Had a conversation this morning on the importance of not shaming people for learning new things that they “should have known already.” It reminded me of this XKCD from a few years back.
Category: Fediverse
Another of my #fotofails from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park…
Another of my #fotofails from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. I’m terrible at holding binoculars steady, so I’ll take zoomed photos to see what’s in the distance. I think these were antelope or something, but the camera autofocused on the cables holding a balloon between the deck I was standing on and the open area below. For comparison, the giraffes at a similar distance are a lot clearer.
We have book clubs at booktoot.club!
@stefanhayden @andeluuu @Mastodon We have book clubs at https://booktoot.club ! #sffbookclub, #nfbookclub, #storyclub & a few others.
@andeluuu @stefanhayden @Mastodon Just check out the hashtags to see what people are reading. There’s a master list at https://fediverse-reads.dreamwidth.org
Joining the specific instance isn’t required, since hashtag columns will federate.
@andeluuu @stefanhayden @Mastodon I mean each server will be able to see tagged posts from others, so you don’t have to move to a specific one to participate in a conversation around a hashtag.
I’ve made a point from time to time of linking to Mastodon posts…
I’ve made a point from time to time of linking to Mastodon posts from birdsite & FB. Not sure how many people followed.
That said, I’m not a huge fan of the “screenshot of text” phenomenon. IMO text should be quoted so it’s accessible & searchable, not photographed…but based on my experience trying to share *just* links, screenshots might be more effective. Even if it seems backwards to me.
@stefanhayden @Mastodon Just links & descriptions, I mean. Not URLs by themselves.
There’s still one left!
It’s not too late: There’s still one left!
No, really, just one: The Last Blockbuster
For a Brief, Glorious Moment, Camera-Wielding Pigeons Spied From Above
In 1908, a photographer strapped cameras to pigeons to take aerial photos.
Literally a bird’s-eye view of the world.
For a Brief, Glorious Moment, Camera-Wielding Pigeons Spied From Above
Link: The Giants of California: How Redwoods and Whales Got So Big
Link: The Giants of California: How Redwoods and Whales Got So Big
It isn’t happenstance that California and the waters off our coast are home to these giants. As the new exhibit explains, bigness emerges partly from the particulars of life here – the ocean currents and our famous fog.
Surprisingly simple charts of how consistent major cities’ street layouts are based on orientation.You …
Surprisingly simple charts of how consistent major cities’ street layouts are based on orientation.
You can see a stark difference between cities that grew organically over centuries and those (mostly in the US) that were established after grids became popular.
https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/charlotte-nc-has-americas-messiest-street-grid
If no one has ever survived the Fire Swamp, how did its oddly specific dangers become common knowledge?
If no one has ever survived the Fire Swamp, how did its oddly specific dangers become common knowledge?
@dantebrevity I want to add something to make it FOCUS, but I have to admit …
@dantebrevity I want to add something to make it FOCUS, but I have to admit FOCU works well on its own!
I think it’s been about 2 weeks since I last logged into FB. Every email …
I think it’s been about 2 weeks since I last logged into FB. Every email or other notification they send me just reminds me how long it’ll take to catch up.
Seriously, what’s the opposite of FOMO?
The thickness of the pages before and after your current place in a printed book …
The thickness of the pages before and after your current place in a printed book is more intuitively grasped than an exact percentage or a progress bar on an ebook screen.
But I do like full text search!
I’ve decided I’m going to use my account at Wandering Shop as my primary Mastodon …
Federal building for sale.
Federal building for sale. Seems like there’s a metaphor in there somewhere…
@Einahpets I haven’t been back to SDCC since 2014, though I’ve been to several medium-sized …
@Einahpets I haven’t been back to SDCC since 2014, though I’ve been to several medium-sized cons. I’m starting to miss it.
Here’s hoping you get to do a significant amount of what you’re aiming for!
Morbid wondering: food allergy death stats
An article on a recent incident where a college student died from peanut allergy got me thinking: most news stories about people dying from #anaphylaxis are about kids or teens. You rarely hear about a 40-year old or even 30-year-old dying from a #foodallergy. It happens (which is why I still carry an EpiPen everywhere), just not as often.
I couldn’t find any solid numbers, but wrote up some speculation in my blog: https://hyperborea.org/journal/2018/07/age-food-allergy-death/
It occurs to me that the impending start of #SDCC is probably another factor in why I started thinking about this, as it’s coming up on 5 years since my “adventure” leaving Comic Con in an ambulance due to a peanut-laced mocha from a nearby cafe. I could’ve been one of those rare cases in my late 30s.
IMO Watchmen is more notable for the craft than the story…
IMO Watchmen is more notable for the craft than the story. The way it uses the nature of comic books as a medium, nonlinear time, the thematic connections with the pirate comics, etc…which makes it really weird that DC approved a movie to begin with, never mind handed the keys to their own superhero universe over to the director.
Half-following the build up to SDCC. I haven’t been to Comic Con since 2014, though …
Half-following the build up to #SDCC. I haven’t been to #ComicCon since 2014, though I’ve been to WonderCon & Long Beach every year. The first year I couldn’t get tickets I shrugged. It’s exhausting, and there are other cons. I didn’t even try this year or last. But now I find I’ve started to miss it.
Ok, this isn’t the kind of thing I usually read…
Ok, this isn’t the kind of thing I usually read (but when it comes to killer hippo westerns, that probably goes w/o saying), but it’s oddly compelling.
I do wonder just how many niches hippos fill in this world: cattle AND horses AND Bond-villain alligators? What else?
Historic museum and dry fountain.
Historic house turned museum and dry fountain in a California Beach town.
I guess I should say old house turned historical museum. The house itself isn’t particularly historic.