Jo Walsh

Burned out technologist looking for new directions. Does some cycle infrastructure campaigning, learning to teach dance fitness, rediscovering movement in later life

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npub1mhkh6ysp7rsgjdqtnhrhtaadtleq2dlr22y8txws8g6t4n0e953qxvfg7f

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ultrazool_at_mastodon.scot@mostr.pub

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nprofile1qqsdmmtazgqlpcyfxs9em3m477k4lus9xl349zr4n8gr5d96ehuj6gspz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43q9yrukm

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relay.mostr.pub

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npub1mhkh6ysp7rsgjdqtnhrhtaadtleq2dlr22y8txws8g6t4n0e953qxvfg7f

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Last Notes

2024-10-07 17:13:11

ah ha ha the Restructure has descended, handed down from on high in an almost caricature manner.
am i professionally cursed, or do all large organisations enact top-down restructures every three years and i've just never worked in the same place long enough to watch the cycle become a pattern?
one working day before a long holiday that couldn't have been better timed. haven't booked a return ticket yet... 🤔

2024-07-28 04:23:43

someone at #emfcamp told me they'd just been to a mass singalong of feminist sea shanties, but search won't turn up the lyric collection
would just like to read some for reference, not pressingly keen to listen to any sea shanty

2024-07-17 18:38:23

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@npub1rhr…gh5p the link's Service Unavailable, but the comic looks amazing

2024-07-05 12:28:52

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@npub194h…4ewx Big National Bucket

2024-06-28 12:16:40

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@npub10zv…nz7m i _keep_ intending to try this, then Friday comes around and i realise once more that Friday has come around already!
remembering is half the battle, finding a nice space to dance in is the other :D

2024-06-27 17:05:55

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@npub17ge…hgsu it was probably a typo, but i'd definitely want to go to a distributed conference called MastoCon

2024-06-26 13:28:27

i hereby dedicate the rest of my life to filling in timesheets before this quarter's hard deadline in the project accounts system
i was issued the budget codes late in life, and the scale of the effort seems vaster than one human mind can encompass, what with the timesheets themselves being eternal in nature

2024-05-23 18:04:25

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@npub19lt…qfjk if you find either the promotional demo or the slow burn high concept incredible, you'll be flabbergasted by the physical manifestation of "Synthercise, the dance fitness experience"

2024-05-23 17:55:47

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You may ask yourself "Jo, why are you doing this?"
And the answer would be "Well, after EMF 2022 i had some really compelling earworms about 'what if Zumba, but with chiptunes', so i studied for a teaching qualification to be eligible for instructor insurance, then designed an open licenced dance fitness franchise so i could inflict this on EMF 2024"
You can tell yourself it's ok to be overcommitted

2024-05-22 16:55:05

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@npub10zv…nz7m things can only get wetter

2024-04-24 07:56:18

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@npub194h…4ewx Shogun was so baggy in the middle though, hours and hours of people standing around in the rain, praying to die; barely stuck with it #theBookWasBetter

2024-03-10 20:28:57

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@npub194h…4ewx i miss it now it's finished! it was a good read, but regret not waiting until the end of the adaptation

2024-03-10 17:24:37

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@npub194h…4ewx from recent experience ploughing through the 1000 page novel, can recommend leaving that until after the series ends, it's like double-edged spoilers

2024-02-22 15:01:57

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@npub1njx…6peh @npub1hyk…3p33 this "state of product review" article linked in the enshittoscene piece is amazing for its thoroughness and subtle anger: https://housefresh.com/david-vs-digital-goliaths/
"Private equity firms are utilizing public trust in long-standing publications to sell every product under the sun
In a bid to replace falling ad revenue, publishing houses are selling their publications for parts to media groups that are quick to establish affiliate marketing deals"

2024-02-09 13:18:23

universities are great, they have warm bright atriums where you can just go and eat your sandwich, no-one bothers you
you could make a whole lifestyle out of this, like living in an airport. you would need a small group so you could occasionally pretend to have meetings, to allay suspicion
you could sidle into empty lecture halls and start improvising lectures to the air and birds, perhaps passing students would briefly listen

2024-02-09 09:12:25

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@npub1yyx…qa5g hasn't "startup culture" been a veneer for some time though? from build-to-sell to build-to-acquihire to a sales front for hyperscale compute to a sort of vendor lock-out situation where nothing new is possible, now?

2024-02-02 19:02:08

got so gripped by this speculative fiiction series, "There Is No Antimemetics Division", recommended via the Swole Woman newsletter, start here at SCP-055 https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-055
they have an ebook out, the listing says "this release is really from qntm, PM me if you require confirmation"
it has a @npub1psd…9sr7 Laundry Files meets Agent Carter thing going on, but more spine-crawling

2024-01-22 18:13:03

A friend has sent me this book, "The Algorithmic Anarchist". The intro begins "I'm a philosophical anarchist, a computer scientist, and a child of the 1960s". Its arrival on the doormat could not have been better timed @npub1skr…5v8h
https://media.mastodon.scot/mastodon-scot-public/media_attachments/files/111/800/945/066/739/911/original/b7c246ecb59a39fc.jpg

2023-12-21 01:10:43

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@npub1cqw…qsc0 thank you for sharing and @npub1hyk…3p33 thank you for writing it. The Uber analogy is spot on.
I remember the post-dotcom-crash years as halcyon days, when a lot of good people had a lot of creative freedom, and found safe berths places like BBC R&D, small academic institutes
Those institutional support structures don't exist now in the same way. And in an AI crash, the hyperscalers will try to milk the state. Social co-ops both to take in the tech exodus and to support local gov...

2023-10-16 22:10:15

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@npub1psd…9sr7 @npub1yyx…qa5g one time in lockdown i went spare enough to start making recipes from the Futurist Cookbook
https://media.mastodon.scot/mastodon-scot-public/media_attachments/files/111/246/967/496/155/971/original/ee6365bfec283779.jpg

2023-09-27 07:33:19

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@npub1yyx…qa5g My favourite part of the stack is CoPilot for Viva: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2023/04/20/introducing-copilot-in-microsoft-viva-a-new-way-to-boost-employee-engagement-and-performance/
"leaders need to ... create listening engines to assess workforce sentiment"
Not only every message you send and document you edit, but also every interaction in your organisation network graph. Then, name a UK public sector org that doesn't have its eggs in 365.
For now, harvesting organisational behavioural surplus. But the platform enshittification pattern is looming...

2023-08-19 16:57:56

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@npub1yyx…qa5g @npub1hyk…3p33 "When programmers train themselves to develop in these environments, they are gaining expertise in adding value to a monopolist's ecosystem".
This is my day life, now. Paid by government research funding to find and fix bugs in Microsoft Research tools built on Meta's framework, while paying for the privilege of testing them in Microsoft-rented data centres.
Thanks for the paper reference! It looks great. Maybe I'll rent an "open" LLM to read it for me

2023-08-17 16:47:08

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@npub1yyx…qa5g the preacher man outfit would suit you