@chrisphin@mastodon.social
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chrisphin

@chrisphin@mastodon.social

Uses language suitable for miners rather than minors. Proud xennial. Podcasting, tech, publishing, ebikes, art and design, queer shit. (I did warn you about the language.) 🩷💜💙

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chrisphin, to random
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

God bless you, Glasgow. 😄

chrisphin, to random
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

Unsolicited recommendation for a hotel in central London. This is seconds from Tottenham Court Road, was a decent price, and just… everything I want, nothing I don’t. It’s cheap, I think, because it’s all subterranean, so no windows, but the bed’s comfy, its keyless entry via an app (smooth process, and you don’t even have to speak to anyone at reception 😄), and super-convenient. I’ll be back! https://www.zedwellhotels.com/tottenhamcourtroad

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@gedeonm Rightttt? I suspect it doesn’t appeal to everyone, but it absolutely scratches the itch for me. Simple, clean, natural, soft lighting. Click through for more pics!

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@gedeonm Ivory seems to have eaten my reply, or you might get two. Was okay in my room, there was a shelf and plug at the foot of the bed. Not ideal, but okay! And: the optional mirror light round the corner in the bathroom could act as a gentle nightlight if you’d like. (It doesn’t photograph well on iPhone. Looks more like the official pic irl.)

wonderofscience, to random
@wonderofscience@mastodon.social avatar

Timelapse of the Falkirk Wheel in action; the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world.

Video Credit: David Iliff / CC BY-SA 3.0
Further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkirk_Wheel

Timelapse video of the Falkirk Wheel, with its curved arms cradling water-filled gondolas rotating around a central axis, seamlessly raising and lowering vessels between the joining canals, all under an overcast sky that casts a soft glow on the wheel and the green landscape.

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@endali I live quite near the Falkirk Wheel and I’ve STILL never been. Do you know about the statue to the Kelpies? I think you’d like them and it!

danielpunkass, to random
@danielpunkass@mastodon.social avatar

Given the widespread reports of Apple ID problems, corroborated by articles in reputable publications, often by victims of the very problem, it's absurd that Apple's status page reflects no problems. There should be systemic change to prevent this: https://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@danielpunkass It’s also bad security practice. It affected me, so I checked the status page. If it had showed an error, I’d have been much happier knowing it was a legitimate bug, not a security compromise, and this is the behaviour I want big tech companies to train their users to expect. (But honestly the fact that they haven’t commented on it makes me think it WAS some kind of security issue, which may yet be ongoing. cc @glennf)

chrisphin, to random
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

This is definitely phishing, right?

chrisphin, to random
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

I’m getting much better at not self-censoring. If you’re my friend, you’re gonna get occasional lovebombings and a constant drip-drip-drip of memes and random thoughts from when you pop into my head and make me smile. Never be afraid to politely tell me to tone it down; I’d so much rather hear it from you than from the poisonous little voice in my head that tells me you’re tired of me.

mwichary, to random
@mwichary@mastodon.online avatar

What would you consider as the most recognizable bitmap fonts in tech history?

I’m imagining stuff like:

  • the arcade/Atari font
  • Chicago (Mac, then iPod)
  • VCR/video equipment fonts
  • Minecraft font
  • IBM PC fonts (MDA, VGA, stuff like that)
  • perhaps System font from Windows 3.x
  • Commodore 64, just because of the sheer popularity of the machine

What am I missing?

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chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@mwichary Agree! In Britain, for example, people of a certain age will respond to the Amstrad typeface (here shown in Locoscript).

girlonthenet, to random
@girlonthenet@mastodon.social avatar

My bf and I have been performing the important cultural work of ranking #ParksAndRec characters in order of hotness.

Poll in next post: did we get it right? (Comments and debate welcome)

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@girlonthenet Brandanowitz is a fuckboy. He should be bottom and I don’t mean sexually.

chrisphin, to random
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

God, I hate and love shit like this. (Paging @ianbetteridge) https://prelaunch.com/projects/byok-bring-your-own-keyboard-the-ultimate-tool-for-distraction-free-writing

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@flargh @jackbrewster @ianbetteridge It’s amusing to me that it’s not even cool and hipster and modern and e-ink. It’s just an ancient three-line LCD in a barely-better-than-3D-printed box. 😄😄

chrisphin, to Furry
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

Request that would be slightly weird anywhere except the fediverse:

Literally asking for a friend!

I have a friend who’s a phenomenal artist who might be interested in getting known for , especially for building a lil’ community that would let them do . What should I tell them to tempt them to Mastodon? Where should they be posting, what should they be doing? Who should they be following?

chrisphin, to random
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

“‘N’ is for neon”

Snapped this in passing today. I wanted to stop and play with the shutter speed so I didn’t get the strobing, but decided in retrospect that not only did I quite like the effect but that I also appreciated the reminder that sometimes photography can be about the narrative of taking a photo — at least for the photographer — rather than the technical excellence of the photo itself.

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

Also, the gorgeous sculpture of Paris in Perth art gallery has now moved from its position against the wall, all the better to appreciate his .

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@DJDarren I also giggle at the cheeky little glimpse I caught of Hermes as he flitted past some columns a couple of weeks ago.

chrisphin, to random
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

Weather was beautiful yesterday morning so I set up my desk in the garden to work for the first time this year.

By the time I got round to taking photos the sun had hidden behind clouds but still interesting to show, hopefully. I had my nice camera set up with my Elgato Prompter, which I use for calls.

Could see it even in bright sun! 😍 But the panel is orientated such that I couldn’t use polarising sunglasses. 😕 Had to fit an ND1000 filter when it was sunny since I love shooting wide open! 🌞

What the camera saw: me sitting in my garden in a dark pink corduroy jacket, with a blurred background. I have a lav mic clipped to my jacket and I’m wearing AirPods.

girlonthenet, to random
@girlonthenet@mastodon.social avatar

Not only did I manage an entire day and night of babysitting without tears, illness or injury, but when parents returned home the child - instead of playing on his tablet - was engaged in a wholesome and educational activity with me. He declared it ‘SO FUN!’

Piece of piss. Don’t know what you parents are moaning about.*

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@girlonthenet Parents DEPEND on knowing childfree people are taking advantage of being childfree, otherwise you’re just squandering the very opportunity we don’t have. 😉

craiggrannell, (edited ) to random
@craiggrannell@mastodon.social avatar

If nothing else, still writing for magazines forces discipline. I’m writing my next back page for Stuff, which has a strict 530-character limit per text block. The current edit is 720. Time to kill some darlings, so to speak.

EDIT 1: 583. So close! And now things get really difficult…

EDIT 2: 539. Eeeeeeeee.

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@craiggrannell Character counts ftw 😏

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@craiggrannell I can’t remember what the number was now, but I did some analysis before switching to character counts for my commissions… was that just for Tap!, or did I do it before that at MacFormat? Can’t remember. But anyway: character counts were significantly more accurate, unsurprisingly, and while they do require a tiny adjustment to, kinda, the pace of writing, they’re better for this reason!

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@craiggrannell Hahah, ‘prediction editor’; sounds like I was anticipating AI.

chrisphin, to random
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

I have an Elgato Key Light Air to my right to act as a fill light to balance the natural light to my left. I moved its position from one side of my main display to the other at lunchtime. Which do you prefer?

(No alt text because I don’t want to influence you. Will reply with alt text and commentary later! Both images are a selfie of me, a middle-aged, mostly-bald man with a mostly-white beard, in my home office, with subtle differences in lighting.)

image/jpeg

craiggrannell, (edited ) to retrogaming
@craiggrannell@mastodon.social avatar

EDIT: Thanks for the suggestions! All written and filed for tomorrow.

===

Any Amstrad CPC fans on here? What would be the five games you would HAVE to put on a list of the very best for the system? (I have my own ideas, but would love input from other people.)

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@craiggrannell God, I've no idea what I played back then, haha. Wouldn't even recognise the names!

jamesthomson, to random
@jamesthomson@mastodon.social avatar

When the local TARDIS regenerates from being a woman back into being a man again.

A police box labelled “Coffee Joe’s”

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@jamesthomson This seems like a downgrade in every reading.

chrisphin, to random
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

Absolutely skewered by the YouTube algo.

chrisphin,
@chrisphin@mastodon.social avatar

@twostraws Oh, yay! Isn't it??

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