Nostr notes by Whitney McNamara

First time I went to Iceland, I was determined to have an ...

2026-10-28T15:53:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…znrp
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First time I went to Iceland, I was determined to have an "authentic" experience and wanted to eat the fermented shark thing.

I am eternally grateful to the waiter who said "you know that dish predates refrigeration, and no one actually chooses to eat it anymore, right?"

I mean, I still ordered it, but added all of his recommendations and had a great meal.

Slight tangent: I've used Rain Bird's 1/4 inch irrigation ...

2026-08-10T23:15:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…udcn
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Slight tangent: I've used Rain Bird's 1/4 inch irrigation stuff for years, and the quality has consistently been great.

Any hydrangea nerds want to help me out? It's the first ...

2026-06-05T18:39:06Z

Any hydrangea nerds want to help me out?

It's the first really hot day in 7b Brooklyn, and the hydrangea that's been super happy so far is already wilting a bit, even with a gallon or so of water today on top of drip irrigation.

Last year I definitely under-watered and the flowers burned, and I don't want to do that again; do I need to worry about over-watering, or can I just do as much as the soil will absorb?

#gardening

Same small, shady, urban front garden on two rainy May 23rds, ...

2026-05-23T11:51:54Z

Same small, shady, urban front garden on two rainy May 23rds, eight years apart.

It's chaotic, and will never win any awards for design, but I love walking past it every day.

#gardening

I hope that sharing these moments gives you as much joy as it ...

2026-05-10T18:52:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…2n2c
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I hope that sharing these moments gives you as much joy as it gives me (and I think a lot of others) to read them.

Love this. Also: it seems entirely possible to me that the whole ...

2026-03-13T21:36:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…a83s
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Love this.

Also: it seems entirely possible to me that the whole Fediverse came into being just so that you could update the rest of us on how Summer and fam are doing at any given point in time.

And that's a good thing, to be clear.

Ooh, my friends and I started with local BBSes in the mid-80s -- ...

2026-03-06T14:58:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…gaj2
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Ooh, my friends and I started with local BBSes in the mid-80s -- a friend's older brother had a 1200 baud modem! 😀

It was Usenet and Gopher that put me on the internet.

Whatever his other accomplishments and capabilities, my father ...

2025-12-27T21:20:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…wgw7
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Whatever his other accomplishments and capabilities, my father would somehow destroy any load of laundry he was asked to do.

My dad referred to it (and practiced it) as "selective ...

2025-12-27T21:17:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…0uyh
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My dad referred to it (and practiced it) as "selective incompetence."

Copying the request into #gardening : "do any of the Germans ...

2025-08-15T21:23:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…zdnc
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Copying the request into #gardening :

"do any of the Germans here have a garden in which they are growing pumpkins? If so, could you take a photo of your pumpkin plant, and your vegetable garden please?"

Only been here around 48 hours and I already had to think hard ...

2025-08-10T13:16:31Z

Only been here around 48 hours and I already had to think hard about what day of the week it is.

Perfect.

Could you say more, or provide some links on this ability? ...

2025-07-13T23:38:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…av2u
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Could you say more, or provide some links on this ability? It's just new to me, so would love to get some context starting out!

The branches that blew down in our recent storm pretty much ...

2025-06-29T13:45:16Z

The branches that blew down in our recent storm pretty much trashed the (main) daylily bed for this year, but daylilies gonna daylilly, so they're still trying.

#bloomScrolling #gardening

I am sure that none of it is as easy as you make it sound. ...

2025-05-02T23:23:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…qntv
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I am sure that none of it is as easy as you make it sound.

You're awesome, and I love getting to hear a little about your day, good, bad, or otherwise.

I sometimes feel silly putting veggies in Third Child's ...

2025-05-01T11:04:51Z

I sometimes feel silly putting veggies in Third Child's lunchbox, knowing that they'll almost certainly come home uneaten; but then I remember that the same thing used to happen with First Child, who has now been a vegetarian for close to a decade.

Dug out a lot of lillies of the valley that had moved into places ...

2025-04-26T21:30:44Z

Dug out a lot of lillies of the valley that had moved into places I don't want them in our small front garden, and buried 6" metal flashing to try to slow their advance going forward.

I love lillies of the valley, I just don't want them *everywhere*, and that seems to be a bit of a trick to accomplish.

#gardening

I was literally talking with my mother today about ...

2025-04-19T23:33:15Z

I was literally talking with my mother today about "cultural" vs. observant religious identity.

This image sums up my personal situation from so many different angles.

Some of the foliage is up here in Brooklyn, but I'm still ...

2025-03-01T21:20:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…5ztw
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Some of the foliage is up here in Brooklyn, but I'm still eagerly awaiting the first crocus flower.

I think what I'm saying is that I don't think -- at this ...

2024-12-06T19:50:26Z

In reply to nevent1q…7z9t
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I think what I'm saying is that I don't think -- at this point, at least -- that it's realistic to have a global, social "place for news."

I'm mostly saying that I, personally, prefer a smaller scale "social network" at this point, but I'm also saying that I genuinely don't think that the basic idea of "if everyone just were on a single 'social network', they'd understand one another better and work everything out" is a realistic goal for social networking software.

I have the same ability to encounter interesting people, which is ...

2024-12-06T18:32:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…lhtl
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I have the same ability to encounter interesting people, which is great, but I personally also have a smaller possibility of encountering a number of people that I simply can't deal with.

The idea of a "global town square" seemed compelling -- ...

2024-12-06T18:28:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…h2l7
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The idea of a "global town square" seemed compelling -- transformational, even -- but, in my view, Twitter (and Facebook, for that matter) ended up illustrating that it's not possible for an individual to communicate with the whole world in anything the than a broadcast manner, which doesn't feel like a change to me.

I'm not, and will never have the same potential reach with the Metaverse that I did with more centralized social media, and I think that may be a net positive.

As much as pre-X Twitter gave to me in the late '00s, both ...

2024-12-06T17:34:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…dxh9
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As much as pre-X Twitter gave to me in the late '00s, both personally and professionally, at this point I feel like Twitter was a cautionary tale.

Basically, "yes, we *can* do this, technically, but it probably isn't a good idea to do so. "

I agree that Bluesky, in some lovely ways, currently *feels* more like the Twitter that was, but I'm not at all sure that's a good thing.