Erik Przekop @IAmErik@qoto.org
Parent, programmer, amateur astronomer and terrible guitar player.
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Here is my introduction post:
Instead of defining myself by saying “I am a…”, here’s a collection of hashtags that interest me (in no particular order). #meditation (specifically #twim right now) #cigars #bicycling #photography #computerscience #physics #guitar #music .
I live in #Michigan (in #LakeOrion, which is 35+ miles north of #Detroit), and spend a lot of time around #RogersCity (I’ll bet that’s the first time that hashtag has been used on Mastodon). My kids are really bright and sometimes struggle with #ADHD, so I’ll probably talk about that at times as well. I have spent more than 3 decades of my life as a #programmer, and now I get to be the old man who leads really smart people in solving big problems with small amounts of #software.
Joined Nov 2022
A few I took from recent walks around Bald Mountain State Park.
#michigan #photography #LakeOrion
Erik Przekop
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"There is some evidence suggesting that our physical reality could be a simulated virtual reality rather than an objective world that exists independently of the observer."
For instance, there are fundamental smallest units of matter and energy (like pixels).
Now a physicist has proposed testable hypotheses.
(From our sister site, @TheConversationUK)
https://theconversation.com/how-to-test-if-were-living-in-a-computer-simulation-194929 #News #Science #Physics
Erik Przekop
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A mesmerizing timelapse of the Sun in ultraviolet light, captured by the SDO spacecraft over the course of a month.
Credit: NASA/SDO
#sun #nasa #space #astronomy
Erik Przekop
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Jupiter's swirling Great Red Spot
Full size: https://flic.kr/p/2mFnGv7
Suggested to click on this image if you see it in 16:9
Raw Data processed from: https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/
Orbit (Perijove)31
#NASA #Juno
PJ46 Northern Circumpolar Cyclones
Altitude: 33.331 km
Time: 2020-12-30
#Space #Spacetodon #Astrodon #Astronomy #Solarocks #Jupiter
©NASA/JHUAPL/CIW/AndreaLuck
Erik Przekop
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#UMPlus - NGC 6326
https://www.universomagico.net/2022/11/ngc-6326.html
NGC 6326 is a beautiful planetary nebula captured in this image by the Hubble Space Telescope, it is located in the direction of the Constellation of Ara and is located at a distance of about 11,000 light years from Earth. The gas wisps are illuminated by a central star nearing the end of its life. As a star ages and the red giant phase comes to an end, it begins to eject layers of gas from its.....
#astronomy #space #astrophysics #astrophotography
Erik Przekop
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Saturn's moon Titan as seen by the JWST. Wow.
My best image of it as a comparison 😉
#Science #Astronomy #Astrophotography
(Source: https://www.universetoday.com/158722/with-jwst-fully-operational-again-we-get-images-like-this-saturns-moon-titan/)
Erik Przekop
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Everyone's posting pics of their #cats so I'm posting a #photo of my cormorant. Well it's not mine but I took the pic. By the way did I tell you I like #birdphotography. 🙂
Erik Przekop
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When it comes to Mastodon, I’ve had higher than usual unpleasant experiences of men trying to explain things to me or men asking me leading questions so they can explain things to me (usually that thing involves why Mastodon is better than all the others). Has anyone else has that experience?
Erik Przekop
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Erik Przekop
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The light effects of sunrise and sunset in this mountain-rimmed valley definitely deserve a more skilled photographer than I will ever be. Even when I can manage to get something representative of one section, the pics do nothing to capture the ethereal effect of the light all the way around the horizon. To see the western mountains--and everything in between--glow in the red-gold of sunrise...it's something I never even knew existed before this year.
Erik Przekop
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🇳🇱
In July QOTO will officially be 5 years old! Oh how time flys.
I would love to get some conversations going about #meditation. I'm not sure how well this platform supports such things, but the best way to find out...
I started a practice some time in the mid 2000's. I kept it to short (10-15m) sits, but managed to make it a consistent habit within a year or two. I like Headspace and similar meditation apps as a starting point, and recommend them to people if the topics comes up.
Around 2018, I started with [The Mind Illuminated](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMindIlluminated/wiki/index/), which is a more structured approach based on the book of the same name. This involved longer sits (20-60m), with some clear guidelines. I feel that my sense of equanimity improved dramatically around this time, and many facets of my day-to-day life along with it.
While I did reap significant benefits, I did not progress through the stages outlined in the book. This led me to a more metta-based practice called Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation or [TWIM](https://www.reddit.com/r/streamentry/wiki/twim-crash-course/), which is my core practice now. This has raised my baseline level of happiness quite noticably, and has also driven more "moral development" in terms of how I see the world and my place in it.
Does anyone else here follow one of these practices? Anything you'd care to share about your practice?
Erik Przekop
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Seeing people with coding ability commenting on features they want in Mastodon, many of them framing their insights as if there is a bug.
Almost all ideas I have seen so far could be implemented in a client or a relay. For ones that can't, there are pull requests. For ones that are declined, downstream forking is feasible.
It's #OpenSource & based on a truly open standard, #ActivityPub. How about we frame ideas positively & look for places to contribute? This is not a walled garden run by VCs.
@JulieNye, I also have a thing about sunset photos. 🙂
These were taken near #RogersCity #Michigan last summer.
Erik Przekop
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Now that #ElonMusk decided to reinstate the previously banned account from #DonaldTrump by setting up a poll on #Twitter (which was mostly driven by bots instead of people - but that's a different story) I've decided to give Donald a brief update on what he has missed after his account was suspended on January 8th in 2021 following the attack by his supporters on the US Capitol ...
See my #blog at
https://www.danvanmoll.com/post/welcome-back-donald
I did a brief #introduction post on my original server, but nothing since I switched.
Instead of defining myself by saying "I am a...", here's a collection of hashtags that interest me (in no particular order). #meditation (specifically #twim right now) #cigars #bicycling #photography #computerscience #physics #guitar #music .
I live in #Michigan (in #LakeOrion, which is 35+ miles north of #Detroit), and spend a lot of time around #RogersCity (I'll bet *that's* the first time that hashtag has been used on Mastodon). My kids are really bright and sometimes struggle with #ADHD, so I'll probably talk about that at times as well. I have spent more than 3 decades of my life as a #programmer, and now I get to be the old man who leads really smart people in solving big problems with small amounts of #software.
AMA - I'm always happy to share!
Erik Przekop
boosted
Parent, programmer, amateur astronomer and terrible guitar player.
----------------
Here is my introduction post:
Instead of defining myself by saying “I am a…”, here’s a collection of hashtags that interest me (in no particular order). #meditation (specifically #twim right now) #cigars #bicycling #photography #computerscience #physics #guitar #music .
I live in #Michigan (in #LakeOrion, which is 35+ miles north of #Detroit), and spend a lot of time around #RogersCity (I’ll bet that’s the first time that hashtag has been used on Mastodon). My kids are really bright and sometimes struggle with #ADHD, so I’ll probably talk about that at times as well. I have spent more than 3 decades of my life as a #programmer, and now I get to be the old man who leads really smart people in solving big problems with small amounts of #software.
Joined Nov 2022
