A quick visit to #NT Dyffryn Gardens this afternoon.
We found this peculiar #orchid called Bulbophyllym rothschildianum
With #fimbriated petals and the most #horrid and #unpleasant smell.
Elsewhere, were an amazing selction of #pumpkins and #squash.
Strings of dried chillies made for a #festive touch.
๐
I have nerve damage at the base of my spine. It causes terrible sciatica which in turn makes me move awkwardly and I end up with terrible muscular pain.
I take over the counter paracetamol and codeine OCCASIONALLY as I don't get on with strong painkillers.
Recently I mentioned this to the specialist after my recent MRI. She prescribed me cocodamol as it's cheaper than buying over the counter even though I only take them occasionally. They've sat here unopened for nearly two weeks.
I just took a couple... and I REALLY SHOULD HAVE READ THE SMALL PRINT.. They've MUCH stronger than my over the counter ones.
I'll not be taking these very often. I keep slipping into "thousand yard stare mode" mouth agape O_O #spaced #unpleasant
you ever just try to mercy-kill someone else in your own nightmare?
You know, the usual apocalyptic scenario: you're being chased by a monster, rabid animals, robot, people who hate you for something you never chose, and/or a giant fuck-off abomination, in last night's delightful medley.
Except it's a time loop or something, so you keep shouting "Leave her. She dies in about 2 minutes!" as you run through one conference room into a hallway and a shop floor in a mall where the escalators up to the ground floor are gone.
No one follows you who wasn't already. Some princess or other "VIP" you need to be able to escape lags -- except it turns out later you needed nearly everyone, including the infuriatingly slow to react. The chick can't run anymore, so you half-carry, half-drag her.
You ask the shop staff for help, and she can't. You ask the shop staff for help, and she wavers. You are directed to a different elevater around the corner.
You get in and panic, then hit the obvious basement button, or the highest numbered button. You get in and move the ex-follower's head toward the panel, hoping it unlocks something.
You realise what's about to happen and try to put her out of the misery to follow. She's still alive, and so are you.
You panic. The doors open as the entrance bobs up and down, in the wake of a loud visceral rumble.
You enter the elevator alone and try to put yourself out of misery you "know" can't be avoided. You remember running out of the doors as they open, kicking off walls in a desperate attempt to slalom into hiding. The monster gets
You can't tell them or it dooms them. Where did the princess go? You can't escape. You were never going to be able to. The sirens start again, for the first time. Good luck.
I hate my sudden attack of dizziness, it is very very unpleasant. ๐ต
#sofiaflorina #ใฝใใฃใขใใญใชใ #myhealth #health #dizziness #dizzy #unpleasant #unpleasantness #sick #sickness
A Bluesky Flame and the Case for Anonymity
Reading Time: 2 minutes
In the golden age of social media I went from tweeting with a pseudonym to tweeting with my own name. This was as true on Twitter as on Facebook. There was a sense of community that meant that we were safe to use our own names, rather than nicknames.
That age ended in 2020 when normal people, isolated by lockdowns, became familiar with Twitter and other social networks. In 2020 I was flamed more than once on Twitter, and eventually became private, after using a pseudonym. I was also flamed more than once on Mastodon instances and dumped them too.
Yesterday I was flamed on Bluesky and I looked to see if I could delete the troll but couldn't so I blocked one account, and a second, and a third, and then I pressed the big red button metaphorically and deactivated my account.
Someone had posted that they were crying regularly so I suggested CBT, not as a troll but because it's a technique I use on myself. I also clarified that as I don't know the person I can't offer personal advice. I did nothing wrong.
Although I don't like Threads because of who it is owned by when people ask for help with something, and I offer advice and help they actually thank me. They are not so complexed that they start a flame war against me.
By now flame wars are part and parcel of social media so I don't worry about being flamed. I worry about being flamed under my actual name. My fear, yesterday, was related to the reputation damage that these trolls could do.If they misread what I wrote, and what I meant, and defame me in their comments, then there is little to nothing I can do, except deactivate the account for a few days, or even a few weeks.
I have two main accounts on the Fediverse, one as myself, and one as a nickname. I try to post via the nickname so that if I am flamed, it only affects that account, not my identity.
And Finally
Social media is no longer fun. It stopped being fun years ago.
#bluesky #community #flame #media #social #troll #unpleasant
Reading Time: 2 minutes
A Cold Walk
Yesterday I went out for my daily walk but within minutes I noticed that my legs felt cold and that I really did need the scarf that I wore. Itโs exceptional for me to wear a scarf. My fleece and my inner coat both have neck protection built in so I usually feel fine. Yesterday was unusually cold so I was happy to add the scarf to really keep my neck warmer. I removed it for a few minutes because it felt itchy but I soon put it back on.
PhotoPrism is Still Indexing
In the meantime PhotoPrism has been chugging away, indexing tens of thousands of files and adding location information as well as other metadata. It has indexed 60,000 files of which 20,000 are videos. Most of the video files are junk though, stuff I saved that has no personal value. Iโm marking the video files as private and I will probably delete them as they take teraybtes of space without having much value.
Migrating to a Linux Machine
I also experimented with migrating my blog writing from this mac to a Linux machine. I managed to gh clone the blog files from github to my local linux machine but struggled a little with uploading the test file from the linux machine to the web server. While writing this blog post I was reminded of the solution that should work.
My mac is old and I suspect that at some point the battery will fail and I will lose access to it. I already had to swap the battery once and soon it will die again, and thatโs when I will stop using it.
I considered swapping the battery a second time but I saw that Apple is about to stop support for it. If I can use a Linux machine instead, then I save money.
And Finally
Walking in challenging weather is good. It requires us to equip ourselves better, to remain comfortable, whether itโs cold, rainy, windy, or a heatwave. By migrating from Google Photos to PhotoPrism I can keep photos and videos locally rather than in the cloud, and access them with ease, as well as slide from the cheapest service to the cheapest service without investing days or weeks in the effort.
Sliding from Mac to Linux is about learning, and cutting costs, but mainly about experimentation and learing about a different OS. Itโs good to be comfortable on Windows, Linux and Mac. At least now if, and when, the mac fails I will be ready to slide from one device to the other.
https://www.main-vision.com/richard/blog/photoprism-walks-in-cold-weather-and-migrating-to-linux/
#cold #freezing #indexing #laborious #photoprism #unpleasant #weather #wind
Mike In The Garden ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ๐ฎ๐ช
For Pete's Sake 
Mx Verda
Sofia Florina
richard
Zen Ben
JBRoss
Susan Larson โ๏ธ๐ณ๏ธโ๐๐ณ๏ธโโง๏ธ๐
Not with Stupid; I AM Stupid.