Stephen Brooks 🦆

Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant—
No! No! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone—

Public Key

npub1uza23672am24xv9g0fqxstrg6y7r4y28wk6pvpc7mhh9na6tjckq6pux8m

NIP-05 Address

sjb@mstdn-io.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqswpw4ga09wa42nxz585srg935dz0p6j9rhtdqkqu0dmmje7a9evtqcxf0kq

Author Public Key

npub1uza23672am24xv9g0fqxstrg6y7r4y28wk6pvpc7mhh9na6tjckq6pux8m

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Last Notes

2025-01-13 22:49:07

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@nprofile…lwzr Linux linux.

2024-12-28 16:51:15

#Christmas tree tunnel.
https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/113/731/480/694/792/152/original/32ceeb5d631226e4.jpg

2024-11-02 05:54:24

"Replies from other servers may be missing."
But WHY. I thought this was supposed to be federated.

2024-11-02 05:23:07

Mastodon 4.3 seems to have added lots of pointless border space compared to 4.2, don't like the new layout.

2024-10-23 06:55:14

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@npub1wj3…dqxh Not in the right rack slots! (Also I have a suspicion StarTech is flimsy junk, although it does work).

2024-10-01 13:23:39

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@npub10cq…6nm3 Funny thing is, when it's THEIR OWN MONEY. Not the government's money.
You could make a better argument that the government shouldn't go into space because it could spend the money on other priorities.
Sad to say, I think some people think everything should be controlled centrally and hate it when the private sector does something significant.
I.e. Fedi is full of commies, in a surprise to no-one.

2024-09-13 23:58:42

Maybe the military should invest in trains.
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c93p35wd00eo

2024-09-07 22:33:20

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@npub1wj3…dqxh I have that plugin. Should I enable "automatic cleaning"?

2024-08-31 02:10:32

Badgers to be vaccinated
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9qg52r7jzxo

2024-08-10 00:01:56

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@npub1c9m…9xjd The simplification of computers was meant to make the command interface simpler (push a button), not the diagnostics interface (where you should still be able to see the "guts").

2024-08-09 02:53:05

Squinting at the ruler, I'm guessing the spacing of the T-slots on my driller machine is 45mm. I refuse to believe something made in China would use 1 3/4" spacing. 😀

2024-08-08 00:06:41

Legend of Zelda's rivers might not be hydrologically realistic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcS1HIci4hQ

2024-08-02 03:35:11

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@npub13lv…tk9x There are so many ducks because the ducks keep making smaller ducks that then themselves become large.

2024-08-02 02:05:36

The sound software Aphex Twin used:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wIOBBodoic

2024-08-02 01:32:47

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@npub1c9m…9xjd This is a bit like an imaginary version of the Gaussian that is its own Fourier transform.

2024-07-27 03:05:10

#Fractal deep zoom videos.
https://www.hpdz.net/

2024-07-23 01:02:12

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@npub1c9m…9xjd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor

2024-07-16 00:59:23

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@npub1c9m…9xjd It doesn't help that "White" "Grey" and "Black" are represented by the colours White, Yellow and Blue.

2024-07-03 02:27:35

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@npub1q0g…dvjh I tried it in VR, works pretty well. Although the first puzzle requires me to crawl under a door apparently.

2024-07-01 22:12:36

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@npub1q0g…dvjh I have it in my Steam library, should play it soon (this weekend?)

2024-06-24 23:51:00

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@npub1nqp…w9sy There was some thing about turning "ambient mode" off. All it does is slightly shade the background of the window in a way *calculated from the video* which wastes loads of CPU.

2024-05-28 21:46:11

The window has arrived for the ion trap vacuum chamber. #physics
https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/112/520/905/779/356/907/original/21f71f665a910071.jpeg

2024-05-11 19:36:26

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@npub1z9m…p50f Was it a tow launch or winch launch?

2024-04-27 01:01:15

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@npub1q0g…dvjh I notice they say it will be in VR too.

2024-04-06 20:06:17

This was the wood that was holding up my mailbox, replacing it now...
https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/112/226/072/612/571/295/original/17f4646d789c3674.jpg

2024-03-24 20:53:23

It's aware of its failings but it terrible at #maths even when explaining them!
https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/112/152/648/248/241/171/original/badd78e2c6dd2dc9.png

2024-03-17 23:31:22

The next step up from a 3D printer might be a "factory in a box", containing a 3D printer, drill/milling machine and pick-and-place/circuit board soldering machine, with a robot arm manipulator between them.

2024-03-13 21:11:16

Asked the machinist to drill some more holes because my first attempt at mounting the experimental platform was wobbly as my cheap Amazon office chair.

2024-03-01 02:49:58

Improvements in #solar cells:
#energy
RT https://twitter.com/JessePeltan/status/1763282554059186679

2024-02-29 02:05:13

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@npub1fls…sgsw
"Currently, businesses must provide a lunch break every three to five hours"
That feels like an odd way of defining lunch. If I work a long day I'm entitled to two lunch breaks?

2024-02-25 19:36:45

I put Linux (Debian 12) on a laptop recently, it works quite well.
Think I'll only use Windows 11+ for compatibility/porting reasons.
Re: Elon discovers Windows 11
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1761835728000954654

2024-02-18 21:11:19

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@npub1z9m…p50f I use Kate on KDE. I think it's Kate anyway. The default one that comes with KDE, and you can put a terminal panel on the bottom and so on.

2024-02-09 00:56:01

Things are so much easier to remember when you organise them spatially (have an area for a given task, or put things to go out next near the door).
Computers and the internet kind of ruined this by making everything available everywhere. It actually helps to have FEWER choices but relevant ones.

2024-02-01 04:50:29

That time when an AI made up "the Great White Swan, which can be up to 5-10 feet tall."
https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/111/854/417/767/244/310/original/d321ead4f41a9759.png

2024-01-31 04:10:49

How about... putting the price on your website rather than me asking for a quote, getting e-mailed by one person the next day who assures me I will be e-mailed by another person in several more days who will tell me the price?

2024-01-31 00:41:17

The brain interface is in the news again. Time to remind everyone that there is no super-fast stream of thought that could be released if only we had a brain interface. You have to stop to think while typing a tweet. The interface is not the bottleneck.

2024-01-20 01:49:22

UK Ministry of Defence tests laser weapon.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68031257

2024-01-01 20:57:04

Wrote an OpenGL program to display my Linux filesystem's structure as nested boxes. I need to add labels, also would be interesting to make box area proportional to file size.
https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/111/682/686/430/127/549/original/4b1e1fd72cc0590a.png

2023-12-11 23:05:19

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@npub1z9m…p50f Currently using a stack of:
Windows/MinGW/C/OpenXR+GL
Looks hopeful. SteamVR is still involved, though. It seems to freak out whenever I don't supply enough frame rate.

2023-12-03 17:00:58

These throat drops say "contains real honey". Although if I saw one that said "contains imaginary honey" I might buy it.

2023-10-20 23:16:58

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@npub1nqp…w9sy YOU ARE NOT A LARGE CAT

2023-10-20 23:06:41

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@npub16dw…kdp2 I never use the feed I just go to channels I like. It's also good at recommending similar videos.

2023-10-20 23:03:12

"In Tamworth, there was a 23.9% swing to Labour from the Tories - the second-biggest swing from the Conservatives to Labour at a by-election since 1945."
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-67167297

2023-10-19 23:48:06

Found the #tree that was dropping green balls in my garden is probably a Black Walnut:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglans_nigra

2023-10-19 21:08:12

54.6dB cat purr
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67158078

2023-10-03 09:41:37

Neutron image of a coffee maker operating
https://twitter.com/N_Tomassetti/status/1666808224417464321/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1666808224417464321&currentTweetUser=N_Tomassetti

2023-10-01 16:32:02

https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/111/160/716/156/200/240/original/db6cf962415728b3.jpg

2023-10-01 16:25:31

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And it had pigs living in it 🐖
https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/111/160/690/482/128/637/original/533a01561efb4c0b.jpg

2023-10-01 16:24:56

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Upper end of the tree
https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/111/160/688/232/903/267/original/d4f1bcb3fc5d23a4.jpg

2023-10-01 16:24:29

A tall tree had fallen
https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/111/160/686/352/265/043/original/68a5fd49587724eb.jpg
https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/111/160/686/345/259/320/original/e9b5ecb3fa341536.jpg

2023-09-27 16:18:38

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@npub1unu…zsng Windows Snipping Tool

2023-09-27 13:28:20

London gets a new viewing platform in its 2nd-highest building, but the platform is higher than the one in the Shard
https://londonist.com/london/things-to-do/horizon-22-bishopsgate-free-viewing-gallery-book-tickets

2023-09-27 10:57:03

It's the Harvest #Moon today
#space #astronomy
https://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2023/09/harvest-moon-friday-provides-extra.html

2023-09-26 17:00:15

David @npub1qqu…5u7v is now on here
#physics #accelerators

2023-09-23 22:52:33

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@npub1fls…sgsw Check your brain at the door, this is AMERICAN politics

2023-09-23 20:33:13

Going out for a walk in the rain and wind (it's actually quite rare to get rain and wind here)

2023-09-23 19:37:47

Because incremental improvements appear to have the greatest value on short time scales, I get worried people are exhaustively searching dead ends technology-wise

2023-09-21 15:57:52

Being hassled about a load of trivialities at work

2023-09-19 11:44:59

Cats' eyes (road reflectors) as used in Pompeii:
[photo]
RT https://twitter.com/ill_Scholar/status/1702942428687212600
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fIZZ4c02lo

2023-09-18 16:40:11

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@npub14x7…wdx5 @npub1ajw…aj8d @npub175d…wrtj I would download the .sh file, skim read it and use the local copy

2023-09-13 02:19:12

In Quebec, KFC has to be PFK because it must be more French
RT https://twitter.com/PPapakonNucl/status/1701764564445274610

2023-09-12 02:01:39

Webb Discovers Methane, Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere of K2-18 b
https://www.nasa.gov/goddard/2023/webb-discovers-methane-carbon-dioxide-in-atmosphere-of-k2-18b
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hycean_planet
#space #astronomy #exoplanet

2023-09-12 02:01:16

2023-09-11 01:17:29

Choco toucan!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choco_toucan

2023-09-10 21:50:46

Nice view from this room!
https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/111/043/061/013/464/529/original/a597259777ce7f32.jpg

2023-09-09 01:20:05

Yesterday it sounded like no lab space could be found without an expensive space allocation charge, today they're talking as if they've found half a building empty

2023-09-08 00:54:10

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@npub10cq…6nm3 The US does still have municipal libraries - things haven't got THAT bad over here ;)
The whole "book banning" argument seems to be posturing, with basically each side accusing the other of the same thing they are doing, but to different books.

2023-09-07 13:23:54

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@npub10cq…6nm3 This discussion never seems to make sense. In the US, a lot of the "book banning" conversation is about _school_ libraries, which I always thought had a moderated selection of books anyway because (a) they can't contain every book and (b) aimed at children 12 or younger.

2023-09-06 23:08:12

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@npub10w3…tmd0 Is this a Radiohead song?

2023-09-04 20:14:29

Micro nuclear generator the size of a small car, for Moon base use, designed in Wales
#space
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-66687056

2023-09-04 20:14:06

Micro nuclear generator the size of a small car, for Moon base used, designed in Wales
#space
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-66687056

2023-09-03 20:48:27

HPWR (600W) through the motherboard instead:
#GPU #computing
https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-details-its-cable-free-gc-hpwr-connector-for-600w-gaming-gpus

2023-09-03 20:13:30

Mowed the lawn again, pretty hot out there 🚜

2023-09-03 19:10:48

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@npub19zq…u4m5 @npub15s5…xszk I like the USB sticks that have been used on multiple OSes and have all of these

2023-09-03 19:09:30

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@npub1unu…zsng Yes I feel like it's trying to remove ear wax

2023-09-03 18:38:43

Sunset from Kanto region
RT https://twitter.com/MasashiJSHIRAKA/status/1698278386328899603

2023-09-03 18:34:52

Fit 8 #SSD drives inside one dual-slot PCIe card
#PC #computing #storage
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/dual-nvme-card-with-eight-e1s-ssds-achieves-55-gbs-performance

2023-09-03 02:27:39

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@npub1q0g…dvjh I use Skype on Linux regularly for phoning my parents.
The old PC with Linux became my video-conferencing machine during covid, so I think I even had BlueJeans, MS Teams and Zoom running on it at one point.

2023-09-03 01:44:23

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@npub1fls…sgsw That's because the less code you write to solve a problem, the better programmer you are

2023-09-02 23:16:51

Electric razors suffer from a Zeno's paradox kind of situation where each pass only cuts half the hairs

2023-09-02 03:37:41

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@npub1rkj…ufed You can change the theme to light (at least, on my server I can - I don't see why anyone would remove that option)

2023-09-02 02:19:39

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@npub1unu…zsng I saw this post
https://pl.starnix.network/objects/879a7260-ac01-491f-b052-6b5ca5bea216
and thought of this
https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/110/993/157/470/573/902/original/b14ea68b727c3914.png

2023-09-02 00:44:40

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@npub1q0g…dvjh Apparently there's Wayland somewhere under KDE Plasma, OpenGL and SDL2, but I didn't even notice

2023-09-02 00:22:03

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@npub1unu…zsng What have you done? Why is the reverb talking to MongoDB
The first half of this sounds pretty sci-fi though.

2023-09-01 01:04:41

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@npub1unu…zsng Yeah (and there are others - a colleague recommended SumatraPDF)

2023-09-01 01:02:26

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@npub1unu…zsng I like to use PDF with no Adobe.

2023-08-31 22:17:33

A red-tailed hawk flew out of a tree as I was walking and I got a good look at it, including the red tail.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-tailed_hawk
There was also a groundhog that hid under a board between three traffic cones.

2023-08-31 05:13:03

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@npub1fls…sgsw I think this one's CPU is:
Intel Quad-Core i5-1035G1
In any case, I certainly don't mind having a bit less performance if it saves a lot of battery life.

2023-08-31 05:04:24

📢 The sound on my Linux netbook works, both speakers and headphones. That is all.

2023-08-31 04:48:48

I'm going to have to test my new laptop's battery life (the Windows one - Linux went on the old netbook) and possibly limit the CPU clock speed, because when it boosts it gets hot, fan comes on, and loses battery fast

2023-08-31 00:09:23

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@npub1fls…sgsw hoenk? hounk?

2023-08-31 00:08:01

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@npub1fls…sgsw Mastodon's rendering keeps getting funnier
https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/110/981/315/294/235/023/original/ba123e635a01ab6e.png

2023-08-31 00:03:19

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@npub1unu…zsng How?

2023-08-30 23:47:16

Fun with #bollards
[video]
RT https://twitter.com/WorldBollard/status/1696962749543203149

2023-08-30 23:46:43

#Mars helicopter's 54th flight
[video] #space #astronomy
https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/27635/perseverance-rover-watches-ingenuity-mars-helicopters-54th-flight/

2023-08-30 23:29:23

The muon collider is back (?)
#physics #accelerators https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/particle-physicists-dream-of-a-muon-collider/

2023-08-30 23:15:24

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@npub1q0g…dvjh Not until I've confirmed sound is working

2023-08-30 23:15:02

The #Pluto New Horizons probe can do important science simply because the sky is darker (less zodiacal light) than in the inner solar system
#space #NASA #astronomy
https://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Science-Perspectives.php?page=20230808

2023-08-30 02:46:50

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Already compiled an OpenGL demo on it, so I'd say it's working
https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/110/976/276/772/517/191/original/c29326a1cf3d20af.jpeg

2023-08-30 02:42:55

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https://media.mstdn.io/mstdn-media/media_attachments/files/110/976/262/049/915/396/original/d342235519848029.jpeg