@nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

nowster

@nowster@fosstodon.org

Professional electron herder. Coder. Tinkerer. Road geek. New runner. Wearer of weird toe shoes. Purveyor of bad puns. Amateur singer/actor. Did a bit of local radio twenty years ago. Ran a small ISP for 14 years. UK based.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

DJDarren, to random
@DJDarren@mendeddrum.org avatar

I’m just now realising that, for some reason it could well be entirely possible to put together a two hour radio show comprising purely of songs about horses.

Why do songwriters love horses so much?

nowster,
@nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

@DJDarren Don't listen to the neigh sayers.

pwaring, to random
@pwaring@fosstodon.org avatar

If you enjoyed the good weather today, especially in the North West, I would like to take full credit for organising a Geek Walk (it's a running joke that it almost never rains on our walks because the weather gods are on our side).

nowster,
@nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

@pwaring The last Hardcastle Crags (Hebden Bridge) one I went to was a trifle damp.

libreoffice, to foss
@libreoffice@fosstodon.org avatar

Did you know that has a built-in QR and barcode generator? Now you do 😉 https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-US/text/shared/01/qrcode.html

nowster,
@nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

@libreoffice It might be useful to mention that "barcode" produces a Code128 barcode, rather than any other type.

pwaring, to random
@pwaring@fosstodon.org avatar

Ages ago I read a really good blog post about UK National Insurance Numbers and why they're a terrible idea for identification, including a detailed breakdown of all the edge cases (e.g. people having more than 1 number).

Does anyone know what I'm referring to? I cannot find it via searching.

nowster,
@nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

@pwaring The same is true of US Social Security Numbers, and CGP Grey did a video on those.

SteveBellovin, to random
@SteveBellovin@mastodon.lawprofs.org avatar

I also found some ancient Usenet maps.

A map from April 15, 1981, showing noticeable growth, though in the same areas.
A June 1 map, with even more slow growth. It’s mostly the same areas, but more sites in each. Quite notable: a link over the ARPANET.

nowster,
@nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

@SteveBellovin Oh yes! Email addresses with bang paths relative to one of the major hubs. eg. ...!mcvax!axiion!tharr!nowster!pm111

nowster,
@nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

@SteveBellovin @peterhoneyman For a while there were lots of hybrid addresses which were part RFC, part bang path, source routing, and occasionally the big endian UK academic addresses.

pwaring, to Bread
@pwaring@fosstodon.org avatar

People who make their own bread or soup: is it possible to do this without using a lot of salt but still have an acceptable taste? I really like both bread and soup but anything pre-made has huge amounts of salt in (2g for a tin of soup, 0.5-0.8g for every couple of slices of bread or a roll, so a serving of soup + bread is often >50% of the RDA for salt).

#bread #soup

nowster,
@nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

@pwaring The salt added to homemade bread is to slow the yeast growth. You can do the same with vitamin C.

newsthump, to random
@newsthump@mastodon.online avatar

Furious culture warrior claims ‘wokeness has gone mad’ after discovering train service called the Transpennine Express https://newsthump.com/2024/04/06/furious-culture-warrior-claims-wokeness-has-gone-mad-after-discovering-train-service-called-the-transpennine-express/

nowster,
@nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

@newsthump Wait until they hear of the cancel culture on that line.

rolle, to mastodon
@rolle@mementomori.social avatar

When the social media conceptualized in the late 2000s, new services started to pop up every other week. Some of them were even popular. I remember being registered to over 160 different social media services. Jaiku, Qaiku, Bebo, Ello, Tsu, Path, PicPlz etc… there were so many. Then they died one by one after Facebook and Instagram took over.

Some people who remember this are saying the same is happening to Mastodon, Pixelfed and Loops. But they clearly do not understand the concept or interoperability and the social web, Fediverse, that is. They think of these platforms as a singlular, centralized services and they are using the commercial mindset.

The Fediverse will last. It will prosper. And it has already. That is what I sincerely believe. Since 2022 nothing has proven otherwise. I like the direction this is heading to.

nowster,
@nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

@rolle SMTP is a huge federated system. That pre-dates HTTP.

markmccaughrean, to random
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social avatar

Who knew? 😳

While there are only 80,000 of those iconic giant redwoods left in their native California (I blame all those rubbish speedbike riders in Return of the Jedi), there are 500,000 now growing in the UK.

Smaller so far, given that they’re much younger, but apparently the warm wet weather conditions suit them well & the largest are already over 50 metres tall.

Story & pix by my lovely friends Becky Morelle, Ali Francis, & Tony Jolliffe at the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68518623

nowster,
@nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

@markmccaughrean Sadly it appears they cannot reproduce here.

preslavrachev, to apple
@preslavrachev@mastodon.social avatar

Switching to a Garmin after five years with the Apple Watch, I’m fully convinced that touch-enabled LCD screens were one of the stupidest things one could put on a wearable. Not only are they clunky and leave fingerprints all over the place (especially, during a sweaty run), they are brutally inefficient when it comes to battery life.

I don’t know much about the tech behind Garmin’s screens, but it’s the closest to having an e-ink watch I can think of.

#garmin #apple #applewatch #eink #running

nowster,
@nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

@preslavrachev It's a memory-in-pixel LCD, and I prefer it over the OLED displays that are currently fashionable. Those remind me of the LED watch my dad had in the mid 1970s.

pwaring, (edited ) to manchester
@pwaring@fosstodon.org avatar

I really wish we had orbital transport routes in Greater Manchester, it's easy to get from one of the towns into the city centre but not from one town to the next. Sometimes it's quicker to go into the city centre and out again than go around. Worst case is going two towns across, when both orbital and radial routes are slow.

#manchester

nowster,
@nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

@pwaring We used to. The 400 and 401 were express orbital bus routes. Roughly Bolton to Stockport via Bury, Rochdale, Oldham, Ashton, etc.

pwaring, to random
@pwaring@fosstodon.org avatar

Maybe I'm not explaining it very well, but quite a few people who contact me don't seem to understand that "I'm usually booked up 4-12 weeks in advance" doesn't mean "if you contact me again in 4-12 weeks I'll be available".

nowster,
@nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

@pwaring Maybe if you expressed it as, "There's a four to twelve week waiting list for my services."

thepoliticalcat, to random
@thepoliticalcat@mastodon.social avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    nowster,
    @nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

    @thepoliticalcat Bear him some pity: he's always feeling down in the mouth.

    libreoffice, to random
    @libreoffice@fosstodon.org avatar

    LibreOffice 24.2 is our new big update, with many new features, including support for styles in comments. Find out more: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2024/01/31/libreoffice-24-2/

    nowster,
    @nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

    @vv666 @libreoffice Date based versioning. 24.2 = 2024-02 (Février/February 2024)

    cloudguy, to random

    Meeting with the Police preceded by a pot of tea in the car, killing time working on laptop

    nowster,
    @nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

    @cloudguy cop-get update?

    nowster,
    @nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

    @cloudguy I saw the screen in your photo doing an "apt update" operation. 😉

    MissMeow, to books
    @MissMeow@mastodon.social avatar

    So I finished cuckoo's calling by robert galbraith and liked it. It felt quite realistic with interesting characters and it wasn't too obvious who the murderer was. Just requested the next one.

    nowster,
    @nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

    @MissMeow The BBC has done a reasonable TV adaptation of JKR's "Strike" detective novels.

    cloudguy, to random

    deleted_by_author

    •
    nowster,
    @nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

    @cloudguy Did she also turn into a stunt person in a wig in medium shot?

    penguin42, to random
    @penguin42@mastodon.org.uk avatar

    Hello is that Virgin? Your broadband has fallen over....

    nowster,
    @nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

    @stardot @penguin42 That one is a glorified RF amplifier/splitter with a (now redundant) punch down panel for phone lines. The main cabinets are a lot beefier. There's about 20 distribution cabs to each main one. (In the ex-NYNEX system in Manchester that is.)

    They went NYNEX -> Cable&Wireless -> NTL -> Virgin (NTL&Telewest) -> Virgin (Liberty Global)

    selzero, to random
    @selzero@syzito.xyz avatar

    Someone is doing witchcrafty bullshit in front of my house.

    What happens now how am I supposed to defend against this? Do I have to get garlic or something. Is there like, defensive witchcraftery as a service firms I can pay to take care of it?

    How do I check if this is covered by my insurance?

    nowster,
    @nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

    @selzero It reads, "I'm sorry that you were out when we called. Your parcel is in the widdershins bin."

    cloudguy, to random

    deleted_by_author

    •
    nowster,
    @nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

    @cloudguy That sounds like the voice of bitter experience.

    mattgrayyes, to random
    @mattgrayyes@chaos.social avatar

    I love that Mercedes car radios list the frequency next to DAB station names.
    Yep, frequency is useful info for FM/AM.
    Completely useless for DAB.

    No DAB radio lets you tune by frequency. And that’s not the frequency of a station anyway. That’s the frequency of the multiplex, Digital One in this case, which has ~25 radio stations on it!

    nowster,
    @nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

    @mattgrayyes More useful would be the stream's parameters (encoder, bitrate, sample frequency and channels). Sadly many stations would be embarrassed if they were displayed. (eg. a national music channel which is 24kbps HE-AAC, 32kHz mono)

    JustineSmithies, to VintageComputing
    @JustineSmithies@fosstodon.org avatar

    Gutting our office / workshop at work as it's getting ripped apart and rebuilt over the next year so we'll be in a temporary office. Look what I came across though an old Stag P301 EPROM programmer. It switches on still and displays remote operation. It was destined for the skip but I rescued it although I'm not sure if I'll use it ? 🤔

    nowster,
    @nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

    @JustineSmithies I rescued similar from work about 15 years ago, along with a bunch of 27128 EPROMs (for making NE2K clone network cards boot disklessly). Still not found a use for them!

    davidallengreen, to random
    @davidallengreen@mastodon.green avatar

    Less than a year now to the end of this 2019 Parliament, by automatic operation of law.

    This means that the government has less than a year to get any new primary legislation through parliament, and with no scope for using Parliament Acts to defy the Lords.

    The end is in sight.

    nowster,
    @nowster@fosstodon.org avatar

    @craiggrannell @davidallengreen A correction. I got it backwards: the earliest sunset was a week ago and the latest sunrise will be on new year's eve.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • JUstTest
  • ngwrru68w68
  • everett
  • InstantRegret
  • magazineikmin
  • thenastyranch
  • rosin
  • GTA5RPClips
  • Durango
  • Youngstown
  • slotface
  • khanakhh
  • kavyap
  • DreamBathrooms
  • provamag3
  • tacticalgear
  • osvaldo12
  • tester
  • cubers
  • cisconetworking
  • mdbf
  • ethstaker
  • modclub
  • Leos
  • anitta
  • normalnudes
  • megavids
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •