note from the toot-lab: if you are currently following this account from an instance operated by Eugen, I apologize, but you've got until Friday to find another home or get used to the idea of not seeing the toot-lab anymore because I'm sick of his bullshit and I'm yeeting his gargantuan shitholes into /dev/null on Saturday morning to start my day off right.
it's not you; it's him.
thanks for understanding.
Long ago, I thought I was special, different than everyone else, and I was surrounded by adults who reinforced that thought daily.
Eventually, I realized that I was special, different than everyone else, and so was every other person in the world.
They left out the important bit. We're each special and different and that's what makes us awesome.
I celebrate your special difference, friends, each of you. May it bring you the joy in the coming years that it has brought me getting to know each of you during the last few.
waxing nostalgic for the near future by way of the near past - 2000 chars, involves feels
I remember showing up over here by following the jetsam [1] of the first infosec migration across the tumultuous seas of microblogging, slightly disoriented but little worse for wear.
There was a lot of space back then. You could swing a raccoon in a circle around your head [2] without having to worry about giving someone a faceful of frenetic fur. [3] Fewer than twenty-five thousand souls inhabited this archipelago [4] at that point, gathering on a handful of islands.
I was pretty sure I was destined to be consumed [5] by those who had arrived before my cohort.
In a way, I was. I am no longer the person I was when I arrived here. I have been changed by this place. I have been changed by this ever-changing group of groups of people. I have been changed by you. [6]
Fierce storms will batter these little islands. Battles will arise. Pain and grief are by-products of interaction.
But so are laughter and cheer and warmth and contentedness.
And love.
My neighbors, the very least that I wish for each and every one of you is to find days so filled with love that there's no time for hate and nights so restful that you rise burning with the force of the sun within you.
Mend what is broken. Build shelters you need. Make mistakes and make them count. This is your world and mine and it will be exactly what we make it, but the sky is the limit if we keep looking up instead of bringing ourselves down.
Thanks for being here, thanks for being you, and thanks for listening to the rambling of a silly old dog.
[1] unbeknownst to many, stale infosec memes are extremely buoyant
[2] assuming the raccoon consented to be swung such
[3] assuming someone wasn't throwing their face at the nearest bit of fur
[4] h/t to @priryo for https://linernotes.club/@priryo/100565446740959131 and @sydneyfalk for https://mst3k.interlinked.me/users/sydneyfalk/updates/85279
[5]
[6] assuming I consented to be changed such [7]
[7] I did
I've yet to make a proper introduction here, but while that simmers a little longer I'd love to share this project of mine with you.
I've collected 18 episodes of the 1983 television show, Whiz Kids, in English and Italian, 13 in French, and 7 in Japanese, and made them available for everyone on the Internet Archive. Some of the English episodes were sourced from a partial PAL DVD release and may be in better quality than you've ever seen them. Please enjoy and share with your friends and associates. It's not too late to become a fan of this very cool but short-lived show that inspired a lot of young people in its day, and continues to inspire me.
@djsundog you have no evidence Hal Blaine was responsible for that explosion
Put On a Show - S01E02 - April 23, 2022 - Analog Revolution
https://mountaintown.video/videos/watch/85fbb75d-c9fc-4a05-9586-89d18b18ac2f
Vibing to the Hackers tribute tonight from @snowdusk
killin' it.
Right to Repair (iPhone edition)
https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/21/23079058/apple-self-service-iphone-repair-kit-hands-on
#Albumbowl championship
Do you
• Fuck?
• Not fuck?
@derek you 7 people who already voted Downward Spiral - take it back NOW
sorry Trent #AlbumBowl
us government software
@christa 1968 was a huge year for US Gov't information technology policy. Same year, President Johnson said all government computer systems must use ASCII. Also the year that BBN applied for and received the contract from ARPANET to make the first IMP routers
us government software
@christa it all goes back to President Johnson's 1967 Task Force on Communication Policy, which ultimately birthed the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy. 1968 was ALSO the birth of public broadcasting in the US, I believe ALSO linked to the task force but I'm not 100% sure
Ridiculous Fucking Ideas
Alright it's like this:
There are dozens of people in my small town, and probably in every small town, who act, and produce music, and make videos.
Or who would do these things if given the opportunity. Who want to do these things, but have not had the opportunity.
So, we find them, we give them a place to get together, we give them equipment, we give the educational resources (up to this point, that's my makerspace. I need a better way to connect with people, but that's another story)
We give them some funding. We give them a distribution network. We make it easy for their audience to pay them.
Trying to break things that need breaking, deliberately and after much reflection, make things in a likewise manner, and generally reshape the various worlds I inhabit to be slightly more habitable.
I'm into music, retrocomputing, people, caring, and thinking about stuff.
I dislike capitalism, cryptocurrency, terfs, nazis, fascists, racists, & edgelords.
Been around a while.
Accidental maintainer of brutaldon.
Feel free to ask questions. I will not always answer.