• Olefora’s Auto Quill

    Olefora’s Auto Quill

    Olefora’s Auto Quill

    Wondrous Item, Rare

    This writing quill appears unremarkable and made from the flight feather of an owl however it has been enchanted with blessings from Deneir. It possesses 4 charges and regains 1d4 expended charges daily at sunrise. The quill magically produces its own ink.

    As an action, you can expended 1 charge to copy any written document up to one hundred words. Spending an additional charge will cause the quill to automatically begin writing what it has copied on an additional parchment. The copied message will remain within the quill until a new message is copied or the sunrises anew.

  • River at dusk

    River at dusk

  • On the back patio

    On the back patio

  • Adding magic color to the fire

    Adding magic color to the fire

  • The old web

    I will always have a love for the early days of the internet. It’s where I learned how to code and how first got exposed to design. There is honestly something unique and genuine about that time; individual people creating pages for whatever passion project they wanted to share.

    Enter wiby.me.

    Just hitting that “Surprise Me” link sparks way more joy then I thought it would.

  • Colors and auto-switching

    Took way too long for me to get my head back into the SVG headspace but I can successfully report that the color variables and automatic light/dark mode switch based on device settings now works!

  • Repairs

    About five or so years ago, the condenser for half our AC system had its fan motor burn out. I was fortunate enough to find a decent used replacement for a good price and all was well.

    That was back then.

    The same motor burned out dealing with the current bout of 100+ degree weather Houston has been under for the last month. Same motor, same condenser, twice the price. Didn’t help that the capacitors on the unit got fried in the process.

    I learned a few things in the time between when it broke and when it was fixed.

    1. No HVAC system is designed or tested for continually operating in 100 degree or hotter weather; let alone air this thick with moisture.
    2. The systems are designed to bring the temperature difference inside and outside within 20ish degrees. Twenty degrees lower than 110 is still pretty hot.
    3. My house will heat up real fast. I mean fast. Like a lot faster than I would have thought.

  • Five whole links in your bio!

    You can now add up to 5 links in your Instagram bio. Probably one of the most requested features we’ve had.

    Mark Zuckerberg in a screenshot by Casey Newton

    That this is even remotely touted as some amazing feature is simply sad. That is how low the bar is for most websites and apps; five whole links. Geezus.

  • System Fonts = Better Privacy

    I’ll admit to being a tad lazy at times with updating my own website mostly as its just for me but I did finally get around to removing the webfonts I had hooked up before.

    Going to look a little different on different devices and operating systems but I would rather have this site load just that much faster and respect viewers privacy. No need for you to alert the webfont host which websites you’re viewing and when. 😉

  • Half-Asleep Simulator

    Half-Asleep Simulator

    Xiaomi declined to say why this is a prototype right now when the tech seems to work so well. If I have to guess, I’d suspect it could be battery life or cost. During our 30-minute demo session the glasses ran out of juice and had to be charged. Maybe there’s no way to put a large enough battery without drastically increasing weight or bulk. The other theory could be that Xiaomi wants to wait until these glasses can be manufactured at a lower cost before releasing.

    https://www.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-ar-smart-glass-hands-on/

    How anyone who was working on this product didn’t see this obvious half-closed dead-eyed vacant expression only shows that no one with decision authority has any taste.

    *photo credit: XDA