Tyrone Slothrop

Bumbling through the technosphere. Easily amused.

Messing around with #FOSS, baking #bread, paddling a whitewater #kayak, and #parenting a herd of kids . Sometimes I manage a Hello World without syntax errors in #python.

Professionally, I help to build and run #trains with software and IT stuff.

Middle-aged cishet white guy, trying not to be an asshole about it. Please let me know if I get it wrong.

Toots auto-delete after 2 weeks. #noindex or I will punch you.

Blog: https://slothrop.org/
Pronouns: he/him, they/them

Public Key

npub1w0ve79swhr9f7p259r2anzap57l653wqnp3g5rup76wvhu37m0sskq09fj

NIP-05 Address

slothrop_at_chaos.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs88kvlzc8t3j5lq42z34we3ws600a2ghqfsc52p7qld8xt7gldhcgpr9mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmnt9uq3samnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwdehhxamgv4ex2tnrdaks5a3z4x

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

relay.noswhere.com

relay.nostr.band

Author Public Key

npub1w0ve79swhr9f7p259r2anzap57l653wqnp3g5rup76wvhu37m0sskq09fj

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Last Notes

2024-10-05 08:05:47

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oh! I hope it works out better next time 🍀

2024-10-05 07:13:55

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In case you decide to go in the other direction towards Austria: we had a 4 person couchette compartment (“Liegewagen”) to ourselves, and it was perfect!
There was enough space for all of us even with three large suitcases.

2024-10-05 05:50:28

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We’re having breakfast on the #nighttrain, after a decent night’s sleep. We’re almost up to Hamburg already 😊

2024-10-04 18:15:41

I’m about to take the family on a night train ride from Bavaria to the Baltic Sea. So far, everything looks good.
On advantage of this mode of travel is already clear: my wife and I could both work a normal day, then pack for a bit, and now there’s still some time to relax before we head to the station.
#nighttrain

2024-10-02 06:05:03

When pouring anything into a vessel, put the target vessel in the sink.
That way, if you spill anything into, cleanup is trivial.
Yea, this is blindingly obvious. Yes, it took me 40+ years to discover this. I’m very good at thinking.

2024-10-01 10:03:43

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Despite being very simple, it radiates an intense joy. I love it! Well done!

2024-09-28 12:05:19

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Doing #InnoTrans post processing, I found a business card from a Starlink sales dude.
It’s made of plastic.
That should tell you a you need to know about the company.

2024-09-28 11:43:07

This week I did four days of booth duty at #InnoTrans, having conversations basically all the time.
I’m now thoroughly peopled out, and do not wish to be spoken to, or speak to anyone, for a few days.

2024-09-23 11:16:49

Sad to see an excellent server go.
Mad respect to @npub1v9w…246g and @npub1tkp…qltu , who are among the most conscientious admins I’ve seen on the Fedi. I’m glad you’re doing what’s right for you! ❤️
https://blog.strangeobject.space/posts/2024-09-23-shutting-down.html

2024-09-22 18:25:59

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opodo is widely used here in Germany. I’ve never had problems.
(Other than the typical dark patterns on all the travel sites, and the bouquet of surcharges that always come with airline bookings.)

2024-09-17 13:13:32

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Here in Germany, the long-distance trains (and a lot of regional ones) have free WiFi.
But the uplink fails all too often, because our government has for decades done a poor job of getting the telcos to build proper coverage.

2024-09-17 12:39:37

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Nice!
I’m also working from a train today. And I’m jealous that yours has WiFi that’s good enough for teaching an online class 😅

2024-09-10 19:16:42

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Too many people confuse the act of writing with just outputting words. And it's killing the planet.

2024-09-10 19:15:57

If I need an "AI" to summarise your text for me, then your text is badly written, and should never have been published without stringent editing.

2024-08-25 20:20:53

Just a wild guess, but “will my messages remain private when they arrest the CEO of the company behind the messenger” is probably a good guiding question when deciding on your next chat app.

2024-08-24 17:34:44

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This exactly!
There’s almost no context outside dating where I would need to know someone’s gender — unless I’m trying to leverage established power structures.
How about we ban asking about gender in an official/ professional context? The same way employers (at least in Germany) aren’t allowed to ask if you’re pregnant during an interview?

2024-08-24 04:10:54

Rose-fingered Eos bids you good morning
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/113/015/039/771/373/858/original/267c7a65d281078a.jpeg

2024-08-20 05:39:41

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It’s a Renault Trafic, so it’s fairly large.
On the outside it’s actually roughly as big as one of those new butt-ugly Audi or BMW SUVs. But while in those, you can only fit a pretzel and two golf clubs, ours seats eight and then still has some room for luggage. (/rant)
Ok, granted, it did get pretty cozy when we took in the hitchhikers. We may have very gently bent a few rules there.

2024-08-19 22:49:55

We finally made it to #Croatia 😅 It was a long day’s driving, but we’re at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea.
We brought along a friend of the 15yo, with all of 12 hours between “maybe we should invite him along” and us getting in the car.
We also picked up a couple of very nice hitchhikers. When we got stuck in a traffic jam, they entertained our kids with card games 😊
#travel

2024-08-11 20:55:41

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Good news:
Everything’s packed and loaded in the car, with the very efficient help of the almost-15yo who’s joining me for a week of whitewater fun.

2024-08-11 14:40:36

I’m going on a kayaking + camping trip tomorrow!
Current status: I made a packing list, and promptly forgot where I put it.

2024-08-11 10:34:05

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Great write-up - thanks!
My single quibble is that ISO dates are only “not intuitive” to USians. Pretty much everyone else is perfectly fine with them 😂

2024-08-10 19:43:37

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There was a new guy in the group. Turned out he uses a wheelchair.
But once he was in the #kayak, he was unstoppable.
I learned that he’s been doing whitewater kayaking for only one year, training really hard. Most people take at least 3-4 years to get to the level where he is now.

2024-08-10 19:38:48

First day of vacation! 🤩
Slept like crap, because I was still thinking too much about work.
BUT I got to go #kayaking! One of my fave creeks: super beautiful, an easy grade I-II. At today’s low water level, there was a surprising number of play spots, and we really took advantage.
We did so much surfing and pirouetting that we took 3.5 hours for a stretch that normally lasts 90mins 🤪

2024-08-07 21:09:38

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Hmmm, if you’re looking for a broad overview rather than specific topics, The Information by @npub1da3…d7sa is an excellent book

2024-08-07 06:52:36

Firefox plugin that detects when a website wants to send me notifications, and automatically DDoSes the server

2024-08-01 10:50:24

I too sometimes get annoyed at #Apple fanboys on social media.
But this seems a bit harsh?
https://mastodon.social/@TodayInTwitter/112885844879573939

2024-07-31 11:34:06

With Loops, #microsoft has essentially built a markdown-enabled collaborative editor.
Which is nice.
Except that it´s from Microsoft, so of course the Markdown is a little non-standard, and the program is a little unpredictable in its handling.
(also I´m never quite sure how to find my stuff again in the damn thing, but that´s just a general #O365 issue.)

2024-07-07 19:09:44

Uff. 🇫🇷

2024-07-07 19:09:44

Uff. 🇫🇷

2024-07-05 19:05:24

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Whenever I ask a difficult technical question to someone, and they say “I don’t know”
I immediately trust them a bit more

2024-07-05 13:16:50

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I had never heard about Paris green.
It’s certainly something: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_green

2024-07-05 07:52:29

Congrats to my UK friends.
May the new lot be less shitty than the old one, at least for a while.

2024-07-05 07:18:34

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Uh, I´m not familiar with UK politics.
Which one of the two is the Monster Raving Looney?

2024-07-03 12:30:43

In a meeting, a (male) colleague just referred to another (absent) colleage as "a girl".
I told him that I wish him good luck in case she ever hears about this 😤😬🙄

2024-07-02 15:02:47

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In-person office visit, rated:
⭐️⭐️⭕️⭕️⭕️
⭐️see nice colleagues
⭐️Have a few chats
⭕️long way from home
⭕️Loud
⭕️Bad coffee

2024-07-02 15:02:47

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In-person office visit, rated:
⭐️⭐️⭕️⭕️⭕️
⭐️see nice colleagues
⭐️Have a few chats
⭕️long way from home
⭕️Loud
⭕️Bad coffee

2024-07-02 06:30:58

Going to the office in person today
Let’s see if this is any good

2024-06-29 11:28:28

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Does she not have a queen, though?

2024-06-28 10:25:37

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I believe the correct term is "attention sex worker"

2024-06-24 18:42:44

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recently my family and I went on vacation in France. Roughly half the bathrooms we encountered didn’t have an assigned gender.
This seemed fine for everyone, and entirely unremarkable.

2024-06-24 18:26:45

Here’s a cool job opening for a cloudy software engineer. Come work on a platform for #rail! Help to put more trains into the world!
Stable job, sane environment, top conditions, 50% remote, based in Erlangen (Germany).
Hit me up if you’re curious. (I’m not the hiring manager, but I work nearby in the org.)
https://jobs.siemens.com/careers/job/563156119239732?microsite=siemens.com
Boost welcome
#work #job #getfedihired

2024-06-20 07:41:44

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Jawoll. Computer abschaffen! Alle zurück in die Kohlegrube!
So liebe ich sie, meine #SPD.

2024-06-08 07:40:08

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You’re probably looking for a more nuanced take than “everything is going to shit, and what we used to call journalism is leading the way “, right?

2024-05-29 12:47:22

If anyone would be so kind as to reboot the Eiffel Tower?
#paris
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/112/524/449/649/550/365/original/198a1def98ace788.jpeg

2024-05-26 05:54:09

Ok, stereotypes are silly, but what if, in this French village, the most visible business actually *is* the wine merchant?
And the pharmacy across from the town hall has a big poster in the window on addressing erectile dysfunction?

2024-05-10 12:48:38

Apparent Jack Dorsey did or said something. I‘d just like to remark:
Fuck that guy.

2024-04-14 15:23:44

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I’m getting a similar thrill by listening to the robot vacuum cleaner from my hammock

2024-04-06 13:06:52

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You mean, a second T-Shirt?
You could just put the current one in the wash, you know?

2024-04-01 11:46:05

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Our societies award a very high status to reading and writing. These are important skills; but the way we treat them means that people who find these things difficult tend to hide that fact.
I have a lot of colleagues who are excellent in their technical fields, but find it really difficult to write e.g. a concise summary of something. Some of them use LLMs for such tasks, and find them helpful.