Nostr notes by Zorin =^o.o^=

LOOK at this freaking shit. Seriously how did this pass any sort ...

2026-01-29T20:23:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…usja
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LOOK at this freaking shit.

Seriously how did this pass any sort of certification?

To be fair the cable doesn't have a UL rating stamped on it. Who knows where it came from. We have a box of power cables we use; I'm going through it to toss any other flimsy shit like this.

This power cord overheated and failed at work. 10 amps my arse. ...

2026-01-29T20:06:07Z

This power cord overheated and failed at work. 10 amps my arse. Those thin flimsy wires should barely be carrying three amps at most!

Check your power cords on beefier computer equipment, folks. If it feels flimsy it's probably dangerous garbage like this.

If they think 3.0's DRM will stop that, I have a bridge to ...

2025-10-30T18:35:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…3s6w
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If they think 3.0's DRM will stop that, I have a bridge to sell them.

Encryption to stop copying is useless when the recipient is in possession of the keys.

3.0 can die in a fire as far as I'm concerned. It has DRM, ...

2025-10-30T17:20:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…uew9
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3.0 can die in a fire as far as I'm concerned. It has DRM, and it doesn't even work as well as 1.0. The 3.0 versions of my local stations often have lip sync issues and dropouts, and the quality isn't even any better.

ATSC 1.0 should be allowed to be the standard at least as long as NTSC was.

To be clear, my ire isn't really directed at you, but at the ...

2025-10-03T13:52:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…y8sc
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To be clear, my ire isn't really directed at you, but at the general state of things on Mastodon. I get it, moderation is hard and so often thankless.

I want Mastodon to succeed, but also understand that a social network run entirely by volunteers is going to have this problem and for understandable reasons.

Thank you for putting in the time and effort you did. I'm forever grateful for people like yourself and LeoBurr (npub1ptn…f6w4) for keeping this going.

I really wish "I don't feel like doing this anymore" ...

2025-10-02T17:01:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…922v
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I really wish "I don't feel like doing this anymore" weren't so often the reason instances shut down.

Is there no one who can take over? It's sad and a big reason people are wary of Mastodon.

I swear I think there's a guy at Microsoft whose entire job ...

2025-09-28T17:18:37Z

I swear I think there's a guy at Microsoft whose entire job is to make sure that legacy cruft stays authentic.

And the funny thing is, I kinda like that, because it results in fun conversations with young people, like "Why do hard drives start at C:? What happened to A: and B:?"

Bluesky had to block access in Mississippi due to idiotic state ...

2025-08-23T03:46:30Z

Bluesky had to block access in Mississippi due to idiotic state legislation requiring age verification.

Meanwhile, Mastodon doesn't have to block jack shit because we're a distributed network with no owners.

As much as I enjoy my time over there, I'm reminded that my presence here is important too. This place is a lot more resistant to jackassery than any site run by a central authority.

I dialed into a version of this in the 90s at the university. ...

2025-08-12T18:08:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…z4h6
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I dialed into a version of this in the 90s at the university. This one used a PRI and supported ISDN calls and 56K "X2". Fun times.

Hah. It's gotten to the point that when I notice a root ...

2025-07-23T19:25:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…hpxk
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Hah.

It's gotten to the point that when I notice a root filesystem is almost full my first command is "du -s /var” and I usually don't have to go beyond that to find the culprit.

Yeah. He's an AWESOME guy. He maintains the computing history ...

2025-07-18T18:06:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…a6nu
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Yeah. He's an AWESOME guy. He maintains the computing history page for Columbia as well. So many cool stories and photos and writeups in there.

I've been a fan for a long time since discovering those pages like...20 years ago.

Is Frank STILL working on this? The guy is in his 80s, that's ...

2025-07-18T16:45:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…ld28
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Is Frank STILL working on this? The guy is in his 80s, that's amazing dedication if so.

Yeah it was pretty hard if you were just starting out. At least ...

2025-07-05T04:01:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…7rh7
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Yeah it was pretty hard if you were just starting out.

At least in the 305, we had a few "lower level" boards, like Silver Bullet, Terminator's House, etc... which didn't have big requirements to get on. They mostly had older warez.

Some of these boards would give you download credit for participating in forums, and that's how I started out.

Eventually I made friends and got onto slightly higher level boards. But I was never that popular because I only had a 14.4k modem in the days of 28.8 and couldn't call long distance.

People willing to call long distance were like gods because they could spread warez across the country.

It was lots of fun, if short-lived. Once I found the Internet the BBS world just wasn't interesting anymore.

I LOVE this stuff. I feel so lucky to have been a small part of ...

2025-07-05T03:50:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…hyld
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I LOVE this stuff. I feel so lucky to have been a small part of this culture in the early 90s just to have experienced it.

I was in no way a high level warez trader but I did occasionally download stuff from "more 31337" boards, and then upload it to the "less 31337" boards to get credit to download yet other stuff.

These ANSI screens were a way of life and every board had so many. So much talent in the ANSI art community.

It was like nerd graffiti, basically. Doing legally shady things and tagging our territories. :)

Heh. As someone who has his own E-mail server and knows how to ...

2025-07-03T16:12:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…vdu7
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Heh. As someone who has his own E-mail server and knows how to run it:

If I were doing it all over again, I would NOT “just" run my own E-mail server.

My boss is a UNIX greybeard with massive experience going a decade longer than me, and even he's stopped doing so for his personal stuff.

It's just... NOT fun these days. Not so much the technical aspect, but the whole "getting the network you're sending from trusted by everyone else" problem.

A G3 should have no problem decoding MP3. A 486DX4/100 can decode ...

2025-06-30T23:43:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…huzu
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A G3 should have no problem decoding MP3.

A 486DX4/100 can decode MP3s! G3 is far faster.

You may have been using a really unoptimized crap player. Something like mpg123 should have no issue.

If I keep putting vintage hardware on display in my office I soon ...

2025-06-30T18:25:46Z

If I keep putting vintage hardware on display in my office I soon won't have room to do actual work

The ugly foam insulation we nailed to the ceiling in a house my ...

2025-06-19T03:54:23Z

The ugly foam insulation we nailed to the ceiling in a house my friend was renting back in 2006 to keep the room cooler is still there as of the last time it went up for rent last year.

MY SIDES. I'M LAUGHING SO HARD.

Most 5th graders didn't have something like this in the 80s. ...

2025-06-12T02:47:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…5elv
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Most 5th graders didn't have something like this in the 80s.

Sadly the only reason I did is it was my dad's who used it for work, and when he passed away my mom let me have it.

For that reason I'll carry it to my grave even though it doesn't work.

"I said you can use a calculator, not a whole computer. ...

2025-06-12T02:44:24Z

"I said you can use a calculator, not a whole computer. It's not fair to the other pupils!"

"You can't use that because you won't always have one of those with you."

"Stop playing with that in class!"

My teachers hated this thing! It got confiscated several times. But I made the most of it.

Why can't registrar DNS panels just give me a TEXT BOX and ...

2025-06-04T19:49:19Z

Why can't registrar DNS panels just give me a TEXT BOX and let me paste in a ZONE FILE?

No it has to be clunky. Like by definition.

This moth on my screen door looks like an exotic fighter jet and ...

2025-02-19T21:59:53Z

This moth on my screen door looks like an exotic fighter jet and I love it.

I've been a heavy iTunes user since 2006 so it really fits in ...

2024-08-27T18:54:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…nv8z
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I've been a heavy iTunes user since 2006 so it really fits in well with the paradigm I already had.

$11 a month for access to nearly every song ever released is a decent deal.

I wish something similar would have happened with the TV and movie industries. Imagine if each record label had their own service?

I wish Apple Music made it easier to buy a track. You should be ...

2024-08-27T17:06:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…53dq
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I wish Apple Music made it easier to buy a track. You should be able to right click and purchase any track even if you're subscribed. It would be easy money for Apple and the music industry too!