Mike O'Brien
@misterprotocol.bsky.social
Photographer, Internet pioneer, failed dilettante.
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/t...
This guy built a system that developed so many social capabilities that the Internet promptly grabbed as soon as it was built. You want to see true genius, this guy was it.
This guy built a system that developed so many social capabilities that the Internet promptly grabbed as soon as it was built. You want to see true genius, this guy was it.
Donald Bitzer, Unsung Pioneer of Interactive Computing, Dies at 90
In the 1960s and ’70s, he developed the PLATO computer system, which combined instant messaging, email, chat rooms and gaming on flat-screen plasma displays.
www.nytimes.com
December 28, 2024 at 7:22 PM
www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/t...
This guy built a system that developed so many social capabilities that the Internet promptly grabbed as soon as it was built. You want to see true genius, this guy was it.
This guy built a system that developed so many social capabilities that the Internet promptly grabbed as soon as it was built. You want to see true genius, this guy was it.
So Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, Apple precognitive, says a future Apple Watch Ultra will support satellite communications. Say WHAT? Does anybody out there comprehend the smallest detail about satellite signal and power budgets??? Even Sirius XM needs two transponders in tandem to reach cars.
December 18, 2024 at 6:19 AM
So Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, Apple precognitive, says a future Apple Watch Ultra will support satellite communications. Say WHAT? Does anybody out there comprehend the smallest detail about satellite signal and power budgets??? Even Sirius XM needs two transponders in tandem to reach cars.
@inscrutablemachine.bsky.social “Exquisite.” You said “exquisite.” That means a lot to me right now.
November 24, 2024 at 7:35 PM
@inscrutablemachine.bsky.social “Exquisite.” You said “exquisite.” That means a lot to me right now.
Reposted by Mike O'Brien
Reposting this, as we're very close to getting this problem completely solved. (With all thanks to the many kind folks who've already bought book bundles! You people are all such stars.) 💖 Repost, if you feel inclined? And thanks, all!
Friends, we're having an unfortunate backed-up rent situation here, so may I point folks at this offer? 36 DRM-free #ebooks for USD 39.99! If you can grab one of these (or repost the offer for others), we'd much appreciate it. Thanks! (Not valid in the UK, sorry.) ebooks.direct/products/ebo...
Ebooks Direct Whole Store Bundle
By popular demand! This ebook bundle contains our complete inventory of non-new-release* works. All our ebooks are DRM-free, and come with the usual EBD replacement guarantee: if you lose your ebook f
ebooks.direct
September 10, 2024 at 2:40 PM
Reposting this, as we're very close to getting this problem completely solved. (With all thanks to the many kind folks who've already bought book bundles! You people are all such stars.) 💖 Repost, if you feel inclined? And thanks, all!
Today’s “Pearls Before Swine” strip poses an excellent question: “Why do people bother burning books if no one’s reading them?”
November 19, 2024 at 7:48 PM
Today’s “Pearls Before Swine” strip poses an excellent question: “Why do people bother burning books if no one’s reading them?”
Reposted by Mike O'Brien
“social media echo chambers are a serious problem”
i’m so sorry, i can’t hear you, i’m busy hanging out on the app where i get to listen to a bunch of scientists infodump about their special interests instead of the one where bigots “infodump” about why i shouldn’t be allowed to live
i’m so sorry, i can’t hear you, i’m busy hanging out on the app where i get to listen to a bunch of scientists infodump about their special interests instead of the one where bigots “infodump” about why i shouldn’t be allowed to live
October 19, 2024 at 5:59 AM
“social media echo chambers are a serious problem”
i’m so sorry, i can’t hear you, i’m busy hanging out on the app where i get to listen to a bunch of scientists infodump about their special interests instead of the one where bigots “infodump” about why i shouldn’t be allowed to live
i’m so sorry, i can’t hear you, i’m busy hanging out on the app where i get to listen to a bunch of scientists infodump about their special interests instead of the one where bigots “infodump” about why i shouldn’t be allowed to live
Reposted by Mike O'Brien
I gave a lecture at Univ of Michigan yesterday, in a historic auditorium. I saw this plaque as I was getting ready, and thought how ironic it was that my talk was going to reference anti-vax activists who reject lifesaving interventions. Imagine how this announcement would have been received today.
October 19, 2024 at 6:36 PM
I gave a lecture at Univ of Michigan yesterday, in a historic auditorium. I saw this plaque as I was getting ready, and thought how ironic it was that my talk was going to reference anti-vax activists who reject lifesaving interventions. Imagine how this announcement would have been received today.
Comments on comments represent real interaction.
October 14, 2024 at 8:11 PM
Comments on comments represent real interaction.
I should start a pool on whether tomorrow’s dual coronal mass ejections will knock out GPS.
October 8, 2024 at 1:59 PM
I should start a pool on whether tomorrow’s dual coronal mass ejections will knock out GPS.
@inscrutablemachine.bsky.social Enjoy Francine when it gets there, I suppose. We’re currently enjoying earthquakes and probably early morning volcanoes.
September 12, 2024 at 4:10 PM
@inscrutablemachine.bsky.social Enjoy Francine when it gets there, I suppose. We’re currently enjoying earthquakes and probably early morning volcanoes.
Into the rabbit warren of third-party lenses for Leica M mount cameras. Some of the less expen$ive kind come uncalibrated. Instead they include a tool so you can calibrate the lens to your camera yourself. Participatory lens design! Ugh.
September 4, 2024 at 7:11 PM
Into the rabbit warren of third-party lenses for Leica M mount cameras. Some of the less expen$ive kind come uncalibrated. Instead they include a tool so you can calibrate the lens to your camera yourself. Participatory lens design! Ugh.
Reposted by Mike O'Brien
oh GOODY
September 3, 2024 at 5:47 PM
oh GOODY
@older.bsky.social Yesterday I went to The RAND Corporation's annual employee reunion. I used to work there, back in the '70s and '80s. I was reminded by a picture of Mert Davies, whom I knew back then, that he was the guy who worked out the physics for your mantle tunnels. 45 mins to anywhere.
August 7, 2024 at 9:58 PM
@older.bsky.social Yesterday I went to The RAND Corporation's annual employee reunion. I used to work there, back in the '70s and '80s. I was reminded by a picture of Mert Davies, whom I knew back then, that he was the guy who worked out the physics for your mantle tunnels. 45 mins to anywhere.
Reposted by Mike O'Brien
Well, I mean, I did release this book recently called Please Don't Tell My Parents I Saved The World Again. www.amazon.com/Please-Paren... There were robot-possessing ghosts and the difficulty of being a moral necromancer.
August 2, 2024 at 1:41 AM
Well, I mean, I did release this book recently called Please Don't Tell My Parents I Saved The World Again. www.amazon.com/Please-Paren... There were robot-possessing ghosts and the difficulty of being a moral necromancer.
Unsolicited plug: the Centenal Cycle series by Malka Older (@older.bsky.social), author of the wonderful Pleiti and Mossa series, is stupendous. No first novel/series has any right to be this good!
August 2, 2024 at 9:23 PM
Unsolicited plug: the Centenal Cycle series by Malka Older (@older.bsky.social), author of the wonderful Pleiti and Mossa series, is stupendous. No first novel/series has any right to be this good!
Reposted by Mike O'Brien
yes, the buzz is true, I have signed contracts for not one, not two, but THREE MORE MOSSA & PLEITI BOOKS!
Starting with THE POTENCY OF UNGOVERNABLE IMPULSES (working title but seems to be sticking) summer next year!
Starting with THE POTENCY OF UNGOVERNABLE IMPULSES (working title but seems to be sticking) summer next year!
July 21, 2024 at 1:48 PM
yes, the buzz is true, I have signed contracts for not one, not two, but THREE MORE MOSSA & PLEITI BOOKS!
Starting with THE POTENCY OF UNGOVERNABLE IMPULSES (working title but seems to be sticking) summer next year!
Starting with THE POTENCY OF UNGOVERNABLE IMPULSES (working title but seems to be sticking) summer next year!
I have spent the early afternoon photographing the Victorian mansions on Carroll Avenue in Los Angeles. I am now eating watermelon on our front porch with my wife. That is all. And it is enough.
July 20, 2024 at 11:25 PM
I have spent the early afternoon photographing the Victorian mansions on Carroll Avenue in Los Angeles. I am now eating watermelon on our front porch with my wife. That is all. And it is enough.
I can unreservedly recommend “The Mimicking of Known Successes” and “The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles”, by Malka Elder. I couldn’t put them down, and I’ll be rereading them immediately. And I never do that.
June 30, 2024 at 2:25 AM
I can unreservedly recommend “The Mimicking of Known Successes” and “The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles”, by Malka Elder. I couldn’t put them down, and I’ll be rereading them immediately. And I never do that.
Does anybody out there love Erik Satie as much as I do?
June 8, 2024 at 7:01 PM
Does anybody out there love Erik Satie as much as I do?
Next to my front steps.
May 27, 2024 at 7:52 PM
Next to my front steps.
#Sony cameras have the ability to transfer photos over an encrypted connection to a server, i.e. the camera supports encryption. You can install a root certificate into the camera, enter an 8-to-20 character auth key and everything. No one, and I mean no one, understands how to actually do this.
April 2, 2024 at 10:06 PM
#Sony cameras have the ability to transfer photos over an encrypted connection to a server, i.e. the camera supports encryption. You can install a root certificate into the camera, enter an 8-to-20 character auth key and everything. No one, and I mean no one, understands how to actually do this.
Klaufir is just...something else entirely. What a genius artist.
March 27, 2024 at 12:45 AM
Klaufir is just...something else entirely. What a genius artist.
Among other things, I'm an amateur photographer. My wife and I spent this weekend in Palm Springs, where I took two sets of photos: one of animas at The Living Desert, and one of Mid-Century Modern houses in Palm Springs proper. protocolpix.smugmug.com/Palm-Springs
February 20, 2024 at 1:31 AM
Among other things, I'm an amateur photographer. My wife and I spent this weekend in Palm Springs, where I took two sets of photos: one of animas at The Living Desert, and one of Mid-Century Modern houses in Palm Springs proper. protocolpix.smugmug.com/Palm-Springs
Reposted by Mike O'Brien
January 6, 2024 at 4:31 PM
I am now officially whining to the world that THIS IS NOT HOW I EXPECTED THE YEAR TO END. The latest release of MacOS has broken the RAND editor, because they messed with the ncurses library and DIDN'T CHANGE THE REV NUMBER. I've spent all day a) discovering how broken things were...
December 30, 2023 at 11:13 PM
I am now officially whining to the world that THIS IS NOT HOW I EXPECTED THE YEAR TO END. The latest release of MacOS has broken the RAND editor, because they messed with the ncurses library and DIDN'T CHANGE THE REV NUMBER. I've spent all day a) discovering how broken things were...