mastodon 4.7.2research engineer, occasional crafter, open source hardware interest, fitness teaching, pickled radish stan
pronoun.is/404
Saw the #Pianodrome sort-of house band do a lunchtime recital yesterday, most of it was (relatively) straight trio of piano, strings, woodwind. But they also did this wonderful jamming experiment with the "zombie piano", a piano stripped right back to its resonant guts, played with all the parts scavenged during its disassembly
This absolutely says "algorave, but analogue" and is now part of my fantasy crossover night there
cc @synte@social.toplap.org @TodePond@mas.to @jtruk@mastodon.social
Bought a pickled radish longer than my forearm for just 50p, due to expiry date. The weekend's food choices will now be wholly dictated by "how are we going to get through this entire pickled radish", suggestions welcome :)
Plans are well afoot now for Edinburgh's trans solidarity bike ride, involves a few women-led groups, on Dec 14th - parallel to this one in Bristol, but including a shorter/flatter option https://www.komoot.com/collection/3981455/-solidarity-ride-10am-14-december
Past the "burst of productivity" phase into the "wrangling over statements" now. Trying to tune down any sense of attack on Cycling UK, because you want it to be a positive, supporting event. But also aiming to avoid toxic positivity, you want to be able to tell people they're wrong
Plans are well afoot now for Edinburgh's trans solidarity bike ride, involves a few women-led groups, on Dec 14th - parallel to this one in Bristol, but including a shorter/flatter option https://www.komoot.com/collection/3981455/-solidarity-ride-10am-14-december
Past the "burst of productivity" phase into the "wrangling over statements" now. Trying to tune down any sense of attack on Cycling UK, because you want it to be a positive, supporting event. But also aiming to avoid toxic positivity, you want to be able to tell people they're wrong
Very seldom actually like a picture with me in it, but this one in @andycatlincom@mastodon.scot 's collection from yesterday's #SolidarityRide is lovely - cycling the Granton shoreline at sunset, small Blåhaj in the Brompton basket
https://andycatlin.myportfolio.com/edinburgh-solidarity-ride-14-december-2025
Very seldom actually like a picture with me in it, but this one in @andycatlincom@mastodon.scot 's collection from yesterday's #SolidarityRide is lovely - cycling the Granton shoreline at sunset, small Blåhaj in the Brompton basket
https://andycatlin.myportfolio.com/edinburgh-solidarity-ride-14-december-2025
On the bus to offer Android support to mum's learning-disabled friend who's got some sort of adware disguised as security software sending streams of scare notifications, tried to talk them thru it over the phone to no avail
Filter the many generated 5* reviews of "Permission Guard" on the Play Store to find 1* reviews that read "Boomer baiting ad every 3 seconds about 'virus infection'... how is this slop allowed?"
A place for decent security. Humane support. You could run a little stall
So much i haven't seen! Never made it to that Museum of Islamic Science and Technology. Or to the Museum of Turkish Calligraphic Art i must have walked past at least twice, but only just spotted on the map...
Impulse-booked this trip the night before the Middle East war broke out everywhere. Probably wouldn't have taken the risk, had i waited a day.
Times being how they are, if you've always wondered about visiting That Place, wherever it is, perhaps you should...
Been enlisted by @Edinburghstreetstitchers@mastodon.scot to sit in the Morningside Library on April 11th and offer folk styling advice about what to do with their hastily acquired charity shop crawl purchases :)
Yes please, all the styling advice that normally lives in my head will have a sanctioned outlet
There are toads everywhere
Found this polite note on the underlay (which is thankfully in reasonable condition, there were no Horrors Beneath)
Appreciate the advice, "Hugh", but the Universe has ordered this carpet for me, all i am responsible for is the attempt to fit it
Took Kerry the Pirate to the Mega Epic Sale of Stuff in Whitespace Gallery, it's interesting, not so much for the stuff but for the performance element of the sale
Had every intention not to buy anything but came away with a small, thin mirror in a big rough-wood frame which i liked a lot, happy to part with a fiver for that
It runs til Thursday 19th March
Planning a switch to a new instance soon, still deciding where that could be (somewhere cosy, at the smaller end of the scale)
Set this timeline to autodelete after a week, noticed there's a "keep posts with media attachments" option so trying that - might work, preserve things i liked at the time?
When everything's transient, nothing is. Never did get the hang of archives
Mystified now, after jumping off the bus a stop early to take this picture, then looking closely at it - the background typography's off, it all has a generative feel - then idly searching for it, only to discover an entire Etsy genre of clone posters, Motivational Printable Decor with fake newspaper backdrop, each making the rest look thinner, emptier
Anyway, what if it all works out
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/4399158232/what-if-it-all-works-out-poster-retro
This new newsletter from @aleesteele@post.lurk.org is a delightful dose of creative optimism, recommended
https://buttondown.com/aleesteele/archive/field-notes-from-my-desktop-spring-edition/
Well this was fascinating in a horrific way. A nest of half a dozen of these apps running in the background, posing as security tools, displaying adverts masquerading as system notifications, linking to each other in the Play Store
Like the old days of Windows banner ads for bogus registry cleaners, but slop-accelerated, the scare factor dialed to 11. Reams of generated 5* Play Store reviews, and the LLM autosummaries lend them an air of legitimacy to a casual searcher
@cpswan@hachyderm.io