@waldoj@mastodon.social
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waldoj

@waldoj@mastodon.social

Thought follower. Male software developer. Works at U.S. Digital Response and the Biden administration. Alumnus of 18F, the Obama White House, Georgetown's Beeck Center, the Biden-Harris Transition Team. Speaks only for self.

Profile photo created by Stable Diffusion.

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

waldoj, to random
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Kudos to my Austin hotel for their great , specifically this sliding shower head. At 6’3” (190 cm), showers usually hit me in the chest. This one was easily adjusted up to the right height.

waldoj,
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OTOH, the same hotel provided this questionable . I’m not sure what they’re trying to communicate here and I don’t care to think about it.

waldoj, to random
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I got a sweet new laptop sticker that memorializes one of my talking points about how governments should fund software development.

waldoj, to random
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Something u learned the hard way as a child is that magnets are very bad for computers. But are they anymore? Floppy disks and CRTs were damaged by magnetic fields. Is there anything left in computers (or phones) that is harmed by magnetic fields of a consumer strength?

waldoj, to random
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I am increasingly doubtful that AmEx’s Centurion Lounges actually exist. No matter when I fly—early morning, late at night, the middle of the day—the app always says they are full, in all airports. This is a benefit to me in the same way that AmEx offers me discounts at resorts in, like, Bali.

waldoj, to random
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People aren’t joking. I participate in these conversations regularly. Trump promises to be a dictator who will exact retribution against those who have opposed him. For those likely to be in his crosshairs, it would be foolish not to have a plan B. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/05/us/politics/trump-biden-election-dc.html?unlocked_article_code=1.pk0.-TX0.f56Aecr65d-K&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

waldoj, to random
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This narrative is the same for every violent clash at protests in the past ~seven years (maybe longer, idk): a leftist group is peacefully protesting, a right-wing group shows up and openly assaults the protesters for hours, and police watch and do nothing. At this point it’s a playbook being run by the violent right and police in implicit coordination. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/03/us/ucla-protests-encampment-violence.html?unlocked_article_code=1.pU0.AUdX.RBfy685XvxHg&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

waldoj, to random
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The words to "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" make more sense if you know that it's probably a bowdlerized version of "Do Your Balls Hang Low?” It dates to about 1900, and was a marching song for British soldiers in WWI. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Your_Ears_Hang_Low%3F

waldoj, to random
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I’m reading a history of the development of the transistor, and I’m struck by the fact that some of the most important quantum physics research in the world was happening at Bell Labs, in the 1930s and 1940s, in service of improving telephony.

Is there any equivalent of this today? Is any major corporation funding Nobel-winning basic scientific research as a routine business practice?

waldoj, to random
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The New York Times is starting to suspect this Trump guy doesn't believe the laws should apply to him!

waldoj,
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At no point in this article does Haberman acknowledge that this isn't hypocrisy from Trump—it's simply fascism. She describes his position as a "paradox," ignoring the obvious, simple, widely-acknowledged reality that Trump believes that the law exists to protect him, but not bind him.

I think the nation's paper of record should employ political reporters who are not confused by obvious things. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/30/us/politics/trump-biden-president-immunity.html?unlocked_article_code=1.oU0.l3HF.AMqNYn3btCQZ&smid=url-share

waldoj, to random
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For a small fee, the law is optional.

waldoj, to random
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I think the new government windmill I should tilt at is outsourcing project management organizations (PMOs) for tech projects.

Agencies will do anything to avoid actually having any control or oversight over their most important work. Hired a vendor for $100 million to overhaul mission-critical software? Might as well hire another vendor for $20 million to manage the project. Who in government has the job of actually making sure that $120 million is well spent? Nobody!

waldoj,
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What they say: "We don't have the knowledge or staffing to oversee a $100 million project.”

What I hear: “We're putting $100 million in a pile and burning it.”

waldoj,
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Over the decades, government has moved to a model of outsourcing a huge, huge amount of its mission. Government staffing has been so throughly hollowed that there's nobody left who actually understands what the vendors are doing. So the mission just gets handed to some company, who DGAF if it succeeds (they get paid either way; heck, they get paid more if it fails, so they can rescue it), and nobody’s able to provide any oversight.

This is bad! We should stop!

waldoj, to random
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Well, somebody finally did it—somebody accidentally mailed their cat to Amazon in a return box. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/29/us/amazon-package-cat-utah-california.html?unlocked_article_code=1.oE0.BSjr.ZFLnMFiqsC4E&smid=url-share

waldoj, to random
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Oh come ON
https://botsin.space/@rejectedplates/112349558036993971

waldoj, to random
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I switched my newest bot away from botsin.space yesterday morning, because the server had gotten slow and I was worried its popularity was making things worse. It turns out it was causing the problem! 😳

I think I folks with popular Mastodon accounts need to be cognizant of the load we’re placing on our host instances, donating to help with server costs and asking the operators if we are becoming a burden.
https://botsin.space/@muffinista/112343734074287163

waldoj, to random
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It would be wrong to make a Gmail extension that would open all new emails with this bot’s most recent post.
https://mastodon.social/@thisemailfindsyou/112349341415799487

waldoj, to random
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“I should have the power to silence others’ speech, and if anybody complains, that’s cancel culture.”

😒 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/28/us/littleton-new-hampshire-mural.html?unlocked_article_code=1.n00.3AXM.sYAbpX2l9J8A&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

waldoj, to random
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A real thing everyone in the U.S. did straight through the nineties was have their social security number printed on their checks. We would just hand out pieces of paper with our name, address, phone number, bank account info, and SSN.

waldoj, to random
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About once a quarter, the New York Times rediscovers that Trump is a fascist, but then forgets and certainly doesn’t mention it in any of their horserace coverage. Anyway, today’s the day; happy spring. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/27/magazine/trump-rallies-rhetoric.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nk0.v0lE.6Dts1p0G-ryT&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

waldoj, to random
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On the drive home from seeing the eclipse, my family stayed in a really gross hotel, but it was late and the last available hotel in that small West Virginia town. They sent me a survey about my stay, which I completed. In response, the hotel manager accused me of lying and banned me from his squalid hotel. 😑

Nothing good has ever come from me providing honest negative feedback in post-purchase surveys. Never.

waldoj,
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A decade ago I had a bad experience at a car-rental place. Corporate sent me a survey a week later, I gave honest feedback, and within minutes a low-level employee from that rental location was on the phone with me, pleading with me to “make it right.” It was mortifying.

These surveys are all downside for employees and seem to be all downside for customers, too.

waldoj, to random
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If you're familiar with Talking Heads' cover of "Take Me to the River," but you've never heard Al Green's original recording, do yourself a favor and listen to it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FBUgdhxe9M

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