Mark Pitblado

I love to work with data to solve public problems. Each day I am inspired by the power of community and hope to give back what I can, whenever I can.

🇨🇦

#Data #Biodiversity #OpenSource #Privacy

openpgp4fpr:19e08206f4f22ea970307594b61de908054123af

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npub1crczzpupwpwlxr6d5g5jcrnvn4008z5vv0d8epkmzrjzgdl4p53qy63kq3

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markpitblado@fosstodon-org.mostr.pub

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nprofile1qqsvpuppq7qhqh0npax6y2fvpekf6hhn32xx8knusmd3pepyxl6s6gs0g0zff

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npub1crczzpupwpwlxr6d5g5jcrnvn4008z5vv0d8epkmzrjzgdl4p53qy63kq3

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Published at

2025-03-18T06:57:02Z

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Last Notes

2025-04-17 04:56:36

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@nprofile…7klc the fact that they were so upfront about it (almost like it is a normal transaction like any other) worries me, I wonder what percentage of sites do end up doing the deal

2025-04-11 13:31:19

Switching away from a music streaming service sucks at first, but if you stick with it, it ends up being pretty great.
https://www.markpitblado.me/blog/the-joys-of-buying-music/

2025-03-18 05:36:15

This site runs on solar, and the background seems to adapt in real time to show the current battery percentage. At first I thought the weather forecast was just for the user, but then I realized it is actually showing you if the server is likely to go dark soon. I wish more things on the web were like this
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/

2025-02-27 03:39:25

A mission to keep the laptop and desktop on the same page.
https://www.markpitblado.me/blog/keeping-everything-in-sync/

2025-02-19 17:10:15

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@nprofile…wryu is this about the asteroid?

2025-02-14 15:14:18

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@nprofile…uafq I think that this is a common request, however based on this article it doesn't look like they are looking to move in that direction
https://www.404media.co/we-dont-want-your-password-3/

2025-02-11 06:41:29

Reflections on a world that wants us to move faster and faster
https://www.markpitblado.me/blog/busywork/

2025-01-21 15:49:56

Things seem to be shifting, rather than a singular event, it's more of a slow decay of vibes in large-scale social media.
https://www.markpitblado.me/blog/the-vibes-are-off-with-social-media/

2025-01-18 18:34:14

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@nprofile…x3ey @nprofile…jpw4 @nprofile…pxwm @nprofile…y7q7 @nprofile…4tpe @nprofile…2wxu loved reading this! Especially that your domain dates back to 1998!

2025-01-16 03:47:58

Thanks @nprofile…r0jh for inviting me to take part in this challenge! I'll forward it on to @nprofile…mec7, @nprofile…8smt and @nprofile…x3ey
https://www.markpitblado.me/blog/blog-question-challenge-2025/

2025-01-14 15:09:15

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@nprofile…46cg @nprofile…4dsk good coffee to you too!

2024-12-28 01:29:49

Reading these posts from others was super fun so thought I would give it a go!
https://www.markpitblado.me/blog/default-apps-2024/

2024-12-22 17:45:17

The blog has survived two trips around the sun
https://www.markpitblado.me/blog/two-years-of-blogging/

2024-12-19 13:36:53

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@nprofile…ceap this is my next step, they have published some papers with benchmarks etc comparing to pandas and it's supposed to be not only faster but _way_ faster in some cases. Will perhaps perform the same task in both and compare

2024-12-19 07:25:44

I think polars has me convinced to switch from pandas. The documentation has been spot on, I like how they separated the user guide from the API, and it flows really nicely.
The expressions and contexts was a bit tough to wrap my head around first, but after a few re-reads I think it's clicked.

2024-12-10 16:39:11

What a nifty feature! #AntennaPodEcho
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/629/505/282/727/988/original/3c2b51d76ba7c991.png

2024-12-07 13:43:06

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@nprofile…25dv @nprofile…ea44 the fact that the developer is so young blew my mind. Very talented!

2024-12-03 15:50:47

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@nprofile…pp8p such a great game, I'm hoping of getting a console sometime next year to play the sequel

2024-12-03 02:24:14

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@nprofile…al3s this is really cool! Thanks for sharing!

2024-12-01 04:59:48

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@nprofile…wryu learning to write with your left arm in case your right arm breaks... Only to have your left arm break had me laughing so hard

2024-11-27 16:24:36

What is a fancy word that you use disproportionately often? Your go-to fancy word, some people might even think "oh yup, they say that all the time". Words that I've heard from various folks that fit this idea as examples
1. Milieu
2. Vapid
3. Elucidate

2024-11-25 05:39:16

Tmux and neovim can do more together than they can do apart. By splitting up information between the top and bottom of the editor, lots of useful information can be seen at a glance, without feeling cramped.
https://www.markpitblado.me/blog/a-catppuccin-neovim-tmux-starter-guide/

2024-11-22 16:09:04

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@nprofile…qfh3 thanks! Will check this out!

2024-11-22 16:01:33

Does anyone have experience with hostinger for VPS's? I heard about their black Friday deals and haven't seen any other VPS providers with sales. Might be a good time to lock in a lower rate for the next few years.
Also open to hear about other VPS providers, just haven't seen any other sales.

2024-11-21 20:27:27

How long do we live relative to the events around us? Are we bias in thinking about our own rate of change? And how can we estimate what has staying power compared to what will fade away
https://www.markpitblado.me/blog/measuring-life-in-lifespans/

2024-11-20 15:47:32

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@nprofile…4d9x very thankful to the crews that worked through the night to get it back up by morning! I was thinking about how that must be a difficult position to staff, they are only needed on rare occasions, but when they are large parts of the city may be down requiring a lot of them!

2024-11-20 05:51:16

I thought I was crazy for carrying a headlamp around in my backpack, power outage tonight finally made it seem worth it!

2024-11-04 14:30:42

If I could go back in time, these would be the five tools that I would tell myself about first.
https://www.markpitblado.me/blog/five-game-changing-terminal-tools/

2024-09-26 00:16:17

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@npub1eqg…fncn took a look at Vivaldi yesterday for exactly the same reasons. I often have to ask myself if purism gets in the way of practical improvements, it can be too easy to fall into the trap of following a rule to a tee (such as "chromium is contributing to a google monopoly) and ignore other ideas.

2024-09-11 00:21:08

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@npub1sua…szrk I got so sad when the popup for the push notifications blocked the tally for how many cents I generated

2024-09-04 23:28:42

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@npub1l3g…vu48 oh this would be awesome, would love to do the same thing!

2024-08-18 20:19:56

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@npub1y9z…3ykm I am impressed, if I slammed my face into pavement it would probably take at least 2 ducks and one goose to cheer me up

2024-07-25 05:15:46

One thing I think I am going to start doing is saving PDF manuals for various things immediately after purchase for long term reference. They are so much harder to find later on without knowing the model number, especially with the current state of search

2024-07-17 18:36:14

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@npub16uz…xx07 ah this is perfect! Currently double check all of the links in staging for a new blog post, this should make that process a lot quicker!

2024-06-22 00:27:29

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@npub19ff…f6ek love that Casio!

2024-04-09 01:27:13

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@npub1eqg…fncn I remember after hearing about the story, opening up homebrew, and watching as the updates applied for this exact line! Was a really wild thing to see

2024-03-15 04:09:34

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@npub1dc9…5t7a thanks for the heads up! Just added mine! This is one of my favourite parts of mastodon, someone alerts others to something new and cool that we might have otherwise missed

2024-02-28 15:18:33

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@npub1alm…yeul this video (and channel) are great. I am now more curious about nix than ever

2024-02-26 16:13:47

Reading Filterworld right now, and it caused me to reflect on the fact that I have never worried about likes or engagement on posts I make on mastodon. Due to the chronological nature, some things may just entirely miss peoples' feeds (or people may just read and keep scrolling), but that's okay! The point of the platform isn't to achieve fame, it's to communicate with others in a way that respects their time and preferences, to build a better experience for everyone.

2024-01-30 15:39:52

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@npub1sua…szrk seriously you should! Start out with just a couple people you know you would like to work with, and then see how you like it! You already have the ko-fi or liberapay if you wanted to charge or take donations!

2024-01-30 15:21:48

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@npub1sua…szrk I hope @npub1lls…a70x is getting enough sleep! Has been busy!
I really liked your old one, but think I like your new one even more!

2024-01-12 15:16:46

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@npub1q5l…ywp3 do you have to go outside at all today? That is brutal!

2023-12-26 07:06:30

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@npub1rg5…tdr8 definitely a New Year’s resolution for me as well! Baby steps, one piece of functionality at a time!

2023-12-12 20:53:03

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@npub1q5l…ywp3 thanks I’ll check this out! Hope everything works out for you, nothing like a headache that you didn’t expect to have!

2023-12-12 20:48:45

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@npub1q5l…ywp3 I would also love to use something Canadian if someone replies with a good recommendation! Currently using vercel, and have only had one issue where they randomly tried to renew an ssl certificate, failed and then glitched the whole thing, but hey it’s free. Moving the DNS settings on you sounds like a huge pain!