Blaise Alleyne @balleyne@floss.social

In August 2018, I noted on Twitter: "10 years ago, at 21, I was so eager for upgrades and new software that I ran Ubuntu releases months before the release date. Now, at 31, I shudder when Ubuntu prompts me to upgrade from one LTS to the next."

Today, feeling this right now. Had to restart (rare), and now under Debian Stable, Thunderbird ESR now has new icons and UI changes? Argh. I'm getting old.

Why It’s Time to Reboot Canada’s Failed Digital Agenda
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MichaelGeistsBlog/~3/FUmp2f4cZ4Y/

Frye says the lyric poem is written because the progression of time has been blocked. The poet has to write about it to return to the world of time.

I heard that in Sam Tudor's Turtle Song: "I think about it every day, like this is where it all went wrong. I need to put it back somehow. I need to put it in this song."

The lyric attempts the impossible - to stop time - and Sam stopped time for me. This folk orchestra cover is an attempt to return to the world of time:
https://blaise.ca/blog/2020/09/30/turtle-song-sam-tudor-cover/

Summer project - a Weezer cover with the kids: https://youtu.be/-jMSGi66seM

Some computer science thoughts on COVID-19:
https://blaise.ca/blog/2020/09/14/complex-systems-are-not-always-common-sense-some-computer-science-thoughts-on-covid-19/

Thought provoking essay, but I don't understand why Cory Doctorow believes software freedom is like icing on the cake - instead of the recipe. When understood as a recipe, it's clear that software freedom is necessary, but not sufficient, for freedom. https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

I'm currently yak shaving by reading the Ardour manual - but I'm loving it. After taking some software agnostic courses from the Recording Revolution, so much more of the manual is starting to make sense...

Working on my first mix since going through REThink Mixing and Mixing University from RecordingRevolution.com and even just the first couple hours feels amazing.

I feel way more confident, like I have a plan, and I feel like I've unlocked 5% more from my DAW already. Which is super impressive, because Graham uses ProTools but teaches in a software agnostic way, and I'm in Ardour.

10/10 would recommend.

So... naming a branch "master" is offensive now? Isn't that word used in many different contexts? Should academic degrees be renamed too? https://sfconservancy.org/news/2020/jun/23/gitbranchname/

Grateful for DrumGizmo and the ability to record with MIDI drums

The attack on Section 230 will backfire:
https://blaise.ca/blog/2020/05/30/the-attack-on-section-230-will-backfire/

Why do Moodle and WordPress have non-free Android apps? Discovered barriers to both in the same day today... Am I naive to expect better from these projects?

Just discovered https://invidio.us and https://nitter.net - non-tracking front-ends to YouTube and Twitter! <3

Not sure if this is weird or helpful, but I put together a list of the main free software applications I rely on every day: https://blaise.ca/code/

Today, I laid 13 years of custom code to rest, and moved my https://blaise.ca/ from partial WordPress (only the blog) to full WordPress, with a relaunch. RIP fragile PHP includes, weird XSLT/XML transformations, and non-responsive half-Bootstrap implementation. I'll actually miss adding new events to an XML file though...

I would have never thought of using spellcheck as a tool for verifying data integrity: https://xkcd.com/2298/

Jitsi Meet FTW, using the Android client for the first time

Installation of Jitsi Meet and the video bridge for WebRTC video conferencing? Piece of cake! Installation of Jigasi for SIP / telephony connections? Kill me now.