iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 12/10/2026

Leeds looking very three dimensional thus morning. I'm in town for the FOSS4GUK congerence on #opensource #gis software. If you are at the meeting, you can see my talk at 11:00 in the Create1 room. The title is CRAG: Open source geological mapping at the […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Portrait photo of an urban landscape in pink morning light, taken from a 7th floor viewpoint. Downwards are roofs and stairs and a canal at the lowest level. Many multi-floor buildings of different ages and styles, including two large towers under construction are also visible.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 21/09/2026

CRAG is a #QGIS plugin from the #BritishGeologicalSurvey for #geology #mapping. github.com/BritishGeologicalSurvey/… We've been working on what is now CRAG for 3.5 years, although I've been itching to build it for more like 9. Woohoo! To install […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Screenshot of QGIS application with map of multiple annotated points. There are also lines of different colours and styles. The layer key shows layer names such as "locality_point", "bedrock_line", "view_photo", "view_lithology".

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 19/09/2026

#Cartoon in the current issue of Private Eye magazine. If I'd had a mouthful of tea at the time, I'd have sprayed it all over the page. #PrivateEye

Photograph of cut-out newspaper cartoon. A man is holding a birthday candle and scratching his head against a backdrop of the child's party. The caption says "Er ... did you check the use-by date on this caterpillar cake". The chocolate caterpillar cake on the table in front of him has four large brown wings with coloured spots.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 12/08/2026

It was cloudy in #Edinburgh for the #eclipse, making for a generally underwhelming experience. However, there were fleeting gaps in the lower clouds after the peak had passed and I did manage to use my pin hole picture for a few minutes. I'm very happy with the result.

Brown cardboard in evening sunlight casting shadow onto white paper. Within the shadow is a picture of a light crescent and dark circle made if tiny yellow crescents.

Crop of the previous photo showing light crescent sun and dark moon circle. Each of the light dots is clearly crescent shaped.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 12/08/2026

I'm preparing some pinhole pictures for later. These are just poked into cereal box cardboard. Once the #Eclipse is on, each dot will be a little cresent. I'm going to get the kids to make some with their names. #eclipse2026 #parenting

Shadow on a sunlit table behind a piece of brown card. Tens of little light spots make a shape of two overlapping circles.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 26/06/2026

It's Loanhead Gala Day tomorrow. Come along to see jousting shows, mountain biking tricks, magicians, wrestling, live bands. All for free. The main shows start at 14:00, but there is also a parade from 12:00 with 10+ marching bands. #Edinburgh #Midlothian […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Map of a park showing locations of stalls and attractions. The left hand side is a fairground, the main arena has icons for horses, bikes, theatre.

Gantt chart style diagram outlining attractions throughout afternoon.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 16/06/2026

This is strange Google glitch. 1. Open a Private browser window 2. Google for "Outlook login" 3. See where the link for Outlook.com (with the Outlook logo) points In this case, it's the corporate email login of the Lithuanian Engineering College. It was some […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Screenshot of webpage of Google result for search for "outlook login". The status bar shows "outlook.com/ktk.lt" as the link URL for the Outlook sign in.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 31/05/2026

Longniddry Bents beach, east of #Edinburgh, #Lothian, doesn't rate highly for swimming water or natural beauty, but it's got many interesting features. These include tank defences, ancient lava flows, coal pebbles, and views of Edinburgh, Forth bridges and wind […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Concrete cubes, 1.5 m sides, resting on brown and orange slabby rocks. These are tank defences. Course grass and purple flowers in foreground. Blue sea and sky of puffy cloufs behind.

Curving beach with band of shiny grey pebbles. These are coal. Flat piece, 10 cm wide with finger for scale in foreground. A band of twigs and wood debris runs parallel and green grass is above.

Digitally zoomed image of a boat with 10 tall yellow towers aboard. These are for offshore wind turbines.

Fingers holding an upturned limpet shell. A spider is faintly visible with the shell. It is faint because it is beneath a sheet of web material.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 06/05/2026

We dissected a wasp nest from our loft today. It was the size and shape of a turnip with wavy coloured bands like Saturn or Jupiter. The outer sheets wrapped around it like the leaves of an iceberg lettuce and there were three sections of honeycomb inside […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Wasp nest on a round tray. It is brown and near spherical with a hole in the top.

Two halves of a wasp nest. The left shows a core of hexagonal honeycomb with about 5 concentric layers of paper sheets with gaps of a few mm between. The right half shows the sheets from the other side like nested bowls.

Close up of honeycomb-texture core made of three sections of hexagonal cells about 3-6 mm across.

Pen drawing of a wasp and hexagon and the words "wasp paper" written on banded paper sheets from the outside of the nest.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 06/04/2026

I just noticed that the backround of fixed stars on the tracker at artemistracker.mapki.com isn't made up - it's a true representation. Here's spaceship Orion in front of constellation Orion. HT: @mikerspencer #artemis #moon #astronomy

Star map view featuring trajectory of Artemis mission as coloured line. Orion spaceship is labelled next to the Moon at the top of the image. Below, the constellation of Orion, with the distinctive belt of three stars is visible.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 16/03/2026

Discussion of the Android app for detecting Meta/RayBan AI glasses on @latenightlinux reminded me that they also recommmended the Network Survey app. I tried the Bluetooth scan out recently on an Airbus A380 plane. There were over 480 devices visible. Almost […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Screenshot of Network Scanner app. There are many rows of 12 digit MAC address numbers and corresponding signal strengths e.g. -56 dBm. The app reports the number of devices is 481.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 21/12/2025

I'm going to a Burns Supper in January. I texted my menu choice to my brother-in-law, who replied with a #what3words map: cheese.haggis.sticky [toffee pudding] is in Angola. Many normies that I know use the app, and I feel duty-bound to point out the flaws […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Screenshot of what3words website listing iterations burn and burns, upper and uppers in three word codes.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 08/12/2025

I said farewell to my trusty Genesis TdA 10 after a decade of faithful service. I scavenged the parts that I was likely to reuse amd put the rest to the recycling centre. I had some great adventures with that bike, including the 300 km Frontier 300 day ride, a […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Grey bike frame with missing seat, front wheel and mudguard. It is scratched and rusty with loose cables. The yellow and black handlebar tape is peeling off.

Close up of front fork with "THIS MACHINE FIGHTS CLIMATE CHANGE" and "FRONTIER 300" stickers. The paint around the headset mount is rubbed back to bare silvery metal and the headset and part of forks are rusty and scratched.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 28/11/2025

> "An advanced city is not one where even the poor use cars, but rather one where even the rich use public transport." I thought about this quote a lot in Harare. The cars are in charge here and many roads don't even have pavements. 4x4s abound because roads […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Dirt street with puddles on the side. Cars are parked on both sides, with no pavement. Many are pickup trucks or 4x4 SUVs. A motorbike with a delivery box rides down the middle.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 12/11/2025

As part of the work, we compiled a set of #GIS #opendata for #Zimbabwe and published it to Zenodo. It is contains OpenStreetMap data (from GeoFabrik), SRTM topography and Sentinel2 satellite imagery. Anyone can download and use it. See README for attribution […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Screenshot of QGIS desktop showing layer panel on the left and coloured satellite image map overlain by spiderweb-like yellow and white roads on the right.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 27/10/2025

We went to the Summer Symposium of the Geological Society of #Zimbabwe. It was an interesting meeting - more applied and less academic than a UK equivalent. Most talks related to mining. My favorite was about diamonds. The speaker described how they found the […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

A large lecture theatre. A man with a microphone stands on stage in front of two large screens showing slides of a map. About 1/3 of visible seats are full.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 26/10/2025

I'd heard of the Eastgate shopping centre and wanted to see for myself. The design is based on a termite mound, with an internal structure that promotes airflow to provide natural cooling. I was impressed. A soft breeze gently wafts through and is much more […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Brown brick and metal grid building with gaps between bricks. The letters EASTGATE are on the front.

Building interior with brown bricks arranged with gaps between. Also green metal railings and stairs.

View into building of escalators, brown bricks, green railings and steps. Most surfaces have holes and gaps.

Looking down to tiled floor of shopping mall. Brown bricks and green railings define the walls. A few people walk around.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 26/10/2025

Here are some views of downtown #Harare. There are tall, often glass-clad, buildings and wide roads laid out in a US-style grid. It's not a place to walk between cafes. The centre is Africa Unity Square, but there are no pictures as we were told you can be […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

A three lane highway with pick up trucks and cars. Concrete and glass buildings are on each side, with a stand of tall palm trees in the distance.

A tall hexagonal, glass-clad building rises high above the others. Blue sky and scattered clouds are reflected in the glass.

Carved figures, life size, on a parched lawn with modern buildings behind. The first is an abstract face with long, curling hair. The second is a woman with waist-high child standing beside her.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 23/10/2025

Kuimba Shiri was also a good spot to watch the sunset. The day we visited, a wedding party of 50+ were there. They took a boat ride out onto the lake and as the sun dipped over the horizon, the sound of their singing carried across the water. I was tempted to […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Sunset over Lake Chivero. The orange sun touches a wooded ridge on the horizon and is reflected in the lake. In the foreground are remains of a tree, likely killed when the reservoir was formed and the area flooded. A plastic bag lies by the water.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 23/10/2025

After the lions, we went to Kuimba Shiri Bird Park. This is also just outside #Harare, on the north shore of Lake Chivero. There is an open air restaurant where ostriches and ponies roam around the tables, as well as an aviary with many bird species. The […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Secretary bird. It is about 1 m tall, and half of that is legs. The body is pale grey, with black thighs and wing tips. The face around the eyes is orange.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 22/10/2025

Here's a bonus lion cub picture, because I couldn't attach it to the post with the video. They had ostriches, too. I was more scared of the ostriches, particularly their talons, than of the lion cubs. #Zimbabwe

Lion cub face taken from close up (30 cm distance) through a chain link fence. The face looks majestic.

Ostrich behind a wire mesh fence. It is thrusting its head, beak open, towards the camera. It looks aggressive.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 22/10/2025

The highlight of Lion Park Harare was the opportunity to play with lion cubs. It cost $15. The cubs were siblings, about five months old. Visitors could enter the cage in twos or threes. Each was given a stick, which was used to play with a cub - and to keep […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 22/10/2025

In the UK, we curse seagulls for stealing our chips. In landlocked #Zimbabwe, it's monkeys. These Vervet monkeys at the Lion Park Harare stole my friend's KitKat from the table in front of her and scampered to a nearby tree to unwrap and eat it. Then they […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Two brown vervet monkeys sitting on a wall and holding an open white fast food container from which they were eating left over chip crumbs.

A mother vervet monkey sits on a wall with a baby clinging to her tummy. The baby has a pink face and big eyes.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 22/10/2025

We had a day off on Saturday and went to Lion Park Harare, less than an hour out of town. It has a mini safari game drive with antelope, zebra, warthog and baboons as well as a separate space with lions. There is also a mini zoo with enclosed animals. The park […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Savanna scene with dry brown grass plain and green trees behind. Clear blue sky. In the foreground, at least 5 zebra and 7 warthog are feeding from a pile of hay.

Close up of an arm and hand, with a lime green chameleon on top. The chameleon has an orange colour around the edges.

A tortoise eating from a plate of lettuce, carrots, apples and other fruit and vegetables. It's mouth is open and the tongue is pink.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 21/10/2025

[Flying spiders] A big, flat, stripey spider lives behind the mirror in my hotel room. The first time that I saw it, it was on the ceiling above the toilet seat. I think it is a _Selenops_. Wikipedia lists a number of _Selenops_ genus that are native to […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Photo of white ceiling coving above magnolia covered wall. A spider sits in the corner, legs wide. It is about 1/2 the size of the coving.

Large spider with mottled brown/yellow body and yellow stripes on the legs. It is flat against the wall. Close below is an outstretched pointing finger. The spider is about the same size.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 16/10/2025

It is the end of the dry season in Harare, #Zimbabwe. The city is famous for the jacaranda trees that flower with a purple blossom. They are beautiful, visible across the city and confetti-covering the ground. There are a few particular tree-lines avenues that […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

Purple blossom scattered across floor beside the road. In the distance are green, purple and red trees.

Spectacular image of tree lined avenue. Trees have purple blossom and the road and pavements are covered. This image was sent to me by a friend and has likely had the colours enhanced.

Dry, brown grassy scrub land in foreground. Behind are trees, some with purple or red blossom.

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Dr John A Stevenson @volcan01010.fosstodon.org.ap.brid.gy · 12/10/2025

The reach of the #BBC is crazy. This photo is the in-flight entertainment system on a flight from Dubai (United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪) to Lusaka (Zambia 🇿🇲) and Harare (Zimbabwe). There is a view from a camera in the base of the plane - a scene of empty desert in […] [Original post on fosstodon.org]

This photo is the in-flight entertainment system on a flight from Dubai (United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪) to Lusaka (Zambia 🇿🇲) and Harare (Zimbabwe). There is a view from a camera in the base of the plane - a scene of empty desert in Somalia (🇸🇴).

At the top, there is a BBC headline: Plaid to promise new teachers up to £30,000 to stay in Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿.

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