Forum Federato

Pretty sure the only way is to make a blog post on my site which links to the target blog post... but it would be neat if RSS could be turned into a weird shadow social network

How do I reblog items from an RSS feed I follow to my own RSS feed

@feff Mine is at https://bigraccoon.ca/feed

Still wishing that every UI's "dark mode" wasn't as pitch black as its "light mode" is blinding white

LB: https://urbanists.social/@benfulton/115161987290163165

The Eglinton Crosstown will continue testing for another two or three months, work out all the kinks, and *finally* open for regular service in, like, December... just in time for winter to hit.

It hasn't been tested in winter.

Me: [restarts Windows server]
Windows Update: ...
Me: Ahhhhh fuck.
WU: ...
Me: ...
WU: ...
WU: ...
WU: ...

*literally 30 minutes later*

WU: ...
WU: ...
WU: Working on updates (0%)

One easy change is to never add sugar to *anything*. I was surprised that I could stop adding it to my morning coffee and *not* feel like I'd rather die. But for anything I normally added sugar to, I would try it without, then decide if I should even continue consuming that thing at all.

Breads/pastries were tough to give up, but easier if I'm just not hungry. And it's not the end of the world if I'm offered a doughnut or something, it's more important when I can make the choice.

Making all of that available for myself requires preparation in advance. I've had to maintain checklists and some scheduling to keep up with it. The biggest hurdle has actually been money: sometimes there's only enough to cover normal meals, and then I'm stuck with whatever food happens to be in the house.

But once the hunger has been reduced, the other changes are less difficult. Mainly: avoid carbs. And carbs are the most delicious, pleasurable foods.

The recommendation I got was to eat primarily protein, which should induce fullness more than other foods. The most basic form of that was to have hard boiled eggs available, but if there was leftover meat from a previous dinner, that would be a great thing to grab for breakfast, but cheese/yogurt work too. And I've started stashing protein bars in my drawer at work—if I can't have a proper breakfast, at least I know those are on hand.

I've always known my dietary habits were shit, but depression kept me from making any lasting changes. Eating was a comforting activity, and sometimes it was the only positive experience I could muster for myself.

Another weird factor to it was that, when I started eating, my apparent hunger *increased*, and I was compelled to keep eating. Whenever I had to prepare a meal for myself, I felt like I needed a massive serving size to accommodate for that—otherwise I wouldn't feel full.

Over 3 months I've gone from >290 lbs (I wasn't actively monitoring it before) to ~255. This was spurred by my Summer Mental Health Crisis 2025 event, particularly when I felt physically ill and couldn't eat anything. I then saw a naturopath/nutritionist who pointed me in the right direction to escape my old habits.

My current issue: I used to have the stomach of a raccoon. But now if I prepare a lunch the way I'm used to, it makes me feel sick. ‍

@eishiya On top of that, over the years the display area of smart phones has grown ever closer to the physical edge of the device, making it harder to pick one up without accidentally touching the screen. So if the screen is on and I need to pick up the phone, I definitely do it more awkwardly than I would grab any random flat rectangular object.

What I'm taking away from this is I need a crazy thick protective case, which will *reduce* likelihood of falls and protect more when they do happen.

Or maybe I can somehow adapt my behaviour so as not to drop phones

Both times I had a rubber case on it... the first one lacked a screen protector, and the screen was impacted causing the entire bottom half to flicker and almost go completely dark (though touches still registered).

This time I had a screen protector on it which was moot because the phone landed on its top right corner, the force of impact apparently transmitting right through the "protective" case into the phone's frame. I guess my next phone needs to be encased in bubble wrap.

I can't fucking believe this... my phone fell from a table about 40 cm to the floor... and now the upper right corner of the screen is dead. Like a black splotch covering the screen there. Meanwhile, the top 2 cm of the entire screen no longer responds to touch. So no pulling down the notification bar.

This is a Pixel 7 Pro, which I got a few months ago to replace the *previous* Pixel 7 Pro that I broke the screen of by dropping it.

There are two sequels to Children of Time, but I've heard that they're very much along the same lines. So instead I started into Tchaikovsky's The Final Architecture series, beginning with Shards of Earth, and holy cow what a barnburner that is. Way more epic, with some awesome characters, far-out sci-fi elements, and a super compelling mystery. It's definitely up my alley.

I recently finished Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which was a fun, easy read. It's hard sci-fi couched in a little bit of ridiculousness, basically a "what if" exercise of how the technological marvels of the future can go horribly wrong, but still turn into something strange and beautiful. I like Tchaikovsky's pacing, slowly feeding us world-building background while progressing the story in the present.

#bookstodon

I'm just returning home from 4 days in Montreal. I've spent a lot of time on rails! Regional GO trains to/from Toronto Union, then national Via Rail to/from Montreal. In Montreal it was the Métro subway, which technically runs on rubber wheels but is still guided by tracks.

Other than that, it was a loooooot of walking. And Montreal certainly has some variable altitude to it. Still, it was refreshing to not have to deal with driving a car.