#publicspeaking — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #publicspeaking, aggregated by home.social.
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10 years of public speaking and 10 years of Ice cream selfie.
Next one's at PyCon Portugal
See you there?
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10 years of public speaking and 10 years of Ice cream selfie.
Next one's at PyCon Portugal
See you there?
-
10 years of public speaking and 10 years of Ice cream selfie.
Next one's at PyCon Portugal
See you there?
-
10 years of public speaking and 10 years of Ice cream selfie.
Next one's at PyCon Portugal
See you there?
-
10 years of public speaking and 10 years of Ice cream selfie.
Next one's at PyCon Portugal
See you there?
-
DATE: August 20, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Gen Z Americans are more willing to use blockades and violence to stop public speakers
A survey of over 4,000 individuals found that Gen Z Americans tend to be more accepting of shoutdowns, blockades, and violence as methods to suppress speech than their older compatriots, regardless of whether they are asked about these tactics in the abstract or against speech they find personally offensive. Young liberals tended to be more supportive of these methods compared to conservatives when asked abstractly worded questions, but this ideological gap disappeared when the questions referred to suppressing specific, highly offensive ideas. The paper was published in PS: Political Science & Politics.
Free speech is a cornerstone of democratic society. However, people do not always agree about what should happen when speech is considered offensive or harmful. One of the personal and social characteristics that allows free speech to exist is political tolerance. Political tolerance involves allowing people to express ideas that we strongly oppose. In this way, controversial speech is an important test of a person’s commitment to the principles of political tolerance.
Recent research suggests that attitudes toward free speech in the United States may be changing, particularly among younger generations. Younger and more progressive Americans appear increasingly likely to weigh concerns about equality, inclusion, and harm against an unrestricted commitment to freedom of expression. The issue becomes especially complicated when protests themselves are intended to prevent other people from speaking. Although Americans generally support peaceful protest, support falls considerably when protesters employ disruptive, coercive, or violent tactics.
Study author Kevin Jay Wallsten explored the American public’s views on speech-suppressing, disruptive protest tactics. He noted that previous research generally examined tolerance in one of three ways: by exploring abstract support for free speech; by exploring how much people tolerate speech from groups the researchers believe are broadly unpopular, such as communists or racists (the “fixed-group” approach); and by exploring tolerance toward a “least-liked group” that the respondents previously selected from a list.
He notes that the first two approaches can overestimate tolerance because they do not measure whether respondents would actually extend civil liberties to groups they find disagreeable. Researchers using the fixed-group approach do not definitively know if their respondents actually find the groups they are asking about disagreeable, or to what extent. They only gauge the general view of the public.
To address this, Wallsten conducted a nationally representative survey of 4,188 Americans. Study participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the first condition (the “non-group” or abstract approach), participants were asked: “How acceptable [always/sometimes/rarely/never] would you say it is for people to engage in the following action to protest a public speaker?: (1) shouting down a speaker to prevent them from speaking; (2) blocking other people from attending a speech; and (3) using violence to stop a speech.”
In the second condition (the “most-offensive-idea” approach), participants were first asked to select the statement they found most offensive from a list (e.g., “All whites are racist oppressors” or “America got what it deserved on 9/11”). They were then asked whether the protest tactics described in the first condition would be acceptable when used against a speaker advocating the specific idea they just selected.
Results showed that the idea participants found to be most offensive depended heavily on their political ideology. For example, the statement “January 6th was a peaceful protest” was selected as the most offensive by almost 25% of liberals, but only 1% of conservatives. On the other hand, statements like “All whites are racist oppressors” were much more frequently selected by conservatives. Interestingly, the shares of conservatives and liberals who selected “America got what it deserved on 9/11” and “All immigrants should be arrested and deported” as the most offensive were relatively similar.
Results further showed that the three tactics the survey asked about were not equally endorsed. Participants were most accepting of shouting down a speaker and least accepting of using violence. Overall, the youngest participants (Gen Z) tended to be more accepting of all three methods of suppressing speech than older generations. Furthermore, the study found no significant difference between Gen Z respondents who attend college and those who do not, suggesting this acceptance is a generational shift rather than a result of higher education socialization.
Ideological differences also depended entirely on how the question was asked. Young liberals tended to be more supportive of these methods compared to conservatives and moderates only in the abstract condition where the speaker’s statements were not specified. However, when respondents evaluated tactics used against a speaker making a statement they personally found offensive, acceptance increased among conservatives and moderates, completely erasing the ideological gap.
“These analyses reveal important generational differences in how people think about speech-suppressing shoutdowns, blockades, and violence. Members of Gen Z consistently express more permissiveness about these tactics than older cohorts,” the study author concluded.
“Although previous research suggests that young liberals are particularly supportive of disruptive protest actions, this study demonstrates that ideological polarization is present only when survey respondents are asked abstractly worded questions. When asked to evaluate disruptive acts targeting speakers that they find personally offensive, ideological gaps between liberals and conservatives close.”
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of political tolerance in the U.S. However, it should be noted that all data came from self-reports (asking people how acceptable certain actions are to them in theory) rather than observing their behavior in real-world situations. This leaves room for self-reporting bias—where people answer how they think they should feel rather than how they would actually act—to have affected the results.
The paper, “Generational and Ideological Divides in Support for Speech-Suppressing Protest,” was authored by Kevin Jay Wallsten.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #GenZ #FreeSpeech #ProtestTactics #SpeechSuppression #ShoutDowns #Blockades #ViolenceInProtest #PoliticalTolerance #GenerationalDivide #PublicSpeaking
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DATE: August 20, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Gen Z Americans are more willing to use blockades and violence to stop public speakers
A survey of over 4,000 individuals found that Gen Z Americans tend to be more accepting of shoutdowns, blockades, and violence as methods to suppress speech than their older compatriots, regardless of whether they are asked about these tactics in the abstract or against speech they find personally offensive. Young liberals tended to be more supportive of these methods compared to conservatives when asked abstractly worded questions, but this ideological gap disappeared when the questions referred to suppressing specific, highly offensive ideas. The paper was published in PS: Political Science & Politics.
Free speech is a cornerstone of democratic society. However, people do not always agree about what should happen when speech is considered offensive or harmful. One of the personal and social characteristics that allows free speech to exist is political tolerance. Political tolerance involves allowing people to express ideas that we strongly oppose. In this way, controversial speech is an important test of a person’s commitment to the principles of political tolerance.
Recent research suggests that attitudes toward free speech in the United States may be changing, particularly among younger generations. Younger and more progressive Americans appear increasingly likely to weigh concerns about equality, inclusion, and harm against an unrestricted commitment to freedom of expression. The issue becomes especially complicated when protests themselves are intended to prevent other people from speaking. Although Americans generally support peaceful protest, support falls considerably when protesters employ disruptive, coercive, or violent tactics.
Study author Kevin Jay Wallsten explored the American public’s views on speech-suppressing, disruptive protest tactics. He noted that previous research generally examined tolerance in one of three ways: by exploring abstract support for free speech; by exploring how much people tolerate speech from groups the researchers believe are broadly unpopular, such as communists or racists (the “fixed-group” approach); and by exploring tolerance toward a “least-liked group” that the respondents previously selected from a list.
He notes that the first two approaches can overestimate tolerance because they do not measure whether respondents would actually extend civil liberties to groups they find disagreeable. Researchers using the fixed-group approach do not definitively know if their respondents actually find the groups they are asking about disagreeable, or to what extent. They only gauge the general view of the public.
To address this, Wallsten conducted a nationally representative survey of 4,188 Americans. Study participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the first condition (the “non-group” or abstract approach), participants were asked: “How acceptable [always/sometimes/rarely/never] would you say it is for people to engage in the following action to protest a public speaker?: (1) shouting down a speaker to prevent them from speaking; (2) blocking other people from attending a speech; and (3) using violence to stop a speech.”
In the second condition (the “most-offensive-idea” approach), participants were first asked to select the statement they found most offensive from a list (e.g., “All whites are racist oppressors” or “America got what it deserved on 9/11”). They were then asked whether the protest tactics described in the first condition would be acceptable when used against a speaker advocating the specific idea they just selected.
Results showed that the idea participants found to be most offensive depended heavily on their political ideology. For example, the statement “January 6th was a peaceful protest” was selected as the most offensive by almost 25% of liberals, but only 1% of conservatives. On the other hand, statements like “All whites are racist oppressors” were much more frequently selected by conservatives. Interestingly, the shares of conservatives and liberals who selected “America got what it deserved on 9/11” and “All immigrants should be arrested and deported” as the most offensive were relatively similar.
Results further showed that the three tactics the survey asked about were not equally endorsed. Participants were most accepting of shouting down a speaker and least accepting of using violence. Overall, the youngest participants (Gen Z) tended to be more accepting of all three methods of suppressing speech than older generations. Furthermore, the study found no significant difference between Gen Z respondents who attend college and those who do not, suggesting this acceptance is a generational shift rather than a result of higher education socialization.
Ideological differences also depended entirely on how the question was asked. Young liberals tended to be more supportive of these methods compared to conservatives and moderates only in the abstract condition where the speaker’s statements were not specified. However, when respondents evaluated tactics used against a speaker making a statement they personally found offensive, acceptance increased among conservatives and moderates, completely erasing the ideological gap.
“These analyses reveal important generational differences in how people think about speech-suppressing shoutdowns, blockades, and violence. Members of Gen Z consistently express more permissiveness about these tactics than older cohorts,” the study author concluded.
“Although previous research suggests that young liberals are particularly supportive of disruptive protest actions, this study demonstrates that ideological polarization is present only when survey respondents are asked abstractly worded questions. When asked to evaluate disruptive acts targeting speakers that they find personally offensive, ideological gaps between liberals and conservatives close.”
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of political tolerance in the U.S. However, it should be noted that all data came from self-reports (asking people how acceptable certain actions are to them in theory) rather than observing their behavior in real-world situations. This leaves room for self-reporting bias—where people answer how they think they should feel rather than how they would actually act—to have affected the results.
The paper, “Generational and Ideological Divides in Support for Speech-Suppressing Protest,” was authored by Kevin Jay Wallsten.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #GenZ #FreeSpeech #ProtestTactics #SpeechSuppression #ShoutDowns #Blockades #ViolenceInProtest #PoliticalTolerance #GenerationalDivide #PublicSpeaking
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DATE: August 20, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Gen Z Americans are more willing to use blockades and violence to stop public speakers
A survey of over 4,000 individuals found that Gen Z Americans tend to be more accepting of shoutdowns, blockades, and violence as methods to suppress speech than their older compatriots, regardless of whether they are asked about these tactics in the abstract or against speech they find personally offensive. Young liberals tended to be more supportive of these methods compared to conservatives when asked abstractly worded questions, but this ideological gap disappeared when the questions referred to suppressing specific, highly offensive ideas. The paper was published in PS: Political Science & Politics.
Free speech is a cornerstone of democratic society. However, people do not always agree about what should happen when speech is considered offensive or harmful. One of the personal and social characteristics that allows free speech to exist is political tolerance. Political tolerance involves allowing people to express ideas that we strongly oppose. In this way, controversial speech is an important test of a person’s commitment to the principles of political tolerance.
Recent research suggests that attitudes toward free speech in the United States may be changing, particularly among younger generations. Younger and more progressive Americans appear increasingly likely to weigh concerns about equality, inclusion, and harm against an unrestricted commitment to freedom of expression. The issue becomes especially complicated when protests themselves are intended to prevent other people from speaking. Although Americans generally support peaceful protest, support falls considerably when protesters employ disruptive, coercive, or violent tactics.
Study author Kevin Jay Wallsten explored the American public’s views on speech-suppressing, disruptive protest tactics. He noted that previous research generally examined tolerance in one of three ways: by exploring abstract support for free speech; by exploring how much people tolerate speech from groups the researchers believe are broadly unpopular, such as communists or racists (the “fixed-group” approach); and by exploring tolerance toward a “least-liked group” that the respondents previously selected from a list.
He notes that the first two approaches can overestimate tolerance because they do not measure whether respondents would actually extend civil liberties to groups they find disagreeable. Researchers using the fixed-group approach do not definitively know if their respondents actually find the groups they are asking about disagreeable, or to what extent. They only gauge the general view of the public.
To address this, Wallsten conducted a nationally representative survey of 4,188 Americans. Study participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In the first condition (the “non-group” or abstract approach), participants were asked: “How acceptable [always/sometimes/rarely/never] would you say it is for people to engage in the following action to protest a public speaker?: (1) shouting down a speaker to prevent them from speaking; (2) blocking other people from attending a speech; and (3) using violence to stop a speech.”
In the second condition (the “most-offensive-idea” approach), participants were first asked to select the statement they found most offensive from a list (e.g., “All whites are racist oppressors” or “America got what it deserved on 9/11”). They were then asked whether the protest tactics described in the first condition would be acceptable when used against a speaker advocating the specific idea they just selected.
Results showed that the idea participants found to be most offensive depended heavily on their political ideology. For example, the statement “January 6th was a peaceful protest” was selected as the most offensive by almost 25% of liberals, but only 1% of conservatives. On the other hand, statements like “All whites are racist oppressors” were much more frequently selected by conservatives. Interestingly, the shares of conservatives and liberals who selected “America got what it deserved on 9/11” and “All immigrants should be arrested and deported” as the most offensive were relatively similar.
Results further showed that the three tactics the survey asked about were not equally endorsed. Participants were most accepting of shouting down a speaker and least accepting of using violence. Overall, the youngest participants (Gen Z) tended to be more accepting of all three methods of suppressing speech than older generations. Furthermore, the study found no significant difference between Gen Z respondents who attend college and those who do not, suggesting this acceptance is a generational shift rather than a result of higher education socialization.
Ideological differences also depended entirely on how the question was asked. Young liberals tended to be more supportive of these methods compared to conservatives and moderates only in the abstract condition where the speaker’s statements were not specified. However, when respondents evaluated tactics used against a speaker making a statement they personally found offensive, acceptance increased among conservatives and moderates, completely erasing the ideological gap.
“These analyses reveal important generational differences in how people think about speech-suppressing shoutdowns, blockades, and violence. Members of Gen Z consistently express more permissiveness about these tactics than older cohorts,” the study author concluded.
“Although previous research suggests that young liberals are particularly supportive of disruptive protest actions, this study demonstrates that ideological polarization is present only when survey respondents are asked abstractly worded questions. When asked to evaluate disruptive acts targeting speakers that they find personally offensive, ideological gaps between liberals and conservatives close.”
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of political tolerance in the U.S. However, it should be noted that all data came from self-reports (asking people how acceptable certain actions are to them in theory) rather than observing their behavior in real-world situations. This leaves room for self-reporting bias—where people answer how they think they should feel rather than how they would actually act—to have affected the results.
The paper, “Generational and Ideological Divides in Support for Speech-Suppressing Protest,” was authored by Kevin Jay Wallsten.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #GenZ #FreeSpeech #ProtestTactics #SpeechSuppression #ShoutDowns #Blockades #ViolenceInProtest #PoliticalTolerance #GenerationalDivide #PublicSpeaking
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Earlier today I did an online seminar for our #ROSConGlobal speakers. While it's targeted at them, it's good stuff for anyone who speaks (or wants to!) at tech conferences.
Writing & Delivering a Great Tech Talk: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1219025687
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Earlier today I did an online seminar for our #ROSConGlobal speakers. While it's targeted at them, it's good stuff for anyone who speaks (or wants to!) at tech conferences.
Writing & Delivering a Great Tech Talk: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1219025687
-
Earlier today I did an online seminar for our #ROSConGlobal speakers. While it's targeted at them, it's good stuff for anyone who speaks (or wants to!) at tech conferences.
Writing & Delivering a Great Tech Talk: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1219025687
-
Earlier today I did an online seminar for our #ROSConGlobal speakers. While it's targeted at them, it's good stuff for anyone who speaks (or wants to!) at tech conferences.
Writing & Delivering a Great Tech Talk: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1219025687
-
Earlier today I did an online seminar for our #ROSConGlobal speakers. While it's targeted at them, it's good stuff for anyone who speaks (or wants to!) at tech conferences.
Writing & Delivering a Great Tech Talk: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1219025687
-
New #cfp added for ConFoo Montreal in February 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-confoo-montreal/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for ConFoo Montreal in February 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-confoo-montreal/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for ConFoo Montreal in February 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-confoo-montreal/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
-
New #cfp added for ConFoo Montreal in February 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-confoo-montreal/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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LinuxFest Northwest 2026: Beer, Badges, and the Spirit of the PNW
Summary: Three months after speaking at FOSDEM in Brussels, I brought my family to LinuxFest Northwest in Bellingham, WA. What I found was a college town bursting with craft beer, open-source energy, and one of my personal heroes.
"To the kernel. To the source. To the reason it all works in the first place." – LinuxFest Northwest 2026
The Sequel Nobody Expected
There are conferences you attend and forget, and there are conferences that tattoo themselves onto your memory. LinuxFest Northwest 2026 was the second kind.
Three months earlier, I had spoken at FOSDEM in Brussels, dragging my family across continents with a month's worth of Frankenstein luggage. That experience was transformative, a culmination of decades of dreaming. This one? This one was supposed to be simpler: a 1.5 hour drive from Seattle to Bellingham, Washington. No transatlantic flights, no lost bear pillows, no layovers near the Arctic Circle. And yet, in its own quiet, Pacific Northwest way, LinuxFest hit differently.
My kid saw me present the same BadgeFed talk in Brussels, and somehow he was still excited about it. Granted 70% of the presentation was full on memes, but still that alone felt like a miracle. Seven-year-olds have the attention span of a caffeinated hummingbird, but when I told him we were going to another Linux thing, he was excited to travel almost up to Canada and see Native-American art.
Bellingham, or Why I Want to Move to the PNW
I had low expectations for Bellingham. I knew it would be beautiful, because everything in the Pacific Northwest is beautiful in that effortlessly annoying way. But the city blew me away in dimensions I hadn't anticipated.
Bellingham sits on a bay about 90 miles north of Seattle and just 21 miles from the Canadian border, a college town anchored by Western Washington University and home to roughly 95,000 people. The festival itself was held at Bellingham Technical College, nestled right into the heart of the city. It has the lowest average sunshine of any city in the US, and yet the people radiate warmth. The downtown is walkable, lined with independent bookshops and more breweries per block than I've seen outside of Belgium. At least fifteen craft breweries operate within city limits, and I can confirm that Aslan Brewing and Kulshan Brewing deserve their reputations. My one regret? Not making it to Cat Brewing Co. Next time.
But beyond the beer, what struck me was the culture. Visible support for trans rights. Rainbow flags as common as coffee shops. An activist tradition that dates back decades. The Whatcom Museum of History and Art had a French art exhibition that genuinely moved me, and my kid spent an hour in their interactive art activities, completely absorbed.
This is a city that hosts a Ski to Sea relay race from Mount Baker to the bay, that has Ryan Stiles' improv theater around the corner, that quietly produced Death Cab for Cutie. A place where you can feel the pulse of something real, something community-driven, something that doesn't need to prove itself to anyone. The festival itself leans into this by organizing Friday strolls around Bellingham, giving attendees a chance to explore the city before the talks begin.
I'm coming back. No question.
The Fest
LinuxFest Northwest has been running since 2000, co-produced by the Bellingham Linux Users Group, Bellingham Technical College, Cascade STEAM, and Jupiter Broadcasting. It's a free, community-driven event held at the technical college campus, and it draws over a thousand open-source enthusiasts from across the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
The moment I walked in, the goodies hit. Stickers, pins, T-shirts, pamphlets, more stickers. I collected more swag at LFNW than at most of others conference I've attended, including corporate-sponsored ones. The project booths were excellent: Fedora, Clonezilla, Alma Linux, and a few robotics corner that had my kid absolutely hypnotized.
I met incredible people. Autumn Nash, whose podcast I enjoy. At the brewery, a random guy with an amazing Hawaiian Shirt reach out from the table at the side, and later we discovered it was Troy Dawson, a Senior Software Engineer at Red Hat who moonlights as a self-described "Hawaiian Shirt Artisan" (more on that later) .
But the highlight, the absolute pinnacle, the reason I need an entire paragraph to contain my excitement: I met Jon "maddog" Hall.
Shooting My Shot with Maddog
Jon "maddog" Hall is a legend. Not in the casual, overused way that word gets thrown around, but in the sense that he has been instrumental in shaping the open-source movement since before most of us knew what a kernel was. He's the Board Chair Emeritus of the Linux Professional Institute. He helped Linus Torvalds obtain the equipment for the first Linux port to Digital's Alpha platform. He is Linus Torvalds' children's godfather. The nickname "maddog" came from his students at Hartford State Technical College, where he was department head of Computer Science, and it stuck because apparently he had "less control over his temper" back then. He has a vanity license plate in New Hampshire that reads UNIX.
This man has been advocating for free software and digital equity in Latin America through projects like Caninos Loucos and Project Cauã for decades. For a kid who grew up in a small Mexican town and found his way into open source through a dusty DSL connection, meeting maddog was like meeting a character from the origin story itself.
So I shot my shot. I walked up to him, introduced myself, and asked him one question: "What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?" I recorded his answer. You can watch it here. What he said was thoughtful, generous, and exactly what you'd expect from someone who's spent a lifetime opening doors for others.
At the end of the "interview" I asked something more chill: "Do you remember the Linux Festival at Puerto Vallarta?" He was visibly tired, the kind of tired that comes from decades of conferences and thousands of handshakes, but his eyes opened up. "Of course I do! I was telling someone that we should organize something there again." A beer on the beach, open-source talks with the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop, and the legendary drinks, getting progressively drunk talking between nerds, right before walking up to present your talk. My last Mexican LinuxFest was probably around 2008, and those were the best years for my open-source self: the hackerspace, the local LUG, the install fests that felt like revolutions. I would not have believed back then that one day I'd be speaking at the same conference as maddog. Not a keynote, sure, but sharing a schedule with him? The kid from Tepic with a paper notebook full of code would have lost his mind.
The Talk (Round Two)
When my time came to present BadgeFed, I felt a different kind of energy compared to FOSDEM. In Brussels, I was nervous, riding the weight of an international audience on anew project. In Bellingham, I was relaxed. The room was smaller, the audience more intimate, but the engagement was stronger. People asked detailed questions. They challenged ideas. They leaned in.
I had added a few slides since FOSDEM, expanding the intro to cover what the fediverse and ActivityPub actually are, because unlike in Brussels not everyone in the room shared the same baseline. That adjustment paid off. The conversation after the talk lasted longer than what I was expecting.
The audience at LFNW was different from FOSDEM in scale but not in quality. Where FOSDEM has thousands of people moving through halls like a developer flash mob, LFNW has hundreds who stay, linger, and genuinely want to connect. Both have their magic. I'm glad I experienced both within the same year.
The Kid (Round Two)
My son, now a veteran conference attendee, navigated LFNW like a tiny professional. On the way back, we stopped at the Whatcom Museum, where he spent more time with the art activities than I spent at any single talk. We strolled along the beach, found the acid ball (a sphere on the shore that has become a local landmark).
We visited the Marine Life Center, where my kid pressed his face against every tank like he was trying to merge with the sea creatures. Fair trade.
At one of the after-conference tables, someone mentioned an open-source conference happening in Seattle in November. I'm applying. I'm also planning to speak at a conference in Canada, possibly in August. The circuit grows.
The Spirit of LFNW
I want to mention something that lingers with me. On the LFNW website, there's a section dedicated to James Mason, known in the community as "bear454." James was a well-known fixture in the Pacific Northwest tech community, a longtime contributor through his work with SUSE and as an organizer and President of the Board for LinuxFest Northwest. He passed away after over four years of dealing with cancer and a rare clotting disorder, leaving behind his wife Alina and two children. The community is raising funds to support his family. That kind of care, that willingness to show up for each other beyond the code, is what makes open source more than a development methodology. It's a community in the truest sense.
Full Circle (Again)
Three months after standing on a stage in Brussels and fulfilling a twenty-year dream, I stood in a classroom at a technical college in Bellingham, Washington, and felt something different but equally powerful: belonging.
FOSDEM was the dream realized. LFNW was the dream normalized. The kid from Tepic who couldn't find a hacker in his hometown now has a conference circuit. He has a talk he iterates on. He has a seven-year-old who wants his own slot on the schedule. The impossible became possible, and then it became routine, and that might be the most extraordinary part of all.
Bellingham, I owe you a return visit. Bring the beer, the Hawaiian shirts, and the free software. I'll bring the kid.
And maybe next time, he'll have his own slides.
Also readable in: https://maho.dev/2026/05/linuxfest-northwest-2026-beer-badges-and-the-spirit-of-the-pnw/ by @mapache:
#LinuxFest Northwest #Open Source #Conferences #Community #BadgeFed #Bellingham #Pacific Northwest #Public Speaking
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LinuxFest Northwest 2026: Beer, Badges, and the Spirit of the PNW
Summary: Three months after speaking at FOSDEM in Brussels, I brought my family to LinuxFest Northwest in Bellingham, WA. What I found was a college town bursting with craft beer, open-source energy, and one of my personal heroes.
"To the kernel. To the source. To the reason it all works in the first place." – LinuxFest Northwest 2026
The Sequel Nobody Expected
There are conferences you attend and forget, and there are conferences that tattoo themselves onto your memory. LinuxFest Northwest 2026 was the second kind.
Three months earlier, I had spoken at FOSDEM in Brussels, dragging my family across continents with a month's worth of Frankenstein luggage. That experience was transformative, a culmination of decades of dreaming. This one? This one was supposed to be simpler: a 1.5 hour drive from Seattle to Bellingham, Washington. No transatlantic flights, no lost bear pillows, no layovers near the Arctic Circle. And yet, in its own quiet, Pacific Northwest way, LinuxFest hit differently.
My kid saw me present the same BadgeFed talk in Brussels, and somehow he was still excited about it. Granted 70% of the presentation was full on memes, but still that alone felt like a miracle. Seven-year-olds have the attention span of a caffeinated hummingbird, but when I told him we were going to another Linux thing, he was excited to travel almost up to Canada and see Native-American art.
Bellingham, or Why I Want to Move to the PNW
I had low expectations for Bellingham. I knew it would be beautiful, because everything in the Pacific Northwest is beautiful in that effortlessly annoying way. But the city blew me away in dimensions I hadn't anticipated.
Bellingham sits on a bay about 90 miles north of Seattle and just 21 miles from the Canadian border, a college town anchored by Western Washington University and home to roughly 95,000 people. The festival itself was held at Bellingham Technical College, nestled right into the heart of the city. It has the lowest average sunshine of any city in the US, and yet the people radiate warmth. The downtown is walkable, lined with independent bookshops and more breweries per block than I've seen outside of Belgium. At least fifteen craft breweries operate within city limits, and I can confirm that Aslan Brewing and Kulshan Brewing deserve their reputations. My one regret? Not making it to Cat Brewing Co. Next time.
But beyond the beer, what struck me was the culture. Visible support for trans rights. Rainbow flags as common as coffee shops. An activist tradition that dates back decades. The Whatcom Museum of History and Art had a French art exhibition that genuinely moved me, and my kid spent an hour in their interactive art activities, completely absorbed.
This is a city that hosts a Ski to Sea relay race from Mount Baker to the bay, that has Ryan Stiles' improv theater around the corner, that quietly produced Death Cab for Cutie. A place where you can feel the pulse of something real, something community-driven, something that doesn't need to prove itself to anyone. The festival itself leans into this by organizing Friday strolls around Bellingham, giving attendees a chance to explore the city before the talks begin.
I'm coming back. No question.
The Fest
LinuxFest Northwest has been running since 2000, co-produced by the Bellingham Linux Users Group, Bellingham Technical College, Cascade STEAM, and Jupiter Broadcasting. It's a free, community-driven event held at the technical college campus, and it draws over a thousand open-source enthusiasts from across the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
The moment I walked in, the goodies hit. Stickers, pins, T-shirts, pamphlets, more stickers. I collected more swag at LFNW than at most of others conference I've attended, including corporate-sponsored ones. The project booths were excellent: Fedora, Clonezilla, Alma Linux, and a few robotics corner that had my kid absolutely hypnotized.
I met incredible people. Autumn Nash, whose podcast I enjoy. At the brewery, a random guy with an amazing Hawaiian Shirt reach out from the table at the side, and later we discovered it was Troy Dawson, a Senior Software Engineer at Red Hat who moonlights as a self-described "Hawaiian Shirt Artisan" (more on that later) .
But the highlight, the absolute pinnacle, the reason I need an entire paragraph to contain my excitement: I met Jon "maddog" Hall.
Shooting My Shot with Maddog
Jon "maddog" Hall is a legend. Not in the casual, overused way that word gets thrown around, but in the sense that he has been instrumental in shaping the open-source movement since before most of us knew what a kernel was. He's the Board Chair Emeritus of the Linux Professional Institute. He helped Linus Torvalds obtain the equipment for the first Linux port to Digital's Alpha platform. He is Linus Torvalds' children's godfather. The nickname "maddog" came from his students at Hartford State Technical College, where he was department head of Computer Science, and it stuck because apparently he had "less control over his temper" back then. He has a vanity license plate in New Hampshire that reads UNIX.
This man has been advocating for free software and digital equity in Latin America through projects like Caninos Loucos and Project Cauã for decades. For a kid who grew up in a small Mexican town and found his way into open source through a dusty DSL connection, meeting maddog was like meeting a character from the origin story itself.
So I shot my shot. I walked up to him, introduced myself, and asked him one question: "What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?" I recorded his answer. You can watch it here. What he said was thoughtful, generous, and exactly what you'd expect from someone who's spent a lifetime opening doors for others.
At the end of the "interview" I asked something more chill: "Do you remember the Linux Festival at Puerto Vallarta?" He was visibly tired, the kind of tired that comes from decades of conferences and thousands of handshakes, but his eyes opened up. "Of course I do! I was telling someone that we should organize something there again." A beer on the beach, open-source talks with the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop, and the legendary drinks, getting progressively drunk talking between nerds, right before walking up to present your talk. My last Mexican LinuxFest was probably around 2008, and those were the best years for my open-source self: the hackerspace, the local LUG, the install fests that felt like revolutions. I would not have believed back then that one day I'd be speaking at the same conference as maddog. Not a keynote, sure, but sharing a schedule with him? The kid from Tepic with a paper notebook full of code would have lost his mind.
The Talk (Round Two)
When my time came to present BadgeFed, I felt a different kind of energy compared to FOSDEM. In Brussels, I was nervous, riding the weight of an international audience on anew project. In Bellingham, I was relaxed. The room was smaller, the audience more intimate, but the engagement was stronger. People asked detailed questions. They challenged ideas. They leaned in.
I had added a few slides since FOSDEM, expanding the intro to cover what the fediverse and ActivityPub actually are, because unlike in Brussels not everyone in the room shared the same baseline. That adjustment paid off. The conversation after the talk lasted longer than what I was expecting.
The audience at LFNW was different from FOSDEM in scale but not in quality. Where FOSDEM has thousands of people moving through halls like a developer flash mob, LFNW has hundreds who stay, linger, and genuinely want to connect. Both have their magic. I'm glad I experienced both within the same year.
The Kid (Round Two)
My son, now a veteran conference attendee, navigated LFNW like a tiny professional. On the way back, we stopped at the Whatcom Museum, where he spent more time with the art activities than I spent at any single talk. We strolled along the beach, found the acid ball (a sphere on the shore that has become a local landmark).
We visited the Marine Life Center, where my kid pressed his face against every tank like he was trying to merge with the sea creatures. Fair trade.
At one of the after-conference tables, someone mentioned an open-source conference happening in Seattle in November. I'm applying. I'm also planning to speak at a conference in Canada, possibly in August. The circuit grows.
The Spirit of LFNW
I want to mention something that lingers with me. On the LFNW website, there's a section dedicated to James Mason, known in the community as "bear454." James was a well-known fixture in the Pacific Northwest tech community, a longtime contributor through his work with SUSE and as an organizer and President of the Board for LinuxFest Northwest. He passed away after over four years of dealing with cancer and a rare clotting disorder, leaving behind his wife Alina and two children. The community is raising funds to support his family. That kind of care, that willingness to show up for each other beyond the code, is what makes open source more than a development methodology. It's a community in the truest sense.
Full Circle (Again)
Three months after standing on a stage in Brussels and fulfilling a twenty-year dream, I stood in a classroom at a technical college in Bellingham, Washington, and felt something different but equally powerful: belonging.
FOSDEM was the dream realized. LFNW was the dream normalized. The kid from Tepic who couldn't find a hacker in his hometown now has a conference circuit. He has a talk he iterates on. He has a seven-year-old who wants his own slot on the schedule. The impossible became possible, and then it became routine, and that might be the most extraordinary part of all.
Bellingham, I owe you a return visit. Bring the beer, the Hawaiian shirts, and the free software. I'll bring the kid.
And maybe next time, he'll have his own slides.
Also readable in: https://maho.dev/2026/05/linuxfest-northwest-2026-beer-badges-and-the-spirit-of-the-pnw/ by @mapache:
#LinuxFest Northwest #Open Source #Conferences #Community #BadgeFed #Bellingham #Pacific Northwest #Public Speaking
-
LinuxFest Northwest 2026: Beer, Badges, and the Spirit of the PNW
Summary: Three months after speaking at FOSDEM in Brussels, I brought my family to LinuxFest Northwest in Bellingham, WA. What I found was a college town bursting with craft beer, open-source energy, and one of my personal heroes.
"To the kernel. To the source. To the reason it all works in the first place." – LinuxFest Northwest 2026
The Sequel Nobody Expected
There are conferences you attend and forget, and there are conferences that tattoo themselves onto your memory. LinuxFest Northwest 2026 was the second kind.
Three months earlier, I had spoken at FOSDEM in Brussels, dragging my family across continents with a month's worth of Frankenstein luggage. That experience was transformative, a culmination of decades of dreaming. This one? This one was supposed to be simpler: a 1.5 hour drive from Seattle to Bellingham, Washington. No transatlantic flights, no lost bear pillows, no layovers near the Arctic Circle. And yet, in its own quiet, Pacific Northwest way, LinuxFest hit differently.
My kid saw me present the same BadgeFed talk in Brussels, and somehow he was still excited about it. Granted 70% of the presentation was full on memes, but still that alone felt like a miracle. Seven-year-olds have the attention span of a caffeinated hummingbird, but when I told him we were going to another Linux thing, he was excited to travel almost up to Canada and see Native-American art.
Bellingham, or Why I Want to Move to the PNW
I had low expectations for Bellingham. I knew it would be beautiful, because everything in the Pacific Northwest is beautiful in that effortlessly annoying way. But the city blew me away in dimensions I hadn't anticipated.
Bellingham sits on a bay about 90 miles north of Seattle and just 21 miles from the Canadian border, a college town anchored by Western Washington University and home to roughly 95,000 people. The festival itself was held at Bellingham Technical College, nestled right into the heart of the city. It has the lowest average sunshine of any city in the US, and yet the people radiate warmth. The downtown is walkable, lined with independent bookshops and more breweries per block than I've seen outside of Belgium. At least fifteen craft breweries operate within city limits, and I can confirm that Aslan Brewing and Kulshan Brewing deserve their reputations. My one regret? Not making it to Cat Brewing Co. Next time.
But beyond the beer, what struck me was the culture. Visible support for trans rights. Rainbow flags as common as coffee shops. An activist tradition that dates back decades. The Whatcom Museum of History and Art had a French art exhibition that genuinely moved me, and my kid spent an hour in their interactive art activities, completely absorbed.
This is a city that hosts a Ski to Sea relay race from Mount Baker to the bay, that has Ryan Stiles' improv theater around the corner, that quietly produced Death Cab for Cutie. A place where you can feel the pulse of something real, something community-driven, something that doesn't need to prove itself to anyone. The festival itself leans into this by organizing Friday strolls around Bellingham, giving attendees a chance to explore the city before the talks begin.
I'm coming back. No question.
The Fest
LinuxFest Northwest has been running since 2000, co-produced by the Bellingham Linux Users Group, Bellingham Technical College, Cascade STEAM, and Jupiter Broadcasting. It's a free, community-driven event held at the technical college campus, and it draws over a thousand open-source enthusiasts from across the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
The moment I walked in, the goodies hit. Stickers, pins, T-shirts, pamphlets, more stickers. I collected more swag at LFNW than at most of others conference I've attended, including corporate-sponsored ones. The project booths were excellent: Fedora, Clonezilla, Alma Linux, and a few robotics corner that had my kid absolutely hypnotized.
I met incredible people. Autumn Nash, whose podcast I enjoy. At the brewery, a random guy with an amazing Hawaiian Shirt reach out from the table at the side, and later we discovered it was Troy Dawson, a Senior Software Engineer at Red Hat who moonlights as a self-described "Hawaiian Shirt Artisan" (more on that later) .
But the highlight, the absolute pinnacle, the reason I need an entire paragraph to contain my excitement: I met Jon "maddog" Hall.
Shooting My Shot with Maddog
Jon "maddog" Hall is a legend. Not in the casual, overused way that word gets thrown around, but in the sense that he has been instrumental in shaping the open-source movement since before most of us knew what a kernel was. He's the Board Chair Emeritus of the Linux Professional Institute. He helped Linus Torvalds obtain the equipment for the first Linux port to Digital's Alpha platform. He is Linus Torvalds' children's godfather. The nickname "maddog" came from his students at Hartford State Technical College, where he was department head of Computer Science, and it stuck because apparently he had "less control over his temper" back then. He has a vanity license plate in New Hampshire that reads UNIX.
This man has been advocating for free software and digital equity in Latin America through projects like Caninos Loucos and Project Cauã for decades. For a kid who grew up in a small Mexican town and found his way into open source through a dusty DSL connection, meeting maddog was like meeting a character from the origin story itself.
So I shot my shot. I walked up to him, introduced myself, and asked him one question: "What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?" I recorded his answer. You can watch it here. What he said was thoughtful, generous, and exactly what you'd expect from someone who's spent a lifetime opening doors for others.
At the end of the "interview" I asked something more chill: "Do you remember the Linux Festival at Puerto Vallarta?" He was visibly tired, the kind of tired that comes from decades of conferences and thousands of handshakes, but his eyes opened up. "Of course I do! I was telling someone that we should organize something there again." A beer on the beach, open-source talks with the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop, and the legendary drinks, getting progressively drunk talking between nerds, right before walking up to present your talk. My last Mexican LinuxFest was probably around 2008, and those were the best years for my open-source self: the hackerspace, the local LUG, the install fests that felt like revolutions. I would not have believed back then that one day I'd be speaking at the same conference as maddog. Not a keynote, sure, but sharing a schedule with him? The kid from Tepic with a paper notebook full of code would have lost his mind.
The Talk (Round Two)
When my time came to present BadgeFed, I felt a different kind of energy compared to FOSDEM. In Brussels, I was nervous, riding the weight of an international audience on anew project. In Bellingham, I was relaxed. The room was smaller, the audience more intimate, but the engagement was stronger. People asked detailed questions. They challenged ideas. They leaned in.
I had added a few slides since FOSDEM, expanding the intro to cover what the fediverse and ActivityPub actually are, because unlike in Brussels not everyone in the room shared the same baseline. That adjustment paid off. The conversation after the talk lasted longer than what I was expecting.
The audience at LFNW was different from FOSDEM in scale but not in quality. Where FOSDEM has thousands of people moving through halls like a developer flash mob, LFNW has hundreds who stay, linger, and genuinely want to connect. Both have their magic. I'm glad I experienced both within the same year.
The Kid (Round Two)
My son, now a veteran conference attendee, navigated LFNW like a tiny professional. On the way back, we stopped at the Whatcom Museum, where he spent more time with the art activities than I spent at any single talk. We strolled along the beach, found the acid ball (a sphere on the shore that has become a local landmark).
We visited the Marine Life Center, where my kid pressed his face against every tank like he was trying to merge with the sea creatures. Fair trade.
At one of the after-conference tables, someone mentioned an open-source conference happening in Seattle in November. I'm applying. I'm also planning to speak at a conference in Canada, possibly in August. The circuit grows.
The Spirit of LFNW
I want to mention something that lingers with me. On the LFNW website, there's a section dedicated to James Mason, known in the community as "bear454." James was a well-known fixture in the Pacific Northwest tech community, a longtime contributor through his work with SUSE and as an organizer and President of the Board for LinuxFest Northwest. He passed away after over four years of dealing with cancer and a rare clotting disorder, leaving behind his wife Alina and two children. The community is raising funds to support his family. That kind of care, that willingness to show up for each other beyond the code, is what makes open source more than a development methodology. It's a community in the truest sense.
Full Circle (Again)
Three months after standing on a stage in Brussels and fulfilling a twenty-year dream, I stood in a classroom at a technical college in Bellingham, Washington, and felt something different but equally powerful: belonging.
FOSDEM was the dream realized. LFNW was the dream normalized. The kid from Tepic who couldn't find a hacker in his hometown now has a conference circuit. He has a talk he iterates on. He has a seven-year-old who wants his own slot on the schedule. The impossible became possible, and then it became routine, and that might be the most extraordinary part of all.
Bellingham, I owe you a return visit. Bring the beer, the Hawaiian shirts, and the free software. I'll bring the kid.
And maybe next time, he'll have his own slides.
Also readable in: https://maho.dev/2026/05/linuxfest-northwest-2026-beer-badges-and-the-spirit-of-the-pnw/ by @mapache:
#LinuxFest Northwest #Open Source #Conferences #Community #BadgeFed #Bellingham #Pacific Northwest #Public Speaking
-
LinuxFest Northwest 2026: Beer, Badges, and the Spirit of the PNW
Summary: Three months after speaking at FOSDEM in Brussels, I brought my family to LinuxFest Northwest in Bellingham, WA. What I found was a college town bursting with craft beer, open-source energy, and one of my personal heroes.
"To the kernel. To the source. To the reason it all works in the first place." – LinuxFest Northwest 2026
The Sequel Nobody Expected
There are conferences you attend and forget, and there are conferences that tattoo themselves onto your memory. LinuxFest Northwest 2026 was the second kind.
Three months earlier, I had spoken at FOSDEM in Brussels, dragging my family across continents with a month's worth of Frankenstein luggage. That experience was transformative, a culmination of decades of dreaming. This one? This one was supposed to be simpler: a 1.5 hour drive from Seattle to Bellingham, Washington. No transatlantic flights, no lost bear pillows, no layovers near the Arctic Circle. And yet, in its own quiet, Pacific Northwest way, LinuxFest hit differently.
My kid saw me present the same BadgeFed talk in Brussels, and somehow he was still excited about it. Granted 70% of the presentation was full on memes, but still that alone felt like a miracle. Seven-year-olds have the attention span of a caffeinated hummingbird, but when I told him we were going to another Linux thing, he was excited to travel almost up to Canada and see Native-American art.
Bellingham, or Why I Want to Move to the PNW
I had low expectations for Bellingham. I knew it would be beautiful, because everything in the Pacific Northwest is beautiful in that effortlessly annoying way. But the city blew me away in dimensions I hadn't anticipated.
Bellingham sits on a bay about 90 miles north of Seattle and just 21 miles from the Canadian border, a college town anchored by Western Washington University and home to roughly 95,000 people. The festival itself was held at Bellingham Technical College, nestled right into the heart of the city. It has the lowest average sunshine of any city in the US, and yet the people radiate warmth. The downtown is walkable, lined with independent bookshops and more breweries per block than I've seen outside of Belgium. At least fifteen craft breweries operate within city limits, and I can confirm that Aslan Brewing and Kulshan Brewing deserve their reputations. My one regret? Not making it to Cat Brewing Co. Next time.
But beyond the beer, what struck me was the culture. Visible support for trans rights. Rainbow flags as common as coffee shops. An activist tradition that dates back decades. The Whatcom Museum of History and Art had a French art exhibition that genuinely moved me, and my kid spent an hour in their interactive art activities, completely absorbed.
This is a city that hosts a Ski to Sea relay race from Mount Baker to the bay, that has Ryan Stiles' improv theater around the corner, that quietly produced Death Cab for Cutie. A place where you can feel the pulse of something real, something community-driven, something that doesn't need to prove itself to anyone. The festival itself leans into this by organizing Friday strolls around Bellingham, giving attendees a chance to explore the city before the talks begin.
I'm coming back. No question.
The Fest
LinuxFest Northwest has been running since 2000, co-produced by the Bellingham Linux Users Group, Bellingham Technical College, Cascade STEAM, and Jupiter Broadcasting. It's a free, community-driven event held at the technical college campus, and it draws over a thousand open-source enthusiasts from across the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
The moment I walked in, the goodies hit. Stickers, pins, T-shirts, pamphlets, more stickers. I collected more swag at LFNW than at most of others conference I've attended, including corporate-sponsored ones. The project booths were excellent: Fedora, Clonezilla, Alma Linux, and a few robotics corner that had my kid absolutely hypnotized.
I met incredible people. Autumn Nash, whose podcast I enjoy. At the brewery, a random guy with an amazing Hawaiian Shirt reach out from the table at the side, and later we discovered it was Troy Dawson, a Senior Software Engineer at Red Hat who moonlights as a self-described "Hawaiian Shirt Artisan" (more on that later) .
But the highlight, the absolute pinnacle, the reason I need an entire paragraph to contain my excitement: I met Jon "maddog" Hall.
Shooting My Shot with Maddog
Jon "maddog" Hall is a legend. Not in the casual, overused way that word gets thrown around, but in the sense that he has been instrumental in shaping the open-source movement since before most of us knew what a kernel was. He's the Board Chair Emeritus of the Linux Professional Institute. He helped Linus Torvalds obtain the equipment for the first Linux port to Digital's Alpha platform. He is Linus Torvalds' children's godfather. The nickname "maddog" came from his students at Hartford State Technical College, where he was department head of Computer Science, and it stuck because apparently he had "less control over his temper" back then. He has a vanity license plate in New Hampshire that reads UNIX.
This man has been advocating for free software and digital equity in Latin America through projects like Caninos Loucos and Project Cauã for decades. For a kid who grew up in a small Mexican town and found his way into open source through a dusty DSL connection, meeting maddog was like meeting a character from the origin story itself.
So I shot my shot. I walked up to him, introduced myself, and asked him one question: "What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?" I recorded his answer. You can watch it here. What he said was thoughtful, generous, and exactly what you'd expect from someone who's spent a lifetime opening doors for others.
At the end of the "interview" I asked something more chill: "Do you remember the Linux Festival at Puerto Vallarta?" He was visibly tired, the kind of tired that comes from decades of conferences and thousands of handshakes, but his eyes opened up. "Of course I do! I was telling someone that we should organize something there again." A beer on the beach, open-source talks with the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop, and the legendary drinks, getting progressively drunk talking between nerds, right before walking up to present your talk. My last Mexican LinuxFest was probably around 2008, and those were the best years for my open-source self: the hackerspace, the local LUG, the install fests that felt like revolutions. I would not have believed back then that one day I'd be speaking at the same conference as maddog. Not a keynote, sure, but sharing a schedule with him? The kid from Tepic with a paper notebook full of code would have lost his mind.
The Talk (Round Two)
When my time came to present BadgeFed, I felt a different kind of energy compared to FOSDEM. In Brussels, I was nervous, riding the weight of an international audience on anew project. In Bellingham, I was relaxed. The room was smaller, the audience more intimate, but the engagement was stronger. People asked detailed questions. They challenged ideas. They leaned in.
I had added a few slides since FOSDEM, expanding the intro to cover what the fediverse and ActivityPub actually are, because unlike in Brussels not everyone in the room shared the same baseline. That adjustment paid off. The conversation after the talk lasted longer than what I was expecting.
The audience at LFNW was different from FOSDEM in scale but not in quality. Where FOSDEM has thousands of people moving through halls like a developer flash mob, LFNW has hundreds who stay, linger, and genuinely want to connect. Both have their magic. I'm glad I experienced both within the same year.
The Kid (Round Two)
My son, now a veteran conference attendee, navigated LFNW like a tiny professional. On the way back, we stopped at the Whatcom Museum, where he spent more time with the art activities than I spent at any single talk. We strolled along the beach, found the acid ball (a sphere on the shore that has become a local landmark).
We visited the Marine Life Center, where my kid pressed his face against every tank like he was trying to merge with the sea creatures. Fair trade.
At one of the after-conference tables, someone mentioned an open-source conference happening in Seattle in November. I'm applying. I'm also planning to speak at a conference in Canada, possibly in August. The circuit grows.
The Spirit of LFNW
I want to mention something that lingers with me. On the LFNW website, there's a section dedicated to James Mason, known in the community as "bear454." James was a well-known fixture in the Pacific Northwest tech community, a longtime contributor through his work with SUSE and as an organizer and President of the Board for LinuxFest Northwest. He passed away after over four years of dealing with cancer and a rare clotting disorder, leaving behind his wife Alina and two children. The community is raising funds to support his family. That kind of care, that willingness to show up for each other beyond the code, is what makes open source more than a development methodology. It's a community in the truest sense.
Full Circle (Again)
Three months after standing on a stage in Brussels and fulfilling a twenty-year dream, I stood in a classroom at a technical college in Bellingham, Washington, and felt something different but equally powerful: belonging.
FOSDEM was the dream realized. LFNW was the dream normalized. The kid from Tepic who couldn't find a hacker in his hometown now has a conference circuit. He has a talk he iterates on. He has a seven-year-old who wants his own slot on the schedule. The impossible became possible, and then it became routine, and that might be the most extraordinary part of all.
Bellingham, I owe you a return visit. Bring the beer, the Hawaiian shirts, and the free software. I'll bring the kid.
And maybe next time, he'll have his own slides.
Also readable in: https://maho.dev/2026/05/linuxfest-northwest-2026-beer-badges-and-the-spirit-of-the-pnw/ by @mapache:
#LinuxFest Northwest #Open Source #Conferences #Community #BadgeFed #Bellingham #Pacific Northwest #Public Speaking
-
LinuxFest Northwest 2026: Beer, Badges, and the Spirit of the PNW
Summary: Three months after speaking at FOSDEM in Brussels, I brought my family to LinuxFest Northwest in Bellingham, WA. What I found was a college town bursting with craft beer, open-source energy, and one of my personal heroes.
"To the kernel. To the source. To the reason it all works in the first place." – LinuxFest Northwest 2026
The Sequel Nobody Expected
There are conferences you attend and forget, and there are conferences that tattoo themselves onto your memory. LinuxFest Northwest 2026 was the second kind.
Three months earlier, I had spoken at FOSDEM in Brussels, dragging my family across continents with a month's worth of Frankenstein luggage. That experience was transformative, a culmination of decades of dreaming. This one? This one was supposed to be simpler: a 1.5 hour drive from Seattle to Bellingham, Washington. No transatlantic flights, no lost bear pillows, no layovers near the Arctic Circle. And yet, in its own quiet, Pacific Northwest way, LinuxFest hit differently.
My kid saw me present the same BadgeFed talk in Brussels, and somehow he was still excited about it. Granted 70% of the presentation was full on memes, but still that alone felt like a miracle. Seven-year-olds have the attention span of a caffeinated hummingbird, but when I told him we were going to another Linux thing, he was excited to travel almost up to Canada and see Native-American art.
Bellingham, or Why I Want to Move to the PNW
I had low expectations for Bellingham. I knew it would be beautiful, because everything in the Pacific Northwest is beautiful in that effortlessly annoying way. But the city blew me away in dimensions I hadn't anticipated.
Bellingham sits on a bay about 90 miles north of Seattle and just 21 miles from the Canadian border, a college town anchored by Western Washington University and home to roughly 95,000 people. The festival itself was held at Bellingham Technical College, nestled right into the heart of the city. It has the lowest average sunshine of any city in the US, and yet the people radiate warmth. The downtown is walkable, lined with independent bookshops and more breweries per block than I've seen outside of Belgium. At least fifteen craft breweries operate within city limits, and I can confirm that Aslan Brewing and Kulshan Brewing deserve their reputations. My one regret? Not making it to Cat Brewing Co. Next time.
But beyond the beer, what struck me was the culture. Visible support for trans rights. Rainbow flags as common as coffee shops. An activist tradition that dates back decades. The Whatcom Museum of History and Art had a French art exhibition that genuinely moved me, and my kid spent an hour in their interactive art activities, completely absorbed.
This is a city that hosts a Ski to Sea relay race from Mount Baker to the bay, that has Ryan Stiles' improv theater around the corner, that quietly produced Death Cab for Cutie. A place where you can feel the pulse of something real, something community-driven, something that doesn't need to prove itself to anyone. The festival itself leans into this by organizing Friday strolls around Bellingham, giving attendees a chance to explore the city before the talks begin.
I'm coming back. No question.
The Fest
LinuxFest Northwest has been running since 2000, co-produced by the Bellingham Linux Users Group, Bellingham Technical College, Cascade STEAM, and Jupiter Broadcasting. It's a free, community-driven event held at the technical college campus, and it draws over a thousand open-source enthusiasts from across the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
The moment I walked in, the goodies hit. Stickers, pins, T-shirts, pamphlets, more stickers. I collected more swag at LFNW than at most of others conference I've attended, including corporate-sponsored ones. The project booths were excellent: Fedora, Clonezilla, Alma Linux, and a few robotics corner that had my kid absolutely hypnotized.
I met incredible people. Autumn Nash, whose podcast I enjoy. At the brewery, a random guy with an amazing Hawaiian Shirt reach out from the table at the side, and later we discovered it was Troy Dawson, a Senior Software Engineer at Red Hat who moonlights as a self-described "Hawaiian Shirt Artisan" (more on that later) .
But the highlight, the absolute pinnacle, the reason I need an entire paragraph to contain my excitement: I met Jon "maddog" Hall.
Shooting My Shot with Maddog
Jon "maddog" Hall is a legend. Not in the casual, overused way that word gets thrown around, but in the sense that he has been instrumental in shaping the open-source movement since before most of us knew what a kernel was. He's the Board Chair Emeritus of the Linux Professional Institute. He helped Linus Torvalds obtain the equipment for the first Linux port to Digital's Alpha platform. He is Linus Torvalds' children's godfather. The nickname "maddog" came from his students at Hartford State Technical College, where he was department head of Computer Science, and it stuck because apparently he had "less control over his temper" back then. He has a vanity license plate in New Hampshire that reads UNIX.
This man has been advocating for free software and digital equity in Latin America through projects like Caninos Loucos and Project Cauã for decades. For a kid who grew up in a small Mexican town and found his way into open source through a dusty DSL connection, meeting maddog was like meeting a character from the origin story itself.
So I shot my shot. I walked up to him, introduced myself, and asked him one question: "What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?" I recorded his answer. You can watch it here. What he said was thoughtful, generous, and exactly what you'd expect from someone who's spent a lifetime opening doors for others.
At the end of the "interview" I asked something more chill: "Do you remember the Linux Festival at Puerto Vallarta?" He was visibly tired, the kind of tired that comes from decades of conferences and thousands of handshakes, but his eyes opened up. "Of course I do! I was telling someone that we should organize something there again." A beer on the beach, open-source talks with the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop, and the legendary drinks, getting progressively drunk talking between nerds, right before walking up to present your talk. My last Mexican LinuxFest was probably around 2008, and those were the best years for my open-source self: the hackerspace, the local LUG, the install fests that felt like revolutions. I would not have believed back then that one day I'd be speaking at the same conference as maddog. Not a keynote, sure, but sharing a schedule with him? The kid from Tepic with a paper notebook full of code would have lost his mind.
The Talk (Round Two)
When my time came to present BadgeFed, I felt a different kind of energy compared to FOSDEM. In Brussels, I was nervous, riding the weight of an international audience on anew project. In Bellingham, I was relaxed. The room was smaller, the audience more intimate, but the engagement was stronger. People asked detailed questions. They challenged ideas. They leaned in.
I had added a few slides since FOSDEM, expanding the intro to cover what the fediverse and ActivityPub actually are, because unlike in Brussels not everyone in the room shared the same baseline. That adjustment paid off. The conversation after the talk lasted longer than what I was expecting.
The audience at LFNW was different from FOSDEM in scale but not in quality. Where FOSDEM has thousands of people moving through halls like a developer flash mob, LFNW has hundreds who stay, linger, and genuinely want to connect. Both have their magic. I'm glad I experienced both within the same year.
The Kid (Round Two)
My son, now a veteran conference attendee, navigated LFNW like a tiny professional. On the way back, we stopped at the Whatcom Museum, where he spent more time with the art activities than I spent at any single talk. We strolled along the beach, found the acid ball (a sphere on the shore that has become a local landmark).
We visited the Marine Life Center, where my kid pressed his face against every tank like he was trying to merge with the sea creatures. Fair trade.
At one of the after-conference tables, someone mentioned an open-source conference happening in Seattle in November. I'm applying. I'm also planning to speak at a conference in Canada, possibly in August. The circuit grows.
The Spirit of LFNW
I want to mention something that lingers with me. On the LFNW website, there's a section dedicated to James Mason, known in the community as "bear454." James was a well-known fixture in the Pacific Northwest tech community, a longtime contributor through his work with SUSE and as an organizer and President of the Board for LinuxFest Northwest. He passed away after over four years of dealing with cancer and a rare clotting disorder, leaving behind his wife Alina and two children. The community is raising funds to support his family. That kind of care, that willingness to show up for each other beyond the code, is what makes open source more than a development methodology. It's a community in the truest sense.
Full Circle (Again)
Three months after standing on a stage in Brussels and fulfilling a twenty-year dream, I stood in a classroom at a technical college in Bellingham, Washington, and felt something different but equally powerful: belonging.
FOSDEM was the dream realized. LFNW was the dream normalized. The kid from Tepic who couldn't find a hacker in his hometown now has a conference circuit. He has a talk he iterates on. He has a seven-year-old who wants his own slot on the schedule. The impossible became possible, and then it became routine, and that might be the most extraordinary part of all.
Bellingham, I owe you a return visit. Bring the beer, the Hawaiian shirts, and the free software. I'll bring the kid.
And maybe next time, he'll have his own slides.
Also readable in: https://maho.dev/2026/05/linuxfest-northwest-2026-beer-badges-and-the-spirit-of-the-pnw/ by @mapache:
#LinuxFest Northwest #Open Source #Conferences #Community #BadgeFed #Bellingham #Pacific Northwest #Public Speaking
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MIT professor gave the same ‘How to Speak’ lecture for 40 years. Here are his 5 pearls of wisdom.
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MIT professor gave the same ‘How to Speak’ lecture for 40 years. Here are his 5 pearls of wisdom.
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MIT professor gave the same ‘How to Speak’ lecture for 40 years. Here are his 5 pearls of wisdom.
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MIT professor gave the same ‘How to Speak’ lecture for 40 years. Here are his 5 pearls of wisdom.
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New #cfp added for Web Rebels (https://mastodon.social/@webrebels) in May 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-web-rebels/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for Web Rebels (https://mastodon.social/@webrebels) in May 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-web-rebels/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for Web Rebels (https://mastodon.social/@webrebels) in May 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-web-rebels/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for Web Rebels (https://mastodon.social/@webrebels) in May 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-web-rebels/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for NDC London in January 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-ndc-london/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for NDC London in January 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-ndc-london/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for NDC London in January 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-ndc-london/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for NDC London in January 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-ndc-london/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for Norfolk Developers Conference in February 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-norfolk-developers-conference/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for Norfolk Developers Conference in February 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-norfolk-developers-conference/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for Norfolk Developers Conference in February 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-norfolk-developers-conference/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for Norfolk Developers Conference in February 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-norfolk-developers-conference/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for PHP Tek (https://phparch.social/@phptek) in April 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-php-tek/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for PHP Tek (https://phparch.social/@phptek) in April 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-php-tek/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for PHP Tek (https://phparch.social/@phptek) in April 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-php-tek/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for PHP Tek (https://phparch.social/@phptek) in April 2027.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2027-php-tek/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for DevDay — Transmutation in December 2026.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2026-devday-transmutation/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for DevDay — Transmutation in December 2026.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2026-devday-transmutation/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for DevDay — Transmutation in December 2026.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2026-devday-transmutation/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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New #cfp added for DevDay — Transmutation in December 2026.
More details at https://cfp.watch/cfps/2026-devday-transmutation/.#cfs #callforpapers #callforproposals #speakers #callforspeakers #publicspeaking #speakerlife
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From Clockwork to Quantum: Join Me at the San Francisco Exploratorium This August!
I have some incredibly exciting news to share with you all.
This summer, I’ve been invited to speak at the prestigious Exploratorium in San Francisco for their upcoming “After Dark: Quantum Leap” event on Thursday, August 6, from 6-10pm!
The main feature for the evening dives deep into the fascinating, cutting-edge world of quantum computer music. The event’s Program Developer actually discovered my History of Technology in Music textbook and its accompanying podcast online, and reached out to ask if I would provide a historical perspective to anchor the evening’s futuristic theme. I am absolutely thrilled (and honored!) to bring our unique curriculum to such a fantastic stage.
My 30-minute talk is titled, “From Clockwork to Quantum: The Journey and Anxieties of Automating Art,” and it tackles a subject very near and dear to my heart:
While modern technology feels like an unprecedented disruption, humanity’s anxiety over automating art is a centuries-old loop. Join me for an exploration into the surprising lineage of music technology, tracing our relationship with creative tools from the 9th-century programmable flute and 18th-century musical clockworks, to player pianos of the 1920s. Discover how advanced technology isn’t about replacing the artist, but an ongoing quest to expand abstract expression and explore the outer limits of what music can be. This journey culminates in generative AI and cutting-edge quantum computing, revealing that while our tools change over time, the debates over what they mean for the human spirit are completely timeless.
Whether you’re a tech enthusiast, a fellow music lover, or just curious about how humans and machines have spent centuries making art together, it’s going to be an unforgettable night of exploring the intersection of music, technology, and quantum computing.
If you’re going to be in the Bay Area on August 6, I would absolutely love to see you there! 🎶
You can check out the event description, grab your tickets, and plan your visit over on the Exploratorium Calendar.
See you in San Francisco!
#computers #museum #musicHistory #musicTechnology #philosophy #publicSpeaking -
From Clockwork to Quantum: Join Me at the San Francisco Exploratorium This August!
I have some incredibly exciting news to share with you all.
This summer, I’ve been invited to speak at the prestigious Exploratorium in San Francisco for their upcoming “After Dark: Quantum Leap” event on Thursday, August 6, from 6-10pm!
The main feature for the evening dives deep into the fascinating, cutting-edge world of quantum computer music. The event’s Program Developer actually discovered my History of Technology in Music textbook and its accompanying podcast online, and reached out to ask if I would provide a historical perspective to anchor the evening’s futuristic theme. I am absolutely thrilled (and honored!) to bring our unique curriculum to such a fantastic stage.
My 30-minute talk is titled, “From Clockwork to Quantum: The Journey and Anxieties of Automating Art,” and it tackles a subject very near and dear to my heart:
While modern technology feels like an unprecedented disruption, humanity’s anxiety over automating art is a centuries-old loop. Join me for an exploration into the surprising lineage of music technology, tracing our relationship with creative tools from the 9th-century programmable flute and 18th-century musical clockworks, to player pianos of the 1920s. Discover how advanced technology isn’t about replacing the artist, but an ongoing quest to expand abstract expression and explore the outer limits of what music can be. This journey culminates in generative AI and cutting-edge quantum computing, revealing that while our tools change over time, the debates over what they mean for the human spirit are completely timeless.
Whether you’re a tech enthusiast, a fellow music lover, or just curious about how humans and machines have spent centuries making art together, it’s going to be an unforgettable night of exploring the intersection of music, technology, and quantum computing.
If you’re going to be in the Bay Area on August 6, I would absolutely love to see you there! 🎶
You can check out the event description, grab your tickets, and plan your visit over on the Exploratorium Calendar.
See you in San Francisco!
#computers #museum #musicHistory #musicTechnology #philosophy #publicSpeaking -
From Clockwork to Quantum: Join Me at the San Francisco Exploratorium This August!
I have some incredibly exciting news to share with you all.
This summer, I’ve been invited to speak at the prestigious Exploratorium in San Francisco for their upcoming “After Dark: Quantum Leap” event on Thursday, August 6, from 6-10pm!
The main feature for the evening dives deep into the fascinating, cutting-edge world of quantum computer music. The event’s Program Developer actually discovered my History of Technology in Music textbook and its accompanying podcast online, and reached out to ask if I would provide a historical perspective to anchor the evening’s futuristic theme. I am absolutely thrilled (and honored!) to bring our unique curriculum to such a fantastic stage.
My 30-minute talk is titled, “From Clockwork to Quantum: The Journey and Anxieties of Automating Art,” and it tackles a subject very near and dear to my heart:
While modern technology feels like an unprecedented disruption, humanity’s anxiety over automating art is a centuries-old loop. Join me for an exploration into the surprising lineage of music technology, tracing our relationship with creative tools from the 9th-century programmable flute and 18th-century musical clockworks, to player pianos of the 1920s. Discover how advanced technology isn’t about replacing the artist, but an ongoing quest to expand abstract expression and explore the outer limits of what music can be. This journey culminates in generative AI and cutting-edge quantum computing, revealing that while our tools change over time, the debates over what they mean for the human spirit are completely timeless.
Whether you’re a tech enthusiast, a fellow music lover, or just curious about how humans and machines have spent centuries making art together, it’s going to be an unforgettable night of exploring the intersection of music, technology, and quantum computing.
If you’re going to be in the Bay Area on August 6, I would absolutely love to see you there! 🎶
You can check out the event description, grab your tickets, and plan your visit over on the Exploratorium Calendar.
See you in San Francisco!
#computers #museum #musicHistory #musicTechnology #philosophy #publicSpeaking -
From Clockwork to Quantum: Join Me at the San Francisco Exploratorium This August!
I have some incredibly exciting news to share with you all.
This summer, I’ve been invited to speak at the prestigious Exploratorium in San Francisco for their upcoming “After Dark: Quantum Leap” event on Thursday, August 6, from 6-10pm!
The main feature for the evening dives deep into the fascinating, cutting-edge world of quantum computer music. The event’s Program Developer actually discovered my History of Technology in Music textbook and its accompanying podcast online, and reached out to ask if I would provide a historical perspective to anchor the evening’s futuristic theme. I am absolutely thrilled (and honored!) to bring our unique curriculum to such a fantastic stage.
My 30-minute talk is titled, “From Clockwork to Quantum: The Journey and Anxieties of Automating Art,” and it tackles a subject very near and dear to my heart:
While modern technology feels like an unprecedented disruption, humanity’s anxiety over automating art is a centuries-old loop. Join me for an exploration into the surprising lineage of music technology, tracing our relationship with creative tools from the 9th-century programmable flute and 18th-century musical clockworks, to player pianos of the 1920s. Discover how advanced technology isn’t about replacing the artist, but an ongoing quest to expand abstract expression and explore the outer limits of what music can be. This journey culminates in generative AI and cutting-edge quantum computing, revealing that while our tools change over time, the debates over what they mean for the human spirit are completely timeless.
Whether you’re a tech enthusiast, a fellow music lover, or just curious about how humans and machines have spent centuries making art together, it’s going to be an unforgettable night of exploring the intersection of music, technology, and quantum computing.
If you’re going to be in the Bay Area on August 6, I would absolutely love to see you there! 🎶
You can check out the event description, grab your tickets, and plan your visit over on the Exploratorium Calendar.
See you in San Francisco!
#computers #museum #musicHistory #musicTechnology #philosophy #publicSpeaking -
From Clockwork to Quantum: Join Me at the San Francisco Exploratorium This August!
I have some incredibly exciting news to share with you all.
This summer, I’ve been invited to speak at the prestigious Exploratorium in San Francisco for their upcoming “After Dark: Quantum Leap” event on Thursday, August 6, from 6-10pm!
The main feature for the evening dives deep into the fascinating, cutting-edge world of quantum computer music. The event’s Program Developer actually discovered my History of Technology in Music textbook and its accompanying podcast online, and reached out to ask if I would provide a historical perspective to anchor the evening’s futuristic theme. I am absolutely thrilled (and honored!) to bring our unique curriculum to such a fantastic stage.
My 30-minute talk is titled, “From Clockwork to Quantum: The Journey and Anxieties of Automating Art,” and it tackles a subject very near and dear to my heart:
While modern technology feels like an unprecedented disruption, humanity’s anxiety over automating art is a centuries-old loop. Join me for an exploration into the surprising lineage of music technology, tracing our relationship with creative tools from the 9th-century programmable flute and 18th-century musical clockworks, to player pianos of the 1920s. Discover how advanced technology isn’t about replacing the artist, but an ongoing quest to expand abstract expression and explore the outer limits of what music can be. This journey culminates in generative AI and cutting-edge quantum computing, revealing that while our tools change over time, the debates over what they mean for the human spirit are completely timeless.
Whether you’re a tech enthusiast, a fellow music lover, or just curious about how humans and machines have spent centuries making art together, it’s going to be an unforgettable night of exploring the intersection of music, technology, and quantum computing.
If you’re going to be in the Bay Area on August 6, I would absolutely love to see you there! 🎶
You can check out the event description, grab your tickets, and plan your visit over on the Exploratorium Calendar.
See you in San Francisco!
#computers #museum #musicHistory #musicTechnology #philosophy #publicSpeaking -
6 Critical Actions To Take To Advance Your Career In The Age Of AI
Artificial intelligence is transforming the workplace faster than any technology most of us have experienced. It has changed…
#NewsBeep #News #Artificialintelligence #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Career #CareerAdvice #leader #Leaders #personalbrand #personalbranding #publicspeaking #reputation #storytelling #Technology #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/687069/ -
#protip: Instead of using AI to generate a slide deck, put the prompt you'd use on the slide with a picture of a cat. Your audience will thank you.
Another reminder of Oliver Burkeman's "Interest is Everything" https://ckarchive.com/b/92uzhnh695dods3roomrdfzod7d33hwh9nk2g
At work and at conferences, even small, local conferences, I'm seeing more and more AI generated slide decks. I am pretty sure I've seen more slop decks than hand made decks in the last 3 months.
I heard one speaker mention it cut the time to create the deck from 20 hours to 15 minutes.. Yeah? No shit! You have no idea what's on the slide you have up nor do you know what's on the next slide.
This isn't just techbrosephs. I've seen experienced, well-intentioned speakers at OSS conferences on stage, armed with a slop deck and a confused look when the slide deck doesn't match what they're talking about. For me, as a audience member, it should be the first time I see your slides. But for you, as the speaker? You shouldn't act surprised, or have to read all the 18pt font bullet points on the slide for the first time as they're displayed!
Stop the slopshow!
#fuck_ai #speaking #publicspeaking #public_speaking_101 #llm
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#protip: Instead of using AI to generate a slide deck, put the prompt you'd use on the slide with a picture of a cat. Your audience will thank you.
Another reminder of Oliver Burkeman's "Interest is Everything" https://ckarchive.com/b/92uzhnh695dods3roomrdfzod7d33hwh9nk2g
At work and at conferences, even small, local conferences, I'm seeing more and more AI generated slide decks. I am pretty sure I've seen more slop decks than hand made decks in the last 3 months.
I heard one speaker mention it cut the time to create the deck from 20 hours to 15 minutes.. Yeah? No shit! You have no idea what's on the slide you have up nor do you know what's on the next slide.
This isn't just techbrosephs. I've seen experienced, well-intentioned speakers at OSS conferences on stage, armed with a slop deck and a confused look when the slide deck doesn't match what they're talking about. For me, as a audience member, it should be the first time I see your slides. But for you, as the speaker? You shouldn't act surprised, or have to read all the 18pt font bullet points on the slide for the first time as they're displayed!
Stop the slopshow!
#fuck_ai #speaking #publicspeaking #public_speaking_101 #llm
-
#protip: Instead of using AI to generate a slide deck, put the prompt you'd use on the slide with a picture of a cat. Your audience will thank you.
Another reminder of Oliver Burkeman's "Interest is Everything" https://ckarchive.com/b/92uzhnh695dods3roomrdfzod7d33hwh9nk2g
At work and at conferences, even small, local conferences, I'm seeing more and more AI generated slide decks. I am pretty sure I've seen more slop decks than hand made decks in the last 3 months.
I heard one speaker mention it cut the time to create the deck from 20 hours to 15 minutes.. Yeah? No shit! You have no idea what's on the slide you have up nor do you know what's on the next slide.
This isn't just techbrosephs. I've seen experienced, well-intentioned speakers at OSS conferences on stage, armed with a slop deck and a confused look when the slide deck doesn't match what they're talking about. For me, as a audience member, it should be the first time I see your slides. But for you, as the speaker? You shouldn't act surprised, or have to read all the 18pt font bullet points on the slide for the first time as they're displayed!
Stop the slopshow!
#fuck_ai #speaking #publicspeaking #public_speaking_101 #llm
