Author: Brandon Kraft
-
Apostolica Sedes Vacans
The Apostolic See is Vacant. In other words, the Pope is dead. Cardinal Farrell, the Camerlengo, announced that Pope Francis died this morning at 7:35 a.m. local time in Rome. The Camerlengo is a position appointed by the Pope (during his life) whose responsibilities include confirming the death of the Pope, sealing the Apostolic Palace…
-
Still at Automattic
Last week, my employer, Automattic, announced a restructuring. “Restructuring” at Automattic isn’t terribly unusual. Team structures change regularly. This one, though, included a layoff or “reduction in force” in today’s jargon, which is the first for Automattic. We’ve had pushes for improving performance management, which has led to an increase in departures, including sometimes a…
-
No Hot Dogs For Me
I’ve been on a quest for over 20 years now (what‽) to eat a hot dog in every state. I visited DC in 2006, when I scored a DC hotdog at Ben’s Chili Bowl. When flying out of IAD (in Virginia), one sports bar sold hot dogs, so I was set. Except they ran out…
-
American Solidarity Party
I submitted my resignation as the Travis County Chair of the American Solidarity Party today. Or, well, I think my term officially ended in May 2024, but we never elected someone to succeed. In either case, I’m moving aside to let someone else who can dedicate real energy be involved. The American Solidarity Party isn’t…
-
No Bishop In Austin
At Roman Noon today, Pope Frances named Austin’s Bishop Joe Vasquez as the Archbishop-Elect of Galveston-Houston. What does this mean for Austin? It’s about the same as 2009 when I last wrote about this. Correction from last time, effective immediately, Bishop Vasquez is still the bishop of Austin, but, he is limited to acts of…
-
Short-Form Communication
Short-form communication hurts. The Texas Tribune published an article about Gov. Greg Abbott’s outrage about Texas A&M’s “sponsoring a trip to a DEI conference”. Taking five minutes, this is just the same stupid political noise that is hurting far more than it is helping. The outrage comes in response to a message on X from…