@landonhere

FACT: The calculation features of Math Notes extend beyond the hand-drawn formulas demonstrated at WWDC24. On Apple devices running betas for iOS/iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, typed calculations will also be automatically solved after an = sign is dropped. This functionality is enabled by default and can be set under General → Keyboard → Show Math Results.

Icelandic Waters: “The answer to life, the universe, and everything is . . . sixteen.”

Cantiviler: “Excuse me! Life is not a question. There does not need to be an answer.“

Imagine if the Lunch ARG had been real . . . actually, don't.

ENTRY 8.5.F - The Lunch Truth

I had a dream that I had noticed an abnormal client in #MineralFish. Some time later, when I was using Shellfish from my phone, it returned and started bubbling about the Lunch. I tried to defuse the situation, claiming that I had a BBIY level pack to play (which I did). The client said "Oh, really?" and an audio clip resembling   lunchluncheatmypuppyyumyumyum started playing. I opened my laptop and joined Shellfish from there, and discovered a video clip playing in a VLC window, depicting Jacky walking through an outdoor area at night while talking to himself about the Lunch. I opened the Apple dropdown menu and discovered that the "shut down" option had been replaced with "lock out right click". The right side of the control bar lacked any icons to suggest that it was being remotely viewed or controlled by conventional system functionality. I clicked the "lock out right click" option just to see if it helped the situation. The video clip displayed a picture of RivaPuppy with googly eyes and nothing else happened. I clicked the restart option and booted into Windows, and the curse of the Lunch did not follow. Later, I returned to macOS and discovered that the malware had passed AND the audio and video broadcasts had both been saved to my downloads folder! Sweet!

The Icelandic Waters just came up with an idea for an esolang. It’s mainly meant to be spoken in singular words, which are made by combining primitive syllables and other words. I'm going to see what I can do with the idea.

24-hour reminder. I am the only voter, and have changed my vote to the hidden I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT ALL OF THEM option.

Option Key Shortcuts

You probably know that holding Option will allow you to type special characters not normally accessible. Knowing what secondary character each key corresponds to is a higher accomplishment. Here are several of the more useful alt-keys, available on a US English keyboard:

        Alt-1 -> ¡ (upside-down !, used in certain languages)
        Alt-2 -> ™ (trademark symbol)
        Alt-3 -> £ (pounds)
        Alt-4 -> ¢ (cents)
        Alt-5 -> ∞ (infinity)
        Alt-6 -> § (section symbol; used in MCBE formatting codes)
        Alt-8 -> • (dot)
        Alt-0 -> º (degrees, temperature or geometrical)
        Alt-T -> † (used as a secondary footnote marker)
        Alt-Y -> ¥ (yen)
        Alt-P -> π (pi)
        Alt-G -> © (copyright)
        Alt-X -> ≈ (approximate equals sign)
       Alt-<> -> ≤≥ (equal or lesser/greater)
        Alt-? -> ÷ (division sign)
  Shift-Alt-2 -> € (euros)
 Shift-Alt-34 -> ‹› (arrow brackets)
  Shift-Alt-K ->  (private use Apple logo)
  Shift-Alt-N -> ˜ (combining character; joins with previous letter)
  Shift-Alt-? -> ¿ (upside-down ?)
        Alt-\ -> « (double arrow)
  Shift-Alt-\ -> » (other double arrow)

(Characters were tested on an Apple device with an external US English keyboard; not guaranteed to work on other operating systems)

Is there a vote cap or a deadline for this vote? We have a unanimous yes and it's been 36 hours since the vote opened. Just giving a reminder.

FACT: iOS has a built-in network speed tester, but it’s classified as developer functionality. If you already have Developer Mode enabled, you can access it under Developer → Run Throughput Test.

If you're considering getting the iOS 18 public beta, keep in mind that all first-party apps have been updated with advertised beta features, and everything is stable for the most part . . . except for the Photos app. It crashes frequently, enough that I submitted a complaint about it. The app isn't unusable, but I can attest that it crashes at random and inconvenient times.

And the system hasn't recieved power optimizations yet, so expect added battery strain if you do.

Because Corkboard is currently occupied by an unread RW-570 broadcast, I’ll broadcast my latest creation here: https://vimeo.com/990572807

Am I using the phonetic alphabet right?

My husband and I are both huge nerds, obsessed with anything to do with science and video games. He's currently playing Skyrim, a fantasy game with beautifully rendered dragons. I happily note that the dragons actually look plausible. A pet peeve of mine is "unrealistic-looking" fantasy creatures.

This leads to a long discussion/argument about how to build a truly plausible dragon via evolution. I, a marine biologist, have referenced everything from iguana tails to egret necks to various species of bats' wings and even proto-birds like archaeopteryx, over the last hour to cobble this thing together, but my husband, the physicist, is still unsatisfied.

Husband: "That's all well and good, but you've only given me possibilities, and things that could maybe fly, given the right size-scale and circumstances."

Me: "Sweetheart, I would be happy to genetically engineer a functioning dragon in our kitchen for you, but I think l'd end up doing something illegal in the process."

Husband: "We'd probably get evicted."

- Sheldon Cooper Dating Amy Farrah-Fowler, Part 4 on Not Always Right

I was going to share these in an RW-570 broadcast, but Gilbert and Corkboard are absent from #MineralFish, so I’ll share these here.

Icelandic Waters: “It's an ominous reminder that Rain World: The Watcher exists . . . and an ominous hint at what the plot may entail . . .”

*goes to sleep*

Fun fact: my dad just so happened to have a business fight scheduled for today. I remember the time that I resisted a Windows update to the point that the operating system got damaged, but maybe doing that is a good thing . . .