@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

MichaelPorter

@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place

Retired Chem/Physics/Earth Sciences teacher. I'm interested in everything.

I think society performs at its best when we take care of others, especially the weakest among us. That means a strong social safety net, with "free" healthcare, education, and public transit. It's a dream, I know.

30+ years of explaining stuff to teenagers has left me with some habits... I'm not a mansplainer, but I do like to find ways to 'splain stuff to receptive ears 😊

My Toots: https://justmytoots.com/MichaelPorter@ottawa.place

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

stephanie, to random
@stephanie@ottawa.place avatar

My dad just posted this picture to talk about some city work. All I see are all those awful manicured suburban lawns. Eww. (They hated all the natural front lawns around us haha)

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@stephanie I have to admit, I am grateful for a nicely manicured lawn for my dog to poop on. Much easier to pick up!
But we both prefer the pollinator lawns for beauty and variety 😊

ottaross, to random
@ottaross@mastodon.social avatar

Walking thru my 'hood, I see a new emerging. Still step ladders and paint buckets but should be close.

A long-standing coffee shop closed across the street as that little local chain got bought out by a big corp. They seem to be shrinking as per big corporate modus operandi.

Hope this new one is decent. Wish it were indie, but that name sounds franchisey.

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@ottaross If you notice them open, I’m interested. They’re right near my mom’s.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Gummi Worms are probably the best kind of worms I've eaten.

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@RickiTarr How do you feel about great green gobs of greasy, grimy, gopher guts?

Mrfunkedude, to random
@Mrfunkedude@mastodon.social avatar

Ok I'm starting to think that the two prunes I've been eating after dinner for the last few nights combined with the fiber supplements I take in the morning with breakfast MIGHT be a bit too much for my system to handle.

I will NOT be answering questions.

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@Mrfunkedude Is one of the questions, “Who broke the toilet?!”

tantramar, to random
@tantramar@nojack.easydns.ca avatar

Yes, I understand that shoving a Q-Tip far enough into your ear that it makes you cough is a bad thing™. It’s still really satisfying.

This has been Oversharing with Chris.

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@tantramar Don’t do what one of my students did and rupture an eardrum. She didn’t follow the advice of “stop when you feel resistance” 🙀

MichaelPorter, to random
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

I’m helping my neice navigate her online math course.
Isn’t the point of numbering things to make it easier?
Unit 3 is Chapter 4, and Lesson 4 in Unit 3 is numbered 3.3? 🙄

The navigation drop-down for the lessons in Unit 3, which is Chapter 4. Because Lesson 1 is a “Learning Guide,” all of the Lesson numbers are off by one compared to their names, e.g. Lesson 4 in Unit 3 is numbered 3.3.

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@human3500 Sounds about right. I had my struggles with Word over the years, mostly with numbering formats... The worst was the exams I would get from other people, in which three different formats were used (probably leftover from when they edited someone else's old doc), and if you moved anything it would all get screwed up. Often the first thing I would do is strip all the formatting and start fresh. Nuke it from orbit...

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@jmcrookston @human3500 I did that, too. I also had a few interesting text substitutions that turned text snippets into entire templates for documents. Not sure if I was using them back in your day, but if you ever noticed how consistent my docs looked, that was why 😊

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@jmcrookston @human3500 More than two decades! But it’s gone through some major changes.
The golden era for me was when Microsoft for the Mac was a separate project (still cross-platform compatible, mostly), coded in-house under the Macintosh Business Unit. They seemed to adhere more to the Mac ethic, and Word for Mac offered some nice features that Word for Windows didn’t. That all went out the window (ha) when someone decided both versions should look and act identically, and they picked the inferior Windows interface.
I have a set of thumbscrews ready for the folks that decided that the ribbon should not be customizable, and that elements I’ll never use take priority over elements I always use if the window is made smaller.

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@human3500 @jmcrookston You have to hand it to Word, it has a lot of style

Very crudely drawn animation of a drummer performing the "bad dum tss" hit after a joke

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@human3500 @jmcrookston Too late to matter for me now, but you made me look 😄
While you can’t get rid of the Style Gallery completely, you can remove elements from it to make it take up less space. Of course, in true MS fashion, even if you completely remove all the styles (I agressively assert my lack of style 😉), you still get an unnecessarily wide window taking up space.

MichaelPorter, to random
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

Wanna know how grumpy I am today? I just listened to two versions of “Both Sides Now,” the one by Joni, of course, and the one by Judy Collins, and they both annoyed me 😄
(Judy's version has drums, Joni's has a guitar bit that always sounds out of place to me)

btw, I have no musical talent to speak of, and am not worthy to lick the boots of either of these legends.

MichaelPorter, to Ottawa
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

folks, if you are getting paving done, avoid Black Tar.

Paving is not rocket science, and I'm sure it works out for a lot of customers. But if you have the misfortune to get one of their incompetent crews, you will get:
• 1/4” of asphalt instead of the contracted 2.5”
• A driveway that starts falling apart (see previous point) in less than a year
• The company suggesting it’s your fault for driving on the surface too early (we didn’t), or spilling oil/gasoline (from my electric car?)
• The company management offering superficial treatment (cheap for them) instead of the needed replacement or refund (not cheap, so they ignore the suggestion completely)
• Endless bromides regarding their (non-existent) high ideals regarding customer service

Please don't reply with suggestions for further action. Assume we've pursued them.
Just don't give these jerks your money.

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

Just so I’m very clear - The “not rocket science” remark was meant as a sarcastic comment towards Black Tar trying to gaslight us into thinking there was something complicated involved with the installation, as opposed to incompetent and shoddy work. I appreciate the trades in general, and there actually is some interesting science involved in asphalt.

I wasn’t unduly pressured to post this disclaimer 😄

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@human3500 In our conversations with other pavers as we tried to get a handle on what action to take, we heard a lot of disparaging remarks about how BT runs their business. Some of these folks are former employees/contractors.

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@mariellequinton Black Tar states in their contract that “road grade” asphalt (coarser materials, I’m assuming) is used. Most roads don’t need repair a few months after paving, unless someone’s screwed up…

BT requires regular biennial sealing by them, at extra cost, to maintain the warranty (haha, warranty, too bad I don’t have a birdcage that needs lining). We didn’t get that far along, as problems were apparent from the start.

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@mariellequinton Of course, the line from BT is that you need to seal it, often, and they will happily do that for you at $400 a pop…

grivettcarnac, to ontario
@grivettcarnac@mstdn.social avatar

It makes sense that Ford would call an election because there is no opposition, voter turnout out would probably be the same as last time, the PCs have been using our $$$ non-stop the past few months to highlight their successes and because if PP wins, well there is historical precedent that shows the province would dump his provincial affiliation to the federal https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/alcohol-sales-convenience-stores-ontario-1.7213546

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@grivettcarnac @gemelliz He should do it before 2025, when the 10-year deal with the big breweries would have expired and he could have saved $600M. A somewhat major talking point in debates (if the Cons bother to show up for any, that is).

futurebird, (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

I'm so sick of "big men" enamored of the trappings of power & anyone impressed with them. I'm sick of the mystique of "all he had to do was wave a finger & you were dead" & that is supposed to be impressive rather than terrifying & childish. I'm sick of their entourages, and the way they stick out their lips, pout, posture, bluster. The way they use other people as decorations.

They way they lie to your face as a power play.

It's all... so embarrassing for the human animal of which I am one.

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@futurebird I figure there will always be maladjusted people who crave power and undue attention. What disturbs me far more is that we give it to them, instead of embarrassed silence, or referrals to psychiatric services.

ottaross, to Astronomy
@ottaross@mastodon.social avatar

I keep checking to see if #TCoronaeBorealis has gone nova yet, but it seems like it hasn't.

Could happen any day between now and September. I'm not sure what the most definitive source is, or who will report the fastest when it happens.

Seems like a good opportunity for a single purpose website. Like maybe: hasTCoronaeBorealisGoneNovaYet.com

perhaps? Pretty small audience probably.

#astronomy #nova #blazestar

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@ottaross OyeNovaVa.com 😉

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EfAsOBjkp8

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@ottaross I’m connected to enough astronomy types here that I’m sure one of them will mention it if it goes…

dajb, to random
@dajb@social.coop avatar

Some pretty incredible writing here.

"I’ve been in this position so many times that it exhausts me just to write about it. Sometimes, it’s not that I’m afraid of men; I’m just really, really tired."

https://bikepacking.com/plog/man-or-bear-debate/

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@dajb @sboots The description of how she has to manage the emotional state of some men because they’re not capable of it is especially on point.

auscandoc, to random
@auscandoc@med-mastodon.com avatar

supplements may raise stroke risk: Study | CTV News https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/fish-oil-supplements-may-raise-risk-of-stroke-heart-issues-study-suggests-1.6895997 “study finds regular use of fish oil supplements may increase, not reduce, the risk of first-time and among people in good cardiovascular health. (1/4)

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@auscandoc Reading the abstract:

“Regular use of fish oil supplements … could be beneficial for progression of cardiovascular disease from atrial fibrillation to major adverse cardiovascular events, and from atrial fibrillation to death.”

Er, “beneficial” as in reducing that progression, I’m assuming? 🤔

LibrarianRA, to delhi
@LibrarianRA@worldkey.io avatar

SHELL Research shrinks inappropriate traffic boners. 1938
.
#Traffic #Shell #Advertisement #Retro #Vintage #CarsOfMastodon @GayOldTime

MichaelPorter,
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

@LibrarianRA @GayOldTime I’m here to say that traffic boners are NOT on the way out - there are dicks on the road everywhere

MichaelPorter, to random
@MichaelPorter@ottawa.place avatar

Thinking about The Friendly Giant tonight…
Why doesn’t anybody ever talk about how freakin’ big that rooster was?!

As you’re rolling your eyes, remember to look up. Look waaaaaaay up

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • JUstTest
  • InstantRegret
  • mdbf
  • ethstaker
  • magazineikmin
  • cubers
  • rosin
  • thenastyranch
  • Youngstown
  • osvaldo12
  • slotface
  • khanakhh
  • kavyap
  • DreamBathrooms
  • provamag3
  • Durango
  • everett
  • tacticalgear
  • modclub
  • anitta
  • cisconetworking
  • tester
  • ngwrru68w68
  • GTA5RPClips
  • normalnudes
  • megavids
  • Leos
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •