@vasta@phire.place
@vasta@phire.place avatar

vasta

@vasta@phire.place

Real-life Paddington Bear

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NunavutBirder, to worldwithoutus
@NunavutBirder@mas.to avatar

So, this was released today. My third stamp with Canada Post. Qarlinngua (The pants). And technically my second stamp with a family member in it, as the tiny figure in it is my son Travis. Now for one with Hilary in it.

I’ve very proud of all of these, beyond the cache. They are about my home, and family. And also my family has a long history with the Post Office, 101 years. My grandfather, father, and brother were all postmasters in Roblin.

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@NunavutBirder This is beautiful! I’m definitely going to pick some up next time I’m at the post office.

vasta, to random
@vasta@phire.place avatar

Working in an organization that has adopted Teams as its primary communication tool (though our department still uses Slack), this piece on “Why does Teams make us feel so disconnected?” by Martha Edwards is remarkably astute: https://www.marthaedwards.ca/why-ms-teams-is-not-a-good-alternative-to-slack/

geekingirl, to random French
@geekingirl@mastodon.social avatar

Why aren’t doctors direct employees of the government? Am I missing something? Was that lobbying to protect income potential? How did we socialize health care without employing the people who deliver it?

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@geekingirl As someone married to a doctor, I’d heartily raise my hand for her to be a salaried government employee. It costs so much to do all the things involved in running a separate business (plus unmeasurable paperwork that takes away from time they could be delivering care) that the income differential would probably be negligible, if not positive.

vasta, to random
@vasta@phire.place avatar

Anyone know of any reputable bail funds for students arrested at Columbia and other student protests?

vasta, to random
@vasta@phire.place avatar

Love this: “if capitalism needs women to be quiet, then women talking is one key to ending capitalism.”

Another great post by @aworkinglibrary: https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/gather-your-gossips

phire, to random
@phire@phire.place avatar

holy shit the Ontario Digital Service is dead https://www.reddit.com/r/OntarioPublicService/s/wWeyISBlG7

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@phire Yeah, has been an interesting week so far.

phire, to random
@phire@phire.place avatar

It’s weird how much I’ve just fallen out of the habit of posting. I just forget that it’s a thing I used to do all the time!!! Anyway I’ve had a new cat for about a month, her name is Calliope and she is a perfect angel.

A doofy tabby cat laying sideways against my stomach and staring into the camera, ears akimbo and looking bewildered. Behind her I am leaning against the couch and smiling at the camera.

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@phire She’s adorable!

fraying, to random
@fraying@xoxo.zone avatar

Today I got to participate in a conversation about Blocking in social spaces with a bunch of smart people including Sydette Harry and Georgia Bullen, organized by @danhon for his Hallway Track series. As usual for me in these things, I had way more thoughts than I had time to bring up, so I’m writing a few of them down here.

https://powazek.com/posts/3591

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@fraying Thanks for sharing this. Really underlines the importance of having good community management.

davidreevely, to random
@davidreevely@mastodon.social avatar

Anita Anand is the minister in charge of filling vacant digital jobs in the federal government (while spending less) and setting rules for the public service's use of AI.

Here's my interview with her. The asterisk in the headline is ... well, you'll see.

https://thelogic.co/news/the-interview/anita-anand-on-her-search-for-30000-digital-workers-to-revamp-the-federal-government/

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@davidreevely @sboots I’m still surprised when I run into people that don’t know Sean. I feel like everyone should know him by now.

fraying, to random
@fraying@xoxo.zone avatar

Barriers to entry, even very low ones, are still the secret sauce of good internet community.
https://www.jwz.org/blog/2023/12/replies/

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@fraying I never would have thought that where the posting form was put would make such a difference, but you’re right! We’ve gone from a convention where responses were after the content to one where the response has primacy over the content, and the level of discourse reflects that subtle change. Great observation.

aaronsnow, to random
@aaronsnow@mastodon.social avatar

"Inbox Zero" is unattainable, a fantasy to me, but for a similar thrill may I recommend "Suitcase Empty" within minutes of returning home from a trip

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@aaronsnow A habit I picked up from when I used to travel a lot for work was to always unpack within the hour of returning home (and start the laundry) or I knew I’d never get around to it. Still like that; my wife found it baffling at first but now loves it.

kissane, to random
@kissane@mas.to avatar

Some Personal News

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@kissane Adorable! Congrats!

collin, to random
@collin@ruby.social avatar

Do you have a blog? Tell me about it and I'll boost it. I'm looking for more good feeds to follow.

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@collin I’ve got one that has been going for about twenty years! I don’t update much these days, but I’m still proud of it. https://www.inthemargins.ca/

evacide, to random
@evacide@hachyderm.io avatar

I have often wondered why, when stores close, landlords leave the spaces empty for years at a time instead of lowering rents. The answer, apparently, is banks often won't let them:

https://www.businessinsider.com/bank-financing-urban-planning-pandemic-retail-apocalypse-vacant-storefront-2023-10

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@evacide As someone who lives in a city where seemingly half of all downtown storefronts are boarded up, this explains a lot. Thanks for sharing.

kissane, to random
@kissane@mas.to avatar

If you were going to read a series of let’s say four absurdly long but tightly connected posts about internet things, what kind of publication rhythm would suit you best? Publish every few days? Once a week? Something else?

(“All at once” is a fine answer and would be good to know, but would be impractical for me, fwiw.)

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@kissane Weekly is a good cadence for me; allows me to read it when I can concentrate deeply, and lets me reflect between posts.

BlackAzizAnansi, to random
@BlackAzizAnansi@mas.to avatar

Twitter expats - What are your most wholesome memories from Twitter? Mine would probably be the time that Donald Glover's dad liked my tweet which said "The only Donald that we acknowledge is Donald Glover" a few months before he passed.

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@BlackAzizAnansi Tweeted about the dream of Desus & Mero hosting my birthday party and Desus replied back that he’d do it if the price was right. :)

mathowie, to random
@mathowie@xoxo.zone avatar

Every morning in 2023 I’ve woken up and asked myself is the Barbie movie out yet? And this week I can’t believe the answer is finally gonna be yes

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@mathowie We could only get a babysitter for Monday and bought our tickets a month ago and even those were 80-90% full when we bought them!

anildash, to random
@anildash@me.dm avatar

it is very surreal to see a group of young desi people out & about and realize that I am now just one of the random uncles in the community

vasta,
@vasta@phire.place avatar

@anildash OMG I just realized that I, too, am now one of those uncles in the community. When did that happen!

phire, to random
@phire@phire.place avatar

deleted_by_author

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    vasta,
    @vasta@phire.place avatar

    @phire It was amazing. I saw this last month and had to go back to revisit it: https://tilde.zone/@daveshea/110337299027050269

    vasta, to random
    @vasta@phire.place avatar

    Just found out a close friend of mine—someone I thought the world of—died a few days ago. I’m gutted. Apologies if I’m a little weepy for the next little while.

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