Notices by Michael Kohlman (norombasic@mastodon.world), page 2

Earlier this week, a group of former national park superintendents called for the closure of the NPS to visitors in case of a government shutdown.

Regardless of whether that happens or not, I would suggest cutting our embattled Parks Staff a break and stay away from these national treasures during this standoff. The increased pressure on them to maintain any sense of normalcy with a skeleton staff (many of whom will also not likely be getting paid) is too much to ask.

https://apnews.com/article/shutdown-national-parks-burgum-superintendents-trash-b5109ba06f1cb3baef9370f585650136

And, to share an eariler post, while it is not a perfect solution; for those of us who live in California (or are planning to visit), our State Parks are amazing and should be unimpacted by the national shutdown.

Give some of those sites a consideration instead. You will likely be surprised at what you find.

https://mastodon.world/@NoRomBasic/114807572019677224

📢📢 NGO CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER (CDO) JOB ALERT!!!

🖥️ 💾 🖲️ The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California is seeking a new CDO (how cool is that?)

🪙 Compensation range is $200,000 to $220,000

👉 https://www.imsearch.com/open-searches/computer-history-museum/chief-digital-officer

It is certainly one of my faves:

Santa Cruz scores first for best beach boardwalk in the U.S.:

https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2025/09/18/santa-cruz-scores-high-for-best-beach-boardwalk-in-the-u-s/

@skinnylatte So from a born-in-the-U.S. perspective, one of the single most surprising things when I started traveling to Shanghai regularly in the 2010's was how freakin' popular KFC was...

@skinnylatte @rednikki

Fair warning: A silly number of Public Transportation geeks are going be there at about the same time (9/13 - 9/17)

Things could get weird...

@rednikki @skinnylatte American Public Transportation Association is meeting on those days. Omni Hotel and MCEC.

I will humbly (well perhaps-not-so-humbly) mention that Monterey-Salinas Transit will be accepting its Outstanding Transportation System award there.

I also personally will be meeting with a number of tech-transit folks, because I'm fairly opinionated and some people have mistaken that for expertise. 🤔

🎶 Serving up some Breakfast in America this afternoon. Thanks Rick Davies for one of the definitive albums from my generation.

💿 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast_in_America

@skinnylatte And, having been on the vendor-side of the equation, there is validity to what you say.

I certainly have spent time trying to educate organizations with unempowered (or non-existent) IT teams on assuming at least some responsibility for what they are buying and using.

It can be... disheartening...

@skinnylatte And looking at the overall history of why IT works so poorly in most public service-focused agencies in the U.S., it is objectively easy to understand how this world has come about.

But I also believe we need to change the paradigm.

@skinnylatte IMHO The best SOWs and contracts that I see tend to be phrased in a way that implies that the engagement is a partnership. One's that make clear that there is an expectation that both the buyer and seller of a technology solution have "skin in the game" in the success of the outcome.

Taking that approach does somewhat increase the risk of the scenarios you mention to the vendor, but I also believe it greatly increases the chance of wonderful outcomes.

@skinnylatte A thread for another day perhaps is the mess that is the whole way of doing RFPs in NGOs these days.

The whole culture of specifying technology deliverables that are often really process or service deliverables at a fixed cost with specific outcomes (like it was ordering a gross of toilet paper or, perhaps a Bus) is a mess that is not doing anyone any good.

One of the perils of being a former English and writing major is that certain phrases in Vendor SOWs catch my eye. Take this one for example:

It is critical to the success of the project that (Purchaser’s) personnel support (Vendor) in a consultative and effective manner during (Purchaser’s) installation of the (Vendor Solution)

#TechVendorsBehavingBadly

While it may seem innocent, It is an interesting way of phrasing the relationship between the organization that is purchasing the technology products and services, and the vendor that is selling them. Stated this way, it subtly implies that the vendor is in the controlling role in the proposed engagement, and not the organization that is seeking a solution.

One could or course argue that I could be reading too much into this. I would counter with this language submitted by the same vendor submitted in an unrelated SOW a few weeks back:

Once (Purchaser’s) network rules and configuration changes have been identified, (Purchaser) must complete the required network changes with (Vendor) providing remote configuration support

Doesn't really leave much room for interpreting who the Vendor believes is in control of the organization's systems and network

Unfortunately, I see this kind of crap a lot in technology vendor SOWs and Terms of Service. Even more so with Vendors who do a lot of work for government and public service organizations.

It happens because many organizations don’t really understand the technology solutions they are purchasing and, as a result, a culture has developed where the vendors have learned that they can generally dictate the terms of the relationship.

Mastodon: Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind -- driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you here. Do you know what I'm talking about?

#WhatIsTheMastodon #Plushtodon

@briankrebs Also, it is just fine to post things that actually are of interest to just yourself.

If you find yourself obsessing about what your followers want, and not what lights you up. It is time to reassess.

Some communities have to close their beaches and parks due to the onset of storms, hurricanes, and tsunamis.

We have to close ours due to the onset of Sea Lions…

#MontereyLife #Seals #SeaLions

@skinnylatte It has indeed.

I need to dig it up, but I have pretty decent video from the peak of the invasion last year.