@Tergenev@mastodon.social
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

Tergenev

@Tergenev@mastodon.social

U.S.-based tech writer, IT manager, space enthusiast, and woodworker. Fan of the Oxford comma; although, to be honest, I also like semicolons. Pro-Finland. #scotch #physics #lego #solarpower #microcontroller #ksp #woodworking #order Not a fan of Putin's Russia, but I've always liked the writings of Ivan Turgenev, and #tergenev has been my online nom de guerre for several decades.

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coreyspowell, to spiders
@coreyspowell@mastodon.social avatar

There are lots of clickbait-y stories circulating about the invasive Joro spider.

For context, Joro spiders are shy, harmless to humans, and they eat many common flying insects, including mosquitoes, lanternflies, and stinkbugs.

In the eastern US, you're likely to see their webs on power lines. You are NOT likely to see them hanging out on your hand.

https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-are-shy/

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@coreyspowell
I live in the region where these have spread, just north of Atlanta. And I’ve watched them spread dramatically over the past 5-6 years. It’s true, they are timid and don’t seem to bite,but their webs are Everywhere in late Summer until frost. They spin webs vertically between tree branches, sign posts, lamp posts, and hang out in the middle. Hiking in the woods has gotten a LOT more interesting as they’ve spread, and you avoid it at night. I’ve gotten a face full more than once.

Rome_and_stuff, to philosophy
@Rome_and_stuff@mastodon.social avatar

A selection of the #ancient #roman tombs in the remarkable necropolis of the via triumphalis in #rome. #archaeology #ancienthistory #romanempire #ancientrome

image/png
image/png
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Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@Rome_and_stuff
Cool photos. You know, one question I’ve had every time I see this method theRomans had of putting large clay pots into concrete, I guess as a way of storing food (?) - there’s that famous ‘taverna’ at Pompei with these . . . I always wonder, how did they clean them out? Did any of them include a drain below with maybe a stopper? They seem very deep. Maybe too long for a human arm to reach in to clean out. Romans understood plumbing, so was there a drainpipe below?

Sheril, to tech
@Sheril@mastodon.social avatar

This is fine. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/you-can-now-buy-a-flame-throwing-robot-dog-for-under-10000/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR281-oDK5Mb90FQq9SqqKk_GuzgOnsQPX68PZCE1_NuqEFvQyh4l-8ZXZo_aem_AWfy7tbFmdVqsJlb1D_aNgAJGGyrm2r0QhcmDAe_1FW8IvwRZcc9G4sGPf2sVfkzFg2SQ206DXZgg9m8mSV4cIg5

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@Sheril
Sure.

atomicpoet, to random
@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org avatar

Pet peeve: when YouTubers say that “old” video games are better because developers had to work within limitations.

Dude, developers are always working within limitations. Even now. Literally every year of computing history developers have been contending with limitations.

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@atomicpoet
Do you know what the “old” game developers had that made them so successful? Their audience wasn’t jaded by all the millions of hours of game time they’d logged.

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@atomicpoet
I guess I’d measure it in utilitarian terms. How many minutes of enjoyment did their work create?

TaylorSwiftsJets, to random
@TaylorSwiftsJets@mastodon.social avatar

Taylor Swift’s Two Private Jets in 2023: Where did they go?

https://youtu.be/pt9RtClIxRE?si=dNquN9Tjooc-lTEp

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@TaylorSwiftsJets
Tampa? Not Miami?

atomicpoet, to random
@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org avatar

I would like to meet a metasexual.

That is, someone who’s attracted to the concept of sexualities but not people.

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@atomicpoet
Is that similar to a metrosexual? (You know, people who are sexually attracted to public transportation.)

Tergenev, to random
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar


A large tree has fallen down a steep slope in The Smoky Mountain National Park, forming a waterfall of sorts of mossy wood cascading down the hillside. Based on the age, this is probably one of the trees killed in the 2016 Smoky Mountains fires.

setiinstitute, to space
@setiinstitute@mastodon.social avatar

https://www.newsweek.com/zodiacal-light-cause-comets-meteoroid-1882334

A strange glow in the night sky, known as the "zodiacal light," is formed differently from how scientists first thought.

Meteoroids are released from comets as larger pebbles, with previous theories assuming that these pebbles became degraded into tiny particles during high-speed collisions. Now, however, new research in the journal Icarus suggests that the meteoroid pebbles become dust thanks to heat.

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@setiinstitute
Does Brian May agree with this?

pluralistic, to DaftPunk
@pluralistic@mamot.fr avatar

"Enshittification" isn't just a way of describing the symptoms of platform decay: it's also a theory of the mechanism of decay - the means by which platforms get shittier and shittier until they are a giant pile of shit.

--

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/26/glitchbread/#electronic-shelf-tags

1/

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@mattmay @pluralistic
That is truly unsettling. I didn’t realize I was going to have to treat buying groceries like a game of poker.

mekkaokereke, to random
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io avatar

Periodic reminder that space flight is cool, alt-right billionaires are not. You can get to space without fashy billionaires.

The same Tesla fans who are completely shocked that BYD sells more cars, will also be surprised to know that China has its own space station, and is ahead of the US in the race to a manned mission to Mars.

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/4h8sxpqpDFg

China also has Mars rovers.

This is not an anti-USA take. Relax, patriot boy. I'm pointing out that space billionaires are a choice.

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@CelloMomOnCars @AdrianVolt @mekkaokereke @tess
The IRA and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act have provided $5B over five years to electrify our school bus fleets.

https://www.exeloncorp.com/newsroom/Joint-Effort-by-Exelon-and-Transportation-Electrification-Advocates-Shows-the-Electric-School-Bus-Transition-Will-Provide-Wide-Ranging-Health-Environmental-and-Societal-Benefits

atomicpoet, (edited ) to random
@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org avatar

Now I’m watching Shortcut to Happiness (2007) starring Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin, and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

This is a stellar cast. It should be good.

Unfortunately, it was a giant box office bomb. It had a $30 million dollar budget, yet only earned $686,846. A number isn’t missing there, it did that poorly.

I suspect marketing had something to do with this disaster. The poster indicates that this is a rom-com, but it’s more like a fantasy comedy.

Here’s the description:

A down-and-out writer sells his soul to the devil in exchange for fame and fortune.

Apparently, this is based on the “The Devil and Daniel Webster” written by Stephen Vincent Benét back in 1936.

iMDB scores this a 5.4, which indicates a perfectly mediocre move. But we’ll see.

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@atomicpoet
You know, for many years I’ve argued to my wife that Jennifer Love Hewitt was actually and in fact Satan. And yet, I’ve never seen this movie. I think I’ll avoid it. I watched The Master of Disguise last year and it almost broke me.

nathanlovestrees, to random
@nathanlovestrees@disabled.social avatar

I shared a picture about a month ago of something similar and joked it was unintentional coppicing. Here is another, also an American beech, also on the same hillside/ravine. I've wandered in all the beech-maple forests around me but have never seen this before. It's like it rots from the inside and then falls and then new suckers circle the perimeter of the stump. Intriguing...

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@nathanlovestrees
Beech Leaf Disease

https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/beech-trees-face-uncertain-future

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Can I just say that Homer Hickman is a gatekeeping fuck, and he can suck my dick and balls?

Imagine taking someone's dream job over a curse.

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@RickiTarr
I have to say, that was kind of funny.

It's so easy to say the exact wrong thing to the exact wrong person on social media without realizing who you're talking to.

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@RickiTarr
She was incredibly rude to a random person on the internet AND she was going to work at NASA. NASA is probably one of the most 'bad-publicity-averse' organizations in the world. I bet Homer Hickham didn't even have to say anything to anyone. HR would have noticed such an exchange in their social media monitoring tools and pulled the offer, probably even if it had been directed at some random person who wasn't on the Space Council.

RustyBertrand, to random

Sophie Scholl was arrested today in 1943. Here's why we should remember her.

Fight fascism in whatever form it takes.

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@RustyBertrand
February 1943 Wikipedia page:”Hans Scholl and Sophie Scholl, two students in the White Rose movement that was secretly distributing anti-Hitler literature, were captured at the University of Munich after a maintenance man saw them throwing leaflets from a campus building. After witnessing the act, Jakob Schmied detained the brother and sister, then called the Gestapo. Four days later, the Scholls, and another White Rose student, were tried, convicted and executed for treason.”

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@RustyBertrand
The third was Christoph Probst.
Ironically, I just stumbled on this story last week on the February 1943 Wikipedia page while researching the end of the Guadalcanal campaign. I thought “These three deserve to be remembered.” Thanks for the post.

Kizzia, to random
@Kizzia@mastodon.social avatar

I have homework from therapy that I've been putting off. Procrastination has now reached the "I don't have the right* highlighters for making notes" stage of ridiculous. I am ... displeased with myself.

*I have highlighters, just not ones in the colours I would prefer to use.

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@Kizzia I have to say as a fellow practitioner . . . that is an impressive level of procrastination.

archeaids, to Archaeology
@archeaids@mastodon.online avatar

It is a multi-tool for decorating ceramic vessels carved from a thin, splintered piece of dry red maple. The notches on the squared lateral edges are for retaining cordage to form a cord-wrapped paddle. 2/

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@archeaids
With that radial pattern, the wood could be nothing other than Acer sp.

arstechnica, to random
@arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

Blue Origin sure seems confident it will launch New Glenn in 2024

Does Jeff Bezos's heavy-lift rocket really have a shot at launching next year?

https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/12/blue-origin-sure-seems-confident-it-will-launch-new-glenn-in-2024/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@arstechnica sure.

And then not again until 2028.

Rome_and_stuff, to philosophy
@Rome_and_stuff@mastodon.social avatar

Extraordinary era statue of the serpent god glycon from the 2nd century on display in the new exhibition about at the baths of Diocletian in .

Tergenev,
@Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

@Rome_and_stuff
Dacia, the region that Rome had so much trouble conquering, and were so vindictive about putting down, they removed its very name from the maps. Instead, we call most of it . . .ROMANia.

lzg, to random
@lzg@mastodon.social avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    Tergenev,
    @Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

    @lzg I read The Fountainhead at 17. I was a voracious reader. It did a number on me for about four weeks. I finally figured out it was a valid philosophy of living only if solipsism is real. And my philosophy has never been that none of you are real, but rather that I’m not. After the Randian fever cleared up, I was back to my normal depressive self. It was a valuable lesson.

    ianRobinson, to space
    @ianRobinson@mastodon.social avatar

    Does SpaceX not live broadcast launches on YouTube anymore? There is a live feed on their website.

    Here's a LabPadre YouTube feed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwhcSwQWOHk

    Launch in 7 minutes.

    Tergenev,
    @Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

    @ianRobinson They announced about 6 months ago that all SpaceX video feeds would go out solely on X. So I watch Everyday Astronaut and NasaSpaceflight.

    augieray, to random
    @augieray@mastodon.social avatar

    Morning starts with a virtual meeting.

    Peer 1: "I haven't been able to shake this cold. I had to cancel a trip last week because it's lingering."

    Peer 2: "I've had the same cold three times in five weeks. I just can't shake it."

    I've learned not to mention the C word. No one's testing. No one wants to hear about . I just wish them a rapid return to health.

    If you're smarter then they are, then realize there is more COVID transmission today than in 53% of the pandemic. Be safe.

    Tergenev,
    @Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

    @augieray My son and I both had colds last week. We tested negative for Covid. My sister and brother-in-law had bad illnesses two weeks ago. Both tested repeatedly for Covid. Always negative. There’s something else going around right now.

    spaceflight, to random

    The troposphere contains 75–80 per cent of the mass of the . The height varies between 17km at the equator and 7.0km at the poles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere#Earth

    Picture : :ccby: :cc_sa: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Earth%27s_atmosphere.svg

    image/png

    Tergenev,
    @Tergenev@mastodon.social avatar

    @spaceflight
    starship burns methane.
    CH4 +2 O2 —> CO2 + 2 H2O
    No soot. Carbon dioxide and water. But no soot.

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