K-1 Ramblings

A mix of photos and writing, mostly pulling from my other sites. Find my main blog at K-Squared Ramblings.

[kelsonv]

Back in 2016, a Vine (remember those?) by “Gasoleen” immortalized the “FR E SH A VOCA DO” sign at a Torrance Del Taco as “Free sha-VA-ca-doo.” I hadn’t seen the video, but I had watched the sign’s letters drift apart over a few months. They even updated the logo without fixing the spacing…until they changed it to say “FREE SHAVOCADO” ASK INSIDE for the summer. That’s when I took a photo of it myself, and discovered that the Free Shavocado tag already existed on Tumblr.

I guess someone’s nostalgic for the meme, because today, roughly 10 years later, the sign once again says “FRE SH A VOCA DO.”

They put it on the opposite side this time. On the side visible in both the meme and my own older photo, they’ve put a new variation: “FRE SH A GUACA MOLE.”

Looking back at the original post, I realize I should’ve crossed the street to match the original angle (and get a clearer shot) on this one. At least I got a clear photo of the returning classic!

(Cross-posted from my main blog)

[kelsonv]

Murderbot Season 1 - Review

A pitch-perfect adaptation of All Systems Red. Alexander Skarsgård is dead on as the socially-anxious security cyborg who just wants to be l

I finally cashed in a free trial of Apple TV and watched the first season of Murderbot.

[kelsonv]

Instagram Targets

I remember a brief period shortly after Instagram introduced in-feed advertisements when I was getting mostly travel ads that consisted of well-composed scenic landscapes and cityscapes and sponsored nature photos. Which…well, was fine! They blended in with all the scenic and nature photographers I was following! I almost hit “like” on a few! Back in 2017, I wasn’t sure whether to be disturbed, or to look at it in terms of XKCD’s idea of constructive spambots. (Mission accomplished? Maybe, but looking back from today, that’s basically what “generative AI” does, and it turns out it’s still disturbing.) It’s probably the only time I’ve come close to appreciating targeted advertising. It was possible to use just context and not full behavioral surveillance, and it actually surfaced something worth seeing. That said, I never clicked through to arrange a trip through any of the posts. Apparently, it was ineffective across the board, because as I mentioned, that period was brief. (Targeted advertising doesn’t work as well as its proponents claim, and oh how I wish it hadn’t become the standard method of paying for online services.) By 2019 I was seeing big box stores and fast food, crackers and cold medicine, movie posters, brand logos and slogans. They weren’t even trying. It was fully Facebook-ified, they were mining as much of my data as they possibly could, and this was the best they could do? They’d also tweaked the feed algorithm to push more ads, more sponsored posts, more allegedly-popular posts instead of the pictures from friends and photographers I wanted to see. Instagram no longer sparked joy. That’s around the time I mostly shifted to Pixelfed for casual photo sharing. I cross-posted for a while, but eventually deleted my account after leaving it unused for several years. Since then I’ve moved from Pixelfed to a compatible self-hosted site. And yet I’m still on Flickr. As much as it lost its way during the Yahoo years, it never stopped being about the photos. The post Instagram Targets first appeared on K-Squared Ramblings >>>

[kelsonv]

Blog Moving to KVibber.com

Way back in the year 2000, I bought a domain name to move my personal website from the school web server to someplace I could keep it visible after graduating. I picked Hyperborea.org from an adventure movie I’d seen years earlier, wanting something that sounded fantastic but wasn’t Atlantis, which had already been done to death (and besides, it was taken). In 2002, I set up the first version of this blog, running on b2/cafelog. At the time, Katie and I both posted here. She later moved to LiveJournal, then stopped blogging, then set up again at Feral Tomatoes. Somewhere along the line I bought KVibber.com and set it up to redirect to my main site. Then in 2022 I rebuilt it as a simple Indieweb-style profile, figuring that while Hyperborea was a digital home, it really wasn’t a digital identity. I’ve been using that in various online profiles ever since, but kept most of the actual stuff on the existing site while I dithered over what to keep where. Eventually I decided I wanted to move over to the newer domain. The Eleventy parts were easy: I just needed to change some parameters and rebuild. The hand-crafted parts were relatively easy: global search and replace. And of course redirecting each section to the new site as I moved it. Search indexes are slowly shifting over. Google so far has decided to keep pointing to some of the older pages even though those pages redirect to the new ones. The blog…is complicated. WordPress and ClassicPress use a database for some things and files for others. Plus I’m using the ActivityPub Plugin to make the blog visible on the Fediverse, which brings its own set of complications. I was relieved to see that copies of posts previously federated at the old site do in fact show up correctly on the new site’s Fediverse view. One thing I decided on early on: I was going to use a subdomain this time instead of a folder, because too many things (some plugins, .well-known files, etc) assume your blog is running at the top level of the site. I did a first pass Wednesday night to copy the files and database, set up the new config, run all those search-and-replace actions, and kick the metaphorical tires. Since then I’ve been spot-checking things here and there. The new site seems fine, so I’m going to run the ActivityPub migration (for all 5 followers). Then I can wind down the old AP site, and once that’s done I can redirect the blog to the new location. Better Late Than Never I’m kicking myself for taking so long. I should’ve just moved wholesale over to KVibber.com back in 2022. By waiting until 2026, I’ve left the new location without proof of having existed before the slop era. (I’m still writing articles myself, not using an “AI,” so all the mistakes in this post are my own.) Unless someone looks up the old hyperborea.org version of a page on the Wayback Machine, but they shouldn’t have to know to do that. But the old name is awkward and hard to spell, and apparently some of the creepy groups that have weird obsessions with the myths it came from are more substantial than the historical footnotes I thought they were back in the day. The post Blog Moving to KVibber.com first appeared on K-Squared Ramblings >>>

[kelsonv]

Heaven's Vault - Review

You play as an archaeologist, sailing among the moons of a habitable nebula linked by rivers, exploring ruins, interacting with townspeople,

I've finished my second play-through of Heaven's Vault.

It's a fascinating game in which you play an archaeologist sailing between "moons" in a habitable nebula linked by rivers, exploring ruins, interacting with townspeople, and translating ancient inscriptions.

What starts as a simple quest to find a missing person ultimately reveals surprising truths about the history of the nebula and its people. And enough choices make a difference that it's very replayable.

5 stars, full review at the link.

[kelsonv]

Heaven's Vault (Novels) - Review

Aliya and the robot sail the Nebula, seeking clues to its history and future. The first two novels tell a story similar to the game, just di

And now I've finished reading the three novels based on the game (written by its narrative designer). The first two are just different enough that they feel like you've unlocked another path through the game. They do a good job of translating the experience to prose, even puzzling through the Ancient inscriptions.

The third (and upcoming fourth) gets into the aftermath of the endgame, and also makes you really start to wonder about the nature of the Loop and time in the Nebula.

4 stars, full review at the link.

[kelsonv]

Solitude - Review

The people of Eleven-Soro live alone except for a bare minimum of human interaction. But what is that bare minimum, and what does it mean fo

[kelsonv]

Heaven's Vault - Review

You play as an archaeologist, sailing among the moons of a habitable nebula linked by rivers, exploring ruins, interacting with townspeople,

I've finished my second play-through of Heaven's Vault.

It's a fascinating game in which you play an archaeologist sailing between "moons" in a habitable nebula linked by rivers, exploring ruins, interacting with townspeople, and translating ancient inscriptions.

What starts as a simple quest to find a missing person ultimately reveals surprising truths about the history of the nebula and its people. And enough choices make a difference that it's very replayable.

5 stars, full review at the link.

[kelsonv]

Toilers of the Sea - Review

An outcast from a small island community spends weeks salvaging a shipwreck, alone, to prove himself. More tightly structured than Les Mis,

[kelsonv]

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Review

Even though marine science and geology have passed it by, it's still a gripping episodic adventure through a strange, hidden world of marvel

[kelsonv]

Onyx BOOX Go 7 Color (Gen II) - Review

After five years, I replaced the Poke3 with the Go 7 Color. It's a lot faster and more responsive, brings back physical page turning buttons

Boox makes e-ink Android tablets for reading and sketching. I really liked the Poke3, and used it as my main ebook reader for almost 5 years, but it's showing its age and struggling with newer apps. I finally replaced it with the Go 7 Color and it's been a drastic improvement!

It's a lot faster, so it can handle today's apps, the touch screen is way more responsive, and it's so nice to have physical buttons for page turning again.

The color isn't as sharp as the black ink, and it tends toward pastels, but it's good for diagrams , and for using apps/websites that assume you have a color display.

My full review of the Boox Go 7 Color (Gen II) (★★★★★)

[alenxa]

You got a what? A gas stove? Really, Steve--

I literally dreamed this concept, and managed to remember it until I woke up. I am very happy. Like the ghast.

[kelsonv]

Allocating smiles.

[kelsonv]

I've been driving past this billboard on PCH all week. I can only assume it's part of a series of "The perfect mattress for ____" ads. Either that or they're going for some serious niche marketing.

[kelsonv]

Little-known fact: in the First Age, Mazrim Taim sought power by running a craft store, rather than becoming head of the Asha’man.

Where did you think they got their supplies for making sword and dragon pins?

On a more serious note, I’m currently reading A Memory of Light, the long-awaited final volume of The Wheel of Time. I’m about 80 pages into “The Last Battle.” This chapter isn’t just longer than a Robert Jordan prologue, it’s longer than some novels I’ve read.

[ashamanabingbong]

“We’ll turn you from other craft stores.”

[kelsonv]

I love it! I'd been trying to think of a punchline that had something to do with that, but just couldn't come up with anything good.

Also, seeing " ishamael likes this" on this post made my day.

OK, back to reading...

[kelsonv]

Little-known fact: in the First Age, Mazrim Taim sought power by running a craft store, rather than becoming head of the Asha'man.

Where did you think they got their supplies for making sword and dragon pins?

On a more serious note, I’m currently reading A Memory of Light, the long-awaited final volume of The Wheel of Time. I’m about 80 pages into “The Last Battle.” This chapter isn’t just longer than a Robert Jordan prologue, it’s longer than some novels I’ve read.

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