Read – Using FastAPI to Build Python
On-Prem Social Networking
This’ll be my [central] place to collect details, data, and thoughts on self-hosted social networking.
There has been some recent, concerning changes to Twitters ownership and mass-social-media is getting worse. This spurs, yet another, conversation about a secluded network for private use in our community.
Options:
- https://www.capterra.ca/alternatives/148853/open-source-social-network
- https://itsfoss.com/mainstream-social-media-alternaives/
- https://blog.containerize.com/2022/01/12/top-5-open-source-social-networking-software-in-2022/
- https://opensource.com/article/19/9/open-source-social-networks
- https://medevel.com/open-source-solutions-to-build-your-own-social-network/
- https://medium.com/geekculture/how-to-setup-an-xmpp-server-for-private-messaging-dcb1f4740fe
- https://www.discourse.org/
- https://itsfoss.com/open-source-forum-software/
- WordPress
- The reality is, WordPress already does comments, likes, posts, accounts, picture/video sharing.
- It does a lot and it wouldn’t be hard to implement limits like short post limits.
What are the functions/uses of a social network?
- Organize events, get togethers, etc.
- Post a short status.
- Share an update.
- Post longer thoughts/opinions.
- Direct messaging and group messaging.
- Sharing photos/videos/links.
- BUying/selling/sharing.
- Liking, thumbs up, etc.
- Comments (single/multiple threads).
- Hare/collaborate on projects/work.
Important features:
- Login/account with existing Facebook, Twitter credentials. This empowers third-degree connections to join and engage with people already on the platform.
- Or, allow anonymous, public interactions for non-community members.
Human Evolution & Notifications
I was talking to a friend the other day and said “I’ve long held the belief that the increasing anxiety/stress/ADD is a result of human evolution/timeline”.
Let’s for a second think of an alert or notification as “something that needs our attention”. In the early days those things were lions roaring, lighting, etc. In modern times that’s email “bings” and car horns.
According to this Stack Exchange Discussion and Wikipedia it takes 50-100,000 years for a predominant trait to evolve in/out of a species.
I’ve drawn up an anecdotal, totally-not-science-based chart of how many “notifications” a human likely heard. In this chart it is average notifications over a 10 day period (.1 means 1 notification every 10 days, 1 means 1 notification per day for 10 days):
Putting that in context and combining our understanding of evolution with the approximate notifications we receive; we are evolved to hear approximately 1 notification per day but I estimate we hear 50.
If we assume the human body/mind is evolved to treat notifications and sudden noises as danger/threat/action-required, we are stimulated 50x per day while we are expecting 1x per day.
I believe our brains are simply not accustomed to that constant state of alert/stress.
Sources Used:
Revenge
This is great advice/insight:
Great advice that I really [REALLY] want to follow.
I work extremely hard every day, post-crash, post-brain-injury, to not become like the imbecile insurance lawyers who accused me of lying, insurance doctors who conveniently asked & documented only what they wanted, and the unaware drivers who put us all at risk every day.
Sadly, I have less control of my brain since the crash and more-often-than-not I fail to move on.
Maybe if I write it down it’ll come to pass.
Changes Coming at Work
For those who don’t know:
- My employer, ITS Consulting, is a consulting company; they hire out to other businesses to solve IT/tech challenges.
- In 2016 I was in a near-fatal crash, while cycling home from work, that has left me with multiple challenges and thus far I’ve only been able to work part time at 20hrs a week, max 26-28.
January-May, 2022 I’ll be working full-time again. I am aware of the “optics” of this coming just months after the lawsuit was settled for the 2016 crash. I was absolutely open & honest with lawyers & doctors on both sides of the lawsuit, maybe too honest according to my lawyers.
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Video as a Training Tool
What does one do on a boring, cold, snowy Thurs night? Create dev on-boarding/training tools of course.
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Winter Wonder Land
Vancouver got a bunch of snow, I'm living the bachelor life while Jen's in California, so I decided to see how far up SFU I could ride. I was actually able to ride all of it except I had to climb over a downed tree. I was even able to ride the steep trail below Cardiac Hill!
Web Apps Should Always Have a Log
I’m working on an event log for a client (of my employer):
At a bare minimum, an event/security log offloads some of the responsibility to the user. If you show fail and successful login attempts hopefully a user will catch when their own account has been compromised even if you can’t (I.E. their password was stolen so a hacker login in is technically valid).
It also hopefully reminds users of what they’ve done within the app. If they wish to undo something or forget if they have done something the event log can be the next step rather than customer support.
And finally, hopefully it helps system administrators identify patterns of malicious behavior. A malicious IP might have failed login attempts for multiple accounts, which can only be identified from an admin level. Similarly if a valid user repeatedly attempts to access a page they do not have permission for it could be a sign of an internal hack or a hacked account.
If you’re managing developers, ask for this functionality. If you’re buying/subscribing-to a web app, insist that you have access to this data or question why you don’t.
Public Calendar
I’m such a nerd! You’d think 4 calendars (plus a few reminders, daily, etc) would be enough but here we are.
I’ve created a public calendar for myself (and my wife):
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California in December
My wife is from California and now that borders are somewhat open, post-COVID, she wanted to finally see her family again. I was in California for 10 days and while there I realized, I take a lot of photos and they're not terrible.
I'm going to start creating a post for each trip or event where I take a number of photos.