Last month a friend invited me to trade songs with him DJing at an Atlanta Lindy Hop social dance . This was my first time DJing for a social dance other than Contra, and I was surprised by what a different experience it was. To that end, this post will be a mix of post-mortem as I’ve done for contra dances , but also a reflection on the differences between DJing for called and non-called…
This document has been superseded by the Internet Draft draft-swhited-contra-tags . This page will no longer be updated and the latest version of the draft should be consulted instead. Introduction This document defines common Vorbis comments and Matroska tags related to Contra , Square and other traditional called folk dances. Their use is also recommended (and identical) in other specifications…
On the 13th of January I was invited back to play for the Trolley Barn Contra Dance’s first dance of 2026. For the first time since I’ve been DJing for the Tuesday night dances at the Trolley Barn I was working with a caller (or “callers”, plural, in this case) other than my friend Valerie. I’ve heard Rob and Amanda call plenty of times and even spent some time with them at caller workshops,…
On December 9th I returned to the Trolley Barn to DJ again for my friend Valerie Young. This time around my goal was to have a better mix of high energy and lower energy “groovy” tunes, and I wanted to be better prepared for tying in endings at any time, no matter how many times through the caller requested. Prep While I still prepped by marking each time through the dance with whether…
This year I haven’t blogged much at all, but it’s time for the 15th annual Coffeeneuring and who-knows-how-many-annual Biketober challenges so here we go! This post will be updated with each of my Coffeeneuring rides as the month goes on, and may (or may not) contain a few fun C+1 rides that count towards Biketober, but not for Coffeeneuring. Week One (Oct 13–19) Oct 13 I missed…
The first time I DJed for a Contra Dance 1 was at Inman Park’s famous Trolley Barn. At the time I was DJing in the way other social dances are normally DJed: I had a laptop, I played a song, everyone danced. No fancy mixing, or effects: the most technical thing I did was loop 32 bar sections of music to stretch it out until the caller was ready to end the dance.
I’ve recently been using the Mixxx software for DJs. This page includes some personal notes on my own use cases, what’s good, what’s bad, etc. It is not really made for general consumption, but is thrown up here anyways. It will be a bit rambling and/or ranty at times, most likely. Let’s get my overall impressions of the software out of the way up front: it’s…
Every year in October I participate in Love To Ride ’s (psst, sign up using that link so I can get some extra points when you do your first bike ride!) Biketober competition. The TL;DR is that for every day that you go for a ride, for every mile that you ride, and for every new rider that you invite you get points for your team. At the end of the month winners are announced and there are…
Without use of constructs, you will unravel few mysteries. Without knowledge of mysteries, your constructs will fail. Find the strength to pursue both, for these are our prayers. And to that end, welcome comfort, for without it, you cannot stay strong. Becky Chambers has always been known for her political science fiction. Whether it’s criticisms of the overly-bureaucratic and often…
I use various legal and economic terms of art in this post, but I am neither a lawyer or an economist. They should be read in the way a layperson might read them, not as a serious legal or economic analysis or advice. The State of the Art I’ve long held that software being open source 1 is necessary, but not sufficient. Using copyright and contract law to enshrine the freedom to use your…
Introduction I recently attended the inaugural Free and Open Source Software Yearly ( FOSSY ) conference where I gave a talk in the XMPP track. Though my talk was just a brief technical overview of the XMPP protocol, I also gave some quick ending remarks about why I think it’s the correct choice to use as a universal standardized chat protocol. The closing remarks were written about the XMPP…
This is a list of co-ops I’d like to start one day and where (if applicable). Physical Businesses DIY Bike Kitchen (Cobb County, GA) There is a DIY bike shop, Sopo Bike Co-op in Atlanta, but Cobb has historically been very transit-averse and it’s hard to get into Atlanta by bike if you need to get it worked on. Having something local to Cobb could encourage biking and start to change…
Some software and important tools that I like to use: Computer Random old ThinkPad, whatever’s cheap and repairable Editor vim(1) , more or less extension-less with only very basic config tweaks so that it feels similar no matter what machine I’m on; shortcuts are only allowed after I’m already familiar with the default way of doing things. Languages Go, Rust, and Clojure mostly,…
In my earlier review of Rose Garden and Jonquil public parks I mentioned the Mountain-to-River Trail ( M2R ), a mixed-use bicycle and walking trail that connects the two parks. The two parks I’m going to review today are also connected by the M2R trail in addition to the Concord Road Trail , but unlike the previous parks these are linear parks that are integrated directly into the trails!…
This is a love letter to many places, among them: Smyrna , and Cobb County public libraries and parks, Sopo Bicycle Co-op and the Austin Yellow Bike Project , and Atlanta Critical Mass . Dear comrades, I’m writing to you from my favorite window ledge in the Smyrna Public Library. From my seat in the window I can see a public park with an outdoor amphitheater, a small pond, and the sidewalk…