Michael Dowden
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mrdowden.com
Michael Dowden
@mrdowden.com
(he/him) Technology Leader, International Keynote Speaker, Author, Coder, Gamer. Founder @AndromedaGalactic.com, @LoreLink.com, & FlexePark. MBA, Firebase & Web GDE, Microsoft MVP. Advocate for ethics, accessibility, and human rights. mrdowden.com
Reposted by Michael Dowden
A React app that has a useEffect that listens to the window resize event and returns whether the screen is mobile or not so that different images can be displayed?

These are the lengths that React developers will go to to avoid learning about the <img> tag's sizes and srcset.
January 29, 2026 at 6:02 AM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
Tuesday is for Twitch!

This evening, join @markdc.bsky.social as he talks to Joshua of @brokendoorgames.bsky.social about their superhero game, Paragons!

5 PM Eastern, same Bat time, same Bat channel!
twitch.tv/LoreLinkRPG
January 27, 2026 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
A personal brand without value is just noise 🗣️. My deep dive into devs branding from #IOConnect Berlin 2024 🇩🇪 with Monika Janota 🙌 is live

Check out the full conversation on my brand new YouTube channel! youtu.be/okd8teUi5Q8

#PersonalBranding #DeveloperRelations #GoogleIO #TechCareer
January 25, 2026 at 3:32 PM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
Happy Monday, everyone!

Today is Community Manager Appreciation Day, so I'd love to raise a glass to @twenty20sight.com! She's putting a lot of work into our Discord, and she's been the brains behind everything we've been doing on Twitch, among other things.

Thank you, Twenty! Keep being awesome!
January 26, 2026 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
We've made it to another Friday!

Please, take good care of yourselves, and each other, this weekend.

"Never be cruel, never be cowardly, and never, ever eat pears! Remember, hate is always foolish, and love is always wise. Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind." - The 12th Doctor
January 23, 2026 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
If you haven't seen the posts, we've started a blog over on the Lore Link site.

We're posting summaries of our Indie Creator Spotlight streams, Lore Link updates, and more!

Since "we" is "me," I'm still working on a schedule, but you can find what we have at the link below!
Lore Link
The premium-quality RPG campaign management tool for Dungeon Masters, Game Masters, Storytellers and Keepers of all types.
lorelink.com
January 22, 2026 at 3:44 PM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
Tomorrow, on Twitch!

@mrdowden.com is going to take a look at We Used to Be Friends with the creator, Jonathan of @firestorm-ink.com! Come check out his game, tomorrow at 5PM EST on our stream.

If you want to pregame, you can find the game here:
firestormink.itch.io/we-used-to-b...
We Used to Be Friends by Firestorm Ink
The full version of a collaborative teenage detective drama game!
firestormink.itch.io
January 19, 2026 at 8:16 PM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
Reposted by Michael Dowden
Every time I worry that my "quickstart" has too much of the final book contents in it, I remember that the GM section is an entire 31 pages in Google Doc form.

The player / "core" stuff is 42 pages.

So... yeah, the final book will have A LOT to say about how one should run The Beckoning Dream.
January 14, 2026 at 12:14 AM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
Tomorrow, on Twitch!

Join @mrdowden.com as he cracks open the Dune - Adventures in the Imperium RPG by @modiphius.bsky.social. Join him as he takes a look at how he would set up a game using our TTRPG campaign management tool!

5 PM Eastern!
Twitch
Twitch is the world's leading video platform and community for gamers.
twitch.tv
January 12, 2026 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
Bluesky community! This is my official NYC mayor account. I’ll be posting updates on what’s happening at City Hall and how we’re delivering for New Yorkers. It’s great to be here.
January 8, 2026 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
Last year saw the release of some really cool new #HTML / #CSS based features including Interest Invokers. Check how you can use them in conjunction with the popover API to create Tooltips without the need for JavaScript support.

andromedagalactic.com/blog/rethink...
Rethinking Tooltip with Interest Invokers and Popover | Blog | Andromeda Galactic Solutions
By combining popovers with interest invokers we can create tooltips without the need for any JavaScript. Let's dive right in and see how it works.
andromedagalactic.com
January 8, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eiev... the rundown for the Hotzone #boardgame has been posted in prep for #kickstarter launch! If you’re a #heist and #strategy game fan this one’s for you. Check it out and watch out for the the launch happening (I hope) this month! #tabletopgame
Hotzone; a strategic heist and skirmish board game
YouTube video by Weapons Grade Funk
www.youtube.com
January 8, 2026 at 3:19 AM
Coming up today!
Tuesdays are for Twitch!

This week, @mrdowden.com is joined by UnstoppableX to play some Dune Awakening!

Join us at 5:00 PM EST, over in the usual place!
Twitch
Twitch is the world's leading video platform and community for gamers.
twitch.tv
January 6, 2026 at 8:51 PM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
Looked at my calendar and realized next week had way too many meetings therefore made some updates to meeting-bingo...
You can now choose between 2 flavors: Online Meeting or Corporate Terms. Enjoy.

- repo: github.com/martine-dowd...
- hosted version: martine-dowden.github.io/meeting-bingo/
Meeting Bingo
A bingo game to play during your meetings
martine-dowden.github.io
January 5, 2026 at 3:28 AM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
Tuesday is normally for Twitch, but it's the holidays.

We'll see you next Tuesday when @mrdowden.com is joined by X to ease into 2026 with some Dune Awakening.

Have a great afternoon!
December 30, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
My two cents as a psychologist is that performance-approach strategies get you a lot further than performance-avoidance strategies, but performance coupled with innate ability models will almost inevitably melt all your approach strategies into avoidance. And avoidance doesn't work
Once you realise that damn near every startup structure, all of Silicon Valley culture, and almost every enterprise out there is all designed to create pervasive contest culture scenarios, you’ll see the problem

It’s not “bad” necessarily. Most healthy companies have it too! But its very suboptimal
December 28, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
I wish I could show people something that would help convince them that they don’t have the learning culture they think they do.

I’ve seen VERY clear contest culture companies go “oh yeah we’re super pro learning and super collaborative”. You can’t just say words into the air and make it true!
Here is an example of what I mean in a simple illustration, from our New Developer project.

AI Skill Threat is how acutely developers anticipated identity-based and skill-based loss and Contest Culture is how much they rated software as demanding punitive, ruthless competition norms.
December 28, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Another year around the sun. The last few have been rough. The next one will be better.

Had a good day with family. Drank too much. Played some games. Enjoyed life.
December 23, 2025 at 5:35 AM
This is wonderful
Alright. The world is a bit too futuristic and frightening at the moment. For each like, I shall post something that gives me delight. Go for broke.
December 22, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
It's COMMUNITY NIGHT, TEAM!! I hit 8 years on Twitch last week, so come hang out in chat for an evening of laughter, fun, and of course, games: Among Us, Golf With Friends, Jackbox, maybe others?? See you there!

www.twitch.tv/twenty20sight

#TeamTwenty
twenty20sight - Twitch
COMMUNITY NIGHT! Thanks for 8 years of Team Twenty! | !aniv
www.twitch.tv
December 21, 2025 at 3:22 AM
If you are a developer who only ever does greenfield work and never maintains projects, I want you to know that somewhere, out there, is a team of developers who hate you and for whom you are the reason for their late nights and drinking habit.
December 17, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
So you think you know CSS borders, but did you know you could use gradients and images? This article goes in-depth how borders works, and tricks to get around some of their limitations.

andromedagalactic.com/blog/styling...

#css #ui #mvpbuzz
December 16, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
Isambard Kingdom Babybel.

(I *genuinely* mean this with respect. Good design endures.)
I hate how much I enjoyed this

BIG NERD DESIGN ENERGY 🫦
December 13, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Michael Dowden
Ope.

Just dropped $130 on Bambu's site for replacement parts, since both the A1 Mini and the P1P are down.

So, you know, just gonna drop this link... right... here...
troxellstradingpost.shop
December 11, 2025 at 12:08 AM