@maggiefero
Margaret is the founder of Neat Systems (neatsystems.dev), a presenter, and an interdisciplinary hacker. They love opensource projects, playing other people's videogames, reading, and nerding out about privacy and information disclosure models.
I had to file a complaint last year about a pharmacy that had no way to request refills for months, and when I called in the regulator had gotten over 100 reports but nobody had the documentation he needed to follow up. He was PSYCHED to get all my time-stamped notes and had it fixed in two weeks.
Yeah, plus I can arbitrage some privilege here... lots of people don't know they can file a complaint or how, and I've got a compliance background. Tech skills are more common for disabled people than baseline, but still definitely not universal.
I'm really not sure who handles that for my area, but now that I'm not running late I'll dig into it a bit later. I did give up and say "operator" then wait until it gave up and transferred me (30 seconds ish?), so I eventually managed to tell someone I was running late this time
A photo of Robin, a new library commissioner, and Lisa, the commission assistant, signing the oath of office. The photo is overlaid with this quotation from Robin: "Libraries represent so much of what is right in the world at a time when it's hard not to be scared or overwhelmed by all that's wrong. They are a material commitment we make to each other, to inform, connect, inspire, and help us grow into our best selves – at every stage of life."
I remain so chuffed to have joined the Sonoma County Library Commission.
Libraries are the best example of why we have a society in the first place, and why it's worth putting our backs into the work of building a better world. Let's commit to one another.
Surely, running late for an appointment isn't a thing anybody calls their medical provider about, right? I'm definitely the first person ever to miss a train because of elevator trouble on the way to see the doctor. Why would THAT have been in the acceptance test plan? 😐
Ugh, Sutter Health has apparently now launched an AI phone bot with no opt out and it literally doesn't know what to do if you say "I'm running late".
@alex.bsky.team Great chatting today! Love the banner image; if you have time to swing back by the booth tomorrow, I have some related stickers and would happily share one
Some organizations' office of the Chief Learning Officer (who usually comes up through L&D/HR) has a role like this, but I've unfortunately seen both roles becoming less prevalent in the last few years even as we start to acknowledge that AI-powered engineering roles are fundamentally humanities!
Thank you! This looks great, and I'm very excited to be included 💖
Very excited to announce that I'll be joining @northbaypython.org as a speaker again this year! This time we're going to talk about Crisis (Technical) Communication, and the lifesaving skills that you, Pythonista, may not even realize you have 💖
Yay!!! I love that, and not just because you linked to me in it. I feel like it's been a while since anybody has put out a reviewer-perspective walkthrough of the process. Thank you for writing this up!
This thread inspired me to get off my ass and actually write this.
brassnet.biz/blog/picking...
Congrats to BART rider and Oakland legend Alysa Liu on winning a gold medal at the Olympics and making the Bay Area proud!
"This doesn't fit with what else we've got here but I reaaaaaaallllllly wanna see it" is such a frequent review mood for me.
I genuinely don't think I've ever reviewed for a single conference without finding at least one talk that got rejected with the vibe of "ooooof i hope they try this again next year" or "oooh I want this to end up at [other event I review for]".
Please do! I think it's especially true for huge events like Pycon, and I hope your potential submitters find solace in the reframe.
New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...
I have one particular friend I've run into three different times where we were both using separate, new-to-each-other handles and we still found each other then eventually mid-conversation figured it out.
Reframing it as "I offered something they don't need" as a submitter lets me get past the thought that maybe I was the ONE bad submission that always turns up in a CFP (if you think this is you: you've thought more about your proposal than the person who submitted that one, every time).
I know as a frequent reviewer that the valence of a CFP rejection is pretty similar to declining a pen from the committee side. It might be a bad proposal but much more often it's just not what we need for our community right now.
If I offer you a pen and you decline, I don't think "this person hates me" or "nobody likes pens" or any of those anxious thoughts that sometimes come with a CFP rejection. I probably don't think about it a second time at all unless it's a REALLY weird refusal in some way.
My CFP experience has gotten much better since I started thinking of the talks I propose as "offerings" rather than "proposals" or "submissions".
No son, they are not "magically delicious." The workers made them delicious. This is a slogan meant to mystify the social conditions of labor
The @cityofoakland.bsky.social Public Library stays winning! I kinda broke my bike's phone mount and could tell how to fix it, but don't have the hand strength to do that myself. I thought there might be a tool to help me, so I went to the tool library and a helpful librarian and I got it fixed!
Not enough. Every single ICE and CBP agent should be out of Minnesota. The terror campaign must stop.
ICE must be abolished.
This is a really good piece and a subject I know something about: My PayPal account was once frozen after I used it to raise funds for Syrian refugees www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Today's a good day to review your monthly subscriptions.
Journalists are essential to building a better world, and big media companies don't need, and much less deserve, our support.
Please support news outlets that are local, nonprofit, or worker-owned.
There are so many common dialects of Spanish in my area, it's easy to get discouraged. BUT I can tell my practice is working because I'm listening to a recorded event and when they switched to a Mexican presenter I briefly thought they'd changed into English bc it was suddenly easy to understand.
You're welcome!!!
I received it as a member of a ULC participant's Library Advisory Commission, so I'm not sure the route to getting it into my packet. Hopefully this helps at least directionally? I can check the report for contact info if that's useful to you!