Steven Hoefer🖋🚀🔆 @readsteven@mastodon.xyz

I've put links and summaries of all 31 of my #AInktober flash fiction in one place so you don't have to wade through a Masto thread:

https://readsteven.com/read/ainktober_2019/

A thread of optimistic science/fiction art.

First up, Bryan Larsen's joyful inspiration: https://www.bryanlarsen.com/gallery/

Like Rule 34, but "If it exists, there is a moral panic about it."

[citation needed]

I'm sure the water pump is trash. (And it's rechargeable because something this cheap should not be trusted to keep mains power away from water.)

Meanwhile, that ceramic urn will last for literal millennia with replacement seals.

But.

I'm probably going to buy the crapgadget pump. Money is very tight, and I like that its failure mode is "no water" whereas the urn's failure mode is "5 gallons of water on the floor."

I need a new way to dispense from 5 gallon water jugs (see LB. *sigh*). I have a simple ceramic urn, but it started leaking. Here are some options:

- New seals: $15
- New ceramic urn: $50
- Simple steel stand to hold a bottle upside down: $25
-or-
Electric pump with USB rechargeable battery: $10

A complex piece of tech with microchips, motors, and batteries costs less than two pieces of molded rubber, or a bent piece of steel.

Waking up to the sound of dripping water from an unknown source is a good way to get the blood pumping in the morning. (But bad news for the downstream cardboard boxes of books.)

I keep thinking about an imaginary game that's a dungeon crawler, but instead of fantasy dungeons your party roams modern America, instead of monster encounters you help people or groups in distress. The overarching goal is to build people up enough to overthrow the system that let everyone down.

But games shouldn't be political. 😏

Oh, and the header image on that article is the Tokyo Dome City Amusement Park, which has a roller coaster that *goes through the center of a Ferris wheel!!!*

It's *also* immediately next to one of the most beautiful and relaxing places in Tokyo, the Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens, created in 1669.

Accidentally stumbled into the Bamum character set from western Cameroon about a century ago. It's glorious!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamum_Supplement

Don't look right at it. Use your peripheral vision. The center of your vision isn't as sensitive at other parts of the eye. Sometimes looking directly at a faint object will make it disappear from view!

Comets you can see with the naked eye are pretty rare. Here's a guide to seeing the one that's in the sky now and won't return for 6,800 years.

(Edit: Improved link. The Earthsky link had dozens of trackers.🙄)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/comet-neowise-could-be-spectacular-heres-how-to-see-it/

If Fuji-Q sold "Please Scream Inside Your Heart" merch, I'd buy it all.

(Unrequested endorsement: They have the best coasters I've ever ridden. Laughed like an absolute loon while riding them. Also, one of their older coasters points you straight at Mt. Fuji and lets you ponder it for a bit before plunging you 100m into the heart of the ride.)

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/09/889394605/please-scream-inside-your-heart-japanese-amusement-park-tells-thrill-seekers

My "Make telephone calls" app has been off my home screen for years, but I thought I was maybe in the minority?

A bunch of iOS 14 previews came out today, and they all have screen shots of the home screen.

About half of the reviewers didn't have the Phone app on their home screen or dock.

I guess there are more people who don't phone than I had imagined. Imagination updated!