@DanMorgan@vmst.io cover
@DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar

DanMorgan

@[email protected]

I design things.

I’m a software designer in Kansas City.

I used to be farmer; still an agronomist.

I’d prefer to be outside on a trail.

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@marcoarment@mastodon.social avatar marcoarment , to random

RE: https://mastodon.social/@caseyliss/116131870233125130

OK. No joke.

I literally just updated to watchOS 26 yesterday, and did my first workout with it today.

And

H
O
L
Y

S
H
I
T

Seriously, I may stop using the Apple Watch over this

DanMorgan ,
@DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar

@jsnell @marcoarment @caseyliss I think some watchOS designer is angry at @BasicAppleGuy for doing all those great workout parodies and ruining the UI is their way to get him to stop.

@DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar DanMorgan , to random

Democratic Party and associated PAC and aligned groups: Quit sending me texts. I don’t like that you’re using hundreds of different numbers and making me stop each one. I’m a loyal voter and sometime donor, but you’re trying my patience with your feckless handwringing over ICE and not actually doing a damn thing. Get on the picket lines. You hear? Time to get some literal skin in the game.

@DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar DanMorgan , to random

My sister shared with me some retro-futuristic/mid-century mod Christmas cards from Etsy. I looked at them decided to create some elements by hand in Illustrator for my future use. Fifteen minutes later I had a cat, some basic shapes, and a color pallet.

retro-futuristic mid-century mod Happy Thanksgiving image with a black cat.
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@DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar DanMorgan , to random

Ahhh the dreaded “sorry we’re hiring from within” message today. Why fucking post the job in the first place? It disappoints anyone outside the company qualified and mind-fucks the internal candidates into accepting a lower offer if they think there’s legitimate outside competition for the promotion.

@DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar DanMorgan , to random

Sliders in iOS are… fine. But when creating a Shortcut to finely set the volume of my HomePods, I really wish I could dial it in via an integer.

I have a series of HomePod Shortcuts I trigger using voice. The integer values for comfortable vs loud vs soft vary between an OG HomePod and a Mini by a LOT.

Sure I could tell Siri what integer (%) to set, but that is cumbersome when I’m wanting to control a pair of OG HomePods and three Minis all at once.

Slider to set volume in a Shortcut.

Slider to set volume in a Shortcut.
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@DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar DanMorgan , to random

The old sage was that people become more politically conservative as they get old(er).

I’ve become more liberal. More radical. I know it is largely due to my mid-life health struggles and fighting to keep health insurance during periods of unemployment.

I’m pragmatic with my politics. No protest voting here, but I strongly support socialized medicine and a social safety net.

@DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar DanMorgan , to random

You know what else disconnects people from God? Fundamentalist, conservative, and evangelical religious zealots of any faith. https://www.threads.com/@gtconway3/post/DP08st-ERTt

@DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar DanMorgan , to random

That was a very good @RecDiffs . I love thinking about thinking. Follow up reading: “Visual Thinking” by Temple Grandin; “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson.

@DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar DanMorgan , to random

I am so far behind on my podcasts. I have found I can’t code and listen to podcasts—only music—and sometimes it has to be complete silence.

@DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar DanMorgan , to random

I’m using Xcode 26 and the app I’m building is running on iOS 26.2 beta. These two screenshots are seconds apart. The left one is immediately after the view loads upon the app launching. The second is after I switch apps and switch back.

I’m using navigationBar on the top and bottomBar on the bottom and Swift/iOS is being a complete dick about allowing me to force either style to load every time.

I get that prohibiting customizing these nav bars is a “feature”, but smells a lot like a bug. (Or more likely a sign of my very limited understanding.)

Two screenshots of same app, same code, that displays differently depending if it is first load or after switching apps and returning.
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@DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar DanMorgan , to random

@RecDiffs
I was born in 1970 and grew up on a farm in the ‘70s and ‘80s. One of our summer chores was to paint fence and barns with “aluminum” paint—cheap oil-based silvery paint likely loaded with lead. We cleaned brushes and “washed” our hands and arms with leaded gasoline.

In the winter we’d cut brush in the pastures. My job was to follow along and “paint” the stumps with a mixture of the herbicide 2,4,5-T and diesel fuel out of a repurposed paint bucket (see above). One of the main ingredients of the much maligned Agent Orange (see: Viet Nam) was 2,4,5-T and it was often contaminated with dioxin.

How did I survive childhood?

Co-op paint signs.
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@DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar DanMorgan , to random

I’d like to publicly thank the person who has a weather station adjacent to my favorite hiking trails connected to Wunderground. I know that we got 0.73” (1.85 cm) rain this morning and I’ll probably need to stay on the paved or at least mulched trails. https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KKSOVERL278

@DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar DanMorgan , to random

Oh, wow. I was just laid off. I held the position of Software Designer, but I did so much more. I revamped our main website, our intranet, a wiki site for a knowledge base, trained two chatbots on support documents and “vibe coded” a new web app all since January 2025 for this company.

I got a new development manager boss in June and things started changing, but I never thought they'd eliminate a position just to push me out.

Anyone need a “jack of all trades" kind of employee with a background in agriculture. I'm a UX designer, not a full stack dev.

@TheWeeOwl@mastodon.art avatar TheWeeOwl , to random

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    DanMorgan ,
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    @TheWeeOwl @Pineywoozle
    I love this. As an agronomist I see that ear and say, “whoa, that plant encountered quite a stress at the end of ear formation and pollination.”

    Some of the kernels aborted leaving extra space between the onse that didn’t, so instead of neat flat kernels, they’re rounder and fatter to fill in the extra space.

    DanMorgan ,
    @DanMorgan@vmst.io avatar

    @TheWeeOwl One of my favorite things about Beatrix Porter was that she was a gifted mycologist besides a watercolorist and author. Her drawings of mushrooms and fungi and stunningly detailed and accurate.