This compost pile got even hotter on the second turn. Guess I'll have to turn it again tonight.

I spent all day weeding the garden while listening to the first book in the Horus Heresy, and finished up by turning a compost pile. I'm tired and still angry. The dip in temperature was caused by wind. The dip started precisely when the wind picked up, and started to recover right after the wind stopped. I'm grateful that my sensor allows me to see and learn from this data.

Huh, that's weird. I'm always nervous about the first few compost piles of the season. Is it too wet, too dry? Not enough nitrogen, or too much? It seems like I always need a little practice to get the hang of it again. But I've never seen a pile maintain a steady high temperature like this before.

I've been stressing lately about a project at work: replacing 95% of the computers because Windows 11 won't support them. There's money in the budget, but that was before tariffs, and management has been slow in making decisions. Except decisions that make the project cost more like swapping half the desktops for laptops and docking stations. We were already planning on not replacing any monitors even though they're all 10 years old, 20" and very dim from staying on 24/7. Yesterday I was considering all sorts of drastic actions: skipping nice mounts for the computers, forcing Linux on the desktop, or just not updating from Windows 10. Waking up this morning I realized we could even go back to using Windows 10 LTSC which has an end of support date in 2027 or 2029, despite all the inevitable headaches. Then I read the headline: laptops, desktops, server and other electronics exempted from tariffs. I would like to get off this carnival ride now, thank you.

second addition to this pile after 36 hours View quoted note →

Grass grows fast here this time of year and another bag of clippings was waiting for me tonight. So I had to a second stage to this rocket.

ignition and liftoff View quoted note →

Gm frens, fuck the state

First pile of the season, time to cook

Nope, not eating ze bugs

My neighbor brought me a huge bag of grass clippings yesterday, so composting season has officially started. I left the last pile of last season in place to see what happens. This chart shows the internal temperature in brown. The blue line is ambient air temp on my south-facing porch, and the green line is a sensor that I moved from my fridge out near the bins during winter. Internal temp was always above ambient, indicating active life in the pile, and it stayed above freezing, barely. This is good because the microbes didn't have to go into a dormant state. I'll wrap the bin in a tarp next time to help retain heat and moisture, while shielding it from cold winds. I'll have to turn this pile into storage soon to make way for new piles. I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like on the inside and under the microscope. It's been undisturbed for 5 months, so I hope to see a lot of fungi.

squarepusher and aphex twin vibes

UK Police broke into a Quaker Meeting House last night (27 March) and arrested six young people holding a meeting over concerns for the climate and Gaza.

Quakers

Quakers condemn police raid on Westminster Meeting House

Police broke into a Quaker Meeting House last night (27 March) and arrested six young people holding a meeting over concerns for the climate and Gaza.

RE: Fw: Re: FW: Email was a mistake

Starlink introduced a new Roam plan for $10/month with 10 GB data and $2/GB overage. Great for backup and travel.