@thomasbeagle@mastodon.nz
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thomasbeagle

@thomasbeagle@mastodon.nz

Civil liberties, geekery, politics, YA/SF books, tasty vegan food, family life, #NerdCryptic. Yes I do have a beagle, his name's Calcifer, and he'd really like to sniff you while you pat him. #nztwits

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thomasbeagle, to random
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Successfully repelled the rather elderly Jehovah's Witnesses at the door with minimal injuries!

WhyNotZoidberg, to retrogaming
@WhyNotZoidberg@topspicy.social avatar

I don't have any real retro games I want to play enough to say get a hold of an emulator; I fully admit most games I played 10 hours a day in my youth (the 1980s) were shit. The oldest games might actually fancy to play still functions on Steam.

Of course there were good ones like Arkanoid, Uridium, Balder Dash, Tetris and a bit later Defender of the Crown and a few others, but most were played because they were the only game in town.

#retrogaming #retrocomputing #nostalgia #gaming #80s

thomasbeagle,
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@WhyNotZoidberg You get an hour or so of lovely nostalgia... and that's about it.

thomasbeagle, to random
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I wish the budget had raised taxes so that I and everyone else could end up saving money on healthcare, local councils, public transport, education, and public welfare.

strypey, to random
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Any suggestions on the best place for someone in Aotearoa to get a durable, USB-charged electric arc lighter (plasma lighter)?

https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a31133313/how-plasma-lighters-work/

I've seen them for sale in a Z station, and hell, I buy vegan pies there. But if there's a more ethical supplier, I'd much rather give them my business and have someone other than Z to send people if they want one too (same with the pies if anyone knows of any good vegan baking retailers in Waikato).

thomasbeagle,
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@strypey Z vegan pies are made by The Hub and are available frozen: https://goodtime.co.nz/hub-gourmet-vegan-pies/

thomasbeagle, to random
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If my 13yo wanted to make a donation to the Palestinians suffering in Gaza, who would you recommend they give it to?

Is there anyone who even can be effective at the moment?

thomasbeagle, to random
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Proposed: we pass a law taking away the rights to make media and products based on Lord of the Rings. For the good of humanity.

billbennett, to random

Stable DIffusion's seamy side: https://billbennett.micro.blog/2024/05/29/stable-diffusions-seamy.html

thomasbeagle,
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@billbennett Quite a few typos there.

dave, to random
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A friend asked me if I was voting by post in the UK election. Nearly 7 years in to living in NZ, and it kinda feels wrong. It’s where I’m from, but it’ll never be ‘home’ again.

thomasbeagle,
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@dave I think I agree, voting is for people who have a future with that country.

billbennett, to random

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?

thomasbeagle,
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@billbennett I see it as a race between community schism/exhaustion (Mastodon) and enshittification (Blue Sky) and I can't face another around of the second, so I'm sticking here.

thomasbeagle,
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@billbennett US capitalism is too rapacious.

thomasbeagle, to random
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Evergreen quote about IT products:

"It is unusual and refreshing to see a product appearing on the market with its software ready to run"

That's from a review of the Vectrex video game system in 1982. 😂

billbennett, to random

Chorus anticipates high-bandwidth IoT demand: https://billbennett.co.nz/chorus-high-bandwidth-iot/

thomasbeagle,
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@billbennett @Smrki The OPC is currently consulting on a biometrics code... which I believe will allow smart billboards that recognise people.

However there are exclusions in there limiting the ability to determine certain things about people. We'll see if they get to the final version.

We're arguing that this isn't enough and we need a ban on remote biometric identification.

thomasbeagle, to random
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I love how the dog goes into the kitchen when it's getting close to his dinner time, and stares longingly up at the air fryer.

Why? Because that's the spot where we used to keep his biscuits a year or two ago. 😁

timClicks, to random
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Apple's just released the M4.

What are Intel and AMD doing?

I am somewhat grumpy that Apple seems to be the only people pushing CPUs forward at the moment.

thomasbeagle,
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@timClicks Well, the new Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (or whatever it's called) sounds pretty good. Aka ARM wins again! :)

0x5DA, to random
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i made risotto and used the leftovers for aroncini. felt like such a hack

thomasbeagle,
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@0x5DA But, but ... isn't that the whole point of making risotto?!

PadraigOCinneide, to random
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Our lawnmower's battery charger stopped working over the weekend. $200 for a new one, which is like 1/3 of a lawnmower. Ugh.

I ordered the weird screwdriver to open the case for $7, watched a 20 min YouTube with someone debugging a similar model. I was able to take it apart and solder back together a component that had come loose. 💅 It's been up and working for 20 minutes with no explosions or even bad smells.

Being willing to attempt to repair stuff is such a superpower. YouTube is amazing. ✌🏻

thomasbeagle,
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@PadraigOCinneide Let's not forget how great it is to be able to order parts!

I repaired my digital SLR with a part from Ebay (I was as surprised as anyone when it worked after I put it back together) and my dishwasher with a part from some random parts website.

In the pre-internet days I'd never have known what part I wanted, let alone been able to order them.

sumisu3, to Birds
@sumisu3@mastodon.nz avatar

My local Kōtare/Kingfisher just surprised me. Flew at the window and heard it “hit” but then it went and landed on a post and had a praying mantis in its beak. And now it just flew through the top of a rose bush and came out with another bug. This is fun. Front row seat.

thomasbeagle,
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@sumisu3 I remember seeing a kōtare arrowing down into the long grass, flying back to its perch with a mouse in its beak, brutally beating the mouse against a branch to stun/kill it, and then swallowing it down. Efficient little predators!

thomasbeagle,
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@sumisu3 Haast eagle swoops down and carries off your dog, smashes it against a tree and swallows it whole!

thomasbeagle,
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@leighelse @sumisu3 Oh, I thought you were doing it deliberately!

I also have a beagle, so you've not only 'insulted' me but also 'threatened' my dog. 😂

JenMsft, to windows
@JenMsft@mastodon.social avatar

Did you know if you're working in the command line you can use clip to pipe the output of your command to the clipboard? 👀

For example, you can do this in cmd if you want to copy and paste the info somewhere else (rather than manually having to select the output to copy it):

systeminfo | clip

thomasbeagle,
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@JenMsft I did not. And OMG!

I just tested it and this is so good!

craiggrannell, to retrogaming
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I interviewed Numskull about the two new Taito Quarter Arcades and why preserving lesser-known arcade games matters. https://www.stuff.tv/features/beyond-space-invaders-why-preserving-forgotten-arcade-games-matters/

thomasbeagle,
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@craiggrannell Hmph, Elevator Action is at least a semi well-known classic... and I'm not just saying that because I have the marquee framed on my wall!

thomasbeagle, to random
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I took the collar off the cat and scritched around where it had been and I think he achieved nirvana.

thomasbeagle, to random
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In the old days I'd assume it was a technical problem causing Reddit in the browser to get unreliable and slow, but these days I assume they're deliberately fucking it up to force people to use their app.

alexkidman, to retrogaming
@alexkidman@aus.social avatar

It really was only a matter of time before this retro title was my retro game of the week. I mean, it's only THE BEST GAME OF ALL TIME.

https://alexreviewstech.com/retro-game-of-the-week-bubble-bobble-sega-master-system/

thomasbeagle,
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@alexkidman I'm admiring the careful use of "best 8-bit" version because the Amiga version of Bubble Bobble was excellent!

thomasbeagle, to random
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When the acronym speak gets too much: WANK - weird acronym, not known.

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