Don Thompson @guardeddon@qoto.org
Long career in telecoms, aerospace & IT. Adept at troubleshooting & problem resolution.
Fascinated by the milieu.
Pic: JFK 22L over the captain's shoulder.
Joined Nov 2022
@metacurity
I enjoyed Prof Hannah Fry’s realisation about the naming of Tesla cars: S 3 X Y. It’s like a bad number/license plate mash-up.
Emon Lusk really is a doof.
Don Thompson
boosted
Just been checking some of my fave webcams in the Alps for the aurora. Some highlights:
Konkordia (Jungfraujoch/Aletsch glacier):
https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/konkordiahuette/2024/05/11/0030
Zugspitze (w/ Höllental):
https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/zugspitze-ost/2024/05/11/0030
Zugspitze summit:
https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/bzb-gipfel/2024/05/11/0030
Nebelhorn:
https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/nebelhorn/2024/05/10/2230
All images by https://www.foto-webcam.eu
@bloor
Obviously an effect of the magnetospheric effects we are experiencing!
/s
@helenczerski
Art + science talents!
Don Thompson
boosted
Very sad to realise this morning that my fish will have to down soon. I made them (all hand-cut and acrylic-painted) in the early part of the first lockdown, and rushed them on to the wall for Sea Shambles - which we did online instead of at the Royal Albert Hall (so weirdly, it still exists):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBQmdbVeoKw
Just when you’ve dozens of images to upload….
From: @ispreview
https://mastodon.social/@ispreview/112421114988221962
Don Thompson
boosted
We've seen an uptake in accounts using the term OSINT, in some cases to boost poor analysis. This can be confusing for those looking for considered and objective research in their feed. So we wrote a guide on the warning signs of bad open source research https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2024/04/25/oshit-seven-deadly-sins-of-bad-open-source-research/?utm_source=mastodon
@tdp_org @http_error_418
Perhaps the Googlerati expect everyone to be using robo-mowers so the task of mowing the lawn isn’t on ‘the list’.
Don Thompson
boosted
I discovered hydrothermal vents, but I’m only known for finding the Titanic
https://buff.ly/3Wysu87
The discovery of these underwater hot springs in 1977 solved the mystery of how life first began on Earth, but it was locating the world’s most famous shipwreck that made me a celebrity
Knew instantly that story was about Dr Robert ‘Bob’ Ballard 👍.
The ocean depths, the abyss, is so alien to us atmosphere dwellers.
Those heading up & out of the atmosphere are doing the easy stuff, ‘we’ conquered that in the ‘60s and ‘70s with occasional bursts of renewed interest.
The abyssal depths are where stuff is really, really hard.
@bobthomson70 @fesshole
It might just be that the OP has one of those square pans, awful!
Don Thompson
boosted
Phew! It’s been quite a few days, Bridgy Fed is up to almost 2500 bridged accounts total. Thanks again for all of your interest! I’ve been in a constant state of whiplash, back and forth between hearing “this is so cool!” and “it’s broken in these 10 different ways.”
I love that you all are enjoying it! And it absolutely is broken in all of those ways, and more. I’m sorry. I’d planned on a bit more time to iron out bugs first, but c’est la vie. Testing in production! 🤷
I’m seeing most of the problems break down into four broad buckets, which I’m tackling in this order:
Bridging stuff from Bluesky to the fediverse is flaky and unreliable. True. This is largely because it’s currently based on polling. I’m in the middle of switching it to the Bluesky firehose; that should hopefully be complete within a day or two.
Bridging stuff from the fediverse to Bluesky sometimes stops working. True. Bridgy Fed isn’t as rigorous about validating Bluesky records as it needs to be, so when we emit an invalid record in one user’s repo, I suspect the Bluesky relay gets stuck and won’t accept any more for that user. Fixing some parts of this may be tricky, but it’s still very fixable.
Lots of things don’t translate right, or at all. True. This is annoying, but seems lower priority than the unreliability buckets, and most of these bugs are straightforward to fix, so I’m focusing on reliability first.
Scaling is inefficient and expensive. True. OK, I’m the only one seeing this, but it’s still true. 😎 Fortunately I’m not too worried, since I’m confident I’ll be able to optimize it. Make it work, then make it right, then make it fast (and cheap), in that order.
I’ll continue to post updates here now and then. You can also follow the now label on Bridgy Fed’s GitHub issues to see what I’m focusing on at any given moment. Thanks again for all of the interest, and for your patience. It’ll get better, one step at a time.
Don Thompson
boosted
Not asking for rec's right now, but man... there are like 13 different decent open source SDR GUIs/web UIs out there. Only used Gqrx and CubicSDR but will probably be testing a bunch soon.
My Dad uses SDR# I think, I have a list now to try :P
Don Thompson
boosted
No one's going to respond more effectively than @Mer__edith, so if you want to learn more, just read Meredith's post: https://twitter.com/mer__edith/status/1787958712595784166
@neil @NatalyaD
Indeed, but having used two separate PO counters, a charge was levied using one but not the other.
One aspect of the service about which I am disappointed is an inability to request delivery directly to a collection point. It seems RM must attempt two deliveries before offering the recipient a collection.
@NatalyaD @neil
I agree the process of buying postage at the RM website should be much better. Improved clarity for drop-off vs collection is necessary. I’ve arranged collection, PO counter drop-off, & once, a collection but then dropped off. Curiously, a small additional charge was applied to a PO counter drop. Also, when the parcel booked for collection was dropped-off & accepted at the PO counter the RM collection wasn’t automatically cancelled.
Don Thompson
boosted
@NPR
And ‘Yosser Hughes’ in Boys from the Blackstuff.
Long career in telecoms, aerospace & IT. Adept at troubleshooting & problem resolution.
Fascinated by the milieu.
Pic: JFK 22L over the captain's shoulder.
Joined Nov 2022
