Steven Deobald

i missed the nov two's complement and as i listen to it on the plane, i can't help but think about the simpson's "your duty is clear" speech youtube.com/watch?v=rkg3wZ… as always, a good episode: twoscomplement.org

please help create a beautiful new logo for @openstreetmap ! wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/State_of_…

revised "LocalFirst: You Keep Using That Word" based on feedback from @ju@chaos.social and @logosity@discuss.systems and others: deobald.ca/essays/2026-01… more feedback welcome! this essay was a little slapdash but it's been bumping around my head for most of 2025.

localfirst: you keep using that word deobald.ca/essays/2026-01…

@nirbheek @shinboson hey i'm pretty sure this conversation wasn't 2006 ;)

@shinboson I've been making that argument! Just not in public because unfortunately this is not the website for discourse such as that. I've been consistent in this belief since 2006.

highly annoyed that nobody has taken the obviously morally defensible and coherent position that AI is stealing but stealing is good because intellectual property is immoral to begin with

you're welcome. merry christmas. get your wife a swatchwatch.

in 2011, i "released" an xmas album with some friends as a joke. it's no longer on itunes, but it's apparently still on spotify and amazon music, uh, australia. someone claimed the band name "calgary" so spotify no longer works. but if you're in oz: music.amazon.com.au/albums/B006QT1…

@hargup13 hey dude. yup. i don't check twitter often and i plan to check it less often in the future. drop me a note on signal. :)

@deobald Hello 👋🏻, back?

off to a 30-day vipassana course tomorrow. goodnight, internet. see you all on november 20th.

in the meantime, i am still looking for f/oss work — preferably in or around the linux desktop. if you liked the changes i made to the @gnome foundation in the few months i was there, email me.

codes of conduct are essential. but self-appointed committees need to be rethought or the nixos situation will just keep happening.

it's very weird to me that so many free software projects have somehow allowed themselves to install a self-appointed judge dredd. of *course* that's going to be full of bias and inevitably weaponized.

i've been thinking about code of conduct committees a lot recently, and i'm increasingly of the opinion that nick has the right idea here: youtu.be/iMqpm2Ahmt0?t=…

i spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about this tweet: @jessamyn/113805205493443384" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">glammr.us/@jessamyn/1138… like, every day. i want my job to be whatever it takes to accomplish this goal.

@timrgoodwin @rahulj51 @atbrakhi related: been bouncing around the idea of a "hacker village" again. it seems many of us are still ready to move out of cities but don't want to be alone/disconnected. build-from-scratch gives total freedom of location. claim-a-village provides existing infra (sewer, water, etc.)

@timrgoodwin @rahulj51 @atbrakhi @rahulj51 spent the last week upgrading my solar setup and this popped back into my mind. if you still spend time in india regularly, this would be very doable. rent a homestay in coorg and you're all set.

A Vipasana retreat. But for programmers and creatives. 5 days of zero talking or contact with the outside world. No networking, pitching, showcasing. No games or gimmicks. Limited internet access for two hours a day. Healthy satvic food. Plenty of nature all around.

"we don't like your fake plastic money or your free healthcare, so we're going to pay you less as punishment." cute that the numbers are lower _in canadian dollars_ like they're going to sneak the 32% paycut in there unnoticed 😂

that michael dell, thoughtfully doing #endof10 marketing for them. what a guy.