Mᴀʀᴋ VᴀɴᴅᴇWᴇᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ

He/Him. Formerly Senior Technical Director, Pixar Animation Studios. K6HX. Telescope Maker. Tinkerer. Woodworker. Programmer. Open source afficionado. Enthusiast for enthusism. Make stuff, and share your knowledge and expertise!

Last Notes

2025-08-01 21:49:23 UTC

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These kind of error messages are one of the reasons that I really hate C++ (not the only reason, but a good reason). Debuggers like this aren't even "source level debuggers": they seldom print any message that can quickly be associated with the source code responsible for them. WTF does "nano zone abandoned due to inability to reserve vm space" even mean?

2025-06-03 19:18:52 UTC

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I am not sure that your point applies merely to academia. I worked for Pixar, which through the 1990s was actually interested in pushing the boundaries of what was possible, both in technology and in art. But increasingly as it became part of Disney, profitability became the driving force, increasingly at the expense of the people who bought into the creative vision. By the time I left, it was clear that they had ceased to value individuals and their contributions.

2025-04-14 16:59:24 UTC

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Very cool, thanks for sharing this. It's great to see links between two things (computation and origami) that do not have obvious links.

2025-03-05 15:41:03 UTC

I'm no nature photographer, but I snapped these pictures of red winged blackbirds at the Shollenberger Park in Petaluma, CA yesterday while my wife and I tried to get our steps in. #photography No real processing, just cropped quickly from the raw imagery.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/110/571/076/138/751/original/52131999e9d71940.png
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/114/110/571/102/245/452/original/8bc34aabbb1f4e7c.png

2025-02-03 16:27:40 UTC

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There is a difference apparently between "It wasn't expected to go down" and "I didn't expect it to go down."

2025-01-12 20:13:32 UTC

I am old enough to remember when what is commonly called "virtue signalling" was instead called "setting a good example".

2024-12-04 07:46:43 UTC

Got a pair of these modules https://www.seeedstudio.com/Wio-SX1262-with-XIAO-ESP32S3-p-5982.html for < $10 each, making them the cheapest #meshtastic device I have. I had to flash the latest firmware for them to get them to work, but they have at least talked to two other devices I have across my home office. Not sure if they are interesting, but...

2024-08-17 20:44:02 UTC

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I find it fascinating when people think they get to define who you are. It's actually at the base of many problems that the modern world suffers from.

2024-08-07 15:23:34 UTC

Some good spots today. #astrophotography
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/921/423/617/879/322/original/d4141ca9c9fff9b9.jpg