*banned 4 MarkDown love* @design_RG@qoto.org

Just found this article, an excellent read!

"Over the past few years, Mastodon has become the model for a friendlier kind of social network, promising to keep out the hateful or ugly content that proliferates on larger and more centralized networks. Journalists hailed it as “Twitter without Nazis” and for years, it’s generally lived up to that promise. But last week, the social network Gab migrated to Mastodon — and Mastodon’s admins have been forced to deal with the internet’s Nazi problem head-on."

https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/12/20691957/mastodon-decentralized-social-network-gab-migration-fediverse-app-blocking

There are many Usenet new user guides, Bing lists a few : https://www.bing.com/search?q=usenet+tutorial+guide

Looked over a few of them and liked this one: https://www.ngprovider.com/usenet-newbie.php

They also have another page, listing the very important tool you need - the Newsgroups downloader software. Page is here: https://www.ngprovider.com/best-usenet-newsreaders.php

I did not see my old time favourite, called Alt-Binz, which is full featured and fast. https://www.altbinz.net/

It's probably not the easiest to use, but a powerful tool.

https://www.altbinz.net/index.php?page=about

** Speed! Note on screnshot below, a dload coming in at * 39 MegaBytes per SECOND *.

Usenet service - some very low pricing offers from Newsgroups Direct.

These allow you to access date from the Newsgroups, including the ones carrying Binaries - photos, video, data, apps, etc.

* Very fast to download, you are getting data from a secure server farm.

* No peer to peer connections, so no monitoring of who is sharing what.

* Files posted in the newsgroups will be around for a LONG time, unlike some of the p2p methods were people are interested at first, but later it is hard to complete a download, few seeders, etc.

I haven't used it in a while, but still have a bunch of data left from a Block I purchased from the company.

If you are Uploading (posting things to Usenet), that traffic is NOT charged to your block, it's all for download.

Takes a bit of learning, but there are good guides and the software has became easier over time. Give it a try. 😉

https://newsgroupdirect.com/#pricing

They have a sister company,. now offering over 4,000 days of binaries retention -- that's over 10 Years. Something posted in 2009 is still on their servers.

https://www.newsdemon.com/Usenet-Black-Friday.php

(Similar prices for Blocks of download.)

New Toy on the way... 😉

Wanted a smaller and lighter laptop for travel. I usually take an ipad mini tablet, have various laptops of assorted vintages but all a big larger and fragile.

Searched for an HP Elitebook 12" model, similar to my everyday workhorse 15.6" one, but not luck finding stock.

Worked on this yesterday, even drove out to nearby city to check a possible open box, sold out.

Today I got lucky, found a nice Thinkpad X230, very reasonable price, top quality and the lovely design I have enjoyed for years.

So, clicked the buttons, and it should arrive in a couple of days, next week. Yes!!

This is an off-lease, business class laptop. A good review here: https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/lenovo-thinkpad-x230

The store I purchased from had some other excellent similar models, in larger sizes, some with great configurations.

With a new SSD upgrade, if they have old style hard drives, these machines are wonderful. Mine is coming with 8 GB of ram, and a 120 GB SSD, so storage is already cool.

Anyone for some radical #cycling? Ice Road Challenge, up in the Northern Ontario Wilderness.

A charity event, to help a new bike co-op get started. Event at Red Lake, northern Ontario, see map for interesting geography!

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/new-hope-community-bikes/events/ice-road-challenge/

See the beautiful, wide, full size banner here: https://scontent.fybz1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/78942283_2684609661600146_9212995116694765568_o.jpg

To all our sisters, with love.

@_lunawinters @esperera_98

"Shine your own light. Take care of your own life.

Understand that it's not the other that bothers you, but you that gets bothered with the other.

And, everyday, repeat as a mantra: What others think or say about me is not my problem."

A message I just received and sent on to you, Aaditi @_lunawinters

Not everyone is a fan of the beloved #Cats.

Ok, we can have photos and chaming stories for you too, doggie lovers out there.

Don't know if there an awesome Dog posting bot, like the @catpostingbot I follow and enjoy everyday.

(if you know of one, please chime in, let others know - TY!)

But you can certainly find pictures, and some accounts to follow using the #dogsofmastodon and #mastodogs or even simply, #dogs hash tags.

Example, a cutie going for a trail walk, nice way to spend some hours.

https://sen.jamiesnotes.com/@jamie/103215498181084328

Winter Cycling...

#bikes #cycling

Cycling here, imagine that.

#bicycles #touring #bikes

OMG, so much Better.

Better fonts for the Web exist, are FREE and can be easily installed.

Was getting bugged by the small print and raggedy edge on screen fonts in Mastodont instance.

Silly me, forgot to configure my Font favourites in this newer browser install.

I have used for years and recommend two alternative Fonts. Both were developed specially for on-screen reading.

* Serif font, default is Times New Roman. BETTER alternative is Georgia.

* Sans-serif font, default Arial. REPLACE with Verdana.

Shown on screnshot of Waterfox / Firefox control panel.

Now, Why?

* Georgia font on wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_(typeface)

Microsoft page for it, details: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/font-list/georgia

* Verdana is a better Arial. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verdana

https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/ascender/verdana/

Verdana on MS Fonts: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/font-list/verdana

The image is worth a thousand words.

#xp #moa #CatsOfTwitter #mastocats #catsofinstagram #fediverseama #slowly
---
RT @design_RG@twitter.activitypub.actor
My newest #slowly stamp set is the beautiful new States of Cats one. Paid for with free coins from watching @slowlyapp short video ads. 👍😻🎃🐱 Thank you!
https://twitter.com/design_RG/status/1188858623356788737

Have you seen the image of Rocky Balboa's body (he of Rocky movies fame) with a POTUS face photoshopped into it?

I am all for adding images in posts, but refuse to inflict that on you here.

Seen yesterday, and now a thread discussing it said and linked to potus twitter account - he's posted it. thousands of likes and retweets.

Unbelievable Times we live in.

Posting original Rocky image instead.

#xp #moa
---
RT @slowlyapp@twitter.activitypub.actor
#WorldAIDSDay #FreeStamp
AIDS is not over. Together let’s raise awareness, end discrimination and improve the quality of life of people living with HIV.
https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/campaigns/WAD_2019

#CommunitiesMakeTheDifference
#InternationalDays
https://twitter.com/slowlyapp/status/1200088622612938752

Não é legal? Foto tirada nos ultimos dias de Outubro, e todo mundo de shorts, camisa manga curta, dia lindo, trilha tambem!

No Aveiro, em Portugal. ❤️ 🇵🇹

Foto por Gonçalo Peres, compartilhada no Bicycle Touring group. Album completo: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_8vFoZiJdnLRVlPcVl0QmdxTW8

English version:

Isn't it cool? A photo taken on the last days of October, and everyone is on shorts, short sleeve shirts, beautiful day and so is the trail too!

In Aveiro, Portugal. ❤️ 🇵🇹

Photo by Gonçalo Peres, shared in the Bicycle Touring Group at.Facebook Complete album:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_8vFoZiJdnLRVlPcVl0QmdxTW8

Part of my logic goes to a recent discussion we are having, now moved to QOTO's Discourse Forums site. https://discourse.qoto.org/t/nov-2019-site-issues-discussions-non-english-and-foreign-script-posts/102

QOTO is primarily English language, and posts in foreign languages strain the moderation team, who might not speak them.

I fully understand the Fun of practicing our native languages, or practicing a new one you are just learning, but an instance located in a country where the language is currently spoken will have a lot more content, and friendly users to chat to.

Like it shows, on this snapshot -- a Brazilian user defining Fediverse:

"It's a Twitter without Nazis, and apparently I would have a beer with everyone." 😉 🍻

@ovelha

Found a site that could help people speaking different languages (Portuguese, Spanish, French, etc) locate an instance that has users and posts in their language.

Could be handy!

https://instances.social/list#lang=pt,es&allowed=&prohibited=&users=

There are Brazilian and Portuguese speaking system admins posting helpful tips in portuguese - a nice resource. See #mastodicas

https://qoto.org/web/timelines/tag/mastodicas

@esperera_98

Re: Repeated posts

Am I missing something, because it looks to me like these two are identical. If you decide to edit a new post, removing and editing, then re-tooting it is the proper way to go.

It's confusing when we have duplicated threads, @chikara

repeated posts:

https://qoto.org/web/statuses/103211646331842362

https://qoto.org/web/statuses/103211650909094010

26 min ago... 27 min ago...

Just received this notification, upon logging into our local Forum, the Discourse pages.

😊

https://discourse.qoto.org/t/youre-a-new-user-of-the-month/107

Very happy to be here, lots of fun things and interesting people. Glad I found my way to fediverse and to Qoto.org. Thank you!