@Mikal@sfba.social
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

Mikal

@Mikal@sfba.social

Interested in All Of The Things, which is probably why I follow you.

Things I do: #LandscapePhotography and #Protest #Photography, #paragliding, #StormChasing, #border and #HumanRights #activism.

Intellectual hobbies I watch from the sidelines: science, security/privacy, online sociality and general internet theorizing. My camera shoots fascists. Photos my own unless noted. Direct sharing photos: yay! Scraping: no.

You can write to me via my website, though Signal gets the quickest response.

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

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

What is the thing(s) that attracts you to a person romantically or otherwise?

Mikal,
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

@RickiTarr

Romantically speaking, do you mean "from across the room" or "after crossing the room and chatting for a while"?

"After chatting a while", which applies non-romantically as well: intelligence with kindness (arrogance is a turn off), a large range of interests and activities that only partially overlap with mine. Ideally some obsessive or professional specialty that I want to hear all about. Having a probing curiosity about the world (I usually get along with journalists and scientists, for example). Being, uh, "unconventional" or misfit or offbeat in some way (even if passing as normie).

"From across the room", romantically speaking: being fit, strong, thin-ish, having good posture, cute (to me), no makeup. Petite with dimples = im ded.

🤷‍♂️

lauren, to random
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org avatar

In a somehow fitting but still bizarre twist of fate, the exterior sequences of the notorious Nazi-oriented exploitation film "Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS" (1975) were filmed on the same POW camp set as the comedy Nazi-oriented TV series "Hogan's Heroes" in Culver City. While a comedy series about Nazis was controversial even then, it's clear that Mel Brook's original "The Producers" (1967) cleared a path for such endeavors.

The final sequence of Ilsa required the camp to burn to the ground. Since Heroes had ended production in 1971 and the set needed to be demolished anyway, it was set on fire to provide Ilsa with her dramatic exit.

Only here in L.A.

Mikal,
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

@lauren
I used to love Hogan's Heroes as a kid. Now, this makes me weirdly want to watch the Ilsa movie.

Mikal, to random
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

From last night. Humboldt County, CA, about 40°8' north latitude, so much further south than the NOAA map suggested. Glad I went out! That's local landmark Bear Butte just right of center.

Shot with a Canon 8-15mm f4 at 15mm, ISO 8000, 8 seconds, RAW, then cropped in Lightroom. Adjusting the highlight slider (way down) brought out more of the color, but I didn't otherwise enhance the colors as the camera saw them.

The "rays" and some pinks and greens were very visible to the naked eye, so it was super fun to watch. The camera picked up much more color. This and any others I post were shot as timelapses, but they'll take more work to edit.

seachanger, to Alaska
@seachanger@alaskan.social avatar

straight up blowing my mind in rn

Mikal,
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

@seachanger
Pics or it didn't happen ;-)

Mikal, to random
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

Northern California and the aurora is going off! Pics later...!

Mikal,
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

Giant sky-filling rays that are moving, with light colors. Very, very visible to the naked eye. I'm doing a time lapse with my DSLR and those pics look fabulous.

I saw it once in Northern British Columbia back in the '80s with waving sheets of color ripping across the sky. This is the closest I've ever seen to that. Completely did not expect it this far south.

Mikal,
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

This is so fucking coooooool!

I had been contemplating driving to someplace like maybe south of Mount Shasta so I would have that in the frame with the northern lights, but NOAA's map showed the aurora not being visible that far south. I went out on my rooftop this evening, snapped a couple long exposures, realized it looked kind of cool so I came up here on the ridge. And then it went OFF!

Mikal,
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

After a lull, the aurora is picking up again. My iPhone SE doesn't pick it up, so you'll have to wait till I process my DSLR pics. I have my second camera but feel a little sheepish at not bringing both tripods 🤦‍♂️ I really didn't expect much. 🤷‍♂️

Mikal,
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

Another big wave of pink rays!

Fuck. I'm not going to get any sleep tonight, am I?

Mikal,
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

It's so cool the way the light moves from one part of the sky to the next. Now it has shifted off to the east of north. It was way off to the west earlier.

Mikal,
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

Imagine this aurora event, but 30 years ago. Only a very few dedicated photographers would be getting photos and it would've taken a few days at least to get them processed and printed and put "online", had there been an online back then.

10 years ago DSLRs sensitive enough to record good aurora pics were fairly common, but expensive. Now, cell phones are good enough to take shareable photos.

So, because of the democratization of camera technology, we get to have this fun, global, real-time shared experience of a beautiful astronomical event.

Wonder what would Copernicus think of it all?

flexghost, to random
@flexghost@mastodon.social avatar

After the parasite, that feeds off brain activity, starved to death leaving only a black spot, RFK jr was asked for a comment:

“Sometimes duck with cheese can purple. Tartar baby staples. Vaccines bad.”

Mikal,
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

@flexghost
"Doctors find RFK Jr is a worm with a dead brain."

stefan, to accessibility
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online avatar

I was saving this for the upcoming one year anniversary of the Alt Text Hall of Fame in August, but I figured I'd share some thoughts on how the project started while it's getting a bit of attention.

https://stefanbohacek.com/blog/why-i-made-alt-text-hall-of-fame/

#AltTextHallOfFame #AltText #accessibility #a11y #BeAnAlly

Mikal,
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

@stefan

I never used alt text or realized its importance until joining the fediverse a year and a half ago. TBH, when I'm out in the street live-blogging an event, alt text can get a little tedious, so I keep it a bit more stripped down. But otherwise, it's become a standard part of posting and I like to make it fun when I can.

At the risk of too much shameless self-promotion, here are three of my best:

https://sfba.social/@Mikal/111602278454046589
https://sfba.social/@Mikal/111211394846370620
https://sfba.social/@Mikal/111902962063521099 (second image of the nun)

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

Welp, looks like the next global pandemic just dropped: https://www.etvbharat.com/en/!state/jharkhand-two-doctors-six-others-quarantined-amid-bird-flu-outbreak-in-ranchi-enn24042801155

Mikal,
@Mikal@sfba.social avatar

@cstross

"As soon as bird flu was confirmed, a series of actions took place under the guidelines mentioned in the Ministry of Animal Husbandry. The first action is a total ban on the sale and purchase of all birds in one kilometre radius of the epicentre."

This is India. Compare this to the US response so far with the outbreak in cattle.

big resigned sigh of doom

divya, to random
@divya@sfba.social avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    Mikal,
    @Mikal@sfba.social avatar

    @divya

    Or large sentient blobs of gel.

    Maybe the assumption was that they'd be so technologically advanced that they would be able to decipher this crude, primitive technology and reverse engineer a decoding machine 🤷‍♂️👽

    Mikal, to random
    @Mikal@sfba.social avatar

    Sharing misinformation or disinformation about only helps those who want to sow confusion. Can't verify? Don't share.

    The so called photo from Ohio State looks more like the cops with spotting scopes that the administration says it is.

    How many people with professional cameras and good telephoto lenses were there? Probably more than enough that "snipers" could be clearly and unambiguously documented.

    The clearly documented cop violence on the ground provides plenty of outrage material. No need to exaggerate risks.

    Mikal, to Flowers
    @Mikal@sfba.social avatar

    Carrizo Plain trip a week and a half ago. Spent the night so I could be there for storm clouds at dawn. Soda Lake and starlings. Being there for the nice light was worth miles and miles of liquid-snot mud on the road in.

    Mikal,
    @Mikal@sfba.social avatar

    This always happens... I go on a crazy adventure to shoot pictures and then it's weeks before I get to developing them. When I get back, there always seems to be something I was supposed to be doing instead of playing hooky with my camera 🤔 🤷‍♂️

    #priorities

    Mikal,
    @Mikal@sfba.social avatar

    Owl's Clover, Carrizo Plain. I caught the last few seconds of sunlight on this flower patch. This was shot with my 200mm. It's hard to figure out which flowers to focus on, especially since I was racing the last seconds — literally! — of light and had no time to fiddle around with a tripod for a longer exposure. This patch was off Elkton Road.

    Mikal,
    @Mikal@sfba.social avatar

    Enough Carrizo Plain pics for tonight. I'll try to post some more tomorrow.

    Mikal,
    @Mikal@sfba.social avatar

    Carrizo Plain, Soda Lake.

    Mikal,
    @Mikal@sfba.social avatar

    Carrizo Plain, about two weeks ago.

    Mikal, to wildflowers
    @Mikal@sfba.social avatar

    Owl clover got its eyes on you 👀

    Carrizo Plain last week. Purple owl clover (Castilleja exserta) has these funny "eyes" and sometimes they line up just right.

    This is an extreme digital crop, so it's a bit fuzzy, but I thought the eyes were cute.

    Mikal, to TeslaMotors
    @Mikal@sfba.social avatar

    Just saw my 2nd "wank panzer" (cyber truck) in the wild! It was parked in Santa Barbara, so I got to walk past it. Those things are huge! But really fucking ugly and stupid looking. As someone who has owned practical work trucks all their life, that thing is clearly for show. I felt kind of embarrassed for the owner.

    #WankPanzer #CyberTruck #WankTank

    AkaSci, (edited ) to random
    @AkaSci@fosstodon.org avatar

    Near miss between 2 satellites today at 608 km altitude - the derelict Russian satellite Cosmos 2221 and the operational but non-maneuverable NASA satellite TIMED, both in near-polar orbits.

    The close pass was expected but the actual distance of <20 meters at ~14 km/s relative velocity is sobering.

    LeoLabs estimates that a collision would have added between 2,500 and 7,500 debris fragments to LEO space, which currently has nearly 12,000 fragments.

    @AstroMigration
    https://blogs.nasa.gov/sunspot/2024/02/28/nasas-timed-spacecraft-passes-safely-by-satellite/
    1/n

    Mikal,
    @Mikal@sfba.social avatar

    @AkaSci

    I'm looking across this 40' room. It was that close. 😱

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