George Mari @GeorgeMari@social.cleverlibre.org

Laid off ten weeks ago.

Senior/staff Apple ecosystem engineer with 10+ years of experience on iOS and 20+ macOS. Looking for something long-term and UI oriented. Open to contract.

UIKit, SwiftUI, Swift, and Obj-c

Remote in the US, no sponsorship needed.

linkedin.com/in/scott-angui…

DMs are open, please feel free to boost.

A British writer penned the best description of Donald Trump I’ve ever read:

“Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?”

A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.

• You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?' If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.”

-Nate White

This weekend I'm planning to attend the Midwest Vintage Computing Festival in Elmhurst, Illinois (Chicago). If you'll be there too it would be cool to meet up. So say hi if you see me wearing the climagic logo shirt. Or if someone else is wearing one, you should say hi to them too. ;) #vcfmidwest https://www.vcfmw.org/

Here’s a country turning so dangerously toward persecution of its own citizens that its peaceful northern neighbor is warning people not to travel there.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/31/canada-travel-warning-lgbtq-residents-us

This is also a very common problem in academia

https://dannorth.net/2023/09/02/the-worst-programmer/

New server, new #Introduction!

I am an author of #Poetry and #Prose from Sacramento, CA. I independently publish books that are available at http://www.nihtgengapress.com

I am an enrolled citizen of the #Mvskoke (Creek) tribe and indigenous issues are incredibly important to me.

I am proud to be a moderator at turtleisland.social and look forward to meeting all of you 🖤

I love: #Books #Music #Space #Physics #Art #Writing #Dogs #Tattoos #Nature and the community here on #Mastodon.

😂 credit: https://pizzacakecomic.com/ #birdsite #twitter

hey folks, what are good astronomy/star nerd blogs and sites to shove in my rss reader

and also what apps other than Sky Map

(Android, iPad, Linux acceptable)

#Astronomy

A person I otherwise deeply respect has remained (very) active on the deadbird site, and is even paying for it, because (the person says) it fulfills a professional need that can't be met elsewhere.

My friend calls it "a deal with the devil." On that, we agree.

I have my share of hypocrisies, and try to manage them carefully. Sticking with a site run by an enemy of journalism and democracy was just too much to stomach.

Journalists should leave. Period.

Ok Fediverse I'm throwing up an SOS.
I need to get my self #FediHired. I've been applying, and working with a recruiter, but so far bubkis.

I can only do #Remote work due to health reasons.
I'm a skilled #PatentSpecialist, but also have years of experience in #Accounting, and #Research. Pretty much if it involves a computer, I can do it (Yes, including websites and graphics).

Anyone have any leads?

#FingersCrossed

TIL: Over 20% of earth’s surface fresh water is in a lake in Siberia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Baikal

Can Mastodon help 2 young creatives find work? We just finished a great project and are now looking for new projects to work on. I'm a musician, jewellery designer and executive film producer/director and my partner Zach is a video editor, VFX artist and illustrator, we run a film collective called VFP with an amazing cinematographer. We're both queer, neurodivergent and super creative and passionate individuals, always creating.
Our work:
https://linktr.ee/visionfulfilled
#film #art #artists #news

I have often wondered why Putin's attack on #Ukraine angers me so deeply.

Walking on the beaches of Lillebælt, I realized it is because of this:

To this day, we Danes still see the concrete fortifications left by the Nazis on our shores, because 1 fascist leader got the insane idea, he had the right to topple our democracy.

He had no right. All he had was a delusional idea of somehow being supreme to everyone else.

We stopped the fascist in 1945.

We will stop the fascist now.

How to boil water?

Pre AI Internet Search:

"Put water in pan. Place the pan under high heat. Remove when larger bubbles begin to continuously erupt in the water."

Post AI Internet Search:

"Since the beginning of time, people have wondered how to boil water. It is an interesting question that will be answered below.

Table of Contents:

1. Reasons to boil water.
2. Famous people who have boiled water.
3. A brief history of thermodynamics.
4. Five things you didn't know about Roger Waters."

Exhaustion (mostly mental despite my body being used more than ever these past few days) hit exactly halfway through the day. It's a key part of today's #3GoodThings:

-I showed I was struggling and received help. I didn't quit and I completed the day.

-I've kept up my piano playing streak to 9 days. At 30 days I treat myself.

-Tea saved the day. And a cheese burger. And chips. But mostly tea. After that, I got on with my day and I'm 75% qualified to scuba dive. Tomorrow: 100%!

N628TS (Elon’s main jet the Gulfstream G650) appears to be in maintenance. This is the reason for lack of updates. It appears he is currently using SpaceX’s other jet N272BG.

The right is melting down over a fake Fox story that the Biden Administration is going to limit alcohol to two beers a week. Wait till I tell them it’s gotta be just two Bud Lights.

Been very focused on $DAYJOB, and we finally launched out of closed beta into a better, open beta.

Here it is: https://aboard.com/ — sign up, beat it up, send an email to hello@aboard.com if you'd like to be on the TestFlight beta.

Chicago public animal shelters are at capacity forcing them to euthanize animals. If you live nearby and have been thinking about getting an animal please look at adopting from CACC.
#Chicago #DogsOfMastodon #CatsOfMastodon

https://apple.news/AOAWtUmbtRI-sYFa2RtG_8Q

I refuse to tolerate a system that lets the 500 richest people add $852 billion to their wealth in the past six months alone, but doesn’t raise the $7.25 federal minimum wage for over a decade.