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
This is a pretty interesting article about Quaker use of *thee* and *thou*: https://www.friendsjournal.org/2007098/
I knew about the general phenomenon and the justification, but I didn't realize that it had come full circle with some Quakers using thee as an informal register 😅
Also a culture war with proxy battles fought over pronouns sounds familiar 😂
I also really prefer to use informal forms in Japanese, and that is an intermediate case between Spanish and English. In Japanese everyone grows up fluently using informal forms so it's not nearly as weird, but I get the impression that if you use informal forms with bank tellers and waiters people will think something is off (though I haven't spent enough time in Japan to know exactly how this plays out).
Given my natural aversion to *usted* in Spanish and *vous* in French, I'm starting to think that out of consistency I should adopt the Quaker *thou* in English.
Unfortunately it's a tough bind because the Quakers originally adopted it out of a democratizing instinct — *thou* was the familiar second person and *you* the formal — but in the modern era it sounds archaic, making it sound MORE formal than *you*.
Also it's a very weird thinking to do.
Paul Ganssle
boosted
We could really use about 5 more mentors to help people with their #PyConUS talk proposals. I know so many smart people here who could almost write a talk proposal in their sleep. Will you help a new person get started on their #Python speaking journey? If you're up for it, please fill out the form here, https://forms.gle/PMWn1q754sAwkUtj9
Paul Ganssle
boosted
@joeress and for any android users, I whole-heartedly recommend AntennaPod
Paul Ganssle
boosted
"Wherever you get your podcasts" is one of the last truly empowering ideas in a tech world that's dominated by the very worst people on this planet.
We have lost almost every other medium to the worst people and corporations.
Audio is the last holdout. Spotify tried to take it from us but they failed. They spent the best part of a billion dollars trying to be the YouTube of audio but somehow they failed.
This is why I continue to make audio, and not videos with thumbnails that kill my soul
Feels similar to the way that everyone my age got chicken pox and no one ten years younger than me (and with sane parents) got it. What a time to be alive.
As someone who lost a lot of weight and kept it off using old fashioned willpower and exercise, I am *really* happy that these drugs are making that horrible process optional.
(Plus making weight loss available to the large fraction of people for whom — empirically — the "old fashioned" method does not work).
I blogged about my experiences with weight loss drugs. And also vibe-coded a tool to calculate your excess calories. https://willmcgugan.github.io/...
Paul Ganssle
boosted
PSA: You have less than two weeks to nominate someone for PSF Fellowship for Q4 of 2025. Details at https://www.python.org/psf/fellows/, and I wrote a blog post about the topic last year at https://www.jonafato.com/2024/10/31/psf-fellow-nominations-q4-due-date.
Paul Ganssle
boosted
An interesting coincidence how @willmcgugan’s weight loss blog post comes just 2 weeks after my own! Clearly, it’s a topic on people’s minds. My account involves no injections, so you can treat it as an alternative approach.
https://lukasz.langa.pl/b2217f47-6312-458f-955f-d63a752a9ad0/
Paul Ganssle
boosted
I blogged about my experiences with weight loss drugs. And also vibe-coded a tool to calculate your excess calories.
Paul Ganssle
boosted
The wait is over — #PyConUS 2026 is here! 🙌
The #PyConUS 2026 site is now LIVE and the Call for Proposals is OPEN! We can't wait to welcome you to Long Beach, CA this spring and spotlight the incredible work happening across the Python community 🐍
👉 Details: https://pycon.blogspot.com/2025/10/pycon-us-2026-call-for-proposals-now.html
Paul Ganssle
boosted
The Steering Council has accepted PEP 810 (explicit lazy imports) for Python 3.15!
https://discuss.python.org/t/pep-810-explicit-lazy-imports/104131/466
7 y/o: "I just want to check the date."
Me: "It's November 1st."
7 y/o: "November?! That means it's Christmas!"
A future Target / Walmart / department store executive in the making I see.
"Alexa, play Halloween music"
*Zombie by The Cranberries starts playing*
... I... guess?
Paul Ganssle
boosted
🎙️ Bored this weekend? Well, we have Part 2 of the interviews from the CPython core sprint in Cambridge UK. Don’t worry, this one’s shorter than Part 1. Only 2 hours 18 minutes. Much less than Part 1!
✨ Hear from Greg, Thomas, Paul, Pradyun, Carol, Guido, Brett, Erlend, Tal, Lysandros, Yury, and Diego.
Paul Ganssle
boosted
SemVer is just an attractive nuisance at point. The concept simply doesn't survive even a short contact with reality.
I have to say that unfortunately, since Mozilla took over K9 mail and turned it into Thunderbird for Android, it has really ruined the usability for me. Anyone have any recommendations for other #foss email clients?
Bonus points if they can handle sending from catch-all email addresses.
Might be a controversial opinion, but I think using freeways for long term parking might not be the most effective use of the roads...
I am unreasonably pleased that #PyBay has open wifi with no captive portal.
Programmer working at Google. Python core developer and general FOSS contributor. I also post some parenting content.
Joined Nov 2019
