With all the press the Canadian Conservative party are getting for rhyming Axe with Tax, it’s unfortunate that there’s no similarly quippy counter-rhyme for those that support a Canadian carbon tax.
Nobody likes being taxed, but taxes are a useful tool for our society. I can simultaneously not want to pay more tax, and also support everyone (including myself) having to pay more tax. I don’t see this as an inconsistency.
So, let me add my tiny voice to the din: I do want a Carbon Tax – especially if you give that money back to me in rebates.
Thanks to Chris & Dave for answering my nerdy question on their great web-dev podcast, the ShopTalk Show. The question is brought up around the 10min mark of episode 608 (but you should listen to the whole thing!).
My question was: What are your most and least favourite parts of building websites these days.
My answers:
Least favourite: Setting up build process and tooling (it’s important, but I don’t enjoy or excel at it).
Most favourite: Basic styling of core elements, like links, buttons, form inputs, etc.
Today I learned that if you right click on an image in Firefox on macOS (and only on macOS), you can “Copy Text From Image“. This does what it sounds like: macOS has a system to recognize text in flat/static images like JPEGs and PNGs. You can also select text in flat images in the macOS Preview.app and QuickLook image previewer to copy the text.
The version 14 release of macOS (aka “Sonoma”) added a “Reactions” feature that seems to have been enabled by default.
If you hold up a thumbs-up gesture with your actual hand, the system will recognize the gesture and show a virtual overlay of a thumbs-up graphic in a bubble overplayed on your video. I don’t know why you’d want a “virtual” thumbs up showing when everyone can already see your actual thumbs-up. Other animations include a thumbs-down, a heart, and rain.
I’ve seen these gestures triggered accidentally, and can easily imagine an accidental reaction animation being wildly inappropriate. The animations are often understandably attributed to Zoom, instead of macOS where they are actually coming from.
When your camera is on, click on the bright green/white camera icon in the top right system menu
Click the “Reactions” item to toggle it off (or back on)
Bonus: you can manually trigger these animations using the same green camera menu, clicking the arrow to the right of “Reactions” and clicking on a particular reaction.
There are a few other gestures and associated animations. I will admit to using the rave-lasers-background to generate mirth among my peers.
Mike Knott is among the songwriters who had the greatest influence on my life. I discovered Knott’s music as a strange underworld below the depths of the strange world of “Christian music” when I was a kid. As a typically disgruntled teenager, his music was everything that the Christian music industry was not: raw, honest, and sometimes ugly.
The Aunt Bettys album (now go listen to Rock & Roll)
In 2000, when a flight to Ontario would have cost me several months of income, I flew to see Mike Knott perform in London, Ontario. I knew at the time it might be my only opportunity to see him live, and it was. I’m so glad I look the time.
Knott never quite broke through with mainstream popularity, but was deeply influential on those who knew his music. It’s only an accident of history that he isn’t in the pop culture pantheon of rock stars.
At this 2000 show, Mike was mourning the loss of his friends Gene Eugene (another of my favourite songwriters) and Dennis Dannell. He put two paintings up on stage with him, one reading “MISS YOU DENNIS” and the other “MISS YOU GENE”.
in the top right system menu
