#MonarchMonday When it's late in the migration season and the Monarch cats I've taken into protective custody achieve adulthood, I know that I can give them a shortcut to the late migration route, since I know where it is already, and so when there's frost in the forecast, I know where they'll still be safe close to that route and provide limo service there. Photo shows a Monarch perched on the backrest of the passenger side of the car, taking in the sights through the window.
#MonarchMonday In a previous post I did say that there were not quite twice the number of Monarchs overwintering in Mexico than there were last year; The World Wildlife Fund has been keeping track, and here's their chart, which is still alarming even so.
There'll be more on the topic April 20th on "60 Minutes" when Monarch Watch retiree, Chip Taylor, gets interviewed.
#MonarchMonday I've been behaving myself on this instance so far, but be ye warned that when it's Caturday, I'll post caterpillar pictures. They're cats too. This pic is of a 5th instar cat eating the peel off of a seed pod of a milkweed vine called Honeyvine. Too often it's not recognized as a milkweed and is removed under the belief that it is "invasive". It is not--its "problem" is that the seeds are highly vigorous and they don't all emerge at the same time; the ones that delay, or emerge during the pre-fall emergence event, give the impression that they've come up from neighboring vines. They do NOT.
#MonarchMonday This is a somewhat side-view of a Monarch egg in the process of hatching, so if you look closely, you can see that this, too, looks like just a black head up top but you can also see a tiny white patch where the mandibles are--this kid is getting a grip on a shell ridge to chew on to break out.
@Nazani The States have had weird weather for the past 3 years running, so you're not alone. They've also severely dropped in population number, too. We do have hope this year because compared to last year, the overwintering population in Mexico was not quite but almost doubled this year. I too had zero Monarch activity last year, and very meagre the prior year. It can only get better, I hope.
#MonarchMonday This is a pic of a Monarch egg that's fully ripe and ready to hatch, with the caterpillar's tiny black head at the top of the egg, as you're looking down on it.
#MonarchMonday Those migrants haven't reached the north central part of Oklahoma yet but according to Journey North, they've appeared in the southern part of the state at this point...so here's a pic of past Monarch activity here. This is a portrait of a newly hatched bebby.
This explains why I get highly irked when journos and Daily Show people explain that tariff formula in oversimplistic terms, invariably ignoring that triangle preceding the tau in that equation, invariably claiming that triangle-tau = plain tariff rate. That triangle (delta) indicates the amount of the change in the tariff and there was already an across-the-board 10% baseline tariff in place. Delta tau equals the change in the existing 10% tariff, not the gdamn total tariff, ya morons.
I made some updates to the server's PHP-FPM configuration using the advise of a site to optimize PHP_FPM. So far so well. I have noticed better performance and stability and I am hoping that at this point the Instance is stable enough to handle the mild pressure it receives from its few users.
I am also working through a list of server optimizations for Friendica. Some I already had in play others needed tweaks. Stability is my main priority. I have limited the number of Users to 100. I will increase this if we reach 100 users and the Instance handles the load well.
@Unus Nemo I definitely noticed improved performance during last night's Hashtag Games, and I did overlook mentioning that every Sunday, about the same time as the games, is Monsterdon. Depending on the featured movie, I'm an occasional participant in that too, and I notice some Hashtag Games regulars will sometimes participate in that, too. In the interest of putting in a higher network demand, I should make a point of participating in the next Monsterdon as well as Hashtag Games next Sunday, methinks.
The Instance survived a Hashtag Games event, that is good 😉. I am glad you noticed a performance increase as well. Thank you for your efforts in helping to get the Instance stable.
This is a small Instance intended for family and friends to communicate. This Instance is not for Marketing your services or products. I do not mind if you mention your product or service though you may not make constant mention of it spamming other users.
I do not have the resources for a person to effectively launch a marketing program from my Instance. Not to mention the Instances propagation is not what you would desire for marketing. If you want to market on Friendica I recommend going to a larger Instance. It will not be allowed here.
Please refer to the TOS & Rules regarding this behavior
I was wondering why there was an image of a Wheel Bug in that poster, but now that I've looked this thing up, this is a disease spread by "kissing bugs"....which are a relative of the Wheel Bug--a type of Assassin Bug--so that explains that.
You just slip out the back, Jack Make a new plan, Stan You don’t need to be coy, Roy Just get yourself free Hop on the bus, Gus You don’t need to discuss much Just drop off the key, Lee And get yourself free
This is just a general announcement that I will be rebuilding the backend of the server that this Friendica Instance operates on within a month. I will give notice when I have a specific date.
Within the first week of being on The Fediverse I decided I was going to have my own Friendica Instance. I like Friendica more than any of the other Instance types I have ran into for many reasons. That does not mean it is exactly what I want it to be. I do plan many improvements as I have more time to work on them. For now I am just trying to get this Instance stable.
In my rush to get my Instance up I took some short cuts that I am now going to have to pay the price for. For instance my first install was via Tar Balls and I did not like the idea of how much work updates were going to be. Especially in applying needed patches between versions. So I re-installed via cloning the github project. This is always a bad idea. I should have forked the project first and then cloned from my own fork so tha
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Server Maintenance
This is just a general announcement that I will be rebuilding the backend of the server that this Friendica Instance operates on within a month. I will give notice when I have a specific date.
Within the first week of being on The Fediverse I decided I was going to have my own Friendica Instance. I like Friendica more than any of the other Instance types I have ran into for many reasons. That does not mean it is exactly what I want it to be. I do plan many improvements as I have more time to work on them. For now I am just trying to get this Instance stable.
In my rush to get my Instance up I took some short cuts that I am now going to have to pay the price for. For instance my first install was via Tar Balls and I did not like the idea of how much work updates were going to be. Especially in applying needed patches between versions. So I re-installed via cloning the github project. This is always a bad idea. I should have forked the project first and then cloned from my own fork so that I could maintain my own branch in a more sane fashion. So I will be doing what should have been done in the first place had I spent more time planning an researching instead of diving in.
What this means to Instance Users is that when I do redo the backend the server may be down for a few hours possibly more. I will be letting you know ahead of time to backup your profiles. I will of course backup the database before I begin though I feel it is important that you have a chance to do backups of your own should you feel the need. Personally I feel you should. You never know when some catastrophic issue could cause data loss. So it is not a bad idea to do regular backups on things you feel are important in any case.
Take care, I hope you are enjoying your time on The Fediverse and I will be sure to keep everyone up to date with scheduled maintenance.
@Unus Nemo The important thing is that you give notice. THE most important thing. Not sure how to back up my account, but now that you're letting us know in advance I have the ability to look into it before the outage. I appreciate you.
When it gets closer to the actual time I will be posting on how to backup your account. For now you can look in the help tab for more information in the Further Information section. You can always get to the help tab via the Main Menu I include links though to help you out at the moment.
Just to let users on the Instance know. I have Markdown and Mathjax Addons enabled. Though to use them you have to enable them in your settings. I have provided a few screenshots to show where the settings are.
Since I'm new to t his instance, I did a search on #solarpunk to see if I could find any of my friends from elsewhere on here, and no luck--but I did get a surprise. I'm not sure how the film #FLOW qualifies as solarpunk but I did find a lot of references to that.
I did see and enjoy the movie on HBO, and I actually watched it several times--not only is it beautiful but it gives a person a lot to think about in a possible world where humans suddenly become extinct, or move afar because of climate-generated disasters of which they got early warning and suddenly evacuated, leaving animals to fend for themselves.
So I would encourage you to see it if you haven't already, and by all means see it more than once because you're bound to notice things you didn't initially notice before.
The Instance went down again. Instead of rushing to get the instance back up I check some logs and it appears that when I increased the values I did not increase the pm.max_spare_servers. I allowed more to be generated but did not allow them to exist 😉. Which of course took php-fpm down.
I increased pm.max_spare_server so hopefully this time I have enough to handle the load. As you can see in the screenshot below as soon as more spare servers were added that brought it above 100, the whole service shutdown bringing the site down.
The setting still may need massaging. Time will show.
@Unus Nemo I dug 'way back to 2023 to recall the error messages I was originally getting on QOTO and Dr. Freemo was telling me I was the only one encountering them. It was a Rate Limit error, and the reason for that problem was that I was going straight to the Federated tab instead of the Home tab (the equivalent would be the Friendica "Conversations on this and other servers" circular tab, then choosing Other Servers. It turned out that I was indeed exceeding the Qoto rate limit by accessing the Fediverse. Dr. Freemo fixed that, once we nailed down what it was, but I've been getting the 500 error ever since. Hope this helps.
Thank you I appreciate the effort you have put in to help. I am waiting for the next HashTagGame event to see if the Instances crashes or not. I found a logic error in my configuration and I am hoping that my updates fixes the issue. If not I will keep working on it 😉.
@Unus Nemo Unless there's a technical disaster at Paul's end, it's always going to be at 9 pm Eastern...and even when his server goes down as it did recently, he's got a team to start it anyway. 😁 I did play Hashtag Games on Qoto with no problem, though--just sayin'. Just fishin' out possible clues when I find 'em.
I am fishing as well. It is the only thing that is new. I have been up for months at a time without a crash and suddenly it starts. Now of course just because two things happen at the same time does not mean it is related. There could be something else I am overlooking. Though I do know:
PHP-FPM started running out of idle server processes just as the game started being played. Now maybe it is just a coincidence I do not know.
I only had on other such glitch a month ago and it did not reoccur for a quite a while.
Error logs point to the server going down around the event time.
None of this is definite. And I may be barking up the wrong tree. Though I suspect that surviving the event without a crash will be a good indicator.
@Unus Nemo I guess the think to do is to keep after it until we find "the red X"....that is, narrow it down to the actual culprit. I do know that the thing here and Qoto have in common is that handling traffic from all those other servers in the Fediverse is like trying to drink from a fire hose, so it's not surprising that systems can get overwhelmed. Default display on this Friendica account is 40 messages and I dropped that down to 20. If you think dropping it down to 10 might be helpful, I'll certainly change that setting. I also have automatic refresh turned off because there's no way I can read or reply to stuff that comes in as fast as all that. I tried it before and it was frustrating, so I don't want to change that one....but that'll give you an idea of the fire hose effect is experienced at the user end when reading Global Other Servers.
40 messages should be fine. Though I agree with you on automatic refresh. The thing is that the instance should be stable with hundreds of users. We have 3 active users. There is no way I should be seeing any hiccups at this point. Unfortunately Friendica comes with an extremely poor default configuration. So I have had to work out fixes and stay on top of issues that other admins report on github. Friendica World has more than a 1000 users and though Ruud (the admin) has his issues it tells me that I should be able to handle more.
I do not expect to handle a thousand users mainly because I cannot afford a larger storage layer. So I am looking at realistically capping out at around 250. Most storage is not permanent but I still have to have enough to handle the flow of messages for the user base.
Though I appreciate the effort you put in I would like you to not take it easy on the server. I
40 messages should be fine. Though I agree with you on automatic refresh. The thing is that the instance should be stable with hundreds of users. We have 3 active users. There is no way I should be seeing any hiccups at this point. Unfortunately Friendica comes with an extremely poor default configuration. So I have had to work out fixes and stay on top of issues that other admins report on github. Friendica World has more than a 1000 users and though Ruud (the admin) has his issues it tells me that I should be able to handle more.
I do not expect to handle a thousand users mainly because I cannot afford a larger storage layer. So I am looking at realistically capping out at around 250. Most storage is not permanent but I still have to have enough to handle the flow of messages for the user base.
Though I appreciate the effort you put in I would like you to not take it easy on the server. It is important that I get the configuration right. Like I said with 3 active users (and a relay going) there should be no issue at all with resources giving out. PHP-FPM is not running out of resources due to them not being available it is running out of them due to the resources not being allocated to it.
We will eventually hit the X to be sure. It is just a matter of research and implementation. Thanks for your help.
Friendica is supposed to able to operate with far less resources than I have available on my VPS. I have dedicated that VPS to nothing but Friendica and support services for Friendica. I have only had this Instance up for a few months. So in time I will get it right 😉.
My friend the witch doctor, he told me what to say And he said Oo Ee Oo Ah Ah Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang Oo Ee Oo Ah Ah Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang
#radio #Shortwave #InternationalBroadcasting #HFUnderground #DXing Regarding my previous comments about HF Underground's bot, fanbot, being stuck in the 49 meter band then suggesting that the 25 meter band should have something on it, well, for those of you who are just discovering this medium, RN da Amazonia should provide good music listening right about now (1630 UTC, 7:30pm Central). Prior to this specified time I heard them play the classic Sergio Mendes "Mas Que Nada".
Reception conditions change over the course of the day, subject to daylight/darkness patterns, but if you're looking for a good place to start, here ya go. Shortwave radio is a great place to find pirates, such as what Radio Free Trumpistan might be someday.
“There is a movement afoot in America that says in order to protect and ‘save’ young boys and men, they must become disciples of the movement of White Jesus. Unlike Jesus Christ, White Jesus is on a violent quest for naked power and influence and wealth.”
~ Angela Denker, Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood (Minneapolis: Broadleaf, 2025), p. xii
A comprehensive look at the rise in radicalization among young white men in America, especially focused on the role of right-wing Christianity in the increase of religious-based hatred and violence.
An adult scrub cricket (Phaneroptera falcata) photographed with my iPhone 15 Pro and a lens over the main camera so I could focus close. I like the effect achieved by the shallow depth of field.
Un grillo de matorral adulto (Phaneroptera falcata) fotografiado con mi iPhone 15 Pro y una lente sobre la cámara principal para poder enfocar de cerca. Me gusta el efecto conseguido por la escasa profundidad de campo.
Eine ausgewachsene Laubheuschrecke (Phaneroptera falcata), fotografiert mit meinem iPhone 15 Pro und einem Objektiv über der Hauptkamera, um nah heran zu kommen. Mir gefällt der Effekt, der durch die geringe Schärfentiefe erzielt wird.
This proposal essentially ends U.S. leadership and dominance in space research and space-based astronomy.
"NASA’s science budget could be cut nearly in half under an early version of President Donald Trump’s budget proposal to Congress, a move that would terminate billions of dollars’ worth of ongoing and future missions."
Does it really? Or does it just open up direct contracts to Space X cutting out NASA? After all there is spending with SpaceX that is not affiliated with NASA and is affiliated with DoD and of course their private contracts. So does this really have an effect on Space X? Is this just a ploy to make it appear that Musk's Companies are not being favored?
Maybe I a full of it, though I cannot help but speculate.
note: Though I am no Elon Musk fan I still will not deny the good that SpaceX or the Open Source EV plans he shared have done. Just because an individual is an arse does not mean nothing they have done has helped us. I believe people tend to forget that.
@Unus Nemo Well, if a cut opens up contract opportunities for Space X, Space X still has half a budget that can be spent on it, so I don't look at it that way. In order for Space X to benefit, then more---not less--money would have been made available for it to exploit.
That cut is in NASA's budget right? So no it would not mean that there was less money for Space X, just NASA, right?
What I am pointing out is that if DoD orders X amount of rocket engines for missiles from SpaceX, that is their current supplier, then it does not come out of NASA's research budget. It comes out of DoD's budget. etc...
Although Bill Maher swears he “didn’t go MAGA” during his visit to the White House, he seems to have a new favorite dinner host. On Friday’s episode of Real
I was on the Instance off and on last night at work on breaks. When I got home I noticed the site was down again due to a HTTP 500 Error. I have done some more massaging to the php-fpm config though I will need to get some rack before I can dig into it and find out what optimum setting would be for my server giving its memory.
Sorry for any inconveniences still trying to tune the server. I am not sure at all how long the server has been down.
@Unus Nemo I know that it went down around 8:30pm Central, which is about when I'm playing hashtag games, which places me as Prime Suspect as to why, I'm afraid. ======== Oh--I also typically select Global, Other Servers; not sure if that helps either.
@plan-A @Unus Nemo Here it is hours later, as I post this comment, that it just now occurs to me that "HTTP 500 errors" in Friendica might very well be analogous to the "Internal Server error 500" I keep running into on the Mastodon instance Qoto. Previous snags on that is the main reason I thought I might be at fault here because my accessing other servers was causing some kind of other traffic errors, which admin fixed but that's when I started getting frequent 500 errors...thing is, Qoto was never unfunctional--it was still running once the error cleared itself. Hmmm....
Yes, an Internal Server Error 500 is a HTTP Error 500 though keep in mind that if something you are doing is causing the error then it should not. So that is my fault as the Server should be able to handle the issue. I will tweak the configuration until the issue is resolved. If the server does go down while you are doing something then it helps greatly when you tell me when and what you were doing at the time it went down. As you have been doing, thank you. Please note that I am the only administrator on this Instance and no one else can answer questions about it, no matter how well their intentions may be. Only I have the access to the logs and configuration that tells the tale and provides the answers. To fix and see what the problem might be. There is noway another user without administrative access could possibly give you meaningful answers regarding the instance.
Yes, an Internal Server Error 500 is a HTTP Error 500 though keep in mind that if something you are doing is causing the error then it should not. So that is my fault as the Server should be able to handle the issue. I will tweak the configuration until the issue is resolved. If the server does go down while you are doing something then it helps greatly when you tell me when and what you were doing at the time it went down. As you have been doing, thank you. Please note that I am the only administrator on this Instance and no one else can answer questions about it, no matter how well their intentions may be. Only I have the access to the logs and configuration that tells the tale and provides the answers. To fix and see what the problem might be. There is noway another user without administrative access could possibly give you meaningful answers regarding the instance.
The Error may happen because something you do, though the fault will always be mine. The maintenance and configuration of the server is my responsibility not anyone else. Just keep working with me and we will get this resolved.
Thanks for your help and sorry for the inconvenience.
I know you have the best of intentions though there is noway you can know that. You do not have access to the server side were the faults are. This is not a failing script issue as I initially thought it might be. It is the PHP-FPM configuration.
In fact it is likely the Hash Tag games that are causing the issue. At the end of the day, yes, it is my responsibility to fix this type of error and the poor configuration that allowed it to happen is my fault not the users. So it is my fault and no one else. Though, that does not eliminate that it was something a user did that took the server down due to the configuration issues. I need them to give me feedback to fix these issues. So please do not tell users of this Instance that what they did or did not do had any effect on the problem. There is noway for you to definitively or even accurately answer those type of questions..
@Unus Nemo Noted, and thank you for all the work you do. I hadn't gotten your email addy at the time, but as soon as this came back online, I looked for the...well, equivalent to About Us page....and now have that information pasted to a text file so upon the occurrence of a next-time, I will definitely email you. Happy to be of help.
Nazani
in reply to Radio Free Trumpistan • • •Radio Free Trumpistan likes this.
Radio Free Trumpistan
in reply to Nazani • •The States have had weird weather for the past 3 years running, so you're not alone. They've also severely dropped in population number, too. We do have hope this year because compared to last year, the overwintering population in Mexico was not quite but almost doubled this year. I too had zero Monarch activity last year, and very meagre the prior year. It can only get better, I hope.