@whl-58.bsky.social
An experiment: 46 > 45
August 31, 2025 at 9:20 PM
An experiment: 46 > 45
In all fairness, the Atari 800 was the better choice at the time, if you didn’t want to design expansion hardware…
An Apple II was a very nice machine, and it would have made me happy--had I been willing to spend the money in 1982.
🍎🌈
You did, later, talk me into buying a series of Macintoshes.
After Macintoshes existed.
🍎🌈
You did, later, talk me into buying a series of Macintoshes.
After Macintoshes existed.
August 27, 2025 at 8:50 PM
In all fairness, the Atari 800 was the better choice at the time, if you didn’t want to design expansion hardware…
I TRIED to talk him into an Apple ][, but it was significantly more…
I was 28. Had a decent job, but was careful with money. Color graphics were my desire. I flirted with the VIC-20, but in the end gave my heart to the more costly Atari 800.
Began programming in BASIC, got a few cartridge games—Star Raiders, of course!
Then started saving up for a floppy drive…
Began programming in BASIC, got a few cartridge games—Star Raiders, of course!
Then started saving up for a floppy drive…
August 26, 2025 at 5:24 PM
I TRIED to talk him into an Apple ][, but it was significantly more…
So the war on Thanksgiving is now lost?
Christmas's ongoing incursion into October has forced Halloween to make a strategic retreat into August.
My neighbors have already put up Halloween decor! This is too early
August 25, 2025 at 12:40 AM
So the war on Thanksgiving is now lost?
This is how you stand up to authoritarianism - by fighting for the targeted people, not by throwing them overboard.
Illinois is launching a first-of-its-kind legal hotline for LGBTQ+ individuals — Illinois Pride Connect.
As the only state in the nation that will provide free legal advice to protect the LGBTQ+ community, we'll help fight ignorance with information and cruelty with compassion.
As the only state in the nation that will provide free legal advice to protect the LGBTQ+ community, we'll help fight ignorance with information and cruelty with compassion.
August 22, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Now being refurbished by the Kalamazoo AirZoo; keep ‘em flying, guys! Hot jets and clear ether!
August 15, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Now being refurbished by the Kalamazoo AirZoo; keep ‘em flying, guys! Hot jets and clear ether!
I read all of those early. But the FIRST was probably the Danny Dunn books, in my grade school library.
Watching the 1962 "Son of Flubber" (Starring Fred MacMurray) I noted that there was a credit for "Danny Dunn and the Weather Machine" in the credits. That book was published in early 1958,
Watching the 1962 "Son of Flubber" (Starring Fred MacMurray) I noted that there was a credit for "Danny Dunn and the Weather Machine" in the credits. That book was published in early 1958,
I don't know if it was The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron; The Spaceship Under the Apple Tree by Louis Slobodkin; or the awful Tom Swift and His Flying Lab, first in the Tom Swift Jr. series by William Dougherty, probably from an outline by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.
Inspired by @scalzi.com on reading or not the Canon of science fiction...
What, bluesky scifi fans ,were the first science fiction books that you can remember reading?
For me it was
* Adrift in the Stratosphere, by AM Low
* Lensman series by EE Smith
What, bluesky scifi fans ,were the first science fiction books that you can remember reading?
For me it was
* Adrift in the Stratosphere, by AM Low
* Lensman series by EE Smith
August 14, 2025 at 11:54 PM
I read all of those early. But the FIRST was probably the Danny Dunn books, in my grade school library.
Watching the 1962 "Son of Flubber" (Starring Fred MacMurray) I noted that there was a credit for "Danny Dunn and the Weather Machine" in the credits. That book was published in early 1958,
Watching the 1962 "Son of Flubber" (Starring Fred MacMurray) I noted that there was a credit for "Danny Dunn and the Weather Machine" in the credits. That book was published in early 1958,
Read-And-Enjoyed-But-No(time to)Comment…
“I Have No Time for This” sounds like an excellent title for a newsletter.
July 27, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Read-And-Enjoyed-But-No(time to)Comment…
Reposted
Most of the internet used to be like this. This is actually the default, it took companies enclosing the internet and adding weird, soul-killing incentives to make people behave the way they do now. In a way, there is truly nothing special about Wikipedia except that it survived longer.
“Wikipedia is this economic anomaly. In many ways, it’s sort of magical that people will just volunteer without explicit economic incentives to create artifacts that are meant to share knowledge with everyone in the world”
July 26, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Most of the internet used to be like this. This is actually the default, it took companies enclosing the internet and adding weird, soul-killing incentives to make people behave the way they do now. In a way, there is truly nothing special about Wikipedia except that it survived longer.
Well, in the comics, Tony had to deal with being an arms merchant during the Viet Nam war and became an alcoholic…
This is more or less how I felt about IRON MAN in 2008.
A gadget-based superhero should appeal to a hard-SF reader like me, but in comics he was not that interesting.
Movie Iron Man, part wisecracking cynic, part do-gooder, was lively AND conveyed some of the joys of engineering.
A gadget-based superhero should appeal to a hard-SF reader like me, but in comics he was not that interesting.
Movie Iron Man, part wisecracking cynic, part do-gooder, was lively AND conveyed some of the joys of engineering.
July 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Well, in the comics, Tony had to deal with being an arms merchant during the Viet Nam war and became an alcoholic…
If you see this, post a game that transports you to your childhood
July 19, 2025 at 12:10 AM
If you see this, post a game that transports you to your childhood
We have to start designing the patch to prevent this orange bug from recurring now, while Congress can be motivated. And it will take constitutional amendments.
June 14, 2025 at 9:01 PM
We have to start designing the patch to prevent this orange bug from recurring now, while Congress can be motivated. And it will take constitutional amendments.
Dont look up (anything in the constitution)…
June 9, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Dont look up (anything in the constitution)…
Never forget what they’ve taken from us: ownership.
May 17, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Never forget what they’ve taken from us: ownership.
Everyone has three friends, but wants 15 more…
May 3, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Everyone has three friends, but wants 15 more…
Happy oblate spheroid day!
April 23, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Happy oblate spheroid day!
Vandalism is wrong, be it of cars, buildings, OR GOVERNMENTS!
March 23, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Vandalism is wrong, be it of cars, buildings, OR GOVERNMENTS!
It happens; gift one onward…
I have once again purchased a book I already own.
March 15, 2025 at 1:21 PM
It happens; gift one onward…
Reposted
Schumer and Durbin should face a new leadership vote. Tomorrow.
March 14, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Schumer and Durbin should face a new leadership vote. Tomorrow.
Well, Durbin just lost my vote.
March 14, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Well, Durbin just lost my vote.
Reposted
Folks, I see a lot of you recently feeling free to use some variation of the "R" word for mentally disabled, including appending the last four letters as suffix to describe people you don't like. I'm not down with that, so if you do it in my comments, I'm gonna hide that shit at least. Be better.
February 2, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Folks, I see a lot of you recently feeling free to use some variation of the "R" word for mentally disabled, including appending the last four letters as suffix to describe people you don't like. I'm not down with that, so if you do it in my comments, I'm gonna hide that shit at least. Be better.
Reposted
Even scribes hated writing Gothic. They made their own in-joke, a nonsense sentence called "mimi numinum..." to ridicule the script as often unreadable.
January 29, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Even scribes hated writing Gothic. They made their own in-joke, a nonsense sentence called "mimi numinum..." to ridicule the script as often unreadable.
How about”Would you believe…?” (Does that follow a predictable curve?)
What if I told you that "What if I told you..." was a phrase not nearly as common in earlier decades as it is now?
Would you offer an explanation why? Because I don't have one.
What started "What if I told you" rising steeply in frequency?
A song? A slogan? A TV show?
Would you offer an explanation why? Because I don't have one.
What started "What if I told you" rising steeply in frequency?
A song? A slogan? A TV show?
January 20, 2025 at 5:57 PM
How about”Would you believe…?” (Does that follow a predictable curve?)
Reposted
What if I told you that "What if I told you..." was a phrase not nearly as common in earlier decades as it is now?
Would you offer an explanation why? Because I don't have one.
What started "What if I told you" rising steeply in frequency?
A song? A slogan? A TV show?
Would you offer an explanation why? Because I don't have one.
What started "What if I told you" rising steeply in frequency?
A song? A slogan? A TV show?
January 20, 2025 at 6:26 AM
What if I told you that "What if I told you..." was a phrase not nearly as common in earlier decades as it is now?
Would you offer an explanation why? Because I don't have one.
What started "What if I told you" rising steeply in frequency?
A song? A slogan? A TV show?
Would you offer an explanation why? Because I don't have one.
What started "What if I told you" rising steeply in frequency?
A song? A slogan? A TV show?
Just for that, I’ll add it to the inaugural playlist
@whl-58.bsky.social was just telling me about the troubled development of the Littoral Combat Ship, a vessel intended for near-shore operations.
"These ships may be costly," I said, "but the US Navy will be glad they bought 'em if we ever run into Big Trouble in Littoral China!"
"These ships may be costly," I said, "but the US Navy will be glad they bought 'em if we ever run into Big Trouble in Littoral China!"
January 20, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Just for that, I’ll add it to the inaugural playlist