Alexander Martin @alexbuzzbee@fosstodon.org

I prefer both my hardware and my software to be user-serviceable.

I would like to remind everyone that if I follow someone or boost their post, that does not mean I think they are a good person. It means I find their posts interesting, and that is it.

Can a state rename itself without the consent of Congress?

Software design note: Human behavior is undefined behavior. The user can do anything possible anywhere at any time in any way. If you depend on the user doing the right thing, you will be disappointed.

#!/bin/sh
# Main game shard server program
# (POSIX compliant sh required)

What if we wrote a Web server in awk

Nobody move! I'm hijacking this thread! Even one wrong move, and the replies get it!

Auctioning off the opportunity to be haunted by my old computer's ghost

Bids accepted only in SODIMM DDR4 sticks

This is what overspeccing looks like. Learn the warning signs. Don't be like me.

I think it was the OOM killer trying to make space for root's processes and it ended up taking down my login shell and my Wayland session in the process.

$ stress-ng -a 12

*desktop goes black*

Login:

... Hm.

$ ls
Exec format error

Kernel panic: Refusing to share the CPU with Windows.

I think trademarks are fine as-is, for the record, as long as the rules are enforced correctly. So that would help prevent someone claiming to be the original/official version of something someone else came up with.

The point here is to still reward people for coming up with good stuff (the whole point of IP) while sharply reducing the ability to just sit on that stuff and refuse to let anyone else use it. Obviously it's still imperfect but it seems like a much more practical reform than some.

I've been thinking about ways to improve intellectual property for a while, and I think I've got an idea. Limit exclusivity to a short period, say 5 years for copyrights and 2 for patents, but have low fixed-rate royalties for profits above a certain minimum off derivative works, and higher rates for straight-up copies. Let that go for another, say, 25 years for copyrights and 8 for patents.

Obviously the numbers need work, but what other problems are there with this?