Today I awoke to a dreary overcast day, perfect of the universe to give me an overcast day on the only day in a few months that I've even had to go photographhin', but we work with what we're given. The journey is the destination and all that.

So here are some buildings and the scenery in the main part of West End in Winston Salem, NC. Not a terrible ton of fodder out there, but enough to fill the till for the day and get me out and about for a while.

After this I went and had some dipping tacos at a legit Mexican place and got mom a taco salad to take back home with me. I didn't feel much like stopping too many places.

The workflow has evolved. I now have neat little imagemagick scripts. How quaint! After I edit with #rawtherapee, I run my scripts to downsample my images to the size I like at the quality I like for my server.

As-is, my photos tend to overexpose, but I can always wrench them back on the editor. The camera says my brightness is perfect, but it always looks too washed out to me on the editor. I would trust the .jpeg files from the camera as-is if this wasn't the case, though I did do some cropping on two of these.

#photography #landscapephotography #mountain #pilotmountain #MtAiry #landscapephotography #canon #mirrorless #bofipho #r8 #cameras #northcarolina #nc #winstonsalem #blueways #greenways #cityscapes #landscapes #yourcity

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A rickety old bridge I found in the dark and dismal park. See? Dark and dismal can be okay too. Not everything needs sunshine.

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While we're being dreary, we might as well look at some roots of the creek that runs through here.

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stickers all over an electric meter, from whom to whom who can say.

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A Blue/Brown contrast I really liked that I was playing with, there's another set of buildings that look similar to this one, like they traded paint... but the other building is one street away.

One of my first ever big expeditions with a Camera was, against all good reason, was to climb the 3-4 miles to the top of Pilot Mountain - after working 10 hours that day.

Thursday, I had it in mind to come back to the mountain with fresh eyes and some experience.

Well... ehhh, I also didn't plan the timing of the day very well, as, as you can see, I don't have an actual photo of the mountain.

"Firekeeper, why do you not have pretty picture of Mountain?"

BECAUSE THE SUN WAS BEHIND IT!

Ughh, Charlie Brown. Well, I suppose my next visit to this splendiferous Mountain will be had at 7:00pm rather than 7:00am next round, but nonetheless, I did walk the top and grab shots as I went, and made the most of the morning mist down below, or as much as I could of it.

I took WAY more photos than I thought I did Thursday so these first four will be the first of eight to twelve from that trip. Right now, 8 seems more definite, so here's the first 4 that I've edited thus far.

tagdump:
#photography #landscapephotography #mountain #pilotmountain #MtAiry #landscapephotography #canon #mirrorless #bofipho #r8 #cameras #northcarolina #nc #winstonsalem #blueways #greenways

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View of some morning mist down below Pilot Mountain

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More Morning Mist, I wonder had I gotten here earlier if I had seen more... I wonder if I had gotten here earlier if I would be able to see anything lol

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Some ominous looking steps up to the crown of the mountain.

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Some craggulous rockyness up on the bald top of the mountain.

This is a very manecured place. It's part golf course to keep the Tesla and Corvette drivers busy and off of the highways during the day, but if you walk out far enough, you can still find some rustic rather untouched wilderness, my kinda stuff.

I did end up walking out of the woods and finding Mallard lake right in front of me and beyond it, part of the golf course itself, but it was a pleasant surprise to walk out of the woods after half a mile of walking and "BEHOLD... LAKE".

Oh yeah and happy first post on the new instance. Holla back y'all, my ego needs it.

#photography #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #landscapephotography #canon #mirrorless #bofipho #r8 #cameras #northcarolina #nc #winstonsalem #highpoint #greensboro #tanglewood #trees #flowers #plants #blueways #greenways #summer #forestphotography #forest #thewoods

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Some of the gardens around the Arboretum. Most of the flowers have come and gone... gotta be faster about these things, still mighty green tho.

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Another garden area, like this one a lot.

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Playing with reflections never gets old, Mallard Lake and the golf course beyond it.

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A spiderweb illuminated by a ray of sunlight

ehhhhhhhh...

lemme let you in on something.

Installing gentoo on that laptop for the first time took me twelve freakin' hours lmao over the course of a day off.

I know the 'flow' now, but I'm in zero rush to install #gentoo on a server.

You know I'm gonna do it, tho.

You just know.

I use #XMPP and #jmpchat and you should too!

XMPP is my usual chosen protocol for chatting and sending encrypted messages to and from (usually myself, but my mom's there too!).

#Snikket is easy to install, but I use #prosody so I can have a bit more fun with plugins and client apps.

With jmp.chat, the fine folks at #Soprani will link a phone number to any XMPP account you own, folding your phone contacts in and routing calls and SMS/MMS messages through XMPP, so you can see them all on any device you have set up with a client.

Great, the XMPP introverts found a way to make it useful even without having anyone to talk to

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YOU -YES, YOU!

You left!

So... roughly 7 hours ago, I somehow got banned from my own IP from my VPS proxy. I had made a wireguard conf for my new gentoo laptop install, all was good... then all of the sudden, everything my proxy... proxies, which includes you all - goes down. I just now got everything moved to another VPS and turned the switch back on. No issues here.

My main target of potential fuckery here is Crowdsec. I liked its ability to sniff out bad traffic, though... I'm going to have to find a solution.

As-is, nothing can connect to b0nfire.xyz/social from my home IP to the old VPS, and there's not much rhyme or reason as to why. Making a new wireguard config wouldn't have bombed every other config. My phone still worked okay.

No idea, what a huge waste of time. I wish I knew what set it off. Thank Tux for restic.

Testing audio playback with pipewire and getting fastfetch. She's getting there

"What is a boy to do?"

Nowhere to go, don't wanna spend money, hmm...

Of ALL things,... I'm installing #gentoo, lmao. No foolin', my Thinkpad is running emerge rn as I go through the install steps.

I'm a #Debian faithful since around 2012, but I've always wanted to go down the gentoo spiral. My Thinkpad is my usual toy, so I picked OpenRC and KDE, I'm at the initial system steps, I have yet to reboot, still chrooted. We'll see! 👌

Republican lawmakers have quietly cut funding for Dolly Parton’s children’s book charity, Imagination Library, which sends free books to children across the world.

https://www.rawstory.com/dolly-parton-and-republicans/

On 24 August 2026 cease and desist letters have been sent by X Corp. demanding a permanent takedown of Nitter instances and the project's repository.

nitter.net is offline and development has stopped for the time being. I'm seeking legal advice and won't be commenting further on the specifics for now.

RIP Tim Curry: https://www.tmz.com/2026/08/26/tim-curry-dead/

(Died the same day as Dolly Parton, news seems to have been delayed for some reason.)

A famous southern 80-year-old country-singing Christian woman died today, and none of the rather lefty people I know are insulting her, making fun of her death or faith, or calling her a nazi. They are posting positive messages about her. People on "the left" don't hate religious people. They hate bigotted assholes.

We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.

The short answer: page by page, by hand.

You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.

Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: https://blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/meet-eliza-zhang-book-scanner-and-viral-video-star/

Spouse and I have finally conceded that perhaps our tattered hand-me down furniture should be replaced soon with pieces that actually fit the rooms better.

Facebook marketplace, like Craigslist before it, is a carnival of corrigenda in which sellers neglect to include crucial information like dimensions, materials, etc. Or just outright mislabel things (usually out of ignorance).

Sir, that is not a “coffee table with hidden storage,” it’s a PIANO BENCH.

#Furniture #InteriorDesign

Today I awoke to a dreary overcast day, perfect of the universe to give me an overcast day on the only day in a few months that I've even had to go photographhin', but we work with what we're given. The journey is the destination and all that.

So here are some buildings and the scenery in the main part of West End in Winston Salem, NC. Not a terrible ton of fodder out there, but enough to fill the till for the day and get me out and about for a while.

After this I went and had some dipping tacos at a legit Mexican place and got mom a taco salad to take back home with me. I didn't feel much like stopping too many places.

The workflow has evolved. I now have neat little imagemagick scripts. How quaint! After I edit with #rawtherapee, I run my scripts to downsample my images to the size I like at the quality I like for my server.

As-is, my photos tend to overexpose, but I can always wrench them back on the editor. The camera says my brightness is perfect, but it always looks too washed out to me on the editor. I would trust the .jpeg files from the camera as-is if this wasn't the case, though I did do some cropping on two of these.

#photography #landscapephotography #mountain #pilotmountain #MtAiry #landscapephotography #canon #mirrorless #bofipho #r8 #cameras #northcarolina #nc #winstonsalem #blueways #greenways #cityscapes #landscapes #yourcity

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A rickety old bridge I found in the dark and dismal park. See? Dark and dismal can be okay too. Not everything needs sunshine.

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While we're being dreary, we might as well look at some roots of the creek that runs through here.

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stickers all over an electric meter, from whom to whom who can say.

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A Blue/Brown contrast I really liked that I was playing with, there's another set of buildings that look similar to this one, like they traded paint... but the other building is one street away.

I haven't felt this uncomfortable during a movie since Uncut Gems but in a way different and funnier way lmao. Good LORD.

And yes, it is about exactly what you think it is, lmao, but how it gets there, man oh man.

#movies

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the invite poster

#music #emo #hardcore #indie

OR... or, I can use Phanpy's "catch-up" thingy and go back by a few hours, then follow lots of accounts that are boosted by other people I follow, so "he/she/they" connects me connects you, etc and so forth.

So sometimes I just go on a "following spree", grab about 50 new accounts I've never followed before and wait for them to boost things in a month or two, then add 50 more, and so on and so on.

That gets me by. The benefits of snac2 being lower on resource usage means that good always outweighs the limitations for my usecase.

Man in Darth Vader Costume Praises Flock Cameras at City Council Meeting

https://www.commondreams.org/news/darth-vader-flock

"The emperor is a fan of Flock, and we must continue utilizing Flock technologies so that we can follow and surveil the rebel scum as they move from playground to playground, from playground to pool, from pool to gymnasium," the person dressed as the infamous Star Wars villain said.

#tor, #yggdrasil, and #i2p walk into a bar...

how does this joke go?

Mom's ok, safe and sound at home. I'm back at work. The camera deletion issue has been resolved, and all the gear is clean and ready to go. So, the question then arises here at the tail end of summer, where we hiking? I have taken a few photos offhand since the Pilot Mountain kerfluffle, but I haven't had personal time to go out until, well, now.

My best bets are this upcoming Friday and Saturday, but I'm not used to this time of year... I'm gonna either need rain gear at the ready, or be able to bail to shelter on a moment's notice. There's one place I know of perfect for that, Hanging Rock Lake Park. I also wanna know more about a place around the upper west side of Winston called "The West End". It's hilly, with lots of tiny shops and eclectic buildings.

Either-or will do, not too picky, but I am more partial to the woods.

That'll be a good intro back into things, and since I made this post, I've retroactively kicked my own ass into gear by having to hold myself to my own word now instead of "maaaaaybe I'll go, maaaaaybe I won't, maaaaaaybe I'll go back to sleep" lol.

This is how my motivation works.

Now I have to go, because I said I would.

Ain't no taker-backer.

Here is a small blurb about JRC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Rotenberg_Center
"The Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) is a pseudoscientific therapeutic institution in Canton, Massachusetts, United States, whose behavior modification program targeted at people with developmental disabilities and emotional and behavioral disorders has been condemned by the United Nations special rapporteur on torture. The center is known for its use of the graduated electronic decelerator (GED), a torture device that administers electric shocks to residents."

Note, dear reader. Wikipedia doesn't say 'was' a pseudoscientific therapeutic institution... it says 'is'.

This place exists, has income, buys BMWs for the upper staff, is incorporated into the fabric of our society. We live right next to this victorian-era shit.

#horrible #inhumane #jrc #todayilearned #til

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JRC's logo

Here's a handy web tool 👍

A new website lets drivers see if their vehicle has been looked up using Flock’s surveillance camera system — amidst growing backlash over the company’s sprawling network of automated cameras.

The “Have I Been Flocked” site compiles Flock Safety’s audit logs, allowing drivers to look up their license plate number to see if authorities — or someone else — has run their information through the system.

https://www.the-independent.com/tech/flock-surveillance-cameras-online-search-b3033917.html

Heavy suggestion to those interested to click the link over TOR.

Hindsight and all that.

What that!?

It's made from a custom pcb for use with mechanical keyswitches for height, making it very thin and portable. Considering I use a Steam Deck for... 80% of my gaming, portability comes in handy.

instead of rolling a stick for down, diag-right, right, you merely roll two fingers across two buttons.

wow, that seems broken as fuuu

I am Iron 4 on SF6 and moving along okay. More than an hour of play and I have to back off because I'll begin forgetting specials and I'll get sloppy and have to go do some reps in training mode, but I'm getting there.

I know I suck lmao, but the game is so much fun and the wins I do get feel so good that it's addicting as hell. I like how endless v-rival matches can be. You can just practice against ai's and real people forever.

#gaming #pcgaming #steamdeck #fightinggames #capcom #sf6

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A fighting-game hitbox made for use on PC, it's small, thin and black with orange buttons.

There are no qualifications necessary beyond being sentient, genetically homo-sapien, and having a pulse.

Human? Okay, you get rights.

Everyone experiences loss, gain, expectation, fear, and joy and anyone can experience abuse. There is no separation between you and others besides space and mindset, and no one deserves abuse or misfortune just because someone else can't agree on a gender classification.

I'm in the body I agree with, but I couldn't imagine being so bullheaded that I demanded everyone else walk the line they were born with for my sake. Who is anyone to demand their personal preferences on anyone else? Who is anyone to tell anyone else how to live at all? As things go, this is the most anti-me thing there can be! Imagine if everyone was 100% who they are 100% of the time, no closets and no doors. What a colorful and truthful world we'd have.

One of the major flaws of humans -to me, is that we hide things as trivial as eating a piece of candy and as major as how we view ourselves. Admitting and owning yourself isn't just right, it's truth, and you should never deny truth.

#transrights #self #selfpost

Again, why is this getting so little attention here? #ClimateCrisis

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:nyjm4ylfid2a7mjm6varxuiq/post/3mt2g6edu4s25

Anthropic, which has stolen everyone's data and used it for free to train its shity AI, has a dark history that goes back to Epstein. Even Claude Is in the Dark About Dario Amodei’s Wife and Her Influence at Anthropic. Cami Clark who started what she called a ‘revolutionary porn company’ where she sought investment from Jeffrey Epstein keeps a low profile but is a key adviser to the AI chief https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/claude-dario-amodei-wife-anthropic-e1eeda7d?st=7TEJTs ( paywall free https://archive.is/CA5pL ) I'm not surprised with any of this info

Homie, a Toyota Electric just rode by me and it sounded like a Playstation 2 boot menu drove by.

I never knew this due to willful ignorance, but b&m tobacco is literally an aromatic pipe blend. It's really mellow, and it hits like a pipe, all mouth, no inhale. It's like a hug in stick-form, but it has almost no backbone. It lacks "oomph", but right now, it'll do. I'm sure it's actually killing me and while I feel I grew out of the "self improvement by means of self destruction" phase of my youth, it still hits that note, even if it isn't with the same level of angst.

I feel like that meme of Hank Hill smoking a cigarette.

Waiting on the dog groomer's. It's a few hours. I need a few hours.

Mom is okay, still terminal, but okay for now. She's got more months than weeks to live, but the transition to home hospice has been testy. Still, I'm glad she's comfortable, safe and alive for the time being. I go back to work Sunday night. The RNs and CNAs kick in full-swing for her next week so I can back off a little.

I'm just gonna resonate with the universe for a good while. I wish I could pass out in a jacuzzi (with guaranteed breathing).

#self #selfcare #vibing #chill

They seem to be an opt-in group of artists, photographers and such who just want to be found easier.

Well, I'd like to be found easier.

Who doesn't?

If for any reason this is a 'bad idea' considering I haven't combed the people behind this movement for at least four hours yet, someone do let me know if I've drank some manner of digital kool aid, but on the surface this seems to be rather harmless and helpful.

#gaming #pcgaming

Got the 1-2 year bundle for $40 off of a cdkeys website, dusted my old 3D printed hitbox off, got a long cable.

I was "okay" at Ken in Street Fighter 4. Saw Tokon, got interested in it but saw it had zero Linux support, but I still wanna play a modern fighting game. Then I played the #SF6 demo, really liked Luke as character and the whole vibe and I had enough to justify a purchase. Capcom are my people (generally).

Wish me luck!

who's yer main gonna be, bud?!

Man, I'm rusty as hell tho lol. I'll see how I do tonight when I can actually get on.

This is mainly to figure out how a single user Mastodon instance behaves, compared to ... very mixed experiences trying the same with Friendica. Not much likely to happen here for now. social.lol remains home.

Artist - John Dyer Baizley

#albumart #art #music #albumcovers

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green

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yellow

Check out this video by @gedaliyah!

https://loops.video/v/7YFoRFb3Jg

Offline wikipedia backups, ~115GB for the small-resolution photo copy of the entire site.

America isn't like other places on earth, and Americans aren't like anyone else on earth. We never say the quiet part out loud, but you know full-well what people are up to by their actions. Recently, my mother went into Hospice care, a program with zero dietary restrictions, full "Do. Not. Resuscitate." and it got me wondering at what level this place is a home for people to "die naturally" and at what level is it "assisted suicide"?

It can be hard to read between the lines on things like this with American culture. We don't want to tell anyone they're going to "unalive" soon. We don't want to face it, yet we face it though the lens of extremely jaded hospice nurses who speak death as if it's expected, even... wanted.

"It's time for her to go"

Is it? According to whom? Them? Her? Her insurance? A doctor? Every doctor? It's spoken almost as if someone ethereal knows but no one here knows. God knows? I didn't see God's name on any of the hospital or hospice paperwork. Does he work here? If he does, does he have an itinerary? When does he get off of his lunchbreak?

Two or three times I've been pulled aside and asked, almost like a shot through the veil. "What is it that you're doing, here?" chair squeak and evil eye

I'm taking care of my mother. I'm giving her what she asks for, I'm providing her the care that can be administered. Is she dying? Can anyone give me a straight answer, or is it their intention to kill her by feeding a diabetic sandwiches and sweet tea (which they do). My mom's heart has been in this condition for at least three years. Is NOW the time she dies? If it isn't at least preventable in the moment by monitoring her blood sugar, then I consider it "assisted suicide", and she wouldn't want that. She doesn't want that.

If my mother dies from a diabetic coma surrounded by nurses when she's in a hospice ward for cardiac issues, someone is getting sued. She can faint and die at home and no one would prevent it. She can faint and die here and no one would prevent it.

What is it YOU'RE doing, here?

Is this a Futurama-esque "suicide booth" in kind words or is this actually somewhere you intend for her to be for a few months, living as she lives, and taking the time she has left? What is the purpose of a hospice? To kill your loved ones or let them die slowly of their own volition? BOTH?! Yes? Maybe!?

Say the quiet part out loud, fellow Americans. Sit me down and give me the grit. No one there will. It's all "up in the air" bullshit.

"It's on God's time." 🤔

"Would you like some cake with your normal pepsi?"

SHE'S DIABETIC. THAT ISN'T "GOD'S TIME", BRO.

#self

#self
I need to open up publicly about something. My mother is in hospice care. She's going to a private facility today. She has congestive heart failure, lots of damage to her heart and isn't healthy enough for surgery.

Right now, I'm just trying to preserve some level of normalcy, keep the animals fed, the house somewhat straight and get my mom what she needs to be happy and content day to day.

Keep us in your hearts and minds. I'm not at all religious but she is so pray if you wanna pray. She's not in any confusion or pain and is accepting the changes as best as can be hoped for.

Me, tho. Things don't hit me until weeks after they happen and the work is done, because "the work" tends to sidetrack me... but the tremor for this one is gonna be a big one, I feel. For now, though, cleaning and meditating, and then I'm headed back to the hospital to see her to her hospice room.

#Reading
Currently reading some Greek and Roman history. I got a bunch of History epubs and I've been picking through them, playing Elden Ring, and trying to keep sane.

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C&D Haunted Bookshop on a calm summer morning, Missouri Meerschaum Chesapeake Cob.

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Nessa being the best-a

What's with writing notes? Don't you use a synced notebook on your mobilek spyware slave-tablet?

Well yes, I do, but my idea of note-taking on a phone is using #XMPP encrypted chats to myself. My shorthand notes are usually reminders and stuff for work.

You also can't hack a notepad.

Overall, Field Notes notepads don't jive with my Noodler's black as well as Moleskine notepads do... the paper bleeds a little, so I might go back to them. I needed to try the brand out tho after seeing them in Wes Anderson movies. The ink looks good and glides well, and the paper is thick, it just spreads a bit more than Moleskine and the fibers grab a little.

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A black field notes notepad paired with a stubby, clear fountain pen.