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theotherbrook

@[email protected]

Once and future writer, audio engineer, video producer, photographer, web person, Commedia dell'Arte character. Recovering Technologist teetering on the edge of becoming a Soilpunk.

He/Him

Media is my message.

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@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

Roses are
Violets are
RGBA adds transparency
So why won't you?

@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

Looking at news stories I see we've now entered the "let's make '99 Red Balloons' reality" phase of politics in the United States.

@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

It's long past time for me to unsubscribe from automated job posting emails because I just misread "Shift Lead" as "Shit Lead" and it didn't phase me at all.

@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

Alright, this time they sent DishwasherRepairMan instead of DishwasherRepairSidekick and in 20 minutes he gave us a working dishwasher again.

@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

Every night just before bed I remember the things I needed to do that day but forgot about and think, "I need to do those tomorrow."

I can't come up with a single one of them at the moment.

@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

Nothing I think of saying feels like it needs to be said.

@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

The dreaded moment has arrived. I got an email from the pole barn company asking if I'm going to order it this year.

@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

This is breaking my brain.

Screenshot of search result preview. A link to a page on traditionalcookingschool.com has this as its title: Traditional Cooking School by GNOWFGLINS
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@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

I just broke the First Rule of Chili Powder and rubbed my eyes.

@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

Really Firefox? It's mere hours to 2026 and you can't properly display a background image in a block element that spans two different grid columns? For shame.

@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

Now playing on the mental jukebox:

Yeah, we shake it up and we break it down
The sound of a satellite saying, "Get me down"
Yeah, we shake it up and we break it down
It's east European, west European
It's moving so fast, it goes all the way round

We get it right sometimes, we shine a light sometimes
We see the fish below the ice sometimes
Stand up and fight sometimes, we get the fright sometimes
How will we ever pay the price this time?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTZ5rBCPLdU

@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

You:

@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

Welp, I'm a bot.

Screenshot of a webpage reading: Before we continue... Press & Hold to confirm you are a human (and not a bot). Button text: Press & Hold Please try again
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@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

Has anyone evaluated headless servers? I'm thinking of something that could be used with Ghost subscriptions giving posting access to a site forum and blog comments. I suppose it doesn't have to be truly headless as long as there's some sort of authentication API.

@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

Do we still get to complain about how we feel after getting the flu shot and the covid shot at the same time? Because it's been a few hours and I feel like utter crap but if we're not still complaining about it then I don't want to sound like That Guy.

@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

I made the compost tumbler stand less rickety, though it's still a little rickety. It should do though. But then it started pouring enormous volumes of rain so I'm waiting before putting stuff in the barrel. The fancy shredder I got at the thrift store for ten bucks that make cardboard into little rectangular chips is going to be awesome for adding carbon to the mix.

I know it's hard but don't be jealous of me for all the things I'm going to compost.

@theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

Texting about geology as one does and my phone turned “Exotic Terrane” into Exotic Terrance so now I guess I have to change my name.

@Binder@petrous.vislae.town avatar Binder , to random

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    theotherbrook ,
    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar

    @Binder I'm attracted to you because I find your personality

    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

    I am the Minister of Minestrone.

    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

    My new indie-twee-electro-folk duo that only releases music on cassette will be called Wow and Flutter. If anyone wants to join they can decide if they want to be Wow or Flutter.

    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

    I just read the words “King historic Pope visit” and now it is clear that I need to change my name to King Historic Pope.

    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

    I am not going to jinx this.

    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

    If you are feeling stress about anything, anything at all, and watching a video on YouTube won't automatically increase your stress level, I highly recommend turning the sound up and listening as this helpful fellow from South Carolina describes troubleshooting his robot vacuum issue. This video dropped my blood pressure by at least 10 points.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9e7XuSz1r0

    @pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar pluralistic , to random

    Bourbon luge

    Me, with a bone marrow in my mouth, while a bartender pours bourbon into it.
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    theotherbrook ,
    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar

    @pluralistic Cool, but bourbon skeleton is really hardcore.

    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

    I don’t remember it taking so long for the eye dilation drops to make it impossible to post random things to the internet.

    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

    Lessons learned from finally setting up this old Casio Privia we got for free:

    1. The keyboard weighting isn't as good as, say, a Yamaha Clavinova but it feels nice
    2. The sampled instruments sound alright through the built-in speakers
    3. The rhythm accompaniments are kind of hilarious
    4. What little skill I ever had in playing a keyboard has long since atrophied into bumbling incompetence
    5. The USB port is only intended to work with a Windows driver on the long since missing CD-ROM so if I want to use it as a full-sized keyboard controller to augment my compact Arturia I'm going to need some sort of 5-pin DIN to USB adaptor
    6. Maybe I'll go move some more giant rocks around with the tractor
    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

    What with one thing and a million others we didn't start watching Grand Sumo Highlights until four days into the tournament and we've only been watching one a night, so we're still behind. But dang there have been some good matches.

    @gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar gerrymcgovern , to random

    "Please do not use Google AI to find out our specials. Please go on our Facebook page or our website," the restaurant wrote in a weary Facebook post. "Google AI is not accurate and is telling people specials that do not exist which is causing angry customers yelling at our employees."

    "We cannot control what Google posts or says," the post added, "and we will not honor the Google AI specials."

    https://futurism.com/local-restaurant-exhausted-google-ai

    theotherbrook ,
    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar

    @gerrymcgovern I was just reading a thread about a new restaurant that's opened up here and is using AI to generate its social media marketing. One person described showing up and repeatedly trying to order food and drink that had been promoted but wasn't actually on the menu.

    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

    It just occurred to me that the power necessary to run these LLMs like ChatGPT is kind of proof that what they do isn't at all equivalent to human thinking, which can be powered just by a peanut butter sandwich and a cup of coffee.

    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

    I never participate in , when people simultaneously watch a monster movie on Sunday night and use the hashtag to talk about it, but I enjoy the comments that creep over into my feed.

    It occurred to me that maybe might work too. It would be a time for many people to simultaneously watch a comedy (I'm thinking skewing towards classics but not entirely limited to them).

    Then I remembered how during Argentina's fiscal crisis in the 1970's, every time the country's finance minister would be fired and a new one appointed, an art house cinema in Buenos Aires would show the Marx Brother's Duck Soup.

    So I'm tossing it out to the fediverse. Would anyone be interested in finding a time for a simultaneous viewing of Duck Soup along with hashtagged chat? I've found it (and the entire Marx oeuvre) on Archive.org so there's no hunting around pay streaming services necessary.

    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar theotherbrook , to random

    My "Ignore All Previous Instructions" t-shirt from @molly0xfff 's store has arrived and it's everything I hoped for. I get to help support her reporting on crypto BS and have a picture of a snarling raccoon on my chest.

    https://store.mollywhite.net/products/ignore-all-previous-instructions-unisex-t-shirt

    @gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar gerrymcgovern , to random

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    theotherbrook ,
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    @gerrymcgovern I recently had a conversation with an autistic college student who described how when writing they will ask their roommate to supply a word they can use instead of the one they'd normally use. The roommate's writing doesn't get flagged as AI-generated but their does and substituting key words helps. I haven't read any of this person's writing, but they speak in very clear, articulate, and grammatically precise sentences with a wide and varied vocabulary. It's alarming to think of schools using tools that think their human students shouldn't be capable of writing that way.

    @mlupica@c.im avatar mlupica , to random

    Weird (but memorable) record store experience:

    Last summer, my wife, daughter, and an old friend of ours (+ her kids) vacationed in Washington DC for a week. One afternoon, I ducked into a record store in Adams Morgan called Smash, which has been around for eons if you count their original storefront in Georgetown.

    Back in the 90s, when I was working at a Trenton-based record shop/mailorder place called Burning Airlines (so named for the Brian Eno song), we used to place wholesale orders for Doc Martens through Smash. This was before said footwear could be acquired at the mall or online, so I like to think I played an important role in enabling punk kids to look the part in the just-pre-grunge era.

    Anyway, I ducked into Smash hoping to find my old Doc Marten contact — with whom I used to talk on the phone every week and established a friendly rapport with after several years — still involved with the shop. (Turns out he is, but he'd already left for the day.) But while I WAS there, I enjoyed some A+ eavesdropping on two gentlemen who were browsing vinyl a few bins down from me. If I had to guess, I would say they were both just south of 30.

    These guys remarked upon nearly every single record they flipped through, yet their only frame of reference seemed to be... Nirvana. As in, all music could only be described or understood based upon how much it sounded like or related to Nirvana.

    Radiohead. The Spin Doctors. Metallica. The Circle Jerks. Madonna. Minor Threat. None were spared.

    These guys both had fierce Baltimore accents, so keep that in mind while you consider the following exchange, which I witnessed firsthand.

    Guy #1: Joy Division, now THAT'S a great band.

    Guy #2: Y'know, I've only listened to them a couple of times but I don't like 'em.

    Guy #1: Really? What didn't you like about 'em?

    Guy #2: Y'know, I really don't remember what they sound like but I've read that Kurt Cobain liked 'em.

    Guy #1: They're really unique and have a really original sound.

    Guy #2: How would you describe that sound?

    (Note: This really is how they talked. It sounded like the dialog at the beginning of that Dead Milkmen song about the car.)

    Guy #1: Sort of like... jammy. But sometimes really heavy like Nirvana with a girl singer.

    Guy: 2: Huh, that sounds pretty good. Maybe I should listen to them again.

    (For anyone reading this who has never heard them, “Jammy but heavy like Nirvana with a girl singer" is a terrible description for Joy Division.)

    A few moments later, Kurt Cobain came up again when they happened upon a record by the Wipers. Neither of them had actually heard the Wipers, though they did know that Kurt was a fan. This lead to talk of other bands of which he was a fan, such as:

    Guy #1: Kurt liked that Scottish band and covered a bunch of their songs.

    Guy #2: Oh yeah, Celtic Frost!

    (It was a this point that I started looking around to see if Eric Andre was filming an episode of his TV show in the store, with me as an inadvertent bystander.)

    Guy #1: No...no... wait. That's not it, it's not Celtic Frost.

    Guy #2: (Gazing expectantly into eyes of Guy #1)

    Guy #1: It was the Vaselines. That's the Scottish band Cobain was into. He used to be in a Melvins cover band with their singer.

    Guy #2: Wow. I know the Nirvana versions, but what are the Vaselines like?

    Guy #1: They're sort of noodly... but also heavy.

    I wound up hanging around the store for ten minutes longer than I really needed to just to continue listening to them. I was secretly hoping they would have some powerful insights on the $5 Daniel Higgs record I was in the process of liberating, but alas. When I left they were looking at bootleg Fugazi posters.

    theotherbrook ,
    @theotherbrook@sunny.garden avatar

    @Devils_Rancher @mlupica I'm still stuck at "Melvin's cover band" but if you're going to talk about the Beatles I think it's important to mention they had two girl singers.