Cassidy’s Blog
A place for my thoughts and longer-form posts.
Check out the tags to browse by topic. Some of my writing is also on the elementary blog, and I’ve written a few pieces for Android Police.
Updates to the Blog Wed, Oct 28, 2026
Pagination, tags, and an import of my writing from elsewhere
I’ve been wanting to get back into more frequent blogging instead of just posting half-thought-out toots to Mastodon, turning them into a rambling thread,…
How I Designed My Cantina Birthday Party Sat, Feb 14, 2026
Throwing the Star Wars party I always wanted!
Ever since my partner and I bought a house several years ago, I’ve wanted to throw a themed Star Wars party here. We’ve talked…
ROOST at FOSDEM 2026 Fri, Feb 6, 2026
Showing up for the Open Source community
A few months ago I joined ROOST (Robust Open Online Safety Tools) to build our open source community that would be helping to create,…
Looking back on GNOME in 2025—and looking forward to 2026 Tue, Dec 2, 2025
Help GNOME do even more next year!
This past year has been an exceptional one for GNOME. The project released two excellent releases on schedule with GNOME 48 in March and…
I’ve Joined ROOST Mon, Oct 27, 2025
Building community around open, scalable, and interoperable online safety tools
A couple of months ago I shared that I was looking for what was next for me, and I’m thrilled to report that I’ve…
Here’s to What’s Next Wed, Aug 20, 2025
a.k.a. I’m looking for work!
For the past three and a half years, I’ve done the most rewarding work of my life with Endless Access (formerly Endless OS Foundation)….
Elect the next GNOME Foundation Board of Directors for 2025! Mon, May 19, 2025
(Oh, and I’m running…)
It’s everyone’s favorite time of year, election season! …Okay, maybe not the most exciting thing—but an extremely important one nonetheless. For anyone who doesn’t…
GNOME Should Kick the Foot to the Curb… Mostly Fri, Feb 14, 2025
A distinction between the outward brand and a contributor mascot could provide some balance
Update: Thanks for all of the feedback and discussion on Mastodon and Matrix! I’ve revised this post a bit with some more nuance and…
Publish Your Godot Engine Game to Flathub Wed, Dec 11, 2024
Reach millions of users on the Linux app store with Flatpak
If you follow me on the fediverse (@cassidy@blaede.family), you may have seen me recently gushing about ROTA, a video game I recently discovered. Besides…
The 14 Characteristics of Fascism Fri, Nov 8, 2024
Excerpt from “Fascism, Anyone?” by Lawrence Britt, Free Inquiry Spring 2003 (Volume 23, No. 2), Page 20
Over two decades ago, political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt studied well-known fascist regimes (Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto, Pinochet) and identified 14 characteristics they had…
How & Why to Connect Threads to the Fediverse—including Mastodon Wed, Jun 26, 2024
Fancy (or cringe) name aside, “the fediverse” is a wider network where the people are in control
This week Threads announced it is rolling out wider support for connecting with “the fediverse,” and it’s a no-brainer to opt in to this…
Recovering the BIOS on a Dell XPS 13 (9310) Tue, May 28, 2024
I’ve had to do this too many times… here’s my guide
It seems like every few months my work Dell XPS 13 just… dies. Or at least, it seems like it for a few minutes,…
How and Why to Get Verified on Mastodon Wed, Oct 11, 2023
It’s fast, easy, and doesn’t cost anything
I run a little family Mastodon server so that I can have @cassidy@blaede.family and feel comfortable sharing random photos of my kids with people…
Use Commit from Flatpak Both Inside and Outside of Toolbx Tue, Oct 10, 2023
Is this terrible? Probably. But it works!
This one’s gonna be a short one, and is mostly for my own notes. :) I like to use the Commit app as a…
Endless ♥ GNOME at GUADEC 2023 Tue, Oct 3, 2023
Collaborating within GNOME to widen our impact far beyond Endless OS
In July, my employer Endless sponsored and attended the annual GNOME conference, GUADEC, in Rīga, Latvia. Endless has a long history of supporting and…
I’m back from GUADEC 2023 Sun, Aug 6, 2023
Here’s what I got up to in Rīga, Latvia
I’m back from Rīga, Latvia where I attended GUADEC 2023—the annual GNOME conference. It was my first time attending since 2019 due to COVID-19…
Stars & Thumbs Mon, Jul 31, 2023
Thoughts on app ratings and reviews
I’m on my way back from GUADEC in Rīga, Latvia and one recurring discussion (of many) was centered around how ratings and reviews are…
Toot toot! Mastodon-powered Blog Comments Thu, Jul 6, 2023
The Fediverse—and Mastodon’s API—is magic for static Jekyll sites
If you follow me on Mastodon, you’ve probably heard that I’ve added Mastodon-powered comments to this here blog. If you missed it, check it…
Give your SVGs light/dark style support Fri, Jun 30, 2023
prefers-color-scheme and media queries are magic
I’ve recently been contributing to Flathub and updating my own website a bit, and I found myself wanting to recolor SVGs for light and…
Accent Colors: A Proposal for GNOME Mon, Jun 26, 2023
Enabling user expression while considering the needs of distros and app developers
This is not an announcement or guarantee of implementation from GNOME! This post represents my personal opinions in tracking an ongoing discussion within GNOME…
3D Printing on Endless OS Tue, Mar 7, 2023
…or any other Linux OS with Flathub
I recently got a 3D printer for my birthday, and I have been absolutely loving tinkering, printing, and learning with it. There is such…
Moment Cases No Longer Support M-Series Lenses for Google Pixel Phones Sun, Jan 15, 2023
Despite an “upgrade guarantee,” there are no plans for M-Series photo cases for Pixel 7
Moment made a name for themselves by providing quality mobile photography lenses and cases for iPhones, Pixels, and Samsung Galaxy phones, but it seems…
Endless OS Foundation at Ubuntu Summit 2022 Tue, Dec 20, 2022
What we shared, enjoyed, and learned in Prague
Originally published at the Endless OS Foundation blog; archived here for posterity. Earlier this month, Georges and I attended the first-ever Ubuntu Summit in…
Developing a GitHub Pages/Jekyll Site on Fedora Silverblue or Endless OS Sun, Dec 18, 2022
Documenting for my own purposes—but hopefully it’s helpful!
For the past decade, I’ve used Ubuntu or Ubuntu-based distributions like elementary OS. As such, I’ve gotten used to or put up with certain…
Use GrapheneOS to extend the life of a Pixel Fri, Sep 23, 2022
The security- and privacy-focused OS can be bent back into a Pixel experience
Important Update As of August 18, 2022, the GrapheneOS project considers their support of Pixel 3 finished, and effectively says users should stop using…