donpdonp @donpdonp@mastodon.xyz

Its been great to spend the whole rainy Sunday with my ebook reader and a fun scifi novel.

The humans at the base of StarShip 15 give a sense of scale to this behemoth of a ship. And its not even stacked on the SuperHeavy launch vehicle yet.

Nothing makes me feel like maybe I'm dyslexic like trying to read sheet music. After 20 years of occasional trying, its still not any easier.

Its day 4 after getting the first shot of pfizer. I'm feeling a little run down but otherwise fine. Glad to be on the path to vaccination.

I wont miss the "Toot" name in mastodon. https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon/pull/16080

the NYTimes has done another amazing job of showing the web's potential with this covid data vis/article. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/04/17/travel/flying-plane-covid-19-safety.html

The rate of progress and the ambition of SpaceX has returned to breathtaking levels. The Starship test flights, the SuperHeavy Booster construction, the ground support structures, all outlined in the video below, feel like light speed compared to the days of the Space Shuttle. Thats not even including the plans for the floating Oil Derricks SpaceX has purchased.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29IYxORFA3c

I'm in a foreign country 🇲🇽 but I'm at starbucks in a shopping mall for the wifi and seating, and about to walk over to fast-chinese-food. #solocal

The Veloren 0.9 release party is happening now. Download the game at veloren.net or watch the stream at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCtldGKbURk or https://www.twitch.tv/zesterer #rust #opensourcegaming

Greetings from Mazatlán, Mexico. Its a HackerBeach of one.

Its been 3 weeks so far in Guadalajara. I learn a little more Spanish every day. I'm still avoiding coworking places due to covid, so its tough to meet people. On the plus side I'm getting project work done that's been ignored for years. Also I understand what good tortilltas and good tacos are now.

There can be entire zones for a particular product. Meaning about 5 blocks of small shops, all selling eyeglasses for instance.

Guadalajara is twice the size of Seattle. A large store, even for groceries, is rare. Instead there are many many small shops. It takes a lot of wandering to stumble into what you're looking for. While the roads are up to date in Google maps, the shops are not.

Ranked Choice Voting is happing this year, in this USA presidential election - in Maine. Thats a huge deal to set a precedent for the other states. RCV gives minority parties a chance. Here's what the ballot looks like in Maine. https://www.maine.gov/sos/cec/elec/upcoming/yorkRCV11-20geneleballotsample.pdf

Current status

if you live on the commandline, the weechat-matrix plugin is alright and definitely helps with the transition form irc to matrix. I just found a native (go) terminal based matrix-only client and my first impressions are very positive. https://github.com/tulir/gomuks

the usability and features of matrix have finally pushed me off irc and into the matrix as my primary messaging platform. it took a looong time and its great to have something new.

Youtube fireplace videos have gone from a quirky punchline to a competitive resource. A fireplace is highly regarded and increasingly rare as housing density goes up. These videos seem to provide genuine comfort in our increasingly VR world.

“I turned silences and nights into words. What was unutterable, I wrote down. I made the whirling world stand still.” Arthur Rimbaud 1854-1891 France