Jeff Balboni
@jbalboni.bsky.social
Regular human software engineer. Western Mass
The most confusing thing about Iceland is Sbarro being here.
May 29, 2025 at 9:09 PM
The most confusing thing about Iceland is Sbarro being here.
Reposted by Jeff Balboni
The slope isn't slippery; the frog isn't gradually getting boiled. Within its first hundred days the Trump administration has openly asserted the right/ power to seize and imprison anyone— including political dissidents, including citizens— and deprive them of any legal recourse at all.
5/
5/
April 14, 2025 at 4:41 PM
The slope isn't slippery; the frog isn't gradually getting boiled. Within its first hundred days the Trump administration has openly asserted the right/ power to seize and imprison anyone— including political dissidents, including citizens— and deprive them of any legal recourse at all.
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5/
I had many thoughts while working on integrating Drupal and VA.gov, a lot of them negative, but "let's just not have a CMS," was, uh, not one of them.
April 5, 2025 at 5:31 AM
I had many thoughts while working on integrating Drupal and VA.gov, a lot of them negative, but "let's just not have a CMS," was, uh, not one of them.
It's hard to overstate how much my understanding of politics was shaped by Kevin Drum's blog during the Bush and Obama administrations. I got occasionally frustrated with some of his opinions over the years, but he's always been the standard in my mind of thoughtful, nuanced political writing.
Health Update - Kevin Drum
With a heavy heart, I have to tell you that after a long battle with cancer my husband Kevin Drum passed away on Friday, March 7, 2025. No public memorial services are planned. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the charity or political cause of your choice. A Facebook page, 'In Memory of Kevin Drum', has been created as…
jabberwocking.com
March 11, 2025 at 3:13 AM
It's hard to overstate how much my understanding of politics was shaped by Kevin Drum's blog during the Bush and Obama administrations. I got occasionally frustrated with some of his opinions over the years, but he's always been the standard in my mind of thoughtful, nuanced political writing.
Reposted by Jeff Balboni
Yes. If DHS can barge in, say your visa was revoked, be told you have a green card, say it's revoked too, and then disappear you so that neither your lawyer nor your family can find you, then all the guardrails are gone. There is no policy, practice, or law protecting anyone.
re the previous repost: if they can disappear permanent residents they can disappear citizens
March 9, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Yes. If DHS can barge in, say your visa was revoked, be told you have a green card, say it's revoked too, and then disappear you so that neither your lawyer nor your family can find you, then all the guardrails are gone. There is no policy, practice, or law protecting anyone.
Reposted by Jeff Balboni
you’re fired. wait you’re rehired. email us a list of things you’ve done today wait forget it you’re fired again. come back your job was important. you’re fired. or hired. come in to the office. wait the office has no computers go home. we are the department of government efficiency.
March 5, 2025 at 10:34 PM
you’re fired. wait you’re rehired. email us a list of things you’ve done today wait forget it you’re fired again. come back your job was important. you’re fired. or hired. come in to the office. wait the office has no computers go home. we are the department of government efficiency.
Reposted by Jeff Balboni
the single most un-american and anti-constitutional statement ever uttered by an american president
February 15, 2025 at 6:39 PM
the single most un-american and anti-constitutional statement ever uttered by an american president
Reposted by Jeff Balboni
John Fetterman’s a disgrace to the oaf community. He does not represent America’s lumbering buffoons, ham-fisted galoots, or men whose heavy footsteps are soundtracked by a tuba.
January 26, 2025 at 6:47 AM
John Fetterman’s a disgrace to the oaf community. He does not represent America’s lumbering buffoons, ham-fisted galoots, or men whose heavy footsteps are soundtracked by a tuba.
Reposted by Jeff Balboni
Coming Soon: The Accessibility Pond!
👉🏻 Tip jar goal: $3,000 USD
A newsletter, plus community tiers for...
- Monthly AMA sessions
- Posting & commenting
- Early access to content
- Discount codes for friends
- Hand knit gifts!
Info & updates:
semanticfish.com/the-a11y-pond
#TheAccessibilityPond
👉🏻 Tip jar goal: $3,000 USD
A newsletter, plus community tiers for...
- Monthly AMA sessions
- Posting & commenting
- Early access to content
- Discount codes for friends
- Hand knit gifts!
Info & updates:
semanticfish.com/the-a11y-pond
#TheAccessibilityPond
The Accessibility Pond | Semantic Fish Creative Group
More than a newsletter. Find community, support, resources, and co-conspirators.
semanticfish.com
January 17, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Coming Soon: The Accessibility Pond!
👉🏻 Tip jar goal: $3,000 USD
A newsletter, plus community tiers for...
- Monthly AMA sessions
- Posting & commenting
- Early access to content
- Discount codes for friends
- Hand knit gifts!
Info & updates:
semanticfish.com/the-a11y-pond
#TheAccessibilityPond
👉🏻 Tip jar goal: $3,000 USD
A newsletter, plus community tiers for...
- Monthly AMA sessions
- Posting & commenting
- Early access to content
- Discount codes for friends
- Hand knit gifts!
Info & updates:
semanticfish.com/the-a11y-pond
#TheAccessibilityPond
The NYT has a higher tolerance for shitty bloggers than Strange Loop, apparently.
January 18, 2025 at 8:58 PM
The NYT has a higher tolerance for shitty bloggers than Strange Loop, apparently.
Reposted by Jeff Balboni
after days of grifters and con men at CES we stumbled upon the booth for VLC. they were all dressed as wizards and told us, "we have nothing to sell, we just decided to show up". i told them I'd been using their software to pirate media for 15 years and they said "keep doing that"
January 10, 2025 at 9:24 PM
after days of grifters and con men at CES we stumbled upon the booth for VLC. they were all dressed as wizards and told us, "we have nothing to sell, we just decided to show up". i told them I'd been using their software to pirate media for 15 years and they said "keep doing that"
Reposted by Jeff Balboni
A daguerreotype I had restored. She’s a beaut.
November 25, 2024 at 12:32 PM
A daguerreotype I had restored. She’s a beaut.
Damn, my (not expedited or rushed) passport renewal got processed in two weeks
November 21, 2024 at 3:13 AM
Damn, my (not expedited or rushed) passport renewal got processed in two weeks
I was working in civic tech in 2016. I was definitely worried, especially given that the contractor I worked for had a lot of Democratic party connections. Nothing major ended up affecting me, but I can't imagine what it'll be like this time.
November 11, 2024 at 12:11 AM
I was working in civic tech in 2016. I was definitely worried, especially given that the contractor I worked for had a lot of Democratic party connections. Nothing major ended up affecting me, but I can't imagine what it'll be like this time.
Reposted by Jeff Balboni
The boys and I figured we’d ask ChatGPT to help us solve a clue from the Times crossword.
January 9, 2024 at 11:57 PM
The boys and I figured we’d ask ChatGPT to help us solve a clue from the Times crossword.
I hadn't read this before, it's really excellent. I haven't thought about Peter Singer in forever, since encountering his views as a newly minted atheist in college. Somehow I missed that he was involved with effective altruism.
Here's a gift link to Harriet McBryde Johnson's "Unspeakable Conversations," a 2003 essay about talking to Peter Singer, a man who said the world would be better, would be happier, without disabled people like her.
It's worth your time reading.
It's worth your time reading.
Unspeakable Conversations (Published 2003)
Harriet McBryde Johnson article recalls her meetings with Princeton Prof Peter Singer, who argues for infanticide of extremely disabled babies; Johnson is lawyer who is severely disabled and is disabi...
www.nytimes.com
December 31, 2023 at 5:21 PM
I hadn't read this before, it's really excellent. I haven't thought about Peter Singer in forever, since encountering his views as a newly minted atheist in college. Somehow I missed that he was involved with effective altruism.