john

john, 1 month ago to random

Does anybody know if there’s a traditional composite material that behaves something like fibreglass? As in fibre/fabric laid up in a binder of some sort to make a stiff material in arbitrary forms.

Paper mache is one but it’s too weak (I think, maybe there's a super version?). I'm considering things like cotton or flax in casein glue or pine resin... but I doubt it will work.

(And my last casein glue experiment stunk like rotten milk for weeks!)

#maker #makers #LowTech

john, 10 months ago to threads

Having read and participated in the #Threads defederation debate, and I’ve noticed that there are two quite different projects going on in the #Fediverse, and they don't have the same goals.

The first is about creating a social network that is a nicer or safer place to be. A place with far less trolling, harassment, and fewer dickheads.

The project has has pretty much achieved its goals. Why federate with Threads? It will just bring threadheads causing trouble. Growth is not important.

1/5

john, 6 months ago to StableDiffusion

I cannot get good results out of #StableDiffusion.

“A fox crossing a residential street. The fox has a human face. There are autumn leaves on the ground, terraced houses in the the background, and a slight mist.”

It's just ignoring most of my prompt (as well as really struggling with what foxes look like). I've tried many iterations and variations, they're all like this.

A street in a autumnal park. There isn’t even a fox in this one, and no houses.
A three legged fox with no torso standing on a road in an autumnal park. It hasn’t got a human face and there are no houses in the background.
Some sort of shrunken fox-adjacent thing on a road in an autumnal park. No human face, no houses in the background.

john, 6 months ago to ai

Can somebody please get an AI image generator to generate a fox with a human face or head for me?

The other way around is really easy and does not count.

#AI #StableDiffusion #DALLE #Midjourney

john, 6 months ago to ai

Browsing the #AI tag from here is depressing. Has anyone got any recommendations of people to follow with a more positive take?

Especially people building #OpenSource models and tools?

john, 6 months ago to random

I just got this water bottle has smelly thing on top that is meant to trick you into thinking you’re drinking >flavour<, when really you're just smelling it.

Ask me anything!

john, 10 months ago to android

Trying out some #Android #Mastodon clients. I dont think they are as good as the iOS ones, in general. Of course, this could just be my Apple-way bias, but switching between timelines and lists is way clunkier, for example.

Megalodon is the one I like best so far. If you're on Android, what's your favourite app?

john, 10 months ago to random

Over the weekend, I had a hankering to play some old games that only run on my old Intel Mac laptop. I plugged it in and it wouldn’t charge or turn on. Oh well, it’s 10 years old and that’s the way it goes sometimes.

Just now, my M1 Mac Mini just turned off and will not turn on again. My backup laptop is dead, so the newest working computer I have is now a G4 Cube, from 2001. Good enough? Will I be able to access Mastodon on it? 🤔😉

john, 10 months ago to random

What’s the smallest #rocket that could reach low-earth orbit, with current technology? No payload.

john, 3 months ago to random

The #spamapocalypse is real! Mastodon needs some sort of shared spamlist option. I mean, we can ban all these accounts at Sauropods.win, but, wow, it would be so much better if they were gone once the first trusted server banned them.

john, 10 months ago to twitter

I tweeted (to in theory 10,000 people) about how being on #Twitter is now directly funding people like Andrew Tate.

It has no likes. Why don’t people like being told they are bad and should feel bad. So strange. 🤷‍♂️🤔

john, 1 month ago to blender

I need some tech advice: I have some .usdz files I made of my grandfather’s wood carvings, and I'd like to put them online.

The javascript USDz viewers are making my head hurt, and maybe I should be using a different format anyway. Is there a standard way of doing this?

#3d #photogrammetry #urgNodeJSJustWhy #CantIJustImportAFile #WhyIGottaNPMitMakesMeCry

john, 10 months ago to random

I have only just recently looked up what the difference is between a federation and a confederation: roughly, in a confederation membership is voluntary, whereas in a federation it is not.

The Fediverse is actually a confederacy…

I don’t know why I am telling you this.

john, 10 months ago to random

We’ve been travelling by train instead of flying, and this article this article backs up what I’ve experienced, that it is 2-4x more expensive to travel by train than plane.

The Greenpeace director of policy says this is because of fuel taxes, but that just can’t be the whole story. Anybody know what’s going on?

I worry trains are not as environmentally friendly as portrayed.

https://news.sky.com/story/trains-to-europe-may-be-better-for-the-climate-but-theyre-four-times-more-expensive-than-flying-12924080

john, 1 month ago to random

When I’m browsing artist's bios, I see #NoAI a lot, but there's still a lot number with #NoNFT. It's been an exhausting couple of years, huh?

On the other hand, NFTs turned out to be a bunch of nothing in the end, and I feel like just ignoring the whole thing would have worked.

I feel like maybe this is true of AI ‘art’. It's boring. It doesn't even need a backlash.

john, 11 months ago to art

Enough of this meta Meta social media stuff from me today. I'm an artist and I really ought to be posting art. Here's a gouache #painting of some trees I did 23 years ago, when I was 19. There are more of these and I'm gonna toot them.

#art

john, 6 months ago (edited 6 months ago) to ai

The current generation of #AI is:

john, 10 months ago to random

Halfway on my 50 mile (ish) #cycle trip to Southend-on-Sea. Electrics make this quite a bit easier.

#bikes

john, 1 month ago to art

Are abstract paintings more like writing without words, or songs without lyrics?

#art #painting #abstraction

john, 10 months ago to random

It’s pretty funny to see people complaining that there are now, like, three (three!) microblogging platforms to choose from.

The choice is impossible, I can’t keep track of them! I only spend a couple of hours every day on these things, how much time can you reasonably expect me to devote to choosing? Can’t we just go back to one, where I had a huge, inflated follower count?

Back in my day, kids, (although a lot of these people are my age or older) we had forums. And there were THOUSANDS.

john, 1 month ago to iPad

So they've made the new #iPad Pro thinner. Great, because that's what I've always thought, you know this thing isn't bendy enough.

Urg, Apple plz.

john, 4 months ago to random

I miss wired headphones.

That's it. That's the toot.

john, 10 months ago to twitter

For those with #Twitter accounts, now is the time to get over there and remind people about #Mastodon.

#X

john, 1 month ago to random

Somebody stop me registering this hilarious domain name for a project I'm not really ever going to do... please?

#ImJohnAndIHAveADomainProblem #domains

john, 10 months ago to academia

Sometimes I wonder why academics aren't stampeding from corporate social media to Mastodon, and then I remember: these are the same people that give corporations their work for free to be sold back to them at extortionate prices, and then measure their value on how often they do that.

Political geniuses they are not.

#academia #politics #Mastodon