The Friday Five on a Friday x2

Oct. 3rd, 2025 10:57 pm
nanila: me (Default)
[personal profile] nanila
20251002_105849
[HELLO I AM COMET AND I AM TOO CLOSE]

  1. Do you ever wonder if the way you see things visually aren't how other people see them?

    Frequently. My partner and I sometimes have very different perceptions of certain colours (and no, he’s not red-green colour-blind).

  2. What kind of sounds are the most annoying?

    Sounds I didn’t choose to hear, ha. Seriously, though, I quite frequently put my noise-cancelling headphones on with nothing coming through them, just to block out background sound.

  3. When walking through a store, do you shop with your hands by touching/feeling the texture of things?

    I *want* to do that all the time. I’m very sensitive to touch. I restrain myself most of the time unless it seems like it is OK (like in a clothing shop). I suspect I’d get thrown out of places if I went round running my hands over veg, freshly baked goods or pick-n-mix for example.

  4. If you could only smell three scents for the rest of your life, what would they be?

    My cats’ fur when they come in from outside on a cold day. Black Opium by YSL. My partner’s armpits. I am not joking.

  5. What sorts of things do you savor when eating them?

    Everything! I love food so much. I especially love very cold fruit juices on a hot day or with a sore throat, the velvety texture of a good chocolate mouse, and the salty satisfaction of slurping ramen noodles.


Last week's FF )
anais_pf: (Default)
[personal profile] anais_pf posting in [community profile] thefridayfive
These questions were originally suggested by [livejournal.com profile] ardnaid.

1. Do you ever wonder if the way you see things visually aren't how other people see them?

2. What kind of sounds are the most annoying?

3. When walking through a store, do you shop with your hands by touching/feeling the texture of things?

4. If you could only smell three scents for the rest of your life, what would they be?

5. What sorts of things do you savor when eating them?

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1SE for September 2025

Sep. 30th, 2025 11:33 pm
nanila: me (Default)
[personal profile] nanila


I took some liberties with the dates in this 1SE video so I could put in more footage from Maui. There are also a lot of cats. Not all of them are our cats. No one tell Astro and Comet.

Meshtastic

Sep. 30th, 2025 09:59 pm
vampwillow: geek! (geek)
[personal profile] vampwillow
Have been buying and playing. Three LoRa clients installed, waiting to raise one up a pole.
squirmelia: (Default)
[personal profile] squirmelia
I had been to the dentist and needed cheering up and lunchtime coincided with low tide so I popped briefly to the foreshore outside the National Theatre.

I found a bracelet, a button, a bit of a marmalade jar, a piece of wood, some nice sherds and another piece of uranium glass!

Mudlarking finds - 48

(You need a permit to search or mudlark on the Thames foreshore.)

Mudlarking 47 - Battersea

Sep. 29th, 2025 07:31 pm
squirmelia: (Default)
[personal profile] squirmelia
I tried to go mudlarking in Battersea previously, but somehow got off the bus on the wrong side of the river and ended up in Chelsea. It was only when I saw Battersea Power Station on the opposite side of the river to me that I realised my mistake. This time though I got off the bus at the correct stop, on the south side of the river.

The set of steps downstream from Battersea Bridge led to slippery mud so I then tried the steps upstream of the bridge. They were slippery with mud but there was a handrail to hold onto and at the bottom of the steps, the foreshore was fine to walk along.

I watched a heron for a while, underneath the bridge.

There were quite a lot of bits of wood on the foreshore and some shells, but not as many as on the other side of the river.

I found another Paw Patrol toy, which at first I thought was a goblet. I found one on Friday as well, so it seemed odd to find another so soon.

I found a Ganesh idol, but left it on the foreshore, along with a pair of pink glasses, and many shoes, including some with little nails holding them together. I later found out that the Salvation Army had a kind of recycling centre near here, so perhaps that is why there were so many shoes.

I found a little pouch with symbols on it which made me wonder if it was for Holy Communion.

I found a different coloured piece of combware, not the usual yellow and brown. I also picked up blue and white sherds with a fragment of a building and of a fence on.

It was quite a miserable day and I got a bit cold and wet, but the foreshore was quiet, which I enjoyed and sang songs to myself as I walked along.

I found another piece of uranium glass! It glows brightly. I have found some other pieces of glass since the first one that glow slightly, but not brightly. I am not sure what they are - cadmium perhaps? I think now I have a better idea of what uranium glass looks like so I’ll be able to find more.

A goose hissed at me.

I found what was probably a Victorian scrubbing brush. It has bristles held together at the back with little bits of wire. There were various factories in the area back then so I wonder if it was used for scrubbing in a factory.

I found a pink eye and wondered about the toy it might have fallen off.

I found a piece of Royal Doulton with a green logo. Apparently that logo was used from approximately 1930 to 1993 so it could actually have been quite modern, although probably wasn't from the 1990s.

I found some bits of pipes with decorations on them. I have quite a few with the initials of makers, but this was the first time I found any that were patterned.

I found a piece of glass which looks to say "energy" on it. Part of a Lucozade bottle, perhaps?

I walked towards Albert Bridge until I reached Ransome's Dock and could go no further.

Mudlarking finds - 47.1

Mudlarking finds - 47.2

Mudlarking finds - 47.3

Mudlarking finds - 47.4

I headed across Battersea Bridge and noticed this sign:
Do not feed

(You need a permit to search or mudlark on the Thames foreshore.)

Maui sunset

Sep. 28th, 2025 09:21 pm
nanila: me (Default)
[personal profile] nanila
20250922_181125

[Epic god-light over the Pacific]

I returned to the UK last Thursday evening. I went to work and had a hectic day on Friday, greeting the returning students and my tutees. This weekend we got the suitcase turned around and at midday today, the bloke left for Uganda. At some point our kids will remember what it's like regularly having two parents at home, but apparently that is not this year.

I have to give three presentations tomorrow, one of which is a two-hour lecture, so I shall leave this photo here and go do some deep breathing.
squirmelia: (Default)
[personal profile] squirmelia
It was lunchtime and I headed to the Custom House Lower Stairs.

A Paw Patrol toy washed up on the shore. I thought about the child that might have dropped it and felt sad for them. The toy seemed very buoyant, so could have travelled far along the Thames.

I found what I thought was a strange tool at the time but now think it's probably just a shell that got stuck to rusting metal. The Thames is trying to craft its own tools.

I found a red swirly sherd, with a similar pattern to another piece I found previously.

Mudlarking finds - 46

Mudlarking finds - rustyMudlarking finds - rusty

(You need a permit to search or mudlark on the Thames foreshore.)

(no subject)

Sep. 26th, 2025 01:03 am
vampwillow: (lii)
[personal profile] vampwillow
May the bridges I burn light the way for those who come after me.
anais_pf: (Default)
[personal profile] anais_pf posting in [community profile] thefridayfive
These questions were originally suggested by [livejournal.com profile] bricksonbricks.

1. Do you consider yourself to be a good housekeeper? Why or why not?

2. Are there any household chores that you enjoy doing? If so, what and why?

3. Which household chore frustrates/angers you the most?

4. When doing household chores, what do you do to make them seem less of a "chore"?

5. Which chore do you find yourself doing most often, and why?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

Other Stuff

Sep. 25th, 2025 06:28 pm
lnr: Halloween 2023 (Default)
[personal profile] lnr
I note I am doing other stuff, not just being grumpy about the EHRC, but this is a kind of handy place to keep track of the EHRC activism.

We had a good summer, with trips to Devon and Yorkshire, involving a lot of hills and waterfalls :)

Now we're back into the routine of school and work, but Mike and I had a nice day off together to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.

I'm also starting to put together plans to celebrate my 50th birthday in November. Well, the birthday is in November, some of the plans are actually for the end of October because that's when half term is and we can go away for a few days with family. Extra long birthday :)

Still not sure whether to try do a big party, or just declare a pub and invite people to join me. Sadly mid-November is not the best time of year for outdoor events, and I'm not sure how to filter venues for "has really good air filtration system".

Got my NHS flu jab booked for next Friday, and my expensive covid one for the following week in town.

EHRC Guidance

Sep. 25th, 2025 06:25 pm
lnr: Halloween 2023 (Default)
[personal profile] lnr
Wrote to my MP yesterday. Still dreading the point when the guidance actually drops, and we have to actually stand up and say "No, we will not comply" at work. (Yes, I'll be saying that too, even though I'm not trans myself - and I changed my record in Employee self service so I now decline to answer the question of whether I'm trans or not).


Dear Pippa Heylings,

I'm writing as one of your constituents, to ask that you press for the new EHRC guidance in the light of the Supreme Court ruling to be discussed in Parliament, and not simply approved by the Minister for Women and Equalities without any further consideration as to its impact on trans people.

When I filled in the consultation I was appalled that the guidance did not give any advice to individuals or organisations who wanted to be trans inclusive, and I am concerned that the feedback of me, and many others like me, may not have been taken into account.

I note that the "Not in our name" petition, on behalf of women in the UK who do not wish trans people to be excluded, has now been signed by over 50 thousand women like me.

https://notinourname.org.uk/petition/not-in-our-name-women-in-support-of-the-trans-community/

As a member of staff at Cambridge University, and a member of the UCU branch committee, I would very much appreciate the opportunity to meet with you, even briefly, to discuss how important an issue this is, and how detrimental to society it would be to exclude trans people from being able to participate freely in everyday life as their true lived gender, in their place of work, as well as in healthcare and leisure settings.

But most important is ensuring that this guidance is not brought into place without government scrutiny, so I beg you again to try and ensure that it is discussed in parliament as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Eleanor Blair (she/her)
[address supplied]

Open House 2025

Sep. 25th, 2025 05:36 pm
squirmelia: (Default)
[personal profile] squirmelia
This year I visited:

The Royal Bell
11 Elstree Hill
The Bottle Factory
Thames Distillers (at the Bottle Factory)
London Coffee Factory (at the Bottle Factory)
St Michael Cornhill
Mansion House
Maughan Library at King’s College London

Internet Infrastructure of London walking tour
Hermitage Community Moorings (with sea shanties being sung)
Sailing Barge Will (at Hermitage Community Moorings)
Kinetic sculptures at Trinity Buoy Wharf
SS Robin at Trinity Buoy Wharf

Western Riverside Waste Authority

Investigating a forged PDF

Sep. 24th, 2025 12:24 pm
[personal profile] mjg59
I had to rent a house for a couple of months recently, which is long enough in California that it pushes you into proper tenant protection law. As landlords tend to do, they failed to return my security deposit within the 21 days required by law, having already failed to provide the required notification that I was entitled to an inspection before moving out. Cue some tedious argumentation with the letting agency, and eventually me threatening to take them to small claims court.

This post is not about that.

Now, under Californian law, the onus is on the landlord to hold and return the security deposit - the agency has no role in this. The only reason I was talking to them is that my lease didn't mention the name or address of the landlord (another legal violation, but the outcome is just that you get to serve the landlord via the agency). So it was a bit surprising when I received an email from the owner of the agency informing me that they did not hold the deposit and so were not liable - I already knew this.

The odd bit about this, though, is that they sent me another copy of the contract, asserting that it made it clear that the landlord held the deposit. I read it, and instead found a clause reading SECURITY: The security deposit will secure the performance of Tenant’s obligations. IER may, but will not be obligated to, apply all portions of said deposit on account of Tenant’s obligations. Any balance remaining upon termination will be returned to Tenant. Tenant will not have the right to apply the security deposit in payment of the last month’s rent. Security deposit held at IER Trust Account., where IER is International Executive Rentals, the agency in question. Why send me a contract that says you hold the money while you're telling me you don't? And then I read further down and found this:
Text reading ENTIRE AGREEMENT: The foregoing constitutes the entire agreement between the parties and may bemodified only in writing signed by all parties. This agreement and any modifications, including anyphotocopy or facsimile, may be signed in one or more counterparts, each of which will be deemed anoriginal and all of which taken together will constitute one and the same instrument. The followingexhibits, if checked, have been made a part of this Agreement before the parties’ execution:۞Exhibit 1:Lead-Based Paint Disclosure (Required by Law for Rental Property Built Prior to 1978)۞Addendum 1 The security deposit will be held by (name removed) and applied, refunded, or forfeited in accordance with the terms of this lease agreement.
Ok, fair enough, there's an addendum that says the landlord has it (I've removed the landlord's name, it's present in the original).

Except. I had no recollection of that addendum. I went back to the copy of the contract I had and discovered:
The same text as the previous picture, but addendum 1 is empty
Huh! But obviously I could just have edited that to remove it (there's no obvious reason for me to, but whatever), and then it'd be my word against theirs. However, I'd been sent the document via RightSignature, an online document signing platform, and they'd added a certification page that looked like this:
A Signature Certificate, containing a bunch of data about the document including a checksum or the original
Interestingly, the certificate page was identical in both documents, including the checksums, despite the content being different. So, how do I show which one is legitimate? You'd think given this certificate page this would be trivial, but RightSignature provides no documented mechanism whatsoever for anyone to verify any of the fields in the certificate, which is annoying but let's see what we can do anyway.

First up, let's look at the PDF metadata. pdftk has a dump_data command that dumps the metadata in the document, including the creation date and the modification date. My file had both set to identical timestamps in June, both listed in UTC, corresponding to the time I'd signed the document. The file containing the addendum? The same creation time, but a modification time of this Monday, shortly before it was sent to me. This time, the modification timestamp was in Pacific Daylight Time, the timezone currently observed in California. In addition, the data included two ID fields, ID0 and ID1. In my document both were identical, in the one with the addendum ID0 matched mine but ID1 was different.

These ID tags are intended to be some form of representation (such as a hash) of the document. ID0 is set when the document is created and should not be modified afterwards - ID1 initially identical to ID0, but changes when the document is modified. This is intended to allow tooling to identify whether two documents are modified versions of the same document. The identical ID0 indicated that the document with the addendum was originally identical to mine, and the different ID1 that it had been modified.

Well, ok, that seems like a pretty strong demonstration. I had the "I have a very particular set of skills" conversation with the agency and pointed these facts out, that they were an extremely strong indication that my copy was authentic and their one wasn't, and they responded that the document was "re-sealed" every time it was downloaded from RightSignature and that would explain the modifications. This doesn't seem plausible, but it's an argument. Let's go further.

My next move was pdfalyzer, which allows you to pull a PDF apart into its component pieces. This revealed that the documents were identical, other than page 3, the one with the addendum. This page included tags entitled "touchUp_TextEdit", evidence that the page had been modified using Acrobat. But in itself, that doesn't prove anything - obviously it had been edited at some point to insert the landlord's name, it doesn't prove whether it happened before or after the signing.

But in the process of editing, Acrobat appeared to have renamed all the font references on that page into a different format. Every other page had a consistent naming scheme for the fonts, and they matched the scheme in the page 3 I had. Again, that doesn't tell us whether the renaming happened before or after the signing. Or does it?

You see, when I completed my signing, RightSignature inserted my name into the document, and did so using a font that wasn't otherwise present in the document (Courier, in this case). That font was named identically throughout the document, except on page 3, where it was named in the same manner as every other font that Acrobat had renamed. Given the font wasn't present in the document until after I'd signed it, this is proof that the page was edited after signing.

But eh this is all very convoluted. Surely there's an easier way? Thankfully yes, although I hate it. RightSignature had sent me a link to view my signed copy of the document. When I went there it presented it to me as the original PDF with my signature overlaid on top. Hitting F12 gave me the network tab, and I could see a reference to a base.pdf. Downloading that gave me the original PDF, pre-signature. Running sha256sum on it gave me an identical hash to the "Original checksum" field. Needless to say, it did not contain the addendum.

Why do this? The only explanation I can come up with (and I am obviously guessing here, I may be incorrect!) is that International Executive Rentals realised that they'd sent me a contract which could mean that they were liable for the return of my deposit, even though they'd already given it to my landlord, and after realising this added the addendum, sent it to me, and assumed that I just wouldn't notice (or that, if I did, I wouldn't be able to prove anything). In the process they went from an extremely unlikely possibility of having civil liability for a few thousand dollars (even if they were holding the deposit it's still the landlord's legal duty to return it, as far as I can tell) to doing something that looks extremely like forgery.

There's a hilarious followup. After this happened, the agency offered to do a screenshare with me showing them logging into RightSignature and showing the signed file with the addendum, and then proceeded to do so. One minor problem - the "Send for signature" button was still there, just below a field saying "Uploaded: 09/22/25". I asked them to search for my name, and it popped up two hits - one marked draft, one marked completed. The one marked completed? Didn't contain the addendum.

Open House

Sep. 23rd, 2025 08:14 pm
squirmelia: (Default)
[personal profile] squirmelia
I enjoy the randomness of Open House.

One minute I'm eating rhubarb cake in a neighbour's self build and looking at old photos of how my street used to look, and the next I'm by the river and amongst boats, tapping my feet as people sing sea shanties, and climbing down a ladder on a sailing barge, and then I'm learning about how to become lord mayor and how they clean the chandeliers, then I'm listening to birds chirping amongst piles of rubbish, and then I'm watching kinetic sculptures in the rain and there's a dolphin riding a penny farthing, and then I'm on the helm of a Victorian steam ship pretending to steer it, and then I'm standing next to bags of coffee and holding a handful of coffee beans that have yet to be roasted, and then I'm standing next to "Thumbelina", a machine used for distilling gin, and then I'm peering at manhole covers and staring at stone carvings of telephones.

Stuff

Sep. 23rd, 2025 05:01 pm
vampwillow: Red Sox (bosox)
[personal profile] vampwillow
Yeah, well, boring life is still pretty boring. The weather, especially the temperature, has led to me deciding that I'm unlikely to take more caravan trips this year, and I'm pondering where I actually want to go next year.

My RedSox are taking it down to the wire as to whether they'll make postseason - with six games to go it's still not guaranteed.

Worryingly there is, aiui, a possibility that DreamWidth might get geoblocked in the UK because of the government's stupid 'child protection demands proof of age' stuff. Already it's blocked from one US State for such a reason.

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