publius

Just your run-of-the-mill space colonist.

Public Key

npub1cje66prsqu2xdasyyj7jsr4ufc28fftz0hfc030wpfz434cun2tq0leahc

NIP-05 Address

publius_at_mastodon.sdf.org@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsvfvadq3cqw9rx7czzf0fgp67yu9r55438m5u8chhq532c6uwf49spz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qw8ck6r

Publishing to

relay.mostr.pub

Author Public Key

npub1cje66prsqu2xdasyyj7jsr4ufc28fftz0hfc030wpfz434cun2tq0leahc

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Last Notes

2025-04-12 21:56:32

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@nprofile…cnse @nprofile…kkxq
No, it's clear to me what he means, and it's a close parallel to the idea of "deracinization" which got the Nazis all hot under the collar.

2025-04-12 21:54:53

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@nprofile…jmnv @nprofile…psxq
Happily, the 1955 Geneva Conference and a great deal of subsequent scientific and engineering work have left us with credible, implementable alternatives for both energy and non-energy applications, which will require a certain degree of industrial realignment, but are ultimately adequate for a world of 10 billion or even greater population (which is the most likely peak, before a retreat late in this century, with consequences unclear).
https://blast.man-and-atom.info/index.html

2025-04-05 19:40:07

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@nprofile…dqga
I wrote to IG Metall, the big industrial workers' union, about this a couple of days ago. Not that I really expect them to heed me, but it doesn't sit right with me not to at least suggest it.
No amount of workers' skill, no amount of capital equipment, can produce industrial prosperity without fuel for the furnaces and power to turn the wheels of the machines.

2025-02-16 06:30:00

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@nprofile…dy7s
You can't do anything with Young-Earth Creationists.
Ignoring, nay, shunning them is a sensible way to protect yourself, but it won't have any effect on them. If someday they renounce their toxic, devil-worshipping* idiocy, it'll be a change that comes from within.
*I have a whole theological argument about this.

2025-02-07 03:31:06

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@nprofile…640j
It may not be sufficient but it certainly is necessary. Slavery could never have been abolished without the steam engine.

2024-09-14 21:09:57

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@npub1gf2…mfyc
I love to see it!
Hopefully we can make something happen at the 2025 World Science Fiction Convention.

2024-07-29 19:41:00

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@npub1f2y…m58m
Honestly, this might be the one time I suggest someone using SMB/Samba.

2024-04-08 19:31:59

My live-on-the-telephone coverage of the #eclipse on #anonradio OpenVoIP.
https://anonradio.net/live-from-the-zone-of-totality-2024-04-08/

2024-04-06 03:00:41

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@npub1aka…zzz2
Only a kid could hope to finish it!

2024-04-06 03:00:01

Now this is interesting.
A great deal of the gene-sequence work which has become central to taxonomy in recent years may have to be revised.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240401190411.htm

2024-03-24 23:05:51

Going live now with more reading of "All Men are Brothers", Pearl S Buck's 1930s translation of the classic Chinese novel known as "The Water Margin".
https://toobnix.org/w/wioAeXFBVpnFj4Smw5pasB

2024-03-24 03:29:47

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@npub1gnx…d5kh
I had hoped the alt text would be sufficient. Alas.

2024-03-24 03:03:42

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@npub1gnx…d5kh
The joke, if there is one, is mostly that one of the two images conveys the impression "I like trains!" and the other is a MASSIVE SKULL-CRUSHING INFODUMP.
It doesn't require reading the chart, which is good, because you wouldn't be able to in any case. The original is 12 000 pixels wide. Scaled down to 1818 by the server (the version I uploaded was 1920 which isn't noticeably better), it's illegible. Literally there's so much detail that it ceases to convey meaning.

2024-03-23 19:47:41

"On the Spectrum" versus "Autistic"
#ActuallyAutistic
https://mastodon.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/146/715/630/282/912/original/27d7ae69e06d31fc.jpeg
https://mastodon.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/146/723/816/182/684/original/50ca282ba8692060.jpeg

2024-03-05 06:09:24

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@npub1a0m…ckrd @npub1he0…c3kd @npub19y8…wxgj
I'm glad the owl is real hardware and not emulated.

2024-02-25 18:33:30

Tune in at around 2200 UTC today (that's in about three and a half hours as I post this) as I continue reading from "All Men are Brothers", Pearl S Buck's 1930s translation of the classic Chinese novel "The Water Margin".
And then, about 0200, I will call into #anonradio OpenVoip, if you want to talk about the book. That's x1088 on the SDF phone system, or (929) 299-1269 from elsewhere.
https://toobnix.org/w/wioAeXFBVpnFj4Smw5pasB

2024-02-21 00:46:15

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@npub1mmf…eknq
Why would USAmericans who don't like the ways that Canada is different from USAmerica move to Canada? It doesn't make sense.

2024-02-11 03:51:11

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@npub1usr…u868
I'd send you a card or letter, but I don't have your current address, I don't think.

2024-02-05 19:17:02

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@npub1ecp…59pq
Although I'm right-handed myself, I'm continually annoyed by the "right-handed" markings on my electric kettle, because where it sits on the counter, it's more convenient for me to set the kettle down the other way.
I always fill it from a filter pitcher, because with my hard local water supply, that greatly reduces the rate of scale buildup. Even if I wanted to fill it under the faucet, I'd probably hold it left-handed, because I often mildly strain my right wrist.

2024-02-01 17:15:44

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@npub19y8…wxgj @npub1usr…u868
The "old" method of editing audio was literally splicing tape with a razor blade and adhesive tape. So if you wanted to join two clips, or take out a section from a clip, you'd slice the tape at about a 45° angle. The result would be, that over the course of a fraction of a second, the one sound would fade out and the other would fade in. This mostly avoided pops.
In modern audio-editor software, it's often possible to make cuts at the zero-crossing point of the waveform.

2024-01-24 22:02:42

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@npub19y8…wxgj @npub1haz…ghwz
Rack-mounted cats!

2024-01-18 20:44:58

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@npub1j2y…ggdc @npub177f…fdyp
I bought a paper-folding machine for $5 from a church that was closing. After looking at the exact same model on-line for $200 that morning.
PRAISE "BOB"!

2024-01-13 17:13:17

Tune in to #anonradio (the community streaming audio service of the SDF Public Access Unix System) at 1900 UTC Saturdays for A STEP FARTHER OUT, my show in which I discuss technology and the future of humanity, but mostly NOT computers, with a dash of current events for flavour.
That's in a little under 2 hours as I post this.
https://anonradio.net/asfo-2024/

2024-01-06 17:19:02

"A Step Farther Out" airs at 1900 UTC every Saturday on #anonradio (the community streaming audio service of the SDF Public Access Unix System). That's in under 2 hours as I post this. This is the show in which I discuss technology, the state of the world, and the future of humanity, but mostly not computers.
https://anonradio.net/tag/a-step-farther-out/
You can also listen to my other show, "Hear Now the Words!" Tuesdays and Fridays at 1500 UTC.

2024-01-06 00:38:16

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@npub19y8…wxgj
In the USA, shop owners have the right to accept or reject any form of payment they please, so if (for instance) they want to accept only notes, or refuse $50 and $100 notes, they're well within their rights. But that doesn't mean I'm required to do business with them. I just walk out. Did that at a Kinokuniya last year.

2024-01-06 00:34:20

Apparently the vendors in the "European-style Food Hall" at Grapevine Main Street Station don't accept cash. As a result, they won't be getting my business.

2024-01-05 16:12:10

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@npub19y8…wxgj @npub1sny…ax7g
Archive recordings here :
https://anonradio.net/my-zeppelins/

2024-01-04 18:31:36

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@npub1pue…dpuv @npub1fzx…t6h3 @npub1sny…ax7g
Don't worry, it's normal if SDF escapes your understanding. It is described as a "public-access UNIX system", a server on which you can sign up for a shell account, and use all the features of the computer system from a home terminal via SSH. It is also the descendant of a BBS. It is also an educational resource. It is also a quasi-radio station, and a telephone system. It is also very like a fan, and a tree, and a snake…
The SDF which can be perceived is not the true SDF.

2023-12-29 17:27:43

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@npub1f2y…m58m
The Colorado Supreme Court seems to think a judicial "finding of fact" suffices. Presumably newspaper accounts and so on can be considered "res gestae" when the matter is obvious enough.

2023-12-28 17:18:59

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@npub17cc…nwac @npub1f2y…m58m
Windows only allow you to access the Outside World, which all good Russians know is Evil.

2023-12-28 00:48:32

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@npub1j2y…ggdc
That sounds like a very nifty adaptation of the Common-Place Book.

2023-12-27 00:35:31

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@npub19y8…wxgj @npub1hlv…25tg @npub1sny…ax7g @npub1tmq…esgq
Also one can set metadata while live. I do it all the time.
[sample command]
curl -u openmic:nRNSRvDPkIE -X POST -H "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8" --data-urlencode "At the Space Base!" https://anonradio.net/playlist/index.cgi

2023-12-21 02:24:46

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@npub1j2y…ggdc
Any God that needs the cover of blasphemy laws for protection ain't worth shit.

2023-12-20 02:45:27

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@npub1utn…823p @npub19y8…wxgj
Battery cars don't solve the underlying problem of the car-oriented city, which is that it's not only massively wasteful of resources, but Hell to live in.
I've discussed this on my #anonradio show "A Step Farther Out".
https://anonradio.net/tag/a-step-farther-out/

2023-12-07 23:50:36

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@npub1js3…ntcw
I do a weekly audio show on SDF's #anonradio which I call "A Step Farther Out", but that's a deliberate and acknowledged reference to the late Dr Jerry Pournelle's column in GALAXY.

2023-10-25 18:54:12

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@npub15cd…3mv2
This is fascinating. I've never seen an art exhibition in a supermarket! That's definitely one way to get people to come and stay longer.

2023-09-03 02:57:54

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@npub1up2…k6en
You might get better results if you include some tags suggesting what you're trying to do here. But any VFD is going to need a "B battery" supply.

2023-08-28 04:53:22

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@npub148l…wh97
There are good physical reasons for believing that "carbon capture and sequestration" is a dead end ― and the "hydrogen economy" isn't much better, when you realize that liquefying hydrogen takes 40% of the energy you can recover in perfectly efficient combustion.
But this wouldn't be the first time that Australia proposed to confront climate change by burning more coal.
https://mastodon.sdf.org/system/media_attachments/files/110/965/444/408/519/141/original/f304082de9be645d.png

2023-08-10 19:14:53

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@npub1j2y…ggdc
Hmm, makes me think of the novel "Mention My Name In Atlantis"

2023-07-19 03:34:53

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@npub1c25…rgre @npub1j2y…ggdc
I've been hoarding those N, R, and S-class stars like they're going out of style.

2023-06-25 17:18:05

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@npub1ks7…eg5u
Of course, Franklin had died by the time the Nobel Prize for DNA was given out, and Nobel Prizes are awarded exclusively to the living. That doesn't excuse Watson and Crick (nor Pauling) from eliding her contributions, but we can't necessarily know what the Nobel Committee would have done if she had still been alive.
I mean, we can guess…

2023-06-25 15:15:52

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@npub1ks7…eg5u @npub1qqg…kl76
The Nobel Committee initially intended to pass her over and award the prize to Henri Becquerel and Pierre Curie (her husband), but both of them protested, even going so far as to threaten to refuse the prize if she were not honored.
I suspect that Otto Hahn might have done the same for Lise Meitner, if he had not been held incommunicado in a British prison camp when the 1946 prizes were being awarded.

2023-06-25 01:46:56

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@npub1j2y…ggdc
Trumpet vs baton duel!
Intruding cow in a sailor suit!
Somebody had fun with this one.

2023-06-22 18:29:14

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@npub15va…wesc
I've come to believe that cruelty is the point.
One can see why a political party would wish to immiserate the populace (it makes them easier to control), but why millions of people would vote to be immiserated is more difficult to understand.

2023-05-08 10:09:34

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@npub15va…wesc
"Putsch" is the word I've been using.

2023-05-03 18:58:05

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@npub1yck…f9un @npub1j2y…ggdc
Another world is NECESSARY!

2023-04-03 11:58:33

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#[0]
That is an EXCELLENT sash.

2023-04-03 10:07:50

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#[0] #[1]
Oh, yes, at the Dallas Makerspace at least for a while, drawing on tortillas with the laser cutter was a favourite entertainment.

2023-04-02 12:51:03

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#[0]
At the moment, it's difficult to come up with anything more stupid and backward than the actual headlines of the so-called legitimate newspapers. I'm expecting the "New York Times" to begin printing "Bat Boy" segments any day.

2023-03-29 20:13:33

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#[0]
The Campaign for Real Mail thanks you!

2023-03-27 12:54:12

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#[0]
Have a little imagination! Combat USING lamb entrails. Strangle the defendant with that intestine!

2023-03-26 22:31:06

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#[0]
I've been known to say that one of the reasons why you're safer, per hour spent in the seat, in a Boeing commercial airliner in US domestic passenger service, than on the sofa in a US living room, is that hardly ever does someone drive a car through the airliner!
It happened to a neighbour of ours twice in one year.

2023-03-14 06:01:34

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#[0]
Do you mind if I use that image?
I can credit you, or leave you out of it, entirely as you please.
http://man-and-atom.tumblr.com/