How I lost my family’s email, recovered most of it, and made sure it wouldn’t happen again
I made some mistakes, it cost me some time and a bit of lost data, and I’ve taken steps to make sure if it happens again I’ll lose less time and less data.
Category Archives: Computers
Today’s example of “everything is shit and there’s nothing we can do about it”
We encounter bits and pieces of micro-shittiness all day, every day, because people don’t care about the quality of their work, people don’t take responsibility for fixing things that are broken, and people don’t think any of it matters, even though it does, very much, actually.
Finally built my own PC, should have done it years ago!
I got a much faster computer for much less than it would have cost if I had bought something pre-assembled.
City of Boston electronic poll books: they DO know what they’re doing!
Boston has robust plans in place to ensure that Poll Pad failures will not compromise an election, but I still have some concerns.
Don’t abuse open-source software maintainers or this might happen
If you abuse me privately, I will name and shame you publicly.
Why software product support is (sometimes) a terrible job
Software maintainers can’t help people who can’t or won’t read and answer straightforward questions, and some people who need help with software are incapable of reading and answering straightforward questions.
Boston Election Department switching over fully to electronic poll-books; I hope they know what they’re doing!
Using electronic poll-books at 275 precincts on election day is a much heavier lift than using them at ten early-voting locations. I hope they’ve covered all their bases!
Notes from migrating Linux to a new hard drive
Migrating a Linux install to a new drive can be easy (Clonezilla) or hard. I chose hard. It was a learning experience.
Prepared remarks: Center for American Progress panel on June 30, 2025
I am slated to appear tomorrow afternoon at a virtual panel hosted by the Center for American Progress entitled “Uniformed Disservice: How Trump’s Agenda Harms Veterans and Service Members“. Below is the outline of my prepared remarks. I encourage you to join me and the other panelists for an informative and challenging discussion.
Honest this time, “Vintage” comics are working now for Comics Kingdom
As far as I know, Comics Kingdom has finally fixed their daily emails well enough to make the comics designated as “Vintage” work properly in the comics aggregator. See the user guide for instructions reading Comics Kingdom in the aggregator. If you notice any comics that aren’t working, let me know.