Troy Davis

skeptical optimist. everything is an experiment.

đź”— tacoapp.com, simpleoptout.com, reportphonespam.org, sawsafely.org, seattleix.net, yort.com. ex papertrail.com. 9600 8-N-1.

Troy Davis
troyd@mas.to

from @sfchronicle: "Alameda County admits tallying error in ranked-choice voting, flips one result and raises big questions"

the incorrect "winner" has already been certified as the winner. nobody knows what happens now.

more: sfchronicle.com/bayarea/articl , oaklandside.org/2022/12/28/ala

December 31, 2022
Troy Davis
troyd@mas.to

my quick Hacker News answer to "Why don't more services offer a 'pay as you go' pricing model? What are the downsides of this from the business perspective?"

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3

December 31, 2022
Troy Davis
troyd@mas.to

here's what a network of fake Google Maps business locations looks like.

I stumbled across roughly 50 places in WA and NC, all with a generic SEO'd product name as the business name. no reviews, just a Web site.

and… my Maps Contributions pane after removing ~50 places.

December 28, 2022
Troy Davis
troyd@mas.to

@rchase a Sign Up page that doesn't depend on Mastodon-specific knowledge: mas.to/@troyd/1095357765274317

December 21, 2022
Troy Davis
troyd@mas.to

any of my fellow armchair economists looking to change careers? GiveWell is hiring a senior researcher: givewell.org/about/jobs/senior (remote, US timezones).

as a professional over-thinker, I'd gladly work here:

December 20, 2022
Troy Davis
troyd@mas.to

if Apple had acquired the iPad app Concepts and released it as Freeform, users would still be talking about it.

I started using Concepts to sketch wood products, then clay. it's got the best of vector tools, like infinite zoom, infinite canvas, and stroke-level edits. it's no harder to use than any bitmap drawing tool.

concepts.app/en/ , youtu.be/LqhyWSPukM4?t=160

December 19, 2022
Troy Davis
troyd@mas.to

Half of every Mastodon intro is spent on choosing a server.

Can we make it easier, so more visitors become users? Imagine:

1. On JoinMastodon.org, a Sign Up page asks for the user's preferred username.

2. The page lists instant-signup servers. Servers with this username available are first, highlighted.

Each server row shows high-level ToS & 1-line summary.

Bonus: Geocode client & highlight in-country servers.

3. User clicks through to a server's signup page.

Thoughts?

/cc @Gargron

December 18, 2022
Troy Davis
troyd@mas.to

bored this afternoon? X-Plane 12 moved from beta to release today.

the free demo allows 15 minutes per flight, which is enough to take off, do a low-altitude pass between buildings, and crash (er, land…): x-plane.com/desktop/try-it/

the in-app intro covers taking off pretty well: increase throttle (F2) then slowly pull the yoke (mouse). no need to adjust trim.

when you tire of crashing, here's landing in a nutshell: x-plane.com/manuals/desktop/#l

December 17, 2022
Troy Davis
troyd@mas.to

hi! if you're reading this , then I should try to make myself useful 🙂

so, here's some topics that people have asked me about:

• choosing a mattress

• turning a kitchen island into a 1m² ceramic studio ()

• making fitness fun. 👍 VR boxing

• privacy (simpleoptout.com/)

• designing products (discussions.apple.com/thread/2)

• Seattle's best sandwiches

• "bootstrapped" businesses (troy.yort.com/papertrail-joins)

• safe woodworking (sawsafely.org/)

DMs welcome

December 17, 2022