Have you ever noticed how some people explode with anger when faced with the truth? It’s like a storm erupts, and they can’t handle seeing their real selves. Share your thoughts!
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Daily Microdose of Meaning
"Someone invented the high-five. Someone else had to agree before it meant anything."
Every gesture begins as a risk.
Every connection, a small leap of faith.
Understanding Brain Plasticity: The Key to Self-Improvement
#BrainScience #HumanBehavior #PersonalGrowth #Neuroplasticity #MentalHealth #AddictionRecovery #MovementAndCoordination #EmotionalResilience #Neurodevelopment #SelfImprovement
Hello, my name is Christoff.
I live in Illinois, USA, outside the St. Louis area. Below I'll talk about my technology and creative interests, and a bit about me personally. I'm going to hashtag the heck out of this post.
the whole "deadbeef" thing is the magic number from #Solaris for freed memory. I simply chose .monster TLD because it seemed cool and I like "extended" TLDs.
I have been using a OpenBSD, #NetBSD, or #GNU/#Linux since the late 1990s as a primary workstation. I used macOS from 2020 to 2025, switching to the #KDE neon distro (KDE plasma is amazing and KDE isn't bloated anymore, yay!).
My current career is as a #pentester where I break into web applications, IP networks, mobile applications (especially #Android), and people to their face or over the phone; code #malware; write documentation; and enjoy helping clients in a third party contractor/consultant role. I started that job change in 2020, when I earned the #OSCP certification at the height of "#infosec twitter" when I did well there.
Previously I worked for about 20 years as a senior-level programmer, and systems, infrastructure, and database administrator. Burnout was very real and I was extremely bored/unfulfilled.
Now that programming and sysadmin stuff isn't my career, I find I enjoy programming and tinkering again.
I am a big fan of NetBSD and always have been. I am not a huge fan of GNU/Linux but I do appreciate things "just working", even if it is full of closed-source binary blobs and other garbage. It was fun in the 1990s.
I know many programming languages but have been paid professionally to code in #C, #Perl, #Python, #PHP, #Java, and #Groovy for big commercial entities like eBay, small companies, and the US government.
I've maintained 99.99% uptime for a 60MM+ platform for years, including failover and backups (that were regularly tested... you test your failover and backups, right?!).
I always wanted to be a cool C and low-level programmer, which I thought for the longest time was being a kernel programmer, but now I know that isn't the life for me.
Emacs is something I've enjoyed since the beginning and I still can't code a #Lisp well. I'd love to be a cool #lisper with #CommonLisp, but haven't gotten there yet. I'm on the #c64 and #embedded #retrocomputing train now.
For creative stuff, I aim to do a lot but tend to hop around as interests take me. I could use some discipline there (someday?).
For #music, I have an electric #bass (Fender Jazz) and electric #guitar. I love #jambands (#GratefulDead, #Phish, #Goose) and that's the type of music I like to play along to.
For #art, I like #acrylic and #watercolor painting. I rarely do it, but think about it a lot and love it when I do it. I don't have any skill or talent, but that's not the point. It's for me and no one else.
For #computing, I am venturing into #C64 #demoscene programming and exploration. Not only was I too poor to get one when I was little but I sorta forgot about it over time. The desire to do cool things in a restricted environment where folks are playing in the sandbox, too, is very exciting and attractive to me. I don't know how to code the #Commodore64 stuff yet, but will! Learning the assembly language (I have zero desire to code in BASIC again and I can just code assembly).
I live with my soulmate and our five amazing cats in a small town outside St. Louis living a quiet life. Just doing our jobs, taking care of daily life stuff, and enjoying each other and life as much as we can. Ups and downs of life chaos, like anyone else, but we're doing alright!
We enjoy exploring places within driving distance and there are a lot of places to go to.
Currently, we're really into playing two-player games together and just started collecting #boardgames. Right now, we're really digging #SkyTeam, #RoyalGameOfUr, #ForrestShuffle, #SentinelsOfTheMultiverse, and this magnet game I don't know the name of. We have #SpiritIsland and #ArcNova to unwrap and learn. We tried really really hard to get into #ArkhamHorrorTheCardGame but the rules are too complicated and confusing, where it felt like we were doing the wrong thing all the time.
I am 46. I grew up loving Star Wars, Star Trek, #SciFi, reading novels non-stop, horror, and watching movies. I collect classic SciFi books from 1960s and 1970s.
I would perhaps describe myself as an extremely curious person, that loves #puzzles and #mysteries, #exploration, figuring out #HumanBehavior like I'm an alien studying humans (I'm good at it, it turns out), that has a keen eye for detail, remembering random little things, and a good listener. I'm fairly adaptable and fluid in most things, which works well for me. My brain works differently than a lot of people, and while frustrating a lot of the time for things I don't understand fully, it is me and serves me well in niches.
Making people laugh makes me happy. I am a #hacker and #tinkerer.
In politics, crisis is never wasted. Turn fear into registration, and outrage into income. The blueprint never changes, just the slogans."
#SocialPatterns #HumanBehavior #Governance
PsyPost: Playing Fortnite linked to stronger peer relationships in boys. “While some games like Clash of Clans and Fortnite were linked to stronger peer relationships and positive social behaviors, others such as Mortal Kombat were associated with higher aggression and antisocial tendencies. How long a child plays appears to matter more than what they play, with longer playtimes generally […]
Tulane University: Tulane study finds smaller companies get kinder online reviews — And empathy is the reason why. “In a large-scale, international study published in the Journal of Marketing, researchers found that smaller companies receive more favorable online word-of-mouth than larger ones—even when the customer experience is identical. The reason? People feel more empathy toward […]
The Brain in Action: How Perception, Movement, and Environment Shape Behavior
#BrainScience #CognitiveEnhancement #SensorimotorTraining #Neuroplasticity #MindAndBody #BrainHealth #CognitiveTraining #Neuroscience #MemoryBoost #MentalWellness #BrainOptimization #MovementScience #EcologicalValidity #BrainResearch #HumanBehavior
Gizmodo: Google’s Veo 3 Has People Crashing Out Over AI Slop. “The latest AI advancement to send people down an existential rabbit hole comes courtesy of Google, which just announced its latest video generation model called Veo 3. As I’ve reported a few times now, Veo 3 is already getting into some wild stuff—turning up the dial on AI slop, deepfaking smooth-brained YouTube content, and […]
https://rbfirehose.com/2025/06/01/gizmodo-googles-veo-3-has-people-crashing-out-over-ai-slop/
From Epiphenomenalism to Brain Ballet: Understanding the Relationship Between Mind and Brain
#BrainScience #HumanBehavior #MentalHealth #Neuroscience #MindAndBrain #Psychology #StressManagement #MentalDisorders #BrainRegions #Consciousness #Inflammation #StressResponse #SelfUnderstanding #BrainFacts
PsyPost: Narcissists are more likely to become addicted to social networking sites. “A longitudinal study of social networking site users found that almost all forms of narcissism are associated with symptoms of social networking site addiction. In other words, individuals with narcissistic traits were more likely to develop problematic patterns of social media use. The paper was published in […]
University of Georgia: What Makes a Troll? The Dangers of Online Narcissism. “Are internet trolls just bored keyboard warriors, or do they cause actual harm in society? Psychologists reveal the narcissistic and aggressive traits that drive trolling behavior.”
The Conversation: Why we fall for fake health information – and how it spreads faster than facts. “As a global health communication scholar studying the effects of media on health and development, I explore artistic and creative ways to make health information more engaging and accessible, empowering people to make informed decisions. Although there is a fire hose of health-related content […]
A peer’s promise can help kids pass the marshmallow test https://arstechni.ca/2KY5 #cooperativebehavior #MarshmallowTest #Humanbehavior #psychology #sociology #Science
Ars Technica · New twist on marshmallow test shows power of a promise
Rolling Stone: People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies . “Titled ‘Chatgpt induced psychosis,’ the original post came from a 27-year-old teacher who explained that her partner was convinced that the popular OpenAI model ‘gives him the answers to the universe.’ Having read his chat logs, she only found that the AI was ‘talking to him as if he is the next messiah.’ The […]
University of Bristol: Social media platform tailoring could support more fulfilling use, study finds . “The study, presented today at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Yokohama, Japan, suggests that the key to a having a positive experience online is finding the right level of personal investment – neither too much nor too little. Conducted by researchers examining […]
My friend told me this story:
"In my first-year Psychology class, the lecture was on Pavlov and his dogs. By the end of the lecture, I thought, 'What stupid dogs!'
Then the bell rang, and we all went to lunch."
(It's #HootinTootinTuesday again! Post some jokes or funny memes under this hashtag today, and bring lots of smiles to #Mastodon.)
Temple University: New research shows a pet’s cuteness can significantly influence intentions to book a home-sharing service like Airbnb. “A fluffy dog with soft fur, big round eyes, floppy ears and a small stature is so high on the ‘pet cuteness’ scale that it may influence your decision to book your next Airbnb stay. “
Reichman University: Robotic dogs can inspire emergent leadership in humans. “A study from the Media Innovation Lab (miLAB) at Reichman University’s School of Communications explored how a robotic dog can influence leadership dynamics between humans. The study revealed that simple gestures of affection from a robot can encourage people to take charge and assume leadership roles, even without […]
ResearchBuzz: Firehose | Individual posts from ResearchBuzz · Reichman University: Robotic dogs can inspire emergent leadership in humans | ResearchBuzz: Firehose
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ResearchBuzz: Firehose
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München: Philosophy: cultural differences in exploitation of artificial agents. “People in the United States and Europe take advantage of robots significantly more often than people in Japan. The researchers suggest this difference stems from guilt: In the West, people feel remorse when they exploit another human but not when they exploit a machine. In Japan, […]
ResearchBuzz: Firehose | Individual posts from ResearchBuzz · Philosophy: cultural differences in exploitation of artificial agents (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) | ResearchBuzz: Firehose
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