christa @christa@friend.camp

posting a re-#introduction since there are lots of new folks! welcome!

I'm christa. I live in san francisco with @jim and a pup named piglet

I work as a software engineer trying to make US government services better. generally, I care about the impact of technology on people

things I post about lately when not (just) shitposting: synths, dark room photography, powerlifting, plants, outside, sf

more info on website/pinned posts! welcome dms/follows from friendly folks with shared interests

I've been writing and running a little Rails forum for about a month now for some friends!

I think I still have a little bit to go for a 1.0 for the software (mainly pagination, our forum is too small to require it yet) but think it's in a place where I can recommend it to others if you're interested in shaping development.

if you're interested in running a little forum for your friends or an existing community, check it out (and let me know so I start versioning!): https://github.com/hartsick/ruBB

#looptober 2021 - 01

it's time!!

paid off my $2.02 debt to twilio so bleep bloop hotline's back, baybee!!!

419-452-4857

#looptober 1

[reposting so i can have one thread. orig: https://friend.camp/web/statuses/104963105080473166]

there's legislation coming down the line to hopefully change this. aaron snow wrote a good blog post about this more in-depth as it relates to both the US and Canada here: https://aaronsnow.net/2022/05/09/sharing-federal-digital-services-with-other-layers-of-government.html. recommend checking it out if you're interested!

here is, I believe, the latest guidance around this:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Circular-097.pdf

and in it a quote from Section 302 of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act of 1968, which still provides the foundation today:

"The Director's rules and regulations shall be consistent with, and in furtherance of, the Government's policy of relying on the private enterprise system to provide those services which are reasonably and expeditiously available through ordinary business channels."

a thing I think folks outside of government may not be aware of is that it's not a given that the federal government can develop technology services that can be provided, for fee or for free, to non-federal agencies (eg gov in states, tribes, territories, local).

why? good question! it's because the US loves private industry, and has written into its guidance that the US federal government should not offer services the private sector could.

links in next post -

@kit this may be the burnout speaking but perceived inaction is easier than action

a coworker told a secondhand story of when some state legislature regularly extended a month in recordkeeping (eg january 34th) because each year they legally they had to complete something by end of that month and would fail. supporting these technically correct records in code involved rewriting the python module for datetime

you can request free covid tests from the federal government again! this time we get 8 free ones

https://special.usps.com/testkits

I appreciate the sentiment but … feel like this is just not the metaphor, scott

also I actually want this to happen and still keep meaning to turn the bleep bloop hotline into some part of it. someday!

hotline phone ring

made these prints of my cutie niblings to give to fam for mothers day

kodak t-max 400 on ilford rc multigrade satin, developed and printed at the harvey milk community photo center in sf (my fave)

prints I worked on in the darkroom last night. I’m happy with them! worked on getting better with developing split contrasts and dodging.

at this point I’m mainly just picking photos with a new tricky bit each time to see how I can improve my printmaking

holy shit someone is free climbing the salesforce tower

https://twitter.com/BarstoolTrent/status/1521528659533725696?s=20&t=7xsF-_NNsMXoPBUbUseoCw

CfA on why WIC has only a 50% uptake (mix of things, including frictions for enrolling and the stigma with buying WIC-eligible food):
https://codeforamerica.org/news/understand-barriers-to-accessing-wic/

CBPP on who uses SNAP (66% of SNAP participants are in families with children nationally):
https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/a-closer-look-at-who-benefits-from-snap-state-by-state-fact-sheets

Georgetown on how half of children in US have insurance through Medicaid CHIP and how that's in danger: https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2022/02/17/millions-of-children-may-lose-medicaid-what-can-be-done-to-help-prevent-them-from-becoming-uninsured/

this morning I can't stop thinking about how many US safety net programs (SNAP, WIC, TANF, Medicaid/CHIP, etc) are used by families with children, and how hard we make those programs to get onto and use, even when the legislature isn't gutting and carving funding.

some links in next post