May likes Toronto

When I send my friends funny posts from Mastodon, they don't click it because they think they need an account. The walled gardens have done some massive damage to the foundations of how people interact with the internet.

It took 2 more months to get here after getting stuck in forest fires and lost in transit, but The Psychology of Software Teams is finally here!! @grimalkina@mastodon.social I have a free 6 month access to an e-book version. Let me know if you want it.

In Canadian federal elections, you can show up with just 1 piece of ID, and any piece of mail with your name address on it... including a whole box from a delivery. Pre-registration only speeds up the process. The whole notion of mandatory "registering to vote" is just wildly undemocratic. Like, why is this even legal?

It has been 0 days since May went outside and didn't run into a friend or an acquaintance.

What are you, some kind of salad?

RE: https://beige.party/@mayintoronto/117300745180956725 ... Update: It has been 0 days since May went outside and didn't run into a friend or an acquaintance.

This reads like something the US admin would push out. I feel icky reading it. https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2026/09/15/prime-minister-carney-introduces-new-productivity-mega-deduction tl;dr: Tax cuts for big corpos. #cdnpoli

Say you got a new job, and 10 of your coworkers are actively on the Fedi. They're cool people. The job has problems. Would you: #poll

I would like to point out that the song, We Are Young, is 14 years old. Edit: 15 soon, apparently. You're welcome.

My body is so angry right now. But why? Was it the 2 hours of hilly hiking, or the 3 hours of hilly hiking before those 2 hours? I shouldn't have driven to Tofino after that. At least I got in my second nap. May is bad at pacing. Anyway, this is my favourite photo from today. (It's really hard to get a good photo of big trees.) #MayZoomies

@Amgine@mamot.fr I don't agree with the primary thesis of the article. There were always workaholics. But the people who desired and demanded fulfillment from the work: it was always about a celebration of being great at our craft, and the societally meaningful output at the end of the day from that craft. Software was cool because you could build tools that make certain complex or undesirable tasks simpler, or easier to tackle. The conflict has always existed between building the right tools that solve problems for the customer (buyer and user) against the extractive growth at all cost model, exacerbated by the impossible growth needed to sustain the VC/PE model of endless exits... until your company gets acquired by a megacorp where it goes to die. That was always there. Even the people who loved this work, the goal was always to retire from the capitalistic system early so they can build their own thing on their retirement goat farm. It's just that now, the working conditions are so much worse. The craft feels less like the craft that made this work worthwhile. We have to cope with so much more slop in every direction. We're watching our counterparts throw out basic foundations of good software to adopt AI. Salaries have gone down and retirement is further than ever. Rent and the costs of living extract so much from us that even our relatively cushy salaries now feel like the average middle class living. This has nothing to do with "knowledge work", and everything to do with the broken social contract across every element of society by the ultra rich. And more than ever, tech workers are wondering if their new lower salaries and reduced job security are worth this bullshit.

RACI are bad for your org, m'kay? They're okay for short term, strictly defined projects. Really bad for open ended team collabs. Stop doing it.

We're back!

Bending Spoons just acquired Airtable. https://bendingspoons.com/ Whoever does their messaging is pretty shit at it. Pretty hard to enshittify Airtable more than they've already gone, but if there's anyone who can do it... Just look at that list of companies purchased by Bending Spoons that used to be relevant. https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/bending-spoons-buy-airtable-steep-105538695.html I think it's important to keep an eye on the consolidation of assets in tech. A lot of personal information gets stored on Airtable.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@jplebreton/117021737054965508 Flock started out as a company that tracked vehicle movement without reading license plates (primarily for legal reasons). It also tracks the shape/type/colour/features of your vehicle with its movement. Do not be overconfident about their purported failure rate to read plates, because that's not the only way they're tracking you. DeFlock.

My neck hurts. (Audio recommended, but there is loud wind sounds.) #MayZoomies

And this. #MayZoomies

I'm having a good day. I hope you are too!

@EdwinG@mstdn.moimeme.ca that subtitle is hilarious. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/elections-quebec-voter-information-cards-french-english-9.7346089

@davep@infosec.exchange @darkuncle@infosec.exchange @owen@mastodon.transneptune.net I learned a lot of my craft from IBM, specifically the what not to do.

Victoria, your seagulls walk across the street when the light is green. Wtf.

My neck hurts, part 2. Huge tree! Audio. (Douglas Fir, Cathedral Grove.) #MayZoomies

Privatization of healthcare in Canada. A report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/public-versus-private-health-care-spending-in-canada/ They're a good org. #cdnpoli

@auxonic@ottawa.place Banana Slugs! I almost missed them. I thought they were poop on a rock at first. @chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca #MayZoomies

What a sunset.

How many peacocks are there in this park?! I was going down to the shore to see the sunset, but some genius forgot their sweater and now we're going back to the hotel.

The nice thing about Mastodon is that it'll load eventually even with just 1 bar of service. Photos might not load, but the alt text will!

Goooood morning!

@mhoye@cosocial.ca @dahukanna@mastodon.social They forgot how software's margins work. https://beige.party/@mayintoronto/117050534345392592

@chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca That's incredible! Got a few places I'd hit next time if I come back, but I'm definitely not coming back during the peak season again.

Medcheck, btw.

@sundogplanets@mastodon.social The fixers have found you. You're now the default "will answer questions about Space junk/Kessler syndrome" Canadian scientist.

@EdwinG@mstdn.moimeme.ca @chris@mstdn.chrisalemany.ca Yes! Newfoundland is still the best place to visit, but BC might be the best place to live. I still like Toronto though.

@farah@beige.party Autistic kids are sometimes really difficult to feed because of sensory issues. Maybe that was it?

Pacific time friends, I'm going to miss posting when you're up. ❤️

It's been 3 weeks on the road: Calgary, Drumheller, Fernie, Nelson, Osoyoos, Abbotsford, Vancouver, Courtenay, Ucluelet, Victoria. What a journey, and an excellent adventure to round out 10/10 provinces in Canada, at last! So grateful to have had the opportunity to see so much across this beautiful country, and have met so many lovely and amazing people! It was really nice to meet fedi people, and get to know you beyond what we're willing to post online! Now we're less strangers and yet even more strange!

Is there a Vancouver Island thing that I must try this week while I'm here? I'm thinking more local food things, but I'd be willing to hear you out on other ideas.

@EdwinG@mstdn.moimeme.ca You're gonna die if you don't caffeinate!!

I'm listening to some rich people describe getting a genetic coach. "You know how doctors talk about this one gene and how we can fix that one gene? Well, a genetic coach looks at your body and all your genes holistically!" Uhhhhhhhhh.

@EdwinG@mstdn.moimeme.ca It's soooo nice outside!!

@jensilber@mastodon.social I don't think there's anything I brought that'd be High Tea fancy lol.

@sundogplanets@mastodon.social You probably can't take money for this anyway, as an employee of the university. @brunogirin@mastodon.me.uk

@PhoenixSerenity@beige.party @kaosk@mastodon.social raw limpets are like chewy, bitter uh... Abalone? The salty seawater helps a lot.

@pinhman@humanwords.party huh. I'm not familiar.