My ability to predict which tasks will turn into life-rending quagmires has gotten a little too good. I pushed off everything that I feared would become a multi-day nightmare into October so I could wrap up betterwithbecky.com and Rails World, and… the check has definitely come due.
One reason why economic health indicators are less politically salient today than, say, the 1992 presidential election is that families no longer sit down at the dining room table outside Thanksgiving and hardly anyone has a checkbook to balance anymore.
One of the most bizarre and frustrating things about life in Florida is that the
state government has decided to eschew official .gov domains in favor of a
random smattering of .com domains, for seemingly no other reason than
appearing pro-business. Or maybe anti-government? Regardless, it definitely
doesn't make it easier to help constituents avoid scams.
Here's what I had to do to figure out whether this text was legitimate::
I really wish this was an isolated incident but there are so many public-private partnerships and privatized services in the state, that it's really hard to tell when you're dealing with local and state government and when you're being scammed or phished.
Want to file a new LLC? You'll want to do that at efile.sunbiz.org. Receive a tollbooth fine from the Department of Transportation? Just punch in your credit card over at www.sunpass.com. Need to amend your Beneficial Ownership Information to comply with FinCEN? Just respond to an e-mail from MyFloridaCorporateFilings.com and oh wait nevermind that one's a scam.
For fuck's sake. Why can't y'all be normal?
Can't say I'm surprised to learn it's hard to keep a professional snowboarder away from high-quality powder thedailybeast.com/ex-olympic-snowboarder-ryan-wedding-flees-after-hes-charged-in-murderous-drug-trafficking-scheme/
Aaron's reaction to my reading and ranking of his pun submission for the latest version of the Breaking Change podcast
Welcome to this podcast which, by now, you have probably decided you either listen to or don't listen to! And if you don't listen to it, one wonders why you are reading this.
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I've had a bunch of friends and colleagues ask for my advice on how to best learn Japanese this year, and since (1) the last time I started learning it was over 20 years ago and (2) Tofugu's entire business (via Wanikani) is teaching it to people efficiently, my best advice is to just start with their guide: tofugu.com/learn-japanese/
New brand of T-shirt (Bella Canvas) for the uniform. Fresh colors to mark the start of what's next.
When we lived in Columbus, Junko and I would meet weekly in person for Japanese conversation practice. She's an awesome, fascinating person, but she also taught me a TON of practical Japanese and wasn't afraid to correct me. She just started giving remote lessons. Strong recommend: popa-japanese-lessons.mystrikingly.com/
Heaven:
Hell:
If you're curious why I decided to retire from public speaking last week, or interested to learn what might have been driving the handful of people who were angry about it, sign up for this month's Searls of Wisdom newsletter! justin.searls.co/newsletter/
This is a copy of the Searls of Wisdom newsletter delivered to subscribers on October 12, 2024.
Hey everyone, have a good September?
Apologies, as most of my top-of-mind thoughts are hurricane-adjacent as I write this:
Anyway, that's October stuff. And I'm not here to talk about October stuff, because Searls of Wisdom is a publication that happens in arrears. It takes a full month for these insights to coalesce and maturate in the nacre of my self-indulged mind.
So, let's talk about September stuff.
The one thing I'll remember about September 2024 is that it was the month I gave my final conference presentation. After 15 years of speaking at user groups and software conferences, I've decided to hang up the presenter remote. End of an era.
Here's a pic of me and my friends Aaron and Eileen at the RailsConf: World Edition afterparty:
It's been strange developing so many impactful friendships over dozens of seasonal pseudo-vacations sprinkled sporadically throughout my adult life. I've rarely ever visited these friends where they live, or met their families, or seen how they operate outside the predictable plot beats of a conference event. Each relationship a vignette of awkward run-ins at baggage claim and hotel lobbies. Strained catch-ups at noisy speaker dinners and sponsor parties. Warm greetings crossing paths in convention center hallways. Hushed critiques shared from the back of other people's sessions.
I can happily live without attending another conference. But will that mean living without most of these friendships, too?
Yeah, probably.
Below, I'm going to discuss my decision to announce my retirement from public speaking, how people reacted to it, and what the resulting dissonance can tell us about weighing loss aversion against opportunity cost.
Great blog post about how to build a Ruby LSP add-on that I'm totally linking to because it uses my Standard add-on as a case study. railsatscale.com/2024-10-03-the-ruby-lsp-addon-system/
Thanks to the broad assortment of folks who reached out to wish us safety today. As it turns out, we bailed outta Orlando and drove to Savannah in order to escape Milton. ✌️
Love that command-shift-D means "Send" in Apple Mail and "Discard Draft" in Gmail.
Get ready for a three-hour-plus Breaking Change spectacular! Why is it special? I'm not going to tell you. You'll just have to listen.
Remember, money doesn't change hands when you consume this Content™, but that doesn't make it free! In exchange for downloading this MP3, the license requires you to write in to podcast@searls.co at least once every three episodes. Some of y'all are past due, and I know where to find you.
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iPhone 12 and later contains a barometric altimeter, so it knows when you're at high altitude and the accelerometer knows when you're traveling at high velocity… so why can't the iPhone just enable Airplane Mode automatically? Why do I have to do it?
Maybe I'll start posting more photos.
X marks the spot on this SEO.
This is some real snake-eating-its-own-tail shit by Apple Photos. What the hell am I supposed to click in order to not screw up its training of Aaron's face?
