26 years ago, Jef Raskin sent me an email sharply criticizing the state of software design. His comments remained unpublished back then, but they remain relevant, and are too fascinating not to share. https://www.fastcompany.com/91350773/jef-raskin-wwdc-2025

Viswashkumar Ramesh was on his way home to London when tragedy struck. In hospital interviews, he explains how he made his way out of seat 11A — which isn't typically the safest part of the plane. #news #NPR https://www.npr.org/2025/06/13/nx-s1-5432566/india-plane-crash-survivor

On the topic of immigration, specifically to the United States, I think your perspective on it changes when you’ve been through the process.

When I immigrated to the states some 15+ years ago, the process, although extremely smooth by most standards was still A) long, B) expensive - which means it requires an investment of two commodities that a lot of folks simply dont have. Time, and money.

Finance wise, I easily invested $10k in the process. Between the actual fees, travel to and from the embassy in London, medical assessments, background checks etc.

Side note: the US government remains the only entity that has officially requested to inspect my penis, to confirm I had one. They do love a good genital inspection.

I lived in a developed country with PTO. The embassy could be reached via a 2 hour train ride. I still had to stay in a hotel to make appointment times. Many people dont have the ability to take the time off to spend the literal days it can take to travel to an embassy.

I was not in an unsafe situation in my homeland. I had no issues being there for the year+ it took me to go through the process. Not everyone has that.

The process doesnt stop when you move either. There are always more steps, more fees, more anxiety.

Moving to live in a new place, no matter who you are is terrifying. I moved from a developed English speaking country to another developed English speaking country, and still, I struggled.

So, next time you hear, “well, why not go through the process and move here legally?”

The process is deliberately designed to make it incredibly difficult to get through for most folks. The process can kill you if it takes long enough. The process costs more than most folks have the ability to make financially in any sort of reasonable timeframe.

I’m fortunate enough to be able to draw from my own experiences when the topic of immigration comes up. Those who tend to vomit the loudest garbage about it have never so much as looked up what it involves, and it shows.

An ignorant populace is a drag on democracy. Folks, wake up.

US divided on Trump using military to respond to anti-ICE protests: Survey
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5349144-us-divided-military-response-los-angeles-protests-survey/

#TrumpDidThis #RepublicansDidThis #GOPKakistocracy #Project2025 #NoRepublicansEverAgain #USPol

This is the page in the history book where future generations may ask, “Why didn’t more people speak up?" Don’t let this slide.

Today in 1983, 42 years ago: the American company Motorola presents the DynaTAC 8000X, the world's first commercial mobile phone.

#OnThisDay

$12 million to repair the DC roads after the tanks roll down it. 72 ton tanks are not buddies with downtown asphalt

Kennedy has caused irreparable harm to vaccines
https://wapo.st/45ikwUU

#AgentBrainWorm #RFK #HHS #PublicHealth #Vaccines #RFKisNoKennedy #RFKPredator #RFKGrifter #USPol

How can you see the anguished faces of Palestinians and not feel anything?

The essence of Trumpism is just this: Dig in the heel of the boot; step on the enemy’s neck; determine in any situation the action that would be appropriately small-d democratic, and then do the opposite—go intentionally overboard, do something that shocks and offends the democratic sensibility. https://trib.al/dQuYJ20

If someone else has already done a podcast entirely recorded with local recording on iPadOS 26, I tip my cap to you, but @dmoren and I did it today.
https://zeppelin.flights/@sixcolors/114677178357366490

This is an outright lie. After a judge ruled, Trump cannot use the national guard, he appealed. The appeals court has accepted his appeal and will host the first hearing in the matter on Tuesday.

Trump abuses that development to give the impression that the appeals court has ruled, he can use the national guard. They have not ruled yet. But they may do so next week, and it is likely they will uphold the original ruling.

Today I am releasing my Zoom H2essential audio recorder accessibility tutorial! Not only does it cover accessibility but all other features of the recorder. If I missed something, please let me know!
Youtube videos with timestamps
Zoom H2essential accessibility tutorial part 1: Unboxing, physical description, first time setup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Pu7UXiHw4
Zoom H2essential accessibility tutorial part 2: Menus and settings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yUW09ELwj4
Zoom H2essential accessibility tutorial part 3: Recording and playback
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBz0BuLSYyc
Zoom H2essential accessibility tutorial part 4: Other features and final thoughts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOYPGXkeJBU&t=1767s
Tutorial Youtube playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSX0XpqX-nHcc4AGffWDr10oD_TQRElfD
Tutorial in mp3 format with resources document, zip file
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/j5zr2i0xcvwe247hovop3/Jay-Pellis-Zoom-H2essential-accessibility-tutorial.zip?rlkey=eplpk6eoel9i8bsu8ncmcu1ot&dl=0

How to bring democracy to America

Imagine that you, as a philanthropist or activist who wants to help spread democracy across the world, read about a country described as a “flawed democracy.” The report describes the problems that country is facing in this way: 

low levels of trust in political institutions and the media; institutional gridlock; excessive influence of lobbyists, interest groups and the mega-rich; sharp economic and social inequalities; and an absence of social consensus on core national values.

What might you do to help address these problems? 

The country in question, in case you haven’t guessed, is the United States of America, and the quote is from The Economist Democracy Index, an in-depth study of the health of democracies worldwide. The United States hasn’t met the threshold for a “full democracy” on this list since 2015. 

Americans like to think they invented democracy and freedom, and that their country is the most democratic and free one on earth by definition. That idea doesn’t stand up to basic scrutiny, though, and statistical analyses help point to why. The Democracy Index is based on ratings of the electoral process, the functioning of government, political participation, the political culture, and civil liberties. The United States has been declining on several of those fronts for decades now, and scores especially low on both functioning government and political culture. 

People talk about democracy as something we need to fight in order to keep, and I agree. But I also think it’s not enough to defend democracy—you have to build it back after it declines, and the job of building it is never fully done. We must do more than fight not to lose (more). We need to keep bringing democracy to America. 

Because democracy isn’t just a particular system of government. It’s an agreement you build as a society, a way of life together. It’s an ideal to strive toward, not one that anyone has yet achieved. I don’t think ancient Athens, a city-state where only certain male citizens could vote, was particularly democratic, despite making significant contributions to our idea of what democracy is. I don’t think America was democratic before 1920, when women were given the right to vote, or before 1964, when the Civil Rights Act was passed. America, too, has made significant contributions to our idea of what democracy is, but democracy here is and has always been a work in progress, and not without setbacks. 

America made democratic process after the civil war, when formerly enslaved people were given the right to vote. It backslid during Jim Crow, when that right was taken away through various schemes. None of this was inevitable. 

America is not a good or perfect democracy right now, but it could be. Getting there requires a new way of thinking. It’s not enough to fight—we need to build. 

None of us can take on all of this, and what the specifics look like will depend on you – your community, your work, your sphere of influence. The important thing is to look for real ways you can help bring democracy to this county – what can we do to push those declining metrics of democracy back in the right direction? If you’re a journalist, like I am, your job is to do what you can to build back trust, to earn back the respect lost by decades of metric-based clickbait journalism. Another way to help build democracy, as a citizen, is to intentionally seek out and support quality information sources instead of passively believing whatever comes through your social feeds. You could support institutions that make democracy possible but are under attack, like your local library or public radio station. You can start a group in your town that gets together at a brewery and talks about ways you could improve your community, or join a group that’s already doing that.

It’s less about the specifics and more about the story we’re telling. It’s easy, when you think of this as a fight, to feel like it can only be won or lost. That’s certainly how the fascists frame things—as a battle to return to some lost golden age. That’s not the project of democracy. We know that we don’t have a full democracy now, and that we didn’t have one before. We’re not longing for the past—we’re trying to build a future. 

We are trying to bring democracy to America, every day. It’s on all of us, together, to figure out how. 

I wrote a quick tutorial about getting macOS 26 runnning in a virtual machine, in case you want to give it a spin: https://lifehacker.com/tech/try-macos-26-tahoe-for-free

Do you have an iPhone with iOS 26 that was installed from scratch? If so can you go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Speech and tell me what your Primary Voice is set to?

Additionally, if you tap that voice can you tell me if Samantha or Nicky are downloaded or not?

This would really same me some time formatting my test device again just to get this answer. Thanks!

#iOSDev

Taking A One Handed Keyboard To The Next Level - When a wrist mounted keyboard floated past in the Hackaday feed, a mental image su... - https://hackaday.com/2025/06/13/taking-a-one-handed-keyboard-to-the-next-level/ #peripheralshacks #chordingkeyboard #wristkeyboard #keyboard

What I see:
"Denmark Set to Replace #Microsoft Software with Open Source Alternatives

Denmark's Digital Ministry is replacing Microsoft services with LibreOffice and Linux."
What I read:
"Denmark is excluding screen reader users from opportunities to get a job at their public institutions".
to those who are happy about the #OpenSource move: you should never forget that there are lots of users, already vulnerable in our society, whose chance to get a decent job drastically lowers from already being quite low to asymptotically nearing zero.
I wonder however, what happens on June 28th this year when #EAA (European #Accessibility act) enters in vigor.
How would those who ditch #Microsoft and #Google products so hastily adhere to this law? Or will they just do as if accessibility legislation was not a thing?

This week, the president admitted his mass deportations are “taking very good, longtime workers away” from farms and hotels, adding that those workers are proving “impossible to replace.”

To be clear, Trump was talking about his *own* immigration policies.
https://trib.al/RSJR0jF

@ttscoff How long have you had hand pain? Ever try one of those curved ergonomic keyboards? Ever consider using the Dvorak layout? Both have reduced pain for me. Just thoughts