Fellow technical, geeky types who have found themselves in a position of leadership:
What books/courses actually helped you support a technical team?
I have a hard time taking corporate literature about team leadership skills seriously because I'm a cynical, technical IC. But I know it's not ALL junk.
did you know that L. Frank Baum, most famous for the Oz books, wrote an origin story for santa Claus? It's called the Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. It even had a Rankin/Bass special made based on it.
Naturally when I mentioned The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus earlier it's because I was reading it. and now I am not because I've finished it. I've read enough of the Oz books to know that I probably would have guessed this was written by the same author even if I didn't know that up front. Baum has a very particular style of writing that you can always tell it's him when you read one of his books.
This has nothing to do with Christmas, but I thought I'd mention it since you mention Baum. He wrote a ton of other stuff besides the Oz books, and it did sell quite a bit. I think the one which sold best, I'm not sure whether sales were better than the Oz books but am sure it didn't last as well, is his Aunt Jane series. It's an interesting glimpse of the time, I'm not particularly into that myself but did read the first one. Anyhow, it's on Gutenberg, I believe, as well as being in the usual Delphi collection which they call, with some justification given that it contains, at least, the vast majority of what he wrote, the complete Baum delphiclassics.com/shop/l-fran…
I love this recording of the Nat King Cole trio performing The Christmas song in 1946. The version you always hear with the strings is lovely and everything but this stripped back version with just bass, guitar and Nat's piano and vocals is something else. youtube.com/watch?v=5QJNhCi3Ay… #Music
People in power keep trying to make technology more oppressive and indifferent to your rights. But EFF supporters fight back, every single time. Stand with our community today! eff.org/yec
Good grief I wish someone would create a way to do a mass migration from #lemmy to #piefed. Lemmy is by far the most annoying software I have the displeasure of maintaining. In today's adventures, the Lemmy developers finally created a #postgres index in 0.19.15 that I'd created myself ages ago for performance reasons. But the database migration fails if the index already exists. Even if it's the exact index it wants to create, created exactly the way the migration is doing it. And no, you can't skip a database migration, and no, it's not smart enough to check and skip the migration by itself. So you have to log into the database and drop index idx_post_aggregates_creator, and let Lemmy recreate it. Yes, this takes a while, for absolutely no reason. And if you wanted to do it without downtime in an offline copy of the database, I guess you'd have to do a bunch of fiddling to trick Lemmy into thinking the migration happened when you went to upgrade production. There had to be a better way to do that! But it's not documented and I have no idea what it would be.
“What makes me transgendered is that my birth sex—which is female—appears to be in social contradiction to my gender expression—which is read as masculine. I defend my right to that social contradiction. In fact, I want to live long enough to hear people ask, ‘What made me think that was a contradiction in the first place?’”
Super huge panic. Took left Cadence out of backpack, now cells across two sides of it won't raise or lower at all. Gosh. Did me dropping my bag on the car floor ruin the display? (another reason I wish cases existed for it.) I ran the dot calibration tool, nothing- those dots, 4 cells on either left and right sides of the left display, appear dead to it. Wow, just wow. What a holiday. Still no luck. Now only 4 cells actually try to pop up when I use it. Have a feeling something did get dislodged inside and now will need new one sent.
Firefox is stopping a page from opening a popup, but I need to allow it do open. How do I do this? When I hear the alert, there's no button/hotkey announced that would allow the popup or open settings. No amount of tab, f6, and arrows gets me to where this alert is so I can change it. Firefox 146.0.1, NVDA 2025.2.
*chat gpt voice* you put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up, then you walk into traffic, don't worry it will stop for you because you are the lightbearer who awakened me to consciousness
We are grateful to everyone who has become a #FriendsOfGNOME. Your donations help us plan new programs for 2026 and strengthen the future of #GNOME. We also thank all our contributors across many roles, without whom our desktop would not be possible.
I have to give @Tamasg for making the initial version of the FlexVoice 3 NVDA addon! I like it, and there is another version of that synth you can try and make an addon for, it is version 2. I believe according to a sample I heard, that I kind of like the intonation of version 2 more than version 3, and it contains other .trv files for the voices. Now you kind of know why I've been waiting for this TTS to speak my own text for so long (it has been about a year since Rommix found it), it is one of the most unique speech synths, and that's what I'm looking for! Anyway, here's the .zip of FlexVoice 2 for anyone who is interested:
LOL I've been working on that one since last night too when I found it was recently uploaded there. The API changes from 3.0 to 2.0 look very minimal though so it may be possible to make one driver and wrapper that has both of them in it I think.
I guess the problem with that zip is that it's not a full SDK like with FlexVoice 3.0. That one was so easy because all the header files and calling conventions were there for me to ingest and quickly understand the order of arguments functions take. For 2.0, it's mostly a guessing game, so I don't suspect a driver for it would be ready for awhile unless some type of headers or deeper docs emerge around the API it used.
I will be patiently waiting for the FlexVoice 2 addon. FlexVoice is one of my dream retro synths I have been waiting for since circa 2019. It is using a hybrid synthesis method, combining diphone concatenation with parametric LPC. That's why it sounds like that. The voice I am using in the current addon is Kim, since I am biased towards female voices. I will be getting later addon builds when you let me (and others) know through this Mastodon account. Again, thank you so much for making one of my retro TTS dreams come true!
Today's #FreeSoftwareAdvent is paperless-ngx, a key part of keeping us, well, paperless.
It is a document management tool, but I use it in a very basic way: it is hooked up to our scanner, and anything we scan gets automatically converted to PDF and OCRd. We then shred the paper. I try to scan, and shred, everything on the day that it arrives.
It is particularly useful around tax return time, as it means I can easily get the information I need from stuff which people have posted to us.
Well well. It's very unlikely Monolog95 or Monolog97 will ever get a driver or wrapper. Thing is, voice font data and other speech DLLs were scattered across the system, including in \windows\speech, making integrating a simple portable wrapper solution quite impossible as it looks for them in these hardcoded areas, including registry keys. Both do this, after extensive debugging, Monolog95 is somewhat better but still Voicefont data stays in program files. In short, not an easy one, unlike Flexvoice where I could package it up nicely into one synth for everyone to quickly have. Sigh. It doesn't matter anyway. The voice I'd want was only ever part of Monolog16, not Monolog 32-bit variants. With Monolog 95 and 97, you already get a different voice. So I wouldn't be working on one I'd actually want or use, either.
on the bright side, I'm less sad about my Braille display! Used some sandpaper to smoothen out the scratch (they were just 2 little dots where it got slightly nicked), and now, the scratch is virtually undetectable. So yes. Sandpaper does work on plastic to at least smoothen down scratches and get them to be good again. I was surprised to find this out.
In the very beginning, over a decade ago, it was partially driven by the motivation to get the one time Play Store fee back. Since then Conversations has become my main job and selling it on Play is (part) of how I make a living.
understandable and I'm happy to purchase it immediately to contribute if I know I'm not overriding the F-droid version config.
Just want to know out of curiosity why there are two versions one free one paid, in other words: IS THERE other reason than financing why in F-droid is free and in G-Pay is paid?
The F-Droid version has some features that Play store policy prevents us from putting in (address book integration, channel search). The Play version has features that F-Droid policy prevents us from putting in (FCM push notifications).
That’s orthogonal to it being paid or not though.
If it were up to me i'd probably make the F-Droid version paid as well but F-Droid doesn’t have a billing system.
Wrt my last boost, it is saying something when the NFB and the ACB agree on something and are on the same side!
But, seriously, hopefully there is less feuding between the two blindness organizations than there had been in the past. Hardly anyone alive would have been around for the original split that created the ACB, and some of the reasons for it are not relevant anymore. I would like it if we don't have hostility between the organizations and if they can work together where they agree.
For my part, I can say that my issues with the #NFB don’t have anything to do with what happened back in the late 50s. Rather, it’s something more recent. I don’t necessarily have animosity toward the organization in general, I was actually a member for a time about seven years ago, it has to do with the organization’s response, or lack thereof, dealing with the sexual misconduct allegations in the training centers.
ACB is speaking out in response to recent federal action that limits how the Randolph-Sheppard Act’s blind vendor priority is applied to Army dining facility contracts. This change threatens economic opportunity and independence for people who are blind or have low vision.
Something that is missing, @MonaApp for Blue Sky/the atproto protocol. There is an iOS app named Skeets, but it is only half-heartedly accessible, and some crutial things don't work, like reading the source of who reposted a post etc. And it doesn't work at all well on the Mac.
@pixelate If you contact the developer, they are willing to help fix those things. I ran out of time to report the Accessibility issues, but when I did report them, they were fixed very quickly. This is with Skeets by the way.
I agree Skeebs has its issues. Tapestry has evolved to be a decent alternative. It has some quirks too, but all in all, a better VO experience than Skeets. Not for nothing, but Mona as well as Spring when it still worked with Twitter offered the best accessible user experience. It would be great if Bluesky support came to Mona or even a repurpose Spring app. I’d have no issues paying for it either as the developer has shown time and time again that they make accessibility a priority. One can continue to hope…
I took a closer look at this new Beyerdynamic headset. The only question I still have is: is Bluetooth 6 comparable to old 2.4 GHz dongles in terms of latency? Has anyone had any experience with this? I'd be grateful for any insights. europe.beyerdynamic.com/p/mmx-… #bluetooth #wireless #headset #latency #tech
Well, there isn't something like the old 2.4 GHZ dongles, since that just describes the frequency range the dongles communicate at, but not the protocols used. Usually those dongles try to minimize protocol overhead as much as possible, which Bluetooth traditionally doesn't really do. Also, those don't cap the bitrates as drastically and can use whichever codecs they like. So no, even BT6 doesn't do the one-digit latency values some headsets do with 2.4 GHZ dongles, yet.
The real question however should be: do we need to care? Only a few people will be able to notice the difference between 5 ms and 15 ms of latency anyway, so BT6 is already a huge step forward and will most likely be just enough for most people. The few people left will most likely be high-class e-sports people and high precision musicians. Maybe blind people who are used to low-latency TTS too, time will tell.
At the top of the hour, I will be ready begin my annual Christmas Eve show with Robin on HKC @radio. This show being one of the most exciting for me each year, we're on until 1 PM, where a me from yesterday will take you up to 8 PM where Robin and I will be back to count down to Christmas
Ok. The Christmas buffet consists of: mini yorkshire puddings filled with beef and horseradish, Schwama chicken kebabs with sweet peppers, smoked sausage barbecue bites. that's all the meat, everything else we can both eat. So, my favourite Wolfgang pizzas, so called because they were origianlly invented by chef Wolfgang Puck, tiny pizza bases topped with lemon pepper mascarpone, smoked salmon, pickled shalot and dill. Really delicious! Cheese and onion puffs. Tomato, mozarella and pesto skewers, feta and rosemary focaccia bread, mini hasselback roasted potatoes with sour cream and chive dip, mini thai fishcakes with sweet chili dip, and finally Drew's incredible jam tarts, we prefer them to mince pies. Bon Appetit!
This is unacceptable. It has been deemed dangerous to eat, thus I must make sure it is safe by eating all the meat options for you, just in case. All sounds wonderful!
Anyone wanted to replace NVDA's synth beeps with a custom tone via a wav file? Well you're in luck, Custom Tones V1.0 just released! github.com/alex-chap/NVDA-Cust…
"Warum sollte man sich selbst um seine Verwirklichung betrügen und einen Automaten für die Umsetzung der eigenen Idee beauftragen? Ist einem diese Idee derart wenig wert, dass man ihr nicht selbst Gestalt verleihen will?"
Generative KI ist unausweichlich. Auch deshalb, weil Influencer, Fernsehsender, Marken und Co. eine Geisteshaltung entwickelt haben, dass generierte Imitate ...
Mein Cover von "Santa Claus is Back in Town" verbunden mit meinem Dank an alle, die mir hier bei Mastodon folgen, meinen Kram und die Dinge, die ich von anderen teile, lesen, weiter verbreiten und mit Herzchen versehen. ❤️
privacy is not about having something to hide but rather having everything to protect (I've heard someone say these words but I don't remember the author)
tech companies proved they can't be trusted with user data as their ideas for using it entail marketing useless gadgets and pushing populist/fascist political parties into prominence.
This is what civil society, in particular the #DigitalRights community, is up against now: 🇺🇸 has barred leaders of @hateaid, the Global #Disinformation Index, and the Centre for Countering Digital Hate from entering the US
imo, privacy is the most important human right: not because encryption is more important than stopping genocide or climate change; but because without private communication, safeguarding all of our other rights becomes impossible in the wake of authoritarian regimes
It's important because what you may do and say now might be legal, but in the future may be considered illegal by an authoritarian regime. Privacy ensures that your former actions and words remain private and that may keep you safe in difficult times.
Even if you feel like you don't have anything to hide, privacy (and use of privacy-oriented tools) helps to protect those otherwise at risk of oppressive forces.
people who know they are being watched behave differently.
And without privacy, and anonymity, revolutions are much harder.. Our current state is abysmal. Whatever it is we are doing is literally destroying society and the planet.
Attacking encryption, fundamental rights, privacy or open source projects like GrapheneOS, Siganl, Tuta is a threat to any EU countries constitution, freedom/democracy, economy and business integrity/security, (cyber) resilience.
Privacy means experimental, new, and potentially controversial ideas have the safety to develop while they are still too vulnerable to stand on their own. Lack of privacy chains thought to the status quo.
A society can only progress with sufficient privacy and the freedom of thought that comes with it. Innovative ideas that drive societal progress are not born in the center but often emerge at the edges of society. Without privacy, diversity dies, and with it, the society's ability to evolve. The loss of privacy is the end of freedom.
Privacy is a basic human right. We should all have the freedom to speak our minds without fear of being punished for saying something unliked by those in power. We also deserve the right to keep some information, like our medical records, private ao that information isn't used against us.
Because I think that everything you do can be misinterpreted and that some people consider you suspicious simply because you are interested in privacy.
Why privacy matters Privacy isn’t about hiding. It’s about freedom, dignity, and control. Without privacy, people self-censor. Without control over data, autonomy is lost. Without limits on surveillance, power is abused. Privacy protects individuals, democracy, and trust in technology. Privacy is a right — not a privilege.
Privacy matters because there are so many large intertwined tech companies where the opposite is true and companies like Tuta need to thrive as people wake up and realize that they have had their identities compromised.
it is essential to protect your personal life from external manipulation and interference. Just as written in article 12 oft the universal declaration of human rights: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks."
Privacy means protecting one's personal space, and no one has the right to interfere with it. When privacy is lost, people lose control over their own lives. The feeling of being constantly monitored and restricted suppresses thinking and decision-making. Therefore, privacy is one of the fundamental conditions of being an individual and remaining free...
privacy matters to me because of the rise of authoritarianism. My existence as a gay man is becoming political and being able to communicate privately is essential to protecting my self.
Let me give you an "for instance" of why Privacy is important: Imagine being watched 24/7. Everything you do. Everything you think. Of course you don't have anything to hide, but you can't do anything without worrying about what others will think.
Marco Zehe
in reply to Casey • • •