Chema Hernández Gil

Usually a union organizer, rarely an engineer, and formerly a media activist.

Un prieto colorado of Native stock from a former Indian Republic. Crossing paths with San Franciscos, del Bajío to the Bay, with long sojourns in the Golden Horseshoe, Middle Tennessee and the Swiss Lemanic Arc.

Vegan and lifelong vegetarian. Often kicking it with @luna 🐕🐾 along the Embarcadero.

Communications Workers of America Local 9404 member. J'ai passé trop de temps à l'École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne #EPFL.

Opinions expressed are my own, but they could be yours too.

Public Key

npub1gg5c62psj8vrpg00f54ydl263nrhha76ajct4ssfkvmrwvrcrzcsvlvxnm

NIP-05 Address

chema_at_social.sanfranciscan.org@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsyy2vd9qcfrkps58h562jxl4dge3mm7ldwev96cgymxd3hxpup3vgpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qz9nhwden5te0w3jhxapwden8yetvv9ujuctswqwswqnd

Publishing to

relay.mostr.pub

test.nfrelay.app

Author Public Key

npub1gg5c62psj8vrpg00f54ydl263nrhha76ajct4ssfkvmrwvrcrzcsvlvxnm

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Last Notes

2024-11-16 03:38:13

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@nprofile…jk76 I believe it's true for Mastodon, but don't really know. It's true for Pleroma and #snac though. No comment on the other three. Even if they were accessible, I'd avoid them.

2024-11-16 03:34:56

One good thing about #Bluesky is that you don't need to log in to view posts or feeds. This makes it useful for breaking news, so I made one for the San Francisco Bay Area.
https://bsky.app/profile/baysky.social/feed/aaac5vicl4pww
#SF #SanFrancisco #BayArea #BaySky

2024-05-10 16:37:24

Some company is having a free "AI" event at Moscone Center on June 6 (which is down the street from me) and since I like free food and stuff, I've just registered. They also gave out referral links, so if you too like free food and stuff, then use it.
On a side note, I think the only time I've been inside the Moscone Center was to get vaccinated.
https://reg.summit.snowflake.com/flow/snowflake/summit24/devdayreg/createaccount?refcode=LHX29054

2024-05-09 17:46:41

I made the mistake of getting an iPad a few years ago thinking it would help me be more productive, but I've barely used it, even for browsing, because it is so hard to use ad blockers on it. So now I am trading it in for a new Pixel Tablet so I can throw GrapheneOS on it and have a tablet with an *actual* AdBlock.

2024-04-30 05:37:16

Two more bikes were stolen out of my building's garage today. Always sad to see the evidence on the ground like this. I've learned my lesson after getting my share of bikes stolen: I now keep them in my place or in a storage unit.
https://social.sanfranciscan.org/media/74a730ed-255e-470e-86b4-fdeb469dac2d/cutlocks.jpg

2024-04-29 18:45:08

“Based on survey and census data, our best estimation is that San Francisco metropolitan area residents would consider a household that makes about $700,000 per year to be rich.“
LOL. If I made a quarter of that I’d feel hella rich.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/how-much-money-to-be-considered-rich-bay-area-19420480.php

2024-04-26 23:28:11

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If they were open on Sundays, it would be a no-brainer, but as it stands, I can only really make it out there on Saturdays and maybe a couple of evenings during the week.
I really do wish there was a public library closer to Rincón Hill.

2024-04-26 23:21:29

I really like the Mechanics' Institute library, but I haven't renewed my membership in a couple of years because I don't feel like I've been able to use it enough. It is like an intellectual gym membership.

2024-04-24 06:41:05

The Census data for mean household income of quintiles for San Francisco is pretty wild. The most recent data (2022) shows the 20% poorest households averaged $18,828, while the wealthiest 20% of households raked in $542,183. That is a ratio of 1:29.
Of course, this doesn't account for wealth, like equity in property, shares, &c, so actual inequality is much worse.
https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2022.B19081?q=Income Inequality&g=050XX00US06075
https://social.sanfranciscan.org/media/f925717b-78af-4079-8999-18f6e4db35db/image.png

2024-04-11 22:52:47

The IKEA Saluhall on Market Street is great. It's exciting to have new vegan options in SOMA from small Bay Area businesses. A new reason to visit Mid-Market.

2024-03-31 00:23:52

Chili peppers are such a successful Indigenous American export that many national cuisines in Asia, Africa and Europe would be unrecognizable without them.

2024-03-22 19:08:44

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Considering how ineffective policing is in reducing traffic violence, I think I'd prefer robotaxis as a proposed solution.

2024-03-20 19:09:32

I am really excited to see the USPS deploy smart lockers in San Francisco. Once my post office gets them installed, I will be getting a PO Box and getting my mail and packages there even though my building already has parcel lockers. It is the same price, but I won't have to give out my address anymore and I might be able to worry less about packages being misplaced.

2024-03-20 04:47:18

One downside to coding for pleasure and managing my home server is that sometimes I don't do either for months and when I start again I have to remember where I left off and that takes effort.

2024-02-29 19:23:09

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I appreciate those reasons, and I agree it will be a hit. Macy's is also a unionized store, which many alternatives (like Amazon) are not. It would have been wonderful is they had diversified their offerings. I would have loved REI to have had competition closer to me for example.

2024-02-29 18:58:58

People keep talking about the Macy's closure here in SF and I am a bit surprised. It always seemed to me like a moribund store, even before the pandemic. I use to work a block away and the couple of times I went in, it was largely empty. It felt like a fancier Bed, Bath and Beyond.

2024-01-28 00:33:21

How things are going in San Francisco: Garry Tan of #YCombinator fame and a local edgelord/centi-millionare/near-billionaire got drunk last night and wished for the "slow death" of a supermajority of our county's 11-person legislative body on Twitter by name.
It is a bad sign when anyone with the wealth equivalent to the GDP of small countries decides to get so emotionally involved in local politics. These folks can drop hundreds of thousands of dollars in independent campaigns like it's going out of style AND persuade their crew to do the same.
#SanFrancisco #sfpol
https://missionlocal.org/2024/01/garry-tan-death-wish-sf-supervisors/

2024-01-19 20:26:00

The forecast here in SF for the next week is depressing. Rainy and cloudy. @npub1fg0…7zxs will not be a happy puppy.

2024-01-10 02:11:18

I am happy that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza today. Regretfully, my own District 6 Supervisor voted against it, but it's OK since the final vote was 8 to 3.
#CeasefireNow #Gaza #Palestine
https://ca.cair.com/sfba/news/cair-sfba-applauds-san-francisco-board-of-supervisors-for-passing-gaza-ceasefire-resolution/

2024-01-03 21:40:26

So, the weeklong camping trip in Death Valley was a success, but it turned into an unexpected adventure. I rented an electric vehicle to get there, a risky choice considering there are only two functioning charging stations.
The number of charging stations became a non-issue when the entire area lost power for almost four days around Christmas. Having to strictly ration mileage was unplanned but ultimately enjoyable. I had the chance to explore the area around Furnace Creek, mostly devoid of other tourists. @npub1fg0…7zxs and I got to hike for miles down closed roads without encountering another soul. Very enjoyable experience.
https://social.sanfranciscan.org/media/74e117c4-1552-4a6d-a20b-e3fb0597794d/mile%203.jpg

2023-11-18 01:23:04

These next twelve months are going to be one long electoral season, aren't they?
And I am not only talking about the presidential election. Local candidates, local ballot measures, regional, state. It's going to come every which way.

2023-07-03 04:09:15

The #fediverse does have a content #algorithm. It is the same algorithm you’d experience if you walked into a pub after a long day and started talking to whomever happened to be around or into a coffeehouse and made conversation with the person sitting next to you. It is a real-time, affinity-based algorithm.

2023-06-25 04:34:47

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Exactly. They need to be paying their fair share for public spaces (and everything else).

2023-06-25 04:28:56

Am I wrong in being annoyed that companies can rent out public spaces like parks for their own exclusive use?
And I don't buy the excuse that private funding is necessary to maintain these public spaces. If we need funding for public spaces, then we just need to raise taxes.

2023-05-11 07:35:26

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I think it could be argued that the fediverse presents the opportunity to recreate meaningful community bonds. Many instances appear to coalescing around relatively affinity groups of less than 5k users, with many pursuing some form of mutual support and admin accountability, while Nostr forcibly atomizes individuals.

2023-04-15 18:41:51

San Francisco asks residents to rate their feelings of safety in their neighborhood during the day and at night. This is used in part to measure the overall “feelings of safety and trust in police“ of residents.
The neighborhood with the lowest safety rating isn’t the Tenderloin or South of Market.
It is Seacliff.
Seacliff is a former residence park. Very exclusive neighborhood on the far side of the city, next to the Presidio, filled with single-family homes and for the longest time white-only.
It is also conveniently left off the map, but appears on the chart. It is the only neighborhood with a D rating.
Are electeds really expected to legislate around people’s feelings based on surveys like these?
https://sf.gov/data/city-survey-safety-and-policing
#SanFrancisco #SF #sfpol
https://social.sanfranciscan.org/media/3c3e0286-d758-4fab-97c4-a80ae298e55e/image.png

2023-03-28 21:41:18

Neighborhoods like the Mission, the Tenderloin, SoMa and Chinatown are dense and vibrant. Households have low car ownership and high transit usage. But many residents are working class, often immigrant. They’re not the “right” type of urban dweller for many fans of urbanism.
So instead being urban archetypes, most urbanists focus on European models of urbanism. They point to the Netherlands, Germany, etc. Whenever places like the TL are mentioned, the focus is on the negatives, on how they’re doing urbanism wrong.
It’s super cringe.