Beardy Guy Musings https://beardystarstuff.net/ en Mon, 18 Mar 2024 22:23:29 -0500 https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/17/so-good-an.html Sun, 17 Mar 2024 21:33:14 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/17/so-good-an.html <p>So good.</p> <p><a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BfeOWj6AsVc">An Honest Chevron Ad - YouTube</a></p> <blockquote> <p>Did you know Chevron was found liable for $9.5 billion in damages from decades of dumping toxic oil waste in the Amazon basin? And instead of paying, they spent years persecuting and stripping the rights of Steven Donziger, the lawyer who led the case against them.</p> </blockquote> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/17/the-climate-emergency.html Sun, 17 Mar 2024 16:25:03 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/17/the-climate-emergency.html <p>The climate emergency is just getting started.</p> <p><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/map-shows-9-states-where-homeowners-are-losing-their-insurance-1875252">Homeowners Are Losing Their Insurance</a></p> <blockquote> <p>Homeowners insurance costs have soared across the country partly due to unpredictable weather patterns, particularly in places like California, Texas and Florida, a development that has led to increased claims from customers that are hurting companies&hellip;</p> <p>&ldquo;Climate adaptation, on the other hand, will become very real, as more insurers scale back activities in even more regions affected by climate change and explore new types of heat-linked policies,&rdquo; she said.</p> </blockquote> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/17/people-living-this.html Sun, 17 Mar 2024 08:52:02 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/17/people-living-this.html <p>People living this close to the ocean are still in denial of what&rsquo;s coming. They spent $500,000 on a sand dune wiped away in 3 days.</p> <p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/17/salisbury-massachusetts-sea-level-sand-dune">Massachusetts town grapples with sea rise after sand barrier fails</a>&hellip;</p> <blockquote> <p>As weather patterns get more extreme and oceans get <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/26/accelerating-ocean-warming-earth-temperatures-climate-crisis">warmer</a>, sea levels rise due to thermal expansion and weather patterns get more extreme, boosting coastal erosion. This climate crisis is now on the doorstep of Salisbury beach homeowners, as they suffer the consequences of rising sea levels, stronger winds and severe storms in recent months, including two in January.</p> </blockquote> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/17/its-been-three.html Sun, 17 Mar 2024 08:10:24 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/17/its-been-three.html <p>It&rsquo;s been three weeks since Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire at the gate of the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC as an <a href="https://crimethinc.com/2024/02/26/this-is-what-our-ruling-class-has-decided-will-be-normal-on-aaron-bushnells-action-in-solidarity-with-gaza">act of protest</a> against the ongoing <a href="https://crimethinc.com/2024/02/13/human-rights-discourse-has-failed-to-stop-the-genocide-in-gaza-an-anarchist-from-jaffa-on-the-necessity-of-anti-colonial-strategies-for-liberation">genocide</a> of Palestinians in Gaza.</p> <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/78471/2024/aaronandsugar.jpg" width="600" height="815" alt="Photo of short haired man in red shirt and blue pants kneeling down and petting a white and gray cat"> <p><a href="https://crimethinc.com/2024/02/29/memories-of-aaron-bushnell-as-recounted-by-his-friends">CrimethInc. : Memories of Aaron Bushnell : As Recounted by His Friends</a></p> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/16/climate-activists-across.html Sat, 16 Mar 2024 16:54:06 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/16/climate-activists-across.html <p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/16/climate-activists-across-europe-block-access-to-north-sea-oil-infrastructure">Climate activists across Europe block access to North Sea oil infrastructure | The Guardian</a></p> <blockquote> <p>Climate activists in four countries are blocking access to North Sea oil infrastructure as part of a coordinated pan-European civil disobedience protest&hellip;.</p> <p>The protest comes in the same week <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/12/no-big-north-sea-fossil-fuel-nation-plan-stop-drilling-global-heating">a report found</a> none of the big fossil fuel producing countries in the region had plans to stop drilling soon enough to meet the 1.5C (2.7F) global heating target set by the Paris climate accords.</p> </blockquote> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/16/rachel-corrie-gave.html Sat, 16 Mar 2024 16:35:44 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/16/rachel-corrie-gave.html <p><a href="https://jacobin.com/2024/03/rachel-corrie-death-anniversary-rafah-gaza-idf">Rachel Corrie Gave Her Life for Palestine</a></p> <blockquote> <p>This day in 2003, the IDF killed American activist Rachel Corrie as she defended homes in Rafah from destruction. As Israel threatens to invade the city, a volunteer who stood alongside Rachel writes on her legacy — a call for steadfast solidarity with Gazans.</p> </blockquote> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/15/donated-world-central.html Fri, 15 Mar 2024 21:50:15 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/15/donated-world-central.html <p>Donated!</p> <p><a href="https://www.worldcentralkitchen.org/news/aid-boat-offloads-in-gaza">World Central Kitchen | Operation Safeena: WCK aid boat offloads in Gaza</a></p> <blockquote> <p>World Central Kitchen’s team in Gaza is offloading 200 tons of desperately needed food that arrived on our first maritime aid shipment to the region. Carried on the Open Arms vessel, the cargo is part of Operation Safeena, our effort to bring as much aid as possible to Palestinians by sea. We have provided more than 37 million meals to families in war-torn Gaza by land and air since first responding to the conflict.</p> </blockquote> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/15/mehdi-hasan-debunks.html Fri, 15 Mar 2024 21:33:12 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/15/mehdi-hasan-debunks.html <p><a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fyWe8OdYg7c">Mehdi Hasan Debunks 7 Israeli Myths About UNRWA - YouTube</a></p> <blockquote> <p>As Israel launches a propaganda campaign against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), millions of Palestinians continue to rely on the agency’s critical support when it comes to healthcare, education, and food. In this latest DEBUNKED!, Mehdi Hasan refutes the top 7 Israeli lies about UNRWA.</p> </blockquote> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/15/130427.html Fri, 15 Mar 2024 13:05:59 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/15/130427.html <p>A review/check-in after 19 months of hosting on <a class="autolink" href="https://Micro.blog">Micro.blog</a>: It's a mixed bag</p> <p>After many years of using WordPress for my blogs I decided to transition to <a class="autolink" href="https://Micro.blog">Micro.blog</a> in late 2022. I'd grown frustrated with what felt like overly complex posting and feature bloat in WP. Whether using the website or the WP app, it just felt increasingly complicated. Posting from iA Writer was my usual choice but it would often time out, forcing me to go to the website or app fairly often and I dreaded it. Blogging with WP always felt like a chore. </p> <p><a class="autolink" href="https://Micro.blog">Micro.blog</a> was simpler. I'd been using and participating in the community timeline off and on since the early days of the service so I decided to try moving my blog there. After a month or two I decided to move my domain over and really settle in. It's been 19 months since I started hosting here and it's time for a check-in/review. </p> <p>What I love: </p> <ul> <li>Posting from iA Writer works every time and so posting was easy.</li> <li>Posting from Obsidian works every time and is my new preferred process.</li> <li>Manton. He's always on the timeline. He's invested and cares. He participates and is a blogger himself. He obviously cares about blogging. Even better, he gets and cares about the open web and making sure that <a class="autolink" href="https://micro.blog">micro.blog</a> ties in with the larger Fediverse.</li> </ul> <p>What I tolerate:</p> <ul> <li>Composing on the <a class="autolink" href="https://Micro.blog">Micro.blog</a> website works which is to say, it functions. I guess because it's <strong>Micro</strong>.blog the text field is tiny. I'm glad I can write and post from iA Writer and Obsidian, otherwise the tiny text field would be a deal breaker for me. Yes, there's an app, I'll get to that.</li> <li>Thankfully editing a post presents a larger text field so it's an improvement over composing. But generally the interface is the complete opposite of WordPress, which is to say, bare bones. For Comparison, here are two screen shots. One of a relatively new blogging service, <a class="autolink" href="https://Pika.page">Pika.page</a> and, below it, <a class="autolink" href="https://Micro.blog">Micro.blog</a>:</li> </ul> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/78471/2024/img-6178.jpeg" alt="A screenshot of a Safari window showing text in a compose window for the Pika.Page website" /></figure> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/78471/2024/microblogcompose.jpeg" alt="A screenshot of a Safari window showing text in a compose window for the micro.blog website" /> </figure> <p>Maybe it's just me but <a class="autolink" href="https://pika.page">pika.page</a>, while simple, has a much friendlier, functional design. It's beautiful. By comparison micro.blog feels basic, less functional and looks like it's designed for entry of a record into a database. There's nothing delightful about it. </p> <p>Okay, okay. But <a class="autolink" href="https://micro.blog">micro.blog</a> has apps! Let's look at the compose window for the app on the iPad:</p> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/78471/2024/img-6179.jpeg" alt="A screenshot of a Safari window showing text in a compose window for the micro.blog app on an iPad" /> </figure> <p>It's better than the website with a much larger window here but still very basic. There is a very minimal formatting bar at the bottom though it's not as functional as the <a class="autolink" href="https://Pika.page">Pika.page</a> website which has quite a few formatting options. Oh, and I'm guessing this is a bug but there's no way to assign a category to a post while using the iPad app. So, the <a class="autolink" href="https://micro.blog">micro.blog</a> app is better than the website but basic and sort-of broken.</p> <p>And, since I'm comparing it to <a class="autolink" href="https://Pika.page">Pika.page</a>, I should note that, outside of the writing experience, <a class="autolink" href="https://Micro.blog">Micro.blog</a> has far more to offer. Some of the most notable <a class="autolink" href="https://Micro.blog">Micro.blog</a> features include: </p> <ul> <li>Categories for posts</li> <li>ActivityPub support</li> <li>Easy cross posting to other services</li> <li>Comments via the community timeline. This includes anyone with a free or paid <a class="autolink" href="https://Micro.blog">Micro.blog</a> account as well as users in the Fediverse.</li> <li>Customizable via Hugo themes and plugins</li> <li>A new built-in blog roll feature</li> </ul> <p>In my experience using the app on an iPad, it's poorly designed but mostly functional. If this were an App Store rating it would be a 2/5. And it's buggy. Currently, trying to scroll through the timeline it's repeating, showing me posts over and over, sort of in a loop.</p> <p> Images in the timeline look fine but if I tap on a landscape image to view a larger version it does not scale to the current window size but requires that I scroll sideways to see the rest of the image - come on! That's a terrible user experience. Is the iPad app even tested? Or perhaps it's just not a priority? Also worth noting, when using the app on the iPad with a hardware keyboard, neither the keyboard down arrow or space bar can can be used to scroll. The trackpad can be used to scroll but using it to click or tap a post to view the conversation does nothing.</p> <p>When compared to any number of apps available for Mastodon, say, Mona, Ice Cubes, or Ivory, it just seems like it's not finished, an app in beta testing. In comparison to those apps there are far fewer features and yet the features it does have are either not fully supported on the iPad or are broken by bugs. As recently as a week ago the share sheet was not working. </p> <p>Browsing the timeline on the website is, like much of the rest of the experience, functional but often frustrating. The page scrolling is limited. After a bit of scrolling the user encounters a "Show More" button that has to be tapped to load more of the timeline. My guess is that the idea here is to protect users from themselves? If so, I don't appreciate it. I'm an adult and don't need or want to an artificial barrier put in front of me. But even worse, let's say I tap that button a few times then get to a post with a conversation that I want to check out. I tap into it, leave a comment and go back to the timeline via the back button or swipe gesture. Sometimes I'm taken back to the timeline where I left off. Other times? Back to the top of the timeline. This also occasionally happens if tap a link to a full blog post. Upon returning I may find myself where I left off or I may be back to the top of the timeline. </p> <p>I've already written about my frustrations concerning other aspects of using the community feed and the Discovery feed: <a href="https://beardystarstuff.net/2023/12/22/thoughts-microblog-and.html">Here</a>, <a href="https://beardystarstuff.net/2023/07/07/ive-been-a.html">here</a> and <a href="https://beardystarstuff.net/2023/11/05/084845.html">here</a>. </p> <p>I'm still satisfied with my choice to move away from WordPress and I've recommended <a class="autolink" href="https://micro.blog">Micro.blog</a> many times. But with new options like <a href="https://pika.page">Pika.page</a> and <a href="[https://scribbles.page">Scribbles</a> becoming available, <a class="autolink" href="https://micro.blog">Micro.blog</a> is no longer the obvious choice. While those services lack built in ActivityPub support, comments, the community timeline and other features, they can be used in conjunction with an account at Mastodon or BlueSky. If I were making the move from WordPress today I'd certainly be considering those and other options. And if I were not using Obsidian or iA Writer, but rather relying on the web to write and manage my posts, I would most definitely chose another service.</p> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/14/love-in-the.html Thu, 14 Mar 2024 21:52:44 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/14/love-in-the.html <p><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/3/12/love-in-the-time-of-genocide">Love in the time of genocide | Israel War on Gaza | Al Jazeera</a></p> <blockquote> <p>For weeks in southern Gaza during a recent visit, I collected stories of women admitted to hospital, each of them there to recover from what they call “war wounds”. But it’s not a war, because only one side has an actual army. Only one side is a state with full military wares.</p> <p>These victims were mothers, wives and babies, whose slight bodies were pierced, torn, broken and burned. Their deeper injuries aren’t visible, until they open up about their lives over the past five months.</p> </blockquote> <p>#gaza</p> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/13/humancaused-climate-change.html Wed, 13 Mar 2024 20:02:27 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/13/humancaused-climate-change.html <p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/warmest-february-climate-change-1.7136294">Human-caused climate change fuels hottest February on record, all-time high ocean warming | CBC News</a></p> <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/78471/2024/9e3aaa09-0edf-4795-96b9-479afea49c5b.png" width="600" height="416" alt="Chart showing daily sea surface temperatures smashing previous records for nearly an entire year from April 2023 to March 2024."> <blockquote> <p>For the ninth straight month, Earth has obliterated global heat records — with February, the winter as a whole and the world&rsquo;s oceans setting new high-temperature marks, according to the European Union climate agency Copernicus.</p> <p>The latest record-breaking in this climate change-fuelled global hot streak includes sea surface temperatures that weren&rsquo;t just the hottest for February, but eclipsed any month on record, soaring past August 2023&rsquo;s mark and still rising at the end of the month.</p> </blockquote> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/13/moving-in-the.html Wed, 13 Mar 2024 08:03:58 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/13/moving-in-the.html <p>Moving in the wrong direction on climate.</p> <p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/07/ai-data-centers-power/">Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power - The Washington Post</a>&hellip;</p> <blockquote> <p>Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid.</p> </blockquote> 20 albums that stuck https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/12/albums-that-stuck.html Tue, 12 Mar 2024 21:58:50 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/12/albums-that-stuck.html <blockquote> <p><a href="https://amerpie.lol/2024/03/12/list-albums-that.html">Lou Plummer: List 10 albums that have stayed with you over the years in some way.</a></p> </blockquote> <p>A fun question but impossible. For example, R.E.M - well, I could just as easily list any of their first 10 albums: Life&rsquo;s Rich Pageant, yes please. Reckoning. Uh huh. Document? Sure. But for the moment, I&rsquo;ll choose Green.</p> <p>But I could say the same for many of the others on the list. And no, I&rsquo;m not stopping at 10.</p> <ol> <li>Green - R.E.M.</li> <li>Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me - The Cure</li> <li>John Lennon - Imagine</li> <li>Sinead O&rsquo;Connor - The Lion and the Cobra</li> <li>Chumbawamba - Anarchy</li> <li>Poi Dog Pondering - Poi Dog Pondering</li> <li>The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers</li> <li>Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman</li> <li>Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew</li> <li>Rage Against the Machine - RATM</li> <li>Billy Bragg - The Internationale</li> <li>Utah Phillips - Fellow Worker</li> <li>The B-52&rsquo;s - Cosmic Thing</li> <li>Peter Gabriel - So</li> <li>Sting - The Dream of the Blue Turtles</li> <li>Prince - Purple Rain</li> <li>Cat Stevens - Peace Train</li> <li>James Taylor - Sweet Baby James</li> <li>Willie Nelson - Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain</li> <li>Neil Diamond - Sweet Caroline</li> </ol> <p>That&rsquo;ll do for now. So many more.</p> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/12/162129.html Tue, 12 Mar 2024 16:23:20 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/12/162129.html <p>A perfect afternoon visiting the bees as they collected pollen from a flowering plum tree.</p> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/78471/2024/img-0598.jpeg" alt="A honeybee collecting pollen from a white flower. in the background a branch of blurred flowers is on the right side of the image and a bright blue sky behind the bee and flower. " /></figure> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/78471/2024/img-0436.jpeg" alt="A honeybee is collecting pollen from white plum flowers." /></figure> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/78471/2024/img-0458.jpeg" alt="A honeybee is collecting pollen from white plum flowers. A bright blue sky is visible in the background." /></figure> <p>#nature #bees #spring #flowers</p> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/11/200003.html Mon, 11 Mar 2024 20:04:12 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/11/200003.html <p>A variety of bees, flys and butterflies were busy pollinating the plum trees today - the western honey bees especially!</p> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/78471/2024/img-0287.jpeg" alt="A closeup of two honeybees, one is flying above white flowers, the other is resting on a flower as it collects pollen" /> </figure> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/78471/2024/img-0681.jpeg" alt="A honey bee gathering pollen from white flowers set against a blue sky" /></figure> <figure> <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/78471/2024/img-0553.jpeg" alt="A macro image of a furry honeybee collecting pollen from white flowers" /> </figure> Famine in Gaza https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/11/is-there-famine.html Mon, 11 Mar 2024 11:17:50 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/11/is-there-famine.html <p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/famine-looms-gaza-how-will-world-know-it-has-arrived-2024-03-05/">Is there famine in Gaza? | Reuters</a></p> <blockquote> <p>The United Nations said in February that more than a quarter of Gaza&rsquo;s 2.3 million people were &ldquo;estimated to be facing catastrophic levels of deprivation and starvation.&rdquo; It said without action widespread famine could be &ldquo;almost inevitable.&rdquo;</p> <p>The IPC is due to release a new analysis of the situation in Gaza by mid-March.</p> </blockquote> <p>&hellip;as U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has said: &ldquo;Once a famine is declared, it is too late for too many people.&rdquo;</p> <p>According to the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/gaza-israel-children-dying-malnutrition-1.7134478">CBC News</a> severely malnourished children have already started dying and as of March 6 at least &ldquo;15 children are among the first confirmed victims of hunger, health officials say.&rdquo;</p> <ul> <li>Israel is still blocking food and medical aid in defiance of the ICJ ruling on January 26 that it take action to prevent acts of genocide.</li> <li>Biden is still supplying Israel with munitions and weapons.</li> <li>The US just launched a vessel with equipment to build a pier off the Gaza coastline, estimated to take 60 days to construct after the journey from Virginia.</li> <li>US air drops are delivering 40,000 meals per drop, 3 drops thus far, so, 112,000 meals.</li> </ul> <p>At least 31,000 people have been killed and 72,000 injured in Gaza since the war began. Those deaths do not include many thousands likely dead under the rubble.</p> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/10/propalestinian-protesters-block.html Sun, 10 Mar 2024 20:30:13 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/10/propalestinian-protesters-block.html <p><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/entertainment/pro-palestinian-protesters-block-roads-leading-to-oscars/vi-BB1jF4PQ?t=3&amp;ocid=socialshare">Pro-Palestinian protesters block roads leading to Oscars</a></p> <p>Love to see it:</p> <blockquote> <p>Pro-Palestinian protesters chanting &ldquo;Cease fire now&rdquo; blocked roads leading to the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, delaying the start of the Oscars. Some ceremony attendees in formalwear shoved past protesters.</p> </blockquote> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/10/185958.html Sun, 10 Mar 2024 18:59:58 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/10/185958.html <p>A male relative today made a sexist, stupid comment, not for the first time.</p> <p>My reply, not for the first time: Your sexism isn&rsquo;t funny and it&rsquo;s never acceptable. Stop.</p> <p>I know that he won&rsquo;t stop. I get the same from most of the other males in the family.</p> <p>Patriarchy has deep roots.</p> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/10/see-the-usa.html Sun, 10 Mar 2024 07:33:10 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/10/see-the-usa.html <p>See the USA in your Chevrolet!</p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3ZA76dttys">www.youtube.com/watch</a></p> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/08/124622.html Fri, 08 Mar 2024 13:50:24 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/08/124622.html <figure><img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/78471/2024/iwd.jpeg" alt="4 women in dark green uniforms standing on a rock peak with mountains in the background. The women each hold a lit torch with the fourth woman holding her torch up as it is being lit by another" /></figure> <p><a href="https://anfenglish.com/women/yja-star-let-us-make-resistance-with-the-slogan-jin-jiyan-azadi-the-basis-of-our-lives-72142"> YJA Star (Free Women&rsquo;s Troops) Central Headquarters Command made a written statement on the occasion of March 8, International Working Women&rsquo;s Day.</a></p> <blockquote> <p>Our uninterrupted struggle for women's freedom, from Saras to Zîlans, from Bêrîtans to Doğa Viyans, created great gains for women and became the expression that a society whose women are free will also be free. In this sense, women transforming the areas they are in into positions of resistance means the end of the rapist masculine mentality. The way to do this is to organize strongly. Where a single woman remains unorganized, women will continue to be subjected to violence, rape, oppression and exploitation.</p> </blockquote> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/07/this-is-a.html Thu, 07 Mar 2024 09:19:48 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/07/this-is-a.html <p>This is a crazy good deal if you want or need an alternative to Adobe apps. One time purchase, 30% off.</p> <p><a href="https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/">Affinity – Professional Creative Software</a></p> <blockquote> <p>Affinity V2 Universal License</p> <p>Get Version 2 of Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher on all operating systems, including iPad, for one low bundle price.</p> <p>All apps. All platforms.No subscription.</p> <p>Was <s> USD$164.99 </s> Now $114.99</p> </blockquote> Linked: Climate Emergency https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/07/this-chart-of.html Thu, 07 Mar 2024 09:05:45 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/07/this-chart-of.html <p><a href="https://www.vox.com/climate/2024/2/28/24085691/atlantic-ocean-warming-climate-change-hurricanes-coral-reefs-bleaching">This chart of ocean temperatures should really scare you</a>&hellip;</p> <blockquote> <p>If you were to dip your toes into the middle of the North Atlantic — say, somewhere between South Carolina and Spain — the water would feel frigid. You definitely wouldn’t want to swim. It’s winter.</p> <p>Yet that water would, in fact, be very warm, relatively speaking. Right now, the North Atlantic ocean is, on average, warmer than any other time on record, running about 2 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the average temperature over the last three decades.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/6/24091541/sinking-cities-coast-sea-level-rise-nature-research">Cities are sinking, and it’s making them more vulnerable to climate change</a>&hellip;</p> <blockquote> <p>America’s coastal cities are sinking, putting more people at risk for flooding than urban planners might have expected with sea level rise alone.</p> <p>The gradual sinking of land, also known as land subsidence, could cause flooding to reach far more communities than previously anticipated, according to new <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07038-3">research</a> published today in the journal <em>Nature</em>. The study looked at 32 major cities along the US shoreline, and forecasted future flooding with climate change. In a worst-case scenario without adequate flood defenses, up to one in 50 people and one in 35 properties in those cities could face flooding during high tide by 2050.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/27/climate/scientists-are-freaking-out-about-ocean-temperatures.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZE0.I7eo.h5jLn2txOn6X&amp;smid=url-share">Scientists Are Freaking Out About Ocean Temperatures</a>&hellip;</p> <blockquote> <p>For the past year, oceans around the world have been substantially warmer than usual. Last month was the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/07/climate/2024-hottest-january-data.html">hottest January on record in the world’s oceans</a>, and temperatures have continued to rise since then. The heat wave has been especially pronounced in the North Atlantic.</p> <p>“The North Atlantic has been record-breakingly warm for almost a year now,” McNoldy said. “It’s just astonishing. Like, it doesn’t seem real.”</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/29/biden-spending-highways-public-transport-climate-crisis">US spends billions on roads rather than public transport in ‘climate time bomb’</a>&hellip;</p> <blockquote> <p>Roads, roads and more roads. The US is continuing to spend billions of dollars on expanding enormous highways rather than fund public transport, with a landmark infrastructure bill lauded by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/joebiden">Joe Biden</a> only further accelerating the dominance of cars at the expense, critics say, of communities and the climate.</p> <p>Since the passage of the enormous $1.2tn <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/build/guidebook/">bipartisan infrastructure law</a> in 2021, hailed by Biden as a generational effort to upgrade the US’s crumbling bridges, roads, ports and public transit, money has overwhelmingly poured into the maintenance and widening of roads rather than improving the threadbare network of bus, rail and cycling options available to Americans, a new analysis has found.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/28/heat-wave-temperatures-records-us-2024-winter">Historic winter heat wave shatters hundreds of longstanding records</a>&hellip;</p> <blockquote> <p>The modern winter <a href="https://www.axios.com/energy-environment/climate-change">climate history</a> of the Central U.S. was rewritten this week, as more than 130 monthly high temperature records were set from Texas to Michigan.</p> <p>**Why it matters: **The historic winter heat wave illustrates how extreme day to day weather can <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/07/25/heat-waves-climate-change">act in concert with climate change</a> to set new milestones.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/18/semiconductor-silicon-chips-carbon-footprint-climate">The computer chip industry has a dirty climate secret</a>&hellip;</p> <blockquote> <p>The semiconductor industry has a problem. Demand is booming for silicon chips, which are embedded in everything from smartphones and televisions to wind turbines, but it comes at a big cost: a huge carbon footprint.</p> <p>The industry presents a paradox. Meeting global climate goals will, in part, rely on semiconductors. They’re integral to electric vehicles, solar arrays and wind turbines. But chip manufacturing also contributes to the climate crisis. It requires huge amounts of energy and water – a chip fabrication plant, or fab, can use millions of gallons of water a day – and creates hazardous waste.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/29/uk-600m-backing-jim-ratcliffe-carbon-bomb-petrochemical-plant">UK gives £600m backing to Jim Ratcliffe’s ‘carbon bomb’ petrochemical plant</a>&hellip;</p> <blockquote> <p>The UK government is providing a €700m (£600m) guarantee for the billionaire Jim Ratcliffe to build the biggest petrochemical plant in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/europe-news">Europe</a> in 30 years that will turbocharge plastic production.</p> <p>The huge petrochemical plant has been described as a “carbon bomb” by campaigners. Being constructed in the Belgian city of Antwerp by Ratcliffe’s company Ineos, it will bring plastic production to Europe on a scale not seen before, just as countries <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/nations-agree-end-plastic-pollution">are trying to negotiate</a> a binding global treaty to tackle the growing problem of plastic pollution.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTkY1-uGPwM">Deadly Texas wildfires, just 3% contained, scorch 1 million acres</a>&hellip;</p> <blockquote> <p>As record wildfires continue to rage in Texas, a woman was killed after authorities say flames overtook her truck. The Smokehouse Creek Fire has now scorched more than one million acres. NBC’s Morgan Chesky reports for TODAY.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7fL3_viJ1g">Firefighters battle to contain deadly Texas blazes</a>&hellip;</p> <blockquote> <p>In Texas, firefighters are working around the clock in a desperate attempt to control massive wildfires that have already claimed two lives in the panhandle.</p> </blockquote> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/07/an-minute-clip.html Thu, 07 Mar 2024 08:54:25 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/07/an-minute-clip.html <p>An 11 minute clip that clearly explains the current crisis in Gaza, Biden and his loss of support among progressives</p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygv-pK1dyrQ">Uncommitted vote in Michigan &lsquo;doing Biden a favor&rsquo; by sounding alarm on Gaza policy</a>&hellip;</p> <blockquote> <p>“Uncommitted” earned 100,000 votes in the Michigan Democratic primary Tuesday, raising flags to the Biden administration that its policy on Gaza could lose him crucial swing state voters. SiriusXM’s Dean Obeidallah and Jewish Current’s Peter Beinart say the effort reflects a need for urgency in resolving the war in Gaza.</p> </blockquote> The always evolving iPad set-up (and speculations on the iPad's future) https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/06/085836.html Wed, 06 Mar 2024 09:59:29 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/06/085836.html <p>It's March of 2024 and we're expecting new iPad and likely a new Magic Keyboard sometime this month. Given Apple rolled out 2 new MacBook Airs on Monday I'd guess iPad releases will be next Monday, the 11th. My main interest isn't the iPad itself but the Magic Keyboard. I'm doubtful that it will be backward compatible put I'm not ruling it out. My hope is that it's backward compatible to 2018 models and that it's something closer to the Brydge keyboard offering. Heavier than the current Magic Keyboard for iPad, with a base that includes a battery and ports. Basically leaning into the laptop form factor. <img src="https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/78471/2024/img-0197.jpeg" alt="An iPad Pro is held in a stand clamped to a shelf. Below it is a keyboard and trackpad that are arranged on a small self-contained case" /> My latest configuration has the iPad in the Twelve South HoverBar Duo attached to a shelf near my futon or a shelf above my desk. And I think I've finally improvised my ideal around-the-house keyboard/trackpad platform. I repurposed a Logitech Combo-Touch. With a bit of black foam the trackpad is recessed and set in place. I can change between several Bluetooth keyboards as needed. It's lighter and more compact than my previous attempts using repurposed sheets of thin plywood.</p> <p>Which brings me to Federico Viticci's recent <a href="https://www.macstories.net/stories/macpad-how-i-created-the-hybrid-mac-ipad-laptop-and-tablet-that-apple-wont-make/">story about his new MacPad experiment</a>. He was looking for a similar solution to create a unified keyboard deck for use with the VisionPro. He wasn't happy with the various options for sale so he removed the screen from his MacBook Air and added 3 hinged magnets to hold his iPad Pro which serves as the screen for accessing the Mac via Sidecar. The final solution lets him have access to the Mac, the iPad and the Vision Pro all from the Mac. Pretty neat for users that want a Mac-based, unified experience between the three platforms. </p> <p>What he and many others really want is a combined touch screen computer that can run macOS and/or iPadOS. I don't think that's going to happen because <a href="https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/02/18/the-ipad-pro.html">Apple has another solution that it shipped with VisionOS</a>: </p> <blockquote> <p>For those that want macOS on an iPad, VisionOS has the solution. Build in native support for screen sharing with a Mac. If your preference is the Mac and the iPad is a secondary device then you’ll likely have a Mac nearby and the screen sharing that VisionOS offers would likely work just fine. I’ve got a Mac as a file server and when I need to check in on it to update the OS the Screens app is nearly perfect. I login and it feels as though I’m using macOS on the iPad. </p> </blockquote> <p>I'd guess this will come with iPadOS 18 and will work on any M series iPad. Apple is expected to announce new iPad Pros this month along with an updated, more lap-top like Magic Keyboard which would go well with this solution. Unlike the Screens app a native Apple solution would take advantage of the full screen of an iPad when interfacing with the Mac. This solution fits well with the idea that Apple would rather users just have one of each device and it's likely true that many users already have both. </p> <p>It's a bridge solution that allows for Apple to continue with a focus on each platform. I prefer iPadOS and the iPad, so I'd much rather see Apple spend time and resources on further development of the iPad. A few weeks ago I posted about <a href="https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/02/14/apple-getting-weird.html">Apple getting weird</a> with the iPad line-up. I'm sure they'll continue with the iPad Pro but I can also imagine an iPad Studio similar to Federico's experiment in creating a screen-less Mac laptop. An iPad Studio would be housed in a keyboard, trackpad and battery base that would look nearly identical to a screen-less MacBook Air. The removable touch screen would be included and a much larger desktop touch screen would be optional:</p> <blockquote> <p>The touch screen would be thinner and lighter than what we now know as an iPad. It would also have a battery just for the screen and the most minimal hardware to connect the two wirelessly. Dock the screen to the keyboard to charge the screen and Pencil. Use it docked as a laptop. Remove the screen to use it as a tablet. Hold it, put it in a raised stand, walk around within the wireless range of the base unit. It’s thinner and lighter when used hand held. Comes as a 13 and 15". This is the mobile screen for the laptop form factor.</p> <p>An additional, desktop form factor is possible with an add-on accessory: a 24" desktop touch screen for graphic design that has a base unit that allows it to fold down at a low angle for use as a graphics tablet or positioned upright as a traditional screen. Or use the iPad Studio with any Apple Studio Display without touch input.</p> </blockquote> <p>Such an addition to the iPad lineup would expand the modularity of the iPad to a more capable desktop oriented workspace while maintaining the portability of the device. </p> https://beardystarstuff.net/2024/03/05/america-is-built.html Tue, 05 Mar 2024 12:40:18 -0500 http://denny.micro.blog/2024/03/05/america-is-built.html <p>America is built on settler colonialism, slavery and white supremacy. For decades we&rsquo;ve supported Israel in its constant breaking of international laws and now, genocide.</p> <p>If we refuse to end our complicity in genocide what are we? I see a pattern here.</p> <p>But do go on about democracy.</p>