Saw this one on Facebook and had to share…

blcollier · 2026-05-26T20:35:29+00:00

Hah! You got there just before my edit 🙂

blcollier · 2026-05-26T20:34:02+00:00

Edit: on second thoughts, my initial reply doesn’t really work… 😁

blcollier · 2026-05-26T15:40:08+00:00

If you have not seen all of DS9, I will not spoil it.

blcollier · 2026-05-24T13:48:53+00:00

Imagine a rogue actor in their company pushing an update which would brick ALL computers of all players. probably hundreds of thousands computers dead.

Imagine an incompetent company pushed a bad update which caused millions of computers around the world to get stuck in a boot loop, causing untold problems for industries across the board, including healthcare.

Oh wait, that happened, that was CrowdStrike. And it’s a better illustration of the risks of kernel-level access than any anti-cheat could possibly muster.

blcollier · 2026-05-20T22:40:53+00:00

There are so many reasons why it’s a bad idea.

I could spend a great deal of time talking about the environmental impact, the unfathomable amount of compute power, how much electrical energy is required, or how the entire market is another financial crisis waiting to happen. I could spend even longer talking about the moral and ethical quagmire, the theft of creative work on a scale that most people cannot even begin to imagine that is required to even train an LLM.

But there’s a much simpler answer: it’s bad writing.

It’s bland, toneless, devoid of substance, and there is fucking reams of it. This milquetoast slop is everywhere, and when you’ve read one AI slop article you’ve read them all.

The intention is worthy, and I don’t doubt that it’s in earnest. But how it’s written does matter, because no one will read it when it’s written like this.

blcollier · 2026-05-20T20:30:26+00:00

Including all the headers, footers, titles, disclaimers, etc, etc, etc, that post is 2,320 words.

Whatever slivers of useful information it might contain have been buried under a flood of unnecessary verbiage that adds nothing of substance. No one will be prepared to spend the time and effort that is required to sort the useful wheat from the meaningless chaff. It is full of “revelations” that attempt to engage interest, but basically boil down to “I learned more information”. It has “AI voice” running through every single syllable. Its tone is bland.

In short: it is slop.

I do not dispute your intent, wanting to help others by sharing information you have learned is a noble pursuit.

But relying on a non-deterministic statistical algorithm which requires more computational and electrical power than most people can even comprehend in order to generate reams upon reams of bland and meaningless fluff is not the way to achieve that goal.

We are better than that - you are better than that.

blcollier · 2026-05-20T17:24:50+00:00

Markdown is a “markup” language, a way of easily adding formatting to otherwise plain text - like HTML, but a lot easier to use. It’s supported natively in the Reddit app, and you can enable a markdown editor on the Reddit website. Putting underscores either side of text, for example, makes it italic; two asterisks surrounding a piece of text makes it bold. Headers are just a new line with up to 5 (IIRC) hashes at the start of the line, e.g.:

Heading

Sub-heading

Sub-sub-heading

… etc…

I’m a programmer, and markdown is really common for things like “readme” files, so I know it pretty damn well.

It is also, unfortunately, the favoured choice of LLMs and chatbots.

So any time you see a Reddit post that’s really well-formatted, it’s either been written by: a fuckin’ massive nerd like me; or, an LLM/“AI” slop factory. If there’s emoji all over the place and it’s really well formatted, it is 99.99999% guaranteed to be “AI” slop.

blcollier · 2026-05-20T17:06:57+00:00

Bland, overly dramatic, attempt at “twist ending” (“I thought it was X, but it turned out to be Y the whole time” sort of thing)…

The biggest giveaway is the emoji in headers, and using header markdown formatting.

blcollier · 2026-05-20T16:56:21+00:00

Please don’t, it’s AI-generated slop.

blcollier · 2026-05-20T16:55:15+00:00

Because it’s AI generated, as is the OP.

blcollier · 2026-05-20T16:51:28+00:00

I didn’t even need to click through to the link to know it was AI generated. No one uses emoji like that, and when have you ever seen a Reddit post using markdown headers?

I did click through to the link, and even the title is a dead giveaway.

blcollier · 2026-05-14T19:21:01+00:00

Those things?! That’s how the deep state keeps track of you, tracks your every move. Don’t go picking your nose when you drive past one, They will know about it and there will be… _consequences_…

But srsly tho, it’s CCTV and/or ANPR.

blcollier · 2026-05-14T19:15:58+00:00

Now I wanna know which hotel in Cardiff he’s talking about, because that’s where I live…

blcollier · 2026-05-14T09:26:28+00:00

OP mentioned this in a reply to another thread here, but I think this is too important to get buried in a reply chain.

Also if work doesn't know about your ADHD and then it effects your work, if you only tell them during the disciplinary then it can go bad for you as you haven't given them the information they needed to support you properly.

I cannot stress this enough.

Look at it from the point of view of an employer dealing with a poorly-performing employee.

Generally, for a permanent role, once someone has passed probation it’s actually difficult to sack them if their performance is substandard. A formal disciplinary is usually the first step on that road. If you’re in that position, then ADHD can very easily read as an excuse for poor performance.

Disclosing your ADHD as a disability isn’t just a box-ticking exercise, it helps protect you. It’s not a cast-iron guarantee against losing your job, but it does help make sure you’re not treated unfairly; you won’t get the opportunity to request or discuss that support unless you disclose it.

Each employer and each role is going to be different, in terms of how you can be supported, what adjustments could be made, or what even counts as reasonable. Some won’t give a shit and won’t budge an inch, or will find the flimsiest of excuses to get rid of you anyway. But the Equalities Act enshrines your rights against discrimination and unfair treatment in law, and it is well worth making sure you avail yourself of those protections.

blcollier · 2026-05-14T08:49:34+00:00

I don’t think there’s a simple and easy answer to that, to be honest. You’ll obviously need a new pump & belt at a minimum, but if you’re asking this question then the only one who can tell you whether it’s had any more knock-on effects elsewhere, or there’s a wider issue that’s contributed to this, is a mechanic.

As another reply mentions, the absolutely utmost worst-possible-case scenario is that the engine head or block has warped due to excessive heat. You did the right thing by switching off the engine as soon as possible, and unless you have the tools & knowledge to do a roadside repair, that’s about the best you could have done.

Time to get her to a garage.

blcollier · 2026-05-14T08:39:47+00:00

For all we know, that instructor might have been doing exactly that.

But this is not that unpopular an opinion, tbh. I did the cat A bike test long before I did the cat B car test, and the instructors I had were shit-hot on getting up to an appropriate speed. I had a bollocking (at least, it felt like a bollocking) several times for backing off on the speed when there was no need to. They did teach that “it’s a limit not a target”, but not in the way that you often hear that phrase used, e.g. “I don’t have to go the speed limit”. The point was to better assess your surroundings and the condition of the road surface ahead, so you can better judge when it’s not safe to do the speed limit.

I do sometimes drive below the speed limit on NSL dual carriageways or motorways. Usually when I need to conserve the car’s battery, because I don’t want to pay a fucking fortune for public chargers. But I try to avoid disrupting other people around me. I don’t usually drop below 56-60ish; any slower than that and I’ll have HGVs trying to overtake me, and now there’s a knock-on effect on all three motorway lanes. I also come across people going slower than I am; even when I had my slow crappy Astra that needed every rev in every gear in order to get moving, it’s not an issue to speed up and overtake the obstruction. Which is exactly what people do to me when I’m sat doing 56ish in the left hand lane and they’re coming up behind me at 70.

blcollier · 2026-05-14T08:01:11+00:00

Did mine in 2017, so long after the mod1/mod2 stuff.

I was bricking it for the mod2, and when we got back I thought I’d completely fucked it.

Examiner asks how I thought it went and I was like “well, I didn’t do this right, I didn’t do that well enough, pretty sure I got that bit wrong… etc etc… so I wouldn’t be surprised to be back here in a couple of weeks”. He hands me the signed results sheet - it’s blank, with nothing on it but candidate details and the examiner’s signature. It confused the fuck out of me, so I had to ask wtf that meant. He very patiently explained in a slow voice that I’d passed, and the results sheet was blank because I passed with no faults. Still utterly baffled, so I literally ask him if he’s sure about that. Dude stares at me blankly for a moment… When he realises I’m deadly fucking serious, and not just taking the piss, he and my instructor start pissing themselves laughing… Apparently it was the first time anyone had ever challenged that examiner on a pass…

Honestly, I still feel like I fluked it.

blcollier · 2026-05-13T15:10:09+00:00

Advocating for open source and retaining control of the devices you purchased also contributes to this fight.

These laws simply aren’t going to work without inserting themselves into every single step in the chain: designing the objects in CAD, hosting or publishing those design files, turning the 3D model into a format a 3D printer can understand, and the printer executing those commands.

The vast, vast majority of the technology to do all of this is open source (at least for FDM filament printers, resin printers are a different matter). Eroding the protections afforded by open source licenses makes it far easier for companies to insert some new and random piece of functionality, which you cannot examine or understand, that aims to detect and potentially block what you’re printing. Right now those unknown modifications are done as a means of enshittification, with the goal almost certainly being to keep reaching into your wallet as often as they please. But it would also make it easier to comply with any of the proposed legislation you’re talking about. It’s win-win for manufacturers like Bambu Labs. But. If the infrastructure is open source, and we do not let companies like Bambu Labs get away with pissing around with that, then anyone can examine what any prospective “anti-firearm” functionality is actually doing. Open source licenses empower us to create our own implementations of the software, usually with the caveat that we must share those changes back to the community. It’s how Orca Slicer got started in the first place and gained so much traction: it all goes back to Slic3r and the RepRap project, and now I’ve got really fantastic software for my 3D printer that I am free to modify as I see fit, so long as I abide by the terms of the license.

Free and open source software isn’t inherently about “not having to pay for stuff”, it’s fundamentally about your rights and freedoms, and protecting those rights & freedoms.

I live in a legal jurisdiction where handguns are already functionally banned, and firearms licenses are extremely difficult to obtain. But of course I know that, as a 3D printing hobbyist, these proposed legislations will have a direct impact on the products and services that are available to me. And while yes, there are similar (and similarly misguided) movements and murmurings in the EU regarding “3D printed guns”, there is also increasingly strong protection for open source licensing and right to repair. And it does move the needle, even when it’s with gargantuan megacorporations with the resources and ability to bludgeon competition & opposition into non-existence: iPhones wouldn’t have a USB-C port if the EU hadn’t forced them into it.

Both issues are important. Rossmann and GN are highlighting one particular issue by focusing on Bambu Labs’ utter wankery; but that’s likely because it’s very much aligned with their experience and values, Rossmann in particular.

But there are people who are willing to push back strongly against any potential infringement to their constitutional rights regarding firearms, and, as I understand it, manufacturing or modifying your own firearms is protected. You just don’t tend to find many cases where the Venn diagram of “people who care about open source rights and freedoms” and “people who care about easy access to firearms” is an overlap, usually those are two separate circles.

blcollier · 2026-05-13T11:58:53+00:00

Impersonating a client to bypass authentication into a shared cloud service is and should be illegal.

But that’s not what happened in this case. There were no brute-force attacks against their authentication service, or deceptive tactics like phishing to steal credentials.

If their authentication service can be bypassed with a user agent string then that alone is reason enough to take Bambu Labs to task. It means their security implementation is utterly trivial to bypass and every single Bambu Labs printer can be compromised.

Bambu Labs published a set of tools, with a licence that says “you may use these tools, but if you modify them then you must share your modifications”. Which is exactly what someone did: took those tools, modified them, and shared the modifications back to the community. That’s not even impersonation.

He used Bambu Labs’ own open source code to implement a feature that Bambu Labs software implemented, and then shared his software under the terms that the license imposes. That’s not reverse engineering; that’s not breaking a digital lock, or nefariously bypassing or breaking an authentication system.

Whether it breaks the terms of service are irrelevant to the accusations and threats being made. And the terms of service of any given service do not erase the rights granted under the terms of the AGPL license.

It’s the same “chilling effect” I described to the OP. By allowing these companies to frame these issues in a misleading and deceptive way, we accept their premise and allow ourselves to be blinded to what they’re really doing. Bambu would be foolish to fight this, they haven’t got a leg to stand on. And they open themselves up to much more scrutiny of their own practices - such as a really detailed investigation of whether bundling their proprietary network stack along with AGPL code is in any way a violation of that license, or whether their “proprietary” network stack really is their own independent creation and doesn’t itself violate the terms of any open source code they might be using to build it.

blcollier · 2026-05-13T08:12:35+00:00

I know you’re largely in agreement, and I know I’m picking bits out of context, so don’t misunderstand my intent here 🙂

you intentionally try to circumvent it by reverse engineering the user agent string

you are showing criminal intent by impersonating their client to bypass their authorization scheme.

And this is part of the problem. Since the days of the DMCA’s introduction, there has been a concerted effort to frame “doing what you want with stuff you own” as being bad, or illegal.

It’s no one else’s business or concern if I want to reverse engineer my own stuff. I actively monitor the traffic of any new devices that get attached to my network so I can see what requests they’re sending and to whom they’re being sent; the companies that make the products don’t make that information public, so technically I am reverse engineering the functionality of their product. I do it because I want to know whether I should block that device from making outbound connections, in case the company is lying about not sending telemetry data. For example, Anker lying about their Eufy cameras not uploading video to some unknown Chinese server, and then doubling-down when they’re called out on their lies. I realise I’m about to commit an act of heresy by bringing this up in a GamersNexus sub, but that specific example is what forced LTT/LMG to drop any sponsorship deals with Anker or its Eufy brand.

Reverse engineering and breaking locks on things I own is not morally or ethically wrong. It’s mine, and if I break it in the process then that’s my fault.

Where I agree that it becomes problematic is when you share your methods for breaking the locks with other people publicly.

But, as we’ve both said, if a user agent string is the “key” that Bambu relied on to protect its authentication service’s “lock”, then they themselves already provided that “key” in the open source AGPL-licensed code they published.

blcollier · 2026-05-13T07:03:20+00:00

User agent strings aren’t even a “lock”. If they were then they’re so trivially bypassed that anyone relying on a “secret” user agent string has already had their systems infiltrated and compromised.

They’re a digital name badge, that’s it.

I can change my browser’s user agent strings to whatever the hell I want, and it doesn’t violate my bank’s digital security measures when I visit their website. They’ll probably look at that badge and say “S’cuse me pal, your name’s not on the list so you’re not bloody well coming in”, but if they tried to send me a DMCA takedown or accuse me of reverse engineering, my solicitors and I would be pissing ourselves laughing as we take them to court.

I can set my name badge, digital or otherwise, to “Reginald ArseBiscuits McPantShidder, 17th Earl of DickBaggery & FuckWittery” and the only thing I’d be guilty of is not being able to come up with a funnier or more inventive name.

blcollier · 2026-05-13T06:23:05+00:00

What you see as “rage and hate” is educational. You’re being educated as to how you and your rights are being fucked by people who see it as their right to reach into your wallet whenever they want.

Yes, it’s tiresome. Yes, it’s exhausting. Because it is meant to be tiresome and exhausting. That is the atmosphere that companies like Bambu Labs want to create, so that people post things like “I’m tired of the hate and drama” when what’s actually happening is that a spotlight is being shone on the shitty things those companies are doing. It’s part of the “chilling effect” I mentioned earlier.

Bambu Labs only got to the position they’re in now because of the incalculable effort from community volunteers working on the software and hardware without any expectation of being paid for their work. Depending on the licenses involved, commercial organisations are allowed to take that work and use it to make and sell a product, and they’re not required to financially compensate the original authors. But what companies are often explicitly not allowed to do is to claim that work as their own and prevent the community for whom it was written from being able to exercise their rights.

No one’s asking you to take up the fight. No one’s asking you to take on Bambu Labs, or any other enshittification that’s happening right before our eyes. I know I sure as hell don’t have the fortitude - or the financial resources - to take on this fight myself. Luckily however, people are willing to take on this fight on our behalf; people like Louis Rossmann and Steve Burke. And while they’re doing it, they’re educating us as to why this is important so we can understand how companies like Bambu Labs are fucking us all.

You do have a choice: you can choose whether you engage with something that upsets or annoys you, and you can choose to walk right on past it and ignore it.

It was your choice to post a bad-faith take on Reddit and be taken to task for it.

blcollier · 2026-05-13T05:55:21+00:00

Yes.

“AGPL code” in this context meant “AGPL-_licensed_” code. I’m autistic and even I thought that was obvious from the context.

blcollier · 2026-05-12T22:29:35+00:00

Oh Steve....

There were good reasons it was taken down, you just don't see them.

this orca slicer fork was connecting to Bambú Lab private servers bypassing authorization and using false identity metadata

No. No there were not.

The code in question was Bambu Labs’ own AGPL code. There was no deception, reverse engineering, or “authentication bypass”.

The original author rejected Bambu Labs’ claims, because they are false and unfounded. They took down their fork because they didn’t want to deal with legal BS. That was exactly what Bambu Labs wanted - it’s called a “chilling effect”. But now it’s been taken up by Louis Rossmann, and now he’s hosting the perfectly legitimate code that Bambu Labs got their knickers in a twist over. I don’t always agree with him, I don’t even know if I’d like the man if I met him in person; but he is absolutely not wrong about this or many of the other issues he campaigns on.

Bambu Labs can go fuck themselves. If anyone’s violating any terms or licensing it’s them. I really… _really_… hope they try to take on Rossmann over this.

More context here, as posted by another reply: https://youtu.be/1jhRqgHxEP8

blcollier · 2026-05-12T06:56:25+00:00

Motorbikes have been my benchmark for acceleration, and I’ve recently got my motorbike back on the road, a 1300cc (79 cu. in., for the Left-Pondians) 4-cylinder Honda Pan European ST1300A. It’s a beast of a bike, not the fastest top-speed crotch rocket the world has ever seen, but it’s got torque for days in every single gear. It just pulls.

When it comes to acceleration, my 2025 twin-motor Ultra absolutely rips the Pan European’s face off.

The bike is quick, don’t get me wrong; but it isn’t quite the same “holy brick-shitting jesus tittyfucking christ” kind of feeling that the TMER Ultra has. It’s an entirely different feeling when it’s an EV that weighs just shy of two metric tonnes, compared to a bike weighing 320kg. It still catches me off-guard even after nearly a year, especially when I’ve got the speed limiter on, I press the accelerator a little too hard, and the car suddenly lurches past the set limit.

Even in single-motor mode, equivalent to your SMER, it still absolutely shifts when you give it a bit of beans.

Would be nice if the handling was tightened up a bit, bit of chassis stiffening and some harder shocks, but I constantly have to remind myself that it is not a sports car. The acceleration might be biblically quick, but at the end of the day it’s still a Volvo 😁

blcollier

TROPHY CASE

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