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Allan James Vestal

@ajv.bsky.social
4.9K followers 2K following 1.1K posts

Journalism, code & politics. Food idiot acolyte and ALX ward system anti-apologist. (Crunchin' those numbers — and probably something with bacon on it too.) He/Him.

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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Also! Why does “Average” rate a third color? We have purple for “Decent” and red-adjacent for “Not decent.” Introducing that green color feels mighty dishonest to me. It connotes less “I didn’t want to claim either choice” — and more says “I am saying a secret third thing.”
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I’m sorry, Eri — not to detract from your (valid) point, but why are we putting the “I live under a rock and I’m too ill-informed to answer at all” group among the graphed responses? It should be ignorable gray at the very end.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Can I contribute some Mackinac Island fudge to the latter category? (And help evaluate the results?)
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
My only regret was ordering “a heap of fried smelt” from a menu one night. Never again. (Well, that and getting through less than half the books I brought with.)
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I think plenty of other customers also approach this knowing the business has to make things pencil out to stay open. Numerous places have made that business model work, everywhere I’ve lived. It’s a customer base that exists, negative labels or not.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Maybe I touched a nerve? My position is that I _want_ to give these places more money than they seem to want to take! If I can get a snack to start and then a meal later on rather than the lone sad croissant they offer, I do. And I prefer places that stay open through the end of the biz day.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I just want a place where I can focus on remote work! And my current rotation of ESP, La Pluma and Cameron Café could use some more alternatives.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Crossing my fingers that the new Hypergoat stays open past 3 p.m. — there’s a surprising lack of coffee shops w/ enough food options (why does Swing’s totally ignore this?) that don’t close halfway through the afternoon (Swing’s, the current Hypergoat, Fontaine).
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Despite Jen and I not being huge dessert people, we probably get their Marcona almond tart (along with a rotating second dessert) three-quarters of the times we go there. Will have to try the Affogato — think that’s one of the few fixtures we haven’t put into the rotation!
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
It is, and this causes me continual angst for weeks on end — until I finally curse and close like 30 tabs to buy a few additional weeks before the cycle catches up again.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Plus, it lets me catalog things to chase hyperlocal Bsky clout.
A “Space” in Allan’s Arc browser labeled “Food Idiot” — with a rogues’ gallery of unspeakable culinary machinations contained within.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I have a similar kind of solution for the things I _do_ want to pin under my set-up — in my case, groups called “spaces” that you can swipe between. I’m a big fan of at least the veneer of organization (and love being able to close the window/quit and have my rosters still intact).
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Yeah, my organization scheme is admittedly limited to the Macs. The phone? … Less so.
Screenshot of a mobile Safari window with 499 active emotional-support tabs open.

(Fun fact: iOS limits its main tab group to 500 tabs, a source of near-daily psychological strain for Allan.)
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Ooh, thanks for sharing! Very into this being open source & also not effectively end-of-life (as I discovered today). I’m a tad iffy on it being Firefox-based having been on Chromium for years — but if it gets me the Arc features I love (split-screen view, easy URL copying) I need to take a look.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Again, it took some getting used to and probably isn’t for everyone. But it saves me from having to deal with the consequences of the 20-Wikipedia-page rabbit holes I go down with alarming regularity.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
You get a “speed dial” of sorts for things like email or YouTube (or, ahem, Bsky). And for anything else that needs more permanence, you can pin pages (or groups of pages). But the idea is that for most dumb day-to-day stuff, you just let it tidy up after you — and there’s always browser history.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I’ve taken to using Arc (arc.net), a browser that automatically closes tabs if they haven’t been touched in 24 hours. Parts of that model do cause more friction than I’d like (and the company making it has since pivoted to a spin-off browser that heavily leans into AI), but it’s been nice overall.
arc.net
Arc from The Browser Company
Experience a calmer, more personal internet in this browser designed for you. Let go of the clicks, the clutter, the distractions.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I’ll DM you tomorrow about the specific Echo devices — this is just a project that I’ve really enjoyed following, but yours may also be able to keep living as Alexa boxes in someone else’s home instead.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Let’s talk! There should be some easy ways to accomplish all three of those stages (sunset | heading upstairs | going to sleep) — using any of these platforms really.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
There are also interesting constraints abt making connected homes (at any level of effort/complexity) in a rented space. It’s actually an under-served niche in the “smart home” social media community. As someone who integrated tech into at least 3 apartments, I’ve considered if I can help w/ that.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Happy to talk more about it! A lot depends on what devices you have (or want to have) & your level of patience. I take it to one extreme — as Jen tells people, she’s the only human she knows who had to unsubscribe to alerts from her own electric toothbrush — but there are good solutions out there.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
That’s probably the extent of my recs for most, but I should also shout out Home Assistant (which I use). They sell their own hubs & smart speakers, too — but it’s still a hobbyist project to an extent, so a fair amount of babysitting is needed. But they have a great team & are working on this!
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I haven’t used it personally, but I think Homey (homey.app) is doing a lot of good work. It requires buying a hub, but integrates with so many manufacturers & seems intuitive, whether just controlling devices from a single app or exploring more automatic operations. No Homey speakers yet, though.
homey.app
Homey – Smart home works better together
Create a better smart home with Homey. Control, automate and monitor your entire smart home from a single place. Homey supports 70,000+ devices from thousands of brands.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
If the Meross app works for you, no need to introduce complications! Otherwise: In terms of mass-market players, Apple’s smart home system (including their Homepod smart speakers) is generally seen as walking the walk in terms of privacy. In many ways it’s also the precursor of the Matter standard.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
There’s also a burgeoning community of tinkerers out there who are taking these devices Amazon and Google practically gave away for years — and unlocking them to work outside those ecosystems. I mention because it may be possible for someone to give those decommissioned Alexas a new life!
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
If you do wind up missing the convenience of voice control (or if you devices from multiple manufacturers and just want them all in a single app) there are some good privacy-preserving solutions out there!
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
You would think so! But the holding of Mississippi v. Fudd actually controls in this instance.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
THIS IS WHAT GOT ME TOO
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
(Still a fun watch overall, though!)
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
This was one of the first ones I grumbled about to my wife on the way home! (Also the conflation of civil and criminal trials.)
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
BTW: We were told that it wasn’t just furries that were banned, but also orcs. This is unconfirmed as far as I am concerned. But our newsroom stylebook now includes an entry defining orcs, so there’s that.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Trust me: We are on this from multiple angles.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
(@rashida.bsky.social if I burn my house down soldering it’s because you weren’t there to save me from myself and my idiot ways)
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I’m a complete novice with soldering, and lost my solder tutor when she changed jobs and stopped coming down to D.C. as often. But if I can eventually do things like this and not just nerdy silicon/ESP32 stuff? Oh wow, I need to learn.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Alternatively, this could be a ploy to change the formula of the so-called “Chipotle pepper classic.”
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Tell me more about Gemini’s plans with those tater tots though
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
(Either way, I fully agree that we’re all waiting for @josephfray.bsky.social to solve it.)
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
But in order to be key to everyday life, they have to be part of a functional mail system — and if USPS doesn’t control the codes, how can they adapt to rapidly growing areas (e.g., parts of the Sun Belt)? It just seems like there’s a tension between mass familiarity & operational effectiveness.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I think that’s the big dilemma of ZIP codes! They’re so familiar and tangible to us because we interact with them pretty much every day thanks to the mail. Lord knows I’ve been part of numerous “rich ZIPs / poor ZIPs” stories, and I’m sure there are more in my future.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
OK, that’s enough of me for the night, but tl;dr — Postal codes are a great, memorable way to divide up an area. But because our ZIP codes are, above all, a tool for USPS’ business ops, they aren’t designed to cleanly fit borders. So using them to measure people is tricky (and risks inaccuracy.)
static.klipy.com
Kool-Aid Man Bursts Through Wall
Alt: Kool-Aid Man backing out of the house dot gif
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
But since ZCTAs can have chunks in different counties (or states), getting their measurements can require fusing numerous tiny shapes together, in a way the Bureau’s calculations just can’t handle as fully. So, like other types outside the “spine,” ZCTAs’ statistical error rates may be higher.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
That “spine” is a series of bigger and bigger areas, from Census blocks to tracts to counties and states, and the nation as a whole. Geographic types along the “spine” get lower error rates because they’re core to Census’ work (especially with recent changes intended to ensure individual privacy).
An illustration of the hierarchy used to generate Census results. Credit: United States Census Bureau.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Moving past that minor inaccuracy, though, ZCTAs share the same frustrating flaw that ZIP codes themselves have — because they can cross borders (even state borders) they sit outside the Census Bureau’s “spine” of hierarchy, the way its most precise results get reported.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
These areas are polygons, so they can be compared apples-to-apples against other polygons. But there are a lot of caveats about how they’re created, so not everyone whose house/office falls in one ZCTA actually uses that ZIP code on their mail — or the post office it represents.
en.wikipedia.org
ZIP Code Tabulation Area - Wikipedia
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
But ZIP codes are memorable — far more than, say, Census tracts. So the good people at the Census Bureau create a different kind of geography, a Zip Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA).
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
The ability for ZIP codes to change (plus the fact that the routes are proprietary to USPS!), combined with this lines-versus-polygons issue, makes it nearly impossible for one person to answer a question like “How many people live in 22301?”
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Since ZIP codes are just lines, you can’t cleanly use them with the kind of demographic data published by most agencies — including the Census Bureau. That agency collects data at a household level, but before release it gets aggregated into polygons, from states down to (roughly) city blocks.
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
And because ZIP codes are based on what USPS needs for its operations, they don’t have to respect jurisdictional borders — as @wdncnu.bsky.social alluded to. (It’s not just municipal/county boundaries either: a code can straddle state lines, too.)
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
So rather than looking like a clean set of polygons that are exactly contiguous w/ each other (first image), _true_ ZIP codes are a series of lines on a map (second image). Because these are bound to actual mail delivery, they can & do change — especially in fast-growing (or fast-shrinking) areas.
Polygon shapes overlaid on a map of part of Northern Virginia. The shapes are all contiguous — every part of the (land) area is within one, and only one polygon, and the borders of one shape neatly fit the borders of the adjacent one.

(The City of Alexandria limits are highlighted in a thicker black line, as a shout-out to the locals.)A map more like ZIP code routes — sets of lines overlaid on a street network (but which fail to cover most of the map’s area).
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Allan James Vestal @ajv.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Continuing on from @josephfray.bsky.social: ZIP codes don’t, in fact, map cleanly to neat areas on a map at all! USPS, which creates and dictates ZIP codes, only uses them to divvy up mail carrier routes*. (* Even bigger USPS freaks than myself: please forgive me if I’m over-simplifying this.)
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