Hiking up Steamboat Rock
Steamboat Rock is the main feature of Steamboat Rock State Park, located by Banks Lake in central Washington. It has been an annual camping destination for Jenni’s family for decades. This month was my first time there. We spent three nights at the campground there and had a wonderful time exploring the park and especially hiking up the rock.
The weather forecast had said that there may be thunderstorms with lightning the morning we were thinking of hiking up, but fortunately that warning moved to later in the day, so we got going a little before 10am.
There was a short trail that started right outside the campground and took us to the foot of the rock in a few minutes. This was a mostly flat, or a very gentle climb. There were five of us humans, and one very happy dog.
As we got closer the features of the rock became more discernible. The trail led us to the central part of the rock, to the start of the switchbacks that went up. Other trails lead there as well. Shortly before that was a picnic table, which seemed ideal for a pre/post hike snack.
These initial switchbacks are a mix of loose rocks and gravel, or just rock. It was the trickiest part of the hike and lasted maybe a quarter mile, with a moderate to steep slope.
Once we were above that part, the view expanded and we had two options on the trail. We could’ve gone right followed by a right-loop, or we could’ve gone left, and done a left-loop. That day we went right.
There was still more elevation to be gained for about a quarter mile before we reached the top of the rock. At this point we started the loop which went for a while along the edge. This afforded lovely views, starting with the campground area, followed by more expansive views of the lake, with rocky islands spotting it all over.
After about twenty minutes of hiking and stopping to admire views, we came to the farthest point on the loop and the trail turned away from the edge. The return path was through grassy fields. To start, on our right there was a short slope to a lower elevation of a large field. In the distance we could see to the end of the rock plateau, then a gap and another large rock or hill beyond that.
A short while of hiking on the plateau, with some gentle ups and down slopes, got us back to the start of the loop. Not much to see except a dramatic sky above and grassy fields on either side with a small variety of wildflowers.
We made our way back to the fork in the middle of the rock, descended the switchbacks, and soon found ourselves on the last stretch of the trail.
At this point the sky was very dramatic. It seemed like the thunderstorm was about to start, and we were glad to not be the highest objects in the vicinity anymore.
Activity Stats
Distance: 4.09 miles
Elevation Gain: 835 ft
Time (including breaks): 2h 41m
A video of every image from the navigation camera on Ingenuity helicopter on Mars
There’s a little solar powered helicopter on Mars. It’s named Ingenuity and it has a little camera on its belly that looks downwards. This video has every image taken by that camera from the first one on April 3, 2021 (Sol 43) until today. Ingenuity is 19 inches (0.49m) tall and weighs 4 lbs (1.8kg).
Note: This video has no audio.
Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Sam Grover
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I was playing around with Mars 2020 (Perseverance rover) image data and made this data visualization of images from all the various cameras on board that mission.
Note: This video has no audio.
Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
NASA/JPL-Caltech/CAB
NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP
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Mimi Uploader 2022.0 is out with new features for Recent Uploads 🎉
Recent Uploads used to show only the uploads you make from Mimi Uploader. With the new update it will also show uploads made to your Micro.blog account from anywhere else.
Mimi is primarily a batch uploader and that is my favorite way of using it. I like to make blog posts that have a set of photos, and making that process smoother was the motivation to create Mimi in the first place. As such, each batch of photos shows up in Recent Uploads as a set.
The other uploads to a Micro.blog account are only accessible as individual images and are shown inline with the sets of Mimi uploads in the same reverse chronological list. A badge is used to indicate one type or another. There are other minor UI differences between the two types in the list, e.g. Mimi uploads shows a count of images. On the top right is a filter button that lets you filter for one type or another, if you choose to do so. The screenshots below show the new interface.
Exporting still works the same way with a right swipe. Sets of uploads made from Mimi can still be deleted with a left swipe. As always this only deletes the batch from Mimi and doesn’t affect the uploaded images. Other uploads don’t offer the deletion because they are representing the images on Micro.blog and not an uploaded set.
I hope you like this update as much as I liked making it.
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After mulling over the change to the Recent Uploads interface over the last month, it seemed like the background color was a bit much, so I’ve tweaked the design to show an icon on the right. I think this looks much better. An added benefit is that I can also add the icon to the filter menu on the top right so that the meaning becomes obvious.
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Every morning I come into the living room and sit on the sofa and my brain says, “Wordle”, so I’m soon playing that game. This has been going on for months.
Last week I went camping for three nights and I didn’t think of Wordle a single time. The morning after I returned I went into the living room and sat on the sofa and my brain said, “Wordle”.
It’s crazy how much of a pattern recognizer and responder the brain is, and how it makes these long lasting habits. Break a pattern briefly, lose a habit briefly.
Oh, and there was a time I used to get bothered by breaking a streak, but I’m glad that’s behind me.
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Once I’d made the previous piece, I kept imagining those little black rectangles in motion, so in today’s p5.js exploration, I animated them.
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For today’s p5.js exercise I went with inspiration from an art piece, specifically, Piet Mondrian’s Composition in Color A.
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A query for computer keyboard people.
After a few days with an ErgoDox EZ I borrowed from a friend, I’m realizing that I:
- like the split and the tenting.
- also like the added flexibility of an additional layer or two.
- currently don’t want to change from the standard layout of keys that I’m used to.
- continue to like mechanical keys, and am open to non-clicky ones.
- could give or take ortholinear layout.
What keyboards are available that would fit these attributes? I’m open to assembling if needed.
Cookware Rack
A little over a year ago Jenni and I made this wall mounted cookware hanging rack.
We’ve been wanting a place to put our pans for a while It’s tedious to manage them in a drawer or cabinet, if you can even fit them in there. Often some would just stay on the stove and need to be moved out of the way when cooking. Whenever I would see pans hanging, in person or in a photo, it seemed like the best solution. We had space on only one wall in the kitchen, so that decision was easy.
Pans can be heavy and our walls are lathe and plaster, so mounting just about anywhere was out of the question. And so the construction method was narrowed down to boards mounted to studs, with hardware to hang the pans.
We went to the amazing local woodworking store where they have finished dimensional lumber and narrowed down our choice based primarily on cost. We wanted a dark color, and I already had dark walnut stain from the mail and keys organizer I made a while back.
Back home, I cut the boards to length. We wanted a tight fit and the two ends, door frame and wall, weren’t super plumb so there were a lot of measurements and dry fitting before we had a set of boards that were just right. It was time to apply the stain and let it rest.
After that it was a straightforward process of screwing in the boards to the studs while using a couple of small blocks to space them evenly.
Once that was done, we installed a couple of IKEA rails that we had and the rack was ready to use. In the days that followed we sourced some nice hooks and Jenni put up a couple of planters and some homegrown produce.
It’s been over a year and this has totally been worth it. I highly recommend utilizing vertical space in the kitchen where you can.
P.S. This blog post should’ve been written about a year ago. Anyway, it’s been written now.
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Neighborhood dogwoods in the gray.
As I was taking these photos I was thinking how I prefer the 2x for compositions when it comes to zoom. 3x is handy but I have so many years of composing in ~50mm (2x on iPhone). Alas, iPhone 13 Pro can only do 2x with a crop on 1x image. Here I thought the tradeoff was worth it.
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Sneak peek at a new feature coming soon to Mimi Uploader
Recent Uploads currently shows the uploads you make from Mimi Uploader. After the next update it will also show uploads made to your Micro.blog account from anywhere else 🎉
Mimi is primarily a batch uploader and that is my favorite way of using it. I like to make blog posts that have a set of photos, and making that process smoother was the motivation to create Mimi in the first place. As such, each batch of photos shows up in Recent Uploads as a set.
The other uploads to a Micro.blog account are only accessible as individual images. So the UI challenge before me was how to show these other types of recent uploads. At first I started to make a new screen that listed all the uploads on an account but that wasn’t working, primary reason being that it was boring af. After mulling it over I came up with an interface that feels better as a part of Mimi, and that’s illustrated in the video below:
All uploads on the account show up inline with the sets of Mimi uploads in the same reverse chronological list that is in the current version. There are subtle UI differences between the two types in the list, e.g. the background color for each kind of post is different. On the top right is a filter button that lets you filter for one type or another, if you choose to do so.
Exporting still works the same way with a right swipe. Sets of uploads made from Mimi can still be deleted with a left swipe. As always this only deletes the batch from Mimi and doesn’t affect the uploaded images. Other uploads don’t offer the deletion because they are representing the images on Micro.blog and not an uploaded set. This may cause confusion but I currently don’t have a design to avoid that. Got ideas?
I should have a beta out by this weekend so you can try this feature out if you like. To get on the beta, sign up for it with TestFlight.
A micro meetup photo with @jean, @Burk, and @rishabh. @collin was there as well but had left when this was taken.
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Four lovely yet very different photos from my Glass timeline in the last couple of days.
https://glass.photo/shelovesgrain/3GW8p1BvToC2FeQ75kKmWv
https://glass.photo/timtrautmann/5tcQxP1KmOVCHXkgvuPtBT
https://glass.photo/pratik/5rz6hfbCNU0Dmn3pGoNtgz
https://glass.photo/janee-smith/42GgFT8TVMFlRbJldCQnOI
As someone who enjoys photography it’s really nice to have a place to just view photos from photographers whose work you like.