Ted Gould @ted@gould.cx

Howdy Mastodon!

Engineer working for Axiom.co. Previously I worked on Ubuntu Phone and doing multimedia/TV, almost all consumer electronics.

An Open Source advocate and Ubuntu member. Was a co-founder for Inkscape and now serve on its board.

I think that one mistake I made with my Twitter account was making it all technical, expect this to have more politics and other stuff.

#introduction #introductions

To me, this is the most exciting political story of the decade. The US NEEDS another political party to make it less about keeping score and more about negotiating a future for America.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/us/politics/republicans-third-party-trump.html

Glad to see the term "white identity politics" getting more mainstream use, as I think it helps describe a lot of the current political discourse. I like how this article drills down into the white identity of liberals as well, and how it effects their actions.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-politics-of-white-liberals-and-white-conservatives-are-shaped-by-whiteness/

Seems to me using the Do Not Fly list for people who don't appreciate the rules of flying is appropriate. Perhaps with a nice transparent process for managing it all.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/10/travel/faa-unruly-airline-passenger-fines.html

My medical FSA account provider wants me to "join their community." I can't think of a single reason I'd want to do that. Perhaps interesting discussions on rent-seeking industries created by complex tax legislation?

Engineers are kids licensed to play with bigger toys.

Neat to see the Infinitrap: Rehamstered devs giving away the game for free to Linux users because they love Linux. Giving back to the community takes all forms.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/05/infinitrap-rehamstered-goes-free-for-linux-on-the-snap-store

Noticed that there's a Wikipedia page on drawing with Inkscape that hasn't been updated to Inkscape 1.0. Would be a helpful contribution for both projects! (we won't make you choose which you like more)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_draw_a_diagram_with_Inkscape

Not sure how offices will work in the next few years, but some interesting ideas in this article. Pretty sure that robot balloon wall is going nowhere. I really like the campfire video conference and the team pod concept.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/technology/google-back-to-office-workers.html

In the subpeona here it notes that databases should be provided in the "Excel (*.xls)" format. Considering that, AFAIK, that's undocumented and has no compliance checks – how would you even do that?

https://signal.org/bigbrother/central-california-grand-jury/

Figured out why nothing was working; my Nebula keys had expired. Looked at replacing it with Wireguard but it seems all the infrastructure to make WG into a useful mesh network is proprietary and centralized. Not as cool as I was hoping for.

Good to see Dallas taking a people first instead of a car first approach to transportation. We will see if they're able to really push for it when developers complain, but I'm hopeful.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/transportation/2021/04/28/dallas-approves-first-transportation-plan-to-improve-how-people-travel-in-the-city/

My company's blog published a little interview get-to-know-you post about me: https://www.axiom.co/blog/getting-to-know-ted/

#introductions

Find someone who loves you as much as the FSF loves RMS.

No, wait, that is a toxic relationship. Don't do that. Learn the signs and ensure you're not in one.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/toxic-relationships/201706/the-truth-about-abusers-abuse-and-what-do

Gerrymandering of the courts is a new low. Texas GOP has gone off the rails.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2021/04/01/gop-texas-senators-push-shakeup-of-regional-appeals-courts-in-move-likely-to-reverse-democrats-gains/

Having a teenager makes me amazed the human race has survived this long.

Getting started guide to home automation with Home Assistant.

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1751319

I've been playing with HA and having fun automating some simple stuff.

Fixed the headline: Scientists use lasers to make BACON (Boulder Atomic Clock Optical Network)

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/29/982395425/scientists-get-closer-to-redefining-the-length-of-a-second