Andrew (R.S Admin)

Award Winning Filmmaker (No really, I've been awarded at smallfile.ca two years running.)

I write and build stuff.

Est. 1990. (He, Him, Etc.)

http://andrewroach.net

Original posts CC-BY-SA 4.0 - Share them, but link to the original.

Public Key

npub12m063jugrwjruarzusjj6t4y6mjw0ayepd20crxgw889lxfv574ss9eax4

NIP-05 Address

ajroach42_at_retro.social@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs9dhagewyphfp7w33wgffd96jdde887jvsk48upny8rnjlnyk202cpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qz9thwden5te0v35hgar09ec82c30wfjkccteav9gpd

Publishing to

relay.mostr.pub

ditto.pub/relay

Author Public Key

npub12m063jugrwjruarzusjj6t4y6mjw0ayepd20crxgw889lxfv574ss9eax4

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Last Notes

2024-08-29 00:43:45

How hard do you think I'd get sued if I started making these t-shirts?
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/042/530/297/722/013/original/359c0dd161c9d379.png

2024-08-20 00:52:54

Levar Burton is the best.

2024-08-18 13:40:42

I once again find myself lamenting the fact that I can't purchase an HDMI to RCA adapter that will just Crop to a 4:3 slice of the center of the frame.

2024-08-16 17:24:22

It's real trippy trying to start a sustainable indie media/indie video outfit in the modern era because it just puts in to sharp contrast how broken the existing systems are, and how most of the ways that they are broken stem from mismanagement and bad choices.
What we are doing at New Ellijay Television is real weird! And it might all collapse, but I think it is more likely to be a moderate success.

2024-08-13 18:05:26

Was reading an article about a recent fossil study, and the author just casually drops the phrase "we are living through the earth's sixth mass extinction event" and ... well, it's one thing to know something and it's another to see it stated plainly.

2024-08-12 18:47:09

When someone links to a mastodon thread, I can view it. When someone links to a bluesky thread, I can view it. When someone links to a threads thread, I get a login wall.
Protect the open web.

2024-08-06 13:12:05

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@npub1w9a…04m0 wait, that's why it was called zdnet? Zdnet was published by the same people who did the doomed 1952 Space Patrol TV tie in comic?

2024-08-03 02:56:58

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@npub1w9a…04m0 or are they keeping the more well known name in the merger?

2024-08-03 02:56:08

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@npub1w9a…04m0 might it be skydance?

2024-07-31 12:53:33

Alright, we're more than half way through this year.
Time to start planning next year's novelty calendars!
In 2025, you can reuse calendars from 1902, 1913, 1919, 1930, 1941, 1947, 1958, 1969, 1975, 1986, 1997, 2003, and 2014.

2024-07-26 02:44:33

At some point, when I was a kid, I latched on to the idea that being comfortable and satisfied was bad.
I used this as a drive to push myself to try new things and to reach higher goals, but also as an excuse to behave in self destructive ways.
Comfort isn't the enemy. Satisfaction and joy are good and healthy. Things can end, that's okay. Good, even.
If you, like me, bought this myth: consider being kind to yourself. That doesn't mean you have to stop growing, but it absolutely does mean you're allowed to enjoy what you have.

2024-07-19 19:53:30

We're going to need access to some (fairly generic, usually) historic stock footage. Are there any flat rate stock footage libraries with pre 2000s films, or are we going to be paying per clip, do you think?

2024-07-18 23:49:17

Is there a good, modern, non-java alternative to Map Tools?
I'm building an RPG campaign for some kiddos, and I'd really love to be able to shove some animated sprites on a canvas, and do stat bars on screen for HP and XP and stuff.
I'd prefer it to be something pretty flexible, and I don't want to code it up myself but I guess I could if I wanted to?

2024-07-18 21:10:17

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@npub1hkd…yuns @npub1cu4…mcxv I disagree with basically all of this, but it starts with so many assumptions I don't understand that I think I would rather just let it go.

2024-07-17 16:31:54

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Of course the claimant backed down. How could they do otherwise?
But the fact remains that they should face legal repercussions for claiming ownership over something they don't own.
I should, at least, be able to bill them for the time I spent dealing with their spurious claim, but frankly the repercussions should be worse and deeper than that.
Issuing an illegal takedown notice should come with serious risk.

2024-07-17 14:06:12

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As an archivist, let me say clearly:
Modern copyright law is actively harmful to the preservation and study of our culture.
It harms artists by giving undue power to publishers. It harms artists by limiting remixes. It harms preservation and research efforts.
It's broken. It's bad. It should be massively reformed.

2024-07-17 14:02:15

I just got a copyright claim against a video I posted on youtube 10 years ago.
The video is a film by Georges Melies that was shot in the 1890s.
Someone is attempting to claim copyright over a film that is 130 years old, who's director died 86 years ago.
Now 1) I don't give a shit about this clip on youtube. 2) The person who made this claim is clearly in the wrong. 3) I can't be the only one that they have targeted illegally. 4) Youtube is a problem.

2024-07-16 14:32:09

Hey! I'm looking to purchase a copy of Activision's HERO for the atari 2600.
I don't want to deal with ebay, I'd rather buy from a person directly.
Do you have a copy of HERO for the atari 2600 that you'd be willing to sell?

2024-07-14 17:14:35

Sometimes I think about how Musk keeps saying he's going to colonize mars even though he's obviously incapable of doing that.
And I think about what a capitalist hellscape a martian colony would actually be if it was led by someone like Musk.
The worst scifi plot devices (paying for air, radiation sickness from improperly shielded domes, etc.) all seem pretty likely with someone like Musk in charge.

2024-07-13 12:38:18

Looking at the past from the present day can make it seem unimaginably distant.
(That is to say, reading history books can make the past seem sterile and settled.)
But looking at the past from the past makes it feel close and present and vibrant.
(which is to say, reading letters, newspapers, and other historic documents written at a time when that past was not settled gives it the feeling that it is still alive.)

2024-07-12 17:57:29

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@npub1w9a…04m0 several of the colbert software folks are here, if I'm not mistaken.

2024-07-11 17:09:54

The fact that NASA operates an official youtube account that doesn't also provide direct download links for all videos, and isn't mirrored anywhere non-proprietary should be illegal.
I shouldn't have to make money for google in order to view NASA content. I shouldn't have to subject myself to youtube DRM in order to watch NASA content. I should be able to download any video NASA produces, since NASA can't own a copyright on them.

2024-07-09 17:44:04

We've reached a temperature/humidity point locally where the A/C in most places just can't keep up.
It's every bit of 80 and humid as hell inside this building, and they have their A/C running full blast and they've wheeled out a portable unit to boot.
It isn't helping. The portable unit is probably actually making things worse because no one understands how heat pumps work. (Heat has to go somewhere!)
I suspect their drip pain is full and the drain pump can't keep up, that seems to be happening everywhere.

2024-07-06 16:45:35

I was at our shop pricing records on Thursday when I noticed a crowd forming outside our window.
There was a parade scheduled for the 4th of July.
I forgot that it was the 4th, I forgot about the parade and the fireworks.
I ended up stuck at the shop until like 10p.
Thankfully, a small number of friends also got stuck in town, so we had an impromptu parade watching party with some of the neighborhood kids.
This would have been pleasant were it not for the contents of the parade.

2024-07-05 19:11:52

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@npub1w9a…04m0 sundog and I have been trying to thread this needle for a while, and I don't think we have a good answer yet but this is a compelling case.

2024-06-22 01:00:40

So the internet business model is founded on the principle of maximizing engagement.
Eyeballs = dollars
And nothing maximizes engagement like outrage.
So, the next time something on the internet makes you angry, consider who profits.

2024-06-16 22:32:54

Kevin Nash played The Shredder in TMNT.

2024-06-16 00:55:23

There's a copy of the Donkey Kong Country TV show on youtube in widescreen and HD?
It doesn't look like an upscale.
I need to know more.

2024-06-15 20:57:55

Hey, can anyone recommend a quickstart guide for digital/electronic music production in a linux environment?
I don't know shit about shit, but I'd like to do some sampling and some bleep blorps.

2024-06-02 17:45:44

Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here, I don't know a lot about the great depression.
But I've been thinking about the great depression lately, for reasons that I assume are fairly self evident, and I'm thinking about the mechanisms that enabled it, and I'm drawing conclusions and modern parallels.
I don't know if these conclusions are right, or if these modern parallels are sensible. I don't know the inner secrets of the universe. These are just some things I'm thinking about.

2024-05-30 16:34:15

It's real simple, but one of the artistic projects of which I am the most proud is scoring The Battle of the Century for New Ellijay Television: https://vod.newellijay.tv/w/qK49WdrPMcZbjxhhsDNv5m
I used a bunch of 78s from the 20s, and I think the end result feels coherent and exciting.

2024-05-30 16:01:15

Towel Day was this past weekend.
This is a thing I wrote just before Towel Day 2019.
It opens with this disclaimer:
[It's sad, and deeply personal, and not at all about computers. Content Warnings for 9/11, cancer, death, eating disorders, economic strife, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.]
https://ajroach42.com/towel-day/

2024-05-30 01:34:28

Hey! Did you know I sell VHS tapes?
That means I also *buy* VHS tapes.
Vintage tape sales have been steady, but I haven't had a chance to restock much lately because of *all the things* (see https://ajroach42.com/some-surprise-expenses/ )
So, I'm doing something a little unusual. I'm asking the fediverse for VHS tapes. See next post for details.

2024-05-28 22:08:32

Many episodes of The A-Team, especially in season 2, are remarkably pro-worker in a way I really respect. I wish more media was proworker and anti bourgeoisie like this.

2024-05-28 18:16:04

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@npub1ep0…8t62 what'd I miss?

2024-05-27 21:26:45

The fact that AI and Al are visually identical is a travesty.

2024-05-27 18:36:41

We use a plugin on https://hemlockbazaar.com to list our products in the google product search thing.
I hate it, but it does result in a few extra sales a month and it's not much effort for us to manage, so I deal.
Today I noticed that they'd taken issue with 53 of our products (out of many thousand) so I popped over to figure out what was up and...
Well, I'm at a loss.
Google has flagged 53 of our products as Sexual, let me show you some of the flagged products.

2024-05-26 14:31:47

Apparently someone I'm friends with on facebook has joined a bunch of anime porn groups?
I logged in to post some updates to our business account and my home feed was 0 posts by anyone I follow, three posts from groups I'm in, and the rest was posts from groups I'm not in.
I'm in public, it was wildly embarrassing.
Weird to see FB basically give up on content moderation.

2024-05-24 01:56:58

Suppose you wanted to get in to Jazz, but you didn't know where to start.
You might benefit from this blog post I just wrote about how I introduce people to Jazz.
https://www.hemlockbazaar.com/2024/05/24/product-spotlight-may-23-2024-jazz/

2024-05-22 01:37:22

My CNC router has been packaged and will ship tomorrow!

2024-05-22 01:14:47

I used to get a lot of Linux reply guys. Now I get a lot of "linux reply guys suck" reply guys instead.
This is not an improvement.

2024-05-21 22:57:38

Field testing my GameDad.
#gamedad
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/481/549/332/191/109/original/ef6e6c06bc4c9c1c.jpeg

2024-05-18 23:40:24

Lightning just struck about 12 feet from me. That was scary.

2024-05-18 22:43:49

Who decided that monetary inflation was normal or desirable?

2024-05-18 22:35:40

VHS is the future.
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/464/475/393/584/377/original/82fb24d44c523983.mp4

2024-05-18 17:41:47

VHS is the future.
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/463/318/920/287/643/original/2c97674dd0638999.jpg

2024-05-17 22:10:27

We must destroy the growth death cult

2024-05-17 20:12:41

I have no intention of advertising on Facebook, but Facebook notified me a few days ago that I was no longer allowed to.
I appealed, curious as to the reason.
They said it was becuase of sensitive political content.
We got banned from advertising for producing The Hastening for @npub1dqs…pycw

2024-05-16 04:57:49

I've met several people who went to ivy league schools. I've known a few of them pretty well.
They were no better than me, or you, and in many ways they were worse.
Meritocracy is a myth. The rich built a system that favors themselves and pretended it was based on merit.

2024-05-14 23:37:46

My a-team headcannon is that they're a polycule.

2024-05-14 20:43:57

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@npub1gzd…wfsq oh, I bought it a while ago.

2024-05-14 19:41:26

Have you heard this?
https://etherdiver.bandcamp.com/album/psychedelic-ghost-stories

2024-05-11 02:10:39

fucking John Carpenter and Beck?

2024-05-10 16:39:10

I'm working on a little portfolio site to make it easier for people to know that I am accepting freelance work.
It's a work in progress right now.
https://impractical.computer/
I am accepting productive feedback, if you have any.

2024-05-08 01:32:24

We want to stock more poetry at our bookstore, but I don't know much about modern poetry, and there's not like ... a list of titles for me to pull from, like there are for other genres of writing.
What poetry should we stock? Who is producing interesting and worthwhile work?

2024-05-07 23:53:23

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Episode two was so much better than episode one, and episode one was fantastic.
Everyone's in LA might be the best thing on television right now.
Also Mae Martin is here, and that's always nice.

2024-05-07 23:23:06

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(This John Mulaney show is really excellent.)

2024-05-07 23:20:28

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"I also don't fuck with birds, and I think everyone here knows that."

2024-05-07 23:08:01

"I don't fuck with plants"

2024-05-03 16:42:50

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@npub1zw0…uljm woo

2024-05-03 04:39:11

Hey! Let's get some good news going.
What's something good happening in your life? What can you celebrate?
#TellMeSomethingGood

2024-05-01 23:12:30

Man fuck a snap, I'm going back to debian.

2024-05-01 20:46:11

This thing talked it's way in to my life earlier. It's a sony fx-412 from the late 70s.
It's a cassette boom box, an am/fm radio, and a tabletop television.
Runs on batteries or 12v center negative DC.
Does it work? We'll find out!
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/367/778/078/128/103/original/455fcd4de6eac664.jpg

2024-04-30 02:06:20

LeVar Burton is a gem.

2024-04-28 18:36:27

Take more photos. Shoot more videos. Print more pictures. You'll be glad, when time passes

2024-04-27 00:22:28

https://www.freeblockbuster.org/
"TAKE a movie
LEAVE a movie
Be Kind, Rewind!
Our mission is to combat the myth of scarcity by providing free entertainment to as many people as possible."
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/340/324/125/748/279/original/ff435d664bc4c7ea.png

2024-04-24 22:48:48

When I was a kid, I did a summer job where my primary responsibilities were filing papers in a filing cabinet, and doing light data entry.
I think I was 14?
I hated it. I hated filing, I hated data entry. It was tedious and boring. The filing cabinets were badly disorganized when I started, the data entry was extra fidlely.
Anyway, now I'm an adult who runs a bookstore with a web portal, so glad I escaping filing and data entry. 🙃

2024-04-23 13:21:05

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@npub16r2…el76 131 N main st, Ellijay, GA
https://hemlockbazaar.com

2024-04-23 13:16:41

Waiting on the electrician to come by and poke a few things before we officially open the doors, but
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/320/720/829/372/179/original/97ef99efdaa75763.png

2024-04-18 17:30:13

New bookshelf day!
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/293/405/728/102/730/original/26ace6e1b3fc2e8b.jpg
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/293/405/956/228/620/original/ad93692251a37b45.jpg
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/293/405/987/002/712/original/b55f5a749ed46f45.jpg
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/293/405/943/381/772/original/2d6acd1cb869958f.jpg

2024-04-17 18:19:05

I've gotten good enough at playing the guitar (not good, mind you, just good enough) that I've started practicing singing while I play.
Suddenly, I'm very bad at both things again!
But with a little more practice I should be able to accompany myself on simple songs.
I'm not much of a vocalist either, of course, but that's hardly the point.

2024-04-17 03:45:15

There's a scene in red dwarf whee they're trying to demonstrate that the ship has been damaged.
They do this by flashing the word MALFUNCTION over five CRTs.

2024-04-17 03:29:59

A better world is coming.

2024-04-17 01:16:30

I really love old american comics.
Like *old* american comics. Golden age and earlier.
There's a lot to talk about in old comics (Krazy Kat, for example, a gender queer cat engaged in a bisexual love triangle, written by a black man syndicated in american newspapers for decades starting in 1913) but today I have a particular comic thing I want to talk about.

2024-04-15 00:18:38

The wold is a scary place right now, so I'm reaching for small comforts.

2024-04-11 22:18:05

Really just shocked at how much fan/community preservation and internationalization happens, and at how fragile modern copyright law makes it.
All this work, born largely out of love, done with basically no hope of profit. Entire communities built on the back of it, and then it's wiped out by the IP holders or the machinations of commerce.

2024-04-10 01:09:28

There are no good Corporations.
The corporation is a gestalt entity created from wealth stolen from workers. They are the shambling husks of dead billionaires, or the overinflated egos of living billionaires.
They have one goal: number most go up, no matter the cost, no matter who gets hurt, no matter how the oceans boil.

2024-04-01 19:27:31

My friend Russel (a 9 year old autistic boy) has started reading! He's been kind of at the edges of reading for years, but he decided he was going to read, and he has been reading constantly.
He's getting good at it.
This is very exciting for him and for his family.

2024-03-29 22:44:57

We're finally covering the Brian Pritchard Election Fraud story for new ellijay news. It'll come out next week.
It's part of a new direction we're taking with the news that I'm pretty happy about.

2024-03-29 00:55:26

Janperson (AKA Jumperson. AKA Tokusou Robo Janperson) is an entry in the Metal Hero Series (the same series which was adapted in to Beetleborgs,
Janperson is some kind of metallic detective.
This is Janperson The Movie, a mostly standalone story set in between episodes 11 and 12.
It's ... it's real weird.
https://archive.org/details/Janperson

2024-03-22 14:46:31

I run a record label.
I don't make much of a secret of it, but I don't talk about it much either.
I do this to help people find music that I think is worth finding.
I do this out of pocket (at a loss, and sometimes a big one) becuase I believe in what we're doing. I believe in physical media. I believe in these bands.

2024-03-20 17:46:40

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@npub1463…00qn this looks neat!

2024-03-19 22:50:28

A previously lost Clara Bow film redebuts next month. I'm pumped, but also genuinely worried it's not going to get a physical release.

2024-03-14 19:40:38

I think I'm going to start looking for short term contract gig and freelance work as supplemental income for a little while, while we get the coffeehouse open again and I figure out how to make #netv financially stable.

2024-03-12 22:06:21

Day one at the bookstore was a success. We sold out of a couple of titles, and just generally had a good time.
We'll be back at it tomorrow, ironing out kinks and making sure things run smoothly.
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/084/984/935/198/432/original/68427693d1605aa2.jpeg

2024-03-10 13:25:55

Okay, we changed the clocks.
Can we leave them alone now.

2024-03-10 03:04:38

I usually think of my brother as a pretty neurotypical person.
Today, he talked to me about Dragon Ball for 6 hours without a break.

2024-03-07 01:57:57

What's the oldest electronic device that you use on a regular basis?

2024-03-01 01:43:23

Alright, I'm looking for more books to add to our book store! Do you have suggestions for books we should carry?

2024-02-27 17:51:42

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Right now, I'm importing slightly more than 1100 individual book titles in to our store. It's going to take a few days for the to all show up online, but they're coming along.
If you want to watch the process, check this page: https://www.hemlockbazaar.com/product-category/books/
The new books will start showing up between Confessions of a Master Jewel Thief and The Blaft Anthology of Tamil Pulp Fiction, and will fill out many many pages over time.

2024-02-27 17:46:08

ALRIGHT PUNKS!
The time is fast approaching for my book/record/movie store to open.
We're rapidly putting the final pieces in place!
Books have shipped to us, records have arrived and are being put on to shelves.
We'll be open within 10 days. If I'm especially lucky, and the goons from the city are kind, we'll be open by Friday.

2024-02-25 03:22:42

Give me back my headphone jack and my optical drive.

2024-02-17 18:37:17

RIP Dex Romwebber
Listening to Go Go Harlem Baby in your honor.

2024-02-16 15:06:12

Hi Fedi! I'm looking for software advice.
I would very much like to find a point a point of sale system for our bookstore which allows us to use a unified inventory in store and on our website.
Ideally, the online portion will be barcode/ISBN aware and pull appropriate stock images for books (but also allow us to list products that aren't books in the store and on the website!)
I've found one suggestion so far: Bookmanager, which looks like it'll do absolutely everything I need. (So obviously, there's a catch.)
Bookmanager does personalized onboarding for new customers, and their next free appointment is in 2025. You can't buy the software without the onboarding.
So I need a solution for today, and possibly forever, that isn't Bookmanager.

2024-02-13 16:03:19

Hey teachers, librarians, and parents: I'm looking for radical fiction for middle schoolers.
What are some middle grades (or earlier?) books that teach empathy and good anarchist values?

2024-02-11 19:55:35

Hey! I'm compiling a "trending" section for our bookstore, but I want it to be books that are popular on the fediverse.
Tell me about books you've read recently or just really enjoy. Does not have to be a recent release. Bonus points if it's an independent author.
Fiction, Non-fiction, poetry, etc.
#bookstodon

2024-02-07 03:03:53

This is intriguing:
"When shipping clerk and former musician Frank Johnson died in Chicago in 1979 at the age of 67, his family was shocked to discover 2,300 pages of comics in bound notebooks that apparently nobody knew about."
https://boingboing.net/2024/02/06/when-he-died-his-family-discovered-50-years-of-cartooning-output-the-secret-comics-of-frank-johnson-are-published.html
Now some of them are available in a collection (600 pages!) from Fantagraphic.

2024-02-03 02:02:45

Shakti (John Mcglaughlin's band which last released an album in like 75 or something) recorded a new album last year and did a tiny desk?

2024-02-01 19:04:56

It feels like we've passed the point where elected officials can be swayed by votes, marches, signatures, petitions, or demonstrations.
What was it Kwame Ture said?

2024-01-30 02:13:44

Are you familiar with Benshi?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benshi
Benshi were performers who provided live narration for silent films. adding commentary, explanations, and occasionally poetry.
They'd do this to theaters of 1,000 people, with a live orchestra, without amplification.