Ben Cotton (he/him)
@funnelfiasco.bsky.social
Author of "Program Management for Open Source Projects" and all-around opinion haver. Always looking for my next tornado. I get too invested in sports.
https://funnelfiasco.com
https://duckalignment.academy
https://funnelfiasco.com
https://duckalignment.academy
The downside to my Extremely Midwesterner decision to drive to KubeCon is that I can't delude myself into thinking that I'll get caught up on work in the airport.
November 8, 2025 at 4:20 AM
The downside to my Extremely Midwesterner decision to drive to KubeCon is that I can't delude myself into thinking that I'll get caught up on work in the airport.
Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
Whether it's Zohran Mamdani trying to help hungry poor people afford food or it's Donald Trump asking the Supreme Court to starve them to death, both sides have taken an interest in food affordability.
November 8, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Whether it's Zohran Mamdani trying to help hungry poor people afford food or it's Donald Trump asking the Supreme Court to starve them to death, both sides have taken an interest in food affordability.
TFW you do a run-through of a conference talk for the first time and the timing is in the allotted window. 👨🍳🤌💋
November 7, 2025 at 9:03 PM
TFW you do a run-through of a conference talk for the first time and the timing is in the allotted window. 👨🍳🤌💋
Ugh, I grew up listening to Terry Meiners on WHAS every afternoon. It hurts to know that he's engaging with this bullshit.
Everyone will be shocked to know Grok is spreading misinformation.
UPS plane crash: No, Grok, Gov. Andy Beshear’s photo isn’t from 2021 tornadoes
The AI-powered chatbot amplified an inaccurate claim that a recent photo post by the Kentucky governor was from a previous disaster.
www.kentucky.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Ugh, I grew up listening to Terry Meiners on WHAS every afternoon. It hurts to know that he's engaging with this bullshit.
Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
Hillary Clinton was right about everything.
November 7, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Hillary Clinton was right about everything.
Some days I'm bouncing back and forth between so many things that I have to see what's in my paste buffer to remember what it is I was doing.
November 6, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Some days I'm bouncing back and forth between so many things that I have to see what's in my paste buffer to remember what it is I was doing.
Surely this means SCOTUS thinks passports should only use a person's name at birth. Get a name change? Too bad! Merely attesting to a historical fact.
NEW: On the shadow docket, the Supreme Court lets Trump resume misgendering trans Americans on their passports, claiming "the government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment." All three liberals dissent. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
![This case concerns an Executive Branch policy requiring
all new passports to display an individual’s biological sex at
birth. The United States District Court for the District of
Massachusetts preliminarily enjoined the Government
from enforcing the policy, and the First Circuit declined to
stay the injunction pending appeal. The Government then
filed this stay application. Applying our familiar stay fac-
tors at this preliminary stage, we grant the application.
Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends
equal protection principles than displaying their country of
birth—in both cases, the Government is merely attesting to
a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential
treatment. And on this record, respondents have failed to
establish that the Government’s choice to display biological
sex “lack[s] any purpose other than a bare . . . desire to
harm a politically unpopular group.” Trump v. Hawaii, 585
U. S. 667, 705 (2018) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Nor are respondents likely to prevail in arguing that the
State Department acted arbitrarily and capriciously by de-
clining to depart from Presidential rules that Congress ex-
pressly required it to follow. See 22 U. S. C. §211a.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6h7b2i6ttw3l4t7pvbvxdith/bafkreiacrtgoecxjy5y7ojz7xzbun4c4nwutjcvqn4qb4p25ldpt6va5lu@jpeg)
November 6, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Surely this means SCOTUS thinks passports should only use a person's name at birth. Get a name change? Too bad! Merely attesting to a historical fact.
Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
The key thing to watch here: they fired a Wired political reporter. That’s the title doing the most effective, pointed work. Teen Vogue’s stuff was culturally impactful, but less focused on investigating the administration. Within the Condé portfolio, Wired and the New Yorker are the canaries.
New: Conde Nast fired four employees who were among a group that confronted the company's head of human resources on Wednesday over the decision to fold Teen Vogue into Vogue/recent cuts. Employees who were fired included journalists from the New Yorker, Wired, and Bon Appétit.
November 6, 2025 at 6:08 PM
The key thing to watch here: they fired a Wired political reporter. That’s the title doing the most effective, pointed work. Teen Vogue’s stuff was culturally impactful, but less focused on investigating the administration. Within the Condé portfolio, Wired and the New Yorker are the canaries.
Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
If you’re having a hard time reproing a bug, it would then introduce this fun little issue of “is this even a real bug, or is it a ‘we hired liebot, the chatbot that lies’ problem”
November 6, 2025 at 4:01 PM
If you’re having a hard time reproing a bug, it would then introduce this fun little issue of “is this even a real bug, or is it a ‘we hired liebot, the chatbot that lies’ problem”
Some days my biggest contribution at work is trying to use one of our tools that I've never used before. So many UX and documentation gaps uncovered!
November 5, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Some days my biggest contribution at work is trying to use one of our tools that I've never used before. So many UX and documentation gaps uncovered!
Love to relearn the lesson that things work better when you're not being dumb.
November 5, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Love to relearn the lesson that things work better when you're not being dumb.
Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
We've found DHS is giving local cops a new facial recognition app to find immigrants. Point camera at face, tells the cop to detain person or not. The app is available on Google's Play Store. Google took down apps that report ICE sightings but now hosts this app
www.404media.co/cbp-quietly-...
www.404media.co/cbp-quietly-...
DHS Gives Local Cops a Facial Recognition App To Find Immigrants
The app, called Mobile Identify and available on the Google Play Store, is specifically for local and regional law enforcement agencies working with ICE on immigration enforcement.
www.404media.co
November 5, 2025 at 2:07 PM
We've found DHS is giving local cops a new facial recognition app to find immigrants. Point camera at face, tells the cop to detain person or not. The app is available on Google's Play Store. Google took down apps that report ICE sightings but now hosts this app
www.404media.co/cbp-quietly-...
www.404media.co/cbp-quietly-...
Giving contribution gifts: the risks and rewards
Giving contribution gifts can be a great way to reward people for the work they do in your project, but it comes with challenges.
Giving contribution gifts can be a great way to reward people for the work they do in your project, but it comes with challenges.
Giving contribution gifts: the risks and rewards
Giving contribution gifts can be a great way to reward people for the work they do in your project, but it comes with challenges.
duckalignment.academy
November 5, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Giving contribution gifts: the risks and rewards
Giving contribution gifts can be a great way to reward people for the work they do in your project, but it comes with challenges.
Giving contribution gifts can be a great way to reward people for the work they do in your project, but it comes with challenges.
Awful video out of the homeland tonight of the UPS crash at SDF.
November 5, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Awful video out of the homeland tonight of the UPS crash at SDF.
I'm no refereeologist, but it's hard to call something an "inadvertent whistle" when it's accompanied by a signal. #Purdue #NCAAMensBasketball
November 4, 2025 at 11:41 PM
I'm no refereeologist, but it's hard to call something an "inadvertent whistle" when it's accompanied by a signal. #Purdue #NCAAMensBasketball
Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
can’t tell if my antidepressants aren’t working or if they just weren’t built for this. like, zoloft was introduced in the 90s it barely needed to work then. if you got sad you could just buy a house.
November 3, 2025 at 11:50 PM
can’t tell if my antidepressants aren’t working or if they just weren’t built for this. like, zoloft was introduced in the 90s it barely needed to work then. if you got sad you could just buy a house.
Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
Oh cool. It's even shittier than I first thought. I hope ArsTechnica and WIRED can hold out.
thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
November 4, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Oh cool. It's even shittier than I first thought. I hope ArsTechnica and WIRED can hold out.
Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
I keep seeing journalism described as an "ecosystem" and I guess that tracks because it's undergoing an extinction crisis caused by billionaires, too.
November 3, 2025 at 8:44 PM
I keep seeing journalism described as an "ecosystem" and I guess that tracks because it's undergoing an extinction crisis caused by billionaires, too.
This really sucks. Teen Vogue had some of the most consistently-good political coverage over the last few years.
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 8:02 PM
This really sucks. Teen Vogue had some of the most consistently-good political coverage over the last few years.
Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
Talking to trans women in tech can help anyone who doubts that women experience the world differently; they can provide you with A/B before/after results.
Treat all women in tech better and believe them about their experiences:
Treat all women in tech better and believe them about their experiences:
This is the worst, honestly. If I ever mention gibibytes I have to explicitly also call out that it’s not gigabyte and that yes I’m using the right word, I know what I’m talking about, the difference matters, etc etc
I didn’t have to do that shit pre transition. A simple “nah I meant gb” was fine
I didn’t have to do that shit pre transition. A simple “nah I meant gb” was fine
For sure an annoying part of being a woman is that whether I say gb or gib someone is going to think I don't know what I'm talking about
November 3, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Talking to trans women in tech can help anyone who doubts that women experience the world differently; they can provide you with A/B before/after results.
Treat all women in tech better and believe them about their experiences:
Treat all women in tech better and believe them about their experiences:
I'm a monthly donor to my local food bank, but with Republicans leaning into their "let them starve" fetish, I made my regular contribution twice this month. Please support your local community however you can.
November 3, 2025 at 3:54 PM
I'm a monthly donor to my local food bank, but with Republicans leaning into their "let them starve" fetish, I made my regular contribution twice this month. Please support your local community however you can.
Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
Me who is already overwhelmed in work and life: thank u for the reminder that everything needs my attention GitLab.
November 3, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Me who is already overwhelmed in work and life: thank u for the reminder that everything needs my attention GitLab.
Reposted by Ben Cotton (he/him)
now why would i accomplish a four minute task now when i can agonize over it for the next six months
November 3, 2025 at 2:01 PM
now why would i accomplish a four minute task now when i can agonize over it for the next six months