Paul Ganssle @pganssle@qoto.org

TFW your main experience with "getting in shape" is weight loss and you finally reach the point where you are supposed to increase calories to gain muscle:

You can get something of a sense for how it looks by looking at the 45° and 135° photos side-by-side, then letting your eyes unfocus until the details line up like a stereogram (e.g. magic eye puzzles).

Here are two pictures I've stitched together to make that easier:

#light #polarization #photography

Around mid-morning, though, it seems that a lot more sunlight in the sky is scattered off the atmosphere, which causes it to become polarized, which gives the sky a very strange appearance.

Here's the sky at 11 AM in CT with no filter, 45° filter and 135° filter:

#light #polarization #photography

I've made this a few times now and this time around my wife finally reminded me to take a picture of it when it was done 😅

#food #curry #japanese

Also, earlier this month I finally got a picture of a red-breasted nuthatch!

I've been hoping to get a photo of one of these ever since I thought I saw one during PyTexas 2020: https://qoto.org/@pganssle/105091007608910051

#birding #birds

Got my first ever Cedar Waxwings in the back yard the other day! Just as I was thinking that all the interesting birds were gone for the winter, a small flock of these guys came in.

Very cool-looking birds.

#birds #birding

BTW, some relevant context for those outside of Hyderabad who are going to watch this talk, this is what Google Image Search says Hyderabadi haleem looks like:

The video from my PyConf Hyderabad 2020 keynote, "The Stable Interface Paradox" is now available!

https://youtu.be/aRqulQUgiIA

I had a lot of fun with this, I think it's the first time I've actually felt compelled to take a selfie to commemorate a talk:

10 minutes into assembling a toy for the boy, almost done with step 4! ...of 33... 😅

Was playing with my son on Saturday when he said the words every weird hacker dad wants to hear: "Papa, let's make robots out of garbage!"

Was recently looking for cartoons in the public domain that I could re-caption for a point I wanted to make in my talk. This was a runner-up to the one I chose. I feel like it could easily be an exploitable template, though I have no immediate caption for it.

Also a worry is that I don't understand the original context. By itself a man riding a zebra could fit a few metaphors, but as far as I know the original cartoon was making the point that America is better off with slavery or something 😛

For the festive conspiracy theorist in your life, who wants to decorate for Christmas, but also wants you to know that Santa Claus is a lizard person.

Saw two crows attacking a hawk (I think red-tailed hawk) right above my house the other day. Harassing it and chasing it away.

Couldn't get great pictures because the action was happening so fast, but it was pretty cool to see.

#birding #birds #wildlife

Northern Flicker at my feeder the other day.

These are beautiful birds — and they are even more colorful in flight, because they have yellow-shafted feathers and a yellow underside.

I've only seen them at my feeder twice, and they got scared off pretty quickly when they saw me both times.

#birding #photography #bird #nature #wildlife

Apparently this guy is watching his cholesterol — doesn't want to eat any of these hard-boiled egg yolks...

#photography #nature #wildlife

Saw this in my back yard on Monday.

Man, people around here really over-feed their dogs!

The pumpkins I carved for Halloween yesterday. My son picked the general designs and left me with the trivial detail of executing them. 😅

Not bad considering I can't remember the last time I carved a pumpkin. 😀

(Note the "Easter egg" shadow behind the kitty 😺)

#Halloween #pumpkins

The workbench has taken its rightful place as a work station for electronics and such (though some of the components migrate to the main desk if I need to program a microcontroller...)

This is likely the last picture of a tidy workbench I'll get for a while.

Some steps in the evolution of my workstation:

1. Workbench as desk
2-3. Switched to standing desk
4. Added monitor arms

Next steps: Get at least one bigger monitor, setup up my cable management game.