T.J. Crowder
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tjcrowder.bsky.social
T.J. Crowder
@tjcrowder.bsky.social
140 followers 18 following 210 posts
Husband, father, software guy. 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 🇺🇸

U.S. and UK dual national from birth, grew up in the U.S., back in the UK these 25+ years (and probably for life).

White male cisgender hetero ally ♀️ ✊🏾 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

Be kind. ☮️ 🙏

I'm trying to focus on beauty and humo(u)r.
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tjcrowder.bsky.social
My favorite browser by a country mile.

social.vivaldi.net/@jon/1159773...
vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi...

#Windows #Macos #Linux #Browser #Vivaldi #Computer #AI
Mastodon post by @jon@vivaldi.net: <<< New Vivaldi release for Windows, Mac & Linux. We got some cool stuff for you and we avoided AI, so enjoy! #Windows #Macos #Linux #Browser #Vivaldi #Computer #AI https://vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-7-8-launches-with-message-to-big-tech-humans-dont-need-ai-babysitters/ >>> Includes a screenshot of the blog page, titled "Vivaldi 7.8 launches with message to Big Tech: humans don’t need AI babysitters"
January 29, 2026 at 8:29 AM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
Exactly. EXACTLY:

#Linux
That's the true nub of it, I think. The stats can say what they like (and they do! We've all heard tales of Windows games actually running better on Linux via Valve's Proton compatibility layer), but the heart of my fatigue with Windows is that, for every new worthless AI gadget Microsoft crams into it and for every time the OS inexplicably boots to a white screen and implores me to "finish setting up" my PC with an Office 365 subscription, the real problem is a feeling that my computer isn't mine, that I am somehow renting this thing I put together with my own two hands from an AI corporation in Redmond.
January 2, 2026 at 12:20 PM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
Received today (25/12/2025). Thanks for the oodles of advance notice #Microsoft. And Merry Christmas to you too. 😠
Your account (redacted)@outlook-int.com will close on 26/12/2025 due to inactivity.
December 25, 2025 at 12:55 PM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
Letter commemorating #RobReiner signed by Billy and Janice Crystal; Albert and Kimberly Brooks; Martin Short; Alan and Robin Zweibel; Larry David and his wife Ashley Underwood; Marc Shaiman and his husband Lou Mirabal; Barry and Diana Levinson; and James Costos and his partner, Michael Smith. ❤️
The letter: << Going to the movies in a dark theater filled with strangers having a common experience, laughing, crying, screaming in fear, or watching an intense drama unfold is still an unforgettable thrill. Tell us a story audiences demand of us. Absorbing all he had learned from his father Carl and his mentor Norman Lear, Rob Reiner not only was a great comic actor, he became a master story teller. There is no other director who has his range. From comedy to drama to ‘mockumentary’ to documentary he was always at the top of his game. He charmed audiences. They trusted him. They lined up to see his films. His comedic touch was beyond compare, his love of getting the music of the dialogue just right, and his sharpening of the edge of a drama was simply elegant. For the actors, he loved them. For the writers he made them better. His greatest gift was freedom. If you had an idea, he listened, he brought you into the process. They always felt they were working as a team. To be in his hands as a film maker was a privilege but that is only part of his legacy. Rob was also a passionate, brave citizen, who not only cared for this country he loved, he did everything he could to make it better and with his loving wife Michele, he had the perfect partner. Strong and determined, Michele and Rob Reiner devoted a great deal of their lives for the betterment of our fellow citizens … They were a special force together – dynamic, unselfish and inspiring. We were their friends, and we will miss them forever. There is a line from one of Rob’s favorite films, It’s a Wonderful Life, “Each man’s life touches so many other lives, and when he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” You have no idea. >>
December 17, 2025 at 7:08 AM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
Happy 100th Birthday Dick Van Dyke!

#DickVanDyke #100thBirthday #Birthday
Dick Van Dyke in 2024, looking well for a man in his very late 90s (at the time). Credit: By Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America - Dick Van Dyke, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=149291061 Van Dyke in a 1959 publicity photo. Credit: By Bureau of Industrial Service. This was a division of ad agency Young & Rubicam which distributed publicity materials for many (studios, networks, sponsors, etc.) in the television industry. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40678990
December 13, 2025 at 11:39 AM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
Had a cracking time seeing Angela Barnes at the Warwick Arts Centre last night! Hugely funny lady, hugely funny show! Good night out with W & J.

#Comedy #AngelaBarnes
Angela Barnes against a backdrop of Germany, Pontin's, 80s toys and fashion, etc. with "Angst" (the name of her show) across the bottom.
December 7, 2025 at 3:16 PM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
It's cheesy, but my wife and I work from a home office, and looking up, well, it's definitely her. I'm often reminded of the James Taylor song:
🎶 I feel fine anytime she's around me now She's around me now almost all the time If I'm well, you can tell that she's been with me now She's been with me now Quite a long, long time Yes, and I feel fine 🎶
December 5, 2025 at 9:17 AM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
Sweet cheeses, this B.S. is actually on her account. Here's the full tweet, and here's an obscured link to the original (I refuse to directly link to that sh**hole):
h t t p s : / / x . c o m / K e m i B a d e n o c h / s t a t u s / 1 9 9 5 7 7 0 8 8 0 9 0 7 9 6 8 5 2 9
Tweet on the @KemiBadenoch account saying: "Working families will now be £18,000 worse off than those on benefits. This is a moral, economic and political failure. Reeves said her budget for benefits was about fairness. It wasn’t, it was about her and the PM’s survival. We need to get people into work; not incentivise them out of it. Only the @Conservatives will get Britain working again."
December 3, 2025 at 11:48 AM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
So you're saying...I must never restart Teams, ever again. Tricky.

(I have to use Teams for a client.)

#AI #LLM
Screenshot of the top of a Microsoft Teams window with a banner message saying "You'll need to restart Teams for M364 Copilot license and its features to take effect."
December 2, 2025 at 4:26 PM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
Ray Bradbury was right!
The year is 2035. The first astronauts have landed on Mars. The find a cave with a human skeleton and 4 words written on the wall. What are the words?
November 28, 2025 at 5:35 PM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
Well, _this_ is interesting.

#UKPolitics #WealthTax #PatrioticMillionaires
Patriotic Millionaires UK polled those with investable assets of £1 million or more on their attitudes towards the economy, extreme wealth, and tax policy. This represents the top 6 percent of the UK population. The poll found: * 72% support increasing taxes on wealth to help fund public services and the cost of living crisis * 68% support an annual wealth tax of 1-2 per cent on people with more than £10 million in assets * 66% of those polled who had £10 million in assets - and would be subject to the annual wealth tax - supported the introduction of the tax * Over half of respondents believe that extreme wealth concentration is undermining social mobility in our country and 66% felt that the introduction of wealth taxes would help to increase opportunities for social mobility. * Over half of the poll’s respondents think THE ECONOMY WOULD BE STRONGER if we taxed those with extreme amounts of wealth so the country could invest it in better public services and national infrastructure.
November 28, 2025 at 9:41 AM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
So my feed tells me the original Frankenstein film was released on this day 96(!) years ago.

I decided for some reason to watch the opening credits, and this jumped out at me.

You do you, 1931. You do you. 🙄

#Frankenstein #Sexism #History
Screenshot of credits reading "From the novel by MRS. PERCY B. SHELLEY"
November 21, 2025 at 4:42 PM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
Thinking in interstellar terms, 3I/ATLAS came AMAZINGLY close to the Sun.

Only the third interstellar object we've seen come through the solar system (obviously there have been others, we just haven't seen them). Just wow (he said profoundly).

#Science #3IATLAS
November 20, 2025 at 7:44 AM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
Sounds great, but before he can "[build] an international coalition of centre-left leaders", he has to BECOME a centre-left leader, instead of a well-right-of-centre whatever-he-currently-is.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

#uk-politics #starmer
Quote from linked article: "Starmer is also said to be focused on building an international coalition of centre-left leaders who can find ways to tackle the rise of right-wing populism, as well as forming a united front on issues such as Ukraine and Gaza."
September 23, 2025 at 10:22 AM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
A very happy 91st birthday to Tom Baker, "my" Doctor. Many happy returns of the day!

#DoctorWho #TomBaker
Tom Baker sitting in an overcoat looking thin, but very well for a 91 year-old man.
January 20, 2025 at 11:52 AM
tjcrowder.bsky.social
You mean this irritating prompt? Yeah, I've disabled Gemini for my organization and yet...it's still there, 21 hours later. Infuriating, I may finally have to use Thunderbird.

I'll let you know if I find a way to disable it. Would you ping me if you do? TIA
A "New Message" window in Gmail showing a prompt saying "Help me write Alt+H".
January 20, 2025 at 7:26 AM