Ted

@desfontain

A little pinch of randomness here and there and poof, your data is now protected. Magic! ✨ (I don't read DMs. Send me an email instead.) 🌉 bridged from ⁂ follow @ap.brid.gy to interact

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Ted@desfontain· 26d

Extremely agree with these points from Edwige Cyffers about large privacy budgets in DP

A picture of Edwige Cyffers presenting a slide. It reads: Danger of Banning Large epsilon

→ When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure Goodhart's Law
- Label DP. If the features enable non-trivial prediction, what are we doing?
- Public-private learning. Public data is often contaminated by the private data.
- Adoption risk. Overly rigid norms can push practitioners toward non-DP privacy wash

Practical questions

What is counted, over what horizon, for which task, and against which alternative? Privacy budget interpretation also benefits from contextual integrity

Ted@desfontain· 28d

he's not sure what he's been busted for, but he's definitely been busted

a kitten on its back under a black couch, paws on the bottom part of the couch, looking straight at the camera like "oops you caught me"

Ted@desfontain· Jul 8

we've started exploring the world with Shoyu #catsofmastodon

Ted@desfontain· Jul 5

One skill I do not have yet: making cake icing that looks pretty. How do y'all do it?

A square light brown cake with white icing on top. It looks vaguely geometric, but not very good overall.

Ted@desfontain· Jul 1

adventure! #catsofmastodon

a white and tabby kitten standing on low vegetation, looking around curiously. he is wearing a blue and pink harness

Ted@desfontain· Jun 30

one thing is clear though, it's easier to take cute pictures when they're sleepy. blep!

A kitten sleeping on its side on a grey blanket. His eyes are closed, his white belly is visible, and his tongue is out. Blep!

Ted@desfontain· Jun 29

i don't know if they're more cute when they're playing or when they're sleepy #cats

a white & tabby kitten lying on his back on a grey couch, surrounded by orange pillows. his mouth is fully open, in the middle of a biiig yawn

Ted@desfontain· Jun 25

I think they trust me now

Two kittens lying on someone. One is sleeping and the other is looking straight at the camera

Ted@desfontain· Jun 23

for future reference, here are some helpful factsheets

a close-up picture of a white and brown kitten, with blue text around it:
hello my name is Miso
i like:
- hiding
- high places
- sleeping
- SOFT head scritches
- hiding
- pouncing on my brother while he eats dinner, spilling food everywhere
i don’t like:
- sudden noises
- being perceived
- people coming towards me faster than 0.8m / minute

a close-up picture of a white and black kitten, with green text around it:
hello my name is Shoyu
i like:
- running around chasing my brother
- scratching things
- running around chasing flies
- fast toys that go zoom
- eating food straight from the floor
- eating not food straight from the floor
- running around chasing evil spirits
i don’t like:
- being told not to scratch things
- focusing on a task for more than 0.5 seconds

Ted@desfontain· Jun 22

So, I just adopted these two little criminals. Say hello to Miso & Shoyu! And prepare yourselves for way too many kitten pictures in the coming months 👀

two 2-month kittens sitting on a bathroom mat. they both have a white belly, the left one has a brown back and patches of brown around the eyes while the right one has a black black and a patch of black around one eye

Ted@desfontain· Jun 14

Someone who saw my post on Hacker News sent me an email asking, in essence: is it really *unsafe* if Census data can be reconstructed? Where's the actual harm? It's a common and reasonable question, so maybe it's worth posting my answer here:

This is screenshot text; the text is much too large to fit in the alt text limit. Here's a link to a pastebin: https://pastebin.com/2tgw7n2R

Ted@desfontain· Jun 2

Well, tonight may have been a once-in-a-lifetime blitz chess session. 15 victories in a row! I think my previous record was 10 or 11 😮

A cropped screenshot of the Lichess UI (in french), indicating 15 successive victories on June 2nd, 2026

Ted@desfontain· May 27

I commissionned a new logo for my consultancy ✨ Done by Taylor Joy from invisiblecity.online. I loved working with her and would recommend her in a heartbeat 🧡

A stylized coral in orange and bordeaux, along with the name "Hiding Nemo" in all caps, where "Hiding" is in bolder font.

Ted@desfontain· May 22

current status (warning: loud)

Ted@desfontain· May 21

Fourth #crochet project: a Sophie's scarf! I learned that spending hours doing single crochet on 4mm yarn is not my favorite thing 🙃 I also learned how to block a finished piece, and that was kind of scary but pretty magical ✨

A Sophie's scarf, crocheted using a variegated yarn that goes from a warm orange to a soft grey. It's folded in four, and shown on top of a darker grey couch.

A selfie of the author, wearing the Sophie's scarf and displaying a wide smile.

Ted@desfontain· May 18

Important update: I made a pompon for my hat 😺 #crochet

a man wearing a brown crochet hat in a bathroom, with a cute pompon on top of the hat

Ted@desfontain· May 18

the little cat was feeling lonely, so i made him a little bunny friend #crochet #amigurumi

the same blue kawaii crochet cat than in the previous picture, next to a white crochet bunny, in a very similar style, with longer bunny ears and two little feet

Ted@desfontain· May 16

first amigurumi project: this little cat #crochet #amigurumi

a tiny little blue crochet plush toy in the form of a stylized cat head with a tail behind, with black eyes, nose, and stripes on the sides

Ted@desfontain· May 15

my spring rolls didn't look like what I envisioned, but my vietnamese friend said they were just as good as the ones her mom makes, so I'm just going to ride that high for the next 2-3 weeks

a plate of fried spring rolls on salad leaves

Ted@desfontain· May 9

so uuuuuh

A close-up of the instructions on a rice noodle package. The French version says to soak the noodles for 20 minutes. The English version says to soak the noodles for 30-45 minutes

Ted@desfontain· Mar 25

"Fun" fact: my last skein of yarn ran out THREE STICHES BEFORE THE END. I should have made ever-so-slightly smaller cuts when changing colors. Instead I had to get an entire other skein of white yarn. lolsob

The same blanket as in the previous message, laid flat against a bed. It looks complete, except…

a zoom on the upper-left corner reveals that there are 3 stiches missing. A crochet hook is still embedded in the work.

Ted@desfontain· Mar 25

Third #crochet project: a baby blanket for a friend who's about to become a dad ✨ This one taught me about color changes (not my favorite thing!) and increases/decreases for the wavy pattern. I'm pretty happy with the result ☺️

A folded baby blanket, with a wavy pattern in white, green and blue, resting against a large grey pilow.

The same baby blanket, lying flat against a grey sofa, with one of its corners folded.

Ted@desfontain· Mar 24

It's "making 1.5kg of wild garlic pesto from fresh wild garlic harvested in the backyard 30 minutes prior" season 🤩

7 open containers full of bright green wild garlic pesto, next to a big blender with some perso still in the bowl

Ted@desfontain· Mar 16

Got a sudden burst of motivation tonight. Let's see if it goes anywhere

A row of 4 egg cartons filled with soil, with little signs indicating that various herb seeds just got planted in the soil

Ted@desfontain· Feb 16

Very hyped about where I get to spend this week 🤩

A selfie of the author in front of a sign indicating "Burg Dagstuhl", "Schloss Dagstuhl", and "Schlossgarten"

Ted@desfontain· Feb 15

Just finished my second ever #crochet project! 😺 I learned (the hard way 🤣) that one should do a few rows on a much smaller scale to make sure to understand the pattern. I also learned about crocheting in "chain-1 spaces", which was initially very confusing. Progress! ✨

A bathroom selfie of a happy looking guy proudly wearing a brown, warm-looking crochet hat

Ted@desfontain· Feb 14

!!!!!!!!

a screenshot of the bullet statistics on the Lichess app, showing a new personal record of 2002 ranking

Ted@desfontain· Feb 11

Swiss friend of mine knew exactly what to get for a celebratory toast

A bottle of Rivella on a table, with a glass next to it

Ted@desfontain· Feb 11

He is not as productive as I was hoping for.

a tiny white kitten sleeping under a dark blanket on a blue couch. his two tiny little back paws and their tiny little brown toebean are visible outside the blanket

Ted@desfontain· Feb 6

I left home for 2 weeks and this guy decided it was a good time to try and become a real tree 🌱