Clever Instagram spam

While spam everywhere is crazy annoying, in a certain way one has to admire how clever it sometime is. Someone had to code a nice text generator, that not only creates the usernames, but also the messages so they don’t look like spam.

But on the other side, that person was stupid enough, to not make very simple mistakes. Like not sending the same message from multiple accounts to the same target. How can someone be so smart and stupid at a same time is a mystery.

Btw. when did social media got to be only about getting followers? Each day I get followed by many accounts, that just un-follow the next day. I don’t know how it is for others, but I rather be followed by 500 people that like my photos, than 5000 that don’t care.

This stile of trying to get followers just by following someone, hoping they follow back and then un-following again is just annoying. If you really so desperate for worthless followers, just pay for them. Will take less time and has the same effect in the end.

Down by the river

I have not posted a photo from Bratislava in a while so here is one. This is an early spring panorama, taken in the middle of the city, right next to the Danube. I got down completely next to the water and got it.

This is a two shot panorama, combined in Lightroom, finished in Photoshop.

And here are few details:

Reading list

I posted last week about what books I’m currently reading/listening to. And I was thinking, of maybe doing that a regular part of the Friday update. But probably only when I had time to get through something new. So what did I read this week?

While returning from Germany last Sunday, I finally got through The Martian by Andy Weir. I started it once long time ago, even before the movie came out, but I only got halfway through. Now I finally goth through the whole book in one go. And yes, it is a great read. I also read his other book Artemis not long ago, but that one is not as great.

Additional I returned to The Fold by Peter Clines. This and some of his other book dealing with alternative realities are just perfect if you like scifi stuff.

In non-fiction I got through Minimalism by Ryan Nicodemus, Joshua Fields Millburn which was very disappointing. The book was not about minimalism, but more of a biography about the authors. At least it was so short.

And that’s all I got through this week.

GDPR

To comply with the new GDPR law in the EU, I had to change the way the newsletter subscription works and also you may have noticed a small cookie banner in the bottom of the website. Not that I track anything outside the standard site analytics, but almost everything you need to use for a website tracks something. There is no way to get around it. So I hope this is not too distraction or annoying for you.

I would prefer to not have to do it, but I don’t have a choice.

More Dandelions

Today’s daily photo is another one from Dubai. And it’s from one of my recommended spots there. This was taken right under the Burj Khalifa, with the 12mm Laowa lens. I was standing maybe less than 50cm from the left dandelion, and you still see so much of it. The 12mm really is a wide lens :)

These dandelions are a part of a permanent art installation around Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Mall, and change the color of the lights every few seconds. They really work nicely as a foreground object for the huge Burj Khalifa in the background.

This is a single exposure, edited in Lightroom and Photoshop.