Posts by Rycaut@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #AtjcGZ2MCaQfOeNhLs by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-05-04T01:19:01Z
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@futurebird perhaps it needs to be delivered in a new extroversion friendly format. You split the book up into segments perhaps six - not standalone segments but interlaced with the other segments (kinda like a play)Then you get six extroverts together in a space (not hard though watch that they don’t keep inviting others to join) give them each their parts and let them co-read the book together.While us less extroverted folks go have some quiet time or some one on one in the other rooms
(DIR) Post #AttoMehLD1wLipozRY by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-05-08T23:21:41Z
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@futurebird I remember touring a client’s data center over 25 years ago. Smaller in scale than these (though massive by the standards of the 1990’s) but the scary part was when I saw our mainframe. The client was one of the largest banks in the world. That mainframe cleared the bank’s currency trading. We merged with another bank - over $1.5T (yes Trillion) or about 20% of the then global currency markets cleared over that machine in a few days. Needless to say I didn’t touch anything
(DIR) Post #AuDyaiirnjmdbosfJo by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-05-18T16:50:30Z
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@futurebird @EverydayMoggie seriously shows like The Repair Shop (and some YouTube channels about restorations) are a good start. https://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/take-part/the-repair-shop
(DIR) Post #Av55dqkxVkEiMDkCLQ by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-05-29T16:03:25Z
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Does anyone want to start a summer of “getting our personal tech stacks” in order with me? Especially if here in the Bay Area (San Jose/Canpbell/Los Gatos or Palo Alto/Mountain View/Saratoga/Los Altos area especially)This would be stuff like:Helping each other consolidate domains to one registrarSet up/clean up personal (professional as well as personal interest) websites with help figuring out hosting options, importing old posts, setting up a process to update use to verify identity etc
(DIR) Post #Av55dsWqvA8nr39xdQ by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-05-29T16:07:13Z
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Also updating our profiles across the web to point to updated websitesMerging past content into archives at these sitesAdding for some of us services like an online store (both for physical goods if we sell any as well as for services that we might offer or digital only products)Ideally all built with FOSS and good hosting providers and companies but instead of everyone trying to navigate all of that individually help each other. And if possible also consider personal back office tech
(DIR) Post #Av55dtmUGWF1jpTxdw by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-05-29T16:10:01Z
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So also thinking about how we track our personal/professional income (invoices, inventory, expenses etc)And what else we might want to consider (supporting open source projects we use financially, exploring adding stuff like mailing lists, updating professional profiles at LinkedIn but also elsewhere, making it easy to schedule meetings with us (Calendy or similar), tools we might use to package up digital products etc. And help each other navigate having multiple interests and “hats”
(DIR) Post #Av55duq4KghV1EAKrg by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-05-29T16:16:45Z
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So to use myself as an example:I offer: professional consulting services and might consider full time roles (part time CTO/product manager, vetting for investors or others technology, drafting and running RFPs, business process design with a strong technology focus) facilitation of open space conferences and occasionally run ongoing events or have helped run a variety of conferences (from dozens to 1000’s of attendees) writing (fiction, non-fiction on business and gaming related)
(DIR) Post #Av55dvnGma3Vyprc8m by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-05-29T16:19:38Z
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But I’m also an active seller on eBay and other platforms mostly but not exclusively of ttrpg items. One of my goals this summer is to update my own websites to add a range of items for sale that aren’t a good fit for eBay starting with a few 100 books. I’m also exploring how to best sell off the remains of my Magic the Gathering collection (which may require getting a lot of it graded) and I’m exploring selling some items on various niche platforms (old legos for example)
(DIR) Post #Av55e02ezIk99j5xgW by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-05-29T16:24:34Z
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And I have at least one boardgame / political commentary digital book/zine that I want to package up and distribute (probably as a pay what you want format). I might use itch.io for it but open to other suggestions. (If you are interested in helping playtest it - it’s a cooperative take on Monopoly that uses the same pieces plus a few print at home items to entirely change the gameplay back into I hope a commentary on our economy and alternative economics… while being fun)
(DIR) Post #Aw0pgdL5eDfmeXnswK by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-07-11T04:23:43Z
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@tomjennings she gets talked about in some circles. One notable element to her giving (which initially she kept somewhat private but after feedback has been more public about) is that her gifts to organizations are usually unencumbered which is rare a lot of donors especially rich ones encumber their gifts for specific purposes or only for expenses not stuff like capital campaigns or facilities or if they support a facility require it be named how they want etc. See https://yieldgiving.com
(DIR) Post #Aw0poeYP10d8jkr2Bs by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-07-11T04:25:11Z
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@tomjennings also her giving is now up to over $19.25B and counting to over 2450+ non-profits
(DIR) Post #AwRT6T6NYSbEgtISC8 by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-07-24T00:47:50Z
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@futurebird also note that Obama’s numbers are higher because he formalized the process at the border - most of his deportations were people right at the border turned away (but processed formally while previous administrations just turned people away - removals vs returns) and actual criminals. it’s arguable that his policy wasn’t a good one but it was considerably different than the current administration. And Bush and Clinton deported 10M and 12M vs 5m for Obamahttps://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/06/13/why-obamas-immigration-enforcement-policy-was-better-than-trumps/
(DIR) Post #AwWuUlFXP1PgTgBk2a by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-07-26T15:48:19Z
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@futurebird Participant Media (https://participant.com) is an example of a largely Left leaning big scale media production firm (they produce films with social impact while managing to win multiple Oscars for best picture as well as best documentary along the way). Each film they produce they tie to partnerships with key NGOs and non profits. All good stuff. But also they are still 20+ years later an unusual exception. And their model isn’t suited for ongoing everyday media or smaller scale
(DIR) Post #AwlvUA0l3rjyJJlp1U by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-08-02T21:40:05Z
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@futurebird fail in exponentially more and creative ways. While also failing to really deliver any value to anyone not a supplier to it. The suppliers will make billions. Everyone else will suffer outages, failure to meet expectations and increased fragility and ways to fail catastrophically All while weird problems will be found. For very minimal gain In short it’s idiotic. (I’ve been in big data centers that ran important parts of the economy. They were much smaller)
(DIR) Post #AwwAPfcbY54RnHOBBw by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-08-07T20:14:26Z
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@futurebird I was actually asked to join the first class at the Illinois Math and Science Academy which is a free public boarding school in Illinois that is (obviously) focused on Math and Science. It was an honor but I was also 13 and wasn't ready to live away from my family. (I skipped half of 2nd grade and half of 3rd grade plus have a summer birthday - so yes, I eventually graduated high school at 16) I did consider it for a while but it was probably a good decision not to go
(DIR) Post #AxyRS31bdkz2IJEoiG by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-09-07T20:02:51Z
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@marick it also seems to think of the self as somehow isolated from others and not as I would argue deeply enmeshed in your family and society - that is we are each on a deep level the product of our parents, families and cultures. To think of ourselves as isolated and in some sense purely individual and not dependant on our culture for literally the language via which we communicate and organize our thoughts and define and describe our inner and external worlds seems flawed
(DIR) Post #B0YWIeFjn2tdMR8xbk by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-11-24T01:55:02Z
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@tomjennings very cool and if I was not in the midst of reducing stuff ahead of a likely move I’d be very tempted. A few suggestions for your page about it - perhaps include what someone needs to use it? (In terms of the monitor and keyboard - specifically the connections required)And I’d suggest raising your planned price - you can always discount it in the future but seems like closer to $200 would still be more than fair and gives you some margin for various costs of prototyping
(DIR) Post #B0p1WgK0OCqt1yY2NM by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-12-02T00:59:54Z
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@strypey I think a related point to “VC funding is broken” is that more broadly the financial system is serving vast swaths of businesses and individuals very poorly due to a wide range of structural shifts in the past few decades.Examples: very few banks hold & service the loans they make whether for homes, cars or to small businesses. This is because they generally package them off and sell them to other institutions. So terms and structures of such loans have to conform to various standards
(DIR) Post #B13aUFQ5eitFcrPMJ6 by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-12-09T01:38:00Z
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@futurebird I had an apartment in Chicago’s Gold Coast that was in a townhome that has been converted into a bunch of smaller apartments. It was a studio with a sleeping loft over the tiny kitchen. The bathroom was literally an old closet off what had been the dining room. It was so small that your feet went under the sink to use the toilet and “shower” was laughably small like think the size of a small sink small. Cheap apartment at least and great location.
(DIR) Post #B17obQnnuV6Uwgevxo by Rycaut@mastodon.social
2025-12-11T02:34:59Z
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@strypey @msbellows @drahardja @blogdiva yup. Selling assets and leasing them back juices the numbers in the short term while setting up companies for higher expenses and risks in the future. In contrast many of the longest lasting businesses have managed to own their core assets and invest in them over the long term. Restaurants, retailers and light manufacturers who manage to own their buildings have far greater ability to adapt to changing times and needs and survive for generations