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

@nyetoots Hello Friend, and welcome to Qoto.

Enjoy the network and all it has to offer. If you are new to using Mastodon, there's a good guide here: https://lifehacker.com/a-beginner-s-guide-to-mastodon-1828503235

We also have another new users guide, posted here : https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/suggestions-and-guidelines-for-new-users-written-by-mastodon-art-administrator

You are right in that this mastodon interface is very unlike FB; it resembles Twitter more. But it is also different from that.

After having a Twitter account for many years and NOT using it much at all, I joined here, first time in, just like you.

6 months and 5,500 Toots later, I am happy and a member of this instances Staff, a moderator and above all a community supporter and Builder. You will see a lot of my posts, hope you like Cats, which are one of my big interests; there are a lot of cat photos I bring in; and I daily see many people who Boost and Favourite those.

Also, many new people who discover and Follow my humble account here.

The Fediverse is a lot more than what you see here, there are many wonders to be found; some ugly corners, which we best steer clear from. Ask for any help if you need, we are all in this together.

Have a great Sunday, take the time to read the first guide at least - I think it was the one I first found in a Bing search and used to orient myself here.

There's no GPS, you are in control, and set your course as you see fit. The Guides are our road maps.

Many bright, sensitive and decent people here; many who made this jump years ago. Give it time.

Happy you ventured out of the corporate networks.

#Qoto #QotoJournal #KoyuJournal #NewUsers #Fediverse #Friendship #Culture #International #WeAreOne

@k11m1 Yeah, it was something that was needed when computing power was a precious resource, much less common, and we needed to conserve it.

Good things resulted from that - people created solutions to enable remote access, shared systems, one large machine that processed tasks from many people or departments; scheduling, so you could slot a job for some late hour when there were less people around.

Following the logic is a good thing, as you write line by line, it should make sense, and flow -- or else, why did you use that line, and the next?

There are pesky typos that break things, but other than those small input errors, the code should be understandable and make sense.

Someone else might have to work on it someday, and that will make their job easier and faster too.

Back in time programming languages were developed to cater to some specific need or group of users; making it easier to create the projects they needed.

We used Fortran, which is Formula Translation; it was created for Science and Engineering students and professionals.

I had a room mate who was in the Math department, we were both 1st year students, had the same Profs (from Math department), and the same assignments.

But his class used another language, called Algol - which was a better fit for Math people's needs.

We enjoyed comparing the finished results of our assignments; quite simply, we looked at the thickness of each other's stack of cards. Sometimes, Algol would win (win being a smaller deck, less processing time), other times Fortran got it. 😄

It was my first time ever seeing and working with a computer -- a mammoth Burroughs 5500 mainframe, and I loved every aspect of it.

Over time, I observed that I could tell right away when something was broken in a new project.

* When I had my source code written up, the next step was to hand it in, for a pool of secretaries who would prepare our cards, overnight. Or find a spare IBM punch machine somewhere (my preferred, faster route).

* Got the cards? Processing time! Go to the computing center, and get in line with other students with their own decks; we lined up outside, in front of a room that contained a card reader (input) and a large printer (output). This was a smaller room, wired to the computer next door which was all air conditioned to around 18 degrees C year around.

* The card reader had two doors, it's own Input and Output of student processing; in via one, hand in the deck, watch it be read, get a printout, out via the other door.

* As the deck was handed in and loaded into the card reader, we stood watching, hoping for a good run. Any result would produce a paper printout, those continuous paper forms. Many times, it was a report of an error at some point.

* processing took some seconds; and I noticed that sucess or failure was indicated by the card reader behaviour; a perfect program would pass thru the reader in linear fashio, smooth flow. I got excited, maybe this time it's all Good!!

* I also noticed that hesitations in the stack flow indicated errors; it would stop at some card, pause or a few seconds, Bad sign! 😔 Soon it would resume, a short report printed, and a more or less dejected student headed out door #2.

...to go back to his desk, his notes and code write up. Read the report (quite cryptic usually), and trace thru the programme to find what was wrong.

Getting a smooth card reader flow was an instant sign I might have made it - and at best happened at the 3rd try or so (worse sometimes, in harder jobs or if you weren't focused enough).

Some great work was done in developing whole languages to be used for teaching Programming, like Pascal -- good habits would carry on into a professional's work life, and be appreciated by anyone working with this person, or later maintaining their legacy code.

#QotoJournal #History #Technology #Programming #Retro #IT

Z(1) = Y + W(1)

#Fortran Statement in this #Vintage #computing input device.

The famous "punched cards", which each cold hold 80 characters or one line of programming instructions or data for processing.

I learned this language, and created my assignments in decks of those cards.

Back in November, when I was starting here, we had a delightful thread about it, which included this image.

@k11m1 -- see it here : https://qoto.org/@design_RG/103154401406648568

#QotoJournal #History #Technology #Programming

#QOTO #QotoJournal

And I just prepared this post, to show people who might be interested in joining our community.

Qoto.org moderation team has decided to implement a new policy, to restrict new user applications - the door was NOT locked, but we are requesting people wanting to Join Qoto to provide a little info about themselves.

How do their interests relate to our Science, Tech, Engineering and Math focus, so that we could have a less General type of instance; there are MANY of those, open to signups.

I noticed in a @users post this morning that we have added *5 new users* only, over the last 24 hours. This is down from a recent peak of over 90 in the same 24 h period.

...and you know, there IS a reason.

We ask new users some questions, and they can fill in their response, which gets sent in to us, mods.

I looked at my email just now. I had 20 New User Application messages.

And I took a couple of snapshots - to share here. One of these has a ONE WORD response (not enough, you think?)

Most of them, had NO response at all. Honest, should we let such a low effort response in?

From the 20 in my email, I think I remember about *3 or so* that got approved.

Making this public, as I think it's for the BEST.

Thanks to @freemo and @arteteco - we are on the right track, friends. Steady as she goes. Carry on. 😛

Make Qoto Great Again!

A new campaign, let's bring a lively Local Feed and social interaction to the instance...

it depends on me, it depends on You, and us all can make it happen. 😺

#QotoJournal #MQGA

The Most Aerodynamic VW vehicle EVER.

A prototype, which manage to get a cx of 0.15 -- that is incredible.

"The most aerodynamic car ever to wear a Volkswagen emblem on its nose isn't the newest Golf GTI or an ID-badged electric model. It's a forward-thinking prototype named Aerodynamic Research Volkswagen (ARVW) developed and built in 1980 in response to the oil shortages that rocked the global economy in the 1970s.

Volkswagen initiated the project because it wanted to learn more about aerodynamics and fuel efficiency. Starting with a blank slate, its engineers designed an aluminum frame and topped it with a body made from fiberglass and carbon in order to keep weight in check. The single-seater stretched 196 inches long, 43.3 inches wide, and 33 inches tall, dimensions that created a silhouette much closer to a race car's than to a Passat's.

Making the ARVW as sleek as possible required mounting the headlights behind Plexiglas covers. There were no mirrors — they would have created drag — but a pair of winglets sticking out from the front end and two big fins out back were added to keep the prototype steady and on four wheels at triple-digit speeds. Its low, elongated body boasted a drag coefficient of 0.15. To add context, the Porsche Taycan Turbo's drag coefficient checks in at 0.22."

Source : https://finance.yahoo.com/news/volkswagens-most-aerodynamic-car-record-150000781.html

Full Image Gallery : https://www.autoblog.com/photos/1980-volkswagen-arvw-prototype-museum-images/#slide-2231094

#auto #VW #Engineering #QotoJournal #Tech #Design

...But, what's this #QotoJournal hashtag anyways?

We had a discussion and development topic, for this, an idea that came from a local user suggestion, and is now part of our features here.

See Discourse Forum -- https://discourse.qoto.org/t/special-hashtag-to-highlight-serious-posting-at-qoto-org-qotojournal-is-active-now/180

...or ask questions here if needed...

…and a reminder that the #QotoJournal hashtag is alive and running at Qoto’s Mastodon instance, and now even has a special place in the screen menus.

image
See the Hashtag as a Timeline here : https://qoto.org/web/timelines/tag/QOTOJournal

#QotoJournal addition? #Science reference. #xp
---
RT @EricTopol@twitter.activitypub.actor
They had me at "Prolonged or intermittent social distancing may be necessary into 2022." An important new @Sciencemagazine paper on what to expect in the #COVID19 "post pandemic" period
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/early/2020/04/14/science.abb5793.full.pdf @mlipsitch @yhgrad @StephenKissler and colleagues @HarvardChanSPH
https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1250154039683067904

I have been following and receiving John Maudlin's FREE newsletter for years. He had been forecasting a recession for 2020 even way before the virus showed up.

This morning's newsletter is deep in analysis and insight - and I would recommend it to anyone interested in better understanding the economic moment and what could lay ahead.

These are uncommon times. Read, think, try to plan ahead? If you like it, sign up for the free weekly newsletter.

Stay safe and Happy Easter.

https://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/bending-the-inflation-curve

#economics #inflation #economy #QotoJournal worthy...

"Hydroxychloroquine: how an unproven drug became Trump’s coronavirus 'miracle cure' "

An excellent and detailed article on The Guardian, explaining about the initial French small scale study of the application of Hydroxychloroquinone, an anti malarial drug, for Covid-19 patients.

And the right wing wholesale adoption of it as a wonder drug. #QotoJournal worthy, imo. #Science #covid

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/06/hydroxychloroquine-trump-coronavirus-drug

* Vintage Bicycles - Restoration or Preservation *

I posted an article here yesterday about a Humber 1925 British bicycle which was quite lovingly maintained. The blog post was quite neat, great photos, a well cared for bicycle.

And I spent sometime reading other posts in the same site; he has many, many nice pages with some incredibly nice bicycles, including René Herse models from the 1930's to the 1980's.

I enjoyed the articles, he frequently mentions his views on how we should handle those, which are really precious cultural artifacts (his Herse bikes are Constructeur, hand built frames and bicycles, pinacle of the art).

There's one post in particular that explains his approach to this -- Preservation is the way to go, and I liked it a lot.

I hate the Trailler Queen type of thing we see sometiems in car or bicycle Vintage shows, where something is polished to hell and painted with modern finishes that have much higher gloss than the originals. Turning into something that in fact, never existed. Demented, imo.

Recommended reading for anyone interested in #cycling, #vintage, #Randonneur bikes and cultural preservation policies.

Deserving of #QotoJournal mention as well.

https://vintagebicycle.wordpress.com/2012/02/29/vintage-bicycle-restoration-1-restoration-or-preservation/

"COVID-19: the biology of an effective therapy
We already know lots about coronavirus biology."

An extensive article at Ars Technica that in my opinion deserves mention and inclusion as a reference in our own #QotoJournal -- so people can find and read it if interested.

Long Read, lots of Biology details. But a good reference, imo.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/03/covid-19-the-biology-of-an-effective-therapy/

I was just talking to a friend this morning and mentioning the beauty of the technology of the fancy internal gearing hubs for bicycles.

Simpler ones with 3 gears have been around for more than 100 years (the Sturmey Archer. a British brand, has been around that long), and more recent and higher tech models from Rohloff like the one in the photo are wonderful pieces of Engineering.

They are high quality, pricey but a peace of mind confort for a Touring cyclist -- as they are strong, functional and require much less care and maintenance than regular derailleurs during long trips.

Throw in some sandy roads, mud, and they shine even more - as they are all sealed and much less damage by the grit and mud.

Wikipedia has a good page for Rohloff : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohloff_Speedhub

And Sheldon Brown as usual has a pristine page for the more mechanically inclined : https://sheldonbrown.com/internal-gears.html

User impressions about Rohloff hib bicycles: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/rohloff-impressions.html

#Touring #bicycle #cycling #QotoJournal

A liv epidemic model at the New York Times = you can see numerical estimated results of changing various parameters on the current pandemic situation. #QOTOJournal

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/25/opinion/coronavirus-trump-reopen-america.html

This is probably the BEST written and explained article about real world WiFi usage, how it works, frequencies, attenuation by obstacles, etc I have ever seen.

#QOTOJournal

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/02/the-ars-technica-semi-scientific-guide-to-wi-fi-access-point-placement/

* Memories, a visit to the Archeology Museum *

It started this morning, the thread. And over short posts, someone told a story. Of a Greek man, who lived in antiquity, by the Mediterranean side; in a city whose name is still preserved, and today is written "Marseille".

This series of posts was interesting, liked it and went to the top to find the rest.

Enjoying his post, I remembered similar thoughts, of History, and how things worked, how small bits and pieces came to me as I visited an exposition, at the Archeological Museum, in Lisbon.

Now the story is on my blog: https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/memories-a-visit-to-the-archeology-museum

You can also see a mirrored copy at our Discouse Forum at Qoto.org : https://discourse.qoto.org/t/memories-a-visit-to-the-archeology-museum-blog-mirror-here/169

** Author notes:

This is one of my favourite posts in my blog, I really enjoyed writing it, first as a series of Toots, then as a fleshed out and enriched Blog post.

I am grateful to @kashi for the original suggestion and inspiration of our new Qoto Journal hashtag.

#QOTOJournal #History #Technology #Geography

#QotoJournal is being launched.

We had a suggestion made and considered, and a discussion thread posted at our Discourse Forums - see : https://discourse.qoto.org/t/special-hashtag-to-highlight-serious-posting-at-qoto-org/180

The idea is to have a default hash tag that can identify more serious posting, articles, blog pages, etc being produced by members of our instance.

The discussion has been opened for two weeks, and I feel it's time to launch - so here it goes, we are adopting this as our tag.

* For the tag, the text case doesn't matter -- QOTOJournal, or QotoJournal will give the same results.

Will prepare a separate post later with suggestions and guidelines for posting content, to create a bit of a Style we can identify at a glance.

Thank you to my friend who sent this idea, and to all who supported it, participating in previous discussions here in the Local feed or at the forum post.

My thoughts on the matter were disclosed also on my blog at : https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/special-hashtag-to-highlight-serious-posting

** This post was edited via "Delete/ReDraft" to incorporate a suggestion of using QotoJournal -- without underscore, as it seems a good idea.