Automating Mastodon Postings with ColdFusion / / No Comments I’ve had a lot of fun building Mastodon bots (see my list of super-important business critical bots as an example), typically using the Pipedream platform, and more recently, Cloudflare Workers. The Mastodon API is kinda stupid easy and with "The Other Network" going to hell in a handbasket, I don’t see myself building bots anywhere else. Just yesterday I came home from the Adobe ColdFusion Summit and I thought it would be fun to see how easy it would be to build a Mastodon bot in ColdFusion. Here’s what I was able to do in roughly ten minutes. First, don’t forget that to add automation to a Mastodon account, you need to go into your preferences, select the "Development"... more → Posted in: JavaScript Tagged with: Automating, ColdFusion, Mastodon, Postings
The Ring of Rain / / No Comments X-Rain is an interactive map which visualizes the average amount of rainfall around the globe. The precipitation data used on the map is derived from historical satellite observations. This remote sensed data is not as accurate as data recorded by rain gauges but it is able to provide a more global view of precipitation levels as it is not limited to only those locations with rain gauges.The Maps Mania… more → Posted in: Interactive Maps Tagged with: rain, Ring
Sum an Array of Numbers with JavaScript / / No Comments It’s rare that I’m disappointed by the JavaScript language not having a function that I need. One such case was summing an array of numbers — I was expecting Math.sum or a likewise, baked in API. Fear not — summing an array of numbers is easy using Array.prototype.reduce! const numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4]; const sum = numbers.reduce((a, b) =a + b, 0); The 0 represents the starting value while with a and b, one represents the running total with the other representing the value to be added. You’ll also note that using reduce prevents side effects! I’d still prefer something like Math.sum(...numbers) but a simple reduce will do! The post Sum an Array of Numbers... more → Posted in: JavaScript Tagged with: Array, JavaScript, numbers
Shilling for Putin / / No Comments The Insider (‘fully committed to investigative journalism and to debunking fake news’) has created a new interactive map which exposes the ‘fake experts’ around the world that are spreading pro-Kremlin fake narratives and Russian propaganda. The Insider claims that what “unites the individuals featured on this map is their attempt to portray Putin’s policies positively while disseminating Maps Mania… more → Posted in: Interactive Maps Tagged with: Putin, Shilling
How to Detect Failed Requests via Web Extensions / / No Comments One of the best things that ever happened to t he user experience of the web has been web extensions. Browsers are powerful but extensions bring a new level of functionality. Whether it’s crypto wallets, media players, or other popular plugins, web extensions have become essential to every day tasks. Working on MetaMask, I am thrust into a world of making everything Ethereum-centric work. One of those functionalities is ensuring that .eth domains resolve to ENS when input to the address bar. Requests to https://vitalik.ethnaturally fail, since .eth isn’t a natively supported top level domain, so we need to intercept this errant request. // Add an onErrorOccurred event via the... more → Posted in: JavaScript Tagged with: Detect, Extensions, Failed, Requests
Guess the (Marvel) Decade / / No Comments Many years ago, I first wrote up my experience working with the Marvel API. I find myself returning to it again and again, and this weekend I built a fun little game I think you may enjoy. It’s called "Guess the Decade". Marvel’s art style has changed drastically over its long history. Back in 2018, I shared a demo that demonstrates just how much variety you can get just by looking at covers. So for example, Spider-Man in 1962: Versus 1988: And then 2018: Given that there’s such a variety of styles, I thought it would be fun to build a demo. If you want, you can just right to the game, but here’s how I built it. The Backend # For the backend, I built a serverless... more → Posted in: JavaScript Tagged with: Decade, Guess, Marvel
More Medieval Murder Maps! / / No Comments On Saturday 2 Feb 1297 three Oxford University students decided to celebrate the festival of the purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary by going on a frenzied rampage. On the evening of the festival John de Skurf and his two friends Michael and Madoc ran through the streets of Oxford with swords, bows, and arrows “attacking all passers-by”. One John Metescharp was shot with an arrow by Maps Mania… more → Posted in: Interactive Maps Tagged with: maps, Medieval, More, Murder
Welcome to the New LimeWire: AI Media Generation (Sponsored) / / No Comments LimeWire was a staple of my youth. LimeWire was software that allowed users to share any type of file during the revolutionary days of file sharing. Fast forward to today and LimeWire is back, again as revolutionary software, but this time in the field of AI content publishing. From creating images to music and video, and then monetizing that media, LimeWire continues to be a hub of creativity! Quick Hits LimeWire has re-launched as an AI-focused content publishing & community platform LimeWire AI Studio is now live for AI Image Generation! Generative AI music & video coming soon! Automatically mint AI-generated content as NFTs on the Polygon and Algorand blockchains LimeWire has an... more → Posted in: JavaScript Tagged with: Generation, LimeWire, Media, Sponsored, Welcome