Mike Booth
@mechfish.bsky.social
Wrangler of computers. Fond of bakeries. Slowly making progress on the giant reading list. I mostly lurk here on Bluesky but maybe someday I’ll be inspired.
small magnetic toys. the USA has had quite a few recalls but i’m not sure there’s a federal ban, but looks like e.g. Australia has a ban: www.productsafety.gov.au/about-us/pro...
Banned small high powered magnets recalled following ACCC surveillance
The ACCC is concerned about reports of injuries, especially among children, relating to small high powered magnets. The ACCC recently conducted a surveillance program to inspect the presence of banned...
www.productsafety.gov.au
November 3, 2025 at 10:55 PM
small magnetic toys. the USA has had quite a few recalls but i’m not sure there’s a federal ban, but looks like e.g. Australia has a ban: www.productsafety.gov.au/about-us/pro...
The Music Man is not bad, but I agree Guys and Dolls is better.
Why does so much good American literature feature grifters as the stars? I wish it were hard to say.
Why does so much good American literature feature grifters as the stars? I wish it were hard to say.
October 5, 2025 at 9:42 PM
The Music Man is not bad, but I agree Guys and Dolls is better.
Why does so much good American literature feature grifters as the stars? I wish it were hard to say.
Why does so much good American literature feature grifters as the stars? I wish it were hard to say.
oh it gets dustier: though technically i am a few months older than Computer Space, I am from the correct year.
September 27, 2025 at 4:45 PM
oh it gets dustier: though technically i am a few months older than Computer Space, I am from the correct year.
oh no now my brain is trying to sing “bribe me for a blurb” to the tune of “fly me to the moon”
i do not know why
i do not know why
September 21, 2025 at 4:06 PM
oh no now my brain is trying to sing “bribe me for a blurb” to the tune of “fly me to the moon”
i do not know why
i do not know why
do note that, as warned in the thread, these antihistamines in these doses will tend to make one very sleepy if one isn’t habituated to them. But i prefer sleepy to the post-vaccine blahs
September 16, 2025 at 4:24 PM
do note that, as warned in the thread, these antihistamines in these doses will tend to make one very sleepy if one isn’t habituated to them. But i prefer sleepy to the post-vaccine blahs
you are probably looking for this, and links in the thread: bsky.app/profile/raha...
To avoid feeling like hammered dogshit for the week after you get your COVID booster, take 50mg diphenhydramine (Benadryl) 15-60 minutes before getting the booster. If you do feel like shit, avoid fermented foods and leftovers for the week after or until you feel better.
September 16, 2025 at 4:21 PM
you are probably looking for this, and links in the thread: bsky.app/profile/raha...
we were listening on the other day, in the early 90s, when the station did the same thing to mark their initial format change *to* alt-rock
September 5, 2025 at 4:46 AM
we were listening on the other day, in the early 90s, when the station did the same thing to mark their initial format change *to* alt-rock
I’m that colleague that people ping. Being the domain expert in SQL, regex, Docker, or CSS browser bugs at your company is a recipe for burnout. Slack overflow. You can be nibbled to death even by “easy” questions.
I want to spend my time talking strategy with a team, not syntax.
I want to spend my time talking strategy with a team, not syntax.
July 19, 2025 at 5:24 PM
I’m that colleague that people ping. Being the domain expert in SQL, regex, Docker, or CSS browser bugs at your company is a recipe for burnout. Slack overflow. You can be nibbled to death even by “easy” questions.
I want to spend my time talking strategy with a team, not syntax.
I want to spend my time talking strategy with a team, not syntax.
the funny thing about this is that i can recommend a pastry place that is easy picnic distance from Mount Auburn Cemetery.
(It’s Sofra, it’s amazing, this is what the upper-middle-class Cambridge set takes to the cemetery, their morning buns relegate Dunkins to the junior leagues)
(It’s Sofra, it’s amazing, this is what the upper-middle-class Cambridge set takes to the cemetery, their morning buns relegate Dunkins to the junior leagues)
July 15, 2025 at 9:08 PM
the funny thing about this is that i can recommend a pastry place that is easy picnic distance from Mount Auburn Cemetery.
(It’s Sofra, it’s amazing, this is what the upper-middle-class Cambridge set takes to the cemetery, their morning buns relegate Dunkins to the junior leagues)
(It’s Sofra, it’s amazing, this is what the upper-middle-class Cambridge set takes to the cemetery, their morning buns relegate Dunkins to the junior leagues)
wow this is the info i am on bluesky for, thanks
May 31, 2025 at 2:23 AM
wow this is the info i am on bluesky for, thanks
yeah, I was just looking that one up in John McPhee’s _In Suspect Terrain_ —geologist Anita Epstein told him the story of what it was like to be standing near the epicenter. “That earthquake made a catastrophist of me”
April 17, 2025 at 2:59 AM
yeah, I was just looking that one up in John McPhee’s _In Suspect Terrain_ —geologist Anita Epstein told him the story of what it was like to be standing near the epicenter. “That earthquake made a catastrophist of me”
the genre does feel thin, i wish there were more turn-based games. even games like my beloved Portal, which very rarely have combat, have a lot of puzzles based on timed jumps and clicks
February 16, 2025 at 8:34 PM
the genre does feel thin, i wish there were more turn-based games. even games like my beloved Portal, which very rarely have combat, have a lot of puzzles based on timed jumps and clicks
yeah, i hear that, which is why i didn’t suggest a card game or a Civ-style strategy game or whatnot
not sure I’d call Tactical Breach Wizards a “universe”, it isn’t an open-world thing and it isn’t huge, but it has funny writing and a plot as well as a puzzle-ish combat model
not sure I’d call Tactical Breach Wizards a “universe”, it isn’t an open-world thing and it isn’t huge, but it has funny writing and a plot as well as a puzzle-ish combat model
February 16, 2025 at 8:29 PM
yeah, i hear that, which is why i didn’t suggest a card game or a Civ-style strategy game or whatnot
not sure I’d call Tactical Breach Wizards a “universe”, it isn’t an open-world thing and it isn’t huge, but it has funny writing and a plot as well as a puzzle-ish combat model
not sure I’d call Tactical Breach Wizards a “universe”, it isn’t an open-world thing and it isn’t huge, but it has funny writing and a plot as well as a puzzle-ish combat model
There are pure puzzle games out there, but also recently i’ve been playing Tactical Breach Wizards which is entirely turn-based and has undos. you can plot
moves at any pace you like
moves at any pace you like
February 16, 2025 at 8:23 PM
There are pure puzzle games out there, but also recently i’ve been playing Tactical Breach Wizards which is entirely turn-based and has undos. you can plot
moves at any pace you like
moves at any pace you like
you’re the perfect one to ask: should I watch the famous Patton movie? and should i read a proper history book first, or afterwards?
a late relative of mine drove a recon tank in Patton’s army, so I’d like to learn true things about the Patton experience, not just the “300”-esque version
a late relative of mine drove a recon tank in Patton’s army, so I’d like to learn true things about the Patton experience, not just the “300”-esque version
January 5, 2025 at 1:39 AM
you’re the perfect one to ask: should I watch the famous Patton movie? and should i read a proper history book first, or afterwards?
a late relative of mine drove a recon tank in Patton’s army, so I’d like to learn true things about the Patton experience, not just the “300”-esque version
a late relative of mine drove a recon tank in Patton’s army, so I’d like to learn true things about the Patton experience, not just the “300”-esque version
Reposted by Mike Booth
I don't need to have the entirety of humanity's collective trauma beamed directly into my eyes every day - I just need a moderately sized timeline of diverse voices who will alert me to danger and an audience that likes pictures of little robots and tolerates my rambling opinions.
November 22, 2024 at 1:30 PM
I don't need to have the entirety of humanity's collective trauma beamed directly into my eyes every day - I just need a moderately sized timeline of diverse voices who will alert me to danger and an audience that likes pictures of little robots and tolerates my rambling opinions.
My cohort was incredibly lucky. College was cheaper in the early 1990s and the debts easier to pay off. As the Boomers moved out of homes, my peers could afford to move in. I spent two weeks worrying about being drafted into Gulf War One, but then it ended. By 9/11, I was nearly past military age.
November 9, 2024 at 6:58 PM
My cohort was incredibly lucky. College was cheaper in the early 1990s and the debts easier to pay off. As the Boomers moved out of homes, my peers could afford to move in. I spent two weeks worrying about being drafted into Gulf War One, but then it ended. By 9/11, I was nearly past military age.
oh is _that_ how pros deal with digital consoles? as a volunteer amateur i dread them. the iPad controls are fun until you press the wrong button and are trapped in some submenu
i like analog consoles, i’m not practiced enough to read one at a glance but at least that’s theoretically possible
i like analog consoles, i’m not practiced enough to read one at a glance but at least that’s theoretically possible
November 2, 2024 at 4:38 PM
oh is _that_ how pros deal with digital consoles? as a volunteer amateur i dread them. the iPad controls are fun until you press the wrong button and are trapped in some submenu
i like analog consoles, i’m not practiced enough to read one at a glance but at least that’s theoretically possible
i like analog consoles, i’m not practiced enough to read one at a glance but at least that’s theoretically possible
Reposted by Mike Booth
The main lesson I’ve learned is that the streaming era needs social objects to structure navigating endless choices and make it fun (your podcast is a particularly successful one!) and that the streaming platforms have less than zero interest in providing them
November 1, 2024 at 5:51 PM
The main lesson I’ve learned is that the streaming era needs social objects to structure navigating endless choices and make it fun (your podcast is a particularly successful one!) and that the streaming platforms have less than zero interest in providing them
i was also a kid in the 80s, but it is telling that we invoke the Cold War by naming movies and songs — fiction — because I never smelled the bombed-out streets of my grandparents’ empires, as Vonnegut and Tezuka did. Without that context the fiction is bound to read differently
October 18, 2024 at 2:52 AM
i was also a kid in the 80s, but it is telling that we invoke the Cold War by naming movies and songs — fiction — because I never smelled the bombed-out streets of my grandparents’ empires, as Vonnegut and Tezuka did. Without that context the fiction is bound to read differently
but one thing i noticed about _Slaughterhouse-Five_, on last reread, is that it’s as much a book about the terrible difficulty of healing from the war, and its lingering but unspoken effect on the narrator’s postwar life and marriage, as it is about the war itself.
October 18, 2024 at 2:13 AM
but one thing i noticed about _Slaughterhouse-Five_, on last reread, is that it’s as much a book about the terrible difficulty of healing from the war, and its lingering but unspoken effect on the narrator’s postwar life and marriage, as it is about the war itself.
one challenge with dissecting out the role of WWII in 20c culture is that it rolled right into the Cold War. A lot of post-WWII horror is buried in, and/or reprised by, Cold War horror, but also the Cold War was a real thing with horror of its own
October 18, 2024 at 2:05 AM
one challenge with dissecting out the role of WWII in 20c culture is that it rolled right into the Cold War. A lot of post-WWII horror is buried in, and/or reprised by, Cold War horror, but also the Cold War was a real thing with horror of its own
i was thrilled to collect my blank bonus banner! I knew exactly what it meant, so it counts as a triumph of minimalist design
October 9, 2024 at 10:41 PM
i was thrilled to collect my blank bonus banner! I knew exactly what it meant, so it counts as a triumph of minimalist design