Jason Cosper

Tag: videoconferencing

  • Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, 04.27.20

    This content was imported from gomi no sensei, a project I briefly did during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of maintaining yet another WordPress install, I’ve decided to shove this content into the everything bucket that is my long running personal blog. 🥴

    I wish weekends felt more like weekends and less like days where I’m not financially obligated to sit at my computer. I need something relaxing, but everything rn is stressful and weird.

    Usually, when I’m feeling stressed, I take a few days off, pack the dogs and Sarah into the Jeep, and head out to Palm Springs or Pismo Beach. Don’t really have that luxury right now.

    I guess I need to upend my routine or something. 🤔

    Mini vMac 3DS

    The total lack of documentation on the GitHub page for this project is very much a “You’re on your own, bro.” sort of statement. But if you can get it to work — and people have — you can run System 7 on a 3DS. 😍

    GoldenHour

    A macOS app that adds a translucent, color temperature adjustable overlay on your screen.

    Pretty handy! Especially since all of the key lights that are worth a shit are sold out rn. (via)

    Baphomet Pee-wee Herman Sticker

    I mean, it’s kind of all right there in the title, isn’t it? (via)

    The Cool Quarantine, Episode 2

    I missed this when it dropped last week, but Henry Rollins is back with another 4 hours of great freeform radio.

    “Expert Twitter” Only Goes So Far

    Twitter was optimized for links and short musings. It’s not well suited for complex discussions or nuanced analyses. As a result, the feeds of these newly emerged pandemic experts are often a messy jumble of re-ups, unrolled threads, and screenshot excerpts of articles. We can do better.

    TL;DR: Get a blog.

    I’ve already got one, so I’m sure you can understand how I might be bullish about them… 🤣

    Five is good for today, right?

    Until next time, friends!

  • Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, 04.21.20

    This content was imported from gomi no sensei, a project I briefly did during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of maintaining yet another WordPress install, I’ve decided to shove this content into the everything bucket that is my long running personal blog. 🥴

    Hrm. Today’s edition ended up being a bit rona heavy. Sorry about that. 😬 It wasn’t intentional, honest. I just went where the currents took me.

    If I could’ve posted about the ginormous bumblebee that’s been going HAM on the flowers outside of my office window since this morning, I totally would have — but I couldn’t find any links about it.

    C’est la vie.

    Rich Americans Activate New Zealand Pandemic Escape Plans

    This lede… 😳

    As coronavirus infections tore across the U.S. in early March, a Silicon Valley executive called the survival shelter manufacturer Rising S Co. He wanted to know how to open the secret door to his multimillion-dollar bunker 11 feet underground in New Zealand.

    The tech chief had never used the bunker and couldn’t remember how to unlock it.

    🙄

    1. This asshole clearly needs to read Cory Doctorow‘s Masque of the Red Death.
    2. I already know the answer to this, but what sort of prepper doesn’t even bother to familiarize themselves with the shit that’s supposed to keep them alive?

    (via)

    Amoeba Music Needs Help To Survive

    One of my all-time favorite record stores is running a GoFundMe to help keep the lights on in these times:

    All three of our stores have been closed since mid-March and must remain closed indefinitely. With no way to generate income, our savings are running out, with bills and rent coming due, and with a primary commitment to our staff, who we are trying to keep as healthy and financially sound as possible.

    They’re still shipping out online orders too, so consider picking up some music or merch if GoFundMe isn’t your bag.

    Webcomic Name Face Masks

    Everybody’s selling face masks now. But I only know of one person selling face masks with the punchline from Webcomic Name on them…

    Stripe Is Silently Recording Your Movements on Its Customers’ Websites

    They claim to be doing this in the name of fraud detection — which is a very necessary thing in the eCommerce world — but I’m still lowkey cranky about this. (via)

    How to Fix Virtual Cameras in Zoom 4.6.9+ for macOS

    People use virtual cameras for a lot more than Zoombombing, so I’m glad that someone has figured out how to work around the restriction Zoom put in place with version 4.6.9 of their software on macOS. (via)

    What Self-Isolation Has Taught Us About Cooking

    As someone who has never cooked at home as much as he has in the past couple months, this article from the Serious Eats team shows that even the pros are learning new things and having their fair share of problems.

    All I know is that — as someone who is exhausted by endless dishes and overwhelmed by meal planning — I really needed to read it. Maybe you do too.

    Leave Philly Alone

    I would like variations on this fantastic t-shirt for every municipality, please and thank you. (thx)

    Okay, y’all… Enough sitting at my desk.

    Since the weather here will be in the eighties the rest of the week — and continuing to rise 😩 — it’s high time to get out of the house and enjoy the rest of this partly cloudy 73° F day.

  • Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, 04.20.20

    This content was imported from gomi no sensei, a project I briefly did during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of maintaining yet another WordPress install, I’ve decided to shove this content into the everything bucket that is my long running personal blog. 🥴

    Fetch the bolt cutters — and happy super 420 — it’s time for some links!

    Star Wars Videoconferencing Backgrounds

    If whatever y’all are using for videoconferencing allows you to load virtual backgrounds, the official Star Wars blog has released a metric crapload of great ones.

    I popped into a work meeting from the Millennium Falcon this afternoon and it felt awesome.

    Setting Up Your Computer for Remote Work, Podcasting, Videos, and Streaming

    Speaking of videoconferencing, this resource from Matt Stauffer has helped me think about how I need to step it up on the video front — both because I work from home and because I’m a regular on the best WordPress podcast in the game.

    Seinfeld Adventure

    The pitch: What if Monkey Island, but Seinfeld? (via)

    Why Does It Suddenly Feel like 1999 on the Internet?

    I thought it was because I follow a handful of people on Mastodon who have been:

    1. Building stuff on the Gopher inspired Gemini protocol.
    2. Getting super into HyperCard.

    But nope, looks like the internet is running in classic mode for more than just me. 🤔

    Why Does WordPress Notify Google That I’m Writing This?

    Turns out that the WordPress block editor (AKA Gutenberg) loads Google’s Noto font from Google servers every time you go to write or edit a post.

    From a privacy standpoint, that’s not great, Bob. But at least there’s a way to disable it.

    Papercraft Computers

    If you’re looking for something to do — and all the puzzles you look at seem to be on back order — why not try a little vintage hardware papercraft? (via)

    Alright… So that’s Monday.

    Guess I better go start dinner and watch last night’s Westworld before the internet spoils it. 😬

  • Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, 04.16.20

    This content was imported from gomi no sensei, a project I briefly did during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of maintaining yet another WordPress install, I’ve decided to shove this content into the everything bucket that is my long running personal blog. 🥴

    While I didn’t get to cut out of work early yesterday, I did get to drink a beer by the pool. And it was everything that I thought that it could be.

    Maybe I can do it again today, before I start whipping up dinner. 🤞🏻

    P.S. I decided to try something new with the layout for this post. It looked wack in the RSS feed though, so back to the drawing board I guess…

    Avatarify

    Wild AI generated avatars for video calls. Zoom as Mona Lisa… Skype as Albert Einstein… Go live on Twitch as Steve Jobs…

    Currently requires a system with a beefy GPU. MacBooks need not apply. 😞

    Didn’t I Write This Story Already?

    Naomi Kritzer on her 2015 story “So Much Cooking” about a food blogger living through a global pandemic.

    I haven’t read this before, but it just made it to the top of my pile. (via)

    Tsundoku

    Speaking of my to-read pile, earlier this year I learned that the Japanese have a word for book hoarding, which I identify with very deeply. Maybe you will too.

    Chasing a Ghost

    Robin Sloan — one of the authors to consistently make it out of my to-read pile — explains the ghostly fade-out effect seen during title sequences of older movies.

    Neven’s Pizza Dough

    When you want to graduate from cooking bread with that sourdough starter you’ve been working on, consider Neven Mrgan’s pizza dough recipe.

    And since we’re mixing it up today, let’s finish things off with with a quote…

    Civilized life, you know, is based on a huge number of illusions in which we all collaborate willingly. The trouble is we forget after a while that they are illusions and we are deeply shocked when reality is torn down around us.

    JG Ballard

    See y’all again real soon! ❤️

  • Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, 04.14.20

    This content was imported from gomi no sensei, a project I briefly did during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of maintaining yet another WordPress install, I’ve decided to shove this content into the everything bucket that is my long running personal blog. 🥴

    It’s been one of those “lowkey overdo it on CBD, listen to white noise for five hours, and try to get work done” sort of days. Y’all have those too, right? 😬

    Zooooom.us

    A macOS screensaver that simulates an increasingly absurd Zoom call.

    I’ll stick with Brooklyn — lest I give myself an anxiety attack over thinking that I forgot about a meeting — but I’ll keep this in my back pocket for future pranking purposes. (via)

    Airbreak

    What we have done is to “jailbreak” the the AirSense 10 CPAP machine, a common, low-cost sleep therapy device intended to treat sleep apnea, so that it is possible to run additional tasks on the device. These new tasks add the features and adjust the range of parameters that make it possible to use the device as a temporary ventilator.

    This is incredibly clever. My only hope is that it doesn’t drive up the cost of the AirSense 10 and its supplies on the CPAP grey market as people start to panic buy them up.

    ArduBee

    I’m not really a drone guy, but I do like the concept of this small, hackable, open source powered, mini drone kit (allegedly) coming soon to Kickstarter.

    Arcade Game Typography

    Vintage video games and deep dives into typography: two great tastes that taste great together. (via)

    Okay, that’ll do for today. How about a nap? 💤