@bmac@jawns.club
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bmac

@bmac@jawns.club

Technical writer, editor, speaker, manager, currently freelancing as MacDonald Editorial. Former DigitialOcean, Pragmatic, O'Reilly. Philly native. Likely to get nerdy about Lego, roller coasters, Doctor Who, Marvel.

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bmac, to random
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Happy International LEGO Day! Since Lego is a Danish company, they're technically all "international" to me, but I'll be celebrating by cracking open my new Himeji Castle set, which is properly international. I already built the Great Wall and Sungnyemun sets to prep a "Southeast Asia (historic)" display. My wife is working on the Tranquil Garden set to go along with her Bonsai.

The Lego Tranquil Garden set. It depicts a traditional Japanese garden, with a tea house, a small stream with a bridge, a shrine, and a variety of blooming plants, all built in Lego.

bmac,
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I haven't posted "in process" photos of a Lego build in a long time, mostly because I think they're kinda boring. But let me see if I can highlight differences for those who haven't built a set since they were kids.

First, the parts come in numbered bags now. That speeds up the build process considerably, which is a mixed blessing. But you can always dump out several bags at once if you really want.

Lego says they'll replace the plastic bags with paper, but I haven't seen it yet.

bmac,
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I decided to do this build one bag at a time, because it provides convenient stopping points. I kinda zen out when I'm building, and I could finish this set in a day or two, which I think is too quick.

Since the Architecture line started, most sets have a black base a couple of plates thick, with a one stud wide tile border. There's usually a plate with the building's name. In this case, there are two, Japanese and English. Classy, but not much to look at.

bmac,
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The process of sorting Lego (or anything, I guess) is called "knolling," I'm told. I don't always sort completely; it depends on my mood. I always remove large plates and such, so tiny pieces aren't hiding underneath. Today, though, I thought it was relaxing to sort all the parts from this bag.

My wife has a different sorting method. She prefers to pull out all the tiniest pieces first, as those are the ones you're most likely to have to hunt for.

bmac,
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Another thing you might be surprised by if you haven't built a set in years is the "extras." Lego provides extra copies of the smallest parts, in case you lose some. When they first appeared in sets, they felt like "cheating," somehow, but if you've ever lost a green 1x1 plate on a green carpet, you may understand. It does lead new adult builders to think they did something wrong, when they find pieces left over.

Which means you have to store the extras somehow. I use a labeled baggie.

bmac,
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Any set built at a scale smaller than a Lego minifigure is considered "microscale," no matter what the exact scale is. Because sets for adults tend to be display models, they're usually microscale.
Which means you can't really have any architectural feature smaller than one stud. Unless you use "jumper" plates, which have a stud offset by one half a stud width. If you stack jumper plates, you can get a tiny staircase like this.

bmac,
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Lego hinges aren't anything new, but they've not just for doors. In this case, a concealed hinge creates a gently sloping lawn.

There are a lot more specialized parts than when I was a kid, which some have lamented as limiting creativity. But the unusual ways those parts get used to create realistic and organic models seems super creative to me.

bmac,
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The Architecture sets, because they're at microscale, don't usually have much interior detail, if any. However, the manual notes that in this case, they built the support structure from brown and white beams to mimic the interior of the real building.

That's gonna be it for today. Don't want to get too deep into the build yet.

bmac,
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This set continues to impress as I get a little further. The extensive use of jumpers, the odd angles, it's amazing. And although this is pretty big for a Lego model, the accuracy seems great at this scale. At least as far as I can tell by comparing with Google Maps.

A close-up of the Lego Himeji Castle set in progress. Specifically, the section of the model that depicts the Bizen Gate and the "Chi" Gate.

bmac,
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This set is continuing with the interior details that you'll never see once the outside is finished. I have no idea what the actual interior of the castle looks like, so I'll choose to believe this is accurate.

bmac,
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Some more pieces you may not have seen before. The 1x2 jumper plate goes back to the 1970s, but the 2x2 jumper is more recent, and the 2x4 jumper even more so. I've never seen this many used at once before, but the goal is to allow the next level of the castle to be offset by half a stud.

bmac,
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The two pieces on the left here are also new. From the beginning, Lego plates have always been one-third the height of a brick, so you stack three plates if you need to build something level with a brick. However, these new ones are the height of two plates, or 2/3s of a brick.

In the past, you would have achieved the same thing by stacking two 1x1 plates, so I'm not really sure why this piece was developed now, after all this time, but I've seen a lot of them the past couple of years.

jacobydave, to random
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@WuMargaret Yeah, I've been there. Twice, maybe. IIRC. The line is that, fully going, it could run a hair drier (IIRC), but it's crucial experience for the NE people.

https://mastodon.xyz/@todayilearned@noc.social/111817384132977704

bmac,
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@jacobydave @WuMargaret When I was at Penn State, I learned that the Breazale Nuclear Reactor is the oldest operating reactor in the U.S. It seemed to me that "our reactor is really old!" isn't necessarily something to brag about.
Never actually saw it, but we did used to joke that it was directly connected to the one clothes drier that always scorched your laundry.

Meyerweb, to random
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For my first meal in ~48 hours, broiled flank steak with homemade shepherd’s pie. A glorious return.

(Why so long without a meal? Let’s just say I’m confirmed to be polyp-free.)

bmac,
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@Bam @Meyerweb For my turn, I wasn't looking forward to the prep, but at least I was able to do Gatorade instead of any chalky nasty stuff. But by...I dunno, somewhere around 2 in the morning...I never wanted to taste Gatorade again.

bmac, to random
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Cat: I wish to sit on your lap now.
Me: That's nice, but I'm typing, and I need to...
Cat: Now. Please assume the position.
Me: <sighs, puts feet up on desk> Like this?
Cat: Slightly too high. Fix it.
Me: <shifts around, lowering lap about half an inch>
Cat: Great. <jumps>
Me: Is this going to be one of those times you jump down abruptly after two minutes, or one where you fall asleep for an hour? Because I have a meeting soon...
Cat: I guess we'll find out together.

bmac, to random
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Hey, Apple, it may astonish you to know this, but I own precisely zero Apple devices. I wouldn't even have an Apple ID at all if it hadn't been the only way to make required OS updates on my old work laptop (which I no longer have).

So when I try to log in to AppleTV to manage my subscription, and you send a 2FA message to "my devices," that doesn't do anything. How about asking first?

You can include "What kind of peasant doesn't own an iPhone?" in the message if you want. That's OK.

yurnidiot, to random
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bmac,
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@chrisjrn @josh Hmm. Looks like a No Limits 2 simulation. As far as I can tell, that's an original creation, rather than a model of anything that exists. Looks like Bolliger & Mabillard track and supports, though, so it's probably a fairly smooth ride for the hamster. 😀

b0rk, to random
@b0rk@jvns.ca avatar

thinking about going to maybe 1 programming conference in the next year or two but I'm not sure what would be fun.

some past conferences I've enjoyed that cover a big range of topics and aren't corporate: Strange Loop, PyCon, Deconstruct, !!Con.

one thing I especially appreciated about strange loop was that I got to meet some Black people there, usually the conferences I've been to are very white

bmac,
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@b0rk Strange Loop was awesome for a number of reasons, and diversity was a big one. Alex and the team really put in the work to make it more friendly.

You might want to take a look at KCDC. I've only been once, last year, but I enjoyed it. It's also in roughly the same geographical area as Strange Loop.

It's more specialized, but you might also enjoy Write the Docs. It's a whole different vibe to most tech confs, and I bet a lot of people there would love to talk with you.

bmac, to random
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, I am headin' your way!

... From Philly, so it's gonna be a while before I get there.

phphil, to random
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I'll feel young as long as I can just drop to the floor. Not even talking about the physical ability only, but also the mental aspect of being able to just do it.

bmac,
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@phphil As a middle-aged person, can I get some clarification on this?

Like, just drop prone without injury?
Or is it OK to sink slowly to the floor?
Do I have to be able to spring back up without using my hands?
Most important, what's your view on making noises while doing any of the above?

bmac, to random
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It's the time of year when I acknowledge that I'm probably not going to ride any more roller coasters before January 1, so it's time for my annual stats:

  • 58 new credits (bringing my total to 240)
  • 9 new parks
  • 2 of those in new countries (Australia and Canada)
  • 3 new additions to my Top 10 (Iron Gwazi, Time Traveler, Wildcat's Revenge)
  • 3 new additions to my Bottom 10
  • Rode the oldest roller coaster in the world
  • Rode Dragon Mountain at Marine World, a strange experience.

Not bad.

bmac, to random
@bmac@jawns.club avatar

Me: Wanna play with a string?
Cat: Yeah! String! We haven't done this in a while.
Me: It's moving around! You're gonna have to jump to get it.
Cat: I am an agile panther, raar! <jump>
Me: Nice! Try that again!
Cat: <flomp>
Me: Um, lying on your back and waiting for me to bring the string to you isn't really how this game works.
Cat: Pretty sure YOU asked ME to play, so this is how it works.
Me: I feel like your panther ancestors would be disappointed.
Cat: I feel like I don't care.

RyunoKi, to random
@RyunoKi@layer8.space avatar

Idea for a new gummy candy:

Dinosours.

bmac,
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bmac, to random
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Cat: I like the crunchy food best.
Me: I know you do. But the soft food is better for you.
Cat: Counterpoint: I like the crunchy food best.
Me: Sorry, not a convincing argument.
Cat: Then I shall stare balefully at this soft food until it obeys my wishes and becomes crunchy food.
Me: Let me know how that goes.

bmac, to random
@bmac@jawns.club avatar

Me: I will pet the cat on her head!
Cat: <ducks out of the way> Hey! You know that's not how this works.
Me: <sighs, presents fingers for sniffing>
Cat: Identity accepted. You may proceed with scritches.
Me: I'm pretty sure other cat owners don't have to log in to their cats before petting them.

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