starless @starless@pixie.town

I was woken up this morning by a robocall an hour before my alarm went off. It was a fundraiser call from someone operating a soundboard asking for donations to help some "friends of police" kind of org. They asked for donations for supplemental police training programs (notoriously violent) and widow support. They immediately hung up on me when I asked about their stance on de-escalation and non-violence training.

It was definitely a scam call. I'm not seeing any record of the phone number they called with, etc, but ugh... That whole experience just makes me feel gross. The soundboard voice was, like, 1950s Hollywood baritone male, which just felt, like, extra bad??

Ugh, get me off this ride.

I went for a midnight walk yesterday and took this picture. Light pollution sucks, not doesn't make bad landscapes.

I composed a mellow little song on my harp. I think it's a really just an accompaniment to a song, but I'm not sure. Maybe you'll like it?

May this year being you peace, justice, and growth.

Around this time of year, I find myself wanting to play more music. I'm not terribly Christian, but I often wind up playing Christmas carols on my harp out of convenience, etc.

This year, I think I'll do sea shanties instead.

(this is The Wellerman, pardon the unturned instrument)

Aaaaaaaa I am so excited about the possibility of CAT EARS HEARING DEVICES!

Just ordered dinner while soaking in the tub. Not a bad evening in.

At this point, I don't think I could come out of the broom closet at work if I tried. Literally just asked for Samhain off at the end of the month, since we might need to be available overnight and my boss just went "yep, okay".

Good news? He's cool with it. Bad news? He asks how my Christmas was every year.

Aaand version 0.4, I guess? 0.3.5? Anyways, I made a vest to hold the sound processor and battery pack and wow, did it make a difference. Shoulder-mounted hearing aid-- who knew? Directionality isn't perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better, and wow, did it make a difference.

Anyways, I put in an order for a small 3.5 mm mic-- hopefully it shows up and basically 'just works' once I switch the audio input in the code. I suspect I might need to do some faaancy stuff to compensate for the mic's sensitivity range, but I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.

So far, this whole thing (aside from the Tympan board) has been really inexpensive-- maybe $30 in electronics-- for a functioning hearing device. Programming the prescription is still kind of a beast, involving some spreadsheets and a little guesswork. If we can get the board cost down, though, and improve the documentation/build process this thing might actually be accessible! I imagine I'll see some cost increases once I add nicer microphones, but it's hard to say. Feeling pretty excited. :)

Today I made version 0.3 of my hearing device using one of the examples in the Tympan library (https://github.com/Tympan/Tympan_Library/tree/master/examples/05-FullSystems/WDRC_3BandIIR_wAFC). I'm still getting a lot of artifacts, but I think I'm learning how to use and understand audio charts.

Aesthetically, I'm beginning to suspect I'll want to build my prototype into epaulets.

Cyberia's first #hope2020 is a little different from what we'd expected, but we're slowly coming online and tuning in. Our online home is over at https://cyberia.club-- feel free to stop by our matrix and chat! :)

Hi. Have another #art. It's part of the same triptych as the moon I posted earlier.

Hi hello have more smol #art.

OK, that's enough capitalism. Have some art.

I didn't have any real watercolor paper, so this is on a little 4x6" note card. The paper is not happy, but I like it anyways.

Crooked River (US, black-woman-owned and run) is busy, but sooo cool.

Instagram sensation Crooked River has sharp, futuristic, crisp, neon street-style vibes. If you're in a rush, check their instagram to make sure they're actively shipping orders-- this is a one-woman-run shop, and she gets *busy*.

I ordered a bathing suit ($50 USD) from this shop and although it took a while to arrive (there was a substantial backlog when I placed my order), the workmanship looks good and the reflective patterning on it is crisp and bright. Despite being a pretty risky cut, my suit still fit my body well and stayed street legal.

Note that the sizes in this shop only range from small (US) to large.