My 92 year old aunt: You do the Leenux thing, right? You need to come over sometime and install it for me, because f#ck all I ain't gonna update to Windows 11.
Me: .... ?!#!?
I explain what the change-over entails and that I generally don't recommend it just because...
Aunt: No, f#ck that, f#ck capitalism, my laptop is still fine, so come over and set me up with that Leenux thing.
Before heading to the Hill Country to spend Christmas with my grandparents, I stayed up a little too late packing and writing. This post is a quiet reflection on the past year, family, and trying to slow down even when I am not very good at it.
Eh, pls #boost my request to #getfedihired, if you could spare two clicks? 🥺
I've been humming and hawing about posting this, it feels strange, something about generational guilt & working class shame & ... but it's either this or start putting my CV through LLMs to include every buzzword on the listing I'm applying to. I haven't been able to stomach that, even though I presume that's a lot of my competition.
I simply can't get to an interview. Historically, I've done three interviews and got the job each time, because I'm a real human being who is friendly and chatty and presents himself sincerely (or, that's my guess, anyway).
In #Ireland with my partner, but we've lived in different places and would move happily. I've a year experience doing an IT support role the last year, but have transitioned to this stuff later than usual.
Before I've done: bartender; bicycle courier for Deliveroo in #Berlin for two years (best job ever); private tutor for five years in #Lyon (mostly piano but also maths, Irish, English, flute, tin whistle); bookies clerk for a short period; a few other odd bits - one highlight was writing reviews for a theatre company.
Oh, very comfortably fluent in #French, pretty fluent in #Irish (my first love), and intermediate #German (which I would love to have a chance to go back speaking and learning).
Tech-wise, it's been mostly on the #Linux / #Emacs / #Lisp side of things. I would happily work on anything that is one or more of challenging, interesting, useful, or moral.
Money doesn't rule me. I want to live with a humane level of comfort, that's all.
CVs and references available, DMs open. Thanks so much for any and all help!
We were out shopping at Barrington Mall today and I was surprised to see this big sign saying “Shopping is pointless” next to a photo of a happy woman in a field of flowers.
My first thought was that it’s some surprisingly on point anti-commercialism messaging to see in a mall at Christmas time.
Then I realised that a word was being blocked from view. When I made a few steps to the left, the whole sign reads “Shopping elsewhere is pointless.”
While NV Access enjoy some well earned rest, we may be delayed in replying for the next few weeks. Please do refer to the tips and links in our last In-Process: nvaccess.org/post/in-process-1…
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupAll Too Well (Sad Girl Autumn Version) - Recorded at Long Pond Studios · Taylor SwiftAll Too Well (Sad Girl Autum...
In this edition: - Holiday Season Trading Hours - NVDA with Digitech Reece - World Blindness Summit Presentation - Finding Things
Do check it out, have a wonderful break if you are having time off or a holiday, spend time with loved ones, and we look forward to catching up with everyone in 2026!
On my Christmas tree, I now have two piano ornaments, and Angel playing a pipe organ, and now something that vaguely represents an Arp 2600 from the Pearlman foundation #analog_synthesizers #synth #MusicianLife #christmas #Christmas2025 still working on getting good pictures of my whole tree.
It is a popular mathematical experiment to try and work out just how fast Santa has to be to reach every house with a child in a single 24 hour period.
The calculations always end up with a significant fraction of the speed of light.
There then usually follow discussions about what the collateral damage from Santa's passing would be. And cargo limits, and so on.
All of these are wrong, and ignore another end-of-year tradition. The portrayal of the ending year as an old man.
Now that I've put these two traditions side-by-side, I think you can see what is really going on.
It is possible for one man to visit every house in a night, with no shock waves or any of that silliness. But it comes at a cost.
For that man, the night lasts many years, as he travels back in time after each visit. Even with time travel, he does not get much time to eat - so the snacks you leave out are essential to him surviving the night.
But he only just survives. By the end of the night he will have aged over forty years. And then he hands the reins of the time-travelling sleigh to a younger man, warning him of the cost.
Someone always answers the call, despite the cost, because there is always someone willing to sacrifice everything to bring joy and light, even just a little, even if only for a moment.
So leave the snacks, and, if you catch a glimpse of him, give him a bow of respect. He deserves it.
Did you know that the 1st commercial #Christmas card was a #marketing scheme for a new #postal service?
In the #UK, prior to the 1840s, letters were paid by distance & sheets. This was expensive & poorer households rarely used it.
Some men decided to implement a general rate of 1 penny per letter. While this doubled the letters sent in the 1st year, it was financially bad for the government.
Entrepreneur Henry Cole commissioned the first Xmas Card in 1843. It was a rousing success.
Whatever maniac on #Apple Music's #holiday hits station decided that Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen is a #Christmas#song needs to be fired. Then hired, so that they can be fired all over again! It's not Christmas #music just because it mentions a character from the Bible one time!
Every year around this time, I start tuning into the various #Christmas Music #radio options I have access to. This year, at least for background listening, it seems like Apple Music's Holiday Hits wins Christmas. Decent variety of styles and artists, the promos and transitions are good, and it's ad free. Then, of course, for more intentional listening, my playlist of tens of thousands of rarely played Christmas songs. Other options: iHeart has too many ads and not enough variety, sky.fm hasn't updated the Christmas offering in like 15 years, YouTube Music is just AI generated playlist slop, and all of the public #shoutcast streams I know of are either low sound quality, full of ads, or low variety. LiveOne, as every year, is a close second; good variety, few ads, and that radio sound I enjoy at Christmas. CBC Music and Stingray Music are also good, but unfortunately they have way too many different Christmas channels, resulting in not enough variety on each one, and too many choices for all day work day listening. Where are you getting your Christmas #music this year? #InternetRadio#streaming
Many of the locations of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' can still be seen today. Scrooge's counting house is thought to be in Newman's Court, in the City of London. "The ancient tower of a church" is described, whose "gruff old bell was always slyly peeping down at Scrooge out of a #gothic window." That church has been identified as St Michael's Cornhill, which looms over Newman's Court. In addition, Bob Cratchit heads home via nearby Cornhill, where he "went down a slide" on the ice "at the end of a line of boys, twenty times, in honour of it being Christmas Eve." Scrooge's "usual melancholy tavern" where he takes his "melancholy dinner" is thought to be Simpson's Tavern in nearby Ball Court, which has been trading since 1757. The door knocker which turns into the ghostly head of Jacob Marley was apparently inspired by one in Craven Street, near Charing Cross, where Dickens worked as a boy in a shoe-blacking factory. #Christmas #literature #history #folklore #Yule #books #London
December 1st! You know what that means. Show off your advent calendars! Or other non-denominational calendars full of stuff. I wanna see them!
Here is mine. Hubby filled it with #HazbinHotel cards. Also, one of my best friends made a personlized selection of 24 small surprise items. Can't wait 😊
(Hubby's getting #MtG cards. Kiddo is getting #Pokemon cards. We are a nerd family.)
This Christmas, I've finally bitten the bullet and done some serious contributing to @openstreetmap (and also joined the OSM Foundation while I was at it). Honestly, I think it's one of the great wonders of the #OpenSource internet, so I wrote a blog post about why I'm contributing (and you should too)
Thanks so much to everyone who has voted for their top 10 #holiday songs. We have well over 300 tracks voted for now, and we’re going to play the top 100 in a live 10 hour #Christmas party this Saturday, complete with plenty of fun Mastodon interaction using the #MushroomFM hashtag. I took a sneaky look at the chart as it currently stands, and mate, there’s everything to play for. Things are close enough right now that I wouldn’t guarantee that the song currently at the top of the charts will stay there. So, if you’ve not voted yet, it’s quick and #accessible. We’re honoured to have the chance each year to bring a bit of fun and #festive cheer into the world and look forward to many of our Mastodon friends joining us. Ready to vote? I hope so because you only have until 11:59 PM US Eastern time on Thursday. Then the chart closes and we get to work on putting the live show together. Head over to MushroomFm.com/countdown2023
This festive season give the gift of accessibility with an NV Access donation. Your support ensures we continue delivering life-changing technology to blind and visually impaired people globally. Donations can be made here, nvaccess.org/support-us/#donat…
🎅 Christmas surprise! 🎄 We're giving away secure email inboxes again! 🎁 The perfect opportunity to switch to secure and private email communication. Find out more in our blog! mailbox.org/en/post/christmas-… #christmas #dataprotection #gifts
Nějak začít musíš. A pak je z toho adventní věnec, jehož svíčky postupně rozzáří úsměv. A nebo věnec na dveřích našeho domku, který by rád přivítal lidi dobré vůle. #Advend #zivotvdovce #vanoceseblizi #christmas
Why am I finding all the good #Christmas #music late? I love this so much that I won't give any spoilers. Let's just say this should have been playing in a certain shop around this time of year. No, it's not "Never Gonna Give you up" or any other prank of that nature, but it is pretty funny and cool. youtube.com/watch?v=pDGl2albRH…
