So this is the dumb post of the day. Bear with me.

All I can say about art (like paintings and sculpture) is "is cool", "I like it", "it makes me sad" and look like a complete idiot totally out of place. (On the other hand, I can deliver a nuanced analysis of graffiti and hip hop so yeah it's all about the background.) I want to take my partner to a museum and start saying fancy shit like "oh you see the lines here these remind me of Donatello's style of light and shadow". Like I know it's possibly the dumbest thing to want but I really would like to learn more about it and be able to give informed opinions on art pieces.

Anyway, any recommendations? Maybe some youtube videos or some books? Or should I just say that everything past 1400 is derivative?

I just got my /dev/tty blanks in from Massdrop and I an thinking of dying them to match my current ABS colorway.

I have looked at the guide and I think I am able to do all that, but I am wondering what kind of look I am going to/can get by dying the gray and red caps?

I assume the gray caps would just yield a slightly darker color, but I am curious if I can get an interesting shade of brown by dying the red keycaps with some other color (or just more brown?)

Any hints on dying the colored caps or dying PBT in general are appreciated.

Yesterday I went to my first ever (recreational) rowing training. I’ve trained gymnastics before and sailed quite a bit.

It’s a 100+ year old club and the gym is pretty small, but the equipment is quite modern.

To keep the story short (there were quite some notable and funny events, but nothing to do with training itself), after I did some quick stretching and warming up, a friendly chap (could be a young trainer) helped me with the ergo and briefly tried to explain to me what all the numbers say.

So I spent most of my first training (probably 40-60' in total) on an ergo (Concept2 Dynamic, I think). Most of the time I had the setting on 3-4, but then lowered it to 2.

When I checked how many Watts I produced (per stroke, I suspect), I averaged at about 60 W and peaked at 200 W – which is comparable to 14-year old girls who train there regularly. The trainer(?) chuckled and told me that this is to be expected and that I obviously have more strength, but they simply have a much more efficient stroke technique, which I am yet to learn in the first place.

So, are there any rowers present who would be willing to share some of their wisdom?

I don't have the land to do it yet, but my dream is to build a year-round greenhouse in a back yard, so that I can have green all throughout the monochromatic bleakness of a New York winter. This is pretty much a daydream at this point, but I'd like to get some feedback from folks in the know.

The feature wish-list is as follows:

• a dug-out trench, shaped like a V with a flat bottom. Thinking something like 12' (or go metric and make it 4m) wide in the middle, with sides at a 60° angle going to ground level (total depth of around 10' or 2.5m)
• a double-paned glass or plexiglass roof, for insulation and lighting
• heating elements in the outer layer of roof, for snow and ice removal
• a space heater, to regulate temperature during the cold months
• an aquaponics tank (probably using goldfish, but possibly tilapia)
• aquaponics grow beds lining the angled sides
• compost-activated biochar beds on the flat part

The idea would be to run the aquaponic outflow to the top of the sloping sides, supporting herbs, leafy greens, and flowers. The runoff collects at the bottom of the slope, where it is returned to the fish tank. The flat surface would be used for root vegetables and bulbs like onions and garlic.

I realize that this is a tad ambitious (and that I may just be throwing the biochar bit because I think its cool), but part of why I'm posting this is to get the benefit of collective experience. Any thoughts?