We go international this month as we welcome my good friend, Norman Jung, from Steinbach am Glan, Germany, on to the Front Porch. We discuss the wisdom and life lessons instilled in Norman by his grandparents, his study abroad in Arizona, and his work with the Pennsylvania Dutch culture from his side of the Atlantic. We end with our classic 10 quic…

In this episode I invite award winning chef, Jeremy Nolen onto the front porch. We discuss his lifelong affair with food and his particular love of German cuisine. We also discuss his newest endeavor of offering tours to germanic Europe that are all food and drink focused. He also offers some advice for all of you foodies and home cooks out there! …

In this episode I welcome Tyler Barth, Principal of Robb Elementary School in Lock Haven, PA, on to the front porch. We discuss his childhood that was heavily influenced by both his parents and his grandparents. We also discuss why he went into education, his transition from the classroom to the principal's office, and how he builds and maintains a…

In this episode I welcome friend and colleague, Len Rutecki, onto the front porch. Len is the autism teacher at my school and we discuss all things autism from what it is to how he works with his students. We also discuss how Len uses his gifts and abilities to raise money and awareness for autism outside of school. Throughout his life he has learn…

In this episode I welcome fellow PA Dutch instructor and friend, Ethan Rode, up on the front porch. We discuss his childhood growing up on a farm, his move to Canada to study linguistics and his recent work as an online instructor of the PA Dutch language. Get your Front Porch Merch! Become a Patron! Support the show…

In this episode I continue the tradition of talking with some of my graduating seniors. This year I welcome Griffin Redmon, Sofia Dressler, Elise Cygan, and Emily Shetler onto the Front Porch. We discuss their time in high school, their accomplishments, their fears, and what they are most proud of. We close our discussion with our usual 10 quick qu…

In this episode I welcome Tara Mondock up on the front porch. We discuss her childhood in Florida, her sojourn to college in western North Carolina, and her work with the Extension Office at the Pennsylvania State University. We then turn our discussion to her experience as an active member of the Order of the Eastern Star and their main charity: t…

In this episode I welcome Dr. William Donner onto the front porch. Bill is currently the Freyberger Professor of Pennsylvania German Studies at Kutztown University and is also the chair of the Anthropology and Sociology Department. We discuss his time living on a small Polynesian island in the pacific to his work studying and researching the Pennsy…

In this episode I welcome Lew Bryson up on to the front porch. We discuss his journey from rural Lancaster county to his love of food and drink including his various publications about beer and whiskey. We close our discussion talking about his current podcast, Seen Through A Glass, and discuss the value and importance of eating and drinking locall…

In this episode I welcome Richard Mammana on to the front porch. We discuss his multi-ethnic childhood growing up in Easton, PA. We also discuss his acamdemic journey of studying greek, latin, and church history. We close our conversation with a discussion about his current work of documenting colonial-era Pennsylvania Dutch tombstones and what wal…

In this episode we welcome 2024 in by taking a short journey through my trusty Baer's Agricultural Almanac. We take a look at long range forecasts for the year, major anniversaries happening, and some humorous stories as well. Get your own Baer's Almanac! Get your Front Porch Swag! Support the showBy Doug Madenford

In this episode I welcome Katy Bodenhorn Barnes up onto the front porch. We discuss her childhood in north Texas and her journey to college at BYU. We talk a lot about her current role as the Director of Genealogical Services at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. We close our conversation with some deep questions about the power of genealogy a…

Mayra Navarro is an organizer of WNB.rb and Ruby Perú. Mayra shares how the Ruby community helped her get to RubyConf, going from project manager to developer, and the different ways people learn and communicate. This is the final interview recorded at RubyConf 2023 in San Diego. -- Mayra's Github Peruvian Digital Platform Codeable bootcamp Groups …

Mike Perham is the creator of Sidekiq, a background job processor for Ruby. He's also the creator of Faktory a similar product for multiple language environments. We talk about the RubyConf keynote and Ruby's limitations, supporting products as a solo developer, and some ideas for funding open source like a public utility. Recorded at RubyConf 2023…

Sara is a team lead at thoughtbot. She talks about her experience as a professor at Kanazawa Technical College, giant LAN parties in Rochester, transitioning from Java to Ruby, shining a light on maintainers, and her closing thoughts on RubyConf. Recorded at RubyConf 2023 in San Diego. -- A few topics covered: Being an Assistant Arofessor in Kanaza…

David was the chief software architect and director of engineering at Stitch Fix. He's also the author of a number of books including Sustainable Web Development with Ruby on Rails and most recently Ruby on Rails Background Jobs with Sidekiq. He talks about how he made decisions while working with a medium sized team (~200 developers) at Stitch Fix…

Episode Notes Rachael Wright-Munn (ChaelCodes) talks about her love of programming games (games with programming elements in them, not how to make games!), starting her streaming career with regex crosswords, and how streaming games and open source every week led her to a voice acting role in one of her favorite programming games. Recorded at RubyC…

In this episode I welcome Brian Aynardi, a dear friend and distant cousin, up on the front porch. We talk about his childhood in Wyomissing, PA, and his journey to Penn State to pursue degrees in Turf Management. We spend the rest of our conversation talking about his addiction to alcohol and his successful road to recovery. Learn more about Alcoho…

In this episode I welcome Gretchen Swank up on the front porch. We discuss her childhood in the mountains of central PA, her time as a criminal investigator for the Pennsylvania State Police and her recent journey into the world of Urglaawe and Braucherei. Learn more about Urglaawe! Read Gretchen's essay that we discuss! Get your Front Porch Merch!…

Dr. Daniel Zingaro and Dr. Leo Porter are co-authors of the book Learn AI-Assisted Python Programming. Leo will teach an introductory computer science course this quarter at UCSD using this book. We discuss how tools like GitHub Copilot let people new to programming focus on breaking down problems instead of language syntax. Dr. Zingaro is an Assoc…

In this episode I welcome Nancy Rodabaugh on to the front porch. Nancy recently completed the 500+ mile Camino de Santiago pilgrimage through France and Spain. We talk about her preparation, her journey, and what the experience taught her. Learn more about the Camino de Santiago! Get your Front Porch Merch! Support the show…

In this episode I welcome Hiram Smith up on the front porch. Hiram is a professor of Spanish and Linguistics at Bucknell University here in central PA. We discuss his youth as an "Army Brat" and the various places that he lived growing up. We also discuss African-American-English and its history within the American story as well as an honest and en…

On this episode, Pete Ruggieri joins me on the front porch. We talk about his time as a 911 dispatcher in Chester County, PA and then we discuss his various charity work. Pete is the brains behind the annual Santa Stumble held in Lancaster each that has raised thousands of dollars to benefit the Lancaster mounted patrol and K-9 units. We close our …

In this episode I welcome my dear friend, Michael Werner, up on the front porch. Michael is a publisher in the Palatinate region of Germany, who runs the PA Dutch language newspaper: Hiwwe wie Driwwe. Over the years his love of the PA Dutch language and culture and his work with it has helped build a strong transatlantic bridge between our two coun…

systemd is a service manager for Linux. It is the first process that runs on many Linux distributions and manages all other user processes. It includes utilities for logging, process isolation, process dependencies, socket activation, and many other tasks. psystemd is a python library to communicate with systemd over dbus from python as an alternat…

Sentry is an application monitoring tool that surfaces errors and performance problems. It minimizes the need to manually look at logs or dashboards by identifying common problems across applications and frameworks. David Cramer is the co-founder and CTO of Sentry. This episode originally aired on Software Engineering Radio. Topics covered: What's …

In this episode I welcome seven of my current seniors up on the front porch to discuss their thoughts on their upcoming high school graduation. We discuss their fears, accomplishments and future plans. Shout out to Rebecca Muthler, Chris Corbin, Madeline Jones, Jack Hanna, Peter Monoski, Kelsey Burrows, and Aaron Eldred for their words. Get your Fr…

In this episode I welcome German YouTuber, Feli from Germany, on to the front porch. We discuss her childhood in Munich, her various trips back and forth between the US and Germany, and the growth and success of her YouTube channel. She truly is a cultural ambassador between our two countries with a unique perspective and ability to teach the value…

In this episode I welcome longtime friend and proud PA Dutchman, David Adam, on to the front porch. We discuss his bi-lingual childhood, how he met his wife of 62 years, and his love of teaching PA Dutch. Get your Front Porch Merch! Support the showBy Doug Madenford

In this episode I invite Shan Packer up on the front porch. We discuss his childhood growing up in a real company town, his career as a machinist and his eventual transition to teaching, and we close our conversation with a discussion about the current state of career technical education in our society. Today's vo-tech is not the same vo-tech that …

In this episode I welcome friend and colleague, Len Rutecki, onto the front porch. Len is the autism teacher at my school and we discuss all things autism from what it is to how he works with his students. We also discuss how Len uses his gifts and abilities to raise money and awareness for autism outside of school. Throughout his life he has learn…

In this episode I welcome former student and friend, Kathryn Kline, up on the front porch. We discuss her love of writing that lead to a career in journalism. We talk about her experiences from writing obituaries for the local newspaper to being a press intern in the US Senate and now her job with a major network news bureau in Washington DC. We cl…

Luca Casonato is the tech lead for Deno Deploy and a TC39 delegate. Deno is a JavaScript runtime from the original creator of NodeJS, Ryan Dahl. Topics covered: What's a JavaScript runtime How V8 is used Why Deno was created The W3C WinterCG for server-side JavaScript Why it's difficult to ship new features in Node The benefits of web standards Cre…

In this episode I welcome friend and colleague, Ryan Veltri, up on the front porch. We discuss how soccer has played a major role in his life from playing to coaching, the ups and downs of being a high school emotional support teacher, and the joy that the Dave Matthew's Band brings him. Get your front porch merch: https://www.zazzle.com/store/padu…

In this episode I welcome Jenn Eaton up on the front porch. Jenn is the curator at the Pennsylvania Military Museum located in Boalsburg, PA. We talk about all things history and the challenges that she and her colleagues face trying to make history fun and welcoming to new generations. Learn more about the PA Military Museum! Get your Front Porch …

In this episode I welcome high school friend, Kai Miller, up on the front porch. Kai has had a career that has taken her from NASA to the VA to her own business ventures. Kai has been a student and teacher of communications her whole life. In our interview we take a deep dive on just what is effective communication and how a true understanding of t…

In this episode I welcome Taylor Leitzell onto the Front Porch. Taylor is a financial planner by trade and we talk all things money and savings. Taylor is able to make these difficult conversations easy to have, as you will hear in our talk. Want to know what an IRA is? No idea how a 401K works? Sit down, hit play, and enjoy! Taylor Leitzell is wit…

Leaguepedia is a MediaWiki instance that covers tournaments, teams, and players in the League of Legends esports community. It's relied on by fans, analysts, and broadcasters from around the world. Megan "River" Cutrofello joined Leaguepedia in 2014 as a community manager and by the end of her tenure in 2022 was the lead for Fandom's esports wikis.…

Victor is a software consultant in Tokyo who describes himself as a yak shaver. He writes on his blog at vadosware and curates Awesome F/OSS, a mailing list of open source products. He's also a contributor to the Open Core Ventures blog. Before our conversation Victor wrote a structured summary of how he works on projects. I recommend checking that…

In this episode I welcome the new year by paging through my trusty Baer's Almanac for 2023. I highlight important anniversaries being celebrated this year as well the overall forecast for the year and finally give some sage advice from the one and only Amos Appleschnitz! Get your own Baer's Almanac! Get your Front Porch Merch! Support the show…

In this episode the one and only Belsnickel joins me on the Front Porch. Yep, that crusty, sometimes mean, Christmas gift giver of the Pennsylvania Dutch, comes out of the shadows and sits down with me for an honest conversation. We really gain some insight into his background and just what makes him tick. Get your Front Porch Merch! Support the sh…

In this episode, I welcome Christoph Erbach on to the Front Porch. We discuss his childhood growing up in small town Germany,. Christoph explains how the German health insurance system works as we compare and contrast it to the American system. We close our discussion with a lively talk about the power of music and friendships in forming bridges be…

In this episode we hear four funny stories about Thanksgiving provided by listeners of the show! Not every Thanksgiving is a Hallmark style experience as you will quickly find out listening to these experiences! Get your Front Porch Merch! Support the showBy Doug Madenford

In this episode I welcome David Hunsicker up on the Front Porch. We discuss his very PA Dutch childhood, his conversion to Islam, his time spent in Turkey and Uzbekistan, and close talking about his job working in the Palestinian and Israeli conflict. A fascinating conversation to say the least! Click to learn more about Uzbekistan! Get your Front …

In this episode I welcome Ann Wheeler on to the front porch. Earlier in Ann's life she clerked for a judge on the federal 6th circuit court. I invited Ann on to give us all a Civics 101 lecture on the Supreme Court. We discuss how the court works, just what do the justices do, and what might the future look like for the judicial system in the Unite…

Xe Iaso is the Archmage of Infrastructure at Tailscale and previously worked at Heroku. This episode originally aired on Software Engineering Radio but includes some additional discussion about their blog near the end of the episode. Topics covered: Use cases for VPNs Simplifying service authentication by identifying users via IP Peer-to-peer vs ce…

In this episode I welcome George Reppert up on the front porch. He might just be one of the most interesting men in the world as you will hear from our interview. We discuss the time he lived in a homeless shelter even though he wasn't homeless and his experiences of owning a head shop in the 1970s. We then get a full on lesson about all things whi…

In this episode I welcome childhood friends Dustin Shirk and Aleks Salks up on the front porch. We discuss the journey that we have been on as fathers of young boys. We base our conversation on an interview of author Jon Tyson who's book: "The Intentional Father: A Practical Guide to Raise Sons of Courage and Character. We discuss the difficulties …

Jonathan Shariat is the coauthor of the book Tragic Design and co-host of the Design Review Podcast. He's currently a Sr. Interaction Designer & Accessibility Program Lead at Google. This episode originally aired on Software Engineering Radio. Topics covered: How poor design kills in medical environments Causing harm with features meant to bring jo…

In this episode I welcome Christina Heilig up on the front porch. Christina joins us from Buchen, Germany, where she is a high school English and Spanish teacher. We discuss and explain the German school system, how German children learn about WWII and the holocaust, and compare and contrast our two countries. Sit back and enjoy this fascinating mu…