we're always finding lovely little textual gifts in the typewriters, but this one from @mdwyer was especially sweet

I'm finally catching up on Ask Hank Anything, and this question comes up:
"What is a floppy disk?"

I'm thinking fondly of my friends at the Media Archaeology Lab @mediaarchaeologylab , the SDF's Interim Computer Museum @icm , and the Connections Museum @connections

I'm surprised at how quickly knowledge can pass away and I'm valuing what these organizations are doing for us today.

https://youtu.be/39KyWSyGfjY?t=2804

But also, gawd, I feel old.

WFT is the point of a customer feedback form, If all of the questions are about how well the call was handled by "name" and not why you contacted them in the first place.

She was brilliant, but you don't let her deal with any of my complaints, or take them on board.

This stance characterised by the "We are unable to respond directly back to you or your comment" in your feedback form.

This really sends out mixed messages.

Normally, I'm very positive on devices that let us see the invisible. I think everyone should have access to an IR imager. If nothing else, people can see where their energy is leaking in their homes.

But I'm less certain anyone needs to see UV.
If you aren't a clean-freak before you've swung around a UV source, you might be after. Nobody needs to pile that anxiety on themselves.

By the way, if you think I'm overreacting then you might not have used a very capable UV flashlight. If it had a clear lens, it probably output far too much visible light, which swamps the fluorescence. A GOOD LED UV light has a purpleish-black passband filter that only passes light near 365nm.

My friend gifted me a very capable UV flashlight.

We were talking about fixing up my old Dreamcast, and I mentioned that I didn't have "Soup Calibur".

Mmmm... now I want Pho.

I was explaining to my friend that I wasn't letting myself do something fun.

"Do you hate hapiness?"

"I was raised Catholic, so ... yeah."

Just like in my car, give me tactile buttons, not pointless touchscreens!

GIVE ME A BUTTON DAMNIT!!

I've been a critic of the CocaCola Freestyle machines. They're incredible pieces of tech, but their slow 2009 UI was only slightly improved in 2019.

Their new "equinox" machines are so much better! A bright, responsive screen and a zippy well-designed UI.

But they're a god damned mess. The original push button that could be activated with a knuckle or the back of a hand has been replaced with this big bright pointless touchscreen that is constantly smudged with God knows what. Gross!!

My seat inside the restaurant is right in the eyeline of people ordering from the drive-thru speaker. I keep looking up to find people seemingly looking at me and talking to me.

I feel so seen. 😛

Here’s an easter egg in the new Lego Batman that I think all of yourwill REALLY appreciate.

It’s so good, I had to make a video.

I only noticed the typo on the sign a day later...

I wonder if Mastodon lets me edit the alt text on an image?

"How do you unlock your phone?"

"Oh, I just take my hand off."

Sort of a disturbing exchange until you realize I was talking to someone in a fursuit.

#fanexpodenver #furry

I'm trying out mass transit in my Midwest city. The music from the crickets in the field across from the platform is so noisy that the electric train can practically sneak up to the platform.

Inside the train is another thing entirely. It's loaded full of families going to the local comic con.

I'm saying it's nice. But ask me again when I'm closer to my destination.

At the start of the information age people sat around and babysat huge systems because, while the results were sound, the hardware was unreliable.

At the end of the information age [you are here] people sit around babysitting large systems because, while the hardware is reliable, the results are not always sound.

A hundred watts is a guy and every time I make a cup of tea that's like having eighteen guys in my kitchen pedalling on static bikes hooked up to dynamos sweating while I moan "This kettle takes ages, I miss English kettles that run on thirty guys"

I'm pondering the phrase "draggin' ass" today... A number of decades ago, I got written up in the hometown newspaper for my small part in getting emergency medical help to a man who had been dragged by a donkey.

This is your reminder that that ass is bigger than you and it is not the one that is gonna get dragged.

I like Sierpinksi Triangles so I made this - because tortilla chips are trianglar too, do you see?

TBH I think it worked better in my head...

Your spam filters are probably clogged with notifications from PayPay and Docusign and a million other places telling you that you just bought GeekSquad or an iPad or McAfee.

I suddenly realized why they struck me so obviously as being spam despite coming from legit companies:

They list a phone number to call.

Shit, man, ain't no company today answering the phone!! Only scammers answer the phone! Real companies hide that shit like it's the cost center it is.