Blooming Twilight
Adele Webster
2024
09.03.2026 23:01
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Blooming Twilight
Adele Webster
2024
Blog entry: Why government software is so expensive.
In my experience, there are four major reasons: outsourcing the whole thing, the pricing death spiral, funhouse-mirror price tags, and procurement processes that don't favor quality development.
In honor of Dr. King today, a story about Stevie Wonder, and how one person can stand on principle — even when it risks their social standing and privilege — to fight for change. Was the honor of a lifetime to hear Stevie share this story, and get to thank him: anildash.com/2022/01/17/h...
Snowdrifts and Stars
Nicki Ault
2025
1969: ARPANET was created to keep the network operational even if individual computers go down.
2025: AWS goes down and takes half the world's services with it.
Flying cars are the perfect example of a point solution: trying to solve a systemic problem (traffic) with an individual product (fly over the traffic).
But traffic is not a technology problem; it's a social problem. Remote work, congestion fees, and dense transit-connected housing solve it better.
August Blue True
Mendelson Joe
2017
It’s wonderful that this video from Milwaukee’s Public Library system features a nod to a book on Prince, because he loved libraries. In 2001, he donated $12k to save the Louisville Free Public Library’s Western Branch — the first to serve Black patrons. www.courier-journal.com/story/news/l...
The single most important thing to understand about digital futurism is this:
When the digital future that Sam Altman ( or Elon, or Andreessen, etc) predicts fails to materialize, he doesn’t have to give the money back.
Microsoft Excel adds Copilot Al to help ... theverge.com The Verget-4.1-mini Al model | 5 successor to the LABS.GENERATIVEAI function Microsoft started experimenting with in 2023. Microsoft notes that you can combine its new Al function with other Excel functions, including IF, SWITCH, LAMBDA, or WRAPROWS. The company adds that information sent through Excel's COPILOT function is "never" used for AI training, as "the input remains confidential and is used solely to generate your requested output." The COPILOT function comes with a couple of limitations, as it can't access information outside your spreadsheet, and you can only use it to calculate 100 functions every 10 minutes. Microsoft also warns against using the AI function for numerical calculations or in “high-stakes scenarios” with legal, regulatory, and compliance implications, as COPILOT "can give incorrect responses." Copy Share Select all Web search Dictionary ...
Good thing no one uses Microsoft Excel for anything related to legal, regulatory or compliance business functions
www.theverge.com/news/761338/...
Come hang out with me at Civic Spark next weekend!!
It's been almost three months since I launched Show Up Toronto and in that time I've posted 426 events from over 200 groups, which is pretty dang cool. The fact that there are consistently 100+ events a month representing the labour of thousands validates my optimism about the city. showuptoronto.ca
These case studies: www.teachingpublicservice.digital/case-study-c...
“We've created a culture that treats depth like inefficiency. One that wants love without awkwardness, wisdom without confusion, transformation without the growing pains that crack us open and rebuild us from the inside out.”
HT @dbcurren.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/maalvika...
DOGE took over the US Digital Service; what lessons can we learned from the civic tech movement that it eviscerated?
@emilytav.bsky.social & Kathy Pham compiled a history of the the creation of USDS, and describe an alternative vision of govt tech.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/revisiting...
The call for proposals for this year's @opendatasociety.bsky.social summit closes tomorrow (July 18!). It'll be an awesome crew of folks in New Brunswick this year: opendatasummit.ca #opendata
Silicon Valley’s alliance with Donald Trump was a mask off moment and showed the world we can’t depend on US tech companies.
For the past few months, I’ve been trying to get off US tech and I put together a guide so you find alternatives too. I hope you find it helpful!
Canada needs to reduce its dependence on US tech companies — and cloud infrastructure is a perfect place to start.
For @policyalternatives.ca, I explain the threat posed by our dependence on US-owned data centres and why we need a public cloud that isn’t shaped by the need for shareholder profits.
Yes, come visit! ❤️
Civic Spark August 16-17, 2025 Toronto civic-spark.com
We’re putting on a conference!
Join us at Civic Spark 💥 August 16-17, 2025
civic-spark.com
Maybe you’ve felt the gap — between the problems we face and the systems meant to solve them. Maybe you’ve seen how those closest to the issues are pushed aside.
Help change that. 🧵
Thanks to @sharonodea.com for the Alt Text - definitely many notables missing but I owe the folks named loads.
Appreciate being in the company of so many people who have and continue to inspire me. (And thank you for the nudge to keep working in the open and pick up the writing).
Our team at @yukon.ca is hiring! I’m biased but it’s an awesome crew of people. 😊 Come work in the Yukon!
eServices Delivery Manager - yukongovernment.hua.hrsmart.com/hr/ats/Posti...
Forms designer - yukongovernment.hua.hrsmart.com/hr/ats/Posti...
Right back at you, so thrilled we got to connect and hope it happens regularly! ❤️
The load-bearing spreadsheet thing I always come back to because:
* spreadsheets *are* programming
* but they're not seen as Real Programming by a bunch of gatekeepers
* they are business critical
* their importance is undervalued and unrecognized
* ... they're invisible to exec leadership?
Prime time for a "Bureaucracy keeps your ass alive, actually" platform
Oh, impossible without. Will email
Lots of boring behind-the-scenes work. Happy to connect
You see so little media coverage of organizing wins and we HAVE to share them, so I'm using the newsletter platform to highlight some of these happening around Toronto, too. buttondown.com/showup/archi...
