Chris Ogilvie
@ogilvie-chris.bsky.social
Big nerd interested in retrocomputing, history, and literature. Known elsewhere on the internet as Arclight_Dynamo. He/Him.
Mastodon: @ogilvie_chris@kind.social
Mastodon: @ogilvie_chris@kind.social
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
I think if Canada wants to have a strong cultural identity we need to go back to doing what we're best at, making the weirdest fucking TV shows you've ever seen
November 26, 2025 at 7:33 PM
I think if Canada wants to have a strong cultural identity we need to go back to doing what we're best at, making the weirdest fucking TV shows you've ever seen
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
Canada made weird tv shows because it was all being done with government funded art grant money so they fell in this wacky middle ground between “shoestring budget” and “no expectation to generate shareholder value” which is really the best way to make art
November 26, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Canada made weird tv shows because it was all being done with government funded art grant money so they fell in this wacky middle ground between “shoestring budget” and “no expectation to generate shareholder value” which is really the best way to make art
Absolutely thrilled that I procrastinated building a new PC just long enough to run headlong into an AI-inflated RAM pricing crisis. For fuck’s sake.
If you need me this weekend, I’ll be spending too much money on computer parts, thanks.
If you need me this weekend, I’ll be spending too much money on computer parts, thanks.
November 26, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Absolutely thrilled that I procrastinated building a new PC just long enough to run headlong into an AI-inflated RAM pricing crisis. For fuck’s sake.
If you need me this weekend, I’ll be spending too much money on computer parts, thanks.
If you need me this weekend, I’ll be spending too much money on computer parts, thanks.
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
Oh please just fuck off
November 26, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Oh please just fuck off
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
I am going to be thinking of this as the Quintessential LA Joke for years now.
November 26, 2025 at 3:31 AM
I am going to be thinking of this as the Quintessential LA Joke for years now.
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
"Computer 8 miles of soup no bowl"
June 28, 2025 at 12:57 AM
"Computer 8 miles of soup no bowl"
Subscribed to Paramount+ for the first time because I need my Star Trek, and *man* their streaming website is hot ass, isn't it?
Maybe the app is better. I hope it is.
Maybe the app is better. I hope it is.
November 23, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Subscribed to Paramount+ for the first time because I need my Star Trek, and *man* their streaming website is hot ass, isn't it?
Maybe the app is better. I hope it is.
Maybe the app is better. I hope it is.
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.
November 21, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
After repairing a bunch of old oscilloscopes, I melted down the failed wax capacitors and made up scented candles.
November 22, 2025 at 12:56 AM
After repairing a bunch of old oscilloscopes, I melted down the failed wax capacitors and made up scented candles.
I am damned tired of having AI "features" continually rammed down my throat. And I'm beginning to realize it's the constant, low-level violation of consent that's driving me to the edge.
Stop stealing my information for your slop factory without A) asking me first or B) allowing me to opt out.
Stop stealing my information for your slop factory without A) asking me first or B) allowing me to opt out.
November 20, 2025 at 11:27 PM
I am damned tired of having AI "features" continually rammed down my throat. And I'm beginning to realize it's the constant, low-level violation of consent that's driving me to the edge.
Stop stealing my information for your slop factory without A) asking me first or B) allowing me to opt out.
Stop stealing my information for your slop factory without A) asking me first or B) allowing me to opt out.
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
how to stop being angry all the time
November 20, 2025 at 3:13 PM
how to stop being angry all the time
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
Not satisfied with just destroying their own brand goodwill, OS companies are now using AI to try to destroy the good names of the apps users install. (Scrivener taking out adds to explain how it has no AI but Apple adds some anyway.)
November 19, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Not satisfied with just destroying their own brand goodwill, OS companies are now using AI to try to destroy the good names of the apps users install. (Scrivener taking out adds to explain how it has no AI but Apple adds some anyway.)
You know, one of the stranger aspects of living in Ottawa is that sometimes on your way home from work you get stuck in traffic behind the king of Sweden.
November 18, 2025 at 11:49 PM
You know, one of the stranger aspects of living in Ottawa is that sometimes on your way home from work you get stuck in traffic behind the king of Sweden.
TurboTax is integrating with ChatGPT, eh?
Welp. I’ve already identified an alternative I’ll be using, and now I have to see if I can pull my tax info down and delete my TurboTax account.
What a pain in the ass, all for the sake of the slop bubble. Thanks, AI bros. Really helping me out here.
Welp. I’ve already identified an alternative I’ll be using, and now I have to see if I can pull my tax info down and delete my TurboTax account.
What a pain in the ass, all for the sake of the slop bubble. Thanks, AI bros. Really helping me out here.
November 18, 2025 at 8:23 PM
TurboTax is integrating with ChatGPT, eh?
Welp. I’ve already identified an alternative I’ll be using, and now I have to see if I can pull my tax info down and delete my TurboTax account.
What a pain in the ass, all for the sake of the slop bubble. Thanks, AI bros. Really helping me out here.
Welp. I’ve already identified an alternative I’ll be using, and now I have to see if I can pull my tax info down and delete my TurboTax account.
What a pain in the ass, all for the sake of the slop bubble. Thanks, AI bros. Really helping me out here.
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
How delightfully quaint some of these old Devon village names are, their etymologies lost in the mists of time.
November 17, 2025 at 3:24 PM
How delightfully quaint some of these old Devon village names are, their etymologies lost in the mists of time.
Currently waiting to see if the Canadian government falls. Should know within the half hour.
November 17, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Currently waiting to see if the Canadian government falls. Should know within the half hour.
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
Folks, I did it. I made the Cooks Illustrated competing pear crisps, and then I made my friends judge them blind.
November 17, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Folks, I did it. I made the Cooks Illustrated competing pear crisps, and then I made my friends judge them blind.
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
It literally has a disclosure on its Steam page. It didn't "slip through", man. You tried to charge people for a thing that's got slop in it and they're mad.
I have an extension to add a pop-up on the Steam page for it but I really think it should be by default top-of-page.
I have an extension to add a pop-up on the Steam page for it but I really think it should be by default top-of-page.
November 17, 2025 at 12:11 AM
It literally has a disclosure on its Steam page. It didn't "slip through", man. You tried to charge people for a thing that's got slop in it and they're mad.
I have an extension to add a pop-up on the Steam page for it but I really think it should be by default top-of-page.
I have an extension to add a pop-up on the Steam page for it but I really think it should be by default top-of-page.
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
Ladies, Gents and all between and beyond.
Desert Bus 2025 is now departing for fun, joy, hijinks and a whole lot of hope!
Let’s prepare to get silly for a good cause!
desertbus.org
Desert Bus 2025 is now departing for fun, joy, hijinks and a whole lot of hope!
Let’s prepare to get silly for a good cause!
desertbus.org
Desert Bus 2025
A charity fundraising marathon in support of Child's Play Charity.
desertbus.org
November 14, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Ladies, Gents and all between and beyond.
Desert Bus 2025 is now departing for fun, joy, hijinks and a whole lot of hope!
Let’s prepare to get silly for a good cause!
desertbus.org
Desert Bus 2025 is now departing for fun, joy, hijinks and a whole lot of hope!
Let’s prepare to get silly for a good cause!
desertbus.org
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
In the Museum of Brands and Packaging down in Notting Hill, you can see this happening again and again. “McIntosh’s Radio Toffee”. “Vimulon Atomic Soap: now with Uranium!” “Tinford’s Electric Cufflinks”. It’s always bollocks. It’s the giveaway it’s a nine day’s wonder, before it all calms down.
![[Scene is a kitchen - a middle aged woman called JANET is boiling peas at the stove. A younger more colourfully dressed woman named LIZ approached her.]
JANET:
Ugh...
LIZ:
What's up?
JANET:
I am so bored of cooking peas!
LIZ:
Have you tried...
AI peas?
JANET:
AI peas?
LIZ:
They're peas with AI!
[Liz holds up to us a packet of peas labelled: Pea-i AI - Peas with AI].
LIZ:
Al-powered peas harness the potential of your peas
JANET:
What
LIZ [Now a voiceover as we cut to a whizzy technology diagram of peas all connected by meaningless dotted lines]
Why not take your peas to the next level with Al Peas' new Al tools to power your peas?
[Show a techno diagram of a pea with a label reading 'AI' pointing to a random zone in it]
LIZ:
Each pea has Al in a way we haven't quite worked out yet but it's fine
[Show Janet and Liz now in a Matrix-style world of peas]
LIZ:
With Al peas you can supercharge productivity and make AI work for your peas!
JANET:
What
LIZ:
Shut up
LIZ:
Our game-changing Pea-Al gives you the freedom to unlock the potential of the power of the future of your peas workflow
From opening the bag of peas
to boiling the peas
to eating the peas
To spending millions on adding Al to the peas and then having to work out what that even means.
JANET:
Is it really necessary to-
LIZ [Grabbing Janet by the collar]:
THE PEAS HAVE GOT AI, JANET
[Cut to an advert ending screen, with the bag of peas and the slogan:
AI PEAS: Just 'Peas' for god's sake buy the AI peas.
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiayqa37f7kik7l7s7fbtfp2sir5ckb662ry2lylinyjrfa2rkvvka@jpeg)
November 14, 2025 at 10:06 AM
In the Museum of Brands and Packaging down in Notting Hill, you can see this happening again and again. “McIntosh’s Radio Toffee”. “Vimulon Atomic Soap: now with Uranium!” “Tinford’s Electric Cufflinks”. It’s always bollocks. It’s the giveaway it’s a nine day’s wonder, before it all calms down.
Reposted by Chris Ogilvie
Part 3 of my ongoing series about the incredible WW2 flight of the California Clipper is now up and free to read.
Imagine having to fly your aircraft on regular gasoline, which it has never used before.
Now imagine having to work out how to do that while you're flying over the vast Indian Ocean...
Imagine having to fly your aircraft on regular gasoline, which it has never used before.
Now imagine having to work out how to do that while you're flying over the vast Indian Ocean...
In 1941, Pan Am's California Clipper had to do something no commercial flight had done before: circumnavigate the world.
In Part 3 of our series looking at her journey, the crew must work out, mid-air, how to fly her on regular gasoline. Something her Wright Cyclone engines were never designed for.
In Part 3 of our series looking at her journey, the crew must work out, mid-air, how to fly her on regular gasoline. Something her Wright Cyclone engines were never designed for.
Into the unknown: The remarkable journey of the California Clipper, Part 3
Unable to source military-grade aviation fuel, our crew are forced to cross the Indian Ocean using regular gasoline. Something no Boeing 314 has ever flown on before.
theupfront.media
November 14, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Part 3 of my ongoing series about the incredible WW2 flight of the California Clipper is now up and free to read.
Imagine having to fly your aircraft on regular gasoline, which it has never used before.
Now imagine having to work out how to do that while you're flying over the vast Indian Ocean...
Imagine having to fly your aircraft on regular gasoline, which it has never used before.
Now imagine having to work out how to do that while you're flying over the vast Indian Ocean...