SecondJon @SecondJon@qoto.org

When reading Ready Player One I realized that my first programming was as a kid editing programs on a TRS-80 (or something similar). First among our friends to have a desktop at home where we'd dial into our local #BBS to play games, chat, and message with people from around the world, back when it didn't seem so creepy when you'd be asked "a/s/l" regularly.

Later with the Internet I wondered why companies were buying up and shutting down services like WBS and Geocities, and was sad that what we had left was corporately driven social media mega sites.

I've been doing software development for decades, professionally since my first year of undergrad where I studied #linguistics; but I think my real work is problem solving to make people's lives easier/better, software is just the tool I'm skilled with to do that.

I chose the QOTO instance because the rules seem open and free and friendly, the way the web should be... and because of the idea of helping bridge the gap and bring people of supposed opposite sides together to connect rather than be polarizing.

Exploring Mastodon, feels a bit like the pre-MySpace/Facebook/Twitter online world before the largest corporations took control and monetized us all, when we had our local #BBS or even online days with WBS chat and the like.

Liking it so far, appreciate the rules of the qoto.org instance

Thanks for the welcome, #@freemo Here's my #introduction .

I'm...
• a dad of a handful of kiddos, married, living in Colorado.
• a Christian in the Anglican tradition, and suppose I'm an unaffiliated conservatarian.
• a reader, working through the great novels as well as easier/fun books and nonfiction.
• a card and board game player and am happily teaching more to my kids as they get older.
• short on free time. I enjoy a philosophical pipe as I read and/or reflect, and occasionally get my guitar or bow/arrows out to learn new skills.
• a software developer... and have been for a very long time, now in the world of APIs and cloud development (CRM/SFDC).

#uspol #jobs
Record 158,803,000 Americans employed

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday that 158,803,000 Americans are employed — a new record, and the 25th such new record since President Trump took office.

https://disrn.com/news/record-158803000-americans-employed

New personal #running record today, ran 18 miles /29 km and it was so cold I had icicles on my eyebrows!

Vegetarian and “Healthy” Diets Could Be More Harmful to the Environment

“Eating lettuce is over three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon,” [per calorie]

"... eating the recommended 'healthier' foods — a mix of fruits, vegetables, dairy and seafood — increased the environmental impact in all three categories: Energy use went up by 38 percent, water use by 10 percent and GHG emissions by 6 percent."

https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2015/december/diet-and-environment.html

#diet #vegetarian #bacon #environment

Comment : all signs warning of glaciers being gone by 2020 will be gone in 2020.

Glacier National Park removing all "glaciers will be gone by 2020" signs

Glacier National Park in Montana is removing a number of signs around the park that state that all of its glaciers will be melted by 2020, KPAX reports.

https://disrn.com/news/glacier-national-park-removing-all-glaciers-will-be-gone-by-2020-signs

Had an Epiphany today.