chrisphin

chrisphin, 5 days ago to random

Why THE FUCK would you advertise a feature that skeevy men use to violate the boundaries and equanimity of women and other vulnerable people using a grab that feels exactly like an example of that? Like, I’m not making the argument that DMs are bad and shouldn’t exist (in this post), but why apparently lean into their worst feature??

chrisphin, 9 days ago to random

Good morning ☁️

chrisphin, 22 days ago to random

God bless you, Glasgow. 😄

chrisphin, 27 days ago to random

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, 1 month ago to random

This is definitely phishing, right?

chrisphin, 1 month ago to random

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.

chrisphin, 1 month ago to random

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, 1 month ago to Furry

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 #furry #porn, especially for building a lil’ community that would let them do #commissions. 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, 1 month ago to random

“‘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, 1 month ago to random

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.

chrisphin, 1 month ago to random

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

chrisphin, 1 month ago to random

Parents: we’re experimenting with a prepaid debit card for our kid (8).

✓ My wife and I can manage her account as co-parents
✓ Relatives can be given access to top up her account
✓ We can create a gift link for, eg, birthdays
✓ …set limits, and get notifications when she spends
✓ …set up recurring pocket money or give money for tasks

× It supports Apple Pay but we can’t add it to her phone till she’s 13

Referral link (first month free, plus £10 free pocket money): https://www.gohenry.com/uk/referrals/?ght=RAF&utm_campaign=refer_a_friend_A&utm_source=activityMA#ref_act_goAT20449_Yu

chrisphin, 1 month ago to random

My daughter asked me jokingly the other day “Why are all your friends trans?” and as I went to correct her a little mental subroutine kicked in unbidden and teletyped out an inventory. It’s definitely not absolutely true, but without me realising it, over the last few years a good chunk of the folks I actively maintain friendships with are somewhere under the trans or gnc umbrella. Says more about society than me, but I’m happy they’re here, and delighted they’re my friends! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

chrisphin, 2 months ago to random

Always love clocking the juxtaposition of the oil rigs (here for service and decommissioning) and the uprights for the wind turbines (being assembled here to be take out to the North Sea for installation). The past and future of energy production in one scene.

chrisphin, 2 months ago to random

chrisphin, 2 months ago to random

TikTokkers handholding lav mics make my teeth itch. Hate it. Hate, hate, hate. Clip it to your damned clothes.

(PS this is me trying to flush out of the woodwork people who will defend this practice with things I haven't thought about that will make complete sense.)

chrisphin, 2 months ago to random

Early night as early start. Going to bed with Terry Pratchett as I have most nights for decades. #GNUTerryPratchet

chrisphin, 2 months ago to random

Did you guys know that there's literally nothing stopping you buying a retail pack of Mega Double Lollies? Except maybe shame? But I have no shame? Or self-control?

chrisphin, 2 months ago to random

A while ago my wife introduced me to Stand In Pride, where queer people can find stand-in family members for support and indeed often for big life events — when their biological families don’t show up. And so it came to pass that a couple of weeks ago I had the singular honour of walking Taylor down the aisle to marry Ruth. Family is what you make it. Love endures. Join me in wishing them a long and happy life together! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

A group shot of the wedding party on a staircase. Taylor’s wife is wearing a kilt in red, with a black jacket, and they’re kissing; other people are arrayed behind them in formal wear. Everyone’s smiling. 😊

chrisphin, 2 months ago to random

It’s interesting watching a post ‘go viral’ on Masto. It’s such an odd phrase. When we’re operating under algorithmic control, what it really means is that the algo has seen some Value™ in it, and is surfacing it to other people. And that value is to IT, to drive Engagement®.

Here, as in Ye Olde Twittere, it’s when people see value in it to THEM, and manually boost. 🤔

(This post, btw: https://mastodon.social/@chrisphin/112019703667269320)

chrisphin, 3 months ago to random

You should be warned if you don’t already know it that Oglaf is often utter filth¹ but it’s also funny as hell, and this one made me giggle: https://www.oglaf.com/gratitude-journal/

¹ “You say that like it’s a bad thing…”

chrisphin, 3 months ago to Typography

Type and design nerds! I’m considering commissioning¹ a queer² lettering artist or typographer to set a slogan³ – link me to beautiful work!

(Boosts would be awesome, and feel free to recommend yourself!)

¹ I hope to crowdfund their fee
² My definition is incredibly broad; if the artist self-identifies as queer, that’s all I need
³ Probably in a hand-drawn way rather than using fonts, but I’m open; to be used on t-shirts/stickers

#typography #design #lettering #HandLettering #calligraphy

chrisphin, 3 months ago to random

A bit of shameless old-school social media froth for you: what is the biscuit¹ that, when you eat it, you’re like “omg, I totally forgot how good these are; why don’t we have these all the time‽” 🍪

¹ We’re safe, lads; the Yanks are barely awake

chrisphin, 3 months ago to random

Went on a date with my wife! To a restaurant! This never happens! It was great! It’s almost like I love her and she’s my best friend in the whole world!

My wife holding a Corona and waving at the camera.
A selection of tacos.

chrisphin, 3 months ago to random

It’s possible to think these two things are true at the same time: ① It helps everyone to add alt text to images, and except in very rare circumstances should you ever post images without alt text, and ② Ugh, I just wanna throw out a post and cba writing alt text 😩

② doesn’t trump ① but I think it’s good for the soul to recognise that both are valid. Anyway…