For a long time I had trouble with the concept of unionizing programmers, because it felt like we're already so privileged compared to blue-collar workers.
What I realize now is that all that privilege vanishes like a mirage the moment people start talking about unionization. Or the moment interest rates go up.
I think about this quote from @andy@bell.bz a lot:
‘P.S if you think “no one will want to read my posts”, you’re wrong, because I do.’
It’s just a sweet sentiment. It’s important to remember—someone will read your website. A tweet is dead on the vine. No one is gonna read your old Facebook note from years ago. But your website is timeless and someone will eventually read it.
Making your own website is rewarding in a way that a corporate social media profile never will be.
https://andy-bell.co.uk/just-post/
If a person directly affected tells you directly that someone is being racist, or sexist, or genderist, or ableist, or colonialist, or ageist, or sizeist, or displaying some other form of bias or bigotry, or that something is problematic along those lines and you "don't see it", two things are probably true.
1) you probably aren't looking carefully enough at the situation the person's telling you about
2) the person cares enough to tell you, this time, but will probably never trust you again with that feedback about that topic. So if you don't actively engage, learn, and make amends, they will probably never talk to you again about it. Not because they've given up. What they've done is give up on _you_.
If that doesn't bother you, then honestly, I don't want to know you.
Let me be clear, the data you put online is as much a part of you as your physical being.
It is a construct, but it IS YOU.
Why should anyone own you but you?
For profit social media is nothing but a perversely incentivized version of serfdom at best, but somehow permissible because your intellectual construct is believed to be somehow less valuable than your physical being.
Both the physical and intellectual versions of you, are you.
Deny them.
Someone defended the Plagiarism Machine to me the other day by saying that the people who are going to use it weren't going to pay artists in the first place, they were just going to go to the second page of Image Search and steal something from there anyway.
But the categorical difference is that in the old way, there was a non-zero chance of getting caught. The Plagiarism Machine makes that impossible because it is a copyright laundry.
Okay, #ADHD folks - what symptom suddenly makes sense, now that you understand ADHD better?
I'm not talking about general stuff, like difficulty concentrating, I'm talking about specific phenomena, like having trouble following a conversation at a party.
I always thought I had this problem because my ears are about a foot higher than the people speaking, but now I'm starting to think that the real difficulty is that my brain has trouble turning the volume down on all the other talking in the room.
(I will occasionally repost this, along with whatever new symptom I've thought up... Apologies for the repetition)
#ItAllMakesSenseNow
OpenUK @openuk@hachyderm.io is asking for volunteers to help to run State of Open 2024 - a celebration of open technologies (#opensource software, hardware, and data) in #London in early February. You get to attend the #SOOCon24 conference, alongside working for a portion of the time. https://stateofopencon.com/volunteer-2024/
Scalable software today means software working on many machines owned by a single entity.
Instead, it should be reclaimed to mean software that works across machines owned by many different people.
Let's take 2024 to stop building The Plagiarism Nexus and focus on human empowering technologies.
And do that again in 2025. And every year afterwards.
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I finally made one.. Die Hard Christmas ornament.
Not that difficult to make, you just need some reflective material of some sort, got from KMart.
It has room for improvement, I only have a black and white laser printer, and perhaps it could be smaller. Maybe I'll make more..
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I'm sorry, did you forget the last 200 years of technological progress advancing productivity yet leading us to work even longer hours? If we want to work less, we need unions, not tech.
[me releasing a feature] - I'm sure our users will adapt to this UI change we've been building it's not that hard to understand
[me experiencing a slight UI change as a user] - why the FUCK would you put THAT THERE oh my GOD everything is RUINED
Wait, NORAD tracks my sleigh? In real-time?! This is outrageous! I never gave permission for this!
Goodness gracious, all I want to do is break into your houses and leave gifts relative to how good I think you’ve been, which I’ve been tracking meticulously in my book along with your constant whereabouts and sleeping patterns.
The moment a person uses "community manager" or "marketing" as a pejorative is the moment I know they're neither worth my time nor safe to welcome into the communities I serve.
Get the fuck out of here with that kinda thinking.
#OpenSource #FOSS
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Well I can't unsee that.
EDIT: Thanks for all the interactions! If you have some spare cash, please donate to my friends in Maui recovering from a wildfire: https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/strengthening/maui-strong-fund
Yearly reminder that you don't *have* to do #AdventOfCode
Don't let others make you feel bad for not doing it 🙂
And for those that are doing it? Have fun and learn new cool things!
Le sigh. And now I must recommend Roku Sticks for people who don’t want to drop over $120 on a streaming device and/or want to use said device reliably on captive networks. https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/1/23984444/amazon-fire-tv-autoplay-ads-on-startup
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Self promo: gifts + stocking stuffers for folks who refuse to fit in a box.
I make and design enamel pins, patches, stickers, bookmarks and stationery that make great little gifts for Christmas.
Social justice, disability pride, lgbtq+ rights, #neurodivergent, #adhd, #actuallyautistic, #books themed goodies.
It's been a hard and weird year for #smallbusiness, so please #shopsmall for the holiday season if you can and encourage your friends too, please! 😊
I ship pretty much everywhere in the world ✨🌈
#fedigiftshop #mastoart
Shop -> https://fluffmallow.com
Community -> https://fluffmallow.com/not-okay-club
Hey, if you're the type of person that can start typing a reply to an argument, then decide that actually it's not worth bothering with and delete the reply, I want you to know:
You're doing fantastic, and you should be proud of yourself. I wish more people had that kind of restraint.
Me, describing developer work estimation industry practice:
> "We start with 'points describe complexity, not time' as a guiding philosophy, and then proceed to describe all estimates in terms of time."
My god. Basecamp/37signals and DHH in particular: what a cesspool of toxic waste ☣️
https://blogs.library.duke.edu/blog/2023/11/30/why-were-dropping-basecamp/
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📝 Open source enthusiasts, we want to hear from you! 🚀 Submit your papers to the Open Source Software Call for Papers and contribute to the collective knowledge of the community. 🌍 Deadline: December 1st.
Jamie Tanna
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#union.
