KelsonV

KelsonV, 9 months ago to nature

Interesting article from a local botanical garden where I like to go hiking (and taking photos!) about how they're adapting planting strategies to the changes in climate.

https://southcoastbotanicgarden.org/how-the-garden-is-adapting-to-our-wild-weather-changes-and-how-you-can-too/

#nature #gardening #climatechange #scbg

KelsonV, 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago) to web

New tech tip on my website!

Readable Email and Web Pages

It's 2024. If you're still designing websites or email like you would design an 8.5x11" promotional hand-out on a sheet of paper, you really haven't been paying attention to how people use the internet over the past decade.

https://hyperborea.org/tech-tips/readable-email/
#webDevelopment #css #usability #accessibility #howTo #techTips

KelsonV, 1 month ago to linux

Finally consolidated my notes on things I've done to get the #PineTab2 working (mostly) the way I want it to. Some gathered from the forums, some that I noticed and/or figured out myself.

https://hyperborea.org/tech-tips/pinetab2/

#Linux #Tablet #LXQt #arm64 #ArchLinux

KelsonV, 11 months ago to ai

Fascinating article comparing interactions with LLMs to interactions with a psychic doing cold readings, and how the same mechanisms that create the illusion of mind-reading for the audience can create the illusion of actual understanding, even for the people building the chatbots.

https://softwarecrisis.dev/letters/llmentalist/

#ai #llm (via metafilter)

KelsonV, 10 months ago to BadInternetBills

"For the last six months, EFF, our supporters, and dozens of other groups have been sounding the alarm about several #BadInternetBills that have been put forward in Congress. We’ve made it clear that these bills are terrible ideas, but Congress is now considering packaging them together—possibly into must-pass legislation."

@eff provides a brief explanation of each and (for those of us in the US) tools to contact your senators & representative:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/07/you-can-help-stop-these-bad-internet-bills

KelsonV, 7 months ago to GooglePlayDeals

New app review on my website!

PixelDroid
★★★★★

Optimized for photo sharing and viewing, works smoothly and integrates well with the system. FOSS, won't vacuum up your personal data.

https://hyperborea.org/reviews/apps/pixeldroid/
#apps #android #pixelfed #socialMedia #fediverse #floss #photography #review

KelsonV, 10 months ago to goodomens

Authorized #GoodOmens graphic novel, adapted by artist Colleen Doran, just went live on Kickstarter today!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dunmanifestin/good-omens

KelsonV, 10 months ago to random

Review of The Outer Worlds (so far) ★★★★★

Immersive space RPG that at once satirizes corporate control while asking you to make hard choices within it.

https://hyperborea.org/reviews/games/outer-worlds/

KelsonV, 3 months ago to ArtificialIntelligence

New post: Using Thunderbird to Move Email to a New Account

Thunderbird can move messages from one IMAP account to another. Just drag and drop! But Gmail makes it a bit more complicated.

https://hyperborea.org/tech-tips/thunderbird-gmail-move/
#computers #email #thunderbird #google #degoogling #gmail #howTo #techTips #defaang

KelsonV, 1 year ago to random

Question for #indieweb folks: I remember a discussion about a syndication model that describes one of the ways I handle social media and my own site. It's sort of a selective/curated #pesos.

I don't import all my posts, just the ones I feel worth preserving, and those often as first drafts. I'll expand, rework, or otherwise finalize the posts on my website.

I could swear I saw someone come up with a term for this model, but I can't remember what it was!

KelsonV, 8 months ago to random

Insightful and (ironically) gut-punching post from @Catvalente on the way we -- as humans in general -- think about pain.

"The idea that pain is punishment is at the core of humanity's nasty little habit of turning its back on itself and we've been doing that for quite some time now. For all of the time, really."

https://open.substack.com/pub/catvalente/p/pain-is-not-a-penance

KelsonV, 11 months ago to random

No locator beacon. Bolts on the outside.

How meta is it that someone skimped on safety features on a sub designed to visit the Titanic, which famously skimped on safety features (like lifeboats) because they figured they wouldn't need them?

https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/20/23766998/oceangate-titanic-submersible-tour-logitech-f710

KelsonV, 6 months ago to nature

New hiking trail review on my website!

Prickly Pear Trail at Alta Vicente Reserve
★★★★☆

Short loop with some steep sections. Lots of cactus. (Keep your balance!) Nice views of the ocean and Point Vicente Lighthouse.

https://hyperborea.org/reviews/places/prickly-pear/
#places #nature #hiking #canyon #cactus #PalosVerdesPeninsula #ocean #coast #review #california

A promonotory, roughly triangular or trapezoidal, with the ocean beyond it and a road curving along the near side, separating it from dry brown grass and low green scrub. The point is lined with bushes and dotted with palm trees. A handful of low white buildings with red roofs are scattered around, and a narrow lighthouse tower is just visible next to one of the palm trees.
A hill runs diagonally downward to the right, with low bushes nearby. In the middle distance is an expanse of green grass. Beyond it: several coves and promonitories with seaside cliffs, with a gentle hill sloping up to the left, the dark blue ocean looking calm below an empty blue sky.

KelsonV, 7 months ago to Halloween

Nightmare Before Christmas - inspired mosaic made from pumpkins and squash sets Guinness World Record
https://www.hampshirelive.news/news/hampshire-news/southampton-farms-tim-burton-inspired-8849950

#halloween #NightmareBeforeChristmas #mosaic #pumpkins

KelsonV, 10 months ago to hiking

Our Trail is Better With Our Free Ap!

Found a place to hike this morning that was only in the 80s instead of hotter, and was greeted by this sign at the trailhead.

(Also: several signs warning about how much poison oak and stinging nettle is in the area, with photos to help you avoid touching them.)

#apps #hiking #maps #signs

Original: https://hyperborea.org/journal/2023/08/trail-ap/

KelsonV, 11 months ago (edited 11 months ago) to random

Are there any apps that use the #MastodonAPI that let you look at a list of your follows and add them to specific #lists as you go down the line, without opening each profile one at a time?

I'm trying to set up lists on my #GoToSocial instance now that it supports them, but I'm already following enough people over there that it's going to be a pain to either open all the profiles one by one or keep another window open so I can search for them one by one.

KelsonV, 7 months ago to tv

New TV review on my website!

Star Trek: Picard - Season Three
★★☆☆☆

If season one was like The Last Jedi, this is The Rise of Skywalker, complete with gratuitously resurrected villains, young characters freaking out about their genetics, a family/found family theme that only sort of makes sense, and a galactic-level threat that can only be defeated by taking out that one resurrected villain.

https://hyperborea.org/reviews/tv/picard-s3/
#tv #starTrek #scienceFiction #space #review

KelsonV, 1 month ago to random

I've (mostly) moved to my standalone @gotosocial server at @kelson

Unfortunately follower migration doesn't seem to have finished. I'll try again after the 30-day cooldown period.

If you want to see what I'm up to these days, feel free to jump over and follow my new account sooner!

KelsonV, 7 months ago to science

Study observes plant communication via volatile compounds absorbed through stomata.

https://wapo.st/3tMVpZs

#science #plants #biology #botany #communication

KelsonV, 8 months ago to random

Um...what?

Stolen Van Gogh piece is returned in a bloody pillowcase inside an Ikea bag
https://wapo.st/3rcifZQ

KelsonV, 8 months ago to linux

Tech tip: On Linux, you can easily get the current date in ISO 8601 format, suitable for plugging into, say, HTML metadata, or an Eleventy template, using the command line:

date -Is

That's a capital I (as in ISO) and a lower-case s (as in seconds).

Result: 2023-10-08T17:11:36-07:00

https://hyperborea.org/tech-tips/isodate/

#linux #date #timestamp #iso8601 #iso

KelsonV, 20 days ago to mastodon

I'm mostly at my standalone GoToSocial server these days. I tried migrating this account again, and this time I figured out the problem: I'd misconfigured my server's proxy settings and everything was getting rate limited.

So next time it should finish - but I have to wait another 29 days for the cooldown. Meanwhile, if you'd like to see what I'm up to lately, feel free to follow me at @kelson

#AccountMigration #GoToSocial #Mastodon

KelsonV, 1 year ago to books

This should be awesome: official (and "ineffable") #GoodOmens graphic novel adaptation by #ColleenDoran, based on the original #TerryPratchett / #NeilGaiman novel!

I've been a fan of Doran's art for years, and of course the book is a classic!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dunmanifestin/good-omens

#books #comics

KelsonV, 11 months ago to random

I think there's a lot of talking past each other on privacy because there are so many layers.

Google or Dropbox keeping your cloud files from showing up on someone else's drive or a public share is one layer.

Keeping your data from leaking in a data breach is another.

Google & Meta are good at those.

But then there's ensuring that Google or Meta doesn't misuse it themselves, or sell it to someone who will.

And that's a whole other issue!

KelsonV, 1 month ago to random

ugh, how did I not notice that typo until now