Alison Meeks

Skwerl Gurl - #Canadian living in #Ontario.
#Tech #Joomla #WebDev Tree Hugger, Rock n Roller, Critter Lover, #Liberal
#Neurodiverse - just not sure yet how diverse. Exploring but ticking boxes for #AuDHD
Previously alison@mastodon.online

https://authenticme.ca:

Public Key

npub1ylmfglvp4cluc8xntwfl05c78ay8fg7xvw3yvqnkp0ke267xr2fspzgx4k

NIP-05 Address

alison_at_beige.party@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsz0a550kq6u07vrnf4hylh6v0r7jr550rx8gjxqfmqhmv4d0rp4ycpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsl9aq29

Publishing to

nostr.wine

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1ylmfglvp4cluc8xntwfl05c78ay8fg7xvw3yvqnkp0ke267xr2fspzgx4k

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Last Notes

2026-03-28 18:09:23 UTC

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I wonder if just a trip with the paddles would do it?

2026-03-28 18:03:58 UTC

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Wow that's weird and awesome at the same time. For sure not recommended but bonus.

2026-03-23 15:45:04 UTC

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One month after Andrew's pickup for questioning and returned home in time for dinner.

2026-02-07 17:10:30 UTC

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OMG what the actual F? I'd file a report with the local PD just as a matter of course as well. This person is a quart of tomatoes short of a thick sauce.

2026-02-02 15:21:12 UTC

Winter sure is easier when the sun is shining brightly. Have a great day and watch for scammers. They are thick already this morning.
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2026-01-31 17:03:51 UTC

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2026-01-29 14:52:27 UTC

Good morning and a cold as hell blue sky day here at -15C/7F. If the Aussies could share some of their crazy heatwave that would be great.
Have a good day!
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2026-01-15 16:41:36 UTC

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What the actual F? There goes Wiki as a fact check.
@npub16hj…nf3s

2026-01-14 17:49:25 UTC

65 Days til spring!
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2025-12-14 00:40:14 UTC

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2025-12-11 17:50:15 UTC

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2025-11-05 18:11:55 UTC

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The sound of me chuckling thinking tech bro's AI gives a fiddlers f*ck about accessibility. @npub1whv…820e

2025-11-05 17:44:42 UTC

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As a front end web dev I'm going with hell no. Trying to extract information from clients about what they want for their website and combining it with what is needed you need to be part psychic and have a crystal ball. Then softly convince them that their logo doesn't need to be 1/4+ of the home page and mittens doesn't need to be there at all. AI wants to be spoon fed correct questions. @npub1whv…820e
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2025-10-26 19:24:47 UTC

Sunday afternoon and grateful we have a big blue sky day going. My little tree has far fewer golden leaves left but can now spy the little nests where the peeping was coming from this summer.
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2025-09-23 17:09:17 UTC

This one was worth sharing from FB.
I’m seventy-two. My name’s Harris. I used to be a high school history teacher in Ohio.
Now I hide backpacks.
Not in schools. Not in libraries. Not in food banks with lines around the block.
I leave them where kids disappear.
Behind the bleachers at the football field no one uses anymore.
Beside the boarded-up convenience store that still smells like spilled beer.
Under the bridge where spray-paint tags scream louder than adults ever do.
People ask why.
Because that’s where I used to find my students.
When my wife died, the classroom was the only place that kept me standing. Then the district closed my school. Budget cuts, they said. Fewer kids “worth saving.”
I drove around those first months like a ghost, parking in old lots, remembering faces. The boy who used to doodle in the margins. The girl who never took her hood off. The one kid who sat through three funerals in a semester and still turned in his essays.
I started noticing where kids hid when they had nowhere else to go.
And one night, I remembered something: the way my students’ backpacks told the whole story.
Worn zippers, missing straps, heavy with secrets no curriculum could carry.
So I bought a few used packs from Goodwill. Filled them with small, stubborn things.
A peanut butter sandwich wrapped tight.
A notebook and a Sharpie, with my scrawl inside: “Write it down. It matters.”
A pair of headphones and an old MP3 player loaded with free audiobooks and a playlist I called “Stay.”
A bag of trail mix. A bottle of water. A cheap phone card.
I didn’t put in Bibles or pamphlets. Didn’t tape motivational quotes to the straps.
Just pieces of normal life. Things that say: you still belong in this world.
The first time I left one, under the bleachers, my hands shook like I was committing a crime.
Next week, it was gone.
In its place? A folded piece of paper: “Thanks. I ate the sandwich. I’m still here.”
That was enough.
Week by week, I left more. And the backpacks started talking back.
A hair tie, left for the “next girl who forgets hers.”
A library card, taped to a thank-you note: “They reopened. Go check it out.”
A Polaroid of a dog with “He’s waiting at home. So am I.”
Last winter, a backpack showed up on my porch.
Inside: a sandwich. A notebook. A pair of socks.
And a letter.
It was from a boy who used to linger behind the gas station. He’d planned to join a gang that night. Said the backpack stopped him. Not because of the food, but because of one scribble in the notebook:
“You deserve to see another season.”
He wrote, “I chose life. I got a dishwashing job. Now I’m leaving backpacks too. With your list.”
I sat on the porch until my coffee went cold, holding that letter like it was oxygen.
Now my neighbors help. A retired nurse slips in first-aid kits. A baker leaves muffins with a note: “Still good. Still loved.” Kids from the neighborhood ride their bikes over and toss packs into the trunk of my car. Nobody signs their names. Nobody takes credit.
It isn’t politics. It isn’t charity drives or photo ops. It’s just one quiet thing in a loud, divided country.
The world talks about walls, borders, crime rates, and statistics.
But when you stand under a bridge at dusk, you don’t see numbers.
You see a kid trying not to cry where nobody’s watching.
That’s who the backpacks are for.
My grandson asked me once, “Grandpa, why don’t you just hand them out?”
I told him, “Because shame is loud. Kindness has to whisper. Sometimes people can only pick up help when no one’s looking.”
I don’t know how many backpacks I’ve left. I don’t keep count.
But I know this: in a world that makes so many feel disposable, something as small as trail mix and a Sharpie can turn a night around.
You don’t have to save the country.
You don’t have to fix politics.
You don’t even have to change a life.
Just leave something soft where a broken soul might land.
Sometimes all it takes is a backpack—forgotten by the world, but found by the one person who needed it most.
And that, I’ve learned, is still teaching.
https://media.beige.party/media_attachments/files/115/254/704/338/189/154/original/c6a079e87bea2a0e.jpg

2025-09-22 15:37:30 UTC

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2025-09-14 01:25:33 UTC

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They are the symbol of my Dad. One came to me the day of his service and another one the year after.

2025-09-01 16:59:12 UTC

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No or I wouldn't have bothered to add it. Because I don't like to share without I did what I did. All that said, it showed it to me when you came back at me.

2025-09-01 16:51:21 UTC

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Because when I hovered for alt it wasn't showing me any. Thanks for using it and no offence implied.

2025-09-01 15:59:09 UTC

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Alt Text: Blue Jay sitting on a wood fence with a squirrel in flight about to land beside it.

2025-08-25 17:21:07 UTC

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2025-07-24 17:53:10 UTC

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2025-07-24 17:51:26 UTC

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2025-07-19 23:24:17 UTC

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Due to no one to pick the tomatoes in the fields. Could probably get a good buy if you have a farmer near by and are willing to pick your own.

2025-07-03 15:25:23 UTC

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Their phones should be blowing up with all the calls.

2025-06-27 17:03:08 UTC

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Worded far better than I did. This!

2025-06-24 00:07:37 UTC

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2025-06-13 14:36:17 UTC

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I as a Canadian regret sending $5 to get a Bernie sticker years ago. Unknown calls from US numbers ever since.

2025-05-26 16:34:12 UTC

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Good time to support another store that doesn't play you for an easy mark.

2025-05-21 15:46:22 UTC

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2025-05-21 15:33:47 UTC

The May issue of Joomla Magazine is online.
There are many great articles waiting for reading: about blind spots in accessibility testing, magic tricks in CSS, using utility classes from frameworks, two amazing case studies, the conclusion of a long series on component development, three interesting interviews, the presentation of this year's Google Summer of Code Contributors, reports from JDayUSA, about GitHubs maintainer month, tips on how to set up a Joomla podcast and last but not least a short prehistoric essay by Brian about discovering footprints.
Click the link to read it now: https://magazine.joomla.org
#Joomla #JoomlaMagazine #JCM #OpenSource
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2025-05-02 22:04:50 UTC

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What an absolute rotten potato he is.

2025-05-01 16:36:56 UTC

Every vote counts!
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2025-03-16 23:47:13 UTC

Just saw this interesting rant on the book of faces.
Dear Misinformed Americans,
It has come to our attention that some of you believe the United States is generously subsidizing Canada to the tune of $200 billion a year. Oh, Canada! How lucky we are to bask in the financial benevolence of our southern neighbors!
Unfortunately, we regret to inform you that this is complete nonsense. So, let’s break this down in a way that even a Tim Hortons-deprived soul can understand:
Foreign Aid? We Must Have Missed That Cheque.
• Canada is not on the U.S. foreign aid list. No pallets of cash arrive at the border. No direct financial assistance. No “Canada Relief Fund” tucked into the U.S. budget. We checked. Twice.
Trade Is Not a Subsidy, It’s a Transaction.
• The U.S. and Canada engage in mutually beneficial trade worth over $850 billion a year. Canada buys more American goods than any other country, except possibly China.
• If anyone’s economy benefits from this relationship, it’s the U.S., which enjoys a trade surplus in services and buys our oil at a discount while selling us overpriced military gear.
Defense Spending: We Do Have a Military, You Know.
• Contrary to what Hollywood might suggest, Canada actually funds and operates its own military—shockingly, without waiting for America’s allowance.
• Canada also patrols the Arctic, secures NORAD, and participates in NATO. No, we don’t have 11 aircraft carriers, but we do own the world's second-largest landmass, which means the U.S. gets a free security buffer zone without having to annex us (not that you haven’t tried before).
Resources: You’re Welcome, by the Way.
• The U.S. relies on Canadian oil, lumber, minerals, and electricity. We send you power, and you send us… conspiracy theories about our Prime Minister.
• If anything, Canada is subsidizing the U.S. with affordable energy and raw materials.
If the U.S. Was Sending Us $200 Billion, Our Roads Wouldn’t Have Potholes.
• We’re still driving on roads that look like they lost a fight with a meteor shower. If Uncle Sam were secretly sending us billions, we’d have paved highways made of maple syrup and gold by now.
America, You’re Not Our Sugar Daddy
While we appreciate the enthusiasm, the idea that the U.S. is bankrolling Canada is as fictional as a moose riding a polar bear to work (though, admit it, that would be cool).

2025-03-06 20:17:05 UTC

Step right up and try your luck!
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