Veronica Olsen 🏳️‍🌈🇳🇴🌻

Senior Developer at @turtlesec ★ High Energy Physics PhD from Uni Oslo and CERN ★ Linux ★ Python ★ Open Source ★ Unicode Unicorn ★ ISO 8601 Enthusiast ★ Consumer of Sci-Fi ★ Hobby Writer ★ Born at 336 ppm CO₂ ★ she/they, Dr.

Open Source: https://novelwriter.io, https://fosstodon.org/@novelwriter

(Banner image from Wallpaper Access)

Public Key

npub1peq7grt9fjgcuww77afksu9h46w96n8rrah7shu8nkmh3tysqlrsr244us

NIP-05 Address

veronica_at_mastodon.online@mostr.pub

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nprofile1qqsqus0yp4j5eyvw8800w5mgwzm6a8zafn337mlgt7remdmc4jgq03c5hudmg

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npub1peq7grt9fjgcuww77afksu9h46w96n8rrah7shu8nkmh3tysqlrsr244us

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Last Notes

2024-10-14 18:54:09

I haven't made progress on my novel in a month. I tried to write yesterday, but got distracted with my world building instead, so not a total loss.
I have the plot points of act one and two all mapped out, and a pretty good idea of act three. But right now I'm stuck trying to get the middle part of act one done. I have to introduce my world and my characters, and get the story to the point where the core story kicks in. I just can't bridge the gap!
I'm sure it will come to me.
#Writing #SciFi

2024-07-28 15:48:50

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@npub178r…qekt Even Battlestar Galactica did it!

2024-07-20 16:38:24

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@npub15wt…7rek It's so hard! It's also a little annoying when I'm writing along and need a background character but get interrupted trying to come up with a name.😅

2024-07-09 19:18:11

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@npub1k24…26zw Here's one big annoyance: When a human is exposed to the vacuum of space, they don't immediately freeze! It takes a very long time to radiate all the heat. Vacuum is a very good insulator. 🥶

2024-06-16 10:30:28

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@npub1j5g…lzpv Interesting. Coppola is claiming in the commentary he hired him younger than the character to make sure he looked really young.
Fishburne was 14 when he got hired, the character is 17.

2024-06-07 13:41:56

When big tech companies complain about hurting "innovation" they actually mean "monetisation".
https://mastodon.online/@arstechnica@mastodon.social/112575581663664922
#BigTech #AI #Privacy

2024-05-20 10:14:17

One benefit of a Monday being a holiday because someone did something 2000 years ago is that I can treat it as a work day where I work on my open source project instead of regular work code. 😁
#OpenSource #Code

2024-04-29 20:59:56

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@npub14k2…ed68 I've only logged in a handful of times the last year when I've needed to access the messenger page. It is truly a horrible website.

2024-04-28 10:43:59

"Most species do their own evolving, making it up as they go along, which is the way Nature intended. And this is all very natural and organic and in tune with mysterious cycles of the cosmos, which believes that there's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fiber and, in some cases, backbone."
― Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man
Happy birthday Terry!
#Discworld #Quotes #TerryPratchett

2024-03-23 07:47:00

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@npub1asa…n9sr @npub1rv4…ft5j @npub1cwg…lmlu The first good Windows was 2000. Anything before that was awful to work with and maintain. XP was good too. The last good Windows was Win7. Windows 8 made me a Linux user for good.
It's a pretty crappy track record for a somehow successful company that's been at it for 38 years.

2024-03-16 12:15:37

What I don't get about the whole TikTok spying on Americans argument is that why this is different than what Meta and Google et al does? I mean, can't China (which the accusation is directed at) just buy the data from any of the numerous data brokers anyway?
Norwegian investigative journalists have show how easy it is to piece together detailed info about random individuals from so-called anonymised tracking data you can just buy.
#Tracking #TikTok #Privacy #Meta #Google

2024-03-10 12:48:32

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@npub15wt…7rek I'm in Norway. I think most of Europe (still doing this nonsense) switches on the 31st.

2024-03-08 22:54:27

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@npub1aka…zzz2 If only it was a parody, it would be fine. But it is instead a scam preying on people looking for a way out of poverty.

2024-03-05 17:07:15

It says a lot about the influence of tech companies when it is front page news in national media in Norway that the services of spyware company Meta is down, and another news alert when it's back up again. 🙄

2024-02-27 10:05:11

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@npub18p3…03wh I'd retire by lunch today if I got a call that I'd inherited some rich uncle I didn't know about.

2024-02-05 19:54:54

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@npub10qx…ters @npub1zdp…vqv8 @npub1xsy…cevg @npub1tmz…vsgn The Metric system is not just about units. It's also a decimal system. No fractions.

2024-02-05 16:40:26

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@npub1xsy…cevg @npub1tmz…vsgn @npub1zdp…vqv8 Another benefit of the metric system! Bigger number equals more grams of burger. 😁

2024-01-03 12:39:05

Meanwhile, in Norway.
Photo: Adrian Smith / NRK
#Meanwhile #Norway #Snow #Winter
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/111/692/044/009/334/228/original/3946642d70ce4995.png

2023-12-27 16:54:18

Being interrupted by ads is far more likely to make me start avoiding a product or brand than actually buying their stuff because I start to associate them with being annoyed.
Clearly my reaction is not common enough to make ads unprofitable. It would be nice if it were.
Now that streaming services are re-introducing or forcing ads (like YouTube), I'm cancelling in return.
#Ads #Marketing #Streaming

2023-12-22 18:50:55

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@npub10d5…vvxa It's been filling up since I was a kid. 😊

2023-12-22 17:39:15

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@npub10d5…vvxa
> What else was I to do with my imaginings?
This! So much ...

2023-12-18 08:08:35

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@npub1r4h…u0jf I really need to go to the dentist too. Several pieces fell of one of my lower front teeth over a week ago. 😬

2023-12-18 08:02:54

According to my watch I've had 2h 3min of sleep, which is probably pretty accurate.
This will be a fun Monday. 😴
At least it's the last work Monday of the year! ☕
#Monday #Insomnia

2023-10-28 12:01:58

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@npub1psd…9sr7 My sister has a 12 year old Nissan Leaf that her husband bought before they met, so first generation battery EV tech. It is pretty much worthless now. It had very little range in the first place compared to current EVs (about 25%?), and even less so now. But it's perfect for local errands.
Not a counterpoint, but it's interesting how well it does compared to what all the doomsayers predicted about EVs back then.

2023-10-13 21:35:30

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@npub1gzc…fsz3 @npub18ra…kqua And thank you for that. I've been using Thunderbird for more than a decade. I have to use Gmail and Outlook for work, and I hate it.

2023-09-16 15:47:50

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@npub1dq0…glnl However, if you fasten the toast to the back of a cat, you end up with a quantum superposition of up and down, and all directions are up and down at the same time until you meet another spaceship, in which case the wave function of the cat/toast system collapses and "up" is known.

2023-09-12 10:16:39

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@npub1hpc…hjn3 The proposal was to sell the area for housing development, and SP voted yes.

2023-09-12 08:50:55

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@npub1hpc…hjn3 Sola, outside of Stavanger. It's a municipality split between farmland and denser populated areas (overflow from the city). We're at the northern end of one of the main farming regions of Norway.
Since this area is deeply blue politically, commercial interests always takes precedence over any kind of preservation and responsible ecological and climate policy. They also want to develop vulnerable swamp land here, which was another topic in this election.

2023-09-12 08:19:51

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@npub1hpc…hjn3 SP is also nationalist populist, and mostly responsible for their own massive downfall since the last election. They can't deliver on their promises, and have managed to piss off half their voters.

2023-08-17 11:23:38

Ok, so #Topaz Video AI has a pretty horrible user interface, with very limited options, but you can export the actual #ffmpeg command needed to run the AI model.
I spent a few hours last night writing a #Python script to loop over a bunch of episodes from my #StarTrek DS9 DVDs and generate 20 second samples at full HD #upscale using ffmpeg directly.
The samples look pretty good actually, so I'm gonna try and run through the first season to test properly.
DVD on the left, HD on the right.
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/110/904/689/340/010/835/original/7d61a39458fa95bf.png
https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/110/904/689/518/166/709/original/31879682fcac78bc.png

2023-08-04 16:12:31

I have a naming convention on my Linux computers. Laptops and desktops are named after TV characters I like, and my servers are named after Greek goddesses.
My new desktop PC, where I'm posting this from, has been named Ahsoka. 😊
The old one was named Aeryn, and my laptops are named Leia (mine) and Xena (this one is from work).
In the past, I've also used Leela, Rey, Ripley, Seven, Arya, and Trinity. A lot of them were work computers.
#Computers #Names #Linux

2023-08-03 11:49:42

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@npub1zdp…vqv8 @npub1je3…tyep @npub1znv…9gqv My dad would throw zinc pieces in the fireplace, and they'd burn up. Think there was some idea it would help with deposits in the chimney. We had a lot of old zinc drain pipes from renovating my grandma's house next door.

2023-07-08 15:53:50

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@npub1gfd…7gg6, could you please add the alt text so the post can be shared?
@npub174t…cfav

2023-06-16 10:33:09

If a human is exposed to raw space vacuum, they will not freeze any time soon. Vacuum is an excellent insulator, because there is no matter that can transport away your heat (convection), like in an atmosphere or liquid. Managing heat is actually a problem in space, especially with sunlight.
Rapid evaporation may cause cooling in certain parts of the body though.
Latest episode of Star Trek: SNW got this wrong, so has a lot of other shows, movies and books in the past.
#Space #SciFi #StarTrek

2023-04-21 08:50:40

The divergence between Danish and Norwegian has a lot of little funny subtleties. I was just reading a Danish article referring to a national crime unit called "Nationale enhed for Særlig Kriminalitet (NSK)"
The word "særlig" is rather informal in Norwegian and often has the implied meaning of "yeah, right" in English.
Therefore, that name reads to me as something like:
The National Crime Unit for You Did What Now?
Which I find both reasonable and hilarious 😆
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