I'm making ends meet as a freelance software developer. I want my income to be more stable, and I want to return to writing. I view my work in part as funding my future writing. I'm still studying Japanese, about six years in. I spend basically all my free time watching or listening to Japanese content, and I am listening whenever cooking, cleaning, walking or basically anything where my ears aren't needed. I'm aiming for as close to near native level as possible, focusing on input rather than…

Twenty Years Ago on FITK I went down to the river last night, camera and tripod in tow, intent on securing some time exposures of the Giddings Gazebo on the lower Rum River. This structure is all that remains of a group of stoneworks which were constructed on the river's edge, a place where our city's first cultural pioneer would practice his clarinet on warm summer days nearly a century ago.

This isn’t the first ambient tuba music I’ve heard, not by a longshot, but like previous ambient tuba music, it is deep as can be, with digital processing taking the inherent low-end tones and making them reverberate out into the ether. The musician is running the tuba through a chain of effects on an iPad, and thanks to the space-filling, extended sounds, he is able to pause his playing in order to manipulate the tones on the screen manually. Occasionally the iPad interface comes into view, so…

Nau maiYesterday we spent the day in Pittsburgh recovering and drying out. We had driven through the night aboard our bus, Huckleberry. She is a proud bus, old but stout, wearing chrome skirts and a very dignified coat of midnight blue paint. She had crossed the states of Indiana and Ohio and delivered us safely to western Pennsylvania, to a large carpark behind the Hampton Inn & Suites, Pittsburgh Downtown. The rain had followed us to Pittsburgh but thankfully we didn’t have to deal with more…

From time to time, our everyday views here on the Palouse turn surreal. For a few days in August, our normal drive to town got extra geometric as these straw bales waited to be picked up. The warm, soft light came courtesy of the wildfire smoke that now defines most Western summer days. You see views like this around the Palouse and think that you couldn’t possibly go wrong with a camera, but in my experience the view through the lens is almost invariably more difficult to compose than I hope.…

Just a quick one today, because it's nearly midnight, and I'm tired. XD I was planning to write a post at some point entitled "Blogging is a bit schlock, and that's ok!" but I guess I'm going to write it now, very briefly and off-the-cuff before I fall into my bed and give up the ghost for a few hours. I suppose that's apropos, then, this post being somewhat meta-schlock. 😄 I've really enjoyed the blogging challenges this year, like Junited, the July Reply, and now this September Gratitude…

Last year I wrote that a dream came true by attending and speaking at CppCon. And here I was again! Someone is living the dream, apparently. 21 LinkedIn posts shared, 24 sessions attended, 3 talks given. Those are just numbers, though. The human connections are what make a conference special, and CppCon being the largest C++ conference, there is no shortage. If you just want to wind down with...

Spotted in the Cadbury factory, this is an interesting detail for an industrial scene. A bunded area is somewhere to park a tanker, with drainage to avoid spills spreading. I'd assume this is normally where it is being loaded or unloaded, but this one seems not to have any facilities for this. Does the driver haul the tanker to this spot if it appears to be leaking? Modelling would be simple enough: some gratings around the edge of a concrete area. You could probably scribe the lot into card,…

Yesterday was a historic day for the United States. How — and if — it will be recorded in the history books will depend on what we do, how thoroughly we do it, and how quickly. Or it won’t be recorded at all. The key to understanding why was first illustrated, for me at least, in a novel. One of the most interesting things about Blindsight (two decades is long enough, right?) is how Rorschach viewed language itself as an attack. The non-conscious but intelligent entity reasoned that if useful…

A story about how a college club had such a huge impact on people’s lives, and how such student organizations are underappreciated.

And not just because Kev did. 😆 I was amused to see Kev’s post because I had the same experience and realization recently. It dawned on me as I was perusing some big list of links that it really is helpful to have a visual indicator of which ones I’ve already clicked.

I have just applied to this… Let’s see if I get in…

Okay, you know how good it feels when you peel your socks off at the end of the day? You know how your crinkly leg hairs all get a chance to relax, stretch out, and breathe a sigh of relief? Well, taking out your ponytail is like that times a million. All your hair unbends and finally points the other direction. Shivers shake down your spine as you bend your neck and shake your hair out. Yes, all the pressure just melts away and it feels like an instant scalp massage. Plus, if you tied your…

When you were little, did you enjoy playing with magnets? Now you get to play with magnets under the guise of a strategic boardgame. Upside Town is designed by Singaporean designer Quentin Quek and published by PlayByDesign. Quentin comes from a product design background, and it shows in how well put together Upside Town is. This is not a game with a gimmick. The

Being able to ignore things that annoy you is a skill. Some people are born with an innate talent in this area, but the rest of us learn, over time, that it is important to not let people's worst habits or peculiarities grind your gears or otherwise drive you crazy. I used to struggle with this, but eventually I got better at it. The key is understanding that most of the things you dislike about other people are things you dislike in yourself. From there you end up in one of two places, and…

A company of soldiers on a difficult mission. A priestess held hostage by her position. A man trying to save an empire by eliminating the emperor. The writing is fine, albeit somewhat overly flowery at times (for my taste), and I didn’t appreciate the fantasy language passages. If they are translated immediately, why not skip that step please? I’m being peevish, I know, but it was annoying every time. The characters are plentiful, and range from interesting to vapidly dull. Sadly, the author…

Today’s Soundtrack…

Consider a large company that wants to make the best use of AI, while maintaining control over it, so that it can run itself profitably, compete effectively, and avoid disastrous legal or technical mistakes. Regardless of whether AI keeps getting better or plateaus, or whether the AI bubble pops sooner or later, every single large […]

This 1:144 model represents one of the modified variants with the cutaway engine cowling to increase engine cooling, a necessary change as the initial production suffered seriously from engine overheating, a problem caused by the synthetic oil that replaced the scarce castor oil by 1918.The Siemens-Schuckert D-III was very fast, very manoeuvrable, and climbed like a rocket. It went into service in April-May 1918, but the aforementioned engine issues kept it from being the game-changer it might…

It's time to pick a peck of perennials for the landscape project. Every flower and variety that's been selected for the front yard landscape project. Earlier this year I unrolled the most expensive piece of paper I've ever owned: The landscape plans. I have a general landscape plan and a plant list, but no planting...Read More

Liked Higurashi: When They Cry mahjong game from 2009 is getting a remaster for PC and consoles. Life-or-death matches where even cheating is allowed by Carlos "Zoto" Zotomayor (automaton-media.com) Fans of Higurashi: When They Cry and mahjong will be interested to know that Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Jong, a 2009 riichi mahjong game for the arcade and PlayStation Portable (PSP), is being remastered for PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch, with a planned release in 2027. I have played…

What a beautiful show. Just go watch it, it speaks for itself. You’re welcome. Storytelling – A – I’m still crying an hour later Voice – A – Fuck yes Characters – A – Beautiful Attention Grab – A – Was surprised when it finished Production – A – Gorgeous. Overall – A Recommendations – Utena

statusbar v0.3.0 got a nicer help (and other goodies)

I came across an interesting passage in THEM Anime’s review of a 2023 anime series titled The Dreaming Boy is a Realist. The line and the review were authored by Allen Moody, who I quoted once previously in a New Leaf Journal article on review systems. I emboldened the key point of the quote: Kei sits behind Wataru in class, is apparently much more social (Aika seems fairly reserved), routinely talks to Wataru despite Aika’s supposed annoyance with him, and in general seems a much more FUN…

Big Brother's best winner and Twitch streamer Dan Gheesling is not handling criticism well for his participation in a live-streamed U.S. Army reality competition, e.g. propaganda.

Outside The Met – New York, New York Remember yesterday when I said all that stuff about preserving the purity of street photography by using a manual-focus Leica camera? I truly believe that, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t still use a backup camera for some autofocus insurance. I wanted to make sure I successfully captured the scene outside The Met after closing. When I’m shooting with the Leica M 246, especially during fast-changing scenes like this, I don’t have time to check focus and…

Bloggers, can we make better titles for our posts? michaelharley.netBy Michael HarleyRead original post → I came across this blog post by Michael Harley. I started following him after I came across some of his blog posts on bubbles.town (I want to call it button.town every time I type it, and I don't know why 😀). But he does have a point, and I am guilty of making bad titles too. In fact, if it were up to me, I probably wouldn't have any titles. But I think most things in writing do deserve…

Daily Drawing 997

After 300+ posts in a row I almost forgot today. The most surprising thing is that I made it this far. Entries have may been not my best the past few weeks but what are you going to do. It did scare the shite out of me as I was almost in bed. Still no idea why I do this. More tomorrow…

Not everyone can debug code Counterfactual reasoning is a technique where you assume alternative scenarios that could have happened, but did not in fact happen. You assume something is true when it is, in fact, false. A question involving a counterfactual is "What if dinosaurs had not gone extinct?" Reasoning with counterfactuals is considered an advanced cognitive skill, and it comes in quite handy when you are debugging code. To debug effectively, you have to entertain insulting falsehoods.…