TechLifeWeb

Exploring the digital life
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Photos
  • Notes
  • Digital Garden
  • View of the Pacific Ocean with the words Share Your World in the foreground
    Picture of Scott Kingery
    Scott Kingery
    email: techlifeweb@duck.com



    Systems Analyst. Exploring the digital life. #NASASocial alum. Fan: Padres, Seahawks, craft beer. #MoreSignalLessNoise


    🚀via @sb

    Original Mastodon Post

    A few years ago I #degoogled my life by finding replacements for each and every one of the MANY google services and products I became reliant on over the years. I was spending around $30/m on their cloud products both for application development and personal use (Drive, Calendar, Mail etc.).

    In just a few weeks I transitioned to a #selfHosted #nextcloud and haven't looked back. It handles my files, calendars, email, documents, backups, contacts and more - more than google even. A built in #WebDAV server allows you to sync your note apps like #joplin and #obsidian.

    For #android users there's a wonderful app on #fdroid called #DAVx5 by @davx5@fosstodon.org, which allows you to auto sync your contacts & calendars. It works a treat. Really, this was just a long-winded way to give a shout-out to DavX5 for the great app! I only think about it when I change servers or phones, and that's a complement!


    🚀via @ellane

    Original Mastodon Post

    Cat-themed illustration of what it’s like to add new-new shiny-shinies to your #PKM, and test / admire them from every possible angle — instead of getting on with catching mice / the work you should actually be doing

    Here's the link coz it looks like the quote post isn't working: mas.to/@markarayner/1123053431

    #productivity #obsidian #apps

    From: @markarayner
    mas.to/@markarayner@mas.to@mas

    Obsidian


    Obsidian is an excellent tool for capturing and organizing your notes in markdown format. Here are some tips for using Obsidian.md/

    Obsidian Tasks Custom Statuses


    Earlier this evening I was trying to figure out if I could have Obsidian Tasks community plugin https://github.com/obsidian-tasks-group/obsidian-tasks alongside checklists. The Tasks plugin is nice for many reasons. One being that it prompts you with some values to help you set due dates and also automatically records when you complete a task. You can turn off the default stamping of completion dates but I find it handy.

    In my mind, a checklist doesn't really need a date completed. Let's take a Packing List as an example. If I mark the "Shirts" item as done that merely indicates to me that the item is in my bag I have no reason to have a date on there.

    The solution to this is custom statuses in Obsidian Tasks.

    Screenshot of Obsidian Custom Statuses

    In Obsidian Tasks settings you can set all kinds of custom statuses. Here I have set 2 of them. What this allows is for me to create a note and put in the markdown something like:

    - [?] Shirts
    - [?] Socks
    - [?] Jeans
    

    When I click on one of the list entries, it fills the check box with 'o'. In other words, lets say I've packed my Shirts and Socks, the list would look like:

    - [o] Shirts
    - [o] Socks
    - [?] Jeans
    

    The advantage here is that the way I have these states set up in the settings, neither one is a 'DONE' state to the Tasks Plugin. Thus, we don't get the date stamp. Exactly what I want for this purpose.

    Here's the non-markdown view of the above:

    Screenshot of Obsidian packing list checklist

    Happy list making in Obsidian! Obsidian Notes


    Posted:

    "Trying to figure a way for Tasks and checklists to coexist in Obsidian. The Tasks plugin is handy because when you mark things complete it adds a date. There are reasons I like this. However, there are times when I might want a check list (e.g., Packing LIst) where I wouldn't care about the completion date just that the item is in my bag. #Obsidian @obsidianmd"

    Bookmarklets I use all the time


    These are bookmarklets. You can click on the link and drag it into your browser bookmark bar. When you use these bookmarklets, they open a dialog box you can copy and paste from. I chose that method because it should work in most browsers and operating systems.

    Copy link and highlights This bookmarklet will grab the title of the current web page, the URL to the page and anything you highilight on the page. It then opens a dialog box in your browser that you can copy out of and paste anywhere you like.

    Bookmarklet: Grab link to this page

    The code:

    javascript:(function() {var currentUrl = window.location.href;var strippedUrl = currentUrl.split('?%27)[0];  void(prompt("Copy the text below and paste where ever you want to save your link:", " "+document.title+" %27"+window.getSelection().toString()+"%27"))})();
    

    Indieweb: PESOS syndication link PESOS - IndieWeb 'PESOS is an acronym for Publish Elsewhere, Syndicate (to your) Own Site. It's a syndication model where publishing starts by posting to a 3rd party service, then using infrastructure (e.g. feeds, Micropub, webhooks) to create an archive copy on your site.' This bookmarklet is part of that infrastructure. Highlight the text of the page your are on, click the bookmarklet and it will format a syndication link that you can then copy and paste into a page on your site. Bookmarklet: PESOS

    javascript:void(prompt("To make an Indieweb PESOS link of this post\ncopy the code below and paste it to a new entry on your site:", "  '"+window.getSelection().toString()+"'"))
    


    Pro tip: When you are done configuring your home router, open the web interface and go through each section. Take screenshots and paste them in to Obsidian or your PKM system of choice. Maybe even go as far as making a note as to why you set something the way you did. You'll thank me later. #Obsidian #pkm

    Pi-hole Notes and Links


    nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf
    
    interface wlan0
    static_routers=192.168.1.1
    static domain_name_servers=1.1.1.1
    inform ip_address=192.168.1.225/24
    

    Your Mobile Phone's Email Address


    Did you know your mobile phone has an email address? Just send an email to your phone number@your provider.

    Example: you are on T-Mobile with a phone number of 213-555-1212 you send to 2135551212@tmomail.net

    Here are the common carrier email addresses. Also, some carriers like Mint Mobile use the major carriers services. in this case, I know Mint uses T-Mobile.

    Provider Domain
    Alltel @message.alltel.com
    Amp'd @vtext.com
    Boost @myboostmobile.com
    AT&T @txt.att.net
    Metrocall @page.metrocall.com
    Nextel @messaging.nextel.com
    Sprint @messaging.sprintpcs.com
    T-Mobile @tmomail.net
    US Cellular @mms.uscc.net
    Verizon @vtext.com
    Virgin (USA) @vmobl.com
    Windstream @windstream.net

    Miscellanea

    Miscellanea


    Movie Notes (warning: spoilers)


    Unsubscribing to basically everything. A handfull of things were blocked by ublock origin when I tried to unsubscribe and one had the worst catcha ever. Up next, ctrl+a+del the whole inbox. Good riddance to bad rubbish. #email


    Email clients, web or otherwise, need an abiility to be able to just keep the latest. If I get this week's newsletter, I don't need last week's. I don't care whether I've read it or not, just nuke it or archive it 'cause I ain't got time to go back and read it. #email


    Saturday thoughts: The Kindle paperwhite would be such a nice read-later device if you could access things like Omnivore or Pocket. Yes, there are e-ink Android devices and that is tempting but along with Android comes all the other distractions that you avoid with a read-centric device. #kindle #omnivore


    Boosted:

    Microsoft will end support for its Android subsystem in Windows 11 on March 5, 2025, and consequently, for the Amazon Appstore on Windows as well (Tom Warren/The Verge)

    https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/5/24091370/microsoft-windows-11-android-apps-end-of-support http://www.techmeme.com/240305/p23#a24030


    Boosted:

    Found 2 fantastic #RSS tools.

    Firstly, an RSS search engine. Quite literally. It finds blogs and stuff with RSS feeds and is amazing for finding new #IndieWeb blogs to try https://feedle.world/

    The second is a tool that displays RSS feeds that your Mastodon/Fediverse network share! https://rss-is-dead.lol/

    Insta360 Camera Notes



    I must have missed something. I thought Teslas were expensive and hard to get? I was at Costco the other day and you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Tesla. #Tesla


    Boosted:

    I’m delighted to announce that today I’m launching a new nonprofit journalism studio: Proof News. 

    Proof is into proving things! Our goal is to question, test, and investigate the most important issues of our time. We will always tell you what we know and what we don’t know.

    https://www.proofnews.org/

    Useful Windows Utilities


    Old School


    Today I learned that Los Angeles is getting a 12th area code! 738 will be an overlay of 213 and 323 with will be out of prefixes in June 2025.

    How to remove a string from file names with a batch file


    This example code will remove a string called "mysting" from all the files in C:\Users\thisuser\Downloads

    @echo off
    SetLocal ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSION
    set codepath=%~dp0
    cd "%codepath%"
    
    ::Set the folder that you want to loop through
    set foldertocheck=C:\Users\thisuser\Downloads
    ::Set the string you want ot remove from the file names
    set stringtoremove=mystring
    
    FOR %%G IN ("%foldertocheck%\*.*") DO (
        set filename="%%~nG%%~xG"
        set filename=!filename:%stringtoremove%=!
        REM Rename only if there is a difference between new filename and old filename in %%G
        IF NOT !filename! == "%%~nG%%~xG" ren "%%~G" !filename!
    )
    

    Windows Batch File Examples

    Batch script for resetting OneDrive


    @echo off
    echo Clearing caches...
    For /R "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\OfficeFileCache" %%i IN (*.*) do (
    	del "%%i"
    )
    %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset
    timeout 3
    start %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe
    echo onedrive has been reset
    pause
    

    Windows Batch File Examples <% tp.file.cursor(1) %>

    Insta360 X3 Camera Settings


    • Insta360 X3 The BEST Settings - YouTube

      • Let's summarise the most important statements:
        • Only use Single Lens Mode if you  don't want to reframe your shot or  if the lighting conditions are very uneven.
        • Set video resolution to 5.7K
          • higher resolution means higher details
        • Set frame rate to 30 frames per second
          • higher framerate means higher stabilization
        • Set bitrate to high
          • stores more information about your video
        • In the capture settings,  I would make the following changes:
          • Color: Standard Or log, if you are  editing your shot
          • e.V. to -0.5.
        • Set sharpness to medium or low
          • makes things look more cinematic
        • In low light, expose manually and use a shutter  of 1/50 and an ISO of 400 or 800 maximum.
        • You should always reduce the sharpness to  medium and if you edit your clips even to low.
    • When exporting, choose highest resolution and bitrate

    Insta360 Camera Notes


    Sometimes you just have to put on Zepplin's Black Dog and crank it to 11 https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=XIiu0JI3I5g&feature=shared #music


    Looks like #Microsoft rotated the host keys on their #Azure SFTP server. Not sure what's up with that but if you have any automations they may be breaking if you have the old keys in there. Niche post of the day, ha!


    Just like the #NFL playoffs, I'll be posting about the game on Mastodon because TweX has lost it. End of an era. Enjoy the game, all. #SFvsKC #NFL #SB58 #NFLOnMastodon #SuperBowl #SuperBowlLVIII @nfl@a.gup.pe

    Mastodon tips and tricks


    • Tips
    • Apps
      • Elk (PWA) - Elk is a Progressive Web App (PWA) meaning that is runs in a browser and can be "installed" on any device that a modern browser runs on.
      • Phanpy - Phanpy is another Progressive Web App (PWA) that is a refreshing new take on how to present a social feed to a user. One of the main things it does different is the way it presents Boosts. It lets you follow accounts that boost a lot with out overwhelming the rest of your feed.
      • Tusky (Android) 'Tusky is a lightweight client for Mastodon, a free and open-source social network server. It supports all Mastodon features, like photos, videos, lists, custom emojis and is designed according to material guidelines.'
    • RSS


    flowchart TD;
        id1([Start with Manual Mode])-->id2(Set ISO 100 );
        id2-->id3{Is camera in motion?};
        id3--NO-->id4(Set shuter speed 2xFPS);
        id3--MODERATE-->id5(Set shuter speed 4xFPS);
        id3--EXTREME-->id6(Set shuter speed 8xFPS);
        id4-->id7([Base settings]);
        id5-->id7;
        id6-->id7;
        id7-->id8{Is video too bright?};
        id8--YES-->id9(Increase shutter speed 1 step);
        id9-->id8;
        id8--NO-->id10{Is video too dark?};
        id10--NO-->id13([Perfect! Go take some video]);
        id10--YES-->id11{Is ISO set to 400?};
        id11--YES-->id14([Too dark to film]);
        id11--NO-->id12(Increase ISO 1 step);
        id12-->id8;
        
        
    

    ISO
    Lower = darker; less noise
    Higher = brighter; more noise

    Shutter Speed
    Lower = brighter more motion blur
    Highere = darker less motion blur

    Insta360 Camera Notes

    Photography and Video



    Posted:

    "Anyone use #Obsidian tasks for keeping track of things assigned to other people? Using Tasks plugin or Dataview it's easy to get them all together but how would you keep track of who is doing what because they'd jumble in with your own tasks. I guess you could develop a naming convention like "[ ] Name: Task Assigned". If anyone has insights, I'd be interested to hear. @obsidianmd"

    List Everything Obsidian Dataview Can See on a Page


    If you have the Dataview Plugin installed in your Obsidian Vault, you can use this snippet of code to list all the fields and their value that dataview can see. This helps in programming Dataview queries because it helps you understand the structure of the page.

    Put the following in a dataviewjs block

    $= dv.span(dv.current())
    

    Here is an example of the result of that code: Image showing the result of the dataview code being run

    tags: Obsidian

    Templater code for daily note navigation


    I use the Templater plugin for my daily notes because I like to have it laid out in a certain structure every day. This is the code I use at the top of the template that template.

    prev: [[<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD", -1, tp.file.title, "YYYY-MM-DD") %>]] next: [[<% tp.date.now("YYYY-MM-DD", 1, tp.file.title, "YYYY-MM-DD") %>]]
    

    Here is the result of that code: Image showing the result of the templater code being run

    YYYY-MM-DD is how I name all my daily notes. It's simple. I date every note i make and include a link back to the daily note with a simple link were I only have to know today's date. For example, today I'd just do [[2024-01-06]]

    tag: Obsidian

    How to photograph the moon


    • Camera Mode: Set your camera mode to full Manual Mode.
    • ISO: Set your ISO to 100 if you have a Canon DSLR and to 200 if you have a Nikon DSLR (basically, whatever base ISO you have in your camera). For most other brands, the base ISO is also 100. If you have a point and shoot camera, see if you can find a menu setting to set your ISO to 100. Make sure “Auto ISO” is turned Off.
    • Aperture: Set your aperture to f/11.
    • Shutter Speed: Set your shutter speed to 1/125 on cameras with base ISO 100, and to 1/250 on Nikon DSLRs with base ISO 200.
    • Lens Focus: Set your lens to manual focus (either through a switch on the lens or on the camera) and set your focus to infinity. Be careful while setting the focus to infinity, as some lenses allow focusing beyond infinity. On more advanced DSLRs such as Nikon D300, there is a handy feature called “live-view with contrast detect”, which can accurately acquire focus on distant objects. I have used it many times for my moon photography and it works great! If you do not have such a feature in your camera, then try setting your lens to the center of the infinity sign, then take a picture and see if it came out sharp by zooming in the rear LCD of the camera.

    tags: Photography and Video

    Note on The Perfect Photography Wokflow


    Youtube- The Perfect Photography Workflow

    Notes from the video

    • Gear
      • SanDisk SSD
      • 14" MacBook Pro
      • 11" M1 Ipad Pro
    • Software
      • Lightroom CC
      • Affinity Photo
      • Apple Photos Library
      • Unfold on the iPhone
    • Library
      • 4 main categories
        • Travel
          • by continent
            • by country
        • Clients
          • by name of client
            • type of shoot
              • date
        • People
        • Random
          • thumbnails and random website phoots
      • Keywords
        • be specific with your keywords
      • Star ratings
      • Shooting, importing, culling
        • have multiple cards so if you lose one you didn't lose everything
        • Import to a nonsyncing folder
        • go through each one and delete the ones you don't need
        • Editing 3 stages
          • Check each one quickly and delete ones you dont like and multiples you didn't delete in the last step
          • Edit in more detail
          • Come back after an hour or day and fo through the edits and keep or delete
      • Exporting and Sharing
        • Export biggest and best these go to apple photos library for later sharing to instagram
        • Pick out some of the best best and store at half size for uploading to your website
      • Backup
        • You have things in Apple already but you now want on SSD
          • Carbon copy of Lightroom catalog
          • 3 folders for each album
            • RAW meaning original photos off camera
            • DNG Lightroom edit
            • Final JPG

    tags: Photography and Video

    My Essential AutoHotkey Script


    I may use others keys but this is the script I start with:

    #NoEnv  ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
    SendMode Input  ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
    SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%  ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.
    ;
    #t:: Winset, Alwaysontop, , A ; WindowsKey + t will toggle the window to always stay on top or not
    ;
    ; typing the letters td and a space inserts todays date in the proper sortable format like 2024-02-01
    ::td::
    SendInput %A_YYYY%-%A_MM%-%A_DD%{Space}
    return
    ;
    ; typing tdt and a space inserts todays date and time in the proper sortable format like 2024-02-01T1738 
    ::tdt::
    SendInput %A_YYYY%-%A_MM%-%A_DD%T%A_Hour%%A_Min%{Space}
    return
    ;
    ; typing doo and as space inserts the proper ToDo Syntax for Obsidian
    ::doo::
    SendInput -{Space}[{Space}]{Space}
    return
    

    tags: Windows Utilities

    11ty Notes and Links


    Notes and links that relate to 11ty: Eleventy, a simpler static site generator

    How to get started with 11ty: https://www.11ty.dev/docs/getting-started/

    A Complete Guide to Building a Blog with Eleventy https://cfjedimaster.github.io/eleventy-blog-guide/guide.html

    Has a nice series that was very helpful for me to get me started with 11ty. YouTube: Eleventy Crash Course #1 - Setting up a new 11ty project, creating Layouts, using Nunjucks templates - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzM5lETc6Sg&list=PLtLXFsdHI8JTwScHvB924dY3PNwNJjjuW

    YouTube: Build an 11ty Site in 3 Minutes - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKdQEXqfFA0

    Formatting dates nicely in 11ty with Luxon | Al Power https://www.alpower.com/blog/formatting-dates-in-eleventy

    Notes on getting things set up

    node Node.js — Download ''

    Run the following commands. This installs 11ty, the luxon date formatter and the rss plugin

    npm init -y
    npm install --save-dev @11ty/eleventy
    npm install luxon --save-dev
    npm install @11ty/eleventy-plugin-rss --save-dev
    

    Create these folders

    md src
    md src\assets
    md src\css
    md src\_includes
    md src\_includes\components
    md src\_includes\layouts
    md _site
    

    Create an .eleventy.js file and add the following

    module.exports = function(eleventyConfig) {
        eleventyConfig.addPassthroughCopy("src/assets");
        eleventyConfig.addPassthroughCopy("src/css/");
    
        eleventyConfig.addWatchTarget("src/css/");
      
        return {
            dir: {
                input: 'src',
                includes: '_includes',
                output: '_site',  
            },
        templateFormats: ['md','njk','html'],
        markdownTemplateEngine: 'njk',
        htmlTmeplateEngine: 'njk',
        dataTemplateEngine: 'njk',
        };
    }
    


    Anyone using Phanpy for #Mastodon? It's a refreshing take on how to present a social feed. You can follow frequent reposters without cluttering up your stream. Also, a Progressive Web App (PWA) meaning it runs in a browser so works essentially everywhere and nothing to get from some app store. Give it a try! https://phanpy.social/#/


    Boeing, not Spirit, mis-installed piece that blew off Alaska MAX 9 jet, industry source says | The Seattle Times https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boeing-not-spirit-mis-installed-piece-that-blew-off-alaska-max-9-jet/ 'The self-described Boeing insider said company records show four bolts that prevent the door plug from sliding up off the door frame stop pads that take the pressurization loads in flight, “were not installed when Boeing delivered the airplane.” the whistleblower stated. “Our own records reflect this.”' #boeing #aviation


    Boosted:

    Obsidian's annual Gems of the Year winners for 2023 have been announced, and the Best Tool is something called Quartz that I've been meaning to try for a full year now. Well, I decided it was about time to learn it and... it's pretty amazing. It's a free, open-source static site generator that happens to be really good at turning #obsidian notes into a public site that is more easily shared. https://youtu.be/6s6DT1yN4dw


    SEC confirms X account was hacked in SIM swapping attack https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/sec-confirms-x-account-was-hacked-in-sim-swapping-attack/?is=7954b7f440cecfd9b9243ddbaab5414f1d380add504b8c010e47738f0c1bfbda "In SIM swapping attacks, threat actors trick a victim's wireless carrier into porting a customer's phone number to a device under the attacker's control. This allows all texts and phone calls sent to the device to be retrieved by the hackers, including password reset links and one-time passcodes for multi-factor authentication (MFA)." #infosec


    Finished "Mexican Gothic" I agree with The Guardian when they said "after a slow-burn start Mexican Gothic gets seriously weird.” Let's just say strange things are afoot at High Place. https://amzn.to/3u3eIye #booktodon


    Boosted:

    I took some time to work out the exact #formatting that #Elasticsearch demands. If you think this might be useful, go ahead and boost. If you find any errors or would like to suggest additions, please also post a reply!

    Hopefully this can help prevent a lot of frustration and trouble people might encounter and give them a better Mastodon experience!

    (Updated to Revision 2)


    Boosted:

    Did you know you can easily search through your own Mastodon posts?

    Just include from:me in the search field.

    Instead of this, you can include in:library to show posts you have interacted with or written yourself.

    If you want to search through posts of a specific user, include from:username (the full username, including the instance)


    If your Obsidian vault is loading slowly, especially on mobile, follow the tips here. If you can copy and paste you can get this up and running. Basically it allows you to choose how quickly certain plugins load. I does take a little experimentation but I have found it to be very useful in the short time I've had it set up: https://medium.com/obsidian-observer/improve-obsidian-startup-time-on-older-devices-with-the-faststart-script-70a6c590309f #Obsidian @obsidianmd@a.gup.pe


    Posted:

    If your team is out and you want to just root by who was last in the Super Bowl, here you go

    AFC CLE-0 HOU-0 MIA-1985 BUF-1993 PIT-2010 BAL-2012 KC-2023

    NFC DET-0 DAL-1995 GB-2010 SF-2019 LA-2021 TB-2020 PHI-2022


    Finished "Before the Coffee Gets Cold" last night. Really enjoyed the writing and the story. I look forward to picking up the next book in the series! #Booktodon

    Cover of the book called Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu  Kawaguchi


    My site has morphed over time. Used to self-host Wordpress and now 11ty. I'm updating again to add a side section for a digital garden. I haven't exactly figured out how I'm going to use but it will be good to have a spot where I can put things that aren't "blog-y" and it has been a fun little New Year project. Plus, all the kids are building Digital Gardens these days 😎 #indieweb #digitalgarden


    What is the current state of the #Threads #ActivityPub implementation? Do Threads users have to do anything on their side to show up on ActivityPub streams?


    Flipboard on the fediverse: how the company is rebuilding with ActivityPub and Mastodon - The Verge https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/18/24006062/flipboard-fediverse-mastodon-activitypub-profiles-social '“Basically, we’re in the process of replacing our whole social back-end with ActivityPub,” says Flipboard CEO Mike McCue. “I think Flipboard is going to be the first mainstream consumer service that existed in a walled garden that switches over to ActivityPub.”'


    New #obsidian group in the Fediverse! I've created @obsidianfans@chirp.social so all you have to do is follow that account on Mastodon or wherever and then when you post, mention @obsidianfans@chirp.social and your post will be sent to the group.


    I was goofin with Bing's AI image creator and had it "Create an engineering drawing of a turbo encabulator transmission that would not only supply inverse reactive current for use in unilateral phase detractors, but would also be capable of automatically synchronizing cardinal grammeters." If you don't get the reference, watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac7G7xOG2Ag"AI generated Turbo Encabulator


    New #sandiegopadres group in the Fediverse! I've created @sdpadresfans@chirp.social so all you have to do is follow that account on Mastodon or wherever and then when you post, mention @sdpadresfans@chirp.social and your post will be sent to the group. Hey, it's winter, what else am I going to do?


    I have an old Windows tablet (Asus T102H) I'm thinking of putting #Linux on. Are there any recommended distros? Would need to be as tablet friendly as possible (touch, screen rotation). Needs wifi, bluetooth I don't care about for this.


    Tesla Will Sue for $50K If You Try to Resell Your Cybertruck in the First Year https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-sue-cybertruck-buyers-they-resell-in-first-year-2023-11 From their Motor Vehicle Order Agreement: '"Tesla may seek injunctive relief to prevent the transfer of title of the Vehicle or demand liquidated damages from you in the amount of $50,000 or the value received as consideration for the sale or transfer, whichever is greater. Tesla may also refuse to sell you any future vehicles," it says.'


    I was browsing with Brave browsser and it happend to load Brave.com to show me about new features. I noticed it blocked 2 trackers. What's up with that, Brave? Are you just trying to prove it works?? #privacy #infosec Screenshot showing Brave blocked 2 trackers on brave.com


    Then the major yelled "Fall Back!" and the soldiers dropped to a knee. Not only was baseball season over, so was Daylight Savings. With a tear in their eye, they wound back their watches.


    Anyone have any good #Windows utilities for the moving, zipping, unzipping and possibly sFTP up and downloading? I've cobbled together many scripts over the years but it's time to see what else is out there.


    I was playing with #Obsidian for #genealogy. The Breadcrumbs plugin is promising because you can do ascending and decending representations of peole-notes. The one drawback is a "parent" makes children siblings. So even if children have the same mother and different fathers they appear as siblings in Breadcrumbs. So close.


    There's a flaw in cURL? Not good. | Patches Prepared for 'Probably Worst' cURL Vulnerability - SecurityWeek https://www.securityweek.com/patches-prepared-for-probably-worst-curl-vulnerability/ "“We are cutting the release cycle short and will release curl 8.4.0 on October 11, including fixes for a severity HIGH CVE and one severity LOW. The one rated HIGH is probably the worst curl security flaw in a long time,” the maintainers note in an advisory." #infosec


    Considering moving away from BridgyFed back to native Mastodon. Maybe just use Bridgy for posts like this that I make from my site and post it to my Mastodon account. Thought about hosting my own Mastodon instance but thats more work than I want to do for seemingly little gain. #indieweb


    Boosted:

    Okay, this is ridiculous. The NYT is recommending Cascade somehow as the best dishwasher detergent. The last two people who serviced our (now 15-year-old) beloved and very quiet Miele dishwasher said don't ever put that crap in your machine.

    We used the exact same pods recommended by NYT and it made our dishwasher stink and it didn't get things clean.

    My wife ended up making a homemade version that uses mostly natural stuff plus a pinch of something like Oxyclean. Best detergent ever used, and that's all we use now.

    In case anyone is interested, here's the recipe:

    DIY Dishwasher Detergent YIELD: 4 1/2 CUPS / 2.2 LB (ENOUGH FOR 36 LOADS OF DISHES)

    1 cup / 225 g super washing soda (sodium carbonate) 1 cup / 225 g powdered oxygen bleach (sodium percarbonate) 1/4 cup / 62 g table salt (sodium chloride) 50 drops lemon essential oil 12 drops peppermint essential oil 10 drops lavender essential oil

    Washing soda and oxygen bleach are skin sensitizing. I recommend wearing nitrile gloves while you prepare this DIY and washing your hands afterward.

    Mix dry ingredients. Add washing soda, powdered oxygen bleach, and table salt into a large, non-metallic mixing bowl. Whisk to combine.

    Add essential oils and stir until everything is thoroughly combined.

    The essential oils will accumulate in small clusters at first. Keep stirring to break them apart. Transfer the detergent powder into an airtight glass jar or storing container. Store sealed in a dry place, protected from moisture. Use about 2 tablespoons per load.


    https://tantek.com/2023/234/t1/threads-supports-indieweb-rel-me

    Seems like it wouldn't be that hard to add to all their products while they're at it.

    Reply to:

    Threads.net now supports the #indieWeb #microformats #openStandard rel-me for distributed ✅ verification!^1 (supported since 2023-08-09) My Threads profile already had my domain since it was created from my Instagram profile. View source on https://www.threads.net/@tantek and you can see the #relMe on a link tag: Instructions to add yours: * Add your domain to your Threads profile "Link" field. That’s it. Longer explicit steps: https://indieweb.org/rel-me#Threads Thanks especially to @timothychambers.net (@tchambers@indieweb.social, @timothyjchambers@threads.net) for requesting rel-me s...tal building blocks which are disproportionately helpful as Tim says. These small building blocks which directly enable user features are usually something a web developer can code at least some (often complete!) support for in one day/night which makes them particularly appealing as a way to rapidly support open #socialWeb standards used by the #fediverse and beyond. Incrementally implementing microformats & IndieWeb standards^4 also demonstrates good will and good intentions for supporting the #openWeb. This is day 44 of #100DaysOfIndieWeb. #100Days ← Day 43: https://tantek.com/2023/171/t1/anniversaries-microformats-posse → 🔮 Previously: * 2023-02-01 Wikipedia.org supports multiple rel=me links: https://tantek.com/2023/139/t1/wikipedia-supports-indieweb-rel-me ^1 https://www.threads.net/@mosseri/post/Cvu2eXurRbB ^2 https://www.threads.net/@timothyjchambers/post/CupCvChAxI8 ^3 https://www.threads.net/@0xjessel/post/Cvu7-A4viZu ^4 https://spec.indieweb.org/ - Tantek


    Oh that's interesting. I didn't know you needed an account on X to view the content now. I wasn't logged in, clicked the link to someones profile and couldn't get to it unless I logged in. Tweetdeck and now this? The enshittification continues at an alarming rate.


    Everyone here in San Diego getting all panic-y about Hurricane Hillary. I'm not looking foward either but I'm really concerned for baja. It's going to get flattened and I hope there are preparations underway down there. #SanDiego #HurricaneHillary


    Boosted:

    I bet my girlfriend that this picture of our cats could get 10 billion boosts on Mastodon.

    She said she doesn't believe me. She said there's only 13 million accounts on Mastodon. She said there aren't even 10 billion people on Earth. She said it concerns her that I struggle so hard to comprehend large numbers.

    Let's prove her wrong everyone. Boost away and show her just how awesome the Mastodon community is.


    Boosted:

    The thing is that #RSS is the best. Social media sites don't like RSS because it breeds independence. Which is exactly why #creators should be using and *promoting* RSS. You can whine about the #algorithm or you can work on freeing your self from its clutches.


    Boosted:

    Hello to all our new followers!

    We are an open source and ethical alternative to Instagram powered by ActivityPub federation, and compatible with Mastodon and many others!

    Find a community to join: https://pixelfed.org/servers

    Get the App: https://pixelfed.org/mobile-apps

    Help spread the word


    Boosted:

    For #Newstodon and #FollowFriday, let's share our favorite publications in the #fediverse. Here's just a few of ours: @damemagazine @themarkup @Chron @TheConversationUS @gbhnews @TucsonSentinel @thexylom @insideclimatenews @FAIR @grist

    How about yours?

    #news #journalism


    Boosted:

    Deep learning model can steal data by listening to keystrokes with 95% accuracy - A team of UK researchers has trained a deep learning model to interpret keystrokes... - https://thenextweb.com/news/deep-learning-steal-data-ai-keystrokes #startupsandtechnology #governmentandpolicy #dataandsecurity


    Boosted:

    Intel GPU drivers now collect telemetry data on "which types of websites you visit, which Intel says are dumped into 30 categories and logged without URLs or information that identifies you, including how long and how often you visit certain types of sites". It also snitches details on your computer *and* "other devices in your environment", as well as "how you use your computer" (no clarification provided).


    Boosted:

    It was as if Clark County, #Ohio set out to prove why this election was all about.

    #Issue1 was defeated there by ONE VOTE. Under current rules, that’s decisive for NO. Had it been under terms of raised threshold, that woulda meant NO victory for NO


    Boosted:

    When Nichelle Nichols told Gene Roddenberry that she wanted to quit #StarTrek he begged her to sleep on it.

    That night she met Martin Luther King Jr. and he told her she simply could not quit.

    “Gene Roddenberry has opened a door for the world to see us. If you leave, that door can be closed."

    She went back in on monday and stayed a part of the franchise.

    When NASA realized it was a sausage party they recruited her to spearhead their diversity program and she brought countless women and people of color into the space program.

    After filming her first season of Star Trek Discovery, Sonequa Martin-Green met Nichelle on the red carpet premier and tried to tell her how hard she had worked not to let her or the franchise down.

    Nichelle pulled her in close and whispered "Take care. This is yours now."

    One year and one week and one day ago she left us mortals. but the changes and progress she helped make will always be with us.


    Boosted:

    Are Libraries the Future of Media?

    Fantastically innovative and great work from Kate Harloe at Popula, building on the ideas of @victorpickard @libraryfutures and other visionaries

    A Must Read

    #journalism #libraries #albany #communities #cities #media

    https://popula.com/2023/08/07/are-libr


    Boosted:

    Cool that #BBC has a #mastodon server now.

    “The principles of the #Fediverse, with an emphasis on local control, quality content, and social value, are far more aligned with our public purposes than those of avowedly commercial networks like #Threads or #Twitter.”

    Bravo BBC!

    Some accounts:

    @BBCRD @BBC5Live @BBCRadio4 @BBCTaster @Connected_Studio @BBC_News_Labs

    #media #journalism #ethics #UK


    Boosted:

    So openAI seems to be changing their web crawler names dynamically to get around people’s robots.txt files.

    Sure seems like malicious intent to me…

    (Here’s where real quote posting would come in handy…)

    https://pleroma.envs.net/objects/b4232


    Boosted:

    Introducing Betula v1.0.0!

    Betula is a self-hosted single-user bookmarking software. Organize your collection with tags. Write descriptions and quotes. #IndieWeb microformats are produced.

    Among changes:

    1. Bookmarklet

    2. Searching

    3. Built-in documentation

    4. Custom CSS

    Full notes: https://betula.mycorrhiza.wiki/v1.0.0.html

    If you were delaying Betula installation, now is the perfect time!


    Boosted:

    Scientists from #NASAHarvest are monitoring the situation, with the goal of developing tools based on satellite data to quickly assess how growing conditions and the war in Ukraine are affecting global food supplies. https://go.nasa.gov/3Yh4rt2 #NASAEarth


    Lon has the word on all the ridiculous moves the broadcasters are trying to pull with NextGenTV. I'm still pissed about ClearQAM going away and this is way worse. | ATSC 3 DRM Encryption is Worse Than We Thought! https://youtu.be/0NhV5BdEWqo #savefreetv #NextGenTV


    Google's New Web Environment Integrity Proposal Dismissed by Brave, Mozilla, and Vivaldi https://news.itsfoss.com/google-controversial-tracker/ 'this API would facilitate a way of detecting whether a connected user meets the website's criteria for a secure connection.

    But, to achieve this, the API would need access to far-reaching data from the user, opening the door for uniquely fingerprinting them. Even though the developers feel that the API shouldn't be used for such a thing, many doubt how it will pan out.'


    Do people still burn data (movies, etc) to physical discs like DVD and Blu-ray? Does anyone under 30 know what I'm even talking about?


    Boosted:

    Sweet teas are made of leaves Some of them brown and some are green I travel the world for the perfect tea Everybody wants a Darjeeling

    Some of them got to be brewed, yeah Some of them got to be brewed by you Some of them got to infuse yeah Some of them got to be infused

    HOLD the kettle (move the pot) KEEP the kettle (nice n hot) HOLD the kettle (move the pot) KEEP that kettle.

    sick synth solo

    What you need to know about the new ETIAS requirements for traveling to Europe


    If you are dreaming of exploring the beautiful sights and cultures of Europe, you may need to take an extra step before booking your flight. Starting in 2024, American passport holders will need to apply for an online authorization form called ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorization System) to visit 30 European countries.

    ETIAS is not a visa, but rather a security check that will allow you to stay in Europe for up to 90 days within any 180-day period23. It will cost you 7 euros (about $8) and will be valid for three years or until your passport expires.

    The ETIAS system is similar to the ESTA program that the U.S. implemented in 2008 for travelers from certain countries. It is designed to enhance border security and prevent terrorism and irregular migration.

    To apply for ETIAS, you will need to fill out a form online or on your mobile phone, providing personal information, passport details and answers to some questions about your health and criminal history. You should apply at least a month before your trip, as the approval process may take up to 30 days in some cases.

    You can check the full list of countries that require ETIAS here(PDF) ''. Some of the popular destinations include France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Greece.

    So don’t let this new requirement stop you from planning your next European adventure. Just make sure you have your ETIAS approval ready before you board your plane, train, bus or cruise ship. Happy travels! 😊

    Stay up to date on the current information by visiting the official ETIAS website: https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias_en

    Settings for QuiteRSS


    Trying out QuiteRSS https://quiterss.org/en/about 'QuiteRSS is a open-source cross-platform RSS/Atom news feeds reader'

    Here are the settings I'm using to make it look better to my eyes on Windows.

    • View - Show/Hide - Main toolbar
    • View -Browser Position - Right
    • View - Application style - Dark
    • Tool - Options
      • General
        • uncheck Show Splash Screen
        • uncheck Store a DB in memory
      • System Tray
        • Show system tray when minimizing
        • Show system tray when closeing
      • Browser
        • Browser selection - use external browser
      • Feeds
        • check Automatically update feeds at startup
        • check Automatically update feeds every
      • Notifications
        • Close notification after 5 seconds
        • uncheck show button mark all news read
        • uncheck Show button mark read/unread
        • uncheck Show button Delete News
        • Potentially check Only show selected Feeds if you don't want to see all
      • Fonts and Colors
        • Set fonts
          • Feeds list - Consolas 10
          • News list - Consolas 11
          • News title - Consolas 14
          • News text - Segoe UI 16
            • or Atkinson Hyperlegible 16 if you have it
        • Change link color to #ffff7f
        • File - Create Backup and then select a folder


    Liked:

    As Juan Soto smacks a RBI single to give the #Padres an early 1-0 lead, let me emphasize that there’s no way #SanDiego is shopping him at this trading deadline. #MLB #baseball


    Boosted:

    Watch out, there's a tiger on the beach!

    Incredible work by Beach4Art, who created this tiger using stones on a beach in Devon! More by Beach4Art!: https://streetartutopia.com/2022/01/23


    Boosted:

    ChatGPT For Android Is Now Available - OpenAI has released ChatGPT for Android, months after launching the free iOS app f... - https://slashdot.org/story/23/07/28/2035215/chatgpt-for-android-is-now-available?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed #android


    Boosted:

    Hashtags to follow? #JukeboxFridayNight is one of many music themed # activities here. Someone posts a #theme and folk add music video links with name of song and performer. JFN starts in New Zealand late afternoon and is picked up by other timezones later.

    For more music #s see pinned post by @Kitty

    For some gaming #s see @satsuma's top post

    Catlover? Try #Caturday on Saturday whereever you are.

    #Booktodon seems to be anywhen

    Same with #Mosstodon

    The #tag list is endless!


    Boosted:

    NASA has a new streaming platform: NASA+

    • No subscription needed.

    • Available on most major platforms.

    • Currently it’s still in beta, so please submit feedback!

    More info: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-la


    Boosted:

    Quick reminder that at least a decent chunk of the forests *still burning* in Canada were part of the "offsets" countries and companies pay for as credits in Carbon Trading schemes meant for them to keep polluting guilt-free.

    The "offsets" are now in the atmosphere heating the planet. As well as the original emissions.

    Good stuff. /s

    That's part of why Emissions Trading Schemes are little more than fancy accounting and should never be accepted as Climate Action.

    #BlahBlahBlah #ClimateCrisis


    Boosted:

    Here is how to distinguish Elon Musk’s new X.com from 1994 computer strategy gaming classic XCOM: one involves a brave struggle against freakish, hideous alien intelligence seeking to undermine world civilization with advanced technology and the other is a computer game


    Boosted:

    What's going on with the hole in the ozone layer?

    Thanks to a global effort to regulate ozone-depleting substances, the ozone hole is showing signs of recovery and is projected to return to a healthy level by mid-century. https://www.nasa.gov/esnt/2022/ozone-hole-


    Boosted:

    Incredibly sad to hear of Anchor Brewing shutting down after 127 years: https://www.sfchronicle.com/food/wine/article/anchor-steam-18192913.php

    A huge loss. Though, the writing was on the wall when some absolute dingbat in charge got rid of their amazing historic label design and made it look like generic Trader Joe’s crap.


    https://cutie.city/@jessica/110689860648038101

    @jessica I think your question is really about backfeeding of "likes" and "comments" to your site via webmention. I'm not really sure why anyone would question an outgoing webmention. I've seen arguuments against backfeeds because someone commenting, for example on Mastodon, and having it land on a webpage they never interacted with is confusing and disconcerting for some.

    Reply to:

    jessica :lily_autistic: :lily_asexual:: "Seen mixed messages on #WebMen…" - Mastodon


    Boosted:

    Shoutout to all the social media influencers who don't have their scheduling tools set up yet and run the risk of accidentally being authentic when they post manually


    Shifting to following the Atom feed of my Bridgy Fed stream. RSS wasn't showing the "By" value so it wasn't as helpful. It used to so something seems to have changed. #indieweb


    Boosted:

    Canadian Judge Says Thumbs-Up Emoji Amounts To Contract Acceptance - An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Globe and Mail: A Saskatchewan judge ... - https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/07/06/1955226/canadian-judge-says-thumbs-up-emoji-amounts-to-contract-acceptance?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed #court


    Boosted:

    Nearly all of #Evernote remaining staff has been laid off by their new acquiring company. If you have notes there, I’d suggest making backups or start looking elsewhere. Might I suggest #Obsidian where you can self-host your notes.


    Boosted:

    A developer says Twitter appears to be DDoSing itself due to a bug in Twitter's web app, which could be tied to Elon Musk's emergency blocks and rate limits (Andy Baio/Waxy.org)

    https://waxy.org/2023/07/twitter-bug-causes-self-ddos-possibly-causing-elon-musks-emergency-blocks-and-rate-limits-its-amateur-hour/ http://www.techmeme.com/230701/p13#a23070


    Boosted:

    so excited about our growing big ass resource list for everything #webdev for website hobbyists & #indieweb builders, completely accessible & editable by the community. just an easy list for beginners, veterans, and everyone in-between to reference & #help build a personal website :)


    Boosted:

    Having dataview blocks in a published note is ugly (they don’t work), but within Obsidian they can be so handy. Solution:

    just hide them in publish.css, solved!

    #ObsidianMD #obsidian


    https://indieweb.social/@rcade/110600029631164556

    @rcade I've been doing this for awhile but you make a good point about pointing the feed against a big instance. I think I'll experiment with that as well. I'd love to be able to combine tags in one feed for those instances where people might use slightly different ones but I don't think there is syntax for that.

    Reply to:

    Test - Indieweb.Social


    Boosted:

    BREAKING- Canada passes the Online News Act, which forces companies like Meta and Google to pay publishers for posting news. Meta to pull all news from Canadian Facebook and Instagram. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/online-ne


    Not sure why I never thought about this before but Elvis Preley's "Little Less Conversation" would make a good ringtone. Especially since I hate talking on the phone.


    Boosted:

    Three great #redditMigration sites:

    https://redditmigration.com/

    and

    https://sub.rehab/

    and

    https://www.quippd.com/writing/2023/06/15/unofficial-subreddit-migration-list-lemmy-kbin-etc.html

    For tracking where subreddits are migrating over to on the #threadiverse and other platforms.


    Liked:

    @techlifeweb.com I did in the past. It’s just a no brainer. Decent visuals, out of the box SEO, it *used* to feel like a *serious* venue so it brought some cheap gravitas. TLDR my own site was worse for the reader.


    Liked:

    @techlifeweb.com I find Medium is quite good for syndicating (I.e., republishing something I’ve written for my site or publishing for a medium pub and then republishing on my site). For those who only publish to medium it seems that money, convenience and/or the social aspect are the main factors.


    Tried to follow a Lemmy account via BridgyFed and it failed hard. #indieweb "IndieAuth verification failed: 404". It should be set up right as I've used it before plus indiewebify.me checks out.


    Boosted:

    Watch Out for ‘Junk’ Fees When Booking Travel Online - Hotels and airlines struggling to recoup their losses from the pandemic have been includi... - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/15/technology/personaltech/travel-booking-junk-fees.html #prices(faresfeesandrates) #computersandtheinternet #hotelsandtravellodgings #airlinesandairplanes #contenttype:service #travelandvacations #luggageandpacking #consumerreports #searchengines #nerdwalletllc #budgettravel


    Boosted:

    #Kbin update:

    • The https://kbin.social server is now federating with the Fediverse. You can follow/interact with kbin.social magazines & users from other Kbin servers, Mastodon & rest of the Fediverse. For example the TIL magazine is at @TodayILearned, the lead dev of Kbin is at @ernest

    • There's a new Kbin server at https://readit.buzz which is run by the same people as the Universodon.com Mastodon server. It's open for signups, just click "log in" and then "register".


    Boosted:

    We're seeing a large influx of new users, so here's some helpful Mastodon tips:

    1. Liking a post does not affect its visibility. Instead, use the like button to let a user know that you find them to be irresistibly attractive and would like to become their internet soulmate.

    2. Instead of saying orthodontist on here, we say mastodontist. This is important to know.

    3. Tell us about yourself! Write either "pro-cannibalism" or "anti-caniballism" in your bio to avoid simple misunderstandings.


    The US Is Openly Stockpiling Dirt on All Its Citizens | WIRED https://www.wired.com/story/odni-commercially-available-information-report/'the report states that the government believes it can “persistently” track the phones of “millions of Americans” without a warrant, so long as it pays for the information. Were the government to simply demand access to a device's location instead, it would be considered a Fourth Amendment “search” and would require a judge's sign-off. But because companies are willing to sell the information—not only to the US government but to other companies as well—the government considers it “publicly available” and therefore asserts that it “can purchase it.”'


    Boosted:

    Reddit is Crashing Because of the Growing Subreddit Blackout - Reddit has been going through some issues for many on Monday, with the outage happ... - https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/06/12/1553215/reddit-is-crashing-because-of-the-growing-subreddit-blackout?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed #social


    Lemmy, the Federated Reddit https://join-lemmy.org/'Lemmy is a selfhosted social link aggregation and discussion platform. It is completely free and open, and not controlled by any company. This means that there is no advertising, tracking, or secret algorithms. Content is organized into communities, so it is easy to subscribe to topics that you are interested in, and ignore others. Voting is used to bring the most interesting items to the top.' #lemmy #Reddit


    Boosted:

    A Day on Earth Used to Only Be 19 Hours

    The Moon formed when a Mars-sized object slammed into the Earth billions of years ago. As the Moon orbited around the Earth, its tidal interactions carried it slowly away from the planet, slowing down Earth's rotation. For about a billion years, a day on Earth lasted 19 hours before it continued to slow down to the current 24-hour day. Geologists have developed a new technique for measuring the length of Earth's day using sedimentary layers that change over long periods following the Earth's orbit and rotation.

    https://phys.org/news/2023-06-billion-


    Boosted:

    Reddit cuts five percent of workers as API pricing shift sours developers - Two third-party Reddit apps have thrown in the towel over increased expenses Social media... - https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.th


    Your deets are out there. Just take it as read at this point. | Yet Another Toyota Cloud Data Breach Jeopardizes Thousands of Customers https://www.darkreading.com/ics-ot/toyota-cloud-data-breach-jeopardizes-thousands-customers'"As we believe that this incident also was caused by insufficient dissemination and enforcement of data handling rules, since our last announcement, we have implemented a system to monitor cloud configurations," stated the company in its apology and notice.' #infosec


    Liked:

    It means that I can just prepend [highlight:: ... ] inline while taking regular notes, and this one page brings them all up in one place.

    I do the same for other things I want to extract from across the vault (ideas, concepts, bookmarks, random-thoughts, etc). I have a folder called "Extracts" and one page each for each of these keywords.

    I suppose if the outputs do get out of hand in terms of the number of results returned, I can additionally filter by file creation time and append a Vol - I, Vol - II, ... etc. to the files.


    Boosted:

    Tips for Cutting Social Media Use and Being Online in a Healthier Way - You don’t have to quit Instagram and TikTok cold turkey. Use these strategies — some prac... - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/25/technology/social-media-mental-health-tips.html #mentalhealthanddisorders #computersandtheinternet #contenttype:service #murthyvivekh #unitedstates #socialmedia #loneliness


    I enjoyed this by @TfTHacker on hacking frontmatter in templater templates:

    https://medium.com/obsidian-observer/hacking-obsidian-frontmatter-and-templater-f4912a689cdc

    #Obsidian #templater


    Boosted:

    Virgin Galactic plane reaches space with 6 employees onboard - The successful test flight should mean the company, founded by Richard Branson, could soo... - https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/


    privateGPT: Interact privately with your documents using the power of GPT, 100% privately, no data leaks https://github.com/imartinez/privateGPT 'Ask questions to your documents without an internet connection, using the power of LLMs. 100% private, no data leaves your execution environment at any point. You can ingest documents and ask questions without an internet connection!' #ai #gpt


    Boosted:

    Real question: what implications does GDPR have for decentralized protocols like ActivityPub where instances in countries like the US are likely to cache data from users in European countries even if those users are not members of that instance and did not consent to data being stored there? Is there an expectation that covers this?


    Boosted:

    8 VS Code extensions you didn’t know you needed - Visual Studio Code is a terrific software development environment, not only because it... - https://www.infoworld.com/article/3434611/7-visual-studio-code-extensions-you-didnt-know-you-needed.html#tk.rss_all #softwaredevelopment #developmenttools


    Boosted:

    Time to use #Follow Graph again to find more useful follows on Mastodon.

    Follow good people in #socialmedia and you will be a good follow too!

    https://followgraph.vercel.app from @gabipurcaru #mastodonmigration


    Boosted:

    NASA Picks Blue Origin To Make a Second Human-Crewed Lunar Lander - NASA has selected Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to create a lunar lander for an upcoming... - https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/05/19/2254220/nasa-picks-blue-origin-to-make-a-second-human-crewed-lunar-lander?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed #nasa


    Boosted:

    Your irregular reminder not to purchase printers from HP or Epson

    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/hp-rushes-to-fix-bricked-printers-after-faulty-firmware-update/

    Buy a reconditioned laser printer. They are much less expensive to run and just give better results at far lower costs overall.


    Boosted:

    "Perhaps most significantly, though, the new Instagram text app will have an element of decentralization as well. 'Soon, our app will be compatible with certain other apps like Mastodon,'

    ...'Users on these other apps will be able to search for, follow & interact with your profile and content if you’re public, or if you’re private and approve them as followers.'

    (Presumably that compatibility will come through ActivityPub, which Meta has been exploring..."

    https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/19/2373007


    Boosted:

    Drunk driving suspect switched seats with dog when pulled over https://boingboing.net/2023/05/16/drunk-driving-suspect-switched-seats-with-dog-when-pulled-over.html #boingboing #crime #Delightful_Creatures #DUI #mistakes


    Boosted:

    Last November I deleted all my Tweets. Every single one. I then ran Redact and deleted all my likes, my media and retweets.

    38k tweets gone

    For six months I've had sub 5 tweets online

    Woke up today to find 34k of them restored.by Twitter who presumably brought a server farm back up.

    Now re deleting

    This shows why you should NOT be using Twitter, ever

    Please boost

    Addendum: if you are affected please follow me here and post details of your experience.

    Am in touch with Twitter.


    Boosted:

    On my website, I have an archive page for all native flowers & plants in San Diego County that I have photographed (currently 339 species), and over the last couple of weeks I've added ten new ones. :)

    They're all in this blog post, on my website: https://www.alex-kunz.com/flower-plant-update/

    The only question is... will this post have a thumbnail? :P

    #BlogPost #CANativePlants #SanDiego #Flowers #Wildflowers


    Boosted:

    Drobo, Having Stopped Sales and Support, Reportedly Files Chapter 7 Bankruptcy - An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: StorCentric, the holding co... - https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/23/05/16/2013226/drobo-having-stopped-sales-and-support-reportedly-files-chapter-7-bankruptcy?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed #business


    Boosted:

    Locals in Wales were tied of waiting for the city to fix the many potholes that were lining their streets, so they decided to FORCE the city to act

    ... By drawing penises around each pothole!

    https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news


    End of a love affair: AM radio is being removed from many cars - The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/05/13/am-radio-electric-cars/ 'Automakers, such as BMW, Volkswagen, Mazda and Tesla, are removing AM radios from new electric vehicles because electric engines can interfere with the sound of AM stations. And Ford, one of the nation’s top-three auto sellers, is taking a bigger step, eliminating AM from all of its vehicles, electric or gas-operated.'


    Liked:

    I always wish I'd documented whatever partial information I was grappling with years ago.

    Yet here I am today, continuing not to document new things I'm currently grappling with... because I know the information I have so far is incomplete.

    "I should wait until I know more before writing anything down!"

    "I wish I'd written more down before I knew what I was doing!"


    Boosted:

    Don't listen to anyone who says "likes don't matter" on here.

    Yes, it's true that there's no algorithm for them to feed.

    But letting people you know that you like what they're sharing, that you agree with them, that they're not just shouting into an empty abyss? That matters.


    Boosted:

    Unlock the power of handwritten notes in Obsidian with Zsolt Viczian's Scribble Helper! Check out this article to learn how to integrate Apple's Scribble feature with Excalidraw plug-in for the ultimate note-taking experience.

    https://go-paperless.net/2023/05/12/unlocking-handwritten-notes-in-obsidian-with-scribble-helper/

    #obsidian #note-taking #handwriting

    Movie Notes - The Hundred-Foot Journey - How many times the Journey was made


    The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014) - IMDb IMDB 'The Kadam family leaves India for France where they open a restaurant directly across the road from Madame Mallory's Michelin-starred eatery.' Warning: Spoilers

    If you've ever seen this movie you'll know the "Hundred-Foot Journey" is the distance between these establishments and the lives of the people involved. I thought it might be interesting to track every time the "Journey" is made.

    Madam Mallory -> Maison Mumbai when they are looking at buying it
    Madam -> Maison Mumbai when they are renovating and they show her the menu
    Hassan -> Le Saule Pleureur to deliver pigeon meal
    Madam -> Maison Mumbai to photograph chicken
    Madam -> Maison Mumbai to wash off the painted wall
    Hassan -> Le Saule Pleureur to make the omelet
    Papa halfway (middle of the street) to Le Saule Pleureur to argue about Hassan's training
    Madam -> Maison Mumbai to wait for Hassan
    Hassan -> Le Saule Pleureur to join as an apprentice
    Hassan -> Maison Mumbai to get the Indian spices
    Papa and 2 youngest kids -> Le Saule Pleureur to sample Hassan's cooking
    Madam -> Maison Mumbai to take a special surprise - Bastille Day
    Papa -> Le Saule Pleureur to wait for the call re: Michelin Star
    Hassan -> Le Saule Pleureur to meet Marguerite for word re: Michelin Star
    Madam -> Maison Mumbai for wine with Papa - Bastille Day
    Papa -> Le Saule Pleureur to dance with Madam
    All from Maison Mumbai -> Le Saule Pleureur to eat dinner
    Everyone -> Maison Mumbai for the actual meal


    Boosted:

    BREAKING: Starbucks to shut down *all* Ithaca locations as a part of its union busting efforts.

    This means that over 30 people will lose their jobs, as a result of Starbucks' illegal anti-union efforts. Ithaca was the first city that had 100% of its Starbucks stores unionized & now it will the first city to have all of its Starbucks stores shuttered.

    The story hasn't broken locally yet (SB did a news dump last night); message me if you want to cover this

    #Labor #Union #Unions #Unionization


    Pornhub blocking all of Utah is one of the greatest publicity gets of all time. Geofencing to get mainstream media to start talking about your NSFW website.


    Liked:

    My blog now shows likes from the fediverse. To like a post, you just need to favorite my toot sharing the post.

    The only remaining thing to complete #IndieWeb backfeeding is to show fediverse replies on my blog, I don't think I'll do this as it seems like a privacy issue.

    Thanks to the maintainers of brid.gy and #webmention.io for making such great services freely available


    Boosted:

    Mexico out here planning to take over the galaxy like nobody was going to notice.

    #StarWars #SFGiants #SDPadres #Baseball #MLB #Mexico #SanFrancisco #SanDiego #Giants #Padres


    Boosted:

    8 ChatGPT tools for R programming - Without fine-tuning or being trained on a specific topic, ChatGPT can answer questions... - https://www.infoworld.com/article/3694611/8-chatgpt-tools-for-r-programming.html#tk.rss_all #naturallanguageprocessing #artificialintelligence #chatbots


    Boosted:

    In a world first, RSV vaccines wins FDA approval for adults 60 and up - Enlarge / An electron micrograph of the respiratory syncytial virus (RS... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=1936993 #respiratorysyncytialvirus #infectiousdisease #severedisease #olderadults #60andover #approval #science #infants #moderna #vaccine #pfizer #virus #fda #gsk #rsv


    There is a lot of friction with liking, boosting, replying if you try to keep in line with pure #inideweb ethos. I ease a TON of that with bookmarklets, scripts, templates, process watchers, etc. Still, could be better.


    Boosted:

    LoRa Goes To The Moon - LoRa is a communications method that allows for long range radio contacts to be ma... - https://hackaday.com/2023/05/03/lora-goes-to-the-moon/ #earth-moon-earth #longdistance #radiohacks #moonbounce #pathloss #sdrangel #hackrf #radio #lora #eme #sdr


    Boosted:

    Hollywood's writers on strike have two worries on AI: they don't want their work used as training data and don't want to fix AI-generated "sloppy first drafts" (Benj Edwards/Ars Technica)


    Boosted:

    Cool, @activitypubblueskybridge getting noticed:

    "Work is starting on a protocol bridge between ActivityPub and the AT protocol (the protocol that Bluesky uses)... and there is also a group network starting up that is dedicated to this.

    This is one of the key stories of the fediverse at the moment, with massive implications... being able to interoperate with the rest of the fediverse would be of great benefit to all parties."


    Boosted:

    Bhutan has quietly been mining bitcoin since 2019, becoming the second country after El Salvador known to have a state-run mine, and is planning a 100 MW mine (Forbes)

    How to follow a hashtag on Mastodon with RSS


    To make sure you are seeing all the interesting post on a particular hashtag on Mastodon, you can easily follow them when logged into Mastodon. But wouldn't it be cool to have these posts delivered straight to your RSS reader? The good news is, its easy. You just need the right URL. To do that you need: the server address of your Mastodon instance and the hashtag you want to follow. Then you form it like this:

    https://[your_mastodon_server]/tags/[yourhashtag].rss
    

    For example, if you are on mastodon.social and you want to follow the hashtag #sandiego you would use: https://mastodon.social/tags/sandiego.rss

    Click the above link and you'll see the RSS!

    Now just copy that link into your favorite RSS reader and you'll never miss a post on your favorite topics.


    Boosted:

    Here are some rare Torrey Pines (Pinus torreyana) and California Buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) in fog, on a lovely June morning in San Diego, California, eight years ago.

    #NaturePhotography #LandscapePhotography #SanDiego #Fog

    https://alexkunz.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Trees-Forest/G0000jNMgEgte4RU/I0000Ssy_TcAGZCE


    Boosted:

    A WSJ columnist used Synthesia, ElevenLabs, and ChatGPT to create an AI clone that could trick her bank's voice biometric system, make a TikTok, and more (Joanna Stern/Wall Street Journal)

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/i-cloned-myself-with-ai-she-fooled-my-bank-and-my-family-356bd1a3?mod=djemalertNEWS http://www.techmeme.com/230429/p4#a230429


    Boosted:

    Airbus Designs a Space Station with Artificial Gravity

    The International Space Station has been orbiting the Earth every 20 years, with astronauts continuously on board. Some of their missions have lasted as long as a year, showing weightlessness's effect on the human body. To truly live and work in space for years, we'll need an artificial gravity system to help astronauts protect their bone and muscle mass and prevent other issues like vision loss. Airbus released new designs for a new space station called LOOP, a multi-purpose orbital module with many features, including a centrifuge to give astronauts artificial gravity.

    https://www.airbus.com/en/airbus-loop


    Boosted:

    So folks, don't forget to check if your Ikea chair is compatible with your screen. I'm not kidding. A thread .

    I've had the problem with my new screen for several weeks now, that every now and then the screen goes black for a few seconds.

    Today I had enough and wanted to investigate the problem. So I started changing all the cables, plugging the screen into a different socket, and and and. Nothing helped.

    #ikea #chair #hardware #weird


    If I have webmention sending and receiving working, does bridgy fed (fed.brid.gy) backfeed to my site if someone replies in the Fediverse? Because it seems like that isn't the case as far as I can tell. #indieweb


    Boosted:

    Okay, if you use the #Outliner #plug-in in #Obsidian, please update it ... and you'll discover you can now activate the experimental drag and drop functionality!

    Drag and drop bullets to your heart's content. It takes Obsidian one step closer to being a true outliner.


    Boosted:

    An AI Scraping Tool Is Overwhelming Websites With Traffic - An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: The creator of a tool that s... - https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/04/25/2035259/an-ai-scraping-tool-is-overwhelming-websites-with-traffic?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed #ai


    Boosted:

    For those who trust me:

    Goto your Amazon account, sign out of all your devices, everything, everywhere all your Echos (yes I know it's a pain), reset your password, delete 2FA and any tokens and reset them. Now.

    That doesn't include Fido / Yubikeys but does include Auth tokens.

    Do it now.

    As much a pain as it is to reset Echo and all smart devices, trust me, please do it.

    I can't tell you more yet, but I am being ethical and you need to actually realise I have a clue.

    It's been a scary day


    Is there such a thing as an RSS reader that lets your flacg articles and then it create its own feed for you? Like creating a curated feed of your own just by interacting with the reader. #rss


    Boosted:

    Google Authenticator Can Now Sync 2FA Codes To the Cloud - Google Authenticator just got an update that should make it more useful for people... - https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/04/24/1957201/google-authenticator-can-now-sync-2fa-codes-to-the-cloud?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed #google

    Fixing Microsoft Edge DNS


    I was having an issue where Microsoft edge was not resolving www.amazon.com. My router is set to ensure all clients use the DNS servers I want them to use. I think this was what was causing the issue. To fix this, I went into Edge's DNS settings by going to this URL:

    edge://settings/?search=dns
    

    Then turn on "Use secure DNS to specify how to lookup the network address for websites" and select "Use current service provider" see screenshot below. Microsoft edge DNS Settings

    Doing this fixed the issue and Amazon.com resolves as expected.


    Boosted:

    Rickrolling SSID with ESP32 - Reddit user [nomoreimfull] posted code for a dynamic WiFi beacon to r/arduino.  Th... - https://hackaday.com/2023/04/23/rickrolling-ssid-with-esp32/ #microcontrollers #wirelesshacks #arduinohacks #rrickroll #esp32 #prank #wi-fi #ssid


    For those that post into the #Fediverse via your own site and bridgy fed, what is your favorite way of reading posts of those that you follow? Currently using RSS Id like to know what others are doing. #indieweb


    Liked:

    So, ages ago I tried the #AnuPpuccin #theme for #Obsidian, and didn't "get" it ...

    ... but then I watched @nicole 's video about the theme, and it changed everything. (I went from Dark Mode to being a "Light Latte" guy, too.)

    Not quite ready for rainbow folders, but I feel less color-starved than ever. See her video here:

    https://youtu.be/7-SOwxpZQNI

    What if every theme came with an overview video this complete?


    🚀boosted

    Original Mastodon Post

    People use large language models to generate text and images, but the underlying transformer architecture can work on any kind of data. A group of researchers wanted to know what would happen if you fine-tuned a large language model on only astronomical data. According to their paper, the model could classify astrophysical phenomena, distinguish between types of gamma-ray bursts, and calculate the redshift of galaxies. This could be a handy assistant for future research.

    arxiv.org/abs/2404.10019


    🚀boosted

    Original Mastodon Post

    Frankly, with all its current woes, #Microsoft is missing a huge opportunity here by not turning #Windows into something that people might want to use - that is, something streamlined, more secure, and more private. Then again, this IS Microsoft we're talking about.

    How to prevent Microsoft from shoving ads down the Windows Start Menu (currently only available to the lucky Window Insiders folks) zdnet.com/article/microsoft-wa @lancewhit

    How to get around the Twitter algorithm


    If you're like me, you probably hate the Twitter algorithm. You know, the one that decides what tweets you see on your timeline based on some mysterious criteria. The one that shows you tweets from people you don't follow, or tweets that are hours or days old. The one that buries the tweets from your favorite accounts or topics under a pile of irrelevant noise.

    Well, I have a solution for you: Twitter Lists. Twitter Lists are a way to create your own custom timelines based on the accounts or topics you choose. You can make as many lists as you want, and they will only show you the tweets from the accounts you add to them. No more algorithm messing with your feed!

    Here's how to set up a Twitter List on mobile:

    • Go to your profile
    • Tap on Lists.
    • Tap on the plus icon in the lower right corner to create a new list.
    • Give your list a name and a description (optional).
    • Tap on Create.
    • Tap on Add members to start adding accounts to your list. You can search by username or browse by category.
    • Tap on Done when you're finished adding accounts.

    On your computer you can add people to Twitter lists on a web browser by following these steps:

    1. Go to the Twitter website and log in.
    2. Click "More" then “Lists” from the menu at the side.
    3. Click the “New List” icon at the top.
    4. Fill out the Name, Description (optional), and set the list to either be Public or Private.
    5. Click “Next”.
    6. Click “Add” on the Suggested accounts that pop up if they are relevant. If not, click “Done”.
    7. To add people to your list, click on their username on any of your existing Twitter streams and click “Add To List”.

    To add people you are following to your list I find it easiest to the following:

    • go to https://twitter.com/YOUR_TWITTER_NAME_HERE/following
    • Click on the username of the person you want to add to your list, , click on the three dots, select Add/remove from Lists, and then choose the List you want to add them to

    Not going to lie, it's very tedious and time-consuming. You have to do this for every single person you want to add. Why can't there be a faster and easier way to do this? Like a drag-and-drop feature or a bulk selection option. At this point in the tire fire that is Twitter, this isn't likely to improve. I used the opportunity to go through my Following list and unfollow accounts that don't tweet much or lately and the ones I've lost interest in. Then I added to my new List the ones I really don't want to miss. Then, slowly when I have some slack time, I add more.

    The plus side of all this tediousness is that, looking at the posts on my new List, I'm seeing posts from accounts I've forgotten about and didn't even know they are still tweeting! That, my friends, is why the algorithm sucks.

    That's it! You can now access your list by going back to the Lists tab and tapping on it. You can also pin your list to your home screen for easy access by tapping on the pin icon next to it.

    You can create as many lists as you want, and edit or delete them anytime. You can also make your lists public or private, and follow other people's lists if they are public.

    Twitter Lists are a great way to customize your Twitter experience and avoid the annoying algorithm. Give them a try and let me know what you think!

    Reply on Mastadon

    Quick Review - Soundcore Space A40 Wireless Earbuds


    If you're looking for a pair of wireless earbuds that can deliver high-quality sound, block out unwanted noise, and last for hours on a single charge, you might want to check out the Soundcore Space A40 earbuds. These are the latest noise cancelling earbuds from soundcore, a brand known for its innovative audio products.

    The Soundcore Space A40 earbuds have several features that make them stand out from the crowd. First of all, they have adaptive noise cancelling technology that automatically adjusts to your environment. Whether you're in a quiet office, a busy street, or a noisy airplane, the earbuds will reduce noise by up to 98% and let you enjoy your personal space.

    Secondly, they have soundcore's pioneering double-layer diaphragm drivers that deliver sound with strong bass, clear mids, and bright treble. The earbuds also support LDAC technology for high-resolution sound and have a HearID Sound 2.0 feature that lets you customize your sound profile according to your hearing preferences.

    Thirdly, they have an impressive battery life of up to 50 hours with the charging case. You can listen for up to 10 hours on a single charge and get an extra 4 full charges from the case. The earbuds also support wireless charging and fast charging for convenience.

    Lastly, they have a comfortable and lightweight design that fits snugly in your ears. The earbuds come with 5 sizes of flexible silicone ear tips to ensure a stable and noise-blocking fit. They also have 6 microphones and an AI algorithm for clear calls and a transparency mode for hearing your surroundings when needed.

    One of my favorite features that they go into pairing mode as soon as the case is opened. This way, once paired, they are ready to go by the time you put them into your ears. Also, they can be used in mono mode in either ear. Even with hear-through modes with the app I like to use a single earbud when walking to keep alert to traffic or other people.

    The Soundcore Space A40 earbuds are a great choice for anyone who wants to enjoy high-quality sound and noise cancellation in any situation. They are available in white or black colors and come with a USB-C cable and a user manual. You can buy them from soundcore's official website or from Amazon for $99.99.

    Reply on Mastadon


    Boosted:

    Twitter is shutting down API access weeks before the deadline they announced and sent to developers.

    #IndieWeb service #Bridgy got hit. Just a few minutes ago, #ThreadReaderApp announced their access was terminated as well.


    Hadn't checked pi-hole stats in a while. 46.1% of DNS queries on my home network are for ads or blocked domains. Wow. And Roku is by far the most chatty. #pihole #dns


    Boosted:

    Study: ChatGPT cited nonexistent Washington Post, Miami Herald, and Los Angeles Times articles and fabricated a sexual harassment story about a law professor (Washington Post)


    Boosted:

    Link in bio don't work if the site breaks. Linktree breaking a bunch of people's networks right now (getting 504 for any sort of profile link but the marketing/landing page is up).

    Get your own website. Please.


    Boosted:

    Noise is the cancer of information.

    You improve Twitter (organically) and your own experience by: 1-Only following low noise accounts. 2-Blocking those who generate noise on your thread. 3-Blocking ALL the friends of those who generate noise on your thread.


    Boosted:

    Welcome to new Mastodon users!

    -Make an #introduction post

    -Boost toots, there is no hidden algorithm here

    -Post frequently about what you miss about Twitter

    -Mastodon's frustrating quirks are good actually. Eat your vegetables!

    -Oh cool, you just found this cool #mosstodon hashtag haha

    -You run Linux now

    -Federation is pretty simple. It's like email, if you couldn't see emails from someone that isn't followed by someone else on your email server or if it was interacted with by someone


    Liked:

    | Chris Aldrich

    While looking at a #zettelkasten on Ancient Egyptian, I just ran across an actively maintained scholarly zettelkasten with over 10 million individual slips!!! One of the largest sub-sectional topics alone has over 90,000 slips. Eat your heart out Niklas Luhmann!


    🚀boosted

    Original Mastodon Post

    How has the message not gotten out that people need to sanitize Youtube links?

    Everything after before the "si=" is the actual link. That "si=" part lets Youtube link your fedi account to your Youtube account and therefore to everything Google has on you.

    Please stop feeding the corporations even more data about you and everyone who clicks the link you post.


    🚀boosted

    Original Mastodon Post

    Welcome to Day One of Threads and the Fediverse:

    &quot;Using my server as a guide, we found no increase in abuse or harassment...&amp; I believe the opposite is true: not only did no disaster occur, but many people on both sides saw a glimpse of the future of the open social web. In practice, not in theory.....I saw numerous new Threads users excited to discover the Fediverse, and many Fediverse users welcomed them.&quot;

    cc: @fediversenews @spreadmastodon


    Boosted:

    After Russia-linked Clop ransomware gang claimed to hit 130 companies, victims are slowly coming forward, many of which used the GoAnywhere file transfer tool (TechCrunch)


    Going to be driving a 10ft UHaul up I-5 in California. Anyone know if I need to stop at weigh stations? Have only done local moves so I have no clue and search results seem mixed.


    Boosted:

    Been working on this all month and finally made the announcement today! The full program and schedule with every detail about the International Mobile Film Festival April 28-30 in San Diego by the bay.


    Boosted:

    A group of librarians argue the Internet Archive is a library, saying that the four major publishers' lawsuit threatens the development of digital collections (Inside Higher Ed)


    No cow needed: Oat and soy can be called milk, FDA proposes | AP News https://apnews.com/article/us-food-and-drug-administration-business-health-nutrition-ed2acef14a014eef30a0fd24f98be07b


    Edge browser';s Read Aloud feature stopped working in the latest update. It works with the lame voices but not the online 'Natural' better sounding voices.


    One of my most valuable work/life possessions is the little library of code snippets I've built up over the years. If you do ANY coding, take care of your future self and save your code. #TheMoreYouKnow #Programming


    Boosted:

    A group that wants to ban books was prevented from reading what they claimed was a sexually explicit portion at a school board meeting. So they sued the district and won. Kind of hard to keep the sheer hypocrisy in my head.


    GoDaddy: Hackers stole source code, installed malware in multi-year breach https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/godaddy-hackers-stole-source-code-installed-malware-in-multi-year-breach/


    Boosted:

    If you guys are in Dora, #florida listen to your local and state officials stay inside for a few days. This is really really bad almost as bad as the #eastpalestine disaster


    @tww Mastodon has RSS ( https://[server.name]/@[username].rss ). You could use that and IFTTT to save the links as files. The downside is IFTTT stores files as .txt rather than .md so you'd need to figure out how to convert that when you get it for use with #Obsidian


    Outlook signatures need the option where if you are sending external it could include your whole block and if internal something more simple. No need to spam internal folks with your whole LinkedIn profile.


    I kind of hate when MS Teams shows the person typing and typing and typing and then they tap enter and you read the equivalent of "hi how's it going"


    I'm hearing rumors that #Tweetdeck might become part of Twitter Blue, Twitter's paid plan. And now I can't log back into Tweetdeck. Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.


    Boosted:

    Netflix begins rolling out new password sharing rules in Canada, Spain, Portugal, and New Zealand; other countries will be added in the next few months (David Friend/Canadian Press)


    The other day I received a snail mail postcard from an old high school friend. We really need to bring back postcard writing. It is such a different feeling than getting a text.


    Some code wasn't working and then I realized a single quote was right next to a double quote and my old eyes didn't see it. Arggggg.


    Boosted:

    Today I learned from @0xabad1dea that a lot of large solar farm owners use sheep herds to maintain their grass and they're called solarpunk grazers and life seems a little better.


    That feeling when you Amazon package is tracking nicely. Then it is delayed. Then it gets a new tracking number with a different carrier and not a single status update. wtf


    Boosted:

    LastPass parent GoTo confirms that hackers stole encrypted backups and an encryption key for some data during a recent breach, first acknowledged on November 30 (Bill Toulas/BleepingComputer)


    Boosted:

    Twitter updates its web version to default to the timeline a user had open last, rather than reverting to the algorithmic feed; coming to iOS and Android "soon" (Mitchell Clark/The Verge)


    Trying to decide if I really want to dive down the #Obsidian rabbit hole. Been using Tiddlywiki for PARA for a long time and should leave well enough alone but shiny new thing is shiny.


    Boosted:

    Mailchimp says a hacker accessed the data of 133 accounts via employee social engineering, first detected on January 11 and its second breach in six months (Zack Whittaker/TechCrunch)


    How to recycle your old electronics into Amazon gift cards | ZDNET https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-recycle-your-electronics-into-amazon-gift-cards/?taid=63c3a0fb3b7e2300013f2aad


    Boosted:

    #tootpick is a privacy-preserving Mastodon share button link target. Worth checking out if you are looking for a simple way to do a "share this" button on your site pointing to #Mastodon


    Bitdefender releases free MegaCortex ransomware decryptor https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/bitdefender-releases-free-megacortex-ransomware-decryptor/


    Boosted:

    Mastodon remains frustrating to find local sources of news. It's all national stuff, sadly. Unless someone way smarter than me can figure out how to make a bot that posts articles from Virginia Mercury


    I get an email from LinkedIn saying I appeared in x number of searches. How is this even useful? Is it to keep job seekers away from the edge? Like, 'keep trying buddy, you'll make it.'


    Current crazy posting mode consits of 11ty, some Hygen templates, old school batch files, a file watch and WinSCP. Also Bridgy and webmentions.It's a house of cards but it feeds my geeky soul. #indieweb.


    Now I just need to figure out incremental builds for #11ty. There really is no reason to rebuild and upload all files when I create 1 new post. I think the feature is coming in 2.0 but I might have some ideas for work arounds at lest for the upload bit.


    Boosted:

    "So how about we make 2023 the year of the personal website? The year in which we launch our first site or redesign our old one, publish a little more often, and add RSS and Webmentions to our websites so that we can write posts back and forth. The year we make our sites more fussy, more quirky, and more personal. The year we document what we improved, share what we learned, and help each other getting started."


    Boosted:

    Up until late December 2022 hackers were using a flaw on Experian's site to get people's entire credit reports using only their name, SSN, address, and birthday (Brian Krebs/Krebs on Security)


    Liked:

    Mastodon Tips and Tricks


    I'm not going to go on about the whys and wherefores surrounding getting started with Mastodon. I'll include some links at the end of this that go over all that.

    I started to collect information to write this post and came across this excellent post: 10 quick Mastodon tips. It is a great overview and includes some nice graphics to explain things. I highly recommend reading it to familiarize yourself with how Mastodon works.

    These tips and tricks are for once you've set up your account and now need to know what to get things done. They are a bit redundant if you read the link above but I'll leave them here anyway. I plan to add to this page as I find other useful tips.

    Tips for Twitter Users

    • Add your Mastodon link to your Twitter profile
    • Find your Twitter follow/followers on Mastodon
      • An easy way to do this is to use debirdify. debirdify uses the Twitter API to find any users you follow that are on Mastodon. All you do is authorize debirdify to access your Twitter account and it cans through looking for links to Mastodon in Twitter profiles (this is why it is important to link to Mastodon in your Twitter profile as above)
    • Enable a Tweetdeck-like interface on your laptop
      • Open Mastodon and then click Preferences > Appearance then check "Enable advanced web interface"
      • If you then click on a hashtag or search for one a new column will open. If you want to make that new column a permanent part of your interface, click the 'Show Settings' button at the top of the column. Then click Pin.
        • Once you pin it you can open the column settings again and add more hashtags. You can have it include any or all additional hashtags or block tweets that include certain hashtags.

    Other things

    • Language preferences
      • In Mastodon's web interface and click on Other, you'll see a list of languages at the bottom you can use to control which posts you'll see.
    • There is an RSS feed of your posts aka Toots
      • You can find it
        [https://](https:)[server.name]/@[username].rss
    

    How to follow a hashtag on Mastodon with RSS

    Useful Links

    More Mastodon tips and tricks ""

    How to reset OneDrive and clear Office Cache


    Be sure OneDrive is set to use Office Applications by going to OneDrive settings, Office tab and be sure "Use Office applications to sync Office files that I open" is checked Be sure all Office applications are **closed**

    Copy the text below and save it as a batch file onedrivefix.bat:

    @echo off
    echo Clearing caches...
    For /R "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Office\16.0\OfficeFileCache" %%i IN (*.*) do (
    del "%%i"
    )
    %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset
    timeout 3
    start %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe
    echo onedrive has been reset
    pause
    

    Then run the batch file and OneDrive will reset.

    It is possible that OneDrive.exe isn't in the folder above so if this doesn't start Onedrive, you might need to figure out where OneDrive.exe is. Most likely C:\Program Files\Microsoft OneDrive\onedrive.exe. Then you'll have to modify the script with the correct location.

    Find the location of the onedrive
    Search Start for OneDrive –> open file location.
    right click onedrive shortcut –> open file location

    All the Pies of the Movie Waitress


    In a diversion from the usual tech tips and news….

    My wife and I were watching the movie Waitress and we decided to write down all the creative pie names and ingredients. I know everyone needs this information so here is the list 🙂

    All the Pies of Waitress (2007)

    Pie #1: Blue Plate Special I DON’T WANT EARL’S BABY PIE or BAD BABY PIE – Quiche with egg and brie cheese with a smoked ham center (later referred to as BAD BABY QUICHE PIE by old Joe)

    Pie #2: KICK IN THE PANTS PIE – Cinnamon spice custard (Today’s Special)

    Pie #3: I HATE MY HUSBAND PIE – “You make it with bittersweet chocolate and don’t sweeten it. You make it into a pudding and drown it in caramel …”

    Pie #4: SPAGHETTI PIE – has at home with husband

    Pie #5: MARSHMELLOW MERMAID PIE – From when she was in her mermaid stage. Pie made for Dr. Mueller and given later in the appointment to Dr. Pomatter. “Biblically good!”

    Pie #6: FALLIN’ IN LOVE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE PIE – made for Dawn

    Pie #7: BABY SCREAMING IT’S HEAD OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND RUINING MY LIFE PIE – New York-style cheesecake, brandy brushed and topped with pecans and nutmeg

    Pie #8: PEACHY KEEN TARTS – made for Dr. Pomatter

    Pie #9: EARL MURDERS ME BECAUSE I’M HAVING AN AFFAIR PIE – “You smash blackberries and raspberries into a chocolate crust.”

    Pie #10: I CAN’T HAVE NO AFFAIR BECAUSE IT’S WRONG AND I DON’T WANT EARL TO KILL ME PIE – “Vanilla custard with banana. Hold the banana …”

    Pie #11: SPANISH DANCER PIE WITH POTATO CRUST – Joe orders at the Diner

    Pie #12: NAUGHTY PUMPKIN PIE – brought to appointment for Dr. Pomatter, but unexpectedly with Dr. Mueller. Dr. Pomatter unexpectedly out of town with wife

    Pie #13: STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE OASIS PIE – After Joe orders this one and Jenna tells him that it’s just a pie: “Just a pie! It’s downright expert. A thing’a beauty … how each flavor opens itself, one by one, like a chapter in a book. First, the flavor of an exotic spice hits ya … Just a hint of it … and then you get flooded with chocolate, dark and bittersweet like an old love affair …” – Joe

    Pie #14: PREGNANT MISERABLE SELF-PITYING LOSER PIE – “Lumpy oatmeal with fruitcake mashed in. Flambéed of course …”

    Pie #15: LONELY CHICAGO PIE – Teaches Dr. Pomatter how to make this one

    Pies #16 & #17: CAR RADIO PIE and JENNA’S FIRST KISS PIE – These are pies Jenna’s mom used to make that she fondly remembers.

    Pie #18: OLD JOE’S HORNY PAST PIE – Jenna states she is going to invent after a saucy story from Old Joe.

    Note: This was originally posted in 2008. Moving it here since my old WordPress site is gone.

    Best Route Guide to Walking the San Diego Zoo


    The San Diego Zoo is a wonderful place for families. I’ve been going there my whole life and always enjoy seeing the animals and the smiles on the face of kids seeing their favorite animals often for the first time. If you have never been to the Zoo, the first thing you’ll find out rather quickly after you enter the gates is that it is built on a series of hills and valleys. Some of them much steeper than others.

    The Zoo does offer solutions to help with getting around. There is the Bus Tour which takes you around the park and a guide points out the animals. There is also a Kangaroo Bus that lets you hop on and off at different points in the park. Another new addition is the Discovery Cart Tour which is a more personal tour than the Bus and might be good if you have a large family. However, these can add to your expenses for the day, and to see things up close, you need to get off the roads that those vehicles travel on.

    Most people fail to come up with a good plan, so the hills don’t wear them out too early in the day. All too often I see parents struggling to push their strollers up hills or dealing with fussy young kids who are worn out. It isn’t their fault; nobody tells you about this before you go. Once there, the excitement takes over, you grab a map at the gate and try to come up with a plan. Often, it’s just pick something you want to see and head that way.

    That’s why I wrote this guide. I’ve spent lots of time thinking about this and wandering around the Zoo trying out different paths. That said, hills are unavoidable. This guide will show you how to take as many of them as possible going downhill. My goal here is to help people enjoy the Zoo as much as I do. There is no wrong way to walk to the Zoo but it can be made easier.

    A couple of points before we start. First, I’m not affiliated with the San Diego Zoo, just a long time Member and fan. Second, this isn’t meant to be a guide to the animals you will see on the routes. Take your time, enjoy the sights and sounds, and refer to this along the way.

    I built a companion app to this guide to make it easier when you are at the Zoo. Open this link on your phone or scan the QR code: SD Zoo Ninja

    Let’s go!

    Front Street

    Once you enter the Zoo you’ll be on Front Street. Grab a map or get the Zoo's official app for iOS or Android. You’ll need the map because I’ll be referring to “map locator’ numbers on the map. The biggest problem I have with the map is that it is not to scale. Looking at it makes it very hard to figure out which path to go down. In a couple of confusing spots, an employee is posted to help you out with directions. If you are standing with your back to the entrance, you could head to the left and visit the Reptile House, Reptile Walk, and the Children’s Zoo (currently closed for construction). There are no big hills there so I tend to save this for the end of the day. Because of that, this guide will start you off going into the heart of the zoo.

    Into The Heart of the Zoo

    1️⃣ Find Treetops Way between Map Locator 4 and the ticket booths and follow that to the Orangutan enclosure on the right.

    Monkey Trail

    2️⃣ Follow the brief Orangutan Trail until it exits back onto Treetops way right near Zoo Brew.

    3️⃣ Take Treetops Way left toward the zoo exit and shortly you will see Monkey Trail. on your right.

    To Tiger Trail

    4️⃣ Follow Monkey Trail down to Tiger Trail. Keep left when you see the sign for Tiger Trail.

    5️⃣ Follow Tiger Trail down to the tigers. You will be passing by the lower part of their enclosure and there are 3 opportunities to see them. If they are down by the glass, it is a nice up-close view.

    At the end of Tiger Trail, you will see the plaques as reminders of donors that made these exhibits possible. As you pass by them, the trail leads to the left and down to Hippo Trail.

    🔅 TIGER TIP: If you missed a good view of the tigers because they were at the top of the enclosure, turn right just past the plaques and before you head down to Hippo Trail. You’ll go up a walk that is a bit steep but it is worth it for the tigers. The walk ends at the door to the aviary. After you view the tigers, head back down to Hippo Trail.

    6️⃣ Hippo Trail ends at Map Locator 14.

    At that point, go to your right. The middle of the zoo doesn’t have a Locator. It is the elevator up to the Bashor Bridge. The ground floor of the elevator is right near The Pagoda.

    7️⃣ Take the elevator (or climb the 116 stairs) up.

    Bashor Bridge to the Northern Frontier

    At the top of the elevator, you will be by Bashor Bridge.

    1️⃣ Head across the bridge toward Map Locator 20 and then go left. Shortly, you’ll see Map Locator 19.

    2️⃣ Continue left, enjoying the enclosures on the way to Map Locator 17.

    3️⃣ At Map Locator 17, cross the street to Polar Bear Plunge. This area is a loop. be sure to go all the way in to see the reindeer. The loop will take you through the small gift shop and back out onto Park Way.

    4️⃣ Before you cross the street back to Locator 17, go to the right a little way. You’ll see the valley Highway 163 runs through, and you will have a unique view of Balboa Park’s Cabrillo Bridge.

    5️⃣ Cross back over the street and continue on downhill to the right (not back toward the bridge). Shortly after the zebras, you will find a wood walkway called Eagle Trail. Follow that wood walkway along past the eagles.

    6️⃣ At the end of Eagle Trail, you will see the entrance to the Asian Leopards exhibit.

    7️⃣ Go straight ahead and visit the leopards and the red pandas. After the red pandas, you will emerge back onto Park Way not far from The Pagoda and the elevators back up to the Bashor Bridge.

    8️⃣ Take the elevator back up..

    Bashor Bridge to the Elephants and Africa

    Back at the top of the elevator, you will be by Bashor Bridge again.

    1️⃣ Head across the bridge toward Map Locator 20 and then go right. You’ll see the Elephant Odyssey sign where you will go left and through the tar pits exhibit. The tar pits lead to the elephants.

    2️⃣ Keep to the left as you emerge from the tar pits area, and you’ll see the lions.

    To Africa Rocks

    3️⃣ Follow that path past the elephants all the way around and continue past the Sabretooth Grill. Just after Map Locator 10, the path winds through the Kopje exhibit and on to Map Locator 9. Here, you will be at a kind of crossroad.

    4️⃣ Follow the path downhill to the right toward Africa Rocks. Africa Rocks is a long winding path all the way back down to the heart of the zoo. Just past the penguins, you’ll see Hua Mae Cafe.

    Across the street from Hua Mae Cafe and to your left as you emerge from the penguin exhibit, you’ll see the entrance to the sun bear forest.

    Follow the path to Sun Bear Forest as it takes you through the trees and past the sun bears. The path emerges at Map Locator 11.

    7️⃣ Go right here and follow the street back down to the Hua Mae Cafe area.

    8️⃣ At Map Locator 13, turn left and head down to the elevator.

    9️⃣ Take the elevator back up.

    Bashor Bridge to Aviary to Front Street

    Back at the top of the elevator, we will go a different way this time.

    1️⃣ From the elevator go toward Treetops Café. Follow the trail between Treetops Café and Albert’s.

    2️⃣ Keep to the right for Monkey Trail and follow Monkey Trail past the Gorillas.

    3️⃣ At the Monkey Tales & Forest Tales sign, keep to the left to follow Hippo Trail past the Pigmy Hippos. This portion of Hippo Trail exits back onto Treetops way. There will be restrooms on your left.

    4️⃣ Go left here and follow the signs for Aviary Trail on your right.

    5️⃣ You will reach Owens Aviary. Go through the doors and continue following the trail through the aviary. Shortly after you exit the doors at the end of the upper portion of Owens Aviary, you will see the doors for the lower portion. Go back inside and visit that portion. Exit the aviary and continue down the trail toward Center Street. The trail ends across Center Street from Map Locator 11.

    6️⃣ Cross the street and follow the path up the hill to the right. You will be passing the bears on the left. This is a bit of a hill but take your time and enjoy the bears.

    7️⃣ The hill ends with Map Locator 8 on your right and Sydney’s Grill on your left. Continue left around Sydney’s Grill to the Urban Jungle. This area is a loop, keep to the left past the giraffes and follow the trail all the way around. Go into the Outback and visit the koalas. If you walk through to the end of the koala exhibit, go to your right. If you continue straight, you will end up in Africa Rocks. Go right and back toward Sydney’s Grill.

    8️⃣ Keep to the left and across from Map Locator 8, follow Koalafornia Boardwalk back toward the Zoo Entrance.

    Off to See the Lizards

    1️⃣ From near the zoo entrance and Map Locator 4, go left to the Reptile House near Map Locator 3.

    2️⃣ Go left as you exit the reptile house and down Reptile Walk. The Reptile Mesa is a big loop. Make your way back to Map Locator 4 when you are finished.

    I hope this guide helped you enjoy your day at the San Diego Zoo! Tag your Instagram and Twitter posts with #sdzooninja so we can share our adventures! Let me know if the app was useful.

    My Day on a Nuclear Submarine


    Last month, a week or so before Christmas, I received an email from Lt. Denise Garcia of the U.S. Navy. Now email from the Navy isn’t something that occurs often for me so I opened that one ahead of the others in my in-box that day. That email was like getting an early Christmas present as it contained an invitation to join 7 other bloggers aboard a Los Angeles Class Fast-Attack Nuclear Submarine.

    I had to read it a couple of times. Really? Me?

    I learned that my friend Jenn Van Grove, who I know from Twitter and several Twitter Meetups, had included my name on a list she gave to Lt. Garcia.  Also, ours would be the first group of bloggers that the Navy has invited on a submarine.

    Our amazing trip was this past Friday, January 15, 2010.

    My fellow honorary submariners are:

    The group of us and Denise met Thursday night at Celadon in Hillcrest for dinner and as a kind oficebreakerr. This was something we arranged on our own but I think it really added to the trip. Eachof us knew some of the others but not everyone. Denise was able to answer questions as well as give us some information about what we would be experiencing the next day. Good food, good times and an early evening as we had to be at the submarine base in Pt. Loma at 7:30 a.m. on Friday.

    Morning Briefing

    We met Friday in a parking lot just outside the base. Here, Denise gave us permits to drive onto the base and we carpooled together the short distance from there to the pier where the
    USS Hampton Logo
    submarine would be. We were each given name tags and divided into 2 groups to facilitate tours through the sub. For security reasons, it wasn’t until then that we learned that we would be aboard the USS Hampton (SSN 767)

    At 8:00 things came to a stop as we had Colors and the Star Spangled Banner played. Then it was across a gangway to the sub, into an open hatch, and down a vertical ladder into the sub. It was immediately apparent why the 2 groups. Having all 8 of us in one spot would just clog things up.

    Video screen with our schedule for the day

    We all went to the Wardroom where we were briefed on what we would be doing for the day.

    My group was the first to go up to the control room and attack center where I was able to watch the men control the sub. I also got to go into the sonar room where I was given a set of headphones to listen in on what we could hear around us.

    There is so much information coming at you on these screens. It was incredible. The screens in the control center aren’t dedicated to a specific task. One minute they could be displaying sonar contacts and the next they could be displaying a live video feed from the periscope. Also, interesting is that these systems are COTS (commercial off the shelf) which keeps costs low and enables them to be easily switched out or upgraded.

    Dive!

    Around 10:00 we reached our dive point. I was in the control room when the order was given. The Hampton was put at a 5-degree angle down and we started to slip beneath the surface. I was really looking forward to this. It was quick and silent. I was standing by a monitor that was receiving a video feed from periscope 2 and shot this little video of our dive:

    Angles and Dangles

    When we had reached a certain depth we went through a procedure the men call “Angles and Dangles.” During this procedure, the sub dives deep and then comes back up, both at a steep angle. You need to grab hold of something because at 25 degrees you are really leaning! One of the reasons for going through this procedure is that everything not secure will fall. Falling objects make noise and noise and submarines do not mix. Silence is your friend.

    Also demonstrated for us was the crew coming to battle stations. A flurry of activity in very limited space occurs. Orders and acknowledgments fly. The bunch of us press ourselves out of the way as best we can in the tight control room. Everything is like clockwork. Torpedo tubes flooded. The order was given to fire! A quick shift in air pressure occurs that makes your ears pop as the torpedo leaves the tube. Today it was a ‘water slug’ which is basically a flooded torpedo tube with no torpedo in it. Torpedo away, the sub turns and moves. Fast.

    Weapons Demonstration

    We went down to the torpedo room where the sub has 4 torpedo tubes and

    View down the USS Hampton's torpedo tube
    watched a demonstration of a torpedo, this one inert for training purposes, being loaded into the tube. The torpedoes are 19ft long and only slightly less in diameter than the tube. Here is a picture looking down torpedo tube #1. The Pacific Ocean is about 20 feet away on the other side of that door at the end.

    Loading that torpedo is a precision maneuver with no room for error. Orders are shouted, acknowledgments given fore and aft of the torpedo as it is moved on its hydraulic rails into the tube.

    Lunch

    Our lunch menu
    After the weapons demonstration we made our way back to the Wardroom where lunch was served. With all the excitement of the morning, I was hungry! The chef on the Hampton did not disappoint.

    There was a menu at each of our places. From the soup options, I chose tomato and, while you could have had all three deserts I chose the ice cream. There was also fresh bread and pitchers of water, Diet Coke, and juice. Everything was good.

    After lunch, the groups switched places. The others went up to the control room and my group went to the places they had been in the morning.

    Afternoon

    We went back to the torpedo room for a closer look at the controls and the tubes themselves. We also saw the auxiliary diesel engine, crew meeting room, crew mess room, and galley.

    Me having a look though periscope 2

    Later we went up to the control room again. I believe we were around 60ft below the surface and we had a demonstration of an ‘Emergency Blow’. This is where air is forced into the ballast tanks and the sub rises rapidly to the surface. Felt like a quick elevator ride.

    An amazing day

    We saw and did so much it is really had to distill it into a blog post. Everyone I encountered was ready to answer questions and proud of their amazing machine. And they should be. I am honored to have been included on this historic first blogger submarine embark.

    Thanks to Commodore Genoble, Lt. Garcia, and the men of the USS Hampton for your hospitality and an amazing adventure!

    Links