Zero Width Narwhals
Hello, friends.
Pneumonia sucked. It’s getting warmer. I can’t stop 3d printing random tchotchkes. My new job began stressful but is quickly getting better as I settle in and get used to things.
Here are some things:
EMOJI ZWJ SEQUENCE
I recently learned that compound emojis are called ZWJ Sequences. That stands for “Zero Width Joiner”. The Unicode Consortium maintains a list of recommended Recommended Emoji ZWJ Sequences and it’s up to each platform that renders emoji to support those sequences. Here’s a list of supported sequences.
Your email client may or may not support these five (5) ZQJ Sequences:
👨🏻🔧, 🚵🏽♀️, ❤️🔥, ❤️🩹, 🐦⬛
DESIGNING FOR 3D PRINTING
During my laser-cutting era last year I made some “caddies” for my piano instructor’s studio. They are designed to slide into a small gap between the piano and its stand. Apparently, one of the caddies at the studio was broken recently by an overzealous child. I thought it’d be fun to try and redesign the same object for 3d printing.
It’s interesting how the mediums differ. In laser cutting you are limited to hard angles and one material’s thickness. My first attempt at printing the object was without any redesigning, but the prints failed each time. The print became much more successful once I removed most corners (which tend to bend up from the build plate) and embraced curved walls. It was an educational project!
HOW TO LOSE MONEY WHILE ANNOYING YOUR FRIENDS
Switch from Android to iPhone (or vice versa).
Last week I switched from a Pixel 8 on Google Fi to an iPhone 16 on Mint Mobile. Why? I was sick of letting my disdain for Apple’s SMS/texting policies deprive me of one of my joys in life: tinkering with new gizmos & software. I haven’t had an iPhone since 2014, so I’ve been having fun getting reacquainted with iOS.
Here are some insights from my first week:
There’s no gosh darn period key on the default iOS keyboard. They seem to expect you to only use periods between sentences by double tapping the spacebar. It’s a minor gripe, but these will all be minor gripes so I don’t care. It’s super annoying.
CarPlay works way faster & smoother than Android Auto. Android Auto had a long start time for me and did weird things to my Bluetooth settings. Carplay just works. Though I do miss some of the Android Auto interfaces. Also, the voice in the Maps app is way less robotic in iOS.
iOS app developers do not care if you can’t get back to the previous screen. I’ve noticed in multiple apps that there is no flipping way to just go “BACK”. Sometimes you swipe from left to right hoping you’ll go back. Sometimes you pull down from the top. Sometimes if you hit just the right spot when you start the gesture it will work. But sometimes… sometimes the apps are just broken and you have to leave the entire app and re-open it to fix it.
You should check if your provider supports RCS on iPhone before starting a new plan. Even though Apple has begun rolling out RCS compatible texting with Android phones (due to legal pressure), apparently it’s only activated on a per-provider basis. And Mint Mobile won’t have RCS compatibility until later this year. Shit.
You have to turn off RCS chats on your Android phone if you want to receive texts from people you used to have RCS chats with. This was not obvious. And when I left the RCS chats using a strange web utility from Google, I immediately “left” every single RCS chat I’d ever been a part of. So many friends were texting me asking me why I left their chats. Shit.
Apple Wallet has way more compatibility with random vendors than Android’s. Apparently I’ve been racking up rewards points at a few places without realizing it. And when I paid with my phone a Rewards card populated in my Wallet with how many points I had been accruing over several years. That was kinda neat.
I really do love comparing softwares.
I’ll try and have more photos for y’all next newsletter. It’s been a busy few weeks and I’m glad that they’re over. Feels like my routine is finally starting to stabilize since the layoffs last year and that is really exciting.
Thanks for reading all that crap!
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What’s going on in your life that you’re excited about?