@bananabob@mastodon.nz
@bananabob@mastodon.nz avatar

bananabob

@bananabob@mastodon.nz

I have been involved in IT since the 1960s. A health crises brought that to an end in the 1990s. Now fully retired I produce and present radio shows which I provide free of charge for radio/web stations around the world. Main interest is the music of the 20th century. Also keen on old movies I find on You Tube. Love to read anything from cereal boxes to books.
I have been using #linux as a desktop since 1999. Started with #debian then #ubuntu now using #linuxmint and some #raspberrypi servers.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

billbennett, to random
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For reasons that I don’t need to bore anyone with, Saturday got off to an extremely slow start. By the time I made it to the local, fancy artisan baker, most of the usual choices were sold out. So I went off piste and got a fruit loaf. Which turns out to be fabulous

bananabob,
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@billbennett yeah but what about a toasted cheese sandwich

bananabob,
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@billbennett who'd a thought 🤔

KiwiEV, to random
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The Hyundai IONIQ 5 N is silly. It's an electric car with fake noises & gear changes. Like who's the target market? People who hate EVs? They won't buy one anyway because they're busy eating crayons.
In other news I CANNOT WAIT to take it out this morning and play with it! 😂

video/mp4

bananabob,
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@KiwiEV "busy eating crayons" 😂😂😂😂😂

bananabob, to random
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While walking around Rotoroa/Lake Hamilton we spotted this magnificent house.

billbennett, to random
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It's been more than 18 months since I ditched Twitter and I still can't decide if Mastodon or BlueSky is the best replacement. Each has pluses and minuses. Each has a different vibe and a (largely) different set of users. I guess I'll be using both in parallel for some time yet.

Anyone else in the same position?

bananabob,
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@billbennett It's nice to have you here😊

bananabob,
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@billbennett Got it in one Bill

phil_stevens, to random
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Asking for a friend (literally): What happens to existing Windows 11 machines now? Do the get the spyware enhancement force-fed to them on the next Patch Tuesday? Is there an opt-out?

I may need to play the risk mitigation card with the business I do contract work for, since I occasionally touch a Win 11 laptop that's used in manufacturing and QA workflows.

bananabob,
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@lucky @phil_stevens Can't force it on old PCs but can make the updates cause the processor to run slowly to encourage you to buy a new one. Or switch to a kinder Linux OS

ColetteDiskette, to linux
@ColetteDiskette@retro.pizza avatar

With more people considering #Linux after the latest #Microsoft #Windows news, here is my advice:

  • Before looking at Linux at all, determine what proprietary software you're using in your workflows (MS Office and Adobe stuff being big ones) and try FOSS alternatives on Windows. (LibreOffice, OnlyOffice, Krita, GIMP, Inkscape, kdenlive, etc.) This will very much ease any future transition away from Windows. (1/7)
bananabob,
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@ColetteDiskette what a wonderful set of ideas for all people looking to switch to #Linux Well done 👍

18+ leighelse, to random
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John Gilmore famously said “The Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."

The greatest damage being done to the internet today comes from Big Tech companies seeking to increase their control and profitability at the expense of their users. It should come as no surprise to these monopolists that the internet is resisting their efforts by crowd-sourcing workarounds.

Hate Google's AI search answers? Check this out: https://tenbluelinks.org/

bananabob,
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@leighelse I can imagine that we will see a movement to undermine or ban Linux from the more Right minded states

bananabob,
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@leighelse Thinking again the nature of open source would allow for "pirate" versions of Linux without the spyware

KiwiEV, to random
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That's hilarious. This dude left his phone on speech-to-text while practicing the trombone. 😂

bananabob,
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@KiwiEV Interesting. The other day I went to take a photo of the Egyptian Garden in Hamilton Gardens on the wall are some hieroglyphics the camera app asked me if I wanted to save it as. PDF document 😁

JoeRess, to random
@JoeRess@fosstodon.org avatar

Idea for a sport:

Instead of moving really quickly, kicking or hitting or throwing a ball or something really accurately, or outwitting people, how about this?

You have to inflict enough brain trauma on your opponent to render them unable to stay on their feet.

bananabob,
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@JoeRess Any sport that requires you to beat the shit out of someone isn't sport it's brutality

paulhellyer, to random
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Managed to change the oven light bulb this morning! That may not sound like much but for someone who has next to zero home maintenance skills it was quite an achievement. Even managed to get the oven door off and, more importantly, back on! Had to lie on the kitchen floor like cast sheep at one point though. Quietly chuffed.

bananabob,
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@paulhellyer We have a microwave oven and the light has been dead on that for so long I can't remember when it worked. Only problem is to replace it you need to take the damn thing apart and with what I know about the inside of one of those I ain't going anywhere near it.

bananabob,
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@paulhellyer I bought a watch ⌚ recently from AliExpress for $1.99 with free postage. I am sure slave labour is involved somewhere in the supply chain. And probably is in just about every thing we purchase.

bananabob, to Health
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Every day news comes out of the United States that makes you think it can't get any worse, and then...

It could soon be illegal to publicly wear a mask for health reasons in NC

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/05/nc-senate-passes-bill-to-make-it-illegal-to-publicly-mask-for-health-reasons/

#Health #ArsTechnica #USA #NC

bananabob, to evolution
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Why so many animals have a third eyelid, including our pets – yet humans don’t

https://theconversation.com/why-so-many-animals-have-a-third-eyelid-including-our-pets-yet-humans-dont-230036

#TheConversation #Evolution

bananabob, to AncientHistory
@bananabob@mastodon.nz avatar

Scientists find buried branch of the Nile that may have carried pyramids’ stones

Discovery of the branch, which ran alongside 31 pyramids, could solve mystery of blocks’ transportation

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/16/scientists-find-buried-branch-of-the-nile-that-may-have-carried-pyramids-stones

#TheGuardian #Egyptology #Archeology #Pyramids #Nile

FrancescaJ, to random
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Tonight in stuff kids say the 9yo asked what it means to be ‘joined in holy macaroni’?

bananabob,
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@FrancescaJ Holy Macaroni is when the Pasta takes your wedding vows.

BobLefridge, to NewZealand
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Police know National's new 'tough on gangs' policy is a crock.

When Police recruitment can't keep up with the number of officers leaving, where are they going to find 25 to 30 cops to man their elite gang squad?

Disillusioned officers speak out.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350278132/cops-slam-new-specialist-gang-unit-purely-politically-motivated

#NZPol #Police #Gangs

bananabob,
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@BigD @BobLefridge Maybe what we need is a patch buy-back scheme 😁

bananabob, to random
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How many cleaners fit in the cupboard?

18+ leighelse, to random
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The current government is moving more public money into private hands, rolling back climate crisis mitigations, bicultural partnership, equality of opportunity et al.

We need opposition pledges to reverse these changes.

If opposition parties jointly announce that they will end these travesties, the private sector's interest in participating will be significantly reduced.

Instead of railing against the government, perhaps I should be petitioning the opposition?

bananabob,
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@leighelse @BobLefridge @RedRobyn I am afraid that I can't bring myself to vote Labour next time. I will be voting Green. Which I haven't done since they were the Values Party

Creativeelc, to NewZealand
@Creativeelc@mastodon.nz avatar

My cartoon in today's https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350276825/cartoon-may-14

The coaltion of puritans rages on. We all knew Luxon had it in his wheel house but then Seymour and Winnie... well they've tossed their 'freedom' and 'libertarian' ways to the side. With an ease that suggested they never cared about freedom or the individual in the first place.

bananabob,
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@Creativeelc And they called Labour a Nanny Government 😁

18+ leighelse, to random
@leighelse@mastodon.nz avatar

I've completed the first iteration of an app to make my scheduling of TV shows quicker.

It downloads Matt Huisman's Freeview programme guide, parses it into an SQL database, then filters it against channels and programme names I've excluded because I have no interest in them. In the screenshot example, 6,500 programmes in a week are cut down to 39.

There's a detail dialog which navigates the list and provides all the information I need to quickly enter programmes into the NAS.

The log. Nothing very exciting to see; more useful when downloading and parsing.
Live filtering in the button bar.
The programme list, in this case showing only programmes I haven't excluded.

bananabob,
@bananabob@mastodon.nz avatar

@leighelse I'll let you know if I get round to starting the project. What did you write it in?

bananabob, to Eurovision
@bananabob@mastodon.nz avatar

I was interested to find this out about Eurovision:

"Eurovision television transmissions may be recognised by the Eurovision ident and the opening theme of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's "Te Deum" which appears before and after the programme to indicate to viewers they are connected and watching via the Eurovision network."

Are they sure they don't mean "tedium"

#Eurovision

auschwitzmuseum, to random
@auschwitzmuseum@mastodon.world avatar

11 May 1934 | A Hungarian Jewish girl, Györgyi Einhorn, was born.

In July 1944 she was deported to Auschwitz and murdered in a gas chamber.

bananabob,
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@auschwitzmuseum I get a bit emotional when you post these pictures.😭

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