#Software engineer at #Google + #FOSS contributor + #mastoadmin, from Shanghai to Montreal to #Seattle. I quibble on #SliceOfLife, #tech, and #policies. Account speaks English and 简体中文.
Own posts licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Notification preferred. Keep contexts intact. Actions are not endorsements.
#fedi22 Previously at , and @austin
Homepage: https://austinhuang.me Keyoxide: https://keyoxide.org/hkp/f4c5be258540e91ab01b448584c23aa04587a91f Pronouns: he/him
It took me a while, but here it is: I reproduced (rather faithfully but not entirely accurately) the King County Metro bus stop sign, with #CSS and open source components, on my #homepage ( https://austinhuang.me ), so go take a look and see if you can find the easter eggs!
(It's mainly so that I don't have to put an image on my homepage so it wouldn't be so large in terms of the transfer size. Also the image was getting stale.)
#seattle
I was shown a hypothetical situation of "there are no private thoughts" and one way to interpret it is "everyone near you can see what you're thinking" but the way I saw it was to merge everyone's thoughts into one hivemind (like the Borg), so in that case then what would be the goal of humanity (as a collective)? Or what is humanity's goal right now, having subjugated everything on this planet? Space domination? Fix the planet? Or just prolonging our existence for no particular reason?
The Capitol Hill Wishing Tree. I climbed Galer St. from Montlake to it only to find the tag jar empty, but a few moments later an old lady, who doesn't seem to know a lot about the tree (seems like the responsibility was placed on her), came out and refilled it. Yes, it's October, so they put skeletons around, which is a bit anticlimactic but funny. And of course I wrote a wish there. Someone else arrived later and doodled spirals on a new tag and dropped it off too.
#SilentSunday #seattle
I see that https://metrodemontreal.com has finally been revamped! (For years I thought it's dead, after the revamp fundraiser 404'ed and the forum crashed.) While I miss the old website layout (which is quite retro and focuses on graphics and layouts, as opposed to a fairly standard blog theme), I do appreciate the new photo essays (there are also a lot more photos now!) and the addition of train car positions for each platform.
#montreal #PublicTransport
My website now has a "#collections" page: https://austinhuang.me/collections/, featuring a small fraction of various cards (especially the ORCA cards I got recently) I collected in the past. Check it out!
Air Canada's A320 (C-FKPT) taxiing to the runway of Boeing Field, passing behind one of Museum of Flight's Super Constellation (CF-TGE), painted in the livery of Air Canada's predecessor, Trans-Canada Air Lines.
#airplane #planespotting #photography #Seattle
I finally decided to get my #HomeAssistant working just for that one smart camera I have (that has a reverse-engineered API)... Took me a while to get up all the automations just for that one thing... But alas it should work better than their official app. What other smart stuff (that hopefully does not require calling-home to the manufacturer, and is not expensive) should I get?
The Issaquah Valley #Trolley, a single-kilometre heritage streetcar line that has just one stop. I suppose it makes good photo shots.
#Photography #Seattle
The brutalist fountain at Freeway Park in Downtown #Seattle.
#SilentSunday #photography
8/30/2026, 1 engagement
A few NUMTOTs threw a small funeral for bus routes 550 and 271 in #Bellevue. There were like 10 people, some shared their personal memories with the buses and looking forward to better transit, so it is more of a celebration of life. And we had flowers, which most opted to present to the drivers.
#Seattle #PublicTransport
Over the past weekend I joined a group and sailed on a raceboat on Lake Washington. First time on the water by a vessel that's not a ferry, cruise, or whatnot, so I was a bit clueless (and scaredy, I guess?)... The camera is a bit burdensome on the lake (since coming about involves crawling across the boat with all my posessions) so didn't take as many pictures as I wanted, but nevertheless here's some. And yes, despite our initial worries, the wind was quite gusty on the lake!
Tried to play bass on Rock Band 3 on Xbox 360. What even is the proper way to hit the color buttons...
Watched Spiderman in theatre with coworkers. It has been like 7 years? since I've last been to a movie theatre and TIL the ads are now 30 minutes long. Anyways, as a comic culture outsider: cheesy teenage romance aside it was pretty interesting to watch. Takeaway: love and empathy triumphs over the US government (and superheroes, again, need introspection). Also despite the number of implanted ads, Spiderman still has to go to a public hospital (Bellevue)...
Strolling through #Fremont, supposedly the Center of the Universe...
#Seattle #StreetPhotography
#Buses of Capitol Hill...
(I came from LFS territory but I do find Xcelsiors having a pretty exterior too. Not the Gilligs though...)
#Seattle #StreetPhotography #PublicTransportation
Gas Works Park.
(This was not during Fourth of July, but rather during the r/seattle summer meetup back in mid-June.)
#Seattle #photography
Exactly two weeks ago I hiked Naches Peak Loop at the Mount Rainier National Park with a few online friends. (We then actually had nachos.) This was said to be a mild trail but the ice on the way made it a lot more challenging. Yes, there's still ice in mid June!
#SilentSunday #photography #hiking
U District light rail station, with its station art Fragment Brooklyn.
#Seattle #PublicTransport #photography
Got myself a (rental) #bike, specifically a Momentum Voya E+, which is an e-bike, although not very much so (the maximum range, which might even be inflated, seems to be based on eco mode which doesn't give a lot of assist). And yes, I've been biking to work (as required...), now every day is leg day. It ain't easy but man needs exercise...
#bikestodon
Now that I've worked 2 months at Google (reminder: first job), and without breaking the rules, some thoughts:
You know what natural language search could be useful for? Finding memes based on description. Like, I want a specific rendering of a meme that I've seen before (so to, y'know, respond to relatable messages...), but Google's AI mode insists on drawing one itself...
Mount Rainier, from Seward Park, #Seattle.
#photography #SilentSunday
Back on Memorial Day I met up with another Googler from the Bay Area and, y'know, ended up doing touristy things in #Seattle. And yes, that means going to the #SpaceNeedle...
There's a small #fish tank right above the entrance of the #Seattle #Aquarium.
#SilentSunday #photography
Bus passenger to driver: "we got a runner." ominously, in reference to someone running for the bus...
It says "everyone belongs at the #library" but the Traditional Chinese text says "everyone belongs to the library" which is quite funny in a "all your base are belong to us" way...
(The Simplified Chinese text says "everyone can use the library" which is a bit of a weaker statement, but it is difficult to translate, maybe "everyone can find their belonging at the library" or "we welcome everyone to use the library" could work better?)
#Flowers at #Bellevue Downtown Park.
#SilentSunday #photography
So I suppose a new #introduction is in order. Hello! New #software engineer at #Google (first job!) in the #Seattle area. Canadian; moved from Montréal. Once infamous for making Barinsta, then promoted open source and federated platforms, now back to coding a lot. Public transport fan and avid radio listener. Silly at times; still learning about adulting. Love to #MeetUp with new people and explore new places (taking nice pictures on the way)!
"YO"
And yes, I visited udub (ironically with someone not actually from UW). The roads within the campus are quite wide though (car-brained?). The reading room is nice as an attraction (someone was taking wedding photos inside though).
#Seattle
Anyways, now that I've settled in #Seattle (pun not intended) I must try the #transit. And yeah, I've taken the Crosslake a few times now... It's hard to get a good picture on the bridge itself though, so here's the newer train (which I like more than the older one).
#PublicTransportation #PublicTransport #photography #LightRail #SoundTransit
Green Lake, #Seattle.
#SilentSunday #photography
Note to self: in #iCloud Drive, folders can be considered app data merely by name, even if one never downloaded that exact app anywhere...
(I had a Cryptomator vault created on computer in my iCloud Drive but it was wrongly associated with "Cryptomater 1: Legacy" app which was paid, no longer in the app store, and never bought. iCloud started spamming storage warnings and the file size doesn't seem to match - maybe a partial download? - so I deleted it. Oh well, nothing important though.)
How did this #hotel arrive at the choice of a picture of braille & morse code alphabets as room & corridor decorations, respectively?
Have apartment leasing offices considered that the average renter would've studied all the public information on their websites, and directing inquiries to EliseAI, which knows nothing more than that same public information (plus some generic assumptions that we all know anyway), is not gonna save them any time? (Oh, and it hallucinated my appointment time once. Wonderful.)
Since I'd be leaving #Montreal in a few weeks I thought I'd have some #poutine before going to somewhere without that authentic Quebecois #food. So, got the Poutine St-Henri (large), plus a milkshake, at Green Spot. In hindsight I might've eaten too much for a simple lunch... But it was pretty good nevertheless.
Out of curiosity, and since not so many people tried to use #kagi to #translate from #LinkedIn speak to English, I decided to test it on an actual LinkedIn post on my feed (happens to be one using "AI" to replace interns): https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7438083732978425856/ . As is the case with nondeterministic LLMs, running on the same text gives me different output each time, which makes it critically unsuitable for translation, but there is irony in feeding that pro-AI crap back at them using the "AI" they love most.
