Christopher Neugebauer

Man about the world; Expatriated Tasmanian living in California; conference organiser: North Bay Python (npub17c5…s35h), previously PyCon AU (npub169v…dfnn) and linux.conf.au; #python fan; serves on the Python Software Foundation (npub1vv8…6fhk) Board & Grants WG; queer; frequently toots about [@robin](https://social.riley.pub/@robin ). 🇦🇺🏳️‍🌈

Web: https://chrisjrn.com
Location: Petaluma, California, USA (Unceded Coast Miwok Land)
Pronouns: he/him/his/(they/them ok)
bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/chrisjrn.fyi

Public Key

npub1rxqhurwn7m5zpcrgffqqql073hthrc8sdfwn80j6lgmwpedv3ytstm388y

NIP-05 Address

chrisjrn_at_social.coop@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqspnqt7phfld6pqup5y5sqq0hlgm4m3urcx5hfnhed05dhqukkgj9cpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsk4lz8w

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1rxqhurwn7m5zpcrgffqqql073hthrc8sdfwn80j6lgmwpedv3ytstm388y

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Last Notes

2026-08-13 19:33:21 UTC

Yesterday, #Eurovision updated their rules to automatically make any country subject to "sensitive geopolitical issues" or "armed conflicts" ineligible to host.
Today, their long-standing Israeli headline sponsor withdrew their support. 🤔
(About Fucking Time)

2026-05-01 02:58:59 UTC

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have you considered doing it from remote locations with unreliable internet?

2026-04-23 23:19:59 UTC

Hello if you are in the bay area over the weekend and are interested in technology and how it affects actual people, may I recommend popping up to Petaluma for @npub17c5…s35h? It's this weekend!
Talks and tickets: https://northbaypython.org/
(We'll waive ticket costs on request too, if you need it!)

2026-04-03 00:16:08 UTC

Some things that I hold true about software engineering:
1. Systems can gain modified functionality by accretion (i.e. additional code is created), or through alteration (i.e. new code replaces old code).

2026-03-17 23:34:19 UTC

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As promised:
I'm a staff-ish level software engineer, fairly deeply involved in the Python community (see @npub17c5…s35h which I organise, and @npub1vv8…6fhk where I'm a board Director). Things I like: understanding/taking apart/reassembling systems; open source; technology in service of humans. Otherwise not terribly picky :)
Things I'm good at: programming in #Python (other languages acceptable, of course), communicating complicated stuff in conference talks, probably a few things related to that. Ask?
#FediHired #GetFediHired

2026-03-17 18:56:55 UTC

Some regrettable personal news:
As of ~45 mins ago I am no longer employed. I'm still trying to find my bearings, but would be gateful for whatever leads y'all have.
(I will say more in a bit, once I actually have the time to spare)
#GetFediHired

2026-03-04 18:25:28 UTC

RE: https://mastodon.social/@glyph/116172179294783146
"Is there a point to understanding things?" is, I think, the single biggest open question about Software Engineering as a discipline that has opened up over the last 18 months.
I expect it'll be answered in the affirmative, but
a) I don't think there'll be consensus on that for another 3 years
b) I don't think the people who are acting as if the negative is true will ever realise that that's what they think
#note167l…w0rn

2026-03-04 18:11:29 UTC

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this is definitely an mood

2026-03-04 17:50:18 UTC

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That piece is an epistemological argument in the same way that yours is, which I feel would not be compelling to people who haven't developed priors that justify a want of understanding. Indeed, that piece acnkowledges that and implies (and almost explicitly says) that understanding as the end goal is counterproductive.
Which is not to say that the joy of understanding isn't a valid one (I care about it a lot), it's just that if that doesn't motivate people, I don't think your point holds up.

2026-03-04 15:58:30 UTC

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you're making a lot of points that echo it: your "enculturation" idea in particular is very similar, but it's holding some unstated priors (e.g. that having multiple people understand the code is useful); Naur starts from the point of view of long-term maintenance, at which point, understanding seems essential

2026-03-04 14:15:55 UTC

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have you read the naur paper I've recently been ranting about yet?

2026-01-23 16:22:07 UTC

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it's a hotel in California. What do you expect?

2026-01-23 14:54:54 UTC

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oh hey, in town for long?

2025-12-18 18:16:42 UTC

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the joy of federation -_-

2025-12-18 18:00:25 UTC

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your site is timing out after DNS resolution :(

2025-11-19 22:10:33 UTC

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is this where I suggest migrating to Ghost, which has an API _and_ is generally not openly fascist?

2025-11-04 14:49:14 UTC

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It's meant to be, and was until a few years ago. New structural factors have popped up every year (2022-23 hyperinflation, Pittsburgh having some weirdly expensive things in 2024 that were cut for 2025,, 2025 having 500 fewer international attendees due to ICE) that get in the way of returning to revenue positive
@npub1css…jy3n @npub1kkq…xzyy @npub1vv8…6fhk

2025-10-27 15:23:45 UTC

Semi-personal commentary:
The NSF's terms were quite perverse – even ignoring the clear ethical fuckery they demanded.
"Promoting a diverse and international Python community" is written into our IRS-registered mission. Accepting the NSF's terms would have meant using funds in a fashion contrary to the mission that gives us a non-profit status in the US, and explaining that to the IRS in four years time would have been a heck of a time.
https://pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-funding-statement.html

2025-10-25 17:00:24 UTC

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choose your judiciary judiciously pls

2025-10-15 13:57:54 UTC

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Baristas and Solicitors!
(Cth only, sorry)

2025-10-15 13:35:58 UTC

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why did it have to be dentists? I've been sitting on a pun for a dual lawyer/coffee shop operator for A DECADE

2025-09-29 04:46:05 UTC

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Not every intrusive thought needs graphic design... But sometimes you just need to let the market decide. (https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/174477682?ref=studio-promote)

2025-09-29 04:12:49 UTC

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Ok you can too: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/174477682?ref=studio-promote

2025-09-29 04:11:07 UTC

Someone has already bought my niche Costco/existentialism merch, wat

2025-09-22 15:42:44 UTC

Did I mention my second talk from #PyConAU about Free Software's unwillingness to think about consequences and how we might have learned a small amout from labour organising (and how corporates certainly have)?
It's a good one! You should watch it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsbUzGailCw

2025-09-16 15:07:31 UTC

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yeah. There are 4 seats; it looks like a misconfiguration of OpaVote which does not affect the results (approval vote counting is quite straightforward)

2025-09-16 15:02:29 UTC

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It's a ranked vote; only the top 4 get seated.

2025-09-16 01:52:15 UTC

Just landed back in Sonoma County, and oops I think we just flew over that Mac OS wallpaper 👀
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/115/211/471/083/897/669/original/eb21a9e0d17204ac.jpg

2025-08-11 16:43:48 UTC

I (and several other people I know) have observed that autism-spectrum people are more averse to LLMs than NT people.
It was pointed out to me that for NT programmers, LLMs turn a necessary intermediate step – structuring your thinking so it's suitable for writing code – into something that has "productive output". I can see how if you need to do that extra thinking, a tool that "helps" with it can be useful.
Likewise, it's hard to see the value in something that does work I don't need to do.

2025-06-30 18:44:57 UTC

I am researching energy efficiency improvements because our air conditioner is not running very well any more. It turns out that now every major appliance will be a fridge.
Fridge: Is a fridge;
Heat Pump HVAC in heat mode: Outside is a fridge, inside is outside the fridge;
HVAC in cool mode: Your house is a fridge;
Heat Pump Water Heater: Your basement is a fridge, your water is the outside;
Heat pump clothes dryer: Your laundry room is a fridge, your clothes are the outside.

2025-05-29 21:03:54 UTC

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it's subtly different to that – it's not that everyone's a presenter, it's that you have to be _willing to be a presenter_ in order to attend (i.e. submitting to the CFP is a condition of getting an invitation, but that doesn't mean that your idea will get accepted). It's very intentionally a selection function for the audience, rather than a way to get more people to present things. @npub1w0t…umh8

2025-05-29 16:46:51 UTC

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that is what I'm aiming for here, it's somewhat of an experiment in how to make a venue that _doesn't_ devolve into that. The bet is that the _you must be willing to have a take_ condition of entry will keep things in check.
(by the way, on the subject of all those subjects, did you see nbpy's program this year?)

2025-05-29 15:54:53 UTC

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you wouldn't be the first person to ask for a franchise. I want the thing to happen a few times and get an established reputation before it goes off into the wider world, because without care and feeding, it _will_ turn into a toxic cesspit.

2025-05-29 15:42:02 UTC

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if you can't make the first, I would be shocked if there weren't 2-5 of them in the next year or so

2025-05-29 04:14:56 UTC

got nerdsniped
help me make an afternoon and/or evening of Takes? https://ehat.fyi
🤷‍♂️

2025-05-27 14:56:39 UTC

I am convinced* that @npub1yjq…me58 is in the process of creating the most important* study* in the history of #Python, and you should contribute to it: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfRgC-YWEriHW_rbcBY9jWJf35w3bPxP01Mg5EAu25lOyPAeg/viewform

2025-05-18 20:49:21 UTC

A thoroughly well-deserved Community Service Award given to @npub1782…qmhv for service during an exceptionally long tenure at the helm of @npub14wk…3c74, presented at #PyConUS.
It's an absolute travesty that she is unable to accept it here in person. I hope this country can start doing better by trans people again in the future.

2025-05-18 19:32:22 UTC

A donation from @npub1vv8…6fhk in 2001 bootstrapped Software Carpentry? Well that is quite the long-term success story from a PSF grant. Amazing.
#PyConUS

2025-05-13 18:39:22 UTC

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J1772 has a whole signaling protocol for no gain in voltage or carrying capacity. If you're going to implement a signalling protocol, I think you need to do CCS DC instead.

2025-05-13 16:57:42 UTC

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ok yes I saw where this was going well in advance of the payoff.
also, standard brit saying great things about the UK plug while failing to mention the utter crapness of the standard UK wiring that made it a necessity 🙃

2025-05-13 16:35:48 UTC

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I am watching the entire video at this point
and frankly, my induction stovetop with a thin-based stovetop kettle is the fastest water boil I get anywhere, but I can put 3700W of power into the kettle, so that's to be expected 🙃

2025-04-29 01:18:58 UTC

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And here is the video of @npub1pnd…w40l's talk – hands-down the best talk on neurodivergence in the workplace I've seen, and a highlight of #NBPy for this year.
https://youtu.be/5VZTdZhE94o
Thanks again, Joelle! It was a delight to have you!

2025-04-27 21:16:27 UTC

This talk from @npub1pnd…w40l is the best talk on neurodivergence I've seen -- it's not going out of its way to convince, but to explain and to share experience. Seek out the video tomorrow. #NBPy

2025-04-18 18:10:50 UTC

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no, this would be from the suitable-for-weddings furniture supplier, not the construction-grade deathtrap suppliers

2025-04-18 17:26:52 UTC

For people who've been to #NBPy for the first two of its barn years, you might find the following statement mildly amusing
… but I'm about to ask about space heaters for the mornings

2025-04-16 17:35:56 UTC

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Hypocrisy is the literal easiest way to show you that they're exercising power for the sake of exercising power.
Don't get angry because their explanation for doing something evil is logically inconsistent: get angry because they're doing something evil and _do something about it_.

2025-04-16 17:35:52 UTC

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So when you see a tyrant saying things that appears logically inconsistent, or hypocritical of their previous position, consider that they're actually not saying everything they believe out loud -- namely "that I'm doing this because I've got power".

2025-04-16 17:35:18 UTC

NOTE ON TYRANNY FOR PEOPLE WHO DEPEND ON LOGICAL CONSISTENCY:
A thing about tyrants and fascists and the like, is that power for the sake of power is the entire point. This is anaethema to people (like me, possibly you) who believe that power should be used to pursue justice, service, or progress.

2025-04-08 17:33:20 UTC

I gave a talk at last month about the role of organising in Open Source. I have three obserpinions therefrom:
1. Going all-in on permissive licensing was a mistake that directly led to extractive behaviour
2. Copyleft not having a good answer to the actual concerns of people who chose permissive licensing was a mistake that directly led to people going all-in on permissive licensing
3. It's too late to care about licensing, so we need other forms of consequences/ways to encourage organising

2025-02-25 21:17:08 UTC

We had the #NBPy program selection meeting yesterday, the program looks _fantastic_, and now I get to spend 2 months waiting impatiently to see all the talks.
It's going to be a really great event, and I can't wait to share the program with y'all. Until then, buy a ticket: https://pretix.northbaypython.org/nbpy/nbpy-2025/

2025-02-21 02:20:57 UTC

People are concerned because the Medicare site is saying telehealth will cease on March 31st. That and literally everything else funded by the US government. Telehealth is one of thousands of things facing a funding cliff on March 31st (previously December 31st last year). Medicare is just stating, accurately, the current state of funding.
See sec 3207 of https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20241216/ARA%2012.20.pdf #USPol
[I work for a business that depends on sec 3208, so I've been paying a small amount of attention to this]

2025-01-25 04:56:29 UTC

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very little of what we had on subscribe and save, but for things like FSC-sustainable toilet paper and paper towel (and other cleaning things), grove.co looks promising

2025-01-25 04:27:25 UTC

Ending the week by cancelling most of our Amazon subscriptions…
I was about to shift most of them to Target, but that's not happening either, it seems.
Nice to see the various megacorps showing where their priorities are so quickly.

2025-01-24 16:23:16 UTC

Thanks to regenerative braking, Caltrain's fuel bill post-electrification is projected to be less than their last year of Diesel trains, despite running even more trains at higher speeds.
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/efficiency-of-caltrain-electric-equipment-leads-operator-to-lower-estimate-of-electric-costs/
#capol #trains #transit
The more you know!

2025-01-21 18:06:43 UTC

oh no I think I'm turning into a security engineer

2024-12-25 03:53:20 UTC

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How many fridges?

2024-12-23 20:00:30 UTC

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you still need to figure out which cards are worth trying for your set of symptoms, right?

2024-12-23 19:09:47 UTC

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I am alternately imagining a box full of 20 cassettes and a decision tree to navigate which ones to take, and an A4-sized single cassette requiring 20-100 drops to activate

2024-12-21 22:50:23 UTC

roasting pineapple for pizza experimentation purposes
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/113/693/245/427/926/295/original/13caf9e639c8d59b.png

2024-11-27 04:59:45 UTC

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Oh, @npub16y8…d455 and @npub1hv5…xq0v, I think you wanted to be notified about this one?

2024-11-26 17:44:33 UTC

For those of you who weren't at #Monktoberfest last month, here's my talk about how people with no stake in the game taught Open Source users to be assholes and maintainers to not know how or who to ask for help, with almost predictably disastrous consequences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf_6EVTlZOY

2024-11-19 20:32:56 UTC

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And if you want to hear the DKC trilogy soundtracks as if they were recorded last week, here's an album project where Jammin' Sam Miller sourced full-quality versions of all the samples and re-sequenced the original SNES tracks.
Completely worth your time: https://mentalgroove.bandcamp.com/album/donkey-kong-country-ost-recreated-2

2024-11-19 20:31:31 UTC

Donkey Kong Country came out 30 years ago yesterday, and here's an NYT article about their soundtracks, possibly the music that has stuck in my brain the longest in my life:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/arts/music/donkey-kong-country-soundtrack-david-wise.html?unlocked_article_code=1.bE4.n5nB.2e9ChQh_HZuw 🎁

2024-11-08 15:39:51 UTC

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Yeah, it was a pleasant surprise (and I needed a win on Wednesday, that's for sure)

2024-11-07 03:58:46 UTC

Forgot to cancel an excessive hotel reservation last night because I was distracted, had a 1 night's rate penalty to cancel.
Solution: modify the reservation to 3 weeks from now (outside the cancellation penalty window) and immediately cancel. No fee 🫠

2024-10-24 21:44:29 UTC

My talk on making working coroutines in #Python 1.6 from @npub1fma…kfan is now online. Watch it, be upset, share with your friends. Whatever you prefer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU6QK54Exik&list=PL85KuAjbN_gvx5b_BgLVcKfccnlZAVPMk&index=29

2024-10-19 15:59:24 UTC

why did nobody tell me that _cnn_ of all channels is doing a local version of #hignfy and it's actually actually good?

2024-10-13 17:14:45 UTC

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if you did that, we'd all be in Chrisis.

2024-10-13 14:26:41 UTC

I was today years old when I realised that "Matt" is in the middle of "Automattic"
And that does explain a lot

2024-09-28 03:10:10 UTC

good to see that #gbbo S15 has jumped the shark less than 30 mins into the first episode. It's better to have one's hopes let down early.

2024-09-24 18:52:48 UTC

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I shall glare at @npub1sur…rqfg

2024-09-11 01:47:51 UTC

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8 Mile has one of the better debate scenes I've seen

2024-09-07 17:02:58 UTC

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(I just read the bit where she just randomly rejects government involvement out of hand as something that "most developers" would not want)

2024-09-07 17:00:39 UTC

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GENUINELY UNSURE WHY SHE DIDN'T CALL THE BOOK "ATLAS FORKED"

2024-09-07 04:16:30 UTC

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GRAZIE 🙃
https://social.coop/@chrisjrn/113092280700618174

2024-09-07 00:51:20 UTC

I am reading Working In Public because I need to be able to cite it... And holy fuck is the discussion of codes of conduct in chapter 3 the absolute hottest piece of garbage I have read on the subject.

2024-09-06 19:34:15 UTC

Working on a talk outline today, and my top-level headings include "Root Cause Analysis" and "Ayn Rand", so you can tell this is going to be a good one 🫠

2024-08-31 00:38:23 UTC

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Is that a film joke? Negative.

2024-08-30 23:49:30 UTC

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but mine's a canon

2024-08-30 23:48:46 UTC

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I also Leica clean camera

2024-08-29 01:40:56 UTC

Today I was reminded of this fully serious map of Tasmania.
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/113/042/756/464/589/524/original/0d005b100f89c42a.png

2024-08-25 05:39:23 UTC

APPROPRIATE PHOTO @npub1gfx…gnlz #KiwiPyCon
https://social-coop-media.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/media_attachments/files/113/021/049/885/722/429/original/9c49c2aebf6ea4b6.jpg

2024-08-05 19:54:16 UTC

A US Federal Court has ruled that Google search and text advertising are illegal monopolies: https://wapo.st/3WQgTRj
May this be the first of many such decisions around big tech.