Simon MacDonald

Father, Software Engineer, Comic Enthusiast, Coffee Lover, Human Goodreads and Staff Software Engineer at Sanity. He/Him

GitHub: https://github.com/macdonst
Pixelfed: https://pxlfd.ca/macdonst
Website: https://simonmacdonald.com
Gravatar: https://gravatar.com/simonmacdonald

Public Key

npub18gkxtkjkz0an5zruqvacmfl7snenlvhutzplmqsalpq24hm2arxqajghwm

NIP-05 Address

macdonst_at_mastodon.online@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsr5tr9mftp87e6pp7qxwud5llgfuelkt793qlasgwlss92ma4w3nqprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntxjx4am

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relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub18gkxtkjkz0an5zruqvacmfl7snenlvhutzplmqsalpq24hm2arxqajghwm

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Last Notes

2026-06-08 13:00:55 UTC

PSA: if you are anything like me you've accumulated a lot of tech with Lithium ion batteries. Some of which is probably stuck in a drawer that you don't check very often.
I'm reminding you to check every so often. This weekend I found a swollen battery in an old Parrot drone I'd bought for my kid over a decade ago. These batteries, if punctured, ignite on contact with the air and produce harmful gasses.
Give those old phones and pieces of tech the once over for safety.
https://cmbatteries.com/lithium-battery-swelling/

2026-06-04 15:06:13 UTC

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you are going to do great. I was hoping to finally make it to CSS Day but my kid had to go graduate from university that week.

2026-05-08 23:39:08 UTC

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ug, that show was removed from existence so that the company could use it as a tax write off.
https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/final-space-streamings-cruelest-cancelation/

2026-04-27 16:55:48 UTC

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those cartoons for sure should have been removed due to racism.
I'm talking about how "Duck Season, Rabbit Season" got wrecked.

2026-04-27 16:54:01 UTC

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sorry that I wasn't making sense. Looney Tunes started in the 1930's and started network syndication in the 1970's running until 1999. That's where most of our generation fell in love with them.
Unfortunately, this period was also marked by censorship. Many of the cartoons were edited to remove "cartoon violence" which destroyed their flow and made them less funny. IMHO that why people became less enamoured with them.
Note: I'm not talking about the censored 11 decision

2026-04-25 21:14:02 UTC

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I blame the ridiculous edits. Pretty sure kids can tell cartoons from real life.

2026-04-07 23:06:57 UTC

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please ignore my unsolicited advice but the way I’ve dealt with this in the past is just putting the budget checker as part of the PR process. Don’t make it gate, just make it report if the pages are getting heavier. Then when folks get interested start floating the idea of gating PR’s if they go over budget.

2026-04-07 13:03:10 UTC

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have you ever tried setting your own artificial constraints on a project? I had a plugin that would report how much css/js my pages were using and warning me when it got to close to my “budget”. Even just having that number led to some tighter code.

2026-03-11 16:41:21 UTC

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every once in awhile VISA gets compromised and they need to send me a new credit card. I have a backup card that is rarely used just in case. It came in handy last Christmas as my card got leaked and I had to switch to the backup.

2026-01-06 14:34:58 UTC

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heh, I think you and my wife have much in common. Her grandparents all live to the late 80’s to mid 90’s so she may never die. I keep telling her she’ll have time for 2 more husbands, at least, after I’m gone.
It’s so hard to put yourself first when you have young ones. Glad you are getting your ducks in a row.
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/115/848/648/600/549/416/original/56fb6d9117cea368.png

2026-01-06 14:24:35 UTC

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yeah, I have an Apple Watch and the only thing I use it for is fitness tracking. It’s pretty good for that at least.
My wife, the fitness professional, has the body type of a German milkmaid (also her ancestry). So she doesn’t look shredded or waiflike but she’s fitter than anyone I know.
Genetics plays such a huge part in how our bodies look that you just have to roll with it.
I read Outlive by Peter Attia and the biggest thing is getting your healthspan to match your lifespan.

2026-01-04 14:47:25 UTC

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my spouse, a fitness professional of 15 years, always cautions people not to get hung up on the number live I want to get my resting heart rate to 50 and instead focus on the direction the number is moving. As long as the metric is moving in the right direction that is all that is important in fitness.

2026-01-03 15:56:00 UTC

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a lot of it is just genetics. I’m a reasonalbly fit middle aged man who plays hockey and due to the genetic lottery my resting heart rate usually falls around 50 bpm. In my younger days it was in the 40s.

2026-01-01 01:06:22 UTC

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jeebus, that sucks. I usually like Factually. Can’t believe Adam let that slide.
Currently reading “Empire of AI” and Timnit Gebru definitely warned them.

2025-12-19 04:34:04 UTC

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Read this book. It always put me to sleep during University. https://engineering.futureuniversity.com/BOOKS%20FOR%20IT/Software-Engineering-9th-Edition-by-Ian-Sommerville.pdf

2025-12-14 19:40:48 UTC

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If you pick up the Brian Hebert/Kevin J Anderson ones then we shall consider it a cry for help.

2025-12-14 15:07:16 UTC

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true but I maintain my position that each book after the original gave me diminishing amounts of joy and somewhere around 4 I started to question why I was putting myself through it. The answer, because I can’t stop reading a series once I’ve started.

2025-12-13 22:33:22 UTC

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do we need to call an intervention?

2025-11-20 23:40:05 UTC

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yup, you are seeing the same diminishing returns I did. I implore you to stop at 4.

2025-11-10 20:27:28 UTC

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Also Ashe Dryden has a good list of sci-fi books she posted on Friday. Can confirm, I read 'em all and they are great.
https://xoxo.zone/@Ashedryden/115510152237677316
#note19eh…9suj

2025-11-10 14:49:05 UTC

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who wrote many books but specifically "The Cyberiad" is the novel that Tchaikovsky got his inspiration for "Service Model".
Then delving deeper into less well know authors I'd look at "Station Eternity" by Mur Lafferty.
Anyway, let me know if you try any of those and like them as it helps me narrow down recs.
No AI was used to generate these book recs. Only my neurodivergent brain.
2/2

2025-11-10 14:43:47 UTC

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okay, was taking an internet break but I'm back to provide recommendations.
So my 5-star rec based on your inputs is "The Broken Earth" trilogy by NK Jemisin with the first book being "The Fifth Season". This is not a stretch as all 3 books in the series have won awards.
If you have not tried Adrian Tchaikovsky yet then I'd go with "Service Model" as the gateway into his writing. His "Children of Time" spare opera is quite good as well. If you know Stanislaw Lem
1/x

2025-11-08 16:28:28 UTC

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strong agree. With a few books that I know you like I can give pretty damn good reccomendations. I live up to my “human goodreads” byline.

2025-11-08 16:16:51 UTC

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as someone who has read all the sci fi the Dune books head downhill fast after book 2. I never recommend folks progress past 1 or at most the 2nd.

2025-09-17 17:23:28 UTC

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As someone who is building an RSS reader for fun, not profit, the various formats are still a pain to deal with in 2025.

2025-08-26 13:57:11 UTC

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these are great books. I've both read them and listened to the audiobooks. I'm considering buying this bundle just for the Rapport which I haven't read yet.

2025-06-18 16:56:00 UTC

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Oh, I forgot that was even tangentially related to the DCEU. Too bad Zachary Levi turned problematic.

2025-06-18 14:51:53 UTC

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All of the DCEU movies quickly degraded to the point where I’d only watch them to pass the time on planes.
The only exception was the original Wonder Woman which was great. Everything else was meh or terrible.

2025-06-18 12:50:41 UTC

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The Synderverse was just the worst. The characters looked like the ones you knew but certainly did not act like it. A Superman who kills? A Batman who uses guns? No, sorry you missed the entire point.
Superman, who has the power of a god and could rule Earth doesn’t because he was raised by folks with strong moral character. Nurture over nature. He always finds a way to win without killing and thus represents an ideal we could all strive towards.

2025-05-12 13:52:14 UTC

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Ug, yes same. It always makes me feel terrible but I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had cash on me in the past 10 years.
Donating to food banks and homeless charities makes me feel less bad. They will do a better job of reaching people than I ever will. When I was at Abobe they had a charity matching program too which effectively doubled my donations.
Still feel like crap though having to say sorry.

2025-04-07 12:34:41 UTC

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if he’s talking he’s lying. If some company/country backs a truck load of money up to the front steps of Mar-a-lago you can bet that a carve out will be soon to follow.

2025-04-07 12:29:25 UTC

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when you think of Trump as a mafia don the tariffs make sense. He wants countries and companies to pay him directly and then he’ll create carve outs for them. It’s extortion at a global scale.

2025-03-17 18:33:48 UTC

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nice photos. I loved visiting Prague and it is also the site of the best photo I've ever taken.
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/179/206/306/105/794/original/33f972ae04d0e4d1.jpeg

2025-02-27 15:21:39 UTC

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oh yes, if you don't go to Powell's you'll be disappointed. As a book nerd I have spent way too much time and money there.
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/114/076/529/104/935/735/original/445e7d81680f1e2b.jpeg

2025-02-27 15:19:13 UTC

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I love that place. I was last there 2 years ago and Brian and I played this linked Star Wars Battle Pod game and it was to die for. If you get an hour of downtime it's a good spot to unwind.

2025-02-27 14:11:18 UTC

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have you checked our the barcade Ground Kontrol yet?

2025-02-20 14:15:07 UTC

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I did a basic version of this with a web component. It uses the in browser TTS if it exists. Your comment about images makes me think there is a feature I could add to it.
https://simonmacdonald.com/blog/posts/2024-02-01-read-it-to-me-component

2025-02-14 20:30:25 UTC

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well if you aren't there Dave is going to be really disappointed.

2025-02-14 18:00:45 UTC

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speaking of UK conferences, who's going to SotB in March?

2025-02-09 14:46:06 UTC

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Tesla sales seem to be cratering across the board which warms my cold broken heart.
https://sfba.social/@drahardja/113971336083765432

2025-01-19 03:33:46 UTC

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I think you would really like visiting https://www.powells.com/ if you are ever in Portland, OR 🇺🇸

2025-01-16 15:05:16 UTC

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The other bonus is that when you look up a show Google doesn't start showing you spoiler filled articles because Casey doesn't sell your data.

2025-01-16 15:01:53 UTC

I know we are all excited about switching to Pixelfed from Instagram but don't sleep on Callsheet by @npub1vuf…klt8. It is an excellent replacement for the ad infested IMDB.
https://www.caseyliss.com/2023/8/7/callsheet

2025-01-06 22:00:22 UTC

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I have a video for you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G480KXiuUA

2024-12-20 13:53:18 UTC

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dang, I knew there was something I forgot to do last night. Distracted by video games.

2024-12-01 03:31:32 UTC

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I have a real issue with prequels as they are all "re-arranging the deck chairs while the Titanic sinks" sort of thing. The worst offender had to be that Han Solo movie.

2024-10-29 16:35:31 UTC

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yup, that's why we are seeing more hurricanes and hurricanes hitting farther north. Where I grew in Nova Scotia up now gets hammered by a hurricane or tropical storm at least once a year.

2024-09-28 16:06:33 UTC

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I gave this book 4 stars but I definitely need to re-evaluate it with a second read. The problem is the first was so uncomfortable as the main character was wholly unlikeable.
Also, I got lucky and was able to get a signed copy of this book when RF Huang was in Ottawa last year.

2024-09-26 13:41:54 UTC

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maybe I’m paranoid but could that be an “intentional” bug on Apple’s part.

2024-08-13 13:03:37 UTC

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we had a great chat with Marianne back in 2022.
https://begin.com/blog/posts/2022-07-21-kill-it-with-fire