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holtopia.bsky.social
Holly
@holtopia.bsky.social
180 followers 460 following 81 posts
Bird friend, library, and Makerspace fan. She/her.
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holtopia.bsky.social
“There isn’t a hoop height regulation in budgie basketball…”
Furiosa the blue budgie sits on a wooden perch in the foreground. A colourful xylophone is behind her.
September 7, 2025 at 9:56 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
Testing the camera just added to a new 3D printer!
The Prusa app interface shows the camera view for a 3D printer. A lined loose leaf sheet of paper rests on the printer plate, which is illuminated, and has “Hi Mom” written in sharpie with a heart replacing the “I” dot.
August 1, 2025 at 6:08 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
Thinking about… them.
Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch staring intently at his upcycled cardboard laptop. Big Bird sitting at a conference table surrounded by writers on laptops. Big Bird has a thousand mile stare. The Yip Yip Martian muppets look to camera, astonished. There’s an Apple IIe computer on the desk beside them. It’s hard to read but there may be some options and a prompt on the white text on black monitor. Cookie Monster’s hands are thrown up in a quasi shruggie gesture. There’s an old style microphone on a stand at his desk. Is he podcasting?
May 5, 2025 at 4:57 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
This parkade downtown is flooded but beautiful - certainly a mood.
The P3 level of the Milner parkade features a distinctive and low waffle pattern concrete ceiling with fluorescent lighting - the parkade is flooded by 2-5” of water, and the reflections of the ceiling and lights give the white walls with black stripes a striking and ethereal look.
February 27, 2025 at 6:15 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
What’s up, migrainers?
Ensign Harry Kim smiles beatifically while he’s blasted by a phaser held by a hand with the shooter out of frame. The EMH is behind him on the bridge of USS Voyager. I forget which episode this is! At the center of the phaser blast it says migraine, the arm is captioned with “the weather” and Harry himself is captioned with “me” Quark - the mischievous owner of Quark’s Bar - clings to DS9 security Odo in a tight embrace, smirking in an oddly earnest way. Odo wears a very unimpressed expression. This is their vibe from seasons 1-5 of DS9. The author has added me over Odo and January over Quark. From DS9 episode, To the death, Weyoun and three Jem Hadar stand shoulder to shoulder. The author has added the captions: anxiety from world events, the luminosity of snow, barometric pressure, and humidity.
January 31, 2025 at 12:28 AM
holtopia.bsky.social
This queer fantasy adventure pirate tale - The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty was one of my favourite audiobook listens last year. The narration by Lameece Issaq and Amin El Gamal are some of the best performances I’ve ever heard.
The cover of The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty is pictured. The has an illustrated galleon wrapped with pink tentacles in dark waters and against a yellow and blue sky.
January 30, 2025 at 5:54 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
Condolences if this has also been you the last few days. 😵
A barometric pressure graph from a SensorPush device shows a 20.0+ mb swing between late Sunday (938.0mb) and early Tuesday (914.3mb), then reversing again over Tuesday and Wednesday. A stick figure experiencing migraine pain has been doodled over the valley.
November 13, 2024 at 6:11 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
Some recent flora photos from the Muttart Conservatory #yeg
A beam of light sunlight streams through the centre of two large, shaded circular deep green leaves (I can’t remember the plant) - taken at Muttart conservatory The light green, bead-like strands of a burro’s tail plant are shown on the left with sunlight coming across from the right - from the arid pyramid at Muttart conservatory A cascade of light green, tiny flat fronds from a fern-like tree (I forgot the name) hang in the middle of the photo, with bright sunlight putting some in detail and causing others to glow - taken in the temperate pyramid of the Muttart conservatory A study of deeper green fronds from a fern - possibly a sword fern but I can’t quite remember! The fronds sections are blade like and wavy - attached to a brown branch running through the center. Taken in the temperate pyramid at the Muttart conservatory
October 30, 2024 at 3:56 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #340,744!
A simple web card with the BlueSky logo in the top right corner. centered text says “celebrating 10 million users” and a large #340,744 with a blue “certified first 10%” stamp. Shows my username and my join date on opposite sides of the card footer.
September 17, 2024 at 1:25 AM
holtopia.bsky.social
So excited to be listening to this audiobook edition of How Infrastructure Works by Deb Chachra borrowed from the local library! Already hooting and hollering during the first chapter.
The cover for the audiobook edition of How Infrastructure Works: Inside Systems That Shape Our World by Deb Chachra - the cover features the title text and an asphalt background with spray paint construction markings.
July 31, 2024 at 4:32 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
It’s exciting to see video games made collaboratively by local post-secondary students (as capstone projects) on EPL’s wall today! #yeg
The 1.5 story digital wall in the central atrium at the EPL Stanley A Milner branch is shown. On touchscreens at the person height there are six student games featured - these have been made as collaborative capstone projects by local post secondary students at NAIT and MacEwan
May 14, 2024 at 6:26 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
Filtration and safety with style! 😎
May 11, 2024 at 6:44 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
When the AQI cloud is purple (9-10+), the newly rebuilt corsi rosenthal box appears! #yeg
May 11, 2024 at 6:30 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
Lots of colour at Edmonton’s Muttart Conservatory yesterday!
Two rows of coleus are pictured - vibrant red and red and green leaves. There’s a mist running between the two rows. Pink, yellow, orange, and fuschia orchids are pictured in a cascade - their petals are in perfect condition and the sunlight on them is almost glowing. The tall yellow cylindrical flowers of a lollipop plant (I believe) is pictured surrounded by flat and round green leaves. This is found in the tropical pyramid. A desert plant (forgot to check the name) has tiny and cute petals with many tiny flowers on each stalk that are frilly - they are yellow, pink, orange, and fuschia.
September 24, 2023 at 7:16 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
The leaves of an indoor coleus plant (purple and green arrow shapes with gentle round serrated edges off a long green stalk) are illuminated by a beam of morning sunlight.
August 14, 2023 at 4:23 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
Here are some of my favourite bird photos from the first half of 2023. Got any fav bird photos, folks?
A boreal chickadee sits on bare deciduous branches in early spring. The small songbird has a brown cap and backfeathers, black cheeks, and white front with light brown flanks. A black and white magpie with a curved tail investigates an open margarine tub that has somehow found it’s way onto a large, frosted deciduous tree branch in early spring. A crow with a glinting eye is pictured on a field of brown grass in a dry spring, looking away from the camera. The crow is in the lower left corner of the frame. A close shot of a nuthatch on a bare section of pine branch. The bird has a black cap, white cheeks with a dark band running across the eyes, and an orange breast.
July 29, 2023 at 5:27 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
I read “The Soul of a New Machine” by Tracy Kidder fairly recently and loved it. Does anyone have similar recommendations for hardware or software focused reads like this?

(I’m also a fan of AMC series Halt and Catch Fire!)
July 27, 2023 at 10:07 PM
holtopia.bsky.social
Any oscilloscope fans out there on Bluesky? What kind of hat does yours wear?
A handsome, functional vintage RCA oscilloscope is pictured. A small rectangular CRT with dials in silver and red against a black and silver faceplate. Likely used to repair TVs. I’m learning how to use it and like visualizing sound waves.
July 27, 2023 at 4:23 AM
holtopia.bsky.social
That rock post blew up by 12 likes (phew, too kind all!). Following it up with a PLANT reply.
A close up showing a broad leafed fern’s fronds - they look healthy and green taken inside Tyrell Museum’s arboretum! Boston-like, but not sure what it is! A really close view of a palm’s um leaf. I should learn more about plants. The leaf is deep green and the stalk is a green yellow. There are droplets of water gathered around the leaf ribs (?). Inside Tyrrell Museum. An berry producing tree is pictured with a close shot of leaves, a single red berry, and the thin branch in background. Taken at Hoodoos in Drumheller, where it’s actually pretty challenging to find lush green things. A scrappy badlands plant of some sort is pictured. It has grey green stalks ending in yellow flowers - a delicate effect but this plant looks tough as heck and seems to break rocks apart with its roots. Summer evening light is illuminating the plant.
July 26, 2023 at 4:19 AM
holtopia.bsky.social
I’m not really sure what people post about here yet, so I’m posting some photos I took of rocks.
A rock - maybe a mudstone? covered in shale, next to a plant with light grey green leaves, taken at Dinosaur Provincial Park. Layers of mudstone and sandstone at the Hoodoos in Drumheller. The evening summer light is dappled over these rocks. A weird little guy composed of 4 rocks with 2 additional rock arms. Might be some mudstones! Taken at Hoodoos in the evening in Drumheller. A tragically artistic attempt at photographing a large rock - probably a sand or mudstone with one face sheared off. The rock is light brown and shades of white and grey. Another rock is in soft bokeh in the background.
July 26, 2023 at 1:52 AM