Paul Ganssle @pganssle@qoto.org
Programmer working at Google. Python core developer and general FOSS contributor. I also post some parenting content.
Joined Nov 2019
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Latest post is a big one: "Why you shouldn't invoke setup.py directly"
A lot of people don't know about this because we haven't been great about getting the word out. This blog post is in part an attempt to remedy this.
Please help spread the word!
https://blog.ganssle.io/articles/2021/10/setup-py-deprecated.html
Pinned post
From the archives of my blog but still very relevant: "pytz: The Fastest Footgun in the West", about why you probably shouldn't be using pytz:
https://blog.ganssle.io/articles/2018/03/pytz-fastest-footgun.html
Paul Ganssle
boosted
Some news, I’ll be departing the PSF as a staff member at the end of this week.
You can read a more formal announcement over at https://pyfound.blogspot.com/2026/01/ee-departing-the-psf-staff.html, but I wanted to share on socials as well.
It has been an incredible… nearly 8 years serving as the Director of Infrastructure for the Python Software Foundation, but it is time for me to do something new.
Major Tom: "Tell my wife I love her very much."
Ground Control: "She knows."
Major Tom: "Wait, is that what she said? My last words to her are that I love her very much and her last words are 'I know'? Wow, Diane, just... wow. You know what? I'm changing my mind. Tell my wife I wish I had married her sister."
Paul Ganssle
boosted
Ever wondered how to parametrize exception testing in PyTest?
Try this:
https://borutzki.github.io/2026/01/15/how-to-parametrize-exception-testing-in-pytest.html
#DailyPythonista #python #programming #Pytest #TDD #unittest
P.S. This isn't some clever satirical subpost obliquely referring to something in the news or something I'm just weird. 🐍⚕️
Snake bites can be extra dangerous when they happen far from medical care. But what if we could make that a thing of the past?
Today I am launching an ambitious campaign to provide emergency medicine education for all snakes so that if you are bitten by a snake you know emergency care is only seconds away.
About 6 or 7 years ago a transformer exploded near where I lived in Queens and it was a seriously crazy experience. I had no idea what was going on but the sky was lit up like an aurora. This just happened again kinda near me in I guess Medford or something (though I didn't see it) and other folks are saying it is one of the craziest things they have ever seen.
Now I'm starting to wonder exactly how expensive it would be to replicate this deliberately, and whether this could replace fireworks displays...
Ok so we have learned now that Vitamix does not make good blenders. I am not sure why so many people seem to like them.
This is the one time the "just use UTC everywhere" people are right (for my time zone).
We should make days roll over around 19:00 instead of midnight. It would complicate a lot of things about record keeping for the majority of the year, but at least we would be able to have a New Year's Party at a reasonable hour.
Just got my new Lenovo P14s and the Fn and Ctrl keys are switched like they are on the Framework! Wtf? When did everyone decide to do this the wrong way?
Ok yeah that is actually pretty loud. This is the power spectrum with the tip held about an inch away from the microphone. Going "aah" at the same microphone from the same distance at a normal or slightly elevated speaking level is giving me peaks around -40 and this thing is doing -20.
My son asked Santa for "math" for Christmas (among other things) so we gave him some worksheets as part of a series of puzzles. Apparently they haven't covered adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers yet so I told him how to add them up in columns.
A bit later he runs over and tells me, "Papa I was doing your strat and I hit my first 8 + 2, what do I do?"
I think it is this one, in case anyone wants to... uh... light candles 😉 https://www.amazon.com/VEHHE-Electric-Rechargeable-Flexible-Barbecue/dp/B0852VJ6RD
My mom got me an electric lighter for Christmas and when I turned it on my son freaked out. Apparently it makes an annoying high pitched sound that adults can't hear, so I thanked her for the excellent punishment rod. 😈
My wife was surprised when she saw me making lemonade with cold water. "Don't you have to use boiling water so that the sugar dissolves?"
I'm now very concerned that my children have been drinking sugar-supersaturated lemon water...
Paul Ganssle
boosted
> And you call them open source despite the fact that they are obviously violating point 6 of the Open Source Definition about use discrimination?
I am of two minds about giving a talk in Spanish, to be honest.
On the one hand it is a personal goal to be good enough in a foreign language to give a useful or interesting talk.
On the other hand, if I ever hear the recording I might die of embarrassment when I hear myself speaking Spanish, so....
Two of my three proposals are for the Spanish language Charlas track. I have heard that they would very much appreciate more proposals, even from non-native speakers.
Finally finished my last #PyConUS talk proposal. Here's hoping that everyone else's talks are better than mine and I don't have to actually prepare a talk 😉
I think I finished everything I planned to do today. Ah well, tomorrow is another opportunity to be ambitious 😛
Programmer working at Google. Python core developer and general FOSS contributor. I also post some parenting content.
Joined Nov 2019
