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).

Government Accidentally Shuts Itself Down With Ban On Non-Essential Businesses

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congress has asked all non-essential businesses to limit their hours or close entirely for an undetermined amount of time.But this shutdown mistakenly shut down the most non-essential entity of all: the government. For a brief period of time, all government in the United States was illegal, since it is completely non-essential to everyth …

#uspol #covid19 #satire

https://babylonbee.com/news/government-accidentally-shuts-itself-down-with-ban-on-non-essential-businesses

Now wait a minute... "The new figure now includes people who tested positive for COVID-19 and those who have symptoms and were in close contact with someone who tested positive."

So now in #Colorado we're including people as positive who haven't tested at positive. Anyone with flu symptoms who was on contact with someone with the #coronavirus is now included in this stat. Is everyone doing this? Or is there some need in Colorado to inflate the numbers?