@jmac@masto.nyc
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jmac

@jmac@masto.nyc

I live in New York. I get paid to write about databases. I don’t get paid to write about other stuff, but I do it anyway.

Tech writer at Google; Co-founder of IFTF, an interactive-fiction nonprofit; Liker of coffee, cats, open web technologies, et cetera. Co-admin of https://masto.nyc.

All views I express in my personal posts are my own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Five Borough Fedi Project.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

jmac, to random
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Running your own services on the public internet can bring years—maybe even a lifetime—of joy, purpose, and connection. It also requires continuous attention and care, at least a little bit every day, even when you don't feel like it.

I believe in the philosophy that encourages folks to explore the option of owning their own digital resources, but I wonder if we under-emphasize how it's more like adopting a puppy than like getting into woodworking.

https://infosec.exchange/@jerry/111960061005061691

jmac, to random
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My summary of an ad-hoc meeting of Fediverse admins held earlier this week to discuss last weekend's crisis. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zo0GMIis_4KGLDRqfTH_pOE3p5zb86-KwSlrpNvHJ0Y/edit?usp=sharing Includes links to investigations into what on earth that was all about, as well as ongoing mitigation efforts from the global fedi community.

jmac, to random
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Among the other uses of employees: You can regularly burn handfuls of them like incense on the altar. The scent pleases the gods. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/19/business/stock-market-record.html

jmac, to random
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In 1992, American country megastar Tammy Wynette lent her vocals to a hit electronic dance track by the Discordian-infused lunatics of The KLF. She applies her complete and most sincere talent to lines like “They're justified, and they're ancient, and they drive an ice cream van”, and she also stars in its amazing video, which I'm not sure I saw before today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP5oHL3zBDg

jmac, to random
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If you know someone at Microsoft who would be interested in the grand opportunity for preservation that today's merger has—as a side effect!—granted the company, please get in touch with me, @zarfeblong, or another @IFTF person. (I stepped down from IFTF leadership earlier this year, but I'm still active within it.)

Here is Zarf's plea to Microsoft to do the right thing with its newly (if perhaps accidentally) acquired Infocom IP: https://blog.zarfhome.com/2023/10/microsoft-consumes-activision

jmac, (edited ) to random
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In "Running Up that Hill", Kate Bush wants to:

jmac, to Health
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My New Year's gift to you is a writeup of what I learned after having four colonoscopies last year. I’ll be honest, I mostly just got good at preparing for colonoscopies.

But this might be of interest to you, especially if you're over 45 and you're looking for new and exciting New Year's resolutions to make.

https://fogknife.com/2023-12-31-my-colonoscopy-strategies.html

jmac, to random
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Actually feel happy with how this crisis has been playing out. Fedi was knocked off-balance for a few days, then pulled together rapidly with shared information that admins can apply quickly.

This has been an important resilience test for a young but increasingly visible and truly federated social media network. it's just as well that the cause was spillover from some dumbasses having a discord fight. The incident feels like a vaccine against far more dangerous future attacks.

jmac, to random
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Whew! Some flurries blowing around thick right now.

Remember, keeping Fedi clean is a team effort: report every spam post you see, and forward it to the spammer's own server. Most Mastodon clients let you do all this with a click or two!

Server admins like me really do appreciate all reports, even when it's just sweeping up some garbage like this.

jmac, to random
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My decades-long friend and colleague Zarf (@zarfeblong), with whom I have co-founded many projects in the world of and digital games, just got laid off.

This means that you have the opportunity to hire one of the most creative, empathetic, diligent, and wide-ranging minds in the field of software-driven narrative.

It's important to me that you consider the possibilities that this opens up for your game studio.

https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@zarfeblong/110350856731970867

jmac, to random
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It’s okay not to have strong feelings about current events that do not directly affect you.

jmac, to random
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All I want for Christmas is for you to recommend some comics I can load onto my iPad to see me through 11 hours of air travel tomorrow.

jmac, to queer
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Meanwhile in Chelsea, my employer wishes all our neighbors a happy Pac-Pride.

jmac, to random
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If you’re backing away from X—or have cut it from your life completely—take a moment to de-authorize it from all your game consoles and Discord accounts and smart fridges and such. A small act of cleansing that feels good.

jmac, to random
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Wrote a tour through "The Book of Apshai", a most unusual and personally formative computer game manual from 1985.

https://fogknife.com/2023-05-31-the-book-of-apshai-a-personal-exegesis-.html

jmac, to random
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I expected to see this in the iOS health app after my most recent birthday, and I was not disappointed. By selfishly refusing to die, I have gone from Borderline to Above Average in my cardio fitness through no additional effort, nice.

jmac, (edited ) to random
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I'm happy to see https://mastoart.social/ come online! Coincidentally with my recent sigh about rare artists here…

Its About page states that it is actively moderated, and server-blocks bad actors, but defederates from whole servers only in extreme cases. This positions it distinctly from a certain well-known art-focused server that has earned a reputation of enthusiastic defederation. That certainly works for some, but it makes others feel alienated.

And this is Mastodon working as it should!

jmac, to VideoGames
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Join @dougo and I Friday night at 8 PM Eastern as we play “The Little Match Girl 2: Annus Evertens”, a text adventure game by @rcveeder!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qFJ-RAmljE

jmac, to random
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I forgot who I heard it from (was it you?) but I like this piece of advice for folks who are aunts/uncles/mentors/whatever to modern younguns:

The kids you know are not interested in treating you like you're one of them. This is because you're not one of them.

Here's what you can be for them, uniquely: a grown-up who they can trust not to be weird about whatever it is they do share with you. Aim for that.

jmac, to random
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I did the thing! I urge my fellow Americans to please join me in exercising our regular civic duty today, even if your ballot is boring. Every community—yours and mine, too—needs regular small nudges to stay on track. Take a few minutes today and be that nudger, please!

jmac, (edited ) to Steamdeck
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Finished Chants of Sennaar. Such a lovely experience that ran me around a dozen hours. It was my wind-down game after a hard day of touristing, all last week.

As @laurajnash noted on the latest @shortgame, it projects an unflagging mood of hope and positivity. The hero is a brave mender of fractured societies, not a vanquisher. The game is no less compelling for it. I love the light that it casts.

It's on all platforms; I played on , where it runs great.

jmac, to random
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Seeing cool indie art on Mastodon is sufficiently rare that I have bought just about every single even mildly interesting comix zine I see hawked in the fediverse over the past year. If I notice a link to your weird zine here then at least one dingaling in NYC will order it probably.

jmac, (edited ) to VideoGames
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Every time I see the full title "Return of the Obra Dinn" I think "Whoa, there's a sequel to Obra Dinn?!"

jmac, (edited ) to random
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Good mail day: Got my copy of "The Paradox" by @elainemwill

jmac, to random
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Writing some for the first time in years.

This is where I am:

• Mojolicious, subroutine signatures, and “->@*" deferencing syntax: ✅

• Honey, no, it's “\n”, not “/n”: ❌

jmac,
@jmac@masto.nyc avatar

The best three things I've learned from and Perl culture, over the decades:

• A technology is only as usable as its documentation.

• A technology is only as trustworthy as its test suite.

• Regular expressions are good, actually.

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