Translation State (new #AnnLeckie) was very good. #Leckie and Wells (in #Murderbot) and Becky Chambers (Wayfarers; Monk & Robot) all have very similar presentation but i feel like Leckie really goes deep on the "what, truly, *is* a human" question without being precious about it, not that I don't appreciate preciousness at times #TranslationState #ImperialRadch

I don't think I ever did a proper #introduction, so for all the new folks around lately:

I'm Jordan. I'm a #xennial computer scientist and a PhD program dropout. I specialize in low-level #Linux distribution and packaging stuff and in assembling complex software contraptions out of pieces that other people wrote. I've been #programming since connecting to the internet involved making an robot scream and I've worked lots of places, but the one you've probably heard of is #GitHub. These days I'm #freelancing, maybe getting a company of my own together, and writing articles for @LWN, but mostly I'm taking things a little easy this year in order to recover from #burnout from a particularly rough year at someone else's #startup.

I live just north of #Chicago with my wife and my kid, and I try really hard to be a good #parent and keep the #dadjokes coming. When I am not in dadmode or touching computers for money, I am often touching computers for fun; I'm big on #selfhosting and spend lots of time tinkering with #homeautomation. I don't make a lot of time to play video games anymore, but when I do my taste tends to run on the #retrogaming side of things, mostly because the last era in which I did make a lot of time to play video games is now considered retro. I was an #arcade rat as a kid and I like the Fediverse because it reminds me much more of hanging out on a #BBS than any of the other modern "social media" abominations.

I mostly read #scifi and a bit of #fantasy. My current recent favorites are the #Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers, the #Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, and the #ImperialRadch series by Ann Leckie. I am a big #Dune nerd and make a lot of stupid Dune memes for a stupid Dune meme group on Facebook.

I am also into #comics, although like video games, you'll find that I have encyclopedic knowledge up to some point in the mid-to-late 90's and only spotty awareness of what's happened since then. I enjoy stuff from both #Marvel and #DC, as well as the occasional indie. I'm really into the current iteration of the X-Men. I'd like to really be into Spider-Man but I don't think Peter's really had a good storyline since the Clone Saga. I'm a fan of Batman but not so much of increasingly edgelordy versions of the Joker - I think the Harley Quinn series on HBO is currently the "main" DC canon for me. On the web, I'm a big fan of #GunnerkriggCourt and #Oglaf.

Subculturally, I'm somewhere between #goth and #stoner, although I kind of serially collect other subcultures and try them on. I'm not a practicing #furry but I definitely went through a phase as a teenager; if you know who I was then we should be friends.

As far as music goes, I'm all over the map, but have a tendency towards #metal, #industrial, and #electronica. #GWAR is the greatest band of all time; #100gecs is who I most want to see on tour next.

Politically, I lean pretty far to the left, and have been dogged by accusations of #communism since childhood, which I can neither confirm nor deny. I definitely have some #anarchist tendencies but mostly I am too tired from parenting and living through a slow-motion apocalypse to think political thoughts much deeper than "please stop killing people and the planet."

I identify as #nonbinary and #queer, but due to my current relationship status and hair situation I mostly pass as a cishet dude; I'm self-conscious about that, which makes me reluctant to claim those labels in any way that might diminish folks that don't have the option of operating in stealth mode. My relationship is very firmly monogamous and I don't want to flirt with you or join your polycule, although I'm sure your polycule is awesome and I support you finding an arrangement that works for you. If you are a minor, I would prefer that you not follow me, because I like to say "fuck" a lot and post about #weed. I have recently received information that strongly indicates that I am #neurodivergent, but I'm not sure what to do with that information at my age.