Another moral panic

I purchased a domain name for my blog: dhepworth.com. I bought the license from CloudFlare and they made it a pretty easy process. One can still find the blog at dhepworth.github.io and dhpersonal.neocities.org.

I honestly did not believe it to be possible, after years of disappointment, frustration, and diminishing esteem for the country, to actually be able to consider the possibility of hope and pride for the future of the United States. I think I owe gratitude to Donald Trump for this, though I don’t think he would be pleased, for my reasons for seeing hope are extremely divergent from his own and contrary to his messaging.

🇺🇸 Continue reading “Donald Trump has made me proud to be an American again”

Have we allowed ourselves to process grief poorly, even if our reasons to do so are altruistic? Would we not serve ourselves and others better to refocus our methods to readily accept grief?

🙍‍♂️ Continue reading “What grief has done to us”

Ryan Broderick — Garbage Day

Now we have Babydog

Writer Jason Pargin made a really good TikTok this week about this bizarre side effect of social media-driven news. Pargin, focusing on the 2020 Nashville bombing, which everyone did basically forget about, argues that because the motives of that attack were never clearly linked to a “team” — the bomber was mainly interested in shape-shifting lizard people — the story didn’t have much of a tail online.

Why does it feel like people are underwhelmed by the assassination attempt on a former U.S. President? I feel that this should be a much bigger issue than what it appears to be for most people, because for someone to be able to get that close to an important political figure is a dangerous weakness for the executive branch of the United States’ government. Have we always been this numb to violence, or is this something new?

Rebecca Hopkins — The Roys Report

EXCLUSIVE: Whistleblowers Accuse Voice of the Martyrs’ President of Deception and Retaliation

In exclusive interviews with The Roys Report (TRR), 10 former VOM staff accused VOM President Cole Richards of retaliating against employees for failing to give him unquestioning support. They also claimed Richards pushed out his predecessor to gain control of the organization. And they say Richards has a pattern of lying to protect himself and VOM, including deceiving people about his background and credentials.

• Voice of the Martyrs Whistleblowers Send Letter to Board Calling for Third-Party Investigation
• EXCLUSIVE: Voice of the Martyrs Whistleblowers Tell of Retaliation & Board’s Alleged Sham Investigation
• EXCLUSIVE: Whistleblowers Say Voice of the Martyrs President Put Optics Over Needs of Persecuted Christians
• Former Voice of the Martyrs Executive Calls for Resignations: ‘It’s Time to Clean House’
• EXCLUSIVE: Whistleblowers Accuse Voice of the Martyrs’ President of Deception and Retaliation

I wasn’t entirely certain if I wanted to comment on the latest news about a former employer. It’s been years since I worked for VOM, and I have had enough conflicted feelings about my time there that I’ve largely tried to avoid speaking about them any longer. What prompted me to make this post was seeing the response that has come from the existing employee base, who have not decided to unanimously defend and believe the victims of the executive team’s cruel and vindictive behavior. This bothers me greatly, because I was one of those victims.

I worked for VOM for over eight years. I started as a volunteer and eventually became a full-time salaried employee, supporting the content creation and distribution across VOM’s internet presence. My work is still visible on the VOM website or social media accounts, and the memory of my contributions have continued in some of the practices that the company still employs on their web presence, not solely because of my involvement but I believe because I helped make those processes a success.

Simultaneously I feel as if my time there left very little impact, primarily due to how regularly the executive team constrained and attacked those within the company for attempting to make change within their roles. Retributive behavior was common, with punishments for original thought being a loss of opportunity or diminishment of roles. The executive suite was quick to punish but slow to communicate, leaving people uncertain if anything was actually planned before discovering they had overstepped bounds and were to be reprimanded for the error.

Part of what disturbs me about the response is that this corruption is not new nor was it unknown within the company while I was employed. I even experienced my first taste of disdain for the actions of the company within my first year. When I was new to the company I was able to overcome the cognitive dissonance through the strength of my idealism and hope in the goals of the company, but these weakened until I finally broke. By the latter half of my time with the company I had allowed the propaganda and abuse to disrupt my sense of agency, fooling me into believing that I was blessed to have a job anywhere, especially a place as self-important as VOM. It was only when I escaped, thanks to the encouragement of my wife, Lisa, that I was able to look back and see how much of a victim of abuse I was.

I grieve for the people still trapped in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and in a destructive system like VOM. I worry for those who are supported by such a vindictive company who will pull support for the pettiest of grievances. They are perpetuating a system of abuse that stretches across the globe and they must be stopped.

The employees who are denying the reality of the pain VOM is continuing to cause may very well be active victims themselves, and with that under consideration, I can understand their response. But as someone who denied to himself for so many years the problems at VOM, along with the years of regret and healing that occurred afterward, I encourage everyone involved to reconsider the evidence and perhaps consider trusting colleagues and former employees. The unacceptable behavior being attested to has and continues to occur. The corruption is real. If you’ve managed to avoid being hurt by VOM, then count your blessings, but don’t deny it to be true for others. And get out as soon as you can.

After watching the new series Constellation and the film Everything Everywhere All at Once, I decided to read a little more about how fictional the science referenced in both was when compared with some of the latest scientific discoveries. What shocked me is how close to reality they both appear to be.

🌏 Continue reading “Learning new things about our universe”

The creativity and outrage I’m seeing about Palestine is very encouraging: it gives me hope to see that many Americans are empathetic and decent and will not accept their country behaving poorly in 2024. The American government disappoints, though. I know that Joe Biden wasn’t exactly ever that much of a left-leaning politician, but I could point to some of his mildly progressive actions as evidence that something better might be on the timeline for America. I wonder now if I will ever see that better outcome in my lifetime, especially with so many of the regressive actions happening in the Supreme Court and throughout state and local governments. If enough people choose to not vote for Biden because of his stances on Israel and Palestine and therefore allow Trump to be elected, I worry if we will be able to steer away from the dictatorship that appears to be looming. Come on though, there has to be someone better out there looking to run for President, right? Or are we going to continue to be disappointed time after time by potential future change-makers?

Every Presidential election is claimed to be the biggest decision of our lives, but the claim feels more accurate with each one in which I vote. We can and should do better.

I had never heard of this podcast before but decided to try it out when it came up on my podcast recommendations in Apple Podcasts. What a refreshing experience to hear men sharing their thoughts and emotions deeply and honestly. I don’t normally get to experience this type of conversation in my personal life, and I had forgotten much I craved them until I heard this episode. I appreciated that they could disagree and explain why they disagreed.

I started the process by attempting to improve upon the CSS and then it just became a complete redesign. I based the design off elements of The Intercept and The Verge that I found compelling.

I always enjoy sharing with others some of the apps that I’ve discovered during my time as a MacOS user. Many of these apps were important reasons for me to shift from Windows to Mac.

👨‍💻 Continue reading “Great programs that I enjoy”

Josh Collinsworth

The quiet, pervasive devaluation of frontend

I feel like I’m seeing a widespread diminishment of the practice of frontend. Nearly everywhere I look, I notice its importance minimized, and its challenges trivialized.

This article is incredibly vindicating. For the entirety of my time in web development I have heard the claim that HTML and CSS are too simple and beneath the threshold of what qualifies as true “development,” but this attitude has proved to be a detriment to efficient styling, accessibility, and structure for the foundational elements of what makes a webpage. Websites now appear like a chaotic mess of divs with no structure or semantic sensibilities, and styling that lacks the proper separation of concerns that leads to efficient DRY methodologies. The diminishment of front-end development seems to cause excessive framework cycling and decent tooling for builds, leading to complicated setups for even the simplest of pages.

I have always had an admiration for the work that back-end developers do on a site. Their hard work in carefully tailoring APIs and databases for the most efficient calls has always impressed me. I didn’t realize how much I belittled my own experience and skills because of the outward pressure I experienced throughout my formative years along with my own sense of insecurity. I think this snobbery towards front-end development should change. Design is an essential step and front-end development requires a skill that others lack and we should all stop pretending.

Joseph Shannon Nichols (#21647-075) — The Insiders Zine

Prisoner: By Any Other Name

There seems to be an ongoing debate as to what those of us who are incarcerated should be called. Referring to us as “prisoners” seems to be as unpopular as “inmates” does. Some even try “errants,” “cons,” “convicts,” “felons,” “reprobates,” “jailbirds,” and even “internees.” But none of those are any better. Some are downright insulting. “Incarceree?” That has such a terrible ring to it. Stop trying to get cute with it. Let us see what the U.S. Constitution has to say about it. The Thirteenth Amendment says, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Well now, that just seems to settle the debate, does it not? I’m not saying that all of us behind these walls are lovely flowers or nothing, but why call a rose by any other name and expect it to smell so sweet? Until this “Exception Clause” is removed from the Constitution and it reads, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction,” then call us what we are. Call us slaves.

Robin Mcdowell and Margie Mason — Associated Press

Prisoners in the US are part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food brands

The goods these prisoners produce wind up in the supply chains of a dizzying array of products found in most American kitchens, from Frosted Flakes cereal and Ball Park hot dogs to Gold Medal flour, Coca-Cola and Riceland rice. They are on the shelves of virtually every supermarket in the country, including Kroger, Target, Aldi and Whole Foods. And some goods are exported, including to countries that have had products blocked from entering the U.S. for using forced or prison labor.

Every Christmas a local city operates a Christmas festival in their city park during the holiday season, where people are encouraged to drive around or walk through a meandering collection of tall structures covered in Christmas lights while enjoying Christmas music, hot chocolate, ice skating, and train rides. It’s a lot of fun for me and I enjoy making the trip when I can. I hope that my children will fondly remember their visits.

The experience was deeply tarnished for me when I visited the park during the autumn months. The Christmas decorations were already being set up for the coming event, as the process of preparing the lights and erecting the displays is complicated and extensive. The staff working to build the decorations were inmates from the local prison, guarded by a man holding a shotgun. I felt sick and ashamed to know that my upcoming joy was prepared by those who would not be permitted to experience it, nor even who would be properly compensated monetarily for their labor. My Christmas memories were being prepared by slaves.

I remember during the Covid-19 lockdown that I was surprisingly happy. I thought it was solely due to my misanthropic streak or that I was far more shy than I realized. However, after experiencing a couple of years of post-lockdown life (more so because Oklahoma was one of the defiantly anti-science states), I think my understanding of myself has grown and I now know why I felt so much better during Covid than I do now.

😷 Continue reading “I miss lockdown”

Juan Diego Rodríguez — Smashing Magazine

Web Development Is Getting Too Complex, And It May Be Our Fault

Front-end development seemed simpler in the early 2000s, didn’t it? The standard website consisted mostly of static pages made of HTML and CSS seasoned with a pinch of JavaScript and jQuery. I mean, who doesn’t miss the cross-browser compatibility days, right?

Chris Coyier — CSS-Tricks

The Great Divide

Let’s say there is a divide happening in front-end development. I feel it, but it’s not just in my bones. Based on an awful lot of written developer sentiment, interviews Dave Rupert and I have done on ShopTalk, and in-person discussion, it’s, as they say… a thing.

Nolan Lawson — Read the Tea Leaves

My talk on CSS runtime performance

My main goal was to shine a light on all the heroic work that browser vendors have done over the years to make CSS so performant. Much of this stuff is intricate and arcane (like Bloom filters), but I hoped that with some simple diagrams and animations, I could bring this work to life.

Nikita Prokopov — Tonsky.me

JavaScript Bloat in 2024

I was a bit out of touch with modern front-end development. I also remembered articles about web bloat, how the average web page size was approaching several megabytes!

So all this time I was living under impression that, for example, if the average web page size is 3 MB, then JavaScript bundle should be around 1 MB. Surely content should still take the majority, no?