Ret

Half-fox, half-wolf, half-engineer. Into electronics, radio & software. (Very) amateur radio operator. Talk to me about TETRA V+D. Talks about NSFW stuff sometimes - please be 18+ 🔞 Runs (NSFW) https://isthisyiff.net

#NoBots

Pronouns: he/him
Blog: https://foxdog.blog
Signal: Ret.10
Discord: @retsplines

Public Key

npub1dactg8lym75h57ztn6mrzxzvw0ehvqex4xhrmg2rex307j467v8sj8kdes

NIP-05 Address

ret_at_furry.engineer@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsx7u95rljdl2t60p9ead33rpx88umkqvn2nt3a59punghlf2a0xrcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds7xnsns

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1dactg8lym75h57ztn6mrzxzvw0ehvqex4xhrmg2rex307j467v8sj8kdes

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Last Notes

2026-06-17 20:37:10 UTC

6 7

2026-06-09 10:31:02 UTC

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so Apple kinda... did this yesterday. At WWDC they showed that you can set an Apple ID to be a Child account, and set devices to use on-device models to detect nudity/gore etc. Detected images are blurred and a warning is displayed. I don't think incidents of this are reported to parents or anywhere else (might be wrong about that). IMO, it's unpleasant but a reasonable compromise (as far as we can see at this point, testing & privacy review needed).
What are the odds that Labour are satisfied with this though? The key issue for me is that it involves parents enabling it, which they won't, because they don't give a shit.
This is a societal problem, it's a result of decades and decades of disenfranchisement, poor education and poor life opportunities. It won't be solved by software features. It won't be solved by the most draconian of privacy-invading, freedom-restricting mechanisms. They won't ever admit that, because that's a hard story to tell to voters and the media.

2026-04-19 10:11:24 UTC

Don’t make em like they used to.
Also look at that wire size and 13A >.<
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/116/430/830/369/148/652/original/f0b3e213615c4e65.jpeg

2026-04-13 17:31:46 UTC

fuckfuckfuck left an alert('woof'); in

2026-04-07 08:52:42 UTC

The three strata of Fedi.
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/116/362/573/152/623/522/original/c8ea1f0ce0e07819.jpeg

2026-03-20 11:47:39 UTC

More systemd shit, sorry... But the more I look at this project the worse it gets.
The reaction to a very balanced, polite, "yeah don't like this PR because [thought-through reasons]" comment?
PEH! Who let the plebs in? Lock the thread quickly before any dissent starts!
Seems like it is infested with cunts, honestly...
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/116/261/331/599/338/687/original/5cf9fc7bedac3c79.png

2026-03-16 22:12:19 UTC

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If you were wondering...
https://maps.app.goo.gl/N2YG99xR9tjcoC85A

2026-03-16 22:08:19 UTC

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"we don't belong here, we were just born here."

2026-03-16 22:07:17 UTC

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMDS3vnnZDA

2026-03-16 22:05:21 UTC

Modest Mouse always makes me feel better, or worse. One or the other. But it never leaves me feeling just the same.

2026-03-07 18:57:02 UTC

STOP! NO!
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/116/189/417/863/883/979/original/22b69e099d5cde30.png

2026-02-27 13:53:25 UTC

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Another example. "AI Mode" replacing "All" in the menu. Like... fucking hell guys it's not SO important that it needs to be FIRST in the menu.
I bet if you randomised the order and did the metrics on that menu, "AI Mode" is the LEAST used. This stuff is being rammed down everybody's throats in the most insidious ways.
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/116/142/921/264/472/711/original/155f8de3a41293f5.png

2026-02-27 13:49:34 UTC

I swear to god companies are doing this shit deliberately.
Wonder how artificially-inflated the "people clicked on the AI tool! AI good!" metric is because of this design decision.
#aislop
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/116/142/905/818/445/393/original/046b09121dcbbc22.mp4

2026-02-22 21:19:50 UTC

plug in the power cord to... transfer some power to my house?
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/116/116/367/567/991/964/original/eac151c03c4f6f8b.png

2026-02-18 18:13:44 UTC

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do you have some more information about the "ban" here? I'd like to write to the ASA to complain about that decision if possible. I can't see a ruling entry for it on the ASA site.

2026-02-15 17:05:44 UTC

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An hour's polishing later, yeah, it does work! Almost spotless and smells like it's just been to the dentist.
It is very reflective now, but I still think on balance that's a better experience than *some* of the screen being reflective and it looking like absolute shit while off.
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/116/075/729/566/587/075/original/9c0f3a8a35e73a0e.jpeg

2026-02-15 17:03:23 UTC

Decided to clean up the old work MacBook Pro (2015) today.
It had suffered from "ScreenGate" (or whatever the fuck it's called on Reddit now) where the anti-reflective coating starts to degrade/wear in the centre of the display, leaving it looking awful. Problem is, it's paradoxically quite hard to remove deliberately.
Now the Internet is full of suggestions of all sorts of things... Isopropyl Alcohol, Acetone, strong detergents... all the way to obscure shit like miscellar water (facial toner stuff).
After trying lots of suggested lab and/or household chemicals, the best one ended up being... Listerine!
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/116/075/724/294/319/169/original/fca6be32950790a8.jpeg

2026-02-13 19:18:40 UTC

Doing an RS order. Anyone want anything?

2026-02-13 18:31:26 UTC

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Yes I am a coward. Hate HV stuff.

2026-02-13 18:30:39 UTC

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Success
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/116/064/743/272/738/314/original/636e53aaee320ab3.jpeg

2026-02-13 18:26:51 UTC

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Discharged (well, nothing happened but it’s been off for months)… can’t get the anode cap off though.

2026-02-13 18:03:58 UTC

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Back when we… y’know… made shit.
Ngl this thing is a bit scary.
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/116/064/637/559/688/944/original/7b9003c09b21c8b9.jpeg
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/116/064/637/892/290/297/original/c51f65ce146802e3.jpeg
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/116/064/638/298/320/045/original/839c03c002e03440.jpeg

2026-02-13 17:59:45 UTC

This is a sensible job to do with beer present isn’t it? Right?
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/116/064/621/822/259/017/original/e544007cfbd3f56d.jpeg

2026-02-04 13:33:26 UTC

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I felt bad mainly because she's probably a victim too in her own way. She might literally not have a choice on what she's doing. She might have been *told* to say £64 because actually she's a victim of modern slavery.

2026-02-04 13:32:01 UTC

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Did I overstep here? I felt bad afterwards for some reason. But I wasn't in the mood to just mess them about or hang up.

2026-02-04 13:31:15 UTC

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I delayed for a few moments then gently asked if she gets paid a lot of money for doing this.
Taken aback, she asked me why I asked that.
I pressed. "How much do you get paid for doing this? Calling people and telling them things that aren't true."
I expected a hang-up but after a moment she very quietly said "£64". Don't know if that's true or not. Whether it's per day or week or per "success"... Or just any random number. I found it interesting that the answer was in GBP.
Anyway I asked if it's worth it. I said "I know things are rough right now and you probably need the money, but is it worth it? Some of the people you're doing this to can't afford the consequences of it."
She went quiet again.
I gently advised her to think about it a bit, and left it at that.

2026-02-04 13:27:38 UTC

Just got one of those cold "we're going to deactivate your SIM card and send you a new one" scam calls. The caller ran through the fast-talk script (mentioning Virgin Media then mentioning O2, neither of which are my network...) and got me to the point of asking for my email address. Standard refund scam stuff where they'd order a new top-spec iPhone with my (non existent) O2 account and then call me back and ask me to mail it "back" to O2.

2026-01-06 10:12:00 UTC

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https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/115/847/607/832/715/371/original/90c35d48ffae1e4b.png

2025-12-16 22:08:38 UTC

the language tech companies use when they're about to kill a product.
"The future of WidgetDesk"
"What's next for FooBar"
"Upgrading from FooBar to ShitWasp"

2025-12-12 22:51:12 UTC

Anyone had any luck bypassing Persona age verification? I'd like to continue lurking Reddit but I refuse to provide anything to these AV companies as a matter of principle.

2025-12-12 12:56:08 UTC

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I think that was the No to Digital ID one. This one was the Repeal the OSA one (550k signatures I think)

2025-11-26 19:35:39 UTC

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Incidentally, in my quest to find an easy way to sniff serial ports on Linux, I did end up using [interceptty](https://github.com/geoffmeyers/interceptty ) which works excellently. Yes, it's the "10 year old repo" answer type, but it did build and run flawlessly.

2025-11-26 19:33:46 UTC

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Awh yis.
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/115/617/668/236/692/754/original/c0f94754fb85c0a3.png

2025-11-26 19:33:07 UTC

Heck yeah! After a ton of debugging I narrowed the problem down to some weird echo behaviour of my RS-485 adapter. Every response appeared to have my request prefixed to the start of it, which was causing the CRC failures I was seeing! A bit of fiddling with settings solved it.
Not massively happy with the cabling finish. Unfortunately I used external UTP cable which is very difficult to cable clip neatly.
Super happy it’s working though. Real-time 10 second resolution data!
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/115/617/666/073/643/804/original/7cba2dec0a87f290.jpeg
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/115/617/666/406/741/815/original/e0dfaa7ed82ab025.jpeg

2025-11-25 21:02:51 UTC

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putting you in the “Answer type A” category :blobfox_w:

2025-11-25 19:57:02 UTC

🔍 “how to sniff serial port linux”
Answer type A “pfff just do socat -l -p -d -o -67 -420 | fucktty -p >> /dev/ttyS0 << /dev/ttyUSB0 > vim”
Answer type B “pfff just use strace and carefully interpret the resulting list of system calls”
Answer type C “just install this package” (doesn’t exist)
Answer type D “just build this 14 year old repo” (configure works, make fails with obscure C++ error)

2025-11-10 09:47:24 UTC

Decided to ditch multigig networking at home. After 3 years, we still only have two computers that can do 2.5GbE. I have never once thought “ah, I wish I could transfer this a bit quicker” over my local network. My ISP still cannot offer a sensible symmetric connection that breaches 1Gbps.
It has not been worth the additional energy use or equipment expense. Selling the USW-Enterprise-24 and swapping for a USW-Standard-48.

2025-10-16 11:44:09 UTC

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Volvo ES90 weighs 2410kg, and it isn't an SUV.

2025-10-16 11:41:46 UTC

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for the subsequent 2000kg limit right? The 2400kg threshold applies to all.

2025-10-16 11:24:07 UTC

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I'd like to see it based on dimensions and not just weight. Electric cars are unfortunately heavy.

2025-10-14 11:17:43 UTC

KEENE: Things look rather bad, sir. What are we going to do?
SIDNEY: "Do" captain!? We're British. We won't do anything.
SHORTHOUSE: Until it's too late.
SIDNEY: Precisely. That's the first sensible thing you've said today.
SHORTHOUSE: Thank you, sir.
SIDNEY: No, gentlemen. As always, we will carry on as if nothing were going to happen.
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/115/372/230/250/857/529/original/6605031378d3ebb0.mp4

2025-10-10 22:36:14 UTC

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never been that convinced of the necessity of that stuff. I read some studies a while back and Legionella from DHW tanks (especially small residential ones) is basically unheard-of. I guess better safe than sorry though.

2025-10-09 14:07:51 UTC

still maintain that saying "idk, I heard that's all going away" to crypto/AI fanatic techbros is the *funniest* thing you can do.

2025-10-03 10:59:28 UTC

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Fuck Kier Starmer

2025-10-03 10:59:04 UTC

“why are we so unpopular?”
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/115/309/880/315/741/337/original/c182de90cd0ea1b2.jpeg

2025-10-02 09:11:19 UTC

[I] (10-01 21:53:44) log: Waiting for GaS lock... Got good GPS fix (1 secotds old).
Love when memory corruption presents as a slow descent into madness before a final complete breakdown.

2025-09-19 22:01:27 UTC

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Or shall I get a spot welder and some known-good Samsung 18650s and re-cell mine?

2025-09-19 22:00:59 UTC

I am once again searching for a good quality T480 battery :blobfoxsad:

2025-09-19 20:22:42 UTC

fedi
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/115/232/824/255/062/661/original/8464877c519f6462.jpeg

2025-09-08 12:47:21 UTC

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how long until our wonderful Labour government makes it illegal to share images of it online? Deemed "Harmful" under the Online "Safety" Act.

2025-09-06 11:13:38 UTC

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Kofi? If you just want to accept tips but I think it’ll do subscriptions too.

2025-09-01 13:07:14 UTC

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I captured this with my Nikon D600 about 10 years ago. The old "continuous shooting mode, hold the shutter button down and hope" approach. I think I filled two SD cards and got ~4 usable images.
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/115/129/189/921/845/438/original/0c742dd848b6c04f.jpg

2025-09-01 13:03:24 UTC

Just ignore the flag people. They will get bored. Dedication and resolve are not in their vocabulary.

2025-08-18 07:40:05 UTC

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“sure everything runs at 1Mbps but at least it works!”

2025-08-18 07:34:51 UTC

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I’m getting a premonition… 🔮 “Labour vows to crack-down on unmonitored ‘self-hosted’ sites” - BBC, June 2027

2025-08-12 22:23:10 UTC

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I think you've pretty much got it yeah :) The "Water Analogy" as it's called only goes so far really.
Amperes, in this situation I'd say is the "flow rate" of the water.
Some people even push this analogy a bit further and suggest that say a water-wheel (that water sets spinning and then has some inertia) could be compared to inductance, or that a stretchy section of pipe could be seen as capacitance too.
Something I found interesting working with our Chinese counterparts in electronics design at work is that they often translate Voltage to "pressure".

2025-08-12 20:44:40 UTC

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looks AI generated itself to me? The long dashes…

2025-08-03 10:39:54 UTC

Absolutely insane that Ofcom is paying influencers to astroturf the #OnlineSafetyAct. I’ll be complaining to their board about this gross misallocation of funds. Ofcom is a regulator, it should not be involved in polishing public perception of the Labour Party’s authoritarian behaviour right now.

2025-08-02 20:20:47 UTC

“Why aren’t the drinks in the fridge cold anymore lately?”
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/961/025/740/029/201/original/e58b79e714889ad7.jpeg

2025-07-30 12:57:56 UTC

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for sure, but like, but the broader problem needs attacking. I shouldn't have to do that to listen to music in a civil society. What next? ID checks for books?

2025-07-30 11:48:47 UTC

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what the? What features are they gating behind this?

2025-07-29 08:40:08 UTC

https://bsky.app/profile/kefyor.bsky.social/post/3ltpec6nvv22s
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/935/625/031/127/028/original/0059caa035f47bf9.webp

2025-07-27 21:56:56 UTC

Kinda wild when you think about how little power -115dBmW actually is.

2025-07-26 20:26:26 UTC

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How many hundreds of thousands of UK citizens are now having all their internet traffic inspected and monetised by Christ-knows who?
We warned government and Ofcom about this and they ignored us.
They need to face the reality of this, and the consequences.
Tell your MP about this today. https://writetothem.com
#OnlineSafetyAct

2025-07-26 20:24:20 UTC

ProtonVPN has overtaken Yoti (an age verification app) on the Apple App Store free apps chart to move into first place.
Apps at ranks 4, 5 and 6 are all VPNs.
4 and 6 are absolutely sketchy no-name VPNs from “Mobile Jump Pte” and “Free VPN LLC.”
This is fine.
#OnlineSafetyAct
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/921/403/247/911/164/original/ed4491154890ace4.jpeg
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/921/403/587/905/029/original/4c36d45cc82dcd13.jpeg

2025-07-20 20:06:51 UTC

https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/887/358/930/524/556/original/2316f813a5eaa5b2.jpg

2025-07-14 09:14:33 UTC

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also some amusing URL enumeration fun to be had with those URLs... The image name doesn't matter, just the ID.

2025-07-06 16:59:26 UTC

So... anybody know much about vinyl cutters? Kinda tempted to get one but I don't want to be in a world of proprietary shit (looking at you Silhouette/Cricut etc). Is it worth buying an ancient (Roland CX/GX series) one on eBay for £50 and a just using USB-Serial and firing HPGL at it? Or are there better options?

2025-06-30 19:21:45 UTC

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I think in many cases you’re right. In this case there’s certainly an element of privilege and class warfare; if not a more sinister drive to cull the smaller, less controllable parts of the Internet in favour of centralised, Americanised megasites.

2025-06-30 18:22:10 UTC

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I think it's a broader problem with our system of government & legislation.
The problem is the one way communication path between people who are knowledgeable about what is sensible/possible (*actual* industry experts, engineers, academics, researchers and Ofcom - I think) and people who do not have a clue and write laws that sound good or put themselves or their relatives in favourable financial positions (MPs, Lords).
There needs to be a path where group A turn around to group B and say "no, that's bonkers, it's not going to work - go back to the drawing board". That path (as far as I know) does not exist, or in this case failed to work properly.

2025-06-30 18:14:09 UTC

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don't worry, there's video evidence of named Ofcom spokespeople hand-waving away my very direct questions around this. I'm sure nothing can go wrong.

2025-06-30 12:44:04 UTC

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I saw they added a "lock spending" option in the app a few months ago. Wonder if that's why...

2025-06-30 12:42:31 UTC

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that's actually nuts... I didn't know that.

2025-06-26 19:13:03 UTC

how it feels to come back to a programming project after a few months
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/751/248/632/489/654/original/2408c6b9720b9107.png

2025-06-26 09:18:00 UTC

Thanks, dogs. Thanks.
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/748/914/130/894/785/original/da6cf1e39ea7afa8.jpeg

2025-06-23 19:46:36 UTC

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is that one of those pre-connected ones that you can’t separate the indoor and outdoor units?

2025-06-21 18:28:52 UTC

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2G is sticking around for most networks in the UK afaik? At least for now.

2025-06-21 18:13:45 UTC

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no 2G fallback? :(

2025-06-20 20:25:17 UTC

Bad: "Maybe later" consent-violating popups.
Worse: no option at all other than the OS close button.
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/717/559/017/675/465/original/8dd71b675e81f57c.png

2025-06-17 21:07:29 UTC

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same for lots of stuff like that. Moneymaking schemes that drive up the cost and slow down the adoption of tech. REFCOM/F-Gas is quite similar.

2025-06-13 10:30:01 UTC

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also "here's a screenshot of the issue" - 📎 pptx or docx file with single image of screenshot in it, randomly placed on the slide/page.

2025-06-13 10:29:04 UTC

boomers, I beg you, please stop having email signatures with 10 images in them.

2025-05-29 11:32:32 UTC

I love embedded development because it really reminds me how fucked vibe coders would be with this stuff...

2025-05-19 16:38:42 UTC

look what they did to monopoly
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/535/477/546/469/918/original/c48c0eb268859323.png

2025-05-11 22:55:45 UTC

my whole evening culminated in drawing a circle, basically
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/491/662/421/340/999/original/413bc89cee5baecc.png

2025-05-10 09:50:52 UTC

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not just bandwidth egress too. You find a lot of services have strange fees for things like this exporting in a downloadable format. See RDS: exporting tables to parquet format is charged at $0.012/GB *processed*. That’s before you’ve downloaded it from S3…

2025-05-05 21:01:59 UTC

Ermmmm... yeah I think something's missing mate...
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/457/231/973/193/722/original/ab19a0158d381f7e.jpg
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/457/232/235/406/541/original/249298a23796e3c1.png

2025-04-07 14:54:49 UTC

*literally any music video on YouTube*
“anyone here in 2025?”

2025-04-03 18:39:42 UTC

Leaving this in the guest bedroom bedside drawers like it’s a Gideons’ Bible.
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/275/488/732/789/863/original/2963f1ab4f3f8b4e.jpeg

2025-03-28 16:52:34 UTC

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I have not tried tinkertube so I couldn’t speak for that ^

2025-03-28 14:25:55 UTC

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every single one of the alternatives I’ve ever looked at have been infested by right-wing/conspiracy nuts or crypto shills for some reason. Odysee certainly is/was.

2025-03-06 20:20:56 UTC

Matrix has kinda fucked me off lately. I want to like it. I want to use it. But it’s just so damn flaky.

2025-03-06 12:02:57 UTC

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though I do wonder why they don't watch the flow-control lines? I am too young to know the details of old serial printers but I'd expect they would have asserted CTS when they are ready for more data? Hm.

2025-03-06 11:58:21 UTC

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heh. yeah I think the baud rate is totally irrelevant here - the slowness is governed almost entirely by the delays between sections of the PCL data being sent. I guess those delays were just decided empirically based on the two supported types of printer (Epson FX-80 and HP LasterJet III).
Indeed, 19200 is the fastest supported rate for the serial port on that test set!

2025-03-06 11:50:46 UTC

Update on last night's experiments though (it wasn't exciting enough to justify a blog post) - extracting screenshots from the test set using the "Print to Serial Port" option is... not feasible.
It takes at least 2 minutes to transfer the 40k of PCL data at the maximum 19200 baud. Mainly because the test set waits ~5 seconds between bursts of data (I guess because normally a printer with a small buffer and slow drain rate would be on the other end!)
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/115/334/667/415/284/original/ba09405eac8cb4c1.png

2025-03-06 11:46:48 UTC

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:blobfoxheart:

2025-03-06 11:44:25 UTC

ok here we go we are LOCKED THE FUCK IN. no more furry trash shorts for me.

2025-02-27 11:21:42 UTC

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Google: "Is your app for adults?"
Me: "No? It's suitable for anybody."
Google: "Oh so it's for kids then? Answer these 25 questions about how you protect kids in your business-focussed app."
Me: "Okay then, yes, it's for adults."
Google: "OH SO IT'S A PORN APP THEN... Answer these 50 questions."
:blobfoxangry:

2025-02-27 11:20:03 UTC

Here we go again...
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/075/577/661/033/506/original/f8a46a37f49dea65.png

2025-02-26 17:31:09 UTC

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a very good point made on Reddit...
Leave the platform where you have the biggest following?
https://furry.engineer/system/media_attachments/files/114/071/372/482/540/035/original/b97cb0b43c8d4712.png