Brushing Off Invisible Spiders

Making meat pie mix turns out to be pretty easy. Making pie bases? Lots of work. Wrapping pie mix in puff pastry? Super easy. Guess what I've been making.

My work has been quieter than usual (thanks COVID) but while my income has been a trickle I have had time to pursue some other projects. I've written some more chapters of my story. I've written a TV pilot. And I've done some coding stuff including a comment section for my podcast and a Laravel Blade package that is one of the neatest things I've done.

Sadly, no one has yet downloaded it, but at least it's brilliant for me.

https://packagist.org/packages/dnabeast/bladeimagecrop

T-shirt weather!

I was never really interested in 4K. If media isn't interesting enough in low-res, more pixels aren't going to make it better. 8K just seems like needless "pix swinging". I do find it amusing though that I have found one use for 8K that intrigues me.

CRT emulation is very hard to do on an LED screen, but new filters are getting closer to replicating the effect of photons firing at you. To get the best effect though the density of pixels that 8K gives you is the best way to do this. The only way to really create the CRT effect is an absurd amount of tech.

Well, one of two ways.

https://www.retrorgb.com/retrotink5x-new-scanline-features.html

I got my second Covid vaccination and now I have the predicted 'flu-like symptoms'. I haven't had this sensation in a long time and I am against it.

We always look at our past selves and think 'How did that person think they were old? I'm old now, and that person didn't know how good they had it.' Of course, in the future my older self will think the exact same thing about me.

Which leads me to conclude, that we are all old. Ever since we hit 30 we are ravaged by time. These pains in my back are only milder due to the damage to my nerves. I have been old since I was 29, now I'm just willing myself not to decompose.

We have a little spider that hangs out near the fruit bowl and I assume grabs fruit flies. During the winter he's learned that he can sit near the teapot to get warm. Yesterday there was an accident and he ended up in my lukewarm tea. After some care and attention he was rescued and dried out and this morning he's back on the kitchen bench where he belongs.

phew

I just learned a wonderful French phrase 'Je m'incruste' that translates as 'I encrust myself'. (It doesn't sound great in English) You use it to embed yourself into a conversation that you're not a part of. It's a confident signal to the group that 'You have arrived and wish to be welcomed to the group'. A slightly faux-egotistical announcement that you are the jewel that the crown was been waiting for.

We don't have that in English. In English you sneak up quietly and wait for permission from the group. This permission is silent. If you're lucky a person on either side will make room for you. As often as not they will remain still.

I love that the French have a way to casually announce their arrival. J'aimerais qu'on ait ça.