Phil Landmeier @shuttersparks@social.cleverlibre.org

An animation I made ~10 years ago: Every point of light is a galaxy in our local universe

#Space #Science #Astrodon #Astronomy

Here's another weird MS-DOS portable #retrocomputer from my collection, the Sotec PHC-16.

It's a "lunchbox" form factor with an 80C88 CPU, 256K RAM, an infrared wireless keyboard and a gorgeously readable gas plasma display.

Like my Apricot, I've not managed to get this one to fully boot either, and the 5.25" disk drive is very difficult to get at.

It does have a terminal emulator built in to ROM which I'm trying to get working, but no luck yet!

#vintagecomputing #retrocomputing #retro

ABL Space Systems first flight of their RS1 rocket could happen as early as today. Launch windows run through the week. Good luck to them! https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/11/13/abl-space-systems-on-verge-of-first-orbital-launch-attempt/

Mastodon is developing a critical mass - the people I follow are boosting the people they follow - who I then can also follow - so I'm organically discovering goodness.

Seems like choosing a server stops a lot of people from joining Mastodon. If Mastodon wants to grow the community, it would be a good idea to add an "I don't care--pick a server for me," button to joinmastodon.org and then point new users to servers based on language spoken.

This was a barrier for me when I joined a few years ago. I can't remember how I decided on this one. Maybe because I discovered it was run by Mastodon's founder and I figured it would be more likely to be stable.

To this extent I'm really interested to know how the age breakdown of people on the #Fediverse. On one hand it would seem to make sense to me that most people here remember the "old internet" before the centralization and they're here to rekindle that flame of independence. On the other hand the youths are generally pretty up on this whole technology thing. I grew up on the internet and since then smartphones have become even more ubiquitous.

(Please boost for reach)

Elon Musk says he has “too much on his plate” after buying Twitter.

I don’t know a lot about running a car company that relies on regular software updates to keep cars and people safe on the road, but I hope Musk is more concerned about actual public safety than whatever people are tweeting about him on a website. But here we are.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/nov/14/elon-musk-twitter-job-cuts-tesla-takeover

Hey #hamradio folks. I know we use the acronym CW to mean morse code (via “continuous wave.”) I also know we are encouraged to use hashtags to make our content more easily searchable. I agree with all this.

But be aware that #cw typically refers to Content Warnings. And that convention has existed on the Fediverse/Mastodon for a very long time.

I suggest we use #morse instead. It’ll prevent confusion, and your posts are less likely to be filtered out.

Please Boost for visibility.

Mastodon is is the 5th or 6th social media platform I've engaged with in a serious fashion, but it's been awhile since I had to start a profile from scratch. In the process I have relearned the one constant truth of all social media -- until you have accumulated at least 300-400 connections, the flow of information is going to seem skewed and limited, and you are going to wonder whether it is worth your time and effort.

Thus, echoing what others have said, you need to do more than just set up a profile and lurk, thinking an algorithm will direct information your way. You need to peruse the "Following" and "Follower" lists of people whose contributions you find interesting, then connect. Start with your local server and its Group and Profile directories (much easier to do from the web instance). Look for people you have followed on other platforms, and then look through their connections. The distributed nature of the fediverse (the so-called siloes that seem to cause a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth from people still clinging to twitter) can make it a bit more difficult to find and connect to people quickly, but patience will be rewarded. Take the time to dip into other people's timelines, and connect to those that maintain interesting and active feeds. You will quickly notice a perception of increased 'quality' in your newsfeed once you have a few hundred links.

I'm finally getting back to a project I started around 1992 to probe and monitor network behavior (for good, for ill, to detect security problems, failures, or just bad implementations.)

I'm using Raspberry Pi CM4s (Compute Module 4.) Can't say I like Debian Linux - I spend more time the Fedora camp and also FreeBSD.

I need to go visit folks in astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz to discuss ideas about how they use astrophysical measurements (yes, it's relevant.)

Well, looks like I'm committed to becoming a #MastoAdmin now that I had to upgrade my Sendgrid account from "free" to the $19.95 per month account.

Not all construction work is equally enjoyable. For example, enlarging a drilled hole is boring, but fastening pieces of metal together is riveting.

#capybara

Took a photo of the sun today. Quite a lot of sun spots to admire. 😍

#astronomy #sunphotography #photography

"CDC Says ‘Do Not Eat Meat or Cheese From Any Deli Counter’ "
https://www.barrons.com/articles/cdc-deli-meat-cheese-listeria-outbreak-51668099193

Well yeah, obviously, it's not kosher then😋