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Tim McCormack

@timmc@better.boston
  • Open on better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast.

I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics).

I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff.

#nobot

175 Followers
52 Following
50 Posts
Joined November 15, 2022
pronouns:
he/they
website:
https://www.brainonfire.net
location:
Somerville, MA, USA
languages:
📖 en, es; ✍️ en, ~es

Posts

Open post
timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Jul 23, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston

Good night to open the windows, I think. Smoke should be clearing away from #SomervilleMA in the next hour according to https://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/current/ and the forecast shows temperatures dipping to a pleasant 17°C, and not too humid.

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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Jul 21, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston

Looks like The Smog is coming back to the #Boston area tonight.

https://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/current/ is a pretty great resource.

#smoke

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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Jul 19, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston

I've recently seen some people (presumably not from the US) express surprise and confusion that US cities can just... pass laws!

Which I found funny at first, but on further consideration, there's an interesting question: What qualifies a local geographic region as being *able* to pass laws?

I'm not clear on whether every area in a US state is already in a local-governing body. What does it take for a portion of a state to organize into a place that can have local laws?

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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Jul 18, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @Epic_Null@infosec.exchange
@Epic_Null@infosec.exchange @briankrebs@infosec.exchange Yeah, the only thing I'd want to do differently here is not get duct tape gunk on the window fan. If I build one I'm probably going to wrap the fan in foam and pressure-fit it into the filters.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Jul 18, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @noplasticshower@infosec.exchange
@noplasticshower@infosec.exchange @briankrebs@infosec.exchange Doesn't seem like a good deal. If your AQI monitor is separate, you can use it anywhere. And the Corsi-Rosenthal box can turn back into a regular window fan when you need it to.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Jun 04, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @GautierDay@mastodon.social
@GautierDay@mastodon.social ...you might be missing the sarcasm here.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · May 09, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @joebeone@techpolicy.social
@joebeone@techpolicy.social This reminds me of using my (dumb) cell phone to unlock shopping cart wheels. (The phone isn't the important part—just like in your situation, it's about using a speaker to induce currents in a radio receiver. Although it might be that the shopping cart radios don't require harmonics. I didn't make the MP3 files I'm using...)
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · May 09, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston

Looking forward to this PorridgeFest tomorrow that people keep talking about.

#SomervilleMA

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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · May 07, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @overholt@glammr.us
@overholt@glammr.us @meredithw@wandering.shop @universalhub@mastodon.online O'Laughlin Pond, at the north of the Quabbin, between that and Route 122. It's dammed off from the Quabbin but I assume water flows into the reservoir under some circumstances, and that's why they were posting about it on the MWRA site. There's also currently a photo accompanying the alert (attached). One article I found: https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/franklin-county/pilot-rescued-after-plane-crashes-into-pond-near-quabbin-reservoir-in-new-salem/
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · May 03, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @matdevdug@c.im
@matdevdug@c.im I think it's an intrinsically hard problem simply because fraud is pervasive in *any* system that deals with money, and that drives up overhead. High overhead kills microtransactions. I don't think it's impossible, but it's really hard to get right, and if you screw it up the fraudsters can kill your business/protocol/whatever and you have to start all over again. Starting over isn't cheap, because each time you want to introduce a new solution there are network effects to overcome.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 30, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @timmc@better.boston
@kitkat_blue Basically, I'm arguing against the "and yet you live in a society, curious" frame.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 30, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @kitkat_blue@mastodon.social
@kitkat_blue That sounds like a good idea and I would support it, but *also* I don't think that this means that everything has to be tainted forever.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 30, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @kitkat_blue@mastodon.social
@kitkat_blue @anildash I mean, by that logic, pretty much everything is tainted. Some of our medical knowledge, for instance, comes from some Pretty Bad Places. I don't like that they used LLMs to build the tools to do the training, but it sounds like the resulting *model* is clean.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 26, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @Methylzero@mast.hpc.social
@Methylzero@mast.hpc.social Oh, I would definitely be compromising on accuracy. The main thing I'm not sure of is how much of a compromise it would end up being.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 26, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @timmc@better.boston
@Methylzero@mast.hpc.social Obviously the entire technique would itself have to be validated against a large range of samples that are split and submitted for lab testing. But I'd be up for footing that bill if it could unlock a more immediate and lower (amortized) cost soil test method.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 26, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @Methylzero@mast.hpc.social
@Methylzero@mast.hpc.social Ah, that makes sense! One thing I'd been wondering is how you would get a concentration without knowing the denominator. Soil is largely going to be light elements that the detector can't even see. :-/ So the addition method would allow per-sample mass calibration. That's pretty cool, but slow, and produces lead-contaminated waste. Though I wonder if I could use a less toxic addition? It wouldn't calibrate on lead specifically, but might help with concentration overall.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 26, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @Methylzero@mast.hpc.social
@Methylzero@mast.hpc.social That's one of the things I've been wondering about—there's the hardware (range, sensitivity, etc.) and then there's the quality of the onboard software. I can easily imagine them skimping on the latter, especially if part of their customer base is going to do all the "real" analysis offline anyhow. (On the other hand, I've also been wondering how tightfisted analyzers might be with their data.)
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 26, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @waldoj@mastodon.social
@waldoj Yup. It's not even like the FSF has any kind of irreplaceable expertise or something where it might make sense to pay attention to *some* of their statements... they're just an organizing body.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 25, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @timmc@better.boston
Soil lead testing is *expensive*, over $100 per sample. A $6k analyzer would break even at 60 samples. That's a neighborhood of people's yards tested. I'm having some trouble finding out whether this is a reliable method, though, and what the drawbacks might be.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 25, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston

Would I happen to know anyone in the Boston area who has a portable XRF analyzer?

I'm curious to see how it works for soil lead testing, but *also* to talk to someone about what the care and feeding of these analyzers is like in practice, and how feasible it might be to set up a program for helping people in the area test their soil, including raised beds.

(I've been thinking of buying one for this purpose, as prices are down a bit.)

#SomervilleMA #CambridgeMA #BostonMA #chemistry

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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 21, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @timmc@better.boston
Some of the kid's toys have lead paint on them as well. It's largely in the grooves, so I guess a lot of the lead has already been rubbed (or licked) off. :-/
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 21, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @timmc@better.boston
Oh no, it turns out like half our bowls, plates, and dishes have a bunch of surface lead. 🤮 About half of our Corelle plates are leaded, and a set of Gibson Housewares cups and bowls are *very* heavily leaded.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 19, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @timmc@better.boston
I thought the main issue with using a perovskite-based lead test with soil was that you need a 1) quantitative test of 2) extractable lead, neither of which this method provides. But it turns out the larger problem is that soil already has stuff in it that fluoresces green. :-) Some kinda fungal stuff goin' on. (I wonder if baking the soil would destroy the existing fluorescence?)
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 19, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @timmc@better.boston
Positive for lead: A small plate, Made In China. Looks like it's some of the white paint, but oddly not all of it. (It doesn't show up well in the photo, but almost all of the outlining had glitters of green.)
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 19, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @timmc@better.boston
I want to recommend FluoroSpec but there's one really annoying disclaimer I have to add: The guy is hella spammy. I got 3 emails from him within the *first hour* after purchasing the kit, informing me of the affiliate program that I had now "joined". And another a couple days later. I hadn't even gotten the product yet. As usual, I had left the "send me spam" checkbox empty, and as usual, someone decided to ignore it. So... maybe use a disposable email address. Or buy from a competitor.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 19, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @timmc@better.boston
Apparently our doorknobs fluoresce green, which means they're probably manganese glass. (No, not uranium glass, which would be colored under white light.) This is why the lead test tells you to shine the UV light before the spray to check for *existing* fluorescence. :-)
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 19, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston

I got the FluoroSpec lead testing kit, which is pretty fun to use.

First hit is a radiator air vent that I removed recently. Looks like it had lead paint. I should check the other radiator vents and paint.

(The way this works is you shine the UV flashlight on the surface to get a baseline, spray/paint the surface with the liquid, then check for green (new) fluorescence.)

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Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 17, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @timmc@better.boston
If it's herring, could they have jumped that high? Did birds drop them there? (What kind of bird would grab the fish and then *not* eat it, and also decide this little walkway was a great place to contemplate whether to do so?) Was someone carrying fish and then just like... dropped them?
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 17, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston

More idle curiosity: Anyone know what kind of fish this is? Herring?

There were three of these fish, dead on the walkways on the Charles River locks. Maybe 20-25 cm long. Two were close to each other, and the third was about 3 meters farther along.

(Also, how the heck did they get there? I can think of several stories but none of them seem obviously correct.)

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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 17, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @DemonHusky@mas.to
@DemonHusky Oh! Right, that's coming up, isn't it.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Apr 17, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston

What's with these vehicle barriers deployed in #Boston at the intersection of Mass Ave and Commonwealth Ave?

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Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Mar 31, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @PedestrianError@towns.gay
@PedestrianError@towns.gay @scottsthoughts@better.boston That's bonkers. I've never encountered it, though.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Mar 31, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @IceWolf@masto.brightfur.net
@IceWolf@masto.brightfur.net @scottsthoughts@better.boston As far as I can tell, these are the items that are most readily sold via blackmarket.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Mar 30, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @danluu@mastodon.social
@danluu Don't worry, someone from the relevant team at GitHub has said on HN that they "won't do it again". (Someone else on HN has started a betting market on that claim, heh.)
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Mar 29, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @slembcke@mastodon.gamedev.place
@slembcke @0xabad1dea This is from the "missing GH status page": https://mrshu.github.io/github-statuses/
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Mar 29, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @gkrnours@mastodon.gamedev.place
@gkrnours @0xabad1dea Ooh ooh, I can answer this! Given that 100% is hard to reach and 0% is not, we can use a simpler version of the logit function and take log₁₀(1÷(1−.89)) = ~0.96 which means it's still a tad below 1 "nine". (The full logit function is log₁₀(x÷(1−x)) and is useful when both 0% and 100% are hard/impossible to reach.)
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Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Mar 16, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @ekuber@hachyderm.io
@ekuber @SnoopJ @cliffle @bitprophet Hah, that's a really interesting point.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Mar 16, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @SnoopJ@hachyderm.io
@SnoopJ @cliffle @ekuber @bitprophet I have a *lot* of complaints about emoji but they're from a place of caring about text encoding, not about the space being taken up.
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Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Mar 08, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @festlicheameise@hachyderm.io
@festlicheameise @clew @Adrenochrome Yeah, I'm intrigued by that little sideways bump on the tool bases. I suspect it actually acts as a detent so that pivoting the tools out requires outward pressure on the spine, but click back into place when upright.
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Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Feb 28, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @rednikki@toot.boston
@rednikki @bones Thinking I might try this, with one or two 5-gallon buckets full of snow as a brace.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Feb 28, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @knizer@toot.boston
@knizer I wonder if there have yet been any films in which a character watches Inception.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Feb 28, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @mwichary@mastodon.online
@mwichary@mastodon.online @jhooper@techhub.social I feel like Dave might have been *setting it up* and got cut on one of the parts. (Perhaps just wrangling a new blade onto it.)
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Feb 25, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @rednikki@toot.boston
@rednikki @bones Ah, OK! I was picturing something more involved, like something to brace the panel against the snow (hands-free). @jessamyn @m750
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Feb 24, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @rednikki@toot.boston
@rednikki @jessamyn @m750 Nice! I was trying to figure out how to do that. Any tips?
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Feb 24, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @timmc@better.boston
@m750 The snow brick technique works pretty well on those conical piles on the roadway next to driveways. You can get a lot more snow on them this way. The bricks fuse together and get stronger over time, which is neat.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Feb 24, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @m750@better.boston
@m750 The snow bricks don't photograph well, but this nighttime shot turned out OK. This is one of the places I helped shovel out today. The top of the bricks here is at head height or higher, but I was able to toss more snow behind them! Fresh or dry snow doesn't work as well for this but the lower layers of today's snow worked... okay.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Feb 24, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @jessamyn@glammr.us
@jessamyn @m750 We had whiteout conditions a few times this morning. Snow finally stopped mid-afternoon. I spent a good part of the day shoveling. We're having to get pretty creative with snow management. :-) My approach now is to cut snow-bricks and stack them as retaining walls for thrown snow.
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Feb 23, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @jessamyn@glammr.us
@jessamyn @m750 Boston area status: Every vertical surface is covered in snow. There's some on the ground too.
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Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Feb 19, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @esther_alter@mastodon.social
@esther_alter So far the best job board I've found is https://welcometothejungle.com/ -- might give that a shot. Better quality jobs there than the usual places. Main caveat is that if you apply via the site (which is optional), make sure you didn't sign up using a throwaway name and email, because they'll be using that in the application. :-P
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timmc
Tim McCormack @timmc@better.boston · Feb 19, 2026
Tim McCormack
@timmc@better.boston

Gardener, software developer, and nature enthusiast. I use hashtags instead of CWs for uspol (US politics). I have other accounts, but this one tends to be more for Boston-area things, MA and US politics, and nature stuff. #nobot

better.boston
Replying to @RueNahcMohr@infosec.exchange
@RueNahcMohr @esther_alter I still have one (for now?) but I'm looking for a better one and it's... not going great. (My employer is trying to outsource everything to contractors and AI and you can imagine how well that's working for them.)
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