Martin Jambon 🌍🌎🌏 @mjambon@qoto.org

Tell me something interesting I don't know.

Disappointed that https://cool.af redirects to a private site.

#domain #domains #tld #internet #www #af #afghanistan

Semi-wild Psilocybe cyanescens (wavy caps) and Psilocybe allenii have started to pop in large numbers in the Bay Area. This is the first week of the season with more than one rainy day. Harsh weather, I know.
#mushrooms #fungi #bayarea #psychedelics #california

It's useful to notice that shallow imitation in art or "kitsch" will also borrow the terms used to describe what it imitates. This includes "fine art" - as a non-native English speaker and US resident, I had to look up the definition of "fine art" because it seemed to be applied only to a certain style of paintings in a commercial context. None of what I consider interesting art would be labeled as "fine art". It was my surprise to find out it was defined as an equivalent of the French term "beaux-arts" which is rarely used in French and refers to art for the sake of it as opposed to decorating functional objects (decorative arts, "arts décoratifs"). I've grown allergic to the term "fine art" just like I've always been allergic to the brand of art it refers to today. I won't use the term "kitsch" to label the work of others because it's pretentious and mean but I will also not use the term "fine art" to describe what I do.

#art #fineart #kitsch #branding

Elfinnote, October 2023
61 cm × 91 cm, acrylic and brass leaf on canvas
https://martinj.art
#art #artistonmastodon #abstractart

Google Translate is being confused. It thinks "calaveras" is more likely to be an English word than a Spanish one, and of course, fails to translate it into anything.

It means "skulls".

#words #translation #languages #google

OCaml friends: How many characters does this print? (It's valid UTF-8 and valid Unicode)

print_endline "\xF0\x9F\x90\x95\xE2\x80\x8D\xF0\x9F\xA6\xBA";;

It's a trick question for Unicode awareness. It should show a service dog emoji but in my console, I see a dog followed by an orange vest. Here it is: 🐕‍🦺

#unicode #ocaml #emojis

The Florentine Codex is now available for browsing online: https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/

The Florentine Codex is a 2400-page account of the Aztecs as encountered by the Spaniards in the 16th century. It is notable not only for the novelty and completeness of its material but also for including the perspective of the locals rather than only of the colonists.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florentine_Codex

#history #mexico

What does the little "40" mean in the Yahoo weather app?

I used to think it was a 40% probability of "getting rained on" but seeing it next to a sunshine forecast is confusing.

#weather #numbers #sunshine #rain #random

Frank's toe knife set

#knives #tv #itsalwayssunny #philadelphia

Those who've made an effort to learn don't have a duty to teach those who haven't.

#expertise #teaching #laziness #curiosity #exploration