@Edent@mastodon.social
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

Edent

@Edent@mastodon.social

Longer hair than you.
Got the ⏻ symbol into #Unicode.
Open Standards / Source / Data geek.
Known as https://mastodon.social/@Edent on most social platforms.
Did an MSc in using the Metaverse for analytics.
Bit obsessed with #SolarPower but not quite a #SolarPunk.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

Edent, (edited ) to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

You receive a call on your phone.
The caller says they're from your bank and they're calling about a suspected fraud.

"Oh yeah," you think. Obvious scam, right?

The caller says "I'll send you an in-app notification to prove I'm calling from your bank."

Your phone buzzes. You tap the notification This is what you see.

Still think it is a scam?
1/3

Edent, (edited ) to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

Could you please help me find some folklore?

The Brothers Grimm recorded the story "Der süße Brei" about a magic porridge pot.
When instructed, it produces food until told to stop. One day, the owner forgets the magic word and the village is engulfed in porridge.

If you are NOT German or English-speaking, does your culture have a similar cautionary tale?
If so, what foodstuff is it about?

Thanks gang, boosts appreciated.

Edent, to fediverse
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

🆕 blog! “Rebuilding FourSquare for ActivityPub using OpenStreetMap”

I used to like the original FourSquare. The "mayor" stuff was a bit silly, and my friends never left that many reviews, but I loved being able to signal to my friends "I am at this cool museum" or "We're at this pub if you want to meet" or "Spendi…

👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/01/rebuilding-foursquare-for-activitypub-using-openstreetmap/
⸻

Edent, to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

That naughty fellow @revk is such an influencer!

Edent, to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

Hmmmm... Our battery provider is offering to upgrade our unit.

Going from 2kWh to 4.8kWh.

Total cost including installation will be £2,900!

That's expensive. But cheap for a battery of that size.
Our old battery is about 8 years old, and getting a little temperamental. But still basically works.
But bigger capacity would mean being able to export more when energy prices are high.

Any thoughts on whether we should go for it?

Edent, (edited ) to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

Couples of Mastodon! How do you handle emails for "joint" things?

Like utility bills, hotel reservations, and other domestic accounts.

Please 🔁 the 📊 for extra reach 🙂

Edent, to fediverse
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

OK friends! Could you please follow @blog and let me know if you see a new post from it at 12:34 BST today?

I've added the new plugin to and want to see if it has worked.

Edent, to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

I am desperate to know what secrets this website is hiding!

https://www.potatoes.com/

Edent, (edited ) to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

Well, I've farted around enough with my blog's layout and theme, I'd better get to writing.

But before I do. Should I add an optional "Dark Mode" CSS?

Edent, to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

In my culture (en_GB) this reads as heavy sarcasm.

But in theirs (en_INT?) I suspect it was heavily focus-grouped and found to be perceived as sincere.

Edent, to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

People who rant about how terrible it is that you can't buy a non-Smart TV any more.

You know you don't have to plug the TV into the Internet, right?

I've got two. One acts as a big monitor for my laptop. The other one has a media player box & games console connected.

You're allowed to use a heavily subsidised device in a different manner from which it was intended.

Edent, to maps
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

South Up Equal Earth Projection in R

Yup - I'm still banging on about this! This time, in R

Result

The colours are wrong, and the labels need adjustment - but not bad for a few lines of code!

Code

library(tidyverse)
library(rnaturalearth)
library(rnaturalearthdata)
library(sf)

centre

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/07/south-up-equal-earth-projection-in-r/

#/etc/

Edent, to SmartHome
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

Those of you who have a , what are your use-cases for smart plugs?

Most of my electrical things aren't just on/off.

I've got a light, a fan, and an electric blanket which can be controlled from the plug.

Other things (like TV, kettle, etc) need interaction after the power is turned on.

Have you found any good uses for plugs?

(Not interested in rants about security & privacy, thanks.)

Edent, to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

The UK's Civil Aviation Authority have a brief report about what caused all the flight cancellations the other day:

https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/NERL%20Major%20Incident%20Investigation%20Preliminary%20Report.pdf (440KB PDF)

A few interesting thoughts about their findings…

The major cause was:

> The plan included two waypoints along its route that were geographically distinct but which have the same designator.

I don't know enough about ICAO4444 / ADEXP to be sure, but it sounds like an understandable, albeit avoidable, error.

(1/n)

Edent, to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

Anyone one here done before?
Thinking of doing it this year and would appreciate any words of advice from those who've attempted it.

Edent, to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

OK, the hosting + services bill for https://openbenches.org/ is coming due.

Looks like about £250 for the next year.

So, my options are:

👕 Sell OpenBenches branded T-Shirst & merch.

💷 Push the sponsorship more on the site (using GitHub / Patreon / OpenCollective).

🕴️ Take VC funding of a few million dollars and try to dominate the bench-spotting market.

🏛️ See if there are any open-culture grants to help keep it going.

Any other bright ideas?

Edent, to solar
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

Finally switched to a smart energy tariff - Octopus Agile.

I'm hoping that our panels and battery (@solar) will be able to offset any big spikes in price.

Either by storing more electricity when it is cheap, or discharging when it is expensive.

£50 for us both if you join - https://share.octopus.energy/metal-dove-988

Edent, to foss
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

Is there a version of FourSquare / Swarm for the Fediverse?

I want to check in to a specific location and share that online. Not looking for badges and mayors etc.

Just a geotagged post saying "I am here".

Edent, to eink
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

🆕 blog! “eInk Display for Octopus's Agile Energy Tariff”

I'm a little bit obsessed with building eInk displays. They're pretty cheap second hand. They're low energy, passive displays, with good-enough performance for occasional updates. Here's a new one which shows me what the current cost of my electricity is: Background After installing solar panels, a …

👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/12/eink-display-for-octopuss-agile-energy-tariff/
⸻

Edent, to android
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

Does anyone know of a modern phone which allows call recording without root?

I'm currently on an aging 5T running and can record calls just fine - a button in the dialler lets me record straight from the line. I don't need to put it on speaker and record via the microphone.

(Looking for 1st hand experience, not search results. No need to reply to discuss the legality of call recording. I need root-less for online banking etc.)

Edent, to android
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

Any thoughts on what to do with an old #Android tablet?

It is the original (?) Nexus 7. I've resurrected it with #LineageOS 15 - but it runs slow as molasses uphill. Scrolling on the web is pretty stuttery.

Anything cool you've seen done with obsolete tech like this?

Edent, to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

Just booked a holiday 😃
But it isn't until December 😐
I need to stock up on books to read 📚

If you have recently read a book which is UPLIFTING or ✨FUN✨ please let me know.

I don't mind if it is fiction or not. Modern or old. I want to read books which will make me feel happy and invigorated.

What have you got?

Edent, to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

Is there any way to see how far a Mastdon post has travelled?

For example, I can see all the people who have reposted it - and that will show me all the federated servers those users are on.

But that doesn't show me who follows those users and, therefore, where it went from there.

I might not be explaining myself very well…

Edent, to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

I saw so many people with folding phones today that it has given me total tech envy.

My OnePlus 5T is approaching 6 years old. Has a replacement battery and flashed with Lineage in order to get modern features.

I'm fully aboard the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle train. So I'll wait until it gives up the ghost and then buy a 2nd hand fold.

Looks like only the Pixel has 3rd party ROMs. So that's another good excuse to wait.

But I want a new toy!

Edent, (edited ) to RaspberryPi
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

My ancient 2 is evidently getting too slow to run properly.

I don't want to spin up a VM, or buy a huge server. I want something discrete and discreet.

I like the look of the "Yellow", but I refuse to buy any gadget which doesn't use USB-C for power. So no PoE either.

So, does anyone have a personal recommendation for a HomeAssistant device which has built-in Matter / Thread / Zigbee support?

(I know how to Google. Looking for word-of-mouth recommendations.)

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