iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

David Faden @util.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The seed leaves are starting to open up!

Variable Linanthus (Leptosiphon parviflorus) sprouts.

David Faden @util.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Some Variable Linanthus (Leptosiphon parviflorus) seeds from seedhunt.com germinated after just two days. More: calscape.org/plant/68257/.... No guarantee of success -- you can see I did a bad job spreading them out, and I was lazy with the media -- but a good start, I hope? #californianativeplants

Teeny green sprouts, not even yet with the seed leaves open, but with a fuzz of white roots reaching out.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Also neat that SOFIA played a pivotal role in detecting it. We got to take a look at SOFIA at the local NASA base back in 2019 -- same year helonium was detected, apparently. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratos...

SOFIA aircraft at NASA Ames in Mountain View, CA, USA, next to Hangar One.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Thankful to Exercism and its community. Just got to 50% on the C++ track. exercism.org/tracks/cpp/e... Still having fun. Looking forward to trying out other languages.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Happy to see that Bing Maps hasn't renamed Lake Ontario. www.bing.com/maps/search?....

Screenshot from Bing Maps, taken from an IP address in the US Midwest, showing that Bing Maps hasn't renamed Lake Ontario.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Love that Python supports `<`, `<=`, etc., for subset tests. Around since version 2 at least: docs.python.org/2/library/st....

Python prompts with various inline subset operator examples

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Japanese cheesewood in Japan! blog.revfad.com/2026/08/04/j...

Shiny green leaves with some developing seedpods. Japanese cheesewood.

Zoomed out photo of a Japanese cheesewood bush (probably). The bushes were growing on the inner side of a retaining wall across the sidewalk from a sea wall in Ibusuki, Japan.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Was delighted to learn of a couple languages via this language pop-up on cartes.app: Brezhoneg (Breton) and Occitan. Fun to see the code for the list here: codeberg.org/cartes/web/s... and codeberg.org/cartes/web/s...

The pop-up has a flag connected with each language, starting with the French flag. The language names are:

Français
English
Deutsch
Italiano
Español
Català
Occitan
Brezhoneg

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Seems like [sunset time] no longer works to get the sunset time on Google?

Google search results for [sunset time] no longer show the sunset time onebox but instead show an AI Overview?

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

I did some weeding while I was visiting my parents. blog.revfad.com/2026/06/15/c.... I got to learn a little about creeping thistles (Cirsium arvense).

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

I'm sorry not to have made time to finish reading "The Consciousness Instinct" from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael... of split brain fame before it was due. Here's one bit that caught my attention (pun not intended?).

Some form of selective signal enhancement has been found in animals ranging from crabs to birds to primates, suggesting it is an ability shared with our last common ancestor, which was roaming around about 550 MYA. The earliest manifestation of this "data control" ability was a rudimentary form of attention, a process that helped manage the onslaught of sensory information besieging an exploring hunk of cells. A signal-enhancing process appeared early in evolution to help organisms sort out which of all the stimuli bombarding them might be more relevant for survival (better to give priority to information about an approaching threat, meal, or mate than to much else) and has been conserved across all life forms, stemming from this early organism.

Steven Wiederman and David O'Carroll at the University of Adelaide in Australia discovered that in the modern-day dragonfly brain there is a single visual neuron that selects one particular prey-like visual target and follows it, completely ignoring another. This is interesting not only because it demonstrates that dragonflies have a form of competitive selection, which is required for visual attention, but also because a selective attention process is accomplished by a single cell. In vertebrates, selective signal enhancement evolved into what we now call attention...

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Was happy Thursday (April 14) to see a new planting of calscape.org/Eriophyllum-... starting to bloom. Hoping to gradually replace the sweet alyssum and Jupiter's beard. I need to be mindful that people in our community like the flowers though.

Yellow flower with a yellow center. Common woolly sunflower.

Common woolly sunflower (Eriophyllum lanatum) between sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) and Jupiter's beard (Valeriana rubra). The alyssum may have been planted at some point but now reseeds itself each year. The Jupiter's beard likely blew in from somewhere else.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

First gumweed bloom of the year in our yard. Not sure on which Grindelia it is.

Yellow flower(s) surrounded by green leaves. Grindelia

A gumweed plant with one blossom open, several sticky buds getting ready to open up.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Saw a scramble zone yesterday at Edgewood Park in San Mateo County, CA. Of the plants eking out an existence there, especially fell in love with calscape.org/Pogogyne-ser.... Such a nice strong mint smell. Much gratitude to the docents who gave us a tour!

Teeny green leaves, teeny purplish flowers on a teeny plant with a strong smell.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

How much toothpaste do you use each time you brush your teeth? For me, it seems < 0.1 oz (n = 1). My scale showed 2.6 oz both before and after. I was curious how long a tube of toothpaste should last for me. If I brush 3 times/day, 0.1 oz/use, this 5.5 oz tube will last ~18 days. Roughly right?

Measuring the weight before squeezing out some toothpaste: 2.6 oz.

Measuring the weight after squeezing out some toothpaste: still showing 2.6 oz.

This is scale is one of my favorite gifts ever. I love sending letters, and it helps with that. It also gives me another window onto the world, letting me notice smaller things than I could otherwise.

The toothpaste on the toothbrush. Color coordination with the scale wasn't intentional.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

One of our stream orchids (calscape.org/Epipactis-gi... started blooming. Purchased at www.yerbabuenanursery.com a couple years ago. It's holding its own in a crowded wet pot. In one photo you can see common rush and horsetails. Not pictured: tule and yellow-eyed grass.

Pinkish green petals around a purple orange lined center of an Epipactus gigantea flower, another bud waiting to open

A stream orchid blooming between common rush and horsetails.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Pipevine swallowtail caterpillars nibbling at the same garden. (I was going to say "*A* pipevine swallowtail caterpillar nibbling", but then I noticed another one.)

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Caterpillars seen yesterday on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour (bringingbackthenatives.net). I think this is my first time seeing pipevine swallowtail caterpillars. There were a lot of them!

Monarch butterfly caterpillars (Danaus plexippus). If you look carefully, you'll find a smaller one.

Pipevine swallow tail caterpillars (Battus philenor).

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Looks like no Lidl cloud for me (being in the US). Wonder if they'll expand it to make it self service for people outside of those few countries sometime soon.

Screenshot from the Lidl cloud site. It says:

Create customer account
Select one of the countries in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) or the Netherlands.
If your company is located outside the DACH region and the Netherlands, contact us for further assistance. Business accounts can only be used for business purposes. Private use is currently not possible.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Having fun with www.nayuki.io/page/symmetr.... Lots of other fun stuff here: www.nayuki.io/category/pro...

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I'm focusing most of my plant learning on CA native plants, but I'd still like to know more about the plants used in landscaping around me. I liked how the sunlight passing through these Calandrinia flowers (Cistanthe grandiflora) made them glow this evening. More: blog.revfad.com/2026/04/14/c...

Cistanthe grandiflora flowers with sunlight shining through them.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Happy to see more and more blooms on some calscape.org/Gilia-achill... since the beginning of April. Started in January from seed from seedhunt.com. #californianativeplants

Clusters of purplish flowers on thin stems above bunches of frilly leaves in a hellstrip. The lid for a water meter is visible in the background.

Clusters of flowers with purple petals, pistils, and stamens. The lid for a water meter is in the background.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

There's at least one wheat penny on Curious the Bear at Gradient Canopy in Mountain View, CA. Have you found one? www.mr-and-mrs-ferguson.com/curious

Rows of pennies, standing up, some corroding. In the middle, a wheat penny.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

I guess I won't do this every strawberry flower (calscape.org/Fragaria-ves..., but I was happy to see the third flower of the year today, the two older ones pointing down and starting to turn into "aggregate accessory fruits".

Strawberry flower -- white petals, yellow core -- surrounded by three dark green leaves, with reddish stems and lighter leaves visible in the background.

A strawberry flower and two developing false fruit.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

I notice some yerba buena has grown an inch+ in 6 days (calscape.org/Clinopodium-.... I'm not sure if this is fast, but I haven't had awareness of a growth rate before. I cut off a piece here for this March 14 event: cnps-scv.org/events/calen.... (Hopefully it's growing well for whoever took it.)

Purplish stems and green leaves, against a yellow measuring tape. Two new shoots have grown around an inch from the closest node to where I made the cut. The original stem beyond the node is starting to dry up.

Purplish stems and green leaves. Two new shoots with bundles of tiny leaves have branched off from the node closest to where I made the cut around 6 days ago.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Also saw the first baby blue eyes bloom of the year and the second strawberry bloom that I've caught. Little treasures. calscape.org/Nemophila-me... calscape.org/Fragaria-ves...

White flower on a strawberry. A berry is starting to develop from an older flower.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

From Antelope Valley, Friday the 13th, here are a few more goldfields.

Gaps between gray bushes and grass filled with goldfields.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

It's not a super bloom, but I was happy to see the first goldfields starting to bloom in our yard: calscape.org/Lasthenia-ca...

Small yellow sunflower-like flower with succulent looking leaves next to a curb

Yellow flower with succulent looking leaves

Flower buds with yellow petals still facing inward, starting to open

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Happy to see this bush poppy blooming, even with a little bug friend too. calscape.org/Dendromecon-.... We love the cucumber smell of the flowers. This was purchased sometime last year from www.lindavistanatives.com.

Four bright yellow petals with a mess of darker orange stamens in the middle. One of the leaves has a dusting of pollen.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Um, no, I do not want to simplify my sentence by replacing "counter-clockwise" with "clockwise". :-) I used to work on Spelling so this especially amused me. I see that it's more common not to hyphenate it. Maybe that's part of what confused things.

I typed "counter-clockwise". Gmail suggests simplifying the sentence by replacing it with "clockwise".

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Our first buttercup flowers of the year opened today, about a week later than last year.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Hm. www.wall.org/~larry/perl.... is giving a 404 (and has been since May 2011?). Archived version from 2010: web.archive.org/web/20100420...

http://www.wall.org/~larry/perl.html says "Not Found. The requested URL was not found on this server."

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Water droplets on a bush poppy (Dendromecon rigida) leaf. calscape.org/Dendromecon-...

Water droplets on a bush poppy leaf. Other leaves branch out in the background. The green fuzz on the bottom left is a deer plant (Acmipson glaber). The green fuzz on the bottom right is California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum). I think this might be the first time that I've typed "Eriogonum fasciculatum" without making a mistake.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

It was dark by the time I finished planting this woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca). Thought it looked a little spooky lit like this. Hoping it will turn into a monster and fill up this space.

Green strawberry leaves lit by a camera flash, surrounded by brown soil, with the remnants of a puddle from watering.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

One teeny thing I tinkered with tonight -- "wallpapers" based on A. K. Dewdney's description in his "New Turing Omnibus". I find them mesmerizing. You can play around here: revfad.com/dewdney_wall.... Code: github.com/fadend/dewdn.... Would like to understand the patterns but haven't yet tried.

Circles in circles, Moire-like, with a 4x4 grid of larger ones, smaller ones repeating

Semi-repeating pattern showing some grid-like regularity with a transition around a circular edge

Symmetrical around the -45 degree line? Circles and grids

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

@archive.org Scary to see archive.org offline. Hope they're able to get things back up soon. Another PG&E outage?

Temporarily Offline
Internet Archive services are temporarily offline.
Please check our official accounts, including Twitter/X, Bluesky or Mastodon for the latest information.
We apologize for the inconvenience.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

One bit of happiness today: seeing a hummingbird feeding on a chaparral currant that we planted a year or two ago. It started blooming nicely in the past few weeks. calscape.org/Ribes-malvac...

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Finished "Rainbow's End" last night, 3rd book I've read from Vernor Vinge. I liked it. Would be curious to get a retrospective from the author reassessing it with the changes in tech since its 2006 publication date. I thank @moultano.bsky.social for introducing me to Vinge's work via a post here.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Also happy to see what I think is soap plant popping up. I wasn't sure if it had survived or not. calscape.org/Chlorogalum-... I believe this one came from nativeherenursery.org in Berkeley.

Two green leaves popping out of the ground with prominent parallel veins. Taken on October 20th.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

This was started on October 19th so took around 8 days to sprout.

Seeds in cells mixed with soil. An almost empty bag of Idaho fescue seed in the background.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Something that cheered me up yesterday: Idaho fescue sprouts! calscape.org/Festuca-idah... An earlier batch of the same seed failed to sprout at all earlier in the summer. Too warm?

Grass sprouts emerge from potting soil amongst wood chips that look large due to zooming in.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Maybe I'm being pedantic (or just wrongheaded), but this line from "The Great Mental Models" bugs me: "If you had perfect information, you would always make the best decision." Shouldn't that be "perfect information" plus "perfect reasoning"?

In life and business, the person with the fewest blind spots wins. Blind spots are the source of all poor decisions. Think about it: If you had perfect information, you would always make the best decision. In a poker game where you could see everyone's cards, you'd play your hand perfectly. You wouldn't make any mistakes.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Possible title: "blue sky divided". One benefit for me of using this site is that I like to imagine sharing nice photos of a blue sky, which gets me to look up at the sky and appreciate it more.

Power lines cross white clouds and a blue sky.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Having some fun with the Speech API: revfad.com/keompyuteo/. Source code: github.com/fadend/keomp...

Screenshot that says "Listen", "Play", "What did you hear?", parts of the UI for a Korean learning game.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Calscape is running a survey in partnership with a few other groups: morphonativeplants.github.io/redirect/. The images + alt text have more details. #californianativeplants

Do you live in CA and grow plants?
Take our 20-min survey and you can have the opportunity to win a $10 gift card!
ELIGIBILITY:
• You live in California
• You grow plants in a garden, farm, or plot
• You would like to learn more about gardening for wildlife

¿Vive usted en CA y cultiva plantas?
¡Participe en nuestra encuesta de 20 minutos y tendrá la oportunidad de ganar una tarjeta de regalo de $10!
POR FAVOR CONTESTE NUESTRA ENCUESTA SI:
• Usted vive en California
• Usted cultiva plantas en una finca, jardín, parcela o patio
• Le gustaría aprender más sobre como cultivar plantas para los polinizadores y la fauna

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Was surprised to see a message complaining about Firefox on trpc.io. I notice that webcontainers.io claims Firefox support on their homepage.

Warning message: "Heads up!
WebContainers require modern Web APls that likely aren't supported by your browser. Either open this page in a Chrome, or download this sandbox from StackBlitz and run it locally.
You can dismiss this warning to see the code, although you'll likely see unexpected errors."

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

One bit of happiness: today, I saw the first sprouts on some yarrow seeds sowed just 5 days ago. You can see I was pretty lazy about cleaning it up, but it worked :-) This is sourced from a local school garden that I helped with cleaning up last weekend.

Teeny green sprouts in a tray of soil in a grid

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

The sky is very blue today over Los Altos, CA.

Blue sky save for a streak or two. Not sure whether those are real cloud trails or lens flare from the sun.

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David Faden @util.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

So, I made revfad.com/zoom_gif/ (github.com/fadend/zoom_...) to see what that would look like. I think it turned out pretty well, but it's probably nicer of me to instead zoom in on some umbrellas from the Palo Alto Buddhist Temple, which we visited for the Obon Festival this weekend.

Rows of umbrellas hang from wires, bright solid colors: orange, blue, fuchsia, green, yellow. The GIF zooms in on a yellow one.

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