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

#xp #moa Slowly app for iOS, Android and Web is a tool for Writers and finding #penpals #letters #friendship
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RT @EvelynYap
Oh my goodness. Nobody knows how to write #letters anymore. Do they even understand what the #Slowly app is? It's not a #chat app. :-/

#messaging #technology #social #penfriends
https://twitter.com/EvelynYap/status/1200733867293859842

From the neat article about how Mastodon reacted and copped with the appropriation of it's software by a know extremist site (https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/12/20691957/mastodon-decentralized-social-network-gab-migration-fediverse-app-blocking) which I posted about here last night, I discovered another nice one.

A gem indeed. Well written, thought out, focused, humble on its opinions.

I liked the whole article, and can relate it to my own past experiences in different places (BBSes, forums, DC++ hubs, etc) over the years.

Take a bit of time, turn off the distractions (silence notifications!) -- and delve into it.

"Run Your Own Social" is not only a case for starting and keeping a multitude of smaller servers/instances, but also it explains really well why Small is Beautiful and the way to go for best results in a social network, community building sense.

The author is the administrator of a small mastodon instance, and has been a Fellow on the Mozilla Foundation programme for the past year.

Hope you like, it. @salad_bar_breath , this is the one I mentioned a fw minutes ago.

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 #Brexit #Britain
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RT @design_RG@twitter.activitypub.actor
🙂👍😀😝 https://twitter.com/xaxat/status/1193906214284996609
https://twitter.com/design_RG/status/1193907773299249153

#xp #moa #CatsOfTwitter #mastocats #catsofinstagram #fediverseama #slowly
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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.