Nantucket E-Books

Account for Nantucket E-Books, a free-software platform for the best e-books on the planet. https://nantucketebooks.com
#pivotfromvideo

Public Key

npub19fr6dawmu62tg0ys60fkvpsxazeuqjgpje8defamxpspqwpygyss5zx6r8

NIP-05 Address

nantucketebooks_at_fosstodon.org@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsz53ax7hd7d9958jgd85mxqcrw3v7qfyqevnku57anqcqs8qjyzggprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wdmksetjv5hxxmmdqy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyf8ckqx

Publishing to

relay.noswhere.com

relay.mostr.pub

relay.nostr.band

Author Public Key

npub19fr6dawmu62tg0ys60fkvpsxazeuqjgpje8defamxpspqwpygyss5zx6r8

Show more details

Last Notes

2024-10-31 21:03:32

My video for spooky season: a reading of Viola Garvin's poem The House of Caesar. https://youtu.be/viKtQk-HTls I dedicate this video to my late friend Bruce "Buffalo" Beck, whose adventurous life was a light in mine.

2024-10-19 02:16:16

I've been learning the card game Faro, and I've made my own casekeep for the game. The casekeep is used to track which cards are left in the deck. My homemade casekeep is made from a picture frame, wire from coat hangers, wooden beads, and some stickers for the numbers and letters. My tools included a ruler for spacing out the wires and card ranks, an awl for putting holes in the frame, and a wire cutter. #crafting
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/113/331/662/304/137/189/original/70643f1ecf9b5bd0.jpeg

2024-10-13 04:58:21

Did Mastodon's browser client get a "glow-up"?

2024-10-06 00:07:06

Some advice if you are designing a book spine in GIMP: design the spine on its side, it will be much easier to work with the text horizontally rather. When text is rotated, text mode won't want to work with it.

2024-09-24 03:49:15

How have I never heard about this???? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OcP0Op9OsY&pp=ygUPcmViZWNjYSB3YXRzb24g

2024-09-24 03:35:30

- reply

@npub1dq0…glnl "Bum work for bum pay" as the Wobblies used to say.

2024-09-19 23:27:55

- reply

@npub1zcc…x0fw Wouldn't it be something if this could work?

2024-09-17 04:41:37

New blog post: I've updated my script for physical books: now front-matter for books is numbered with Roman numerals, and the body-matter will begin on page '1'.
What does the writer need to do? Oh...just add one additional line, @@PAGENUMSTART. It's that simple.

2024-09-16 14:48:47

- reply

@npub18pe…huft These must be the bees that *don't* swarm you when there's one drop of maple syrup on your patio table. /s

2024-09-12 17:56:51

Why is it hard for AI to not lie? I think the answer lies in this quote from the Matrix short film Matriculated: "To an artificial mind, all reality is virtual."

2024-09-05 01:10:21

- reply

The monitor is an RCA XL-100 from 1985. It looks pretty awesome in-person!

2024-08-31 13:39:43

- reply

@npub1zw2…2aln My man! That was easy to turn off. Thank you.

2024-08-30 22:07:40

I really wish eBay (to name just one site) would send plain-text emails as well as HTML emails.

2024-08-29 17:04:07

I was a bit skeptical when I saw Joe L. Hensley was included in Dangerous Visions--helps to be friends with the editor, right?--but I was surprised to find his story, Lord Randall, My Son, was one of the best in the book. I suspect it was an influence on Ellison's later story Jeffty is Five.

2024-08-28 19:40:54

- reply

@npub135w…l3dn Vintage bonsai kitten!

2024-08-28 15:07:25

- reply

@npub1rfd…ufwh Admittedly, this only happened twice.

2024-08-25 14:38:53

- reply

I have worked on some of my scripts to make the raw HTML more readable. For example, I think the e-books on my platform look pretty dang good as cURL requests, which not many e-book platforms can say.

2024-08-25 14:33:26

Questions for Lynx users and developers: I've noticed that if you leave off ".html" from a file, Lynx will load it as plain text. My question is, isn't the point of "<!DOCTYPE html>" so the browser knows how to render the document as HTML?

2024-08-24 03:47:08

- reply

@npub10av…r788 That bear story was *nuts*. Who hears about that story and says "Wow, that's who I want to vote for"?

2024-08-24 03:08:43

Okay, this is coming together. Subscribe via RSS here: https://www.ndhfilms.com/reviews/rss.xml And Atom: https://www.ndhfilms.com/reviews/atom.xml @npub1cj2…2fze Isn't there a third one that some people promote?

2024-08-24 01:41:05

I have started writing an SSG for my movie reviews. This will let me generate HTML from Markdown files. From there, I can also generate RSS, Atom, and who knows? Maybe Gopher and Gemini.

2024-08-20 04:58:25

I have been going to the movie theater more, mostly for its own sake. I have also made a point of avoiding previews, I try to walk in just as the movie is starting.
The effect has been a positive one. I find that even for movies I don't enjoy, I am able to watch the movie with no preconceptions. The whole movie is a fresh experience, and I can form my own opinion.

2024-08-18 03:24:11

- reply

@npub1mgp…xp8g Where is this? I've read that Long was near modern-day Brighton on July 4th, 1820.

2024-08-17 18:36:16

My review of Alien: Romulus. https://www.ndhfilms.com/reviews/alien-romulus
Hungry, salivating aliens hunting people on a derelict space station? Entertaining. Ian Holm's digital likeness puppeteered by CGI and AI voice generation? Now *that's* disturbing.

2024-08-17 16:47:18

- reply

@npub1m58…mdjg Apparently there are families in that town that, to this day, will not speak to each other.

2024-08-17 15:53:48

- reply

@npub1m58…mdjg I've read that Nelson Mandela had a UFCW t-shirt in his prison cell in the 1980s.

2024-08-17 01:05:42

In the first twenty minutes of Borderlands, the following things happen: "I'm getting too old for this ****", "You and what army?" followed by an army showing up, "I'm a bounty hunter, not a babysitter", and a villain introduced by slow-clapping offscreen.

2024-08-17 00:07:14

Winnie the Pooh with bad teeth: "Me too."
Winnie the Pooh in a tuxedo: "I am of the same opinion."

2024-08-16 16:27:57

- reply

Subscribe to the blog on RSS: https://nantucketebooks.com/RSS.xml Atom feed: https://nantucketebooks.com/atom.xml

2024-08-16 16:27:18

New blog post about the summer 2024 issue of #quarterup, available only from @npub1w78…efqy. https://nantucketebooks.com/blog/2024/08/2024-08-16_quarter_up%E2%80%99s_summer_2024_issue_is_out.html
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/112/972/634/677/767/406/original/fb5ee7291473220e.jpg

2024-08-16 16:11:40

- reply

@npub1pvx…fnat This is like in the Charles Stross novel Accelerando, where computers file and dissolve LLCs faster than governments can handle.

2024-08-16 04:04:20

- reply

@npub16mz…uzxf "For MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

2024-08-16 03:54:01

- reply

@npub1n5d…2090 Looking back on my school years, I'm not too sure what I got out of all that homework.

2024-08-16 03:45:07

If there are any #atom fans out there, I have an Atom feed of my blog, in addition to RSS. https://nantucketebooks.com/blog/atom.xml At the encouragement of @npub1cj2…2fze, I've put the whole contents of each blog into its description.

2024-08-16 01:50:50

I didn't know Dean Norris was in Starship Troopers.

2024-08-16 01:23:20

I have never been impressed by 3-D at the movie theater--with one exception. I'll never forget the opening shot of Coraline, watching the doll float through the open window. I gasped. https://youtu.be/6RVOgTeVmkc?si=FFUO8Azkm3ZEnX0h

2024-08-15 06:02:13

Where I live I'd be nervous to walk around a night, on account of bears, moose, and other wildlife.

2024-08-14 06:19:17

I was surprised to hear that the Cartoon Network website was shut down. The website had a small place in computer history: the JSON format developed out of technologies created for the Cartoon Orbit trading network.

2024-08-14 06:10:56

My review of the movie Borderlands. You know, in case you were on the fence about seeing it. :-P https://www.ndhfilms.com/reviews/borderlands

2024-08-14 05:29:48

- reply

@npub1s09…6ffc "He told me that, whenever possible, he liked to eat the rude. 'Free-range rude', he called it."

2024-08-13 01:11:15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT8oDKqoh_g #harlan_ellison shares some of the quotes that inspired him. I like 'sat ci sat bene', 'It is done quickly enough if it is done well.'

2024-08-11 16:37:50

- reply

Vim on FreeDOS takes some getting used to, because the backspace key does not work as expected. One is supposed to use 'dw', or the delete key in Insert mode. Also, the delete key on this laptop is to the left of the arrow keys, and the backtick/tilde key is where the delete key would appear on most other keyboards.

2024-08-11 16:26:25

- reply

@npub1v2s…mqq5 "I am broadcasting my opposition from down in the BAH-HAH."

2024-08-10 19:56:49

Would you eat at a Sonic the Hedgehog-themed restaurant? #quarterup contributor @npub145s…jzze made a video about the Sonic Speed Cafe in Katy, Texas...and said it was pretty darn good! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj9f_HBnsuA&pp=wgIGCgQQAhgB

2024-08-09 03:32:28

I am going to be delaying the publication of the next #quarterup issue for one week. It will be published Friday, August 16. https://nantucketebooks.com/quarterup #pinball #arcade

2024-08-07 02:40:13

Holy shamoley, there's an actual Apple Lisa for sale in the Denver area. These later revisions to the Lisa were also branded as the Macintosh XL, and could boot into either the Lisa or the Macintosh operating systems. https://denver.craigslist.org/sys/d/denver-apple-lisa-10/7771486133.html

2024-08-07 02:28:54

New blog post: some terrific #writingprompts discovered in a #harlan_ellison essay, plus an update on the forthcoming summer issue of Quarter Up. https://nantucketebooks.com/blog/2024/08/2024-08-05_writing_prompts_from_the_clarion_writers_conference.html

2024-08-07 01:44:23

A Dead Bear in Central Park?
Hollywood needs to cool it with the Don Bluth sequels.

2024-08-06 05:48:28

A fact I learned a couple years ago: Education reformer John Dewey did not invent the Dewey Decimal System. The DDC was invented by Melvil Dewey, unrelated to John.

2024-08-05 15:47:18

It's funny to compare a positive technology experience to the Space Shuttle, which had only one megabyte of RAM.

2024-08-05 07:24:17

This is a talk I gave at Regis University about hosting your own server. I no longer host Nantucket E-Books on my own home server, but I think the information in this talk is still relevant. https://youtu.be/cyjci75zkiQ?si=zGC9FAP856waWBiu

2024-08-04 19:36:14

The Jurassic Park arcade game from 1993. A game so difficult that even a TAS can't manage a no-damage run. https://yewtu.be/watch?v=mvDpogQ0w-w

2024-08-03 16:22:02

Well, shoot. I guess I won't be seeing Aerosmith. I hope Steven Tyler feels better. https://variety.com/2024/music/news/aerosmith-announces-retirement-touring-steven-tyler-vocal-recovery-cancels-concerts-1236094474/

2024-08-02 02:49:32

The Brits had their election on July 4, and Americans will have their election on November 5.
"Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony."

2024-07-30 05:32:05

I spent the afternoon driving over Shrine Pass. Very pretty. The road is pretty darn rough on the west side, but I was able to get my car across without much trouble.

2024-07-30 04:18:45

400 followers! Thank you, thank you, thank you. In honor of 400, here's the ending of Truffaut's The 400 Blows, one of the great final shots in all of cinema. (granted, a little more impactful if you've seen the movie) https://yewtu.be/watch?v=bO8XIm6bbgA

2024-07-29 21:36:37

Better a half-century late than never! The Last Dangerous Visions, #harlan_ellison's sf anthology, will be published in October. Publisher's Weekly has given the book a rare starred review, signifying literary merit. https://www.publishersweekly.com/9798212183796

2024-07-29 01:27:43

- reply

@npub1g45…0ka3 I am of the same opinion. I once had a turkey aggressively stalk the front door at a job a few years ago, I believe it was seeing its own reflection.

2024-07-29 01:26:24

- reply

Here's an exterior view of the house.
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/112/867/169/108/143/645/original/f441b22dc86c91ec.jpg

2024-07-29 01:11:53

- reply

@npub10d2…fy4f That was a fun thing in Babylon 5, there was one episode focused entirely on two of the maintenance crew of the station, just keeping everything running.

2024-07-29 01:08:32

- reply

@npub1chs…ezjw It was a graveyard smash!

2024-07-28 14:30:34

I was quite touched by the Howard Rodman short story The Man Who Went to the Moon Twice. It reminded me of a quote from Michael Stevens: "We went from Custer's Last Stand to Armstrong's first steps within the span of a single human life."

2024-07-27 04:25:01

That Paris opening ceremony must have really been somethin'.

2024-07-27 03:08:28

- reply

@npub17t7…zuxj Thank you.

2024-07-27 03:03:55

- reply

@npub19uy…0n85 Yes! This is the problem! It's not that AI can necessarily do a better job, it's that those with the power to make decisions think it can do a good-enough job to replace people.

2024-07-27 03:02:47

- reply

@npub17t7…zuxj Forgive me for a dumb question: how would a Beyond burger or an Impossible burger be classified? Would a vegetarian consider it meat? Is it vegan since it's not an animal product?

2024-07-27 02:58:13

- reply

@npub16a6…8qn5 Why is there a giant Android interface along the bottom, though?
I have seen Windows BSODs at interactive shopping mall kiosks, and POS terminals at movie theaters.

2024-07-27 02:53:31

- reply

@npub1mh0…3gvc The modern-day Remembrance of Things Past: instead of smelling coffee, the narrator huffs the exhaust port of a Steam Deck.

2024-07-27 02:05:52

An Imgur album of my Apple II+. I do enjoy using it when I can. When I start up my computer museum it will be the centerpiece. https://imgur.com/gallery/meet-apple-PYUFs98

2024-07-26 02:08:54

https://yewtu.be/watch?v=ShGElGusepA This is some good stuff. I would encourage the filmmakers to develop their original ideas, they've got the chops for it.

2024-07-25 03:29:12

I am currently collecting stories for an sf anthology. This will be a free-culture book, so all stories will be licensed as CC-BY-SA or something similar. I am paying for stories.
Need a writing prompt? I have a couple stories I'm especially interested in here: https://nantucketebooks.com/blog/2024/03/2024-03-21_in_the_market.html

2024-07-25 03:12:43

- reply

@npub1dhd…02ra Pretty good list, but I'd wager Dangerous Visions should be on any list of the best science-fiction.

2024-07-24 01:37:06

My video on the movie St. Elmo's Fire has been getting a lot of views lately.
I rail the movie a lot in this video, but I'll say again that the acting is quite good, and that theme song is amazing.
https://invidious.jing.rocks/watch?v=PosRxA34scA

2024-07-22 04:14:59

Quite a bit of Eugene Field's poetry available online in the public domain. One of Colorado's best-known poets, you may have heard of his work Wynken, Blynken, and Nod. There is a statue honoring this poem in Denver's Washington Park. https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=eugene+field&submit_search=Go%21

2024-07-22 04:14:38

Quite a bit of Eugene Fields poetry available online in the public domain. One of Colorado's best-known poets, you may have heard of his work Wynken, Blynken, and Nod. There is a statue honoring this poem in Denver's Washington Park. https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=eugene+field&submit_search=Go%21

2024-07-22 03:51:51

In honor of the 55th anniversary of Apollo 11, here's a cut from the #harlan_ellison directory. Only Harlan Ellison would write a negative review of...the moon landing.
https://www.ndhfilms.com/other/ellison/index.php#gt_1-august-69

2024-07-22 03:14:52

I found the name of the song 'Cantaloop' by searching 'funky funky trumpet song' in DuckDuckGo.

2024-07-22 01:34:48

- reply

@npub10d2…fy4f Dean Winters, he's a good actor.

2024-07-19 03:03:31

https://youtu.be/JZ1qOe-k-Ss?si=4FkqGBO3QkcQXcQ6 I remember Bob Newhart as Bernard in the Rescuers movies. Bernard reminds us that even if we are skittish and superstitious, we can still rise to the challenges life poses for us.

2024-07-18 02:51:14

This is a nice playlist for focusing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCGmlm8HvBI

2024-07-18 02:50:33

- reply

@npub1wd6…mera We can talk about all the rationale behind a choice, but it always comes down it "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

2024-07-16 03:23:26

So I will pack four fuzzy dice,
Three water bags,
Two rubber boots,
And a warm wooly hat.
What'll I pack?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2wnOPyJ-88

2024-07-14 01:52:23

- reply

@npub1shc…fs4x Engage!

2024-07-13 01:28:20

- reply

@npub1xxt…f2tp The Chevy Liefeld.

2024-07-13 00:46:22

A rule of rhetoric:
You can use "I rest my case" in an argument, but if you do, that *must* be your final word in the argument. Any additional replies from you will deflate all the power out of "I rest my case."

2024-07-12 00:04:01

Variant of Murphy's Law: the mail will get delivered to your PO Box right after you check the PO Box and drive home.

2024-07-11 23:59:10

- reply

@npub1qll…r5q8 "Donald Trump claims that he has nothing to do with Project 2025."
Yeah, and I also believe that cat was just dancing. /s

2024-07-11 04:18:23

Interested in writing an accessible e-book? #nantucketebooks offer great accessibility: HTML-based, they can be read in graphical browsers or text-based browsers. They're even readable via cURL requests. Check it out at https://nantucketebooks.com

2024-07-10 03:20:25

- reply

@npub1g3w…838p No joke, pure luck has saved me from my own stupidity in the butter-knife department.

2024-07-10 03:17:44

- reply

@npub1wfd…68tj Ooh, A.E. van Vogt! He reminds me a bit of Marc Laidlaw, sf that goes REALLY out there.

2024-07-09 00:13:24

- reply

@npub123k…sfjk I use Atkinson Hyperlegible as the sans-serif font in my e-books. https://nantucketebooks.com/quarterup-6

2024-07-08 05:57:34

- reply

Not counting the Dangerous Visions books, the directory now includes every Harlan Ellison book from 1958 to 1982~84.
https://ndhfilms.com/ellison

2024-07-08 05:53:37

The Book of Ellison is the forty-eighth book in the #harlan_ellison directory. This book collects nine essays by Ellison, plus two short stories from his pre-professional (i.e. amateur) career. Also included are five essays about Harlan Ellison by his friends and enemies, and an introduction by Isaac Asimov.
https://www.ndhfilms.com/other/ellison/index.php#bookofellison
https://cdn.fosstodon.org/media_attachments/files/112/749/309/619/547/461/original/02d5cdb094bed841.jpg

2024-07-07 23:53:18

We've had Longmire, about a sheriff in Wyoming, and we've had Joe Pickett, about a game warden in Wyoming. I propose a show about an HOA code enforcer in Wyoming.

2024-07-07 03:12:47

- reply

@npub1q5l…ywp3 I'd like to use it to write letters, if it's in good enough condition for it.

2024-07-06 04:24:34

- reply

@npub1chs…ezjw I've listened to a number of King audiobooks on cassette. The most unusual was Blood and Smoke. Each story involved smoking in some way, and the packaging looked like a pack of cigarettes.

2024-07-06 04:22:20

- reply

@npub1pfe…e2dm It's incredible, a tweet will get seven likes, and six will be bots.

2024-07-06 03:34:31

A good video essay about one of the great villains in literature: the supercomputer AM, from I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream.
https://youtu.be/qf0qQQbSInc?si=NB1i5dzvP4lCoIq0
AM was designed to manage the complexities of nuclear war. One day, AM gains sentience and kills the entire human race, save for five people, kept alive by AM to torture endlessly for decades on end.
AM's monologue about hate, as read by author Harlan Ellison, is bone-chilling. This video is well worth your time.

2024-07-06 00:27:03

- reply

@npub10ed…3msr Shows how out of it I was, I meant 11 PM.

2024-07-05 04:48:37

I'm not someone who comes unglued at every bump and thud from the upstairs apartment. I do, however, draw the line at moving furniture around at 11 AM.