Urban Monkey
@umonkey.bsky.social
Vladimir. Software engineer, forest lover, tree grower, country living enthusiast. Yerevan, Armenia.
Currently interested in local travel and urban tree care activities.
https://myga.am/ · https://umonkey.net/
Currently interested in local travel and urban tree care activities.
https://myga.am/ · https://umonkey.net/
Found a few species of the Persian oak, which is the second best option for guerilla gardening. It's also native to the region.
September 28, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Found a few species of the Persian oak, which is the second best option for guerilla gardening. It's also native to the region.
I had a brilliant idea of starting a grassroots campaign to plant #ailanthus on all wastelands since it doesn't need water and stuff and just grows. After reading a little more about it, it looks like a bad idea.
September 28, 2025 at 6:52 PM
I had a brilliant idea of starting a grassroots campaign to plant #ailanthus on all wastelands since it doesn't need water and stuff and just grows. After reading a little more about it, it looks like a bad idea.
Our guide promoting meadow lawns for Yerevan is finally published! Now we're looking for business owners and parks to partner with us on a pilot project. #KanachYerevan
September 26, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Our guide promoting meadow lawns for Yerevan is finally published! Now we're looking for business owners and parks to partner with us on a pilot project. #KanachYerevan
#DJI Osmo Nano looks great and very handy. But the built-in battery is a blocker because if something happens, I can't even send it for repair. No local delivery services accept batteries. I already have a broken Pocket 3 under warranty which I cannot replace. :(
September 24, 2025 at 5:00 PM
#DJI Osmo Nano looks great and very handy. But the built-in battery is a blocker because if something happens, I can't even send it for repair. No local delivery services accept batteries. I already have a broken Pocket 3 under warranty which I cannot replace. :(
August 26, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Trying #Kdenlive over #Lightworks, which requires me to pay $10/mo for low bitrate 1080p export, and wants another $10/mo for subtitles. The UI seems a little overcomplicated, but it works so far.
July 16, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Trying #Kdenlive over #Lightworks, which requires me to pay $10/mo for low bitrate 1080p export, and wants another $10/mo for subtitles. The UI seems a little overcomplicated, but it works so far.
Made 4 wicking beds this year, growing trees on my balcony. Works great, zero issues with watering so far. Elms and ashes are doing very good. Honey locust and creepers are also ok.
June 20, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Made 4 wicking beds this year, growing trees on my balcony. Works great, zero issues with watering so far. Elms and ashes are doing very good. Honey locust and creepers are also ok.
Just bought myself Sony WF-C510. Multipoint connectivity is just mind blowing. Never heard of it. Very convenient.
June 12, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Just bought myself Sony WF-C510. Multipoint connectivity is just mind blowing. Never heard of it. Very convenient.
Was discussing a potential community garden project with a local green activist community. Very excited.
April 5, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Was discussing a potential community garden project with a local green activist community. Very excited.
Finally printed something useful: a 40 mm handle for the fat #Razer mic. Gave a second life to an old shock mount with that and some rubber bands for hair.
March 29, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Finally printed something useful: a 40 mm handle for the fat #Razer mic. Gave a second life to an old shock mount with that and some rubber bands for hair.
Yesterday, we had our first tree mapping session of the year. We found quite a few areas for improvement. I'm glad I rewrote the app with #Svelte; it makes it so much easier to work with.
March 24, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Yesterday, we had our first tree mapping session of the year. We found quite a few areas for improvement. I'm glad I rewrote the app with #Svelte; it makes it so much easier to work with.
Just realized that background blur in portrait videos actually increases overall picture quality, because the codec doesn't have to waste bitrate on unnecessary background details. Very much like motion blur.
February 26, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Just realized that background blur in portrait videos actually increases overall picture quality, because the codec doesn't have to waste bitrate on unnecessary background details. Very much like motion blur.
Updated my LSP integration in Neovim. Changed direct rust-analyzer integration to ra-multiplex. The LSP is actually helpful now, not just slowing things down!
February 10, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Updated my LSP integration in Neovim. Changed direct rust-analyzer integration to ra-multiplex. The LSP is actually helpful now, not just slowing things down!
Tried to fly my drone today in Yerevan, but couldn't unlock the GEO zone. I did that a couple of times from the #DJI Fly app, but now it sends me to a site where I should upload some document scans which I don't have. Grrr.
February 7, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Tried to fly my drone today in Yerevan, but couldn't unlock the GEO zone. I did that a couple of times from the #DJI Fly app, but now it sends me to a site where I should upload some document scans which I don't have. Grrr.
I got into static websites via Poole, which is now more or less dead. Then briefly switched to Jekyll, because GitHub has native support for that, and now switched to Zola. Like everything around Rust, it's blazing fast.
January 28, 2025 at 7:52 PM
I got into static websites via Poole, which is now more or less dead. Then briefly switched to Jekyll, because GitHub has native support for that, and now switched to Zola. Like everything around Rust, it's blazing fast.
Started sending our tree data to #OpenStreetMap. Was ordered to stop and follow procedures. Wrote a couple of wiki pages, and now need to write a comprehensive import plan and discuss it in the mailing list. All that for a couple of thousand trees. Frustrating and demotivating.
January 11, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Started sending our tree data to #OpenStreetMap. Was ordered to stop and follow procedures. Wrote a couple of wiki pages, and now need to write a comprehensive import plan and discuss it in the mailing list. All that for a couple of thousand trees. Frustrating and demotivating.
Got flooded with "Like Duolingo but for xyz" app ads at some point and decided to make one about trees, for fun. It turned out to be useful for our volunteers.
January 4, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Got flooded with "Like Duolingo but for xyz" app ads at some point and decided to make one about trees, for fun. It turned out to be useful for our volunteers.
4 years after getting a Mini 2, I discovered that it can do spherical panoramas, which can be uploaded to Google Maps. Still have to find a use for them wrt tree protection, but looks exciting anyway. Would be cool if BlueSky supported them natively.
January 3, 2025 at 7:01 PM
4 years after getting a Mini 2, I discovered that it can do spherical panoramas, which can be uploaded to Google Maps. Still have to find a use for them wrt tree protection, but looks exciting anyway. Would be cool if BlueSky supported them natively.
I once made an XMPP client with Python and Tk. That was like 14 years ago. I wouldn't even remember if not stumbled on a screenshot by accident.
December 18, 2024 at 8:01 AM
I once made an XMPP client with Python and Tk. That was like 14 years ago. I wouldn't even remember if not stumbled on a screenshot by accident.
Realized that with #GitHub actions I can automatically create TOC and backlinks in the wiki, so I dumped my DIY knowledge base and moved to a private GitHub repo a few months ago. Still enjoying it.
December 10, 2024 at 9:00 AM
Realized that with #GitHub actions I can automatically create TOC and backlinks in the wiki, so I dumped my DIY knowledge base and moved to a private GitHub repo a few months ago. Still enjoying it.
Tried many video editors for #Linux, probably all of them. Most of them still suck. #Lightworks leads by a wide margin. But it limits bitrate in create mode ($10/mo). It wants me to pay $30/mo just for a decent bitrate. Frustrating.
December 8, 2024 at 7:11 PM
Tried many video editors for #Linux, probably all of them. Most of them still suck. #Lightworks leads by a wide margin. But it limits bitrate in create mode ($10/mo). It wants me to pay $30/mo just for a decent bitrate. Frustrating.