Pinned toot

Here is my obligatory .

I’ve worked in the fields of and for over two decades. My degrees are in mechanical engineering, but I’ve spent many years both professionally and recreationally crossing over into the computer science realm when it intersects with my interests and projects.

I’ve been a user since the mid-90s, and I’ve been paid to admin Linux and Unix number-crunching boxes, including Irix, HP-UX, AIX, and other fun OSes that either don’t exist anymore or you probably haven’t heard of.

I enjoy programming, especially , , and , although I’ve used another dozen or so languages along the way, everything from FORTRAN to Perl and TCL to Haskell (and lots in between). I’m an electronic hobbyist, and you may find me tinkering with and boards.

My technical interests also include , , /#numericalmethods, , , , and .

I like making things, so my hobbies include , , and . I also love and reading, with a proclivity towards , , , , , , and classical .

I like to listen to and play . I play and dabble in lots of other instruments. My favorite styles of music are , , and , but I enjoy a diverse mix of genres, so you might catch me listening to Cat Stevens and Tom Lehrer one day and Johnny Cash and Eminem the next.

I love , mountains and oceans, , and . I like to to new places, see new things, and experience the local food and culture. Speaking of , I like to .

I also like gaming, especially on my and .

Blake boosted

Just in case anyone starts babbling about a Dem conspiracy with Sam Bankman Fried #SBF, he gave millions to Dems this is true but his partner at #FTX, Ryan Salame, gave millions to the GOP. They hedged their bets. This is not hard to understand.

Blake boosted

One of my favorite moments on Twitter was when I got my son birthday wishes from around the world in 2020. It showed the power of connection and community when both were sorely needed. Sadly, I would not try this today. Too much toxicity and too much potential risk.

Blake boosted
Blake boosted

I don't know if you've heard, but there is a new virus out there.

The Woke Mind Virus.

Symptoms include compassion, empathy, caring about the planet & emotional stability.

It is spreading... thank goodness.

Who else believes the Woke Mind Virus is a good thing?

Blake boosted

Having now seen AVATAR THE WAY OF WATER, I find the marketing for the film to be pretty fascinating. There's been a couple featurettes, a teaser trailer, and an official trailer. But NONE of the marketing materials reveal what the central plot of the film is. I have no idea why this is - maybe because James Cameron just wants to preserve the surprise more this time around? (The original Avatar trailers were pretty clear on what the movie was about).

Time will tell whether this strategy works.

Blake boosted
Blake boosted

Warning: Do not use Hive Social ⚠️🐝

We found multiple critical security vulnerabilities in the App, leaking private messages, posts, images and user data like phone numbers, emails and birthdates.

zerforschung.org/posts/hive-en

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@arin_basu

Honestly I dont know where they get this nonsense from... We have explained why we dont defederate, and it is at the request of the LGBTQ community here and for their physical safety, I will not compromise on that. I outline that here:

qoto.org/@freemo/1093198179438

As for being nasty and horrible hate speech side of the fediverse, we have pretty aggressive and explicit anti-hate speech rules here. Its no surprise when people throw around that lie about us when asked to point out a single example of hate speech on our server they are unable to find even a single instance of it.

@aurynn

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@aurynn

blatant lie, NEVER has one of our mods said women dont deserve the right to vote.

Only reason we federate with bad actor instances was at the request of our LGBTQ community because of fears to their physical safety if we do, see this post:

qoto.org/@freemo/1093198179438

@arin_basu

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@aurynn

Hi Aurynn, have you had a chat with
@freemo

about their strategy? They seem to have a consistent position and explanation on what they do and how do they deal with servers, AFAIR in their about page:

qoto.org/about/more

It’s a #STEM focused server. As qoto.org has a potential for encouraging serious science-based and academic discussions, so there can be unintended consequences of blocking qoto on the basis of their policy of defed.

Just a thought I wanted to share with you.

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@aurynn If I may point without offense to the reasons (they aren't "Free speech"):
qoto.org/@freemo/1093198179438

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@esdin

Before you do I highly encourage you to find a single shred of evidence of the claims against us. Our timeline is public, our rules against hatespeech quite explicit. Please feel free to find a single exception in our timeline.

On the off chance that you do, which I doubt, I assure you if reported any legitimate hatte speech will result in a suspend as it always has.

@welshpixie @aurynn

Blake boosted

So someone messaged me privately and asked how absolute this is.. like would we block an instance calling for genocide. I feel my response is import to reiterate here, so here it is:

Its not just about the authorities, it is about the people whose lives are at risk by that call to genocide having the right to see those posts and use that information to look out for their own safety... If someone is doxed, they should know, if someone is threatened, they should know, and they should be able to take action.

Someone saying violent things online doesnt guarantee some police officer will meander by and take them down. The law only tends to get involved once someone is reported, and sometimes not even then. No one will be reporting a site if no one can see or know it is there.

The question is, if someone is being physically threatened and having their life in jeopardy how are you helping them by blocking the privileges of the **victim** and disallowing the victim the right to see the threat placed against them?

In short, I refuse to take away rights from the victim simply because there is a violent bad actor out there. If the victim doesn't want to see it they simply need to import the block list and the problem is solved for them, so why not keep the power in the victims hands?
QT: qoto.org/@freemo/1093198179438

🎓 Dr. Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱  
I mentioned this in a private message to someone recently about why a small handful of servers block qoto. I wanted to reiterate it here for the ne...
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CW: Posted From Twitter 

RT @mimmymum@twitter.com

Stephen Fry -one of the early adopters of #Twitter, joining the platform in 2008 and with 12 Million followers - has just deleted his account.

It kinda says it all really!

#TwitterExodus #ElonMusk #StephenFry

🐦🔗: twitter.com/mimmymum/status/15

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Photos from today's lunar eclipse. Heavily cropped as 250mm lens only. Focusing the camera was mighty difficult too.
Blake boosted

A word of advice from others - since the servers communicate, you don't necessarily have to sign up on one of the busier ones. For instance, I chose one that seems more to align with my interests, but if you search (for instance) for hashtag you will be able to see very helpful posts.

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Blake boosted

@tallpenguin I have another #riddle!

How do you stop Canadian bacon from curling in the frying pan?

.... You take away their little brooms.
#yourwelcome :) #youstartedit #dadjokes

Blake boosted

So, it would seem that boosting liberally is much more of a standard practice here on than retweeting is on ?

Over there, someone who retweeted too much tended to be annoying. But since that's the only way to discover non-followed posts here, it seems to be more accepted. Do I have that right?

So the character limit on qoto.org is apparently huge compared to the 500 character limit on many (most?) other instances. Can those instances see my posts that are over 500 characters?

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Qoto Mastodon

QOTO: Question Others to Teach Ourselves
An inclusive, Academic Freedom, instance
All cultures welcome.
Hate speech and harassment strictly forbidden.