As I mentioned the other day, I really wanted an ultra-simple way to declare the contents of a slideshow presentation without getting sucked deep into Node.js hell.

So, I now have a #Python / #YAML / #markdown / #bash / #ImageMagick tool that does what I need and pretty much nothing more.

The code is in a @Codeberg repository: https://codeberg.org/dhobern/presentation

The YAML definition for my upcoming presentation is here: https://codeberg.org/dhobern/presentation/src/branch/main/slides.yaml

And here is the PDF generated from the YAML: https://codeberg.org/dhobern/presentation/src/branch/main/Lessons_from_Malaise_trapping_in_Aranda.pdf

#entomology #Malaise #Canberra #Australia

https://scicomm.xyz/@dhobern/116074958194821959

Americans in their 40s and 50s are more depressed and forgetful, and weaker, than those of previous generations, and most of their peers in Europe. Education is no longer protective. Stress and financial insecurity are thought to be responsible.

Summary: https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/midlife-crisis-hits-harder/

Original paper (not open access): https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09637214251410195

#Science #Psychology #Malaise #Insecurity #Depression

Why is #JavaScript so popular? I hate everything about it.

I'm speaking at the #Canberra Field #Naturalists meeting at #ANU next month on #Malaise trapping and the #insects and other #invertebrates that surround us without our noticing them.

I expect most of my slides to be arrays of four or six #microscope images with a header (probably a family name in most cases) and captions for each image.

I don't want to lay out all these images in #LibreOffice (or any similar presentation tool) because I'm a perfectionist and getting it all tidy will take forever.

So, I decided to try out #Slidev, #Marp and other #Markdown-based presentation tools. The Markdown part is very appealing, but they all lean hard into JavaScript. That would be fine so long as I don't have to think about that side of things.

Slidev's AppleBasic theme seemed to be the best starting point, so I started hacking it to add som extra gridded image views. Plain image grids were not too challenging, but I really want captions for each image, so I started trying to understand how the templates use the forest of underlying JS libraries and CSS artefacts to produce the displayed slides.

Frankly, the whole thing is so opaque and would take me much longer to understand than preparing multiple presentations by hand would.

Then I realised I can use #montage on the command line to produce the kind of layouts I want, and I can script #exiftool to extract and prepare the captions which will save time.

So, my new plan is to write a #Python script that processes a #YAML file listing all the slides, titles and image paths. It can generate PNG images that are close to the target 1920*1080 size (give or take a little). I'll then use LibreOffice for a couple of more text-oriented or irregular slides, export those and combine all the images into a PDF.

I'm sure this will be way faster than battling Node.js. Not sure why I felt I had to write it up.

https://fieldnatsact.com/

C’est donc une amélioration, mais ce n’est pas complètement parti https://tozounoir.zouluvo.com/cest-donc-une-amelioration-mais-ce-nest-pas-completement-parti/

#vertige #etourdissement #equilibre #position #coucher #mouvement #tete #oreille #malaise #instabilite #peur #anxiete #amelioration #symptomes #duree #fatigue #inconfort #traitement #medicaments #repos #adaptation #quotidien #surveillance #espoir #patience #sante #bienetre #sensation #recuperation

Plus ils utilisent #ChatGPT, plus un #malaise #psychologique apparaît

https://www.futura-sciences.com/tech/actualites/technologie-plus-ils-utilisent-chatgpt-plus-malaise-psychologique-apparait-k2m6-130583

Four (parasitic) #wasps (#Hymenoptera) from a SLAM #Malaise sample in #Canberra #Australia over the last three weeks. Natural areas everywhere are (or should be) full of beautiful #insects like these, all just going about their business.

A #FairyWasp in the genus #Mymar - the first I have seen here in the nominate genus - see how tiny this #insect is.

An #ichneumon wasp (#Ichneumonidae) in the subfamily #Campopleginae - probably possible to get this one to genus, but most Australian species are unnamed.

#Vosleria australia (or at least that's the only named Australian species in the genus) - family #Encyrtidae

#Anastatus, unknown species - family #Eupelmidae

#biodiversity #entomology

Le sentiment de malaise des femmes a-t-il de l’importance ?

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://tradfem.wordpress.com/2026/01/21/le-sentiment-de-malaise-des-femmes-a-t-il-de-limportance/

Jordan #Bardella crée le #MALAISE sur un plateau et se fait ÉTEINDRE par Roselyne #Bachelot 😂
https://invidio.us/watch?v=iyti4YVpSak

#RN #Humour #Glupatate #Politique #France