@raganwald@social.bau-ha.us @ilovecomputers@xoxo.zone
I'm coming to believe that the Internet as we knew it from say 1990 to 2010 was the anomaly. Nothing that powerful or that useful can survive as a public good in a capitalist system.
Remote
Brian MacDonald
@bmac@jawns.club
mastodon 4.7.3Technical writer, editor, speaker, manager, currently slinging docs at Temporal.io. Former DigitialOcean, Pragmatic, O'Reilly. Philly native. Likely to get nerdy about Lego, roller coasters, role-playing games, Doctor Who.
497 Followers
392 Following
23 Posts
Joined December 30, 2022
Pronouns:
he/him
Site:
macdonaldeditorial.com
I know there's not many coaster fans on fedi, but last night I experienced the Voyage with no trims, and I am a believer
Went to #NoKings in West Chester, PA.
Parked on the street about a half-mile away and walked in, which turned out to be smart.
Stood on the sidewalk across the street from the courthouse, because that was the only spot I could find.
Couldn't see much because there were lots of people with signs.
Couldn't hear much because of all the supporters in cars honking.
Couldn't tell how many people were there, because I was in the middle.
Doesn't matter. I stood up.
Watching "For All Mankind" while there's an actual rocket with humans on it headed to the moon...
I've only been at #WriteTheDocs for half a day, and I've already had so many interesting conversations. I even ended up talking documentation *on the walk over,* before the conference even started.
I love this conference, and this community, so very much
The Hugo Awards finalists have been announced, and I once again find myself looking at the nominees and seeing names of friends, and friends-of-friends. And that is seriously strange.
Not strange that they got nominated; that's normal. They're awesome, they're talented, and they've put in the work. They deserve to be where they are. But I wonder what the hell I did in my life that I get to associate with people that talented.
I had to call my homeowners insurance company today. I had a couple of questions, and depending on the answers, I might want to make some adjustments. Needless to say, I was dreading this.
It went great.
Once I got to a human, she took the time to explain the policy breakdown, answered my questions thoroughly, and helped me make an adjustment that lowered my bill substantially.
I can't guarantee this experience for everyone, but for today: nicely done, Assurant-a-subsidiary-of-Geico.
Security System: Fault reported! Motion sensor has condition "low battery"!
Me: Yeah, OK.
Security System: Alert! The motion sensor reports it has been tampered with!
Hello, credit-card company. Thank you for your concern. I'm aware that my credit card usage jumped this month. I had a rather expensive car maintenance appointment at the beginning of the month, and then some expensive yard work at the end. Unfortunately, they both fell within the same billing cycle.
I'm aware that this happened. This is what I have a credit card FOR. I do not require credit counseling, nor a free webinar on credit management.
Replying to
@andrew@esq.social @quillmatiq@mastodon.social We want you in the office until the moment we replace you with a machine. Then we want you to leave immediately.
Machine never complains about having to be in the office....
Replying to
@chrisjrn@social.coop Happy to recommend you for anything on here: https://temporal.io/careers#become-a-temporalite
We're doing a lot of hiring these days.
Packing for a trip.
Consulted my "packing checklist."
✅ toothbrush
✅ toothpaste
🎵 a flannel for my face...
Goddammit. Every time.
Replying to
@parisba You very well might. I got seven, because they mailed my co-authors at my home address.
Replying to
@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social "Bananas" Georg, who lives in tree & eats over 1,000 each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted
Replying to
@evanprodromou I love that people are still having the same experience with their O'Reilly book covers. As an editor, I got pretty good at guiding authors to a suggestion that was broad enough to allow Design to do their thing, but still make the author happy. One of my favorites was "Building Microservices." Sam said he wanted "a small thing that makes big things," and that's exactly what Design delivered.
Replying to
@sashag Oh yeah, definitely feeling this. Or at least, feeling this looming on the horizon waiting to overwhelm me.
"Fortunately," my personal life is currently messed up enough that combined with a challenging work situation, I'm mostly able to tell myself that avoiding the news is necessary right now for my continued functioning.
But I secretly hate myself for being able to do that. And I know this isn't sustainable.
Replying to
@rjbs@social.semiotic.systems The show is half exploration drama, half soap opera, no doubt about that. And it hasn't always stayed balanced. Nevertheless, I can't quit it.