Ericka Simone

The iPod was released 25 years ago today but at the time I had a 64Mb Rio and no money so my first iPod was still a couple of years away.

But I remember April 28, 2003 vividly, the day the iTunes Store and paid downloads came out.

I was working at Creative Commons and our CTO Ben immediately bought a song then shared it with us we could try hacking on its security.

How dare you guys demand that I stay alive and actually show the support to prove as much

How DARE you ask me to stay alive and be great, dagnabit

Since #PHP is at the top of peoples minds, a short diversion.

In the Before Times of 20+ years ago, I worked for a smallish tech company that did some of everything. One of the #consulting jobs we took on was to #audit a #codebase for a company that was buying another company - the application was the acquiree's crown jewels, and the purchaser wanted a good solid analysis of it.

It was in PHP. I was not looking forward to it. As a betting person you are unlikely to go wrong with "very #niche market-specific software application developed in-house by small company working in that space is likely to be pretty terribly #designed and #implemented", and most of the PHP I had looked at by that point was, well, bad.

And it absolutely was not. It was in the then-new PHP v.5. And it was cleanly designed, nicely modular, very #readable #code and well documented, good #development practices. Sure, there were some things in it that could be improved, mostly more efficient algorithms / data structures IIRC, but all software can be improved *somewhere*. The final report was fairly glowing about it.

Anyone who tells you all code written in $LANGUAGE is awful, or all #programmers who use it are idiots, is showing you their whole ass. Languages are #tools. Some are easier to use for certain purposes than others, but they're all useful for something. Don't be closed-minded.

#engineering #software #SoftwareEngineering #RightToolForTheRightJob #homily

bookshop.org alternative to buy ebooks in Canada?

#ebook

Glorifying France when they protest against their oppressive systems… but vilifying, demeaning and disrespecting African Americans when we protest and riot against a system that has enslaved and oppressed billions.

Or just outright killing the original Ferguson 6.

Okay. So. I was diagnosed with early stage uterine cancer. It requires an immediate hysterectomy. However. I had to postpone because finances will not allow me to rest, and layoffs are happening at my music label.

As usual, I refuse to ask for help. It feels horrible. But so many of you have offered.

So. If you’d like to donate to “Project Hysterectomy: Yeet that Uterus and Heal 2026,” I’d be grateful.

PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/ErickaSimone
Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/ErickaSimone
CA: https://cash.app/$ErickaSimone