Prusa's big sale proved more than I could resist - I ordered a Core One with the filtration kit. At least temporarily I’ll have two printers at the same time.

Next up I’ll build a shopping list to take advantage of the sale and free shipping on Prusament.

And yes there goes my Christmas money 😜

For anyone interested in Prusa printers and supplies they’re have a major sale for the next month including free shipping. Even filament, nozzles and sheets are on sale and can qualify for free shipping.

I may finally pull the trigger on a Core One.

Prusa Black Friday 2025 Is Here: A Full Month of Discounts, Free Shipping & Gifts - Original Prusa 3D Printers blog.prusa3d.com/prusa-black-f

This kind of shenigans, which is becoming more common, is why I always seek to watch videos directly from the source. I especially notice space flight related YouTube channels which can’t be trusted.

More people watched a fake NVIDIA livestream than the real thing engadget.com/ai/more-people-wa engadget.com/ai/more-people-wa

I tried and liked Apple’s new native containers as opposed to Docker. Very lightweight and a strong security model and better network handling. But… there is no automatic restart nor persistence across reboots. Depending on the use case that is a bit of a deal breaker. Hopefully these capabilities will be added soon.

In related news the move of Plex and friends from my Linux box to the Mac mini went very well.

@cherizilla Hi! Am I hallucinating when I think you once mentioned using an AI to create some images for stories? Our 16 yo is doing an independent study project for his AP English class and has settled on world building (for a future novel). If you had an AI that worked well I’d like to share it with him. He doesn’t want to spend time on the images (that would be a project all by itself).

I decided to place a “reservation” for the new Icom IC-7300MK2 which they say will release by the end of the year. The MSRP I saw was exactly what I expected - pricey. I plan to sell my IC-7300 after it arrives.

Meanwhile I have plenty of time to second guess a purchase decision. Maybe it will be my Christmas gift.

On a related note, has anyone played with Apple’s new native containers?

github.com/apple/container

Being a glutton for punishment I’ve decided to move the Plex server from a Linux box to my Mac mini. I’ve moved Plex to new Linux boxes before and I remember a lot of gotchas. Thankfully I took some notes at the time. I’m sure throwing a Mac in the mix will add a few more.

First hurdle will be mounting the Linux SSD on the Mac and finding an efficient way to copy media to the new, larger, SSD while fixing file ownership and permissions.

Hopped on FT8 this week and completed 84 QSOs. Also got a surge past 400 activators hunted on pota.app.

Getting to the bottom of the low voltage and screwy SWR seems to have paid off.

The kooky SWR readings on my EFHW antenna re-appeared and this time I had time, and was in the mood, to track it down. Made a bit inconvenient by the fact I weatherproof outdoor connections. After this and that it apparently was a loose connection on one end of my lightning arrestor. Easy fix.

10m FT8 has been a bit frustrating though. I hear folks, psk reporter says folks hear me, but no QSOs nor attempted QSOs.

I've had several instances where my Icom 7300 produced lower power than it should. The first time the MFJ power supply output voltage had dropped significantly. Since then I've noticed the power drop twice and again the issue is under voltage but in these cases the power supply (Samlex) output is perfect.

Replug Samlex into the Rigrunner and the 7300 output goes up noticeably. Replug the 7300 into the Rigrunner and the output hits max. Not sure why. Connector oxidation or ?

I had seen so much hype about tailscale.com on YouTube I had mentally lumped it in with other social media influencer crap but after seeing a comment from someone very credible I checked it out today.

Tailscale is magic🪄 for accessing devices of any kind when you're not on your home network.👍🏻👍🏻

I loggedi into my Bluesky account for the first time in months. It was horrible for some reason. I muted a couple of folks and my timeline looked fine after that. But the roots of influence and amplification are still strong there.

Got on HF for the first time in a couple of months and made a few contacts but my radio's output didn't seem normal. Changed bands and the radio wouldn't even tune ones it should tune easily on my EFHW.

The NanoVNA reported high SWR as well.

I'll need to find a day when I feel patient enough to try to track this down. One of the first steps will likely be to remove the lightning arrestor in case it is to blame. But I can imagine any of a number of culprits.

Qualcomm bought Arduino which is an “I don’t care” event to me. I stopped buying their gear back when they claimed to be open source hardware but refused to publish design files.

Decided to use my PETG Carbon Fiber filament today so installed a hardened nozzle and went into my printer’s settings only to discover I’d had hardened nozzle selected for who know how many days of printing.

No harm, no foul I suppose.

In the good news department the model printed fine using PETG-CF.

If I were to design my own SBC all of the connectors would be on one side.

Another advantage of a human vs AI agent:

When I am talking to an agent on the phone I can tell from their voice whether I can trust the answers.

With AI there is no way to tell. I just have to dig through the details myself. And yes today AI confidently gave me an answer that was exactly wrong.

Studies in geometry

I’ve used Things3 as my task manager across all my devices for years but the recent issues nudged me to check the current state of Apple’s Reminders app. It is much better than years ago so I’ve dumped Things. Reminders has a great, natural, method of integration with Notes and also works more seamlessly with Siri. It is all made better by the windowing on iPadOS 26. Less friction is a happier life.

I started planning on a GPU upgrade for the gaming PC which currently has a 8GB RX 6600. NewEgg has a GPU trade in program which seems to offer decent value. Extra tempting.

N.B. Yes I know private sale can yield a better price blah blah blah

OK, I guess Apple meant it this time.

After years hearing how they were going to make the iPad a multitasking device they’ve achieved it for my usage. I had no intention of “testing” this claim this morning but I needed to do a multi-hour project that involved constantly looking at/switching 3 different apps. Before I would have quickly jumped to my mini with the 27” screen out of annoyance. But today it all felt very natural on the iPad Air 11”.

Not a Mac replacement but still 👍🏼👍🏼

Content warning:Grumpy post about Things3

I must have woken up itching for a fight.

I updated to iPadOS 26, which is great, but Things3 updated and now keyboard navigation in text fields is broken. They’ve hijacked shortcuts that are on Apple’s “do not hijack” list and I’m ready to dump the app. Overreaction? Maybe. But’s like
Apple: Let’s make the iPad more capable like a computer
Things3: Nope, let’s break system-wide keyboard shortcuts

I did contact them and I’m hoping for a workaround/fix.

Content warning:Parenting milestone

Our 21 year old daughter has worked since she was 16 (her own choice) entirely in hourly retail positions. Today, after a long search, she started her first full time job, with full benefits, as an administrative assistant at a law firm. She is also on the cusp of finishing her associates degree. She has fought hard for this and done it her own way so we’re very happy for her.

This is cool. Borderlands 4 and Cyberpunk both have shared cosplay related models on Printables. Free to download.
printables.com/@Borderlands

printables.com/@CDPROJEKTRED