@Kirkman@mastodon.social
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Kirkman

@Kirkman@mastodon.social

Husband to a Boliviana. Daddy. Emperor of the Renaud Empire. Journalist and developer for stltoday.com. Lover of Atari, BBSes and retro tech.

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Kirkman, to random
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I can't get over the following direct quote, which is from the middle of a training session provided by my company's new (probably lower-budget) HR/training vendor:

"Using the office guillotine when you're upset about a tough meeting earlier is not a good idea."

πŸ€¦β€β™‚οΈ πŸ”ͺ

Kirkman,
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In this case, "guillotine" == "paper cutter."

I'm no expert, but I have only known this device by the name "paper cutter."

Are there Americans out there who call it "the office guillotine"?

Or is it more of a national thing (maybe it's common in the UK or something)?

Kirkman,
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πŸ“Š
What do you call the hand-operated device with a large blade for cutting stacks of paper?

Kirkman, to Typography
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One of my favorite road signs in all of Missouri, seen heading west on Interstate 70 in St. Charles County.

I very seldom drive there, but when I do, I love to startle the rest of my family by saying "Look everyone, we're coming up to Bryan ..." then screaming "ROAD!" at the top of my lungs.

I'm not sure why they decided to make "ROAD" uppercase, but I am forever grateful.

ernie, to random
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Spammer: OMG YOU GOT A DEAD LINK ON YOUR SITE! Link me instead?

Me: removes link

Kirkman,
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@ernie Me: relink to Wayback Machine.

Kirkman, to stlouis
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Municipal elections are tomorrow across St. Louis County and the rest of the area! Are you ready?

Use the Post-Dispatch Voters Guide to learn about the races, candidates, and ballot issues you'll be voting on.

https://stltoday.com/votersguide

Kirkman, to archive
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I always love getting this badge from the Wayback Machine on the @internetarchive.

Wish I knew how many times I've done it.

Kirkman, to DadBin
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Attention fans of Captain Kangaroo and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ...

In 1979, CK appeared in a one-hour MRN special entitled "Springtime with Mister Rogers."

The special was apparently lost to the public for decades, but the Fred Rogers Company recently found it and posted on its website.

Unfortunately, the tape was missing the first 15 mins.

But it was an interesting mashup of nostalgia to watch with my daughter.

https://misterrogers.org/episodes/springtime-with-mister-rogers/

#pbs #pbskids #children #tv #television #kids

Kirkman, to retrocomputing
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Eleven years ago, I put together a system to automate the creation of a basketball bracket for the Post-Dispatch, using the league's JSON feed.

We used it for many years at the P-D, until they outsourced print design.

In 2022, I applied that knowledge to make a live-updating bracket for my bulletin board system, as a bit of fun.

Hope to have it running again on the after Selection Sunday tonight.

Kirkman, to stlouis
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Kirkman, to apple
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I’m so disappointed in the design of the new Apple Sports app, which does not degrade gracefully on smaller screen sizes, like my iPhone SE2.

Apple used to get this stuff right.

Kirkman,
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@designatednerd @benlikestocode I've noticed many third-party apps increasingly seem like they don't care if things work on smaller screen sizes. 1Password is a good example.

But my SE 2 is only 4 years old and runs the latest iOS, so I'd expect Apple to do by right by the systems it's supporting.

Kirkman,
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When two teams score triple-digits, they get turned into β€œ1…” on my iPhone SE2. Come on, Apple, this is so, so sloppy.
#apple #apps #ui #ux #iphone #responsive #design #sports

Kirkman,
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Several people have asked about text size.

My "Dynamic Type" is set just below middle, and "Display Zoom" is "Larger Text".

Changing "Display Zoom" to "Default" reduces the effects, but the root problem persists. Scores still overlap. Team names still spill out of their containing boxes. etc, etc.

I wish the #UI was responsive. When screen size is small, or type is big, move side-by-side elements into stacks.

#Apple should account for its settings and device sizes.

#ux #sports #design

Screenshot shows the Apple Sports app with "display zoom" set to "default."

macrumors, to random
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Kirkman,
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@macrumors It's hard for me to overstate how much I hate the shapes of the rounded corners of windows in the recent versions of MacOS.

Kirkman, to Birds
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Learning about St. Louis and the Eurasian tree sparrow is a rabbit (bird?) hole I fell down myself a few years back when I got into photographing birds on my walks to school with the kids.

But it didn't occur to me to turn it into a story. Great read.

https://www.riverfronttimes.com/arts/the-eurasian-tree-sparrow-lives-in-st-louis-and-pretty-much-only-st-louis-41621879

Kirkman, to stlouis
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β€ΌοΈπŸ“° Holy smokes, my story in the Post-Dispatch last week made a difference!

St. Louis city police just posted the last three years of incident-level crime data -- and they pledge to post updates monthly.

Love how they "discovered" they were already producing similar CSVs for the Center for Policing Equity.

Original story: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-courts/st-louis-police-have-crime-data-they-won-t-share-researchers-call-it-embarrassing/article_4b114724-a0fc-11ee-8edf-632d7ffb3dc5.html

#crime #stlouis #stl #journalism #localjournalism #data #datajournalism #opendata #transparency #accountability

Kirkman, to comics
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I printed out today's devious xkcd comic ("Label the States") for my wife and kids, and they spent a good 15 minutes working on them, saying things like β€œThere’s a South Virginia?” before figuring it out.
https://xkcd.com/2868/

Two sisters discuss a blank map.

Kirkman, to stlouis
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Property values -- and tax bills -- have skyrocketed in some of the poorest areas of St. Louis County in the past two reassessments.

Kelsey Landis and I take a look at the data behind this trend, and its effects on real people.

#realestate #property #taxes #taxation #datajournalism #localjournalism #stlouis #stl #data #news #localnews

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/government-politics/property-taxes-are-soaring-in-st-louis-county-small-houses-are-getting-hit-the-hardest/article_41e4f6e0-4da6-11ee-8ad2-87f315819be7.html

Kirkman, to random
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Security researcher Jason Parker (@north) found that flaws in court record systems used by five U.S. states were exposing sensitive legal documents.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/30/us-court-records-systems-vulnerabilities-exposed-sealed-documents/

Parker outlined the details of what he found here:
https://github.com/qwell/disorder-in-the-court

Kirkman, to twitter
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Another day, another way Tw/X is pushing spam and turning off users. ❌ πŸ‘Ž

Crypto groups pay to become "X Verified Organizations," which enables them to send unsolicited invites to random users to "get verified!" (by accepting affiliation with them).

That place is so exhausting. Wish real people would just jump over here en masse. (the bots can stay there)

Screenshot of a notification on the Twitter/X website about a crypto group's invitation for you "to get verified."
Screenshot showing example tweets from the feed of a crypto group on Twitter/X.

Kirkman, to stlouis
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An expected tidal wave of Catholic school closures across St. Louis next month could evaporate as some pastors signal a willingness to keep struggling campuses open. πŸŽ’ β›ͺ

We look at the data ahead of upcoming decisions in the second phase of the Archdiocese's β€œAll Things New” downsizing plan.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/st-louis-unlikely-to-see-large-scale-closures-of-catholic-grade-schools/article_7435bed2-7f1e-11ee-93c5-b78d5f8d5a0d.html

textfiles, to random
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Kirkman,
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@textfiles Didn’t realize Dave Murray was on Good Morning America for a while. He was chief meteorologist at KTVI here in St. Louis for ages.

Kirkman, to journalism
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Come work with me!

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is looking to add a top-notch education reporter. πŸ“° 🏫

Learn more here:
https://us232.dayforcehcm.com/CandidatePortal/en-US/leeenterprises/Posting/View/23109

#journalismus #localjournalism #job #employment #newspaper #journalism #education #school #stl #stlouis

kirkman, to VintageOSes
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Besides Landon Dyer's blog, can anyone recommend good first-hand accounts by former Atarians of the initial days when the Tramiels took over #Atari?

#AtariST #Retrocomputing #VintageComputing #history

Kirkman,
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@vga256 @kirkman That’s right, I forgot. He doesn’t give too many details from that day/week, but there’s a little bit.

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