@david@theblower.au

I've recently finished being a guinea pig (took part in a research study) regarding hearing aides for people whose hearing is technically still good, but have trouble in noisy environments. It was an interesting exercise, in that I am now aware of the upper register that has degraded with age. Anyway, as an aside there was a gift voucher at the end of the study, which I put towards some AirPods Pro 3's to conduct some testing of my own. They arrived today, and I've set them up in hearing aide mode. So far, compared to the actual hearing aides I was using, they're probably 90% there in effectiveness and usage. The ergonomics aren't as good as the aides (which were behind the ear jobbies), but still decent. These are also by design, actual earbuds, so I tried out the noise cancelling, and yeah, that's excellent, couldn't hear anything including Lea right next to me, just the music I was playing. Will need to find somewhere noisy to test out the aide function further though.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

TIL I have apparently been using the “wrong” degrees symbol º (Option 0) instead of ° (Shift Option 8)

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@Axolotl1@gaygeek.social Everybody knows it's Octarine. :P

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 4mo ago

More giraffes. Did the optional safari tour (20 min drive through the safari enclosure).

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Well, that's a refreshing start to a survey.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Located in NSW between Orange and the Wombeyan Caves is this little spot.

Questions, I have some....

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Anyone want a free cat?

You just need to camp out in my backyard between 3am and 6am and then catch it.

#thisIsNotMyCat

theblower.au

The Blower

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Planning a trip south (with the caravan) and it looks like we might actually make it to the Zig Zag Railway (somewhere I've been meaning to go to since I was a teenager).

🚂

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Once again @iFixit@mastodon.social saves the day. This time with the Canon GP-E2 teardown instructions: https://documents.cdn.ifixit.com/pdf/ifixit/guide_129816_en.pdf

The hotshoe plate was loose (three of four screws had worked themselves loose over the 10+ years I’ve had this device), and the guide showed me the crucial step of desoldering the ground pin to get the hotshoe off and be able to access the screws to tighten it down.

#repair

documents.cdn.ifixit.com

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

I don't know about you, but I have apple crumble and custard.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@futurebird@sauropods.win Easier said than done. They can (and do) jump about 30cm, and if they decide that you deserve a sting, chances are they'll get you. (I once got a couple in my trousers (that had a tear in them) and let me say, stings on the thigh is not fun).

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@futurebird@sauropods.win I have bull ants on my property and can confirm they can be extremely painful.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@abstractcode This is an excellent plan, but what if also on fire? https://flic.kr/p/WoUvFX

flic.kr

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@daedalus @Unixbigot @abstractcode @futzle I have encountered all the things mentioned in this thread.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@futzle There's good eating in one of those.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Birders and birding adjacent folk, there’s a survey by some researchers at work that wants your answers:

https://uniofqueensland.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8GHohveJCnBPLgy

uniofqueensland.syd1.qualtrics.com

Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management

The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@s0 what's 37 secs between friends anyway?

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Tarale@aus.social Aha, I knew I had examples. Initial rainbow, and then a bit further down the road, the better rainbow. Shot in New Zealand, on the way to Queenstown. #rainbow

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 4mo ago

#CWNT Day 9 where we go to Gaol, and then visit a Zoo.

http://www.vikings.homeip.net/Lap/26.html

#blog #travel

theblower.au

The Blower

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@warkolm@aus.social I’m very much not used to it.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 4mo ago

Small entry today as we were mostly travelling: http://www.vikings.homeip.net/Lap/25.html

#CWNT #blog #travel

vikings.homeip.net

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 4mo ago

Ah the dulcet tones of V8s being revved too hard, and distant sirens.

I guess that's what you get in town.

#dubbo

theblower.au

The Blower

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 4mo ago

ASWFC AURORA ALERT
ISSUED AT 0923 UT on 16 May 2026
GEOMAGNETIC STORM IN PROGRESS. AURORA MAY BE OBSERVED DURING LOCAL NIGHT TIME HOURS IN GOOD OBSERVING CONDITIONS AT HIGH LATITUDES.

https://www.sws.bom.gov.au/Aurora/1/1

#Aurora

sws.bom.gov.au

SWS - Latest Conditions - Geomagnetic Indices

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@dmakovec@theblower.au I just use a pair of chopsticks, but it does depend in the sauce. Caccio al pepe works well.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@matratype I do. Still seems to be doing the same job it’s done for over a decade now.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@kaye@cathode.church make it so.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@SeaFury@aus.social Yes, but my autistic middle child always confused the two, and I'm not sure if that was just a case of putting labels on things incorrectly, or they didn't actually realise there was a difference, or couldn't differentiate between them?

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@uep@timeloop.cafe @futzle@old.mermaid.town There doesn’t seem to be a keyboard shortcut (on Mac) for the unicode symbol (U+2103) ℃ Although I’m happy to be proven wrong.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@troberts@theblower.au A problem no, but a social gaff for admitting it is a hangover.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@timixretroplays@digipres.club We replaced our large tank gas one > 5 years ago with an Instant Gas one. Works great, never run out of hot water (providing you don't run out of gas). However, these days, I'd be looking at instant electric, since gas is on the nose these days.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@bornach well that's handled by not clicking on the Start your survey button in the email.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@timixretroplays@digipres.club @tylersticka@social.lol it is almost certainly something like this: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/205164398681 An encased CR2032 with a 2 pin molex connector.

ebay.com.au

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@andrewrock One thing I’ll add - you’ll need to set your soldering iron to 400ºC (350º is too cold for the solder they’ve used on the ground pin).

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Unixbigot Better yet, I have leftover apple crumble and custard to repeat the performance tonight.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@pelagikat :quoll:

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@troberts@theblower.au It's a Me. ;-)

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 2mo ago

Extreme long shot, but… In a python script utilising PySide6 (QT6 library), why, if you have a large method, does calling it cause the interface to hang until it is finished. NB: making a smaller method that makes interface changes, then calls the larger method, doesn’t work either, none of the interface changes happen before it hangs. I have an MainWindow class bases on QMainWindow inside I have a QPushButton called runBtn I have a handler: self.runBtn.clicked.connect(self.buttonHandler) def buttonHandler(self, s): self.runBtn.setText("Running...") self.runBtn.setEnabled(False) self.makeSlides(True) The setText and setEnabled methods don’t do anything before the interface hangs. But if I comment out makeSlides, it does.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@JHB17 When the survey is voluntary (I had to click the link to go to it), that's a spurious option though, 'cause if I didn't want to take part, I could just not click the link.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 4mo ago

Replying to

@warkolm@aus.social My nearest village is a good 25 mins drive at 70-80kph away. We are however, on one of the aircraft flightpaths for Brisbane Airport.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@stragu yeah, covers work but not home.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Timo_Micro@scicomm.xyz ah that’s very interesting. I wonder if this one (from the phone) is the right or wrong one. °

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@troberts unintentional or intentional pun?

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@iFixit@mastodon.social Favourite win, purely from how much of a pain it was, was changing a completely smashed iPad mini glass and thus giving that device another 3 years of use. Not sure I’d attempt that again, it really was a pain. I have a Davey pump in my workshop I haven’t given up on entirely yet (getting close though).

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@stragu Weird boundaries. Mt Glorious and Mt Nebo are not technically in Brisbane. Neither is Moreton Is.

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David de Groot @david@theblower.au

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Timo_Micro@scicomm.xyz That makes the Mac shortcut even more confusing. Why use long-press 0 (zero) on the phone for Degrees, but NOT Option 0 (zero) on the Mac? WTF Apple? Anyway, I’ll try to remember to use the correct one going forward.

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