@BillySmith@social.coop cover
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

BillySmith

@BillySmith@social.coop

I'm an engineer/musician/artist/designer/bricoleur/womble. :D

Now blogging at https://write.as/billysmith/

Currently working on #OSHW for the primary industry sectors; #Agriculture, #Aquaculture, #Energy, #PowerGeneration, #PowerStorage, #Sustainability, #Regeneration, #Resilience, #TerraForming.

You can't solve a #SocialProblem via TechnicalMeans, so i've focused on creating solutions that people can choose to build themselves. :D

#ADHD #TeamADHD #Womble :D

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

When I consider the billions that will be spent on presidential campaigns against the tens of thousands of votes that will ultimately decide it, the project seems absurd. Naively? it ought to be easy to simply find those people who would vote for your candidate but did not since they didn’t have a ride to the polls, or child care, or they simply forgot.

Of course were it simple we’d not all be so concerned. 1/

BillySmith ,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@futurebird

In Oz the way that they get around that is to make not voting illegal.

Yes, you can turn in a spoiled ballot, but you still have to turn the ballot in.

18+ suddjian , to random
@suddjian@social.coop avatar

5.4 — How do you handle highly intimate scenes?

Same as any other writing, if something interesting is happening I want to cover it. If not, skip!

The intimate details of a sex scene reveals a lot about a character, in fiction and irl. How do they navigate the encounter, what mistakes do they make, what do they discover?

18+ BillySmith ,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@suddjian

A question for @bookstodon :D

futurebird , (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Without looking it up what is closest to 8oz?

(Curious how well the relation between oz and metric is generally known.)

BillySmith ,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@futurebird

Fluid ounces or weight ounces?

USA ounces or UK ounces?

futurebird , (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The bald eagle could have easily gone extinct. But we did all sorts of "woke" things protecting it legally, ran conservation and study programs, banned DDT (that was good for other reasons too) and in 2007 they were removed from the endangered species list.

Likewise pine forests could be dead from acid rain.

The ozone could have a huge hole.

We CAN take care of nature when we want to. And the successes have been worth it.

I feel like we forget this, you know?

BillySmith ,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@futurebird

Almost all of the current problems are fixable with our current level of technology.

And this includes the ones with solutions that are just out of our current reach, with some focused research.

We need to choose knowledge. :D

KitMuse , to ActuallyAutistic group
@KitMuse@eponaauthor.social avatar

Thoughts about writing action scenes. I feel like I don't have the brain power to wrap my mind around all the action, who goes where, who does what?

I'm wondering if this is related to my extra spicy neurodivergence.

Does anyone have any tips or tools they use? Wonder if I need to dig out my D&D miniatures?

Thoughts my fellow neurodivergent authors?

#bookstodon @bookstodon @actuallyautistic #ActuallyAutistic #AuDHD #Neurodivergent @neurodiversity

BillySmith ,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@KitMuse @bookstodon @actuallyautistic @neurodiversity

Take a look at some of the dance choreography techniques used in improvising physical theatre.

Looking at fight choreography gives a better idea about the sense of space that your characters are operating within.

Also worth looking at Tempo from Chess:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempo_(chess)

Some of the Shaw Bros. films have some really good examples of applying the principles of Tai Chi to whole battlefields. :D

BillySmith ,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@KitMuse @bookstodon @actuallyautistic @neurodiversity

Also worth looking at some examples from Theatre.

I saw some of Annouchka Bayley's early directing work, where she transformed Medea as a single-person performance, to a duo performance, all the way up to a full opera troupe.

Same story, same timeline of events, but completely different flavours of expression when working on a different scales. :D

BillySmith ,
@BillySmith@social.coop avatar

@KitMuse @bookstodon @actuallyautistic @neurodiversity

Another approach is to use a specific piece of music as the notional soundtrack, which will define the rhythm of the action.

There's some really nice examples to be found with Kill Six Billion Demons, where the author mentions the pieces of music in the hover-text attached to the pictures. :D

https://killsixbilliondemons.com/ :D

pluralistic , to random
@pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar

All digital businesses have the technical capacity to enshittify: the ability to change the underlying functions of the business from moment to moment and user to user, allowing for the rapid transfer of value between business customers, end users and shareholders:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

1/

A collection of 1950s white, suited boardroom executives seated around a table, staring at its center. The original has been altered. In the center of the table stands a stylized stick figure cartoon mascot whose head is a poop emoji rendered in the colors of the Google logo. The various memos on the boardroom table repeat this poop Google image. On the wall behind the executives is the original Google logo in an ornate gilt frame.
ALT
  • Reply
  • Expand (41)
  • Collapse (41)
    • 18+ BillySmith ,
    @BillySmith@social.coop avatar

    @pluralistic

    And this is where the FTC declaration about invalidating Non-Competition Agreements stands out. :D

    There are a large number of skilled tech worker that have been set free. :D

    They can now work on competing projects that destroy the big tech companies, by providing a good service that the users want. :D

    vampiress , to random
    @vampiress@eigenmagic.net avatar

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    BillySmith ,
    @BillySmith@social.coop avatar

    @vampiress @cubeofcheese

    It's profitable.

    futurebird , (edited ) to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    What was was a bigger blow for the long-term prospects of complex, large, diverse, life on earth? Which one was closer to the brink of planet sterilization, or a planet with few prospects for anything like complex life?

    BillySmith ,
    @BillySmith@social.coop avatar

    @futurebird

    All disasters and changes become the new normal for the descendants of the few species that survive.

    vampiress , to random
    @vampiress@eigenmagic.net avatar

    I want a custom mechanical keyboard for a modern USB-C/bluetooth system that's designed like this. Complete with the dials and gauges up top, that have to actually work.
    https://mastodon.social/@keyboards/112234070586039169

    BillySmith ,
    @BillySmith@social.coop avatar

    @vampiress

    What do you want the dials and gauges to do? :D

    BillySmith ,
    @BillySmith@social.coop avatar

    @vampiress

    Also, i've seen similar systems* used in modular recording desks, that were designed to control a wider range of external machinery, so maybe the question should be "What do you want them to do?" :D

    *They were the quiet keyboards, not the full clacky's. :D

    CommonMugwort , to bookstodon group
    @CommonMugwort@social.coop avatar

    @bookstodon Can anyone recommend an entry point to Wuxia for a middle-aged European steeped in Western Historical Fantasy - a great story, well-translated and easily available?

    BillySmith ,
    @BillySmith@social.coop avatar

    @CommonMugwort @bookstodon

    It depends upon the translation you find.

    Some of the translations come across like radio plays without the incidental background noise, so always feel a little incomplete.

    That said:

    "Cultivation Chat Group" is a cultivation-based story set in contemporary times.

    "Martial Peak" is a great tale that would suit a fan of Western fantasy.

    "I Shall Seal The Heavens" is also very good. :D

    "Top Tier Providence, Secretly Cultivate For a Thousand Years"

    BillySmith ,
    @BillySmith@social.coop avatar

    @CommonMugwort @bookstodon

    They're all web-novels with manga/cartoon versions.

    "Martial Peak", "I shall seal the heavens", and, "Top Tier providence" are all complete.

    "Cultivation Chat Group" is still in progress.

    The web-novels fit really well with the format created by Charles Dickens. :D

    BillySmith ,
    @BillySmith@social.coop avatar

    @CommonMugwort @bookstodon

    It's the same as Oliver Twist was originally a weekly release, published chapter by chapter. :D

    But using a website instead. :D

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • random
  • test
  • worldmews
  • mews
  • All magazines
    •