phpc.social avatar

    @lowqualityfacts Don’t you mean interestiqq?

    @dansup@mastodon.social avatar dansup , to random

    TikTok policy rumors suggest political creators might need a new home soon. 👀

    Loops has been building exactly what they need.

    Sometimes timing is everything.

    ramsey ,
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    @dansup Are they going to disallow political speech on their platform?

    ramsey ,
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    @ramsey@phpc.social avatar ramsey , to random

    Biblically accurate Furby

    Someone cosplaying a white Furby with six wings. Each wing has three eyes. The body has six eyes (which includes the standard two eyes in their normal place).
    ALT
    ramsey OP ,
    @ramsey@phpc.social avatar

    @AmanitaVirosa @BlowUpRadio I wrote the alt text, and yes, I missed the smaller eyes.

    @pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar pluralistic , to random

    Notwithstanding the pretensions of certain well-paid economists, political economy is not a "physics of human behavior," through which human interactions and outcomes can be quantized and precisely captured through mathematical models.

    --

    If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

    https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/23/become-unoptimizable/#downward-redistribution

    1/

    A black and white photo of a snowplow running down a country road, creating a tall bank on the shoulder. The plow is being driven by a Gilded Age editorial cartoon caricature of JP Morgan, and bears an Uber placard. Atop the snowbank are three impoverished little girls with wild hair in tattered dresses. They are being showered in snow by the plow.
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    ramsey ,
    @ramsey@phpc.social avatar

    @mattg @pluralistic Kind of like oil companies and auto manufacturers working together to buy up buses and streetcars in the early 1900s?

    @stux@mstdn.social avatar stux , to random

    The last time there is a whole lot of controversy around the dude "Pirate Software" aka Thor aka Jason

    For years he presented himself like some sort of god in software / game development because he "worked at Blizzard" for years

    He worked on a game for over 7 years now and on release it turned out to be a walking / talking simulator that was incredibly bad written in code

    The reason he worked at Blizzard for years is because his daddy is an exec there and no one dared to fire him

    ramsey ,
    @ramsey@phpc.social avatar

    @stux This the guy who was spreading misinformation about stop killing games?

    @petrillic@hachyderm.io avatar petrillic , to random

    Throw your Ring in the nearest volcano. If a volcano is not available, a wood chipper will do. https://hachyderm.io/@evacide/114881143069410270

    ramsey ,
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    @petrillic @blogdiva
    @evacide I think they’ll only be destroyed if you throw them into the same volcano where they were forged. Any other volcano will just spew them back out.

    @Vivaldi@vivaldi.net avatar Vivaldi , to random

    No venture capital. No profiling.
    Just stubborn Nordic engineering. 🛠️

    ramsey ,
    @ramsey@phpc.social avatar

    @Vivaldi @tchambers I liked Vivaldi, but I ultimately moved back to Safari (for many reasons that I don’t want to get into). I hope Chrome folks switch to Vivaldi in droves, though!

    vkc , to random

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    ramsey ,
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    @vkc It sounds very catchy. I like it!

    @lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar lowqualityfacts , to random

    It's company policy.

    Starbucks employees are trained to spit in the customer's drink if they order a medium coffee instead of a grande coffee.
    ALT
    ramsey ,
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    @lowqualityfacts I always order my latte with extra loogie.

    @catsalad@infosec.exchange avatar catsalad , to random
    ramsey ,
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    @jerry @catsalad This hurts my brain.

    @jerry@infosec.exchange avatar jerry , to random

    OMG we are getting a new Naked Gun?!?!?

    ramsey ,
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    @jerry Yes. With Liam Neeson playing the son of Frank Drebin!

    @stux@mstdn.social avatar stux , to random
    ramsey ,
    @ramsey@phpc.social avatar

    @stux @paco I’ve actually had to do this before. I wasn’t on a motorcycle, though. My family had horses when I was a teenager. They got loose, and we had to get in our truck and chase them down. It was out in the country, and someone else caught them first and held them until we caught up.

    @Crell@phpc.social avatar Crell , to JetBrains

    I like jetbrains@programming.dev icon JetBrains products, but why in the hell does CLion, which you'd use to work on php-src, not support phpt files, which you would only need to use if you're working on php-src? It instead tells you to use PHPStorm, which... doesn't support the C code that is php-src.

    This makes no sense to me at all.

    ramsey ,
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    @Crell jetbrains@programming.dev icon JetBrains I haven’t tried doing it recently. Last time I tried, I couldn’t figure out how to get it to recognize Makefile projects like CLion does.

    @lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar lowqualityfacts , to random

    Wow, that's a lot of money.

    Musicians make $20 every time someone listens to one of their songs on Spotify.
    ALT
    ramsey ,
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    @lowqualityfacts The truth is Spotify pays pretty much the lowest in streaming royalties than any of the other streaming services; that’s low quality and a fact.