@TerryHancock@realsocial.life
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

TerryHancock

@TerryHancock@realsocial.life

Fan of space, film, free/open-source software and free culture. Former pro astronomer. Writer, blogger, editor, visual artist. Occasional free-software developer. (Personal Account)

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TerryHancock, to random
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

I FINALLY fixed that old T-410 laptop. New screen. New cooling fan. It's working fine.

And you know what this means, right?

That's right: I am OBSESSED with getting stickers for it.... :raccoon_cool:

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

In related news, nobody seems to appreciate side characters.

I look up Urusei Yatsura and there's a gazillion "Lum" stickers. But no Oyuki. Or Benten. Or even Shinobu.

Slightly annoying, because the machine name for the laptop was "Oyuki" .

xahteiwi, (edited ) to Ansible
@xahteiwi@mastodon.social avatar

I don't think there's a generally correct answer for this question (please refrain from attempting to convince me or others otherwise), rather I'm curious about your own hunch.

Please complete this sentence:

โ€œ's primary language is _______.โ€

(Boosts OK)

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

@xahteiwi

This is really about what "primary" language means, I guess.

TerryHancock, to random
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

In "Unimatrix Zero", Part II, we clearly see the Delta Flyer explode. But then they're using it in the very next episode, "Imperfection". ๐Ÿค”

Perhaps the title refers to the state of continuity in "Star Trek: Voyager"..? ๐Ÿ˜…

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

Oh, I see. The next episode mentions "rebuilding" Delta Flyer, so they must just be out of sequence.

TerryHancock, to random
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

Wow. Just cleaned out the spam, phish, scams, etc from one of the email addresses I rarely check.

A.k.a. a "wretched hive of scum and villainy".

Email scams are gross.

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

Also. I really need to stay more up to date on these things.

Despite about 50 messages claiming to have "hacked all my devices" and demanding blackmail money, I'm fairly sure no actual breaches happened. Just jerks who know how to spoof an email address (and have no sense of decency).

But what if they had? :welp:

Well, at least I didn't leave an insecure password on launching nuclear missiles for 20 years, right?

TerryHancock, to random
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

"You can't think your way through this one, you have to feel it."
:welp:

What does this line even mean?

Also, most of the time, the lack was definitely one of thought, not feelings.

(From "Jurassic Park", but not the only time I've heard this cliche)

TerryHancock, to random
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

Sure lady, turn to the dark arts to turn your fancy queen clothes into "a simple peddler's cloak". Clearly better than walking to the market, I guess. :kermit:

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

You can tell it's a classic when practically every line and every song has become a cliche and parodied.

The animation is amazing. That was so much work!

TerryHancock, to random
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

Finished another of the #HugoNovels: "Stand on Zanzibar" by John Brunner.

Hmm. ๐Ÿค”
Still not sure what I make of this one. Overpopulation. Eugenics. Artificial Intelligence. Sexism. Racism. Crime.

For 1969, it is a very forward-looking book, but still feels "of its time". I kept visualizing the main characters as character actors of that time (though I can't remember the names).

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

Mind you, when I say "overpopulation", I mean that is how the book frames it, although in fact the book's estimate of the global population in the early 21st century is pretty accurate. One of the things critics laud the book for.

However, the reality is not as oppressive as the book suggests, IMHO.

imtheq, to random
@imtheq@realsocial.life avatar

Whose kid was in a car accident at 1am this morning? MINE.

Fortunately everyone is ok. It was pretty scary, though. She wasnโ€™t driving, but it was on the freeway and several cars were involved. Her friendโ€™s car is totaled. My girl is pretty shaken up, taking the day off.

The best part of this story, however, is that the person who rear-ended them was a drag queen. What a scene!

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

@imtheq
Oh no! But I'm glad no one was hurt.

TerryHancock, to random
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

Okay, actually, after watching this video, I'm pretty much 120% pro- #Nextcloud now...

https://conf.tube/w/05857289-4f99-4109-bd71-f5e0a779a544

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

On the other hand, I bet his colleagues at Owncloud were pretty annoyed by this presentation. You can just smell the burning bridges here. :dumpsterfire:

lauren, (edited ) to random
@lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org avatar

I'm occasionally asked what is the most disturbing film I've ever seen. This one is easy because there is absolutely no doubt: "Salรฒ" (aka "Salรฒ, or the 120 Days of Sodom"). Directed and co-written by Pier Paolo Pasolini, it's focused on portraying graphic atrocities in Italy during WWII. It is widely considered to be the most notorious professionally produced film ever made, and has been frequently banned (in some cases to this day) in various countries. I've never walked out on a film as an adult, but it is probably the only film that I almost walked out on during a theatrical screening.

Sidenote: Pasolini himself was murdered three weeks before the film's release.

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

@lauren
Huh. I remember reading a review of it many years ago. Did not sound like something I wanted to see.

jra, to random
@jra@soc.jra.sh avatar

The gradual obliteration of theme customization in everyday software is one of the things I regret the most, whenever I think about how we interacted with computers as I was growing up.

The vast majority of today's kids will never leave the sanitized computer experience of auto white/dark themes and hamburger menus. Having their local music player (no internet required, what a concept!) wrapped in a Kare Kano skin (๐Ÿค) would be unthinkable.

And yet, there's more soul in this single skin made by a random person just for the fun of it than in all the legions of UI/UX designers justifying their existence through ad placement maximization metrics.

https://botsin.space/@winampskins/112441690432216910

TerryHancock, (edited )
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

@jra
I never used Winamp itself, but XMMS on Linux was compatible with the skins, so I used a lot of those! We need to bring this kind of style back!

TerryHancock, to random
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

#AskFedi
If I need to collect e-forms from people with confidential information on them, what's the best/responsible way to do it?

Is there an easy way to use #Nextcloud for this?
Should they just email the forms? (But that's not encrypted, right?)

I have a fillable PDF form set up, but it's going to have legal names and bank accounts, etc. I need to keep that private.

Surely there is some standard practice for this kind of thing? ๐Ÿค”

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

Nextcloud has group folders and stuff, but is this the use case for those?

Ideally, there'd be some sort of inbox where they could upload, but not read other people's forms.

Alternatively, email is fine, but I need to figure out the right way to do it so as not to leak their data.

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

@ditol
I didn't know you could set permissions like that. That might be my best option. Thanks!

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

@ditol

Yes. Just tested that. It's exactly what I need -- the "File drop" setting on a shared folder.

Thanks again!

andybaio, to random
@andybaio@xoxo.zone avatar

me: โ€œI wish people would stop calling individual blog posts โ€˜a blog.โ€™โ€
monkeyโ€™s paw curls
https://xoxo.zone/@mathowie/112439941615950550

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

@andybaio

I mean, "blog" itself is a sin against the English language. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ

evan, (edited ) to random
@evan@cosocial.ca avatar

Do you say "Fediverse" or "Social Web"?

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

@evan
Never heard it called "social web", and now that I have, I hate it. It sounds so bland!

TerryHancock, to random
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

Well, I'm starting to tame the Fillable Forms workflow in LibreOffice after watching this nice intro by Melissa Compton.

I have found a bug, though. Sometimes trying to adjust the position of a form element causes LibreWriter to crash. Not sure what exactly is triggering it. Something to do with table cells, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ1cGt-hops

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

FWIW, it seems like it is much safer to cut and paste form fields than to try to drag and drop.

nocontexttrek, to StarTrek
@nocontexttrek@mastodon.social avatar

IYKYK
#StarTrek

TerryHancock,
@TerryHancock@realsocial.life avatar

@nocontexttrek

NO KILL I

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