TL/DR: This Captain still can't catch a good break, new platform or not.
Apologies for the long, LONG break since sometime in March...because enough outside circumstances made me so sidetracked Steem-wise, it wasn't even funny. Off the top of my head chronologically:
- Re-attempting Veritas on QGIS, but eventually holding back my efforts because they're not quite dramatic enough to my liking. (Case in point: The current topography lacks cliffs.)
- Following the saga of the European Union's Copyright Directive, whose controversial components--Article 13 (upload filters) and Article 11 (link tax for news articles), since respectively renumbered 17 and 15--ticked off so many Europeans and Internet/digital rights/open-source advocates and their ilk, plus one Dan Bull by name, that it led to one of the largest petitions ever (5,000,000 signatures and counting--mine included); stay tuned for relevant coverage on this feed. Which brings us to...
- Renewed QGIS work on the fictional North Atlantic country of Rogatia, where part of my forthcoming Sevton Saga is set. Because, true to form for the so-called "Drop in the Ocean", Rogatia--along with its more competent government, skeleton as it may be these days--isn't taking this sitting down. (And nor will Diane and Wyorst, the teen lead and sidekick in the two-part story I'm now envisioning.) Tune in soon for details on their anti-Europe stance.
- More capacity troubles on my spare laptop (while dealing with the map job); for whatever reason (the update shenanigans, maybe?), Windows is eating up far more space than acceptable (to the point where it lay pretty idle till I force-shut the machine yesterday and turned it back on this morning). And for that, a third flash drive should come in handy to take care of that update--because I have a stockpile and plenty more to protect, and Lord forbid if the process eats them up. (Details in a subsequent post.)
- Consuming every news and Reddit item I could (spoilers or no) about Avengers: Endgame, which as most of you all know now holds the record for biggest opening weekend--domestically and globally. (Unprecedented $357 million stateside; $1.2 billion worldwide.) A Redditor or two wasn't kidding when they declared it the movie event of this generation. (Too bad this Captain and his sisters forewent opening night, unlike last year's Infinity War rendezvous; local tickets were all sold out.)
- Not only taking care of a score of new Core Roots for Relformaide (my ongoing worldlang project), but also announcing a new name at r/conlangs (Tovasala, also the name of the North Atlantic realm where RFM is spoken); rule changes re: article particles (sorry if I rhymed!); and the dawn of classifiers (suffixed after numeral roots; highly scarce in Indo-European). Wish I could remind you of the official semantic wiki, but alack...
- Referata, where it's hosted, has been under siege by one or more hackers for the past couple of weeks; the trouble started much earlier last August, and pity I wasn't around to take care of it until the start of May. (Or was it the end of April?) That said, my wiki focus has started to steer towards spam cleanup on its home site (where I'm an admin), but even that's gonna take a good while. (Started with 1,600+ pages left; now down to ~1,240.) Even accidentally swept away a user who was giving the troublemakers a taste of their own medicine--but unblocked him after he clarified (via e-mail) he was one of the good guys. (Proof that not even the best are infallible.) Thankfully, I've backed up my RFM Grammar and nearly all morpheme tables as a precaution. Shame no other free host offers what Referata can--11 years on. (Perhaps conlang.org or DreamHost can help me out in future?)
- Last, but definitely not least, reading up on the other big movie event of the season, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. No great shakes storywise, but Ryan Reynolds (as the title character), Justice Smith (as his accomplice Tim), and the VFX team (plus director Rob Letterman) give it their all. Has broken the videogame-movie curse--barely--and that's saying something. (At press time, 64% Tomatometer/52 Metascore.)
Closing in on midnight as I finish typing this--another close call. In time to come, our first Nature Island Minute on this new platform; a few random tidbits; and a look back at the shortest Oscar winner around. (Let's hope this doesn't lead into an all-new Tasklist of Death this time around--a chronic bugbear during my G+ tenure.) Till then, take care, stay connected...and God bless.
Condolences to the family and friends of John Singleton, Alvin Sargent, the victims of the California synagogue shooting, along with Google+ last month....and what's left of the free net Tim Berners-Lee envisioned?
As I close it off, saying hi to @steevc (and any other ex-Plussers I may find in future)--and four relatives of mine on a cruise east of our new home state. (I'll board a plane back to my Nature Island home someday...)
P.S. Adanson cancelled not only the Easter Ball (and the late March test leading up to it), but also the protest concert they planned as a replacement. Article 13 burst the Ball indefinitely; logistical issues marred the latter. Meaning more post-Michael Panhandle cleanup, till the end of next month, for the charity critters you'll meet in the Unspooled series. More to come as the Marigot Notebook reopens here.
From the one, the only, the all-new...
(2509) (Too bad about our missed opportunity last Thursday, on account of all I've described. Sorry, folks--no milestone posts this time around. See you next year on Day 3,000.)