A Friendly Fox

⚠️ This message is about the US election.

By Zach | 2024-11-06 by Zach

My anxiety peaked this morning when the Associated Press called the Presidential election in favor of Trump. I wasn’t surprised by the results, and I certainly didn’t think that he cheated. Instead, I felt massively disappointed and extraordinarily tired. The primary reason for Trump’s win is a lack of connection, understanding, and empathy between members of disparate social groups in this country. Modern communication methods do not often invite togetherness. Groups of people who truly…

Education

Light Bulbs – A Buyer’s Guide

By Zach | 2024-01-072024-01-07 by Zach

Here’s what you need to know about light bulbs so that you buy the best kind for your needs. Light Bulb Bases “Standard” light bulbs use an “E26” base. Different bulb sockets require different bases. Buy a bulb with the base corresponding to your fixture. Remember that not all light bulb bases yield the same light bulb shape! (See next section.) Light Bulb Shapes “A19” is one of the most common bulb shapes. Light bulbs…

Meet the MDN Team: Zach Fox

By Zach | 2023-10-192023-10-19 by Zach

I excitedly joined the Mozilla Developer Network content team three weeks ago. I originally wrote this post for the MDN blog. I then learned that the post didn’t match the content guidelines for the blog, so I’m reproducing the full text of my draft post here. As I progress through life and learn about what’s meaningful to me, I’ve grown to understand the importance of feeling seen. To that end, I’m grateful to have the…

Education

Leading Through Fiction (in the Metaverse)

By Liv Erickson | 2023-02-092023-02-09 by Liv Erickson

It’s Thursday night, and I’m fighting with a glue stick. Tomorrow is my last day of my Leadership Through Fiction (LTF) class at Columbia, and I’m trying to get my personal leadership credo into my journal. Over the past four days, I’ve written over fifty pages of notes as I learned the ins and outs of personal leadership from Bruce Craven, author of “Sweet Ride”, “Win or Die: Lessons for Life from Game of Thrones“,…

Education Internet Tools Programming

Croquet Metaverse Web Showcase on WordPress

By Zach | 2023-01-102023-01-31 by Zach

In November, I joined Croquet as a Developer Relations Engineer. Shortly after I joined, we launched a product called Metaverse Web Showcase. The goal of Web Showcase is to allow people to embed free, multiuser, 3D Metaverse worlds into their existing websites without giving control of their content to third parties like Meta or Amazon. Around 42% of the Web is built on top of WordPress, so one of our engineers quickly started working on…

Computers Education Internet Tools Programming

The State of the Metaverse, December 2022

By Zach | 2022-12-252022-12-25 by Zach

There exists no formal definition of “the metaverse,” and no one individual or organization controls it. The metaverse is bigger than a single application, and it doesn’t look, feel, play, or sound like any one thing. It’s best to define the metaverse as a collection of organizations, tools, applications, and hardware, all of which serve a similar purpose. At the end of this post, I’ll introduce my formal definition of the word “metaverse.” For now:…

Personal

The Cost of a 75-Guest Wedding in Frederick, MD

By Zach | 2022-08-172022-08-17 by Zach

My wife and I got married at a petting zoo in September of 2021 in Frederick, Maryland. Using a giant Google Sheet, a Google Doc, a custom website, dozens of hours of research, and the help of friends and family, we planned a beautiful wedding and then executed on that plan. It all went off without a hitch, and everyone had a fantastic time. This post is the first of two posts which comprise a…

Photography

All Canon R5 v1.6.0 Camera Settings Spreadsheet

By Zach | 2022-08-162022-08-16 by Zach

Hi folks! I have created a Google Sheet which contains all of the settings that you can change on the Canon R5 mirrorless camera system running firmware v1.6.0. You can access the Sheet and make your own copy here. On that sheet, you can also see the way that I have set up my own camera as of the writing of this post. This can come in handy for folks who want to virtually explore…

Photography

How to Confidently Buy Used Photo Gear Online

By Zach | 2022-08-122022-08-12 by Zach

High-quality camera gear is expensive, and one can easily save hundreds or thousands of dollars by purchasing lenses, bodies, or other camera equipment used or preowned. Like buying anything used online, this comes with risks, and can often be overwhelming or scary. Here’s a step-by-step guide to buying used camera gear online while maximizing the chances that you’ll get what you want. There are four main marketplaces for used camera gear with which I have…

Personal

My Mobile Device History

By Zach | 2022-07-282022-07-28 by Zach

I’m feeling nostalgic. Let’s go back in time and take a look at all of the feature phones, smartphones, and tablets I’ve ever owned. Phones LG VX3200 Dates Used: 2005-?? – 2007-?? Price: ???, Verizon Store Ah…my first cell phone. I was in eighth grade. I used it instead of a payphone to call my mom when I needed to be picked up from school. Every so often, I’d ask my dad if I could…