Carl C

https://fedi.raventhemaker.com/@raven

50-something potter, knitter, maker, programmer, tabletop gamer, video gamer, dad. Jack-of-all-trades. South New Jersey, US
he/him

Public Key

npub1eeja72vhfvmutzucfmp3jyx7whqljlu3nt5p8llzsgdduj9k923s08wdd7

NIP-05 Address

raven_at_fedi.raventhemaker.com@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsvuewl9xt5kd793wvyascezr08ts0e07ge46qnll3gyxk7fzmz4gcprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntzhuds7

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

Author Public Key

npub1eeja72vhfvmutzucfmp3jyx7whqljlu3nt5p8llzsgdduj9k923s08wdd7

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Last Notes

2026-04-14 11:52:56 UTC

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Scribus can have a rough on-boarding experience (especially if you've never used a frame-based layout package), but it's a solid piece of software. Unfortunately, it was confusing enough for newbies that DriveThruRPG quit supporting it for their print-on-demand.
I'm using it to lay out my PDFs, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do if I decide to take a product to POD. Get by without support, or lay it out in a different package.
Looking forward to trying the new stable, though.

2026-04-08 15:29:28 UTC

If you know someone in Poland who wants to work a remote Operations job following break/fix runbooks on thousands of Linux hosts, I'm hiring...
https://jobs.akamai.com/en/sites/CX_1/job/2625?keyword=2625&mode=location
(We're working to offload the trivial stuff to another team, as we mature into a "specialist" team. So it has some future potential.)

2026-03-26 01:10:11 UTC

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I was both in the late 60s, early computer adopter. My first modern was 300 baud. Even after all my years in tech, today's speeds, volume, RAM etc can be mind boggling. The first time I saw one of our servers with a terabyte of RAM... volatile memory, not storage, I had to double-check with the hardware team that this was real.

2026-03-23 13:45:27 UTC

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Having read the book, I thought including the spoiler in trailers was a bad move. _Maybe_ it'll draw more people? But the surprise was a big part of what I liked about the book.

2026-03-18 12:07:00 UTC

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I wonder how many dollars per listener that works out to.

2026-03-14 13:04:26 UTC

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It's funny when you mention IGA. I grew up with an IGA in my small Kansas town. Seems like there was always an IGA somewhere around in my 20s and 30s. My mom shopped at one for a long time. Now there are four in the entire US, none near Kansas.

2026-03-09 12:18:15 UTC

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Oof. What's the outside temp like?

2026-03-04 05:07:00 UTC

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It want terrible work. I learned a lot there. My big annoyance was we weren't allowed to wear headphones, and fights over what radio station to listen to got the radio taken away.

2026-03-04 04:45:10 UTC

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Brass is so pretty when turned. When I was 19, I worked for a machine shop and got to fill in for the lathe guy. It was a CNC auto-chucker... 1.5x rod 10' long went in one end, and it turned 3/4" bushings with a chamfer on one edge. Over and over. My primary job was to load the rod, retrieve the bushings, remove the sharp edge and measure, and clear the shavings. Over and over.

2026-02-25 00:27:53 UTC

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Your neighbor's cat can ride a bicycle?

2026-02-14 02:55:11 UTC

for @npub1ykg…va28
(I didn't expect this to blow up, and a lot of people here don't like bluesky links, but here's the source: https://bsky.app/profile/skyladawn.ca/post/3meqwdtphrc2w)
https://cdn.masto.host/fediraventhemakercom/media_attachments/files/116/066/722/168/769/371/original/c82d9f4661c9151e.png

2026-02-11 23:08:55 UTC

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I won't deny, it's quite expensive. But after a year, I didn't hesitate to renew.

2026-02-11 14:28:50 UTC

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Unsolicited recommendation, ignore me if it's not for you.
Kagi allows up to 1000 blocks or change in priority. The block list is one of the biggest reasons I choose to pay for them.
Their back-end is mostly the Google API, but without promoted sites, etc. I have a much more pleasant experience with Kagi. You can turn off summaries, wikipedia entries, etc all individually. It gives a lot of control over your search experience.

2026-02-05 13:22:00 UTC

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That is a confusing number of backing levels. But I'm in.

2026-02-04 13:25:59 UTC

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Reminds me of trying to figure out how to design my garage. Except nothing was fixed except the size of my yard. I spent weeks making those decisions.

2026-02-01 13:54:36 UTC

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These are the same guys that make the best ginger beer?

2026-01-23 15:13:12 UTC

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What kind of wood is that?

2026-01-22 19:22:31 UTC

I just realized that next year, I'll have been using Linux for 30 years. 😮

2025-12-18 01:58:32 UTC

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I watched this last year, and it's still surprisingly good. I mean, it _is_ Will Ferrel, though he has a good reason for being an "idiot" (he's never seen the real world before), it's kind of cute.
And in these trying times? It's an uplifting movie.
But then there's also The Christmas Chronicles on Netflix... Kurt Russell makes a good Santa Claus.

2025-12-08 19:28:08 UTC

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Hey, it's a pothos. Even I can't kill a pothos.
(Literally. We have a pothos that is actually two plants... one from the funeral of my brother over 30 years ago, and one my grandfather (who owned a greenhouse) gave my wife over 20 years ago. One of them lived in my office for 5 years. As a whole they traveled from KS to NJ and got thrown from the back of the van into the passenger seat when we braked hard. That thing has given so many cuttings to other people.)

2025-12-01 14:49:35 UTC

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Wondering if the US has a different name for what you're calling "celery" because I've never known celery to have any significant flavor, let alone be "delicious". 😆

2025-10-24 03:12:59 UTC

Dear fedi:
Is there some respectable site I can use for a form to collect email addresses for a mailing list. Like, I want customers to scan a QR-code and provide their email at a convention.
I could use Google Forms, but I'd rather not ask people to give Google information.

2025-07-29 12:52:20 UTC

It has now been over _four weeks_ since I ordered a book direct from the small publisher, and it still hasn't shipped. Books are his side business; his primary business is building boats. So I get that maybe he's not entirely on top of shipping books. But 4 weeks is unacceptable.
I paid $11 over Amazon's price to help a small publisher and this is what I get. :(

2025-07-27 11:00:23 UTC

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They heard you like to put bears on teapots and want's to model for you.

2025-07-23 17:51:29 UTC

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Nice!
But dammit, that's a 9 hour drive. 😆

2025-07-18 12:31:35 UTC

Getting frustrated with trying to avoid Amazon. Paid $35 to order a book direct from the author's website, vs $27 on Amazon, and it's been 3 weeks and they haven't even shipped the book, where as Amazon would have had it here in 2 days. :|
I get tired of punishing myself, paying extra for bad service, to deprive Amazon (and other problematic retailers) of an insignificant-to-them amount of money.

2025-06-13 12:49:42 UTC

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Bummer.
I check a couple houses on Google Maps from time to time, and both of the places where my dad installed limestone fence posts* are still there. I'm a little disappointed that they took down the basketball goal and use the pad as a parking spot though.
(* Famous in Kansas, and my dad's symbol of where we were from.)

2025-06-10 12:38:07 UTC

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Ouch! I worry that, as a whole, we're going to become dumber because of AI dependence. But on the other hand, how many lessons like this does it take to realize that AI isn't helping your case? 😆 Maybe it's a self-correcting problem.

2025-06-07 12:54:22 UTC

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I've been trying to figure out how mDNS fits into it all. It's not entirely a first-class citizen.
Install avahi-tools and look at avahi-resolve and it's aliases. Those can be helpful at seeing things.

2025-05-21 12:43:08 UTC

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You ever get the feeling that some people have never _used_ the products they design?

2025-05-15 01:29:45 UTC

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I know myself well, and I literally figure my best strategy is to build a habit of going. Just going, that's it. Get up, get showered and dressed, drive to the gym, check in and leave. No exercise, but I have _gone_. That's 90% of the battle for me, making time and being consistent.
But that's a bit weird, so I'll walk on the treadmill for a bit since I'm there. Once I'm used to going, used to being seen exercising and generally comfortable, I'll branch out and do some weights.

2025-05-15 01:24:08 UTC

Welp, I signed up for a gym. I guess I need to like, buy some appropriate shoes and actually go now.
But a coworker who is about my age and weight started going to the gym, so I was figuring, if he can do it, so can I.
I just don't know what time to go.

2025-05-02 13:22:41 UTC

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He should wear a Rock ⚡ Band t-shirt.

2025-04-22 12:07:13 UTC

A gyro is just a Mediterranean taco.

2025-04-22 03:18:10 UTC

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I just worry about going overboard and taking the fun out of it.
My big problem is how clues and the puzzle they go with can be scattered across random draws, and how long will it take me to realize this things is a clue to that room, when I've seen that room once in 20 days?
I've been very surprised at the complexity of what seemed like a simple, casual game. I really enjoy it, but its more than I bargained for.

2025-04-22 03:05:48 UTC

Blue Prince is way more involved than I expected. I'm not sure I have the patience to solve it without hints.

2025-04-20 13:07:19 UTC

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I started playing last night... made it into the Vestibule and I was frustrated by another obstacle. Learning this game is all about the journey and not the destination.
It keeps surprising me, there are more layers than expected.

2025-03-27 00:39:34 UTC

I dislike the part of surgery where I lose three hours to a second nap. Tried to watch TV and couldn't keep my eyes open.

2025-03-24 01:41:37 UTC

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This bagels me for a moment... couldn't think of a relevant song. Then I discovered Wrong Foot Amputated is a Bob Rivers song. Weird Al wiki says definitely not Al.

2025-03-24 01:09:26 UTC

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And you seem to still have both feet. Hurrah! 🎉

2025-03-06 15:37:56 UTC

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Hm... not happening to me on Android. That's strange.
(I pretty much disapprove of autoplay in any context. I absolutely hate streaming services trying to play a trailer because I dwelled on an entry long enough to read the description.)

2025-02-18 04:02:56 UTC

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Sounds like you couldn't have hoped for a better outcome.

2025-02-06 13:28:39 UTC

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I hope he's okay. I got hit in the jaw with a golf club and by the time Mom got me to the doctor, she decided I wasn't really hurt because I was talking so much.

2025-02-01 03:22:46 UTC

On buying IVAR shelves from IKEA. On a better day, I'd just buy lumber and plywood, and build storage shelving from scratch. But, with the price of lumber + delivery, it wouldn't be a whole lot cheaper than IVAR shelves (which are bare-bones pine), and it would take a heck of a lot more effort, and not be adjustable and easily moved like the IKEA shelving. And time is the big factor... I want to clean and organize the basement this weekend, not spend it building shelves.

2025-01-26 15:45:20 UTC

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Tommy Emmanuel!

2025-01-14 23:58:20 UTC

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I've been curious since I saw this photo. Are the kiln walls cast refractory? I've never seen a kiln that wasn't refractory brick. I think you said something that implied it was factory-made... what brand is it?

2025-01-14 23:55:17 UTC

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Heh... I have bone-dry pots that didn't get trimmed and I've wondered if I could put them in a damp box for a month and restore them to leather hard. But they were just practice, so they'll go into the reclaim bucket.

2024-12-15 21:39:55 UTC

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I think this is my favorite of your abstracts. 💖

2024-12-12 18:32:37 UTC

I went to get a cup of water, was talking to my wife about something, so I was a little distracted. Got out the filtered water from the fridge, grabbed a cup off the shelf, and halfway through filling my "cup," I realized I'd grabbed off the wrong shelf.
Vent hole in the bottom, just as I realize what I've done, water is starting to drip onto the hardwood floor, and I have a cup of water and I'm trying to contain both the cup and the water already running off the edge of the table.
https://cdn.masto.host/fediraventhemakercom/media_attachments/files/113/641/275/100/876/179/original/038974a1227711b0.jpg

2024-12-11 23:34:27 UTC

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Those cookies ... fit for an astronaut. 🤣

2024-11-16 23:47:51 UTC

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Be as gay as you want, I'm not going to complain.

2024-11-16 23:42:46 UTC

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That would make lawn work more attractive.

2024-11-14 19:14:32 UTC

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It's almost as if The Onion wrote that. 🤣

2024-11-03 18:18:37 UTC

I have a basic, instinctual trust in the goodness of other people, and it lets me down constantly.

2024-10-10 18:01:22 UTC

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Dayum. There's "treat yoself" and then there's "buy some hotel CEO a new Lexus."

2024-09-15 03:03:26 UTC

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Not sure what your background and goals are, but printing a positive and taking a plaster negative mold off that would likely make for a better result, because the plaster pulls water out of the clay and makes for better separation from the mold. But maybe you're intentionally trying to see what can be done with direct plastic and I'm just a bother.
Tony Hansen ([@digitalfire](https://mastodon.art/@digitalfire )) has been doing this for slip-cast molds with a lot of success.

2024-08-09 12:45:05 UTC

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It's like that one french fry you get with your tater tots.
You guys have tater tots in Australia, right?