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When you’re done with Facebook, but still have a slight need for a social feed, Mastodon and specially the technology instance, is a great place to start.

Mi ĉeestis la 42-an Internacian Junularan Festivalon (http://iej.esperanto.it/ijf/?lang=eo) en Ascea ĉi-jare. La marborda urbeto troviĝas sude de Napolo, pli sude ol averaĝa IJF. Eble tial estas malmultaj partoprenantoj (aŭ eble pro manko de varbado en la antaŭa jaro). Ĉirkaŭ 50 homoj ĉeestis.

La organizado estis kiel ofte tre itala. Ĉio malfruis, aferoj foje malklaris, kaj ŝajnis, ke la helpantoj faris pli ol la organizantoj mem. Taga programo estis maldensa, sed la vespera programo estis interesa. Opera koncerto, popolmuzika koncerto, kaj sukcesa internacia vespero.

La loko estis iom malfacile atingebla, sed almenaŭ estis busetoj por veturigi homojn kun valizoj. Ankaŭ la ĉambroj estis tute bonaj, kaj la manĝo bonis, krom komence por vegetaranoj. Kelkfoje ilia dua plado estis nur laktuko.

Sekvontjare ni esperu je pli granda partoprenantaro!

After staying for the past 7 days at the Mykonos Princess located a few miles outside of Mykonos town, it was a bit emotional to leave. Don’t let the name fool you, this hotel is luxury with a view. The decor was very contemporary, with for example desklamps created to form a chandelier and bamboo ladders to dry the towels. Thought has definitely gone in to the design . The best part of the experience was the staff , the view was stunning ,the decor was lovely and the food was delicious but the staff topped it all . Nothing was too much trouble, always willing to go above and beyond and make it a dream holiday as they put it . The Mixologist at the bar created the best cocktails I’ve ever had and with a meaningful conversation to boot. The Manager befriended us early on and got to know us well as he tried to make our vacation memorable and stress free . The waiters , cleaners and other staff were always happy to engage in conversation and help with any needs you might have and always with a smile . By the end of the stay we were sad to leave as we had really developed friendships with many members of the team it felt like leaving family after a stay .

Thanks Mykonos Princess for a dream holiday.

I purchased this keyboard tray because my adventuring into the standing desk realm is coming to an end; my back just can’t take it. I still have my nice adjustable standing desk but it just doesn’t go low enough to have the correct wrist height. Enter, this keyboard tray.

I realized very quickly that I needed/wanted a keyboard tray that had “negative angle”; aka the tray can angle down away from you, not toward you. Your wrists aren’t meant to be bent upward for long periods so pretty much every single keyboard tray that does that is wrong (I Am Not A Doctor, This Is Not Medical Advice).

Pros:

• This keyboard tray is solid (thick heavy metal) and adjustable enough.
• Negative angle!
• Separate mouse pad that can go on either the left or right side and can angle independently of the keyboard surface.
• It slides in and out.
• It was relatively easy to install. You do need a power drill, drill bits (to pre-drill the screw holes), and a wrench.

Cons:

• I’d appreciate just a bit more range for the adjustments. I’ve maxed out the negative angle and could use a touch more, or at least the option of going a little more.
• Adjusting is done by a single tension point (think those quick release levers on your bike wheels), which is nice/easy but also limits the fine tun-ability slightly.

AnkiDroid is the best spaced repetition flashcard software for mobile. Period.

It’s more customizable than others out there, free as in freedom and as in cash (at least the Android version), and, most importantly, it works wonders for learning and memorization.

One thing that could be improved is allowing plug-ins to extend functionality of the app, like the desktop version does. Also, some actions can only be done via the desktop program, which makes it a second-class citizen for me. The fact that it can sync seamlessly across devices makes it a smaller problem, however.

They have a lot of contributers around the world, and their productions are great

It’s a fun server that’s pretty active. They have a good set of mods, so anything from advanced technics to home decorating is supported. The mobs are hard, but not too hard once you get diamond stuff. The mummies drop diamonds and die in the sun, so spend a couple starting gold on a house in a village and just wait.

I’m Baph in-game, or spudboy@social.coop on mastodon, I’m totally willing to hook up new users with gear, ore, a place to build, etc.

The forums are active, and the in-game chat is accessible from IRC or Matrix, as well as in-game. I don’t think any other server do that.

The group in charge, https://tchncs.de/, does a lot of cool projects too.

I stayed in Yosemite Village in one of these Tent Cabins, 4 beds and a light, one plug, a heater, and a safe. It was pretty nice but it got muddy in front, as it was raining a little. They had some rubber mats down, but not enough.

Bathrooms and showers were fine. Clean and not too busy. The buffet resturant and pizza place were awesome and not too expensive. Booze was fairly priced too. There’s a community room with shitty books, board games, wifi, it was pretty fun.

There’s a free bus that goes around to most of the cool places. It was never too full.

I suggest all you can eat brunch at the fancier hotel (i forget the name). It was like $30 but the food was really good, fresh cut roast beef, all sorts of stuff. Great place to hit after an overnight hike and totally go overkill on the food.

I know it can get really busy but maybe the weather discouraged people. It was rain/mist for 2 days and light snow on the third. The kids loved the snow, it got surprisingly deep near the waterfalls with all the mist.

I learned about David’s Sling when recommending another of Marc Stiegler’s books, Earthweb, to a friend. He said this book had really affected his thinking when he read it back when it was new. If you only pick up one of those two books, I’d recommend Earthweb, but David’s Sling is also a good read if you liked Earthweb or any of Stiegler’s other work.

The general gist is that the Americans and Soviets are fighting using “industrial age” technologies, while an organization called the Zetetic Institute, which became famous for developing an effective technique for quitting smoking, is trying to develop an “information age” weapon. I don’t want to give too much away, so suffice it to say that the “old guard” aren’t too keen on seeing some upstart organization show them up by building something faster, cheaper, and more effective than the extremely expensive stuff they’re taking forever to build.

The book also covers a bunch of the techniques the Zetetic Institute uses, chief among them being the “decision duel”, which I imagine is a precursor in Stiegler’s thinking to prediction/decision/contract markets, which show up in Earthweb, and are what got my friend interested in these markets before Earthweb even came out.

Available as a DRM-free ebook from the publisher (Baen), though it’s clearly from a scan of a printed copy without a lot of human editing.

Its website advertises L‘Étagère Gourmande as a shop for marmalade, but it is also an extremely cute café with nice, «pètit» plates such as deliciously topped toasts, soups etc.

We went there for brunch and I guess there are two types of brunch: if you are looking for huge, protein-filled plates of Eggs Benedict, L’Étagère Gourmande is probably not for you. Otherwise, definitely go there: the brunch menu (at $29 not that cheap, though) includes a small plate of crêpes with delicious, self-made marmelade, two amazing «tartes» and a small glass of granola-marmelade yogurt. It left me feeling rejuvenated for the rest of the day!

And if you aren’t travelling with light luggage, like we were, afterwards you will almost definitely also buy some of their marmelade to take back home.