First off, Veritas is now ready to go in its small-scale, basic form, after a month in the R&D/retool stage--never once leaving QGIS, SAGA, and Wilbur.
For first-time readers or Google+ migrants, Veritas is a gift map dedicated to my Plus contacts. First attempted for a spell starting on May 14, 2014 (on both QGIS and Inkscape), serious bouts at a revival began last November/December, culminating in a 1:1,000 sneak peek by January 2019 which didn't quite go anywhere. Around the time the Plus closed its doors and I moved to Steem, the next round of trials ensued until March--only to be shelved because, to paraphrase myself, what I had wasn't dramatic enough (no cliffs or steep slopes to speak of).
Over time, I moved on to a Rogatia revamp, and then Novissima...and then came this agenda. Enough, along with Wilbur's Fractal Noise feature "Min" (for minimum height), to send me crazy, starving, experimenting, overtiming, and so to say, off my dependable platforms till the afternoon of Sunday, November 24. Told you 'twas a long story; stay tuned for the fruits of my cartographic labours, here and on r/mapmaking.
- And to think that Rogatia, the project I always wanted to do, is officially due for yet another revamp in the manner of my Veritas procedure--effective a matter of hours from now. No wonder a 256 GB USB--for taking care of the carto-scrap backlog &c.--remains atop my priority queue; as mentioned last time, the 16 GB currently attached to my laptop won't cut it much longer. (Also on the way: Your first look at the new Novissima and Vigesima, along with the launch of Relformaide realm Tovasala.)
Speaking of the long wait for that USB, my sisters suggested on Sunday night that I redeem myself with Swagbucks (which one of them already has) and get it much more quickly as soon as I receive an Amazon gift card from them. Installing said app as soon as I post this; I'll report back on my progress.
Thanks to a perfect storm involving not only Veritas, but also that MP3Tag/MusicBrainz bug from last month, and Independence season/recent election protests in Dominica, Adanson's Jukebox (i.e. my LFM scrobble log) has been left high and dry. (At this writing, the Marigot critters are winding down on another round of wedding parties, pre-empting their next Music Time go-round until further notice.) Never fear, the turkey and turntables will be all here next week! (Now that the tagger should be working again, and a few extra tunes are in the cards...)
In this month's edition of "The 404 Files":
Since at least October 31, G+'s Help Center has been quietly put out to pasture--more or less marking the end of an era (regardless of the enterprise/GSuite version's rebranding as Currents). No official announcements, no buzz, no tech-site reports whatsoever. Hardly helps it came barely days after I referenced a filing by John Skeats, who (back on that old host) recommended I refrain from topping my posts with my trademark hashtag--and all for the better. Skeats does have a tweet feed, but has long moved on. If only I considered Archive.org just in time for that! (About high time I scrubbed away my Plus links from my official PBWorks, FA, IB, and wherever else--which I'll do before December.) Which brings us to...
IA's new and improved "Save Page" feature, which can now sweep through whatever outlinks it can catch. I've played around with it since at least the middle of this month, with various odds and ends from Inkbunny (plus a handful from FurAffinity) as the guinea pigs. From this moment on, this Captain will capture all of this feed's posts with said tool for posterity--official policy. Otherwise, nothing beside remains.⊙
As for promising Steem alternatives, the HyperSpace app was nuked out of orbit, also on October 31. (Obligatory report here, as I set up an account days before I joined where you're now reading this; I even announced it as a new outlet during my Plus twilight.) All that's left is a goodbye explanation at their homepage, and a report on its gradual demise (via a tweet I can't locate anymore for whatever reason at press time). Where else are we anti-Facebook users to go anyway?
To quote from the latter report (by Matthew Rosenquist):
"Enthusiasm quickly grew as people began visiting the site and earning. With a rising interest in the social site, several crypto exchanges allowed the purchasing and selling of AMPs. But there was a nagging catch[:] Users could not withdraw their earnings[, and there was no way to do so].
"So, no matter what your balance stated, it was not real because you could not access those coins.
"From the beginning, a ‘wallet’ was promised by the HyperSpace team. After well over a year, the developers stated the delay was due to regulatory issues in their country of Israel. However, other crypto-based social sites did not have any problems.
"On October 30th, 2019, users received an email from the HyperSpace team stating the site was shutting down in 24 hours and would not continue.
"Scam? Users quickly cried foul and pointed to the fact their earned participation coins and precious content would soon disappear. Why only 24 hours’ notice to users?
"The price of the AMP hit a high of just over $1 in January 2018 and has been on a steady decline. After the notice sent out, the price was sitting at a new low of $.0012.
"Many are curious when the Devs began selling their stakes. Perhaps before they announced the closure to everyone else?"
Speaking of shuttered post-for-pay outlets, I reported on Niume's closure after the fact on my old feed, back on New Year's Day 2018. Per recent research long afterward, turns out another factor was in play: As Niume's owner died, so did the site, and no one was around to carry the torch.
Once again mentioning furry platforms--because VCL, the venerable Vixen Controlled Library, disappeared for the second time this year (from ca. November 2 till last weekend, and then once more during press time). The first time around (in late January), enough anthros on Twitter wondered on its whereabouts for me to report on it as a Plusser. (The rumour went that the webmaster was planning to call it a legacy, so a few dedicated folks sprang in to the rescue.) Details as we officially enter rerun territory at our new host, next one or two days.
Last but not least: Everything else on the aforementioned agenda from last time. (Next up: Unspooled discussion at NaNo. And nope, I've already declined to participate this season; we're still content with 2012.)
Well, take care, stay safe, and see you back with a long recap of highlights from Adanson's Music Time revues (in our next Notebook). This is your fellow Captain speaking--and signing off.
⊙ There's a good reason Veritas' highest point is named after Ozymandias, the Egyptian king immortalised by Percy Bysshe Shelley.
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