Notices by Jonathan Kamens (jik@federate.social)

The thing about writing and supporting free software is that you don't actually owe any particular user anything, so when one of them sends you an email with an all-caps subject, you can respond like this: "I am happy to help people but I do not help strangers who yell at me. Please resend your message without the all-caps subject if you would like my assistance."
#FOSS #etiquette #netiquette

My daughter just said to me, unprompted, "Daddy, the new @bitwarden redesign sucks SO MUCH," and then enumerated several ways in which it is less usable for her.
My daughter is a classics major, not a techie.
This redesign was a massive self-own for Bitwarden. It's astonishing how many user stories they made harder and less intuitive.
There are a few improvements, but overall it's a catastrophe.
How fast, if ever, will Bitwarden acknowledge their error and fix it?
#infosec #UX

@bitwarden And I know, I know, the geniuses at Bitwarden are going to say, "The UI is actually better, people just need to get used to it." And maybe that would be true if there weren't now many common operations people do every day that take objectively more clicks to accomplish than they did before.
We can argue up down and sideways about the subjective question of whether the new UI is more "intuitive," but intuitive _doesn't matter_ for things done often; all that matters is the # of clicks.

WW2 vets: The Greatest Generation
Boomers: The Selfish Generation

We can all point at public figures who stepped down later than they should have or died in office. Many of us know people like this in our personal lives. My boomer parents are going into assisted living _years_ later than they should have (if they can even get in). Our synagogue's boomer rabbi finally retired years after he was no longer doing the job. It's not service, it's selfish.
#politics #USPol
Ref: https://dallasexpress.com/tarrant/exclusive-where-is-congresswoman-kay-granger/

#Boston peeps, if you're in need of a good color all-in-one laser printer and you're not as ridiculously uptight about printers as I am, then you may wish to consider buying this printer off of me:
https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/ele/d/brighton-hp-m479fdw-printer-like-new/7812627810.html
It's a real bargain. I am irrationally picky about my printers so the reasons why I am selling this one are just not going to matter to most people, but if you want I will tell you all about them so you can decide for yourself. 😉
#BostonMA #forSale

I keep asking myself if the fed. govt. shutting down a month before inauguration will finally be enough to convince my colleagues in govt. that this isn't going to be like the first Trump administration, and then I remember that there were two shutdowns during the first Trump administration so yeah, probably not. *sigh*
#politics #USPol

If you haven't figured out yet that we're just a small number of years away from the #collapse of the #healthcare system in most of the world, after which only rich people will have access to comprehensive healthcare, then I don't know what to tell you at this point to convince you. 🤷
The "middle class" is mostly obliterated at this point; soon it'll just be the rich vs. everybody else.
#EatTheRich
Ref: https://beige.party/@SnowshadowII/113685609170444411

It's about time the Democrats stood up to GOP extortion. Rep. Jasmine Crockett has this exactly right: this is the GOP's problem and the GOP needs to solve it, without Democrats' help.
I say that as someone whose paycheck will literally get cut off (temporarily, I hope) if Congress doesn't pass a spending bill. Because I'm not a complete jackhole, I put the needs of the country ahead of my own.
Fuck Mike Johnson, fuck Trump, fuck Musk, fuck the GOP.
#politics #USPol
Ref: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jasmine-crockett-gop-spending-bill-trump-elon-musk_n_6763be97e4b004f6cb057560

Hey, folks, just a reminder that #Amazon workers are on #strike starting today. Don't be a scab, don't cross the picket line, don't buy from Amazon.
There are very few things you can buy from Amazon that you can't get elsewhere. These workers are giving up their income to strike; the least you can do is show your #solidarity by putting in a little time and effort finding somewhere else to buy your stuff for a while.
Ref: https://teamster.org/2024/12/teamsters-launch-largest-strike-against-amazon-in-american-history/

#Boston's Central Synagogue deciding to do their annual #Chanukah menorah lighting at the State House a week before Chanukah actually starts, because otherwise it will conflict with Christmas, is a textbook example of how #ChristianHegemony plays out in this country. *sigh*
If you light a menorah when it's not actually Chanukah, then you're not actually doing a Chanukah menorah lighting, you're just lighting a big lamp. #curmudgeon
#Judaism #Mazeldon #BostonMA
Ref: https://www.csboston.org/chanukah-at-the-state-house

I've been having trouble with the key for my #motorcycle not going in or turning easily, and it finally peaked today when I was out running an errand and couldn't get the key to turn to start the bike to go home.
Finally got it to turn, brought the groceries home, left the key on while dropping them off, drive straight to the shop and asked them to look at it.
(continued)

I was rewarded with an amused tech explaining to the newbie (me) in small words that locks get ice crystals in them in the winter and need to be lubricated. He did it for me and didn't charge me.
I bought a can of 6in1 from their shop so I can do it myself from now on. I think I can also use it to protect exposed metal engine parts from winter sand and salt?
(continued)

I also ordered a pair of heated gloves while I was there, because I'm all done with riding in the winter with most of my body plenty warm while my fingers are freezing.

So, this is kind of funny. We received a bill from one of our doctors and they tried to print a QR for paying online and also include the URL, but the URL is too long to fit so it just got cut off. So the only way you can get the full URL is to scan the QR code. *sigh*
#doh #fail

@rgollub The health insurance industry cannot be reformed from the inside.
He may have been all the things you said, but he was also choosing to earn millions of dollars per year working for a company whose entire reason for existence is to extract profit by denying people healthcare.
I'm all finished pretending that's in any way morally defensible. From the reaction to his murder, I think it's clear that a lot of other people are too.

@rgollub You've been following me here for long enough that you're presumably aware that I am of the opinion that our society is on the verge of collapse in numerous ways. This is a symptom of that. Most people don't resort to violence unless they are left with no other choice.
The financial inequity in the U.S. is worse now than it was in France before the French revolution. The health insurance industry is part of that.
If we don't fix that, there is going to be a lot more violence.

@rgollub Go read all the stories people are posting on Reddit today about members of their family dieing after UHC denied them care. They loved their family members too. The difference is, they weren't working for a company making life and death decisions about other people, and frequently choosing death.

@rgollub Look, I don't want to pile on you here, but I really feel like I need to address this idea that someone is a "good guy" because he loves his family and does some good things.
There are a lot of monsters in the world who love their family. Loving your family doesn't make you a good person. Bringing up his love for his family in this context is an argumentative fallacy.
I mean, Jesus, the folks who ran the Third Reich absolutely loved their families and helped _some_ people. Who cares?

@rgollub It is human nature not to want to accept this. This is what Arendt was talking about when she coined the phrase "banality of evil." We want to believe bad people are somehow different from us, that we can somehow easily recognize them, because that makes life easier. It's not true.
The CEO who was shot this week was not a good person. In fact, he was a criminal:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/unitedhealthcare-ceo-brian-thompson-sold-stocks-b2659093.html
This is insider trading. Insider trading is illegal for a reason.

I will not speak ill of the dead, but I will speak ill of the company of which he was CEO.
United Healthcare is a terrible, for-profit insurance company which prioritizes profits over people, uses predatory practices to deny claims, and takes advantage of elderly people through its "Medicare Advantage" plans.
Its CEO makes at least $10 million per year.
I have been a United Healthcare member several times and I have always been disappointed.
#EatTheRich
Ref: https://apnews.com/article/manhattan-shooting-death-daa1e8c8c05606197a5bd2e0242f1683