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

@QuentinMann We had a conversation and talked about the BBS days, some of us started on computers and networks then.

Take a look, starting from this post.

https://qoto.org/@design_RG/103119649798111687

Down below, there is a mention and link to a great documentary about the BBS era - and a live link to a copy on YT.
"I found a copy of BBS The Documentary on Youtube. DVDs are no longer available, for now.

https://youtu.be/nO5vjmDFZaI "

@freemo
It's beyond my paygrade, but if you are interested in writing it, it's nice to put ideas into form and document them. 🆗

Kudos!

@alex_

@QuentinMann Reading about those is fun. Captain Crunch became famous.

I remember reading some great stories. Thumbs up!! 👍

@maison_faim Tab open, and I will check it out. Thank you for mentioning it!

@arteteco @freemo @realcaseyrollins @mngrif @Surasanji @evaristus

We even have a Mastodon Category now, special place for all discussions regarding Qoto's mastodon instance.

Direct Link: https://discourse.qoto.org/c/QOTO/masto

Open to reading by anyone. Replying or posting a new topic, you can register there as a user (I would suggest with the same name as in Mastodon) here :

https://discourse.qoto.org/login

@maison_faim Thank you, I will open a tab and hopefully get to it soon! 😉 🍷

@maison_faim Nice post.

The Universe is vast and complex. Humankind tries to understand it, one way to grasp easier is to catalog and group things, facts, theories and proven knowledge in categories. Families. Genres.

Some simplification is needed, to allow somewhat disparate elements to fit together and the system to work.

@freemo
Thank you for the tag, the notification brought me back.

I am glad Evaristus posted the original message yesterday -- specially since it allowed a discussion and clarifications that involved users not only from Qoto, but from other instances as well.

I posted information that I discovered myself, and I think allows any user to control their exposure to unwanted instances and content.

I plan to create more permanent Forum posts in our Discourse forum -- there it can have a permanente URL, I can use enhanced text formatting like Bold, italics, and refer to it when needed.

Information posted simply in the mastodon feeds will quickly disappear, otherwise.

I am VERY grateful for our instance here having Full Text Search, which I use frequently to dig up my own posts to refer to new users.

Regarding the editorial choice of blocking content from porn or other instances :

I think the Laissez Faire (let it be in free translation) attitude is a good one. Followed by action and re-evaluation in case of any problems or complaints.

It's like a large news agent in the Federated feed. I do object to some I see flying by, or even what is shown right at the front door on some Pleroma instances.

But I have the choice to stay away from these, and reduce Clutter, porn, even possible hate speech by blocking whole instances that I, as a user, decide are not at all productive for me.

I see this as a combination of light moderation and helping the users learn about the content control power they do have; and are free to use at their discretion.

Sorry for the long post, friends.

@evaristus @realcaseyrollins @arteteco @mngrif @Surasanji

LIGHTHOUSE WITH ROTATING LIGHTS

In the 1870s, the Japanese government built lighthouses with rotating lights. Some of these Meiji era lighthouses are still in use today.

Eight lighthouses were first brought into service in the 1870s with the same mechanical light rotating system. This apparatus was designed and manufactured in Scotland; and then the equipment was shipped to Japan. The Japanese government hired Richard Henry Brunton to oversee this technology transfer process.-- see Richard Brunton (1991). "Building Japan: 1868-1876," pp. 24-25. https://books.google.com/books?id=q6GOdFknNDYC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

The heavy glass lens mechanism is only part of the optical instrument assembly in Japanese lighthouses built using European designs.

The heart of the lighthouse is the light rotation apparatus which moves the lens. In the earliest Western-style lighthouses, the bulk of the lens and rotation gear is supported in a mercury bath. Mercury was used because of its low rotation friction. -- see Japan Coast Guard, Maritime Safety Department, "Past and Present of the Aids to Navigation of Japan," p. 6 (PDF p. 7 of 12) https://www.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/e/image/41_the%20aids%20to%20navigation%20of%20japan.pdf

In the mechanical drawing below, the mercury bath is shown below in blue.

The Kashinozaki Lighthouse in Wakayama Prefecture is one of the eight sites where the "modern" mercury bath pedestal support mechanism was installed by Brunton. -- see Wikipedia "Kashinozaki Lighthouse" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashinozaki_Lighthouse; and see Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME), "Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 83." https://www.jsme.or.jp/kikaiisan/heritage_083_en.html

QUESTION: The fact that the Japanese lighthouse apparatus was modeled on equipment used in Scotland begs a few questions -- for example, where were similar mercury bath pedestal support mechanisms in use in Scotland in the 1870s? Are there sites where this 19th century technology is still in use in the United Kingdom?

QOTO = Question Others to Teach Ourselves?

** Editor note: ** I am just testing out @chikara's post with a suggestion of a possible new layout. His OP is here: https://qoto.org/@chikara/103273481915673401

I think that having a Content Warning to wrap the text will give it better exposure - if a catchy CW Description text is used, maybe people will click and expose it. The images selected for a post are ALSO important in attracting readership.

We are basically on the business of Publishing here, and fending for attention from users who have a never ending scroll on their Feeds.

Hope you consider this and don't mind it, Chikara. Also, this suggestion is a method I use and would recommend to Anyone wanting feedback, readers and interaction.

** Thank you for your detailed posts! @design_RG...

@maison_faim There's some people trafficking in filth and deeply disturbing ideas, yes.

A user here posted a single hash tag, #Classic and I couldn't believe what it contained.

We had a discussion about how to block ANY complete instances if we want.

ALL users have the power to block a full instance, or many, on their personal accounts.

See the conversation and how to do it here : https://qoto.org/@evaristus/103268158308223219

@freemo Salmiak, savign a search for the rest of us.

"Salty liquorice, also known as salmiak or salmiakki (in Finland), is a variety of liquorice flavoured with ammonium chloride, common in the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, and northern Germany. Ammonium chloride gives salty liquorice an astringent, salty taste (hence the name), which has been described as "tongue-numbing" and "almost-stinging"."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salty_liquorice

File along with Marmite, Excentricities, Acquired Tastes. 😜

@quad Impressive numbers, the wireless link in the first post - mobile or home wifi?

Also impressive your desk picture, 4 monitors? Wow.

@SecondJon Wow, impressive. Well done.

had to translate 'Merican to SI, almost 22 Km is a lot. 😜