Futurology Today

cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/90709

context also heavily welcome.

This may make some people pull their hair out, but I’d love to hear some arguments. I’ve had the impression that people really don’t like bash, not from here, but just from people I’ve worked with.

There was a task at work where we wanted something that’ll run on a regular basis, and doesn’t do anything complex aside from reading from the database and sending the output to some web API. Pretty common these days.

I can’t think of a simpler scripting language to use than bash. Here are my reasons:

• Reading from the environment is easy, and so is falling back to some value; just do ${VAR:-fallback}; no need to write another if-statement to check for nullity. Wanna check if a variable’s set to something expected? if [[ <test goes here> ]]; then <handle>; fi
• Reading from arguments is also straightforward; instead of a import os; os.args[1] in Python, you just do $1.
• Sending a file via HTTP as part of an application/x-www-form-urlencoded request is super easy with curl. In most programming languages, you’d have to manually open the file, read them into bytes, before putting it into your request for the http library that you need to import. curl already does all that.
• Need to read from a curl response and it’s JSON? Reach for jq.
• Instead of having to set up a connection object/instance to your database, give sqlite, psql, duckdb or whichever cli db client a connection string with your query and be on your way.
• Shipping is… fairly easy? Especially if docker is common in your infrastructure. Pull Ubuntu or debian or alpine, install your dependencies through the package manager, and you’re good to go. If you stay within Linux and don’t have to deal with differences in bash and core utilities between different OSes (looking at you macOS), and assuming you tried to not to do anything too crazy and bring in necessary dependencies in the form of calling them, it should be fairly portable.

Sure, there can be security vulnerability concerns, but you’d still have to deal with the same problems with your Pythons your Rubies etc.

For most bash gotchas, shellcheck does a great job at warning you about them, and telling how to address those gotchas.

There are probably a bunch of other considerations but I can’t think of them off the top of my head, but I’ve addressed a bunch before.

So what’s the dealeo? What am I missing that may not actually be addressable?

Nothing crazy, but it would be cool to be able to build automations in home Assistant off of my Microsoft teams status. (Pause music and whatever I'm casting to Kodi if I get a call, etc)

Maybe even browsing Lemmy? Maybe not though lol

If there's no good options, no worries, I certainly have no problem keeping it in a work sandbox (connected to the same guest network I keep the work computer on and stuff like that)

But I just wanted to see if there's any more value I could squeeze out of it

Thanks in advance!

EDIT I wouldn't be casting shit FROM the iPad or anything, just to be clear

Diamond Comics Distributors, one of the biggest companies involved in getting graphic novels into physical retailers for purchase, is filing for bankruptcy and scaling its business back as the industry braces itself for a new wave of economic challenges.

Here is the original https://gbfclife.com/blog/2021/01/23/brainwashed-by-christ

Apple pushed out a software update on Thursday which disabled news headlines and summaries generated using artificial intelligence that were lambasted for getting facts wrong.

The move by the tech titan comes as it enhances its latest lineup of devices with "Apple Intelligence" in a market keen for assurance that the iPhone maker is a contender in the AI race.

Apple's decision to temporarily disable the recently launched AI feature comes after the BBC and other news organizations complained that users were getting mistake-riddled or outright wrong headlines or news summary alerts.

Apple deployed the update to developers working with a beta version of its software, sidelining the AI feature for news headlines.

The tech giant plans to restore the feature when it is working properly and eventually roll it out to all users.

Apple in June of last year unveiled new iPhones built with generative AI as it seeks to boost sales and show it is keeping up in the technological arms race.

"Apple Intelligence" is a new suite of software features for all devices that was announced at the company's annual developers conference, where it also announced a partnership with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

In the short-term, the new powers include AI-infused image editing, translation, and small, creative touches in messaging, but not more ambitious breakthroughs promised by other AI players, such as OpenAI or Google.

The features are similar to tools recently released by Meta, Microsoft and Google, which can produce well-crafted content simply by querying in everyday language.

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/steamdeck by /u/YVXIEL on 2025-01-18 07:09:47+00:00.

Summary

Homelessness among U.S. seniors is rising sharply, with housing costs and health issues creating dire conditions.

Kim Hilton, a 68-year-old Montanan, became homeless in 2022 after losing his home due to unaffordable rent. Living in his truck, his health deteriorated, leading to the loss of both legs.

Researchers predict senior homelessness will triple by 2030, overwhelming shelters.

Programs like Medicaid-funded housing and specialized shelters offer some relief, but experts stress the need for more accessible affordable housing to prevent crises like Hilton’s.

Mirror

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Caution, the video is not recommended for people with poor vestibular function😉

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All the dead Russians are here ⚡️

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For years, I have been using Whoogle for my self-hosted searches. It's been great, but recently there were some upstream changes that seem to have broken it.

I'm guessing that SearXng will soon follow (based on the assumption that they too are using the JS free results Google used to provide).

Does anyone have any self-hosted search options that still work? I hear Kagi is good for paid/ non-self hosted options, but just curious what you all are using.

Biden, who has faced heavy criticism in recent years for a series of gaffes and apparent mental lapses, mistakenly said that Hezbollah was responsible for the attack while making the ceasefire announcement on Wednesday.

"Good afternoon, it's a very good afternoon," Biden said while flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken while announcing the deal at a press conference. "Because at long last, I can announce a ceasefire and a hostage deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas."

"[After] more than 15 months of conflict that began with Hezbollah's [sic] brutal massacre on October the 7th," he continued. "More than 15 months of terror for the hostages, their families, the Israeli people. More than 15 months of suffering by the innocent people of Gaza. Fighting in Gaza will stop and soon the hostages will return home and to their families."