David Dvorkin @DavidDvorkin@qoto.org

The ancient Greeks would say that Trump is just about to be punished for hubris.

@lucifargundam @Euclid42 Ah, memories!

I learned FORTRAN on the job at NASA. I knew nothing about computers and had to learn very quickly under considerable pressure. It's a good thing I was in my 20s at the time.

It was so long ago that it no longer feels quite real to me.

#introduction
Before retiring, I was an aerospace engineer (Apollo, Viking Mars lander), software developer, and tech writer. But that was to pay the bills. I think of myself as a writer -- mostly sf, some horror, some mystery, some (yet unpublished) fantasy. Lots of details at www.dvorkin.com

My wife and I also help writers self-publish. You can find out more at www.dldbooks.com

In theory, I should be writing much more now that I'm retired. In practice, that's not happening. I blame the Internet.

Perhaps some day, someone will write the definitive account of Boebert's career: THE POLITICAL LIFE OF LAUREN BOEBERT: A SHORT BUT NOISY BOOK. It will sell very few copies.

Duh!

I'm an atheist and I'm on Mastodon, but I don't know what the bird site is.

I told myself I would spend the evening being productive and would only check election results occasionally. Ha, ha, ha.

@mitchwagner A major character in my WIP is named Mitch, and I keep seeing your face on him, even though he has nothing at all to do with you (I created him decades ago). It's disturbing. I might have to change his name. Or you could change yours. That would be far easier for me.

I just saw a rumor (no idea how reliable) that Elon Musk wants to charge everyone to use Twitter, putting the entire site behind a paywall. Can he really be that stupid?

@atheistaddiction But not the last, I'm sure.

@atheistaddiction It takes a lot of getting used to, says the man who still isn't used to it.

Some of the functions are simpler when I use the Mastodon app on my Android smartphone. Others are easier when I log in using a browser on my PC.

I hope that the influx of new users who are used to Twitter's simplicity and ease of use will prompt some simplification and/or design rethinking over here.

It feels good to be writing again. I hope I can keep it up, this time. Maybe I'll finally finish my ever-more-magnum (what would that be in Latin?) opus. It won't happen this year, but if I don't get it out by the time I turn 80 next October, I'll feel like an idiot.

Putin pretended that his invasion of Ukraine was a crusade against Nazis. Meanwhile, he has the full-throated support of the Republican Party as it moves ever deeper into fascism. It's kind of like the Nazi-Soviet Pact.

I suppose I should RTFM.