MichaelPorter

MichaelPorter, 19 hours ago to Astronomy

Holy, freakin’… words fail me. I’ve never seen the aurora forecast blanket the country like this. Keep your eyes on the skies this weekend!!

More info:
https://spaceweather.com

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/aurora-viewline-tonight-and-tomorrow-night-experimental

#Astronomy #StarGazing #Aurora

MichaelPorter, 21 hours ago to Teachers

Just visited the school I retired from four years ago to say hi and check out the new renovations.

Whiteboards everywhere!

(er, sorry, “vertical non-permanent surfaces“)

While I appreciate the philosophy of getting the kids up and working things out for themselves, I’m really wondering about the massive amounts of plastic waste in the form of depleted whiteboard markers. Personally, I hated whiteboards when it was mostly just me using one, because I was constantly running out of markers. I can’t imagine how they cope now that all the students are using them, as well.

This is clearly an “out of sight, out of mind” issue for most folks, and I’m sure the petroplastics industry is totally fine with finding new ways to make money. But it’s incredibly shortsighted.

I know all about the drawbacks of chalk, but those inconveniences seem pretty minimal compared to the waste generated by whiteboards.

Is there a third low-tech option out there that allows for fine detail (so no drawing in sand 😄) without the waste? Why did people stop using chalkboards? The dust?

#Teachers #EduTooters

stephanie, 23 hours ago to random

A robin and a squirrel are both running around in the backyard in the rain. So cute. Eat well, my tiny friends

drahardja, 1 day ago to apple

I reflexively cringed when I saw this ad. Not only is it wasteful, the message sent across appears to be that Apple literally crushes all the things you like to make the new iPad.

Tone-deaf.

#apple #iPad #advertising

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntjkwIXWtrc

grivettcarnac, 1 day ago (edited 1 day ago) to Ottawa

Well update on the government side of the job hunt… did a horrid 3-hr exam on Monday in which the person who wrote the job description did not talk to the person who wrote the exam. So that was a fucking amazing stressful waste of time (probably).

Next Monday I get another 2-day exam at 8;30AM and… a 2-hr exam at 9 AM from a difference department the same day. So will get the 2-hr exam out of the way and do the 2-day exam after 😩 #ottawa #jobs

RickiTarr, 2 days ago to random

You're not in the way, your body isn't taking up too much space. There is no normal, average is just the space between all the possibilities. You don't need to make yourself invisible, smaller, or less, because you don't meet some ridiculous criteria.

internic, 2 days ago to mastodon

Just noticing that it looks like the @arstechnica account stopped posting here about a month ago. #Mastodon

astro_jcm, 3 days ago to random

I mean, it can be an emergency!

RickiTarr, 3 days ago (edited 3 days ago) to random

Listen kids, when two people love each other very much, one person will lay flat on their back while the other person does The Worm on them. This is how babies are made. Please do The Worm responsibly!

maxleibman, 4 days ago to random

Blocking somebody? Baller move. You’re in charge of your account. You decide who has access to you.

Telling someone, “I’m blocking you for that!” immediately before blocking them? Baby move. Your dysfunctional obsession with getting the last word in is showing.

MichaelPorter, 4 days ago to random

I love these guys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq-dchJPXGA

lauren, 4 days ago (edited 4 days ago) to random

"GIF" - Choose One.

ottaross, 4 days ago to random

Supper tonight, taking the easy way out and doing hot beef sandwiches.

It's that common dish elsewhere? A hot beef sandwich drowned in gravy?

It's a classic Canadian roadside or service station restaurant meal. Often it's an unattractive whole plate of beige food, if you get them with French fries. lol

We'll be a bit healthier and do it with fresh green beans. A real comfort food vibe tho.

#whatsForSupper? #supper

stefan, 4 days ago to accessibility

Not trying to call out anyone in particular, I see a lot of people doing this, but I'm really curious and would like to understand this better.

Folks who use vague alt text with your images ("a funny book cover", "photo of me outside"), what is your thought process? Is the image description intended for sighted people? Or maybe your admin made alt text mandatory? Or maybe that really does seem sufficient.

#accessibility #a11y #AltText #ImageDescription

MichaelPorter, 5 days ago to Astronomy

It’s dark where I am, and the stars are placed very favorably* to check out Corona Borealis (the Northern Crown) to see if the nova at T Coronae Borealis has erupted yet. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see a naked-eye recurrent nova.

(*Haha, just kidding, it's cloudy of course)

I made a little movie to show where the nova should appear, at roughly the anticipated brightness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_Coronae_Borealis
https://www.astronomy.com/observing/how-to-see-t-coronae-borealis-the-brightest-nova-of-the-generation/

#Astronomy #StarGazing #Nova

Animation of the star field including the Big Dipper, Boötes, and Corona Borealis. The first part of the animation shows the constellations, H.A Rey-style. The location of the nova is to the left of Corona Borealis, and is shown by a star flicking on and off. (The actual nova will be the star flicking on for a few days, and then will flick off, going dark for another 80 years) The second part of the animation shows the same thing, but without the connecting lines for the constellations.

GrimmReality, 5 days ago to random

Aw, one of the off-brand streaming services just recommended Lois & Clark to me and it's just so cute that standard tv algorithms haven't yet accounted for the fact that viewers may not want to bask in the gauzy nostalgia of a show where the lead actor went on to become an actual neo-Nazi.

stephanie, 5 days ago to Ottawa

Remic Rapids Bistro is open!! First bike ride of the season I think! My ebike battery stayed surprisingly charged.
#ottawa

MichaelPorter, 6 days ago to ontario

#Ontario and #CyberSecurity folks - My friend just got an email thanking her for getting vaccinated, with a link to click to access her vaccine certificate. She hasn't been vaccinated lately, so my alarm bells are ringing.

The link to click goes to the domain awstrack.me, which does not look like a legit domain for this kind of thing. On the other hand, the email is addressed to her personally (i.e. there is a salutation that uses her real name), with a minor capitalization typo that was in the definitely-legit emails she recevied previously. Those previous emails also have a link to click that goes to the TLD awstrack.me.

"awstrack” makes me think Amazon Web Services are involved, but that particular TLD is registered in Luxembourg, if I read the whois entry correctly. Why would our provincial health service be routing sensitive information through a European domain?

I suspected that maybe someone got vaccinated recently, and the OHIP number was entered wrong. But my friend checked the portal, and her last vax recorded was in last year, as expected.

ottaross, 8 days ago (edited 7 days ago) to random

Product details on product listing for a 48-pack of batteries:

Batteries: 48 required (included)

Turns out you can't operate your batteries without some batteries, but we'll help you out and include some with the product.

the_etrain, 8 days ago to random

I forget if SaaS means sausage as a service, or software as a sausage.

grivettcarnac, 9 days ago to Ottawa

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