David Faden
@util.bsky.social
Father, husband, software engineer, and analyst, interested in California native plants, Bayes, utilitarianism. Trying to stay curious about many things.
Finished "Rainbow's End" last night, 3rd book I've read from Vernor Vinge. I liked it. Would be curious to get a retrospective from the author reassessing it with the changes in tech since its 2006 publication date. I thank @moultano.bsky.social for introducing me to Vinge's work via a post here.
October 30, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Finished "Rainbow's End" last night, 3rd book I've read from Vernor Vinge. I liked it. Would be curious to get a retrospective from the author reassessing it with the changes in tech since its 2006 publication date. I thank @moultano.bsky.social for introducing me to Vinge's work via a post here.
Also happy to see what I think is soap plant popping up. I wasn't sure if it had survived or not. calscape.org/Chlorogalum-... I believe this one came from nativeherenursery.org in Berkeley.
October 29, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Also happy to see what I think is soap plant popping up. I wasn't sure if it had survived or not. calscape.org/Chlorogalum-... I believe this one came from nativeherenursery.org in Berkeley.
This was started on October 19th so took around 8 days to sprout.
October 29, 2025 at 2:56 AM
This was started on October 19th so took around 8 days to sprout.
Something that cheered me up yesterday: Idaho fescue sprouts! calscape.org/Festuca-idah... An earlier batch of the same seed failed to sprout at all earlier in the summer. Too warm?
October 29, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Something that cheered me up yesterday: Idaho fescue sprouts! calscape.org/Festuca-idah... An earlier batch of the same seed failed to sprout at all earlier in the summer. Too warm?
Maybe I'm being pedantic (or just wrongheaded), but this line from "The Great Mental Models" bugs me: "If you had perfect information, you would always make the best decision." Shouldn't that be "perfect information" plus "perfect reasoning"?
October 25, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Maybe I'm being pedantic (or just wrongheaded), but this line from "The Great Mental Models" bugs me: "If you had perfect information, you would always make the best decision." Shouldn't that be "perfect information" plus "perfect reasoning"?
Possible title: "blue sky divided". One benefit for me of using this site is that I like to imagine sharing nice photos of a blue sky, which gets me to look up at the sky and appreciate it more.
October 10, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Possible title: "blue sky divided". One benefit for me of using this site is that I like to imagine sharing nice photos of a blue sky, which gets me to look up at the sky and appreciate it more.
Having some fun with the Speech API: revfad.com/keompyuteo/. Source code: github.com/fadend/keomp...
September 22, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Having some fun with the Speech API: revfad.com/keompyuteo/. Source code: github.com/fadend/keomp...
Calscape is running a survey in partnership with a few other groups: morphonativeplants.github.io/redirect/. The images + alt text have more details.
#californianativeplants
#californianativeplants
September 17, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Calscape is running a survey in partnership with a few other groups: morphonativeplants.github.io/redirect/. The images + alt text have more details.
#californianativeplants
#californianativeplants
Was surprised to see a message complaining about Firefox on trpc.io. I notice that webcontainers.io claims Firefox support on their homepage.
August 24, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Was surprised to see a message complaining about Firefox on trpc.io. I notice that webcontainers.io claims Firefox support on their homepage.
One bit of happiness: today, I saw the first sprouts on some yarrow seeds sowed just 5 days ago. You can see I was pretty lazy about cleaning it up, but it worked :-) This is sourced from a local school garden that I helped with cleaning up last weekend.
August 17, 2025 at 12:04 AM
One bit of happiness: today, I saw the first sprouts on some yarrow seeds sowed just 5 days ago. You can see I was pretty lazy about cleaning it up, but it worked :-) This is sourced from a local school garden that I helped with cleaning up last weekend.
The sky is very blue today over Los Altos, CA.
August 15, 2025 at 9:39 PM
The sky is very blue today over Los Altos, CA.
So, I made revfad.com/zoom_gif/ (github.com/fadend/zoom_...) to see what that would look like. I think it turned out pretty well, but it's probably nicer of me to instead zoom in on some umbrellas from the Palo Alto Buddhist Temple, which we visited for the Obon Festival this weekend.
August 6, 2025 at 6:27 AM
So, I made revfad.com/zoom_gif/ (github.com/fadend/zoom_...) to see what that would look like. I think it turned out pretty well, but it's probably nicer of me to instead zoom in on some umbrellas from the Palo Alto Buddhist Temple, which we visited for the Obon Festival this weekend.
My useless fact of the day: around 25% of incorporated cities in California (120 out of 483) have a hole in them. E.g., there's a teeny piece of Mountain View in Los Altos -- Miramonte Reservoir. And Fremont has a big gap for Newark, CA, which it surrounds. blog.revfad.com/2025/08/04/a...
August 5, 2025 at 6:58 PM
My useless fact of the day: around 25% of incorporated cities in California (120 out of 483) have a hole in them. E.g., there's a teeny piece of Mountain View in Los Altos -- Miramonte Reservoir. And Fremont has a big gap for Newark, CA, which it surrounds. blog.revfad.com/2025/08/04/a...
First seep monkeyflower (Erythranthe guttata) flower of the year for us. calscape.org/Erythranthe-... I'm happy to see it's a bit chewed up. I'd like how it'd look whole, but I like supporting wildlife too. A katydid's been hanging out nearby so maybe this is its work.
#CaliforniaNativePlants
#CaliforniaNativePlants
August 2, 2025 at 5:53 PM
First seep monkeyflower (Erythranthe guttata) flower of the year for us. calscape.org/Erythranthe-... I'm happy to see it's a bit chewed up. I'd like how it'd look whole, but I like supporting wildlife too. A katydid's been hanging out nearby so maybe this is its work.
#CaliforniaNativePlants
#CaliforniaNativePlants
An interview with Mubarak Bala of Nigeria, who was imprisoned for expressing skepticism about religion: freedomhouse.org/article/nige.... One part that stuck out for me: "International attention was what made them not murder me in captivity."
August 1, 2025 at 6:03 PM
An interview with Mubarak Bala of Nigeria, who was imprisoned for expressing skepticism about religion: freedomhouse.org/article/nige.... One part that stuck out for me: "International attention was what made them not murder me in captivity."
Had fun restoring an old art project: revfad.com/mosaic/. The original is still online after 25+ years (?): reversefad.tripod.com/mosaic.html, but I expect that luck will run out eventually. Looking forward to tweaking it a bit more. Code: github.com/fadend/mosaic
July 31, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Had fun restoring an old art project: revfad.com/mosaic/. The original is still online after 25+ years (?): reversefad.tripod.com/mosaic.html, but I expect that luck will run out eventually. Looking forward to tweaking it a bit more. Code: github.com/fadend/mosaic
It came back multiple times. At least two times, it dropped the piece it chewed off. A third time, it succeeded again and flew away with the prize. So, maybe about a 50% success rate?
July 29, 2025 at 11:01 PM
It came back multiple times. At least two times, it dropped the piece it chewed off. A third time, it succeeded again and flew away with the prize. So, maybe about a 50% success rate?
Something else I've been having fun with: revamping a game I created for my old high school newspaper: revfad.com/hangman/.
July 25, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Something else I've been having fun with: revamping a game I created for my old high school newspaper: revfad.com/hangman/.
I think this is my first time using Plotly (though I've heard of it for a long time). Liking it so far.
July 24, 2025 at 6:21 PM
I think this is my first time using Plotly (though I've heard of it for a long time). Liking it so far.
Cross section of tule showing why it floats. (Not sure which species.) I asked the owner at Bay Natives if he had any for sale, and he pulled some out of a bucket, lopping off a few chunks of root. It's still putting up new shoots nearly two years later.
July 23, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Cross section of tule showing why it floats. (Not sure which species.) I asked the owner at Bay Natives if he had any for sale, and he pulled some out of a bucket, lopping off a few chunks of root. It's still putting up new shoots nearly two years later.
One sweet thing today: seeing this bird enjoy a dust bath. Maybe a Bewick's wren? scvbirdalliance.org/backyard-bir...
July 22, 2025 at 11:36 PM
One sweet thing today: seeing this bird enjoy a dust bath. Maybe a Bewick's wren? scvbirdalliance.org/backyard-bir...
Small bit of joy from a couple weeks ago (still there though now): some coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis) cuttings from the bushes in our hellstrip have rooted! A couple previous tries failed.
July 15, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Small bit of joy from a couple weeks ago (still there though now): some coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis) cuttings from the bushes in our hellstrip have rooted! A couple previous tries failed.
Some other recent blooms: hairy goldenaster, a gilia (capitata?), Douglas meadowfoam, wickerstem and CA buckwheat.
June 29, 2025 at 5:48 AM
Some other recent blooms: hairy goldenaster, a gilia (capitata?), Douglas meadowfoam, wickerstem and CA buckwheat.
Happy to see the first bloom of the season on our common California aster (Symphyotrichum chilense). calscape.org/Symphyotrich...
June 29, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Happy to see the first bloom of the season on our common California aster (Symphyotrichum chilense). calscape.org/Symphyotrich...
One surprise from Seoul: California poppies!
June 16, 2025 at 2:05 PM
One surprise from Seoul: California poppies!