Feel free to look up the TouronsOfYellowstone Instagram account for a fun follow…

Precisely. I live near Yosemite National Park, and it would be an absolute disaster if there were enough hotels, campgrounds, and amenities to meet the demand. The demand FAR exceeds its capacity for tourists, but it would destroy the very reason for that demand if that actually happened.

So what did they do? Set rules for the number of tourists allowed in the park per day, and stuck to it.

It’s a shame. I did pay for lifetime, and that’s always a risk. Looks like this bet didn’t pay off. The money doesn’t bother me - more the fact that there isn’t a portrait-only Lemmy app that’s a good replacement. If anyone knows of one that’s as good and will stay in portrait without having to put the whole phone in portrait lock, please let me know…

Categories such as “education” are useful for limiting access for specific groups of devices. For example, if one class has a particularly mischievous group who keep going off task from their devices, rules can be created to whitelist certain categories, and only pass traffic that are in these more straightforward categories. Just FYI.

I work in K12 IT, and the reason is that all manner of categories are defined for both blacklisting and whitelisting when creating content filter rules. So while “education” would not be used for blocking, it would be useful for rules to apply to specific defined groups or devices which can only access specific categories (such as education). Just FYI.

Honestly, this baffles me. I work in K12 as a CTO, and when hiring techs or network admins, I always let applicants know during the interview when I will make the hiring decision, and they will receive an official letter of regret if they are not hired. I always keep resumes on file, as you never know if other opportunities come up. Why would any organization want to burn bridges with potential hires?

Maybe it’s just me being Gen X, but not hearing one way or the other would prompt me to pick up the phone, and at the very least check back to ask if they’ve made a decision after a week (maybe two) if I’ve interviewed…

Yes, that patented "Sure-Align" neck joint is one of the best features that drew me to the SC series initially. It's great. I also love the neck profile - it's very much like the electric guitars I'm accustomed to. It's a fantastic instrument.

I mean, is there such a thing as a silent electric coffee grinder? I think I can live with it…lol.

My primary observation is that Baratza sells replacement parts for their grinders, and the parts are interchangeable in the Sette series, which I think is really cool.

Happy caffeinating!

Very nice. Did it come with those bellows, or was that aftermarket?

I also have the Virtuoso+, which was my first step beyond the blade grinders I had always used, and it's a big upgrade. You're going to really notice the difference in brews. Congratulations!

I did see this: Baratza single dose hopper with bellows. I don't have one, but that may be something I get later. I suppose a bellows might be decent at getting the last bit of coffee out of the burrs. It's not too expensive, so perhaps I'll give it a try...

That’s the first guitar my parents ever got me - a 1983 Aria Pro IIrs “Wildcat.” Made in Japan (in the famed Matsumoku factory), it’s a Strat copy with dual humbucker pickups, and a push-pull volume knob that will coil-split either, for a good single-coil sound as well. For an inexpensive instrument (I think it was around $200 in 1983) it’s very well built. That’s why I’ve kept it all these years…

I guess my only question is, why is this happening when there is literally no wind blowing?

Well, I can say definitively that I know what is making that clicking sound. It's hard to see since the cable is in silhouette, but there are silver-colored spirals wound around the cable, and the sound is made by the plastic sheathing of the black cable wobbling inside of those metal spirals. The spirals are made of aluminum, I'm pretty sure. Those spirals are put there to stiffen the the hanging cable, and appear on the hanging cable between every set of poles (not just these, that are wiggling). There are two spirals mounted on each cable between the poles. I assume the spirals are mounted there to provide damping, just in case the wind does cause the cable hanging between the poles to swing too much. But, there was no wind blowing when I shot this video (Dec 5, 2023). The voice you hear is mine, just speculating on what might be causing the oscillating cable...

No, I've never tried to quantify the variables in that way. Just out walking the dog, and notice this strange behavior from time to time. I always assumed the poles were placed a specific distance apart, but honestly, I'm not sure. I suppose if I ever have the urge to pace it out to get a good estimate, I will...

Hmm. It's odd that this isn't ALWAYS vibrating, but it IS only between these two poles that I've noticed the vibration. But why not between other sets of poles? And since the cable vibrating the most isn't a power cable (I believe it's fiber, but it could be copper - but it's definitely telecom, since it's not insulated on the top crossbar, as the other power cables are), it can't really be much power going through it. I'm kind of hoping someone else has seen similar behavior somewhere else. You can see the anti-wind-twist devices (don't know what else to call them) bolted to the other telecom cable (sort of diamond-shaped) and they will cause the cable to stabilize when the wind is really blowing, but you can see the wind isn't blowing at all, and the cable continues to vibrate quite noticeably. I really do hope someone else has seen something like it elsewhere...

Time After Time is underrated. Mary Steenburgen and Malcolm McDowell. McDowell, playing H.G. Wells, invents the Time Machine, and then Jack the Ripper uses it to go to the future. H.G. Wells follows him to stop him, and he meets Steenburgen in “modern” times (the then-current 1980’s.)

Fun movie - a sci-fi thriller, I guess you’d call it. Still one of my favorites, too.

Ditto! Was waiting for logins to get fixed on v.19x instances. Thanks so much!

That's good to hear. Looking forward to the actual release update, since I'm not on the beta, and therefore can't log into my home instance until that gets fixed. Appreciate hearing that part is fixed!

Yes, down for any v.19x instance for me as well. Avelon seems to be struggling to keep up. Had to switch to a different app to log into v.19x instances (using Voyager seems to work on any flavor instance right now). Been several weeks that Avelon is broken on v.19x instances…

Thanks - I've never been to Maine before, so this was a fun trip. It was a bit cloudy when I was there (although not raining), and the colors weren't as vibrant as they could be, so I made a choice to develop in black and white. But, here's on in color, from the same day...

Thanks to the dev. It’s by far the most polished Lemmy app for iOS right now , and I’ve tried just about all of them.

The pricing is like, a week of morning coffees, so I’m not really sweating it. And that $14.99 for a year is a great option at $1.25/month if thirty bucks will break you.

I’m happy to have bought pro lifetime, and glad you’ve put the number of hours in developing Avelon. I look forward to seeing how it matures.

Oh, just FYI, I LOVE that Avelon is portrait only while scrolling threads. I browse a LOT with the phone while on the couch, or lying in bed, and currently NO other app stays in portrait when sideways. I don’t know any savages who read in landscape. That’s rightly reserved for videos or wide photos, in my opinion. It took Christian YEARS to figure out a toggle in Apollo where you could lock to portrait while browsing text, and auto-rotate only for videos or landscape-only media. It was why I bought Apollo Pro lifetime, finally! But, here’s your Pro lifetime subscription from me, so thanks for making it the way I like it already… ;)

Cheers

Sadly, the article is mistaken (in terms of “failing”). They started an athletics program where none existed before, so they more than made up for lost academic students and replaced them with student athletes. New enrollment spiked so high, in fact, that hey actually had a housing shortage due to too many students, and had to provide emergency housing off campus in local hotels.

His plan worked for its intended purpose- to scare away any LQBTG identifying (or even LQBTQ tolerating) students and staff, and replace them with less tolerant people.

I had left a review on the App Store warning users that Memmy is still broken for any instance that uses late v18 or any v19. The dev responded that they would issue a fix soon.

Still, since I needed something that works, I tried a few of the many Lemmy apps. Voyager is nice, but Avelon is the only app that stays in portrait while I scroll lying down, so that’s what I’m using presently.

I'm enjoying Memmy right now. My only gripe is that I'd love to see in-app orientation lock. It's the one feature of Apollo that made me go for their lifetime purchase. You could easily set portrait mode for reading while lying down (I do this a lot - browsing while prone on the couch or in bed), and it would auto-rotate to landscape for videos, but stick to portrait for everything else (articles). I don't know how Christian finally managed it (it took quite a while before he implemented it), but it worked great. The old Reddit "Antenna" app had it first.

But other than that, great work. I'm really enjoying the 'swipe to navigate' which allows it to feel a lot more like Apolle for now. Thanks for all of your hard work, and I hope you're enjoying a break from it for now.

Cheers.

It’s gotta be my Helinox Chair Zero. Sure, I’ve got to turn in my Ultralight credentials by bringing it, but damn, it sure feels great to sit comfortably, enjoy a nice cup of coffee in the morning relaxing and reclining in comfort, or chatting by a fire over dinner while sitting in pure comfort.

I don’t always bring it backpacking, but when I do, I never regret it.

Cheers.

Ok, I’ll bite. Where did you grow up that you have never seen snow?

Sure. I’m definitely of the opposite mindset. “Buy once , cry once,” is my philosophy. I wasted too much time and money in my youth, so always try to save up for quality items.

Which isn’t to say that one can’t find inexpensive things that are of good quality, of course.

Cheers.

I've used so many picks over the years, but fairly recently, I've switched to the 1.5mm Classic Standard pick from Gravity Picks.

I bought a GHS Pedal (the Bonsai), and they shipped a Gravity unpolished standard pick with it. For some reason, I used it on whim, and I was hooked. I ended up buying custom picks from them, and always the Classic Standard 1.5mm unpolished. There's something about the unpolished edge which gives me just enough bite, on either my acoustics or electrics.

Of course, as I've gotten older, I no longer like particularly flexible picks, which I used to favor as a younger player. As my picking technique has improved, I've found that non-flexible picks just work better for me, and the tone I like. And Gravity Picks just give me that. If you haven't used them before, they're worth trying, if you like thicker, less flexible picks.

Yes, they're expensive. But, so worth it. Well, works for me, anyway. Cheers.

Very nice!

So, as a long time backpacker, I found my holy grail series of packs from Nunatak gear.

A couple of seasons ago, I ran into someone beta-testing a Nunatak "Bears Ears 50" model pack. It carries a bear canister at the bottom of the pack, at the hip. It's such an obvious and simple idea, and it's amazing that no one else really ever designed it. But Jan over at Nunatak build this for himself, as a climber as well as a backpacker, who often spends time where a bear canister is required.

I live in Bishop, California, and all of the areas nearest me require bear canisters for overnight trips. So, I was intrigued.

I checked out the pack that this guy was beta testing, and when I asked what he liked best, the answer surprised me. I thought it would be the weight distribution, or the minimal pack weight, but instead he pointed out that the hip-belt water bottle holders were the best he'd used.

I was using an Osprey Exos at the time, and this was a major frustration for me. Water bottles slid easily into the side pockets, which are angled for ease of use, pulling a bottle in or out. But it turns out that if you bend over (to tie your shoe, or pick something up off the ground, or even lean over to take a photo) then a full bottle would slide out. I use Smartwater bottles, as most do these days, and when it happened one one trip, the darned bottle hit a rock and cracked, making it useless to me. Frustrating.

The Nunatak uses a water bottle holder that is just foolproof. They don't fall out, are ultralight, and are mounted slightly behind the hip, making it so your arms don't hit them when hiking, but are still very easy to reach.

The unique bear can system is also perfect for me. Having a canister lowest in the pack makes for a much more natural weight distribution while hiking and especially when climbing or boulder scrambling. The Nunatak Bears Ears is perfect for that.

The original Bears Ears 50 is frameless, and that works fine for me almost all of the time, but Jan has designed framed versions that are now available, as well. For a pack with up to a 30-lb load rating, it is ultralight, and durable.

Oh, you don't HAVE to carry a bear canister, either. Nunatak sells a bag-in-lieu-of-canister solution, which I have used in areas that don't require a bear canister. It's basically a bag roughly the size of a standard bear canister that you can stuff with anything you like, and put it in the place where the bear canister would go. I've stuffed it with my quilt, and extra water bottles, when I was hiking in an area that didn't require a canister.

Anyway, here's the link to their site for their Bears Ears series of packs:

Nunatak packs

Heh - I think this is just an old drainage ditch. I imagine post war it was mostly a sewer…. ;)

Thank you!

And if you wanted to teach Korean in another country, would you rather teach in Syria, an African country, or the US or Europe?

I’m sorry you feel that way. Cultural exchange programs such as the JET programme in Japan, and whatever equivalent there is in Korea are wonderful programs which promote and encourage understanding amongst nations. And the world can certainly use more understanding instead of less. I appreciate the perspective, though.

When were you there last? I hadn’t been since 1990. A lot has changed, of course. But, it’s still a great place to visit.

lol. Actually, that’s my son’s room that I turned into my mancave when he left for college. I’m just too lazy to repaint it…. :)

Heh. Entirely unintentional (I think - maybe it’s subconscious?). In 1990, I originally ordered a Clapton Strat in Midnight Blue, but it was taking so long I asked what they had in stock, and they had that Frost Red one, so I took that instead. I really wanted a blue Rickenbacker, but couldn’t find one on Reverb that I like (no chips or wear), so I ordered new from Sweetwater, and I liked Fireglo better than Jetglo or Mapleglo. The Ultra Strat - I really wanted an ash body, and that was the nicest color in the series with an ash body. I guess the red theme just sort of happened…

Yes, we chose Spring deliberately, for the weather. While it did rain a bit in Hirado (southern Japan), it was lovely everywhere else we visited. The timing for Kyoto was really good - just before peak cherry blossom blooms, by just a week or two. So while it was a little crowded, it was nothing like full bloom tourist crowds!

I highly recommend it. It is remarkably easier these days, with Google maps for transportation. Public transit is amazing there. I’m fortunate that since my mother is Japanese, language isn’t much of a barrier for me, but I saw tons of folks using Google translate just fine. And the dollar is strong against the yen right now, so it’s a great time to go there!