Discussion
I cannot recommend these two books enough. The closest thing I can think of is Le Guin 'Earthsea' series.
Magical does not even begin to cover it! Can't wait for the 3rd book.
@[email protected] I think you've got an unfortunate typo in this post (assuming you like them? 😅)
@[email protected] @[email protected] just the level of trust and attention to detail you like to see in people offering checks notes assurance services!
Hello people who enjoy #writing! I've had some interest in a 5 week online course for adult non-coders to try their hand at #interactivefiction - i.e. stories that include branching narrative based on the readers' choices. The course would cover some of the mechanics, but also advice on structuring interactive plots with managable complexity, looking at emotional hooks that work better or worse when readers have active agency, using interactive fiction tools to capture options to show editors and beta-readers in non-interactive works, and some examples of expanding existing writing into an interactive experience.
If you like this idea, I'm putting together a mailing list of potential course members who are keen enough they'd like to have a voice in the scheduling of the course. Send me your email via DM or email me at [email protected] and I'll let you know when there are updates on the course and nothing else; this is not a general purpose "get spammed by Michael" email list. Costs will likely run at around 55 GBP per person.
If you're interested in the course but don't want to give your email away, just follow this account and I'll post when public tickets become available. Just be aware that by that stage time of day and dates will already be set.
Hello people who enjoy #writing! I've had some interest in a 5 week online course for adult non-coders to try their hand at #interactivefiction - i.e. stories that include branching narrative based on the readers' choices. The course would cover some of the mechanics, but also advice on structuring interactive plots with managable complexity, looking at emotional hooks that work better or worse when readers have active agency, using interactive fiction tools to capture options to show editors and beta-readers in non-interactive works, and some examples of expanding existing writing into an interactive experience.
If you like this idea, I'm putting together a mailing list of potential course members who are keen enough they'd like to have a voice in the scheduling of the course. Send me your email via DM or email me at [email protected] and I'll let you know when there are updates on the course and nothing else; this is not a general purpose "get spammed by Michael" email list. Costs will likely run at around 55 GBP per person.
I've started doing some mentoring with general coding skills as well as the online VisualInk courses, so to avoid any privacy concerns (waves at current world situation) we now have a private code server where mentees can share their code (using #forgejo).
Given I now have the server, it also makes sense to start moving the rest of my open source code there. The first public repository? VisualInk itself: code.mavnn.eu/mavnn/VisualInk
On a totally related note, if you're looking to get into coding or fine tune your skills I'm currently able to take on a few more people/small groups teaching web programming (frontend and backend), basic game development with #godot, or narrative game creation for non-coders. I've got enough experience with the UK school system I can also help you present evidence to the local authority for home educators.
I've started doing some mentoring with general coding skills as well as the online VisualInk courses, so to avoid any privacy concerns (waves at current world situation) we now have a private code server where mentees can share their code (using #forgejo).
Given I now have the server, it also makes sense to start moving the rest of my open source code there. The first public repository? VisualInk itself: code.mavnn.eu/mavnn/VisualInk
(delivered by Mad Scientist in British cod-German movie accent):
"Vell, ve haf zis spare particle accelerator from ze Wendelstein-8X aneutronic fusion reactor program, zo ve are looking for ze commerzial applications …"
@[email protected] I'd be more worried by them specifying natural potatoes. Unnatural potato crisps sound like something from, well, a @[email protected] novel.
@[email protected] @[email protected] does "reminding myself sternly not to build a project management tool every ten minutes" count? I'm not even completely joking.
More helpfully, org mode in emacs hits the best balance point so far for personal projects, but it is still very hit and miss how successfully I use it
@[email protected] @[email protected] it's a really deep rabbit hole - rgb is actually a terrible way of representing colours even at the basic level of being able to try and define all visible colours (see colour spaces en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_...) and that's before you even get to things like how different pigments change in different ambient light vs how projected colours are perceived in different brightness of light or how the texture of your paper changes the apparent ink colour...
@ireneista I see quoted posts of mine. I'm using the web app.
@[email protected] @[email protected] it also (confusingly) depends on who is quoting you how. If you see a post from someone on an instance that doesn't support quoting who has pasted a link to your post manually, you might just be seeing your instances preview of the link with the same ui - but because it's not a quote I don't think it triggers any notifications.
Things that should have been an #adhd tip off, part 3478: realising most people probably don't habitually check their sponge is wet as they leave the shower because of how often they forget to wash themselves inbetween the 'getting wet' and 'getting dry' parts of showering
@grimalkina
Oh wow, I had not even thought about that specific intersection 🤯
@[email protected] @[email protected] ah, that moment when you're grateful to have had something clarified so perfectly, while also being deeply upset by your newly deepened understanding of certain part events...
@cstross @mavnn I saw that and thought I need to warn Spousal Unit that it would *not* be a good idea to provide my social media details. And ideally not go to the US on business again. I'm on an Android - I assume the secret police already have whatever access they want to my activity.
Also, I doubt I could even provide all my email addresses. I've used a lot of burner addresses over the years as an anti spam and phishing measure.
@[email protected] I have yes - like @[email protected] I was commenting on them that I wouldn't be able to give the information they wanted even if I decided it was worth doing so.
It's just... so far I was kind of assuming pride and stupidity, the idea that America is so important everybody will put up with the crap and be grateful for it. But this is tipping me towards "I don't care how stupid you are, surely you wouldn't do this unless people not coming was the point, not just a side effect"
Why NOBODY with a sense of self-preservation should go to the Winter Olympics: you'd be putting yourself in the gunsights of masked murderthugs:
@[email protected] Are they... deliberately trying to keep people away? This almost feels like an attempt to isolate the US on purpose rather than just offending everybody and assuming you're so important it won't matter. Which I suppose could be the next step in an authoritarian take over, but it seems at odds with the vast narcissism displayed so far.
Things I actually miss about America:
— Halloween
— Waffle House
— Goldfish crackers
— Pumpkin pie
— Apple cider (nonalcoholic)
— the way honey comes in those little bear-shaped bottles
@[email protected] Dang. I was about to say that cider was available this side of the pond (or at least something very similar to some cider I was given in Seattle), and then I realized that the producer I was thinking of is UK based. And, well, Brexit.
But if you're ever in the UK for any reason, Copella pressed apple juice might be worth trying.
@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] I've recently finished building a website which is a full coding environment with a built in game runner. Because it exists for running coding courses I didn't try to optimise for size or loading speed, but according to resent stats I saw it is still barely a bigger download than the average size of most landing pages and because it has no ads it feels snappy even though it's served from a Raspberry Pi in my home office. There's really no excuse for the slowness of most websites.
@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] This isn't a boast about my amazing skills, I'm not even primarily a front end developer. I just built a website and only added the features it needed to do its job.
@MichaelOpal @pluralistic The crazy thing is it doesn't take great technical knowledge or effort to make a website fast and accessible. Companies invest a lot of money in things that make their websites slower, harder to use, and more buggy. I benefit financially from their proclivity for complexity, but I would change it in a heartbeat if I could.
@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] I've recently finished building a website which is a full coding environment with a built in game runner. Because it exists for running coding courses I didn't try to optimise for size or loading speed, but according to resent stats I saw it is still barely a bigger download than the average size of most landing pages and because it has no ads it feels snappy even though it's served from a Raspberry Pi in my home office. There's really no excuse for the slowness of most websites.
I'm British, white, male, aged 60-ish.
Prior to February 2016 I typically visited the USA 3 times a year for up to six weeks.
Since February 2016 I have visited the USA twice in a decade, for a total of 10 days.
Entering the USA as a foreigner, with a Republican POTUS in the White House, *never* felt safe, but under Trump it looks diabolically dangerous. (And to a glance I resemble "one of them": I'm not female or dark-skinned.)
@[email protected] @[email protected] it doesn't just look dangerous, it looks actually impossible (legally) for many of us if that goes through. I don't have access to all of the information they're asking for even if I did want to give it to them (which I don't).
@databasecultures I suggest:
@timnitGebru and @alex
@[email protected] and @[email protected] (posts infrequently but normally with links to longer articles) might be of interest
Most people either need to pick a level of trust and use a device as it is, or not use the tech. This isn't an elitism argument; I know something about software but if it comes to medical or legal matters, I'm in that same boat. Yes, we can educate people about the threat vectors they don't understand exist if and when they're relevant, but trying to make individuals responsible for the security of their mobile phones via verifying their software stack is like making me responsible for the safety of the drinking water coming out of my tap.
I'm not saying we shouldn't make things better, and I'm not saying there aren't a lot of low hanging purely technical fruit we shouldn't try and improve (I'm looking at you, most package repositories for most languages) but its worth remembering that improving things for everybody has to include everybody actually being able to use the improvements.
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