Jo-ho-ho
LightNews LightNews
banner
jobrodie.bsky.social
Jo-ho-ho
@jobrodie.bsky.social
1.8K followers 2.2K following 1.7K posts
London, scicomm, pylons, aircraft, techy stuff (digital enthusiast), blogging, sound, bunting, QMUL, trees, big ships, science talks, film music, the designs of Iznik pottery and William De Morgan. Recently re-watched #Seinfeld :-)
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
jobrodie.bsky.social
Jo-ho-ho @jobrodie.bsky.social · Nov 11
"Monday's child is fairly tough
Tuesday's child is tender enough
Wednesday's child is good to fry
Thursday's child is best in pie.
Friday's child makes good meat roll
Saturday's child is casserole
But the child that is born on the
Sabbath day, is delicious when eaten in any way."
The front cover illustration of Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf by Catherine Storr from 1973. A young girl stands on a wooden chair in a kitchen with a black and white chequered floor pattern, she holds the lid up from a blue pan from which emanates a delicious smell. A wolf stands paws clasped in front of him, eyes closed, enjoying the smell.
jobrodie.bsky.social
It's tinsel on the @cs4fn.bsky.social Christmas Computing Advent Calendar's door today so the accompanying post is about broadband speeds (cables!) & a little bit about bunting (did you know Gov UK's website puts tinsel on its Bank Holidays page on Christmas Day?). Plus a puzzle cs4fn.blog/advent/
Possibly the worst attempt I have ever made at drawing a piece of tinsel but it's still fairly obvious what it is. This one has two baubles hanging from it, in red and green.
December 14, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Reposted by Jo-ho-ho
anonopin.bsky.social
We read books backwards.
Hear me out.
We start at the front, then go towards the back. Literally back-wards.
December 13, 2025 at 3:55 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
A woolly bobble hat for today's @cs4fn.bsky.social Christmas Computing Advent calendar to warm your head. You might want to keep your computer cool though, here's how. Also, find out how to sort your bobble hats with the bubble sort cs4fn.blog/advent/
Another 12 days of quality puns like this :-)
CS4FN Christmas Computing Advent Calendar
Every day in December a new ‘door’ will open and a new blog post about computing that is currently hidden behind it will become unlocked. We originally ran our advent calendar in 2021 a…
cs4fn.blog
December 13, 2025 at 12:47 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
How likely is it that I could have seen a weather balloon (they're about 20-40ft diam so tiny, but can be reflective). Whatever this was it looked shiny & metallic before cloud covered it. Hard to see shape of aircraft at 35k feet and they're also shiny & metallic (and bigger) so... not sure.
Roughtly in the centre of this image is a small pale disc that, when there was a break in the cloud, was a glinting metallic-lookig thing. It didn't seem to be moving fast so I thought it might be a weather balloon or satellite.
December 12, 2025 at 3:24 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
Haha :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDxr...
Booba's New Shoes - The Translation
YouTube video by Chris Cohen
www.youtube.com
December 12, 2025 at 2:06 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
Today's @cs4fn.bsky.social Christmas Computing advent calendar picture is of a Christmas stocking, which will take you to a post all about storage and stories about computer memory and memristors. Also how you can use computational thinking to win at 20 Questions cs4fn.blog/2023/12/12/c...
CS4FN Advent 2023 – Day 12: Computer Memory – Molecules and Memristors
Computer memory molecular style, memristors, maths puzzle answer and a “20 questions” activity Remember remember the 24th of December – as that’s the day to hang out your Ch…
cs4fn.blog
December 12, 2025 at 1:21 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
This is some next-level tootling!
cc @davidarnold.bsky.social
joshsternberg.com Josh Sternberg @joshsternberg.com · 2d
Today in “Dudes Rock”:

A dude playing Dire Straits’s “Sultans of Swing” guitar solo on…a recorder.
December 12, 2025 at 1:17 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
IFTTT (IF This, Then That) launched bidirectional* Bluesky integration yesterday, so things like RSS-to-Bluesky should now be easier to automate (I've not tested it yet)
ifttt.com/bluesky

*Bluesky feed ⟹ somewhere else
Somewhere else (e.g. RSS) ⟹ Bluesky
Automate your Bluesky integrations: Instantly cross-post content and automate your decentralized social media presence by connecting Bluesky to your essential apps and tools. Bluesky is a new social network built on the decentralized AT Protocol, designed to give users more control over their data and content feeds. Connect Bluesky to IFTTT to auto-publish photos from Instagram, cross-post to and from X (Twitter) or Threads, or save important skeets to a spreadsheet for tracking. Streamline your multi-platform strategy with AT Protocol automation and ensure your content reaches every audience.
December 12, 2025 at 9:44 AM
jobrodie.bsky.social
@easternblot.bsky.social Hmm just spotted that it's definitely set to GMT so not sure why it didn't autostart. Or maybe they never autostart and I'd always have to press the button.

Anyway, was fun (but a bit quiet!).
The set up for a scheduled Reddit AMA shows that the time zone is already set for UK GMT.
December 11, 2025 at 4:18 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
Starts in 15 mins: Two questions there for me to answer so far so I will draft something in Word ready to ping into action at 3pm :)
jobrodie.bsky.social Jo-ho-ho @jobrodie.bsky.social · 3d
This afternoon at 3pm I'm doing this - come along and ask questions or help me answer others' questions. Please and thank you :)

AMA - working in Science Communication #scicomm
www.reddit.com/r/UKJobs/com...

(if no Reddit a/c use docs.google.com/document/d/1... to ask Qns)
From the UKJobs community on Reddit: AMA - working in Science Communication ('scicomm')
Explore this post and more from the UKJobs community
www.reddit.com
December 11, 2025 at 2:44 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
This afternoon at 3pm I'm doing this - come along and ask questions or help me answer others' questions. Please and thank you :)

AMA - working in Science Communication #scicomm
www.reddit.com/r/UKJobs/com...

(if no Reddit a/c use docs.google.com/document/d/1... to ask Qns)
From the UKJobs community on Reddit: AMA - working in Science Communication ('scicomm')
Explore this post and more from the UKJobs community
www.reddit.com
December 11, 2025 at 1:54 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
"The proof of the pudding is in the eating" so today's @cs4fn.bsky.social Christmas Computing Advent Calendar post, suggested by the Christmas pudding on the window, is about mathematical proofs and using images* to support that, plus a maths-themed puzzle cs4fn.blog/advent/

*not the pudding tho!
A cartoon Christmas pudding with icing and a sprig of holly to decorate.
December 11, 2025 at 12:59 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
Me when Deliveroo reports that one of my items has sold out (but it wasn't that essential).

Sign on wall: Vitadale Health Farm
Caption: "Thank God it's the lemons"
Thelwell.
A snowed-in rural scene with a group of people running into the thickly snow covered garden from a large building (the Vitadale Health Farm') to greet a departing helicopter which has just dropped a parachuted package. The caption says "Thank God! It's the lemons."
December 10, 2025 at 10:07 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
Trump's hoping to give his border goons some busywork to keep more visitors out (currently in consultation). If it gets approved how quickly will it be reversed once the new US president is installed, when Trump's term ends? I'd like to visit, but *not yet*.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Tourists to US would have to reveal five years of social media activity under new Trump plan
Proposed plan would apply to tourists of all countries, including those not required to get a visa to visit the US
www.theguardian.com
December 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
If buying stock photos check if a CC0 or other Creative Commons-licenced version is available first jodiepedia.wordpress.com/2025/12/10/i...

Compare and contrast
Alamy £24 www.alamy.com/stock-photo-...
Wikimedia FREE commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lo...
If buying stock photos check if a CC0 or other Creative Commons-licenced version is available first
Carreaux Ottoman (Ottoman Tiles) is a series of beautiful patterned tiles in the Louvre. Wikipedia has an almost-complete set of photographs which are licenced as Public Domain (CC0). The tiles the…
jodiepedia.wordpress.com
December 10, 2025 at 2:01 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
Day 10 of the CS4FN advent calendar cs4fn.blog/advent/.
Today's post looks at AI chatbots (remember Holly from Red Dwarf?!) and how students often struggle with the concept of file management (Ivy!*) if they don't understand the basics of user-facing computing architecture.
@cs4fn.bsky.social
A cartoon drawing of a piece of holly.
December 10, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Reposted by Jo-ho-ho
scurry.bsky.social
Honestly, Trump was right - the whole city is swathed in darkness and filth
A classical building brightly lit in the encroaching darkness. In the foreground red-lit steps and column. The entrance to the BBC. People gather at the doors ; above the floors are illuminated by blue light. A street festooned with angel Christmas lights. The brake lights of the traffic are alight at street level.
December 9, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Reposted by Jo-ho-ho
lizashdowne.bsky.social
I made these and, as promised, they are amazing. 7 year old says "yummy", 10 year old gave them a thumbs up, and I'm making a conscious effort not to just eat each one as it comes out of the pan.
3.5 daler bora on a white plate with a creamy dip in the foreground.
December 9, 2025 at 5:09 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
Popped into Royal Exchange while waiting for the bus to work that I am now on (25) and was rewarded with 2 sets (one shown) of new to me gas lamps :-) Massive Grosvenor style lanterns by Sugg, gas by British Gas.
A set of 3 gas lamps on one post, lit by actual gas. Behind is a leafy green tree and a beautiful old Royal Exchange building. A wider shot of the three gas lamps next to a road sign for Royal Exchange Buildings. In the foreground are several small green awnings, part of a covered set of tables for outdoor snacks.
December 9, 2025 at 1:21 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
A more food-themed Christmas-Computing post today for Day 9, suggested by the gingerbread biscuit on the CS4FN advent calendar door. The obvious one is 'cookies' but we've included 'spam' too (and a melting snowman puzzle) cs4fn.blog/advent/
cc @cs4fn.bsky.social
Banner for the advent calendar with additional cartoon gingerbread men.
December 9, 2025 at 10:19 AM
jobrodie.bsky.social
May have spoken too soon ;)
December 8, 2025 at 10:56 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
Cannot get onto Bluesky on my main laptop as it's insisting on age verification and the system refuses to work (error message with face imaging, does not accept my debit card). This is a different computer, same account, same wifi network - access is fine. Not sure what's causing it. Annoying.
December 8, 2025 at 10:53 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
We have a FREE bumper pack of our Christmas-and-Computing-themed puzzles to download and print teachinglondoncomputing.org/2024/11/30/c... - prints on A4 and 8.5x11
cc @cs4fn.bsky.social
Christmas Puzzles from CS4FN – bumper pack to print (version for school teachers & home educators, A4 and US Letter sizes)
If you’re looking for something that is both fun and about computing to give to your class or your home educated kids we hope you’ll enjoy this Christmas puzzle pack – there are 2…
teachinglondoncomputing.org
December 8, 2025 at 4:36 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
I previously made an entirely perfunctory audio recording of me reading a CS4FN article. Inexplicably this short m4a file has been downloaded over 10,000 times in the last year and nearly 36,000 times since I uploaded it in 2020. Can anyone explain what that might be about? AI scraping repeatedly?
December 8, 2025 at 12:25 PM
jobrodie.bsky.social
This reminds me of interesting old thread on Twitter where academics shared observation that many university students on computer science courses struggled with both the concept and the thing of file manager and file paths.
(I'm mid50s and still think 'digital native' seems more like 'me')
erinsopran.bsky.social Erin (Snow Mephit Era) @erinsopran.bsky.social · 6d
For a while, they said if you needed tech help, ask a 10yo. But current 10-20yos didn't have to explore and click around and futz with things to get them to work, so if it's not immediately obvious, they can't do it.

Basically if you're 30-50 you're just doing tech support for everyone forever.
lblakely.bsky.social Super soul sis @lblakely.bsky.social · 7d
What we say is their kids know the tech of a phone. If it’s not on the phone they struggle
December 8, 2025 at 10:05 AM