Andrew (bookseller era)

Trying to reshape the future of television.

I write and build stuff.

Est. 1990. (He, Him, Etc.)

http://andrewroach.net

Original posts CC-BY-SA 4.0 - Share them, but link to the original.

Blog: http://ajroach42.com
Bookstore: https://hemlockbazaar.com
Television: https://newellijay.tv
Pronouns: He, mostly

Public Key

npub18tkhnc0ur9kd90jzqrazkeyfjh927huasn2nl06gljctsls6dv8qe87vtz

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsr4mteu87pjmxjhepqp73tvjyetj40t7wcf4flhay0ev9c0cdxkrspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds350j9j

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub18tkhnc0ur9kd90jzqrazkeyfjh927huasn2nl06gljctsls6dv8qe87vtz

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Last Notes

2024-07-11 19:09:54

The fact that NASA operates an official youtube account that doesn't also provide direct download links for all videos, and isn't mirrored anywhere non-proprietary should be illegal.
I shouldn't have to make money for google in order to view NASA content. I shouldn't have to subject myself to youtube DRM in order to watch NASA content. I should be able to download any video NASA produces, since NASA can't own a copyright on them.

2024-07-09 16:20:36

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There used to be a lot of alternative press newswires. In the 1970s, underground newspapers were possibly more plentiful than anyone might suspect today. Every major city and lots of not so major cities had mimeographed or spirit duplicated local papers running local stories and national reprints.
They fell apart through a combination of natural internal dissent and active interfence from the fbi as part of the coinprotel program.
The underground press syndicate and liberation news service were the big ones, and a great place to start researching if this is something you care about.

2024-07-07 19:17:15

Is there a small/alt/indie media newswire service actively operating today?

2024-07-06 16:30:20

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So, first, the idea that anything that is possible is permissible is false on it's face.
If I don't lock my car, it's possible for you to take things out of it. That's still theft.
If I post publicly, it's possible for you to copy what I've posted without attribution. That's still plagiarism.
If I am standing in public, you can call me names. That's still rude as all hell.
The idea that anything that is possible should be permitted online is in direct opposition to thousands of years of culture, law, and custom.

2024-07-06 16:25:35

I saw a thread earlier which started with a variation on the idea that, on the fediverse, anything that is possible is permissible, and that folks should focus their efforts on changing what is possible.
And then the author suggested that the best way to do that would be to get the "fedi devs" together for a "community engagement" town hall, to take feedback from the community on what should be possible, I guess?
All of this is wrong and bad.
I'm not going to engage in the original post, in spite of the fact that I disagree with it, because I don't actually feel like talking to the author of the original post. I am, however, interested in exploring the ways in which this is wrong and bad, because most of it sounds pretty compelling on the surface.

2024-06-26 23:54:56

Are there any open source games that mimic Gacha style gameplay?
Or just good indie games that mimic Gacha style gameplay, but without being tied to monetization?
What I mean is a game that's focused on collecting/training characters, has missions/levels that are mostly about gathering resources to collect characters.
I want a game I can engage with casually, that doesn't have any real time constraints, and that I can be actively engaged with (making moves and watching the outcome) or passively engaged with (building a team and letting that team run the maze/do the mission etc.)
(Honestly, what I really want is an engine for building Gacha style games, where I can focus on the art assets, sound effects, animation, etc. but that's a story for another day.)

2024-06-26 20:08:31

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Alright, I unloaded all the hid drivers and rebooted and now my touchscreen works.
"works"
It's sticky. It doesn't always register that I have stopped touching it. This appears to be particularly bad in some places on the screen.
Unfortunately, those places on the screen are the fucking corners, you know where the menu buttons live.

2024-06-26 16:13:46

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What has my life become?

2024-06-26 16:13:32

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I spent my morning chatting with a civil engineer and a banker about downtown development, municipal politics, statewide infrastructure, and the disgraced former vice chair of the GA GOP.

2024-06-26 16:12:09

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Mr. Ferguson does video production, and almost certainly wants to discuss cable television.

2024-06-26 16:11:39

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I meet with folks from the Chamber on a regular basis, but not this particular member, who I know very little about.

2024-06-26 16:11:08

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The husband of one of the county commissioners (and the rising A/V teacher at the local high school) scheduled a meeting with me for this afternoon.
Again, I do not know what to expect.

2024-06-26 16:10:30

A member of the local chamber of commerce has scheduled a meeting with me for this morning.
I don't really know what to expect.

2024-06-25 19:14:43

There are no good corporations.

2024-05-30 03:34:28

Hey! Did you know I sell VHS tapes?
That means I also *buy* VHS tapes.
Vintage tape sales have been steady, but I haven't had a chance to restock much lately because of *all the things* (see https://ajroach42.com/some-surprise-expenses/ )
So, I'm doing something a little unusual. I'm asking the fediverse for VHS tapes. See next post for details.

2024-05-27 23:26:45

The fact that AI and Al are visually identical is a travesty.

2024-05-25 21:46:29

I know, more or less, where to go to find STLs that people have chosen to share but I admit I am at a loss for dxf files.
Where do CNC folks share project files? Or sell them?

2024-05-22 01:14:08

Wait, did Microsoft just make 2024 the year of Linux on the desktop?

2024-05-20 22:27:02

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Hi!
My name is Andrew.
I run a bookstore ( https://hemlockbazaar.com ) and we, very unexpectedly, need to replace two walls and part of our ceiling, probably out of pocket.
I do a lot of other things. You can learn about some of them at https://andrewroach.net but that's out of date, because life keeps happening.
You can also learn about some of them at https://impractical.computer which is significantly less out of date, because it's brand new.
One of the other things I do is run a Makerspace ( https://ellijaymakerspace.org ) which needs a new A/C unit to survive the summer heat.

2024-05-20 22:20:56

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As a result, there's a hole in the ceiling and the drywall is missing off of two walls.
We've stopped the problem from getting any worse. We're working on making it better. We'll find out how much it's going to cost soon.
But a lot, probably.
We're also replacing an A/C unit at the makerspace right now, which is likely to cost more than $8k.
So uhhh

2024-05-20 22:14:34

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So I turned the water off and I got a better look at the pex pipe. It has gnaw marks all over it.
No obvious signs of a recent visitor (again, who knows how long it's been like this! )
So, at this point, we called in some experts.
There's a man removing the walls right now. He'll be doing mold remediation as well.
Tomorrow, a plumber will come and replumb the supply line for the sink.
In a few days we'll find out if the insurance is going to cover this, or if we're going to have to go out of pocket.

2024-05-20 22:12:36

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So I cut the ceiling open.
And I felt water on my head.
And I smelled damp.
And I saw mold.
And I heard dripping.
And, for a second, I tasted blood. I think I imagined that last part.
I traced the stream on my head back to a piece of pex piping. It had a tiny little puncture in it, and a pinhole of water was shooting out of it.
Apparently it's the supply line for the upstairs sink.
And how long has it been slowly leaking a pinhole of water? We have no idea! Weeks? Months? Long enough that *two* walls are completely saturated and molding.

2024-05-20 22:09:13

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Why was the ceiling dripping water?
Well, because it was wet.
There have been a lot of bad storms recently. Could have been from the storms, right?
Except yesterday was mostly clear!
And there's no evidence of water in the apartment above the store.
So ... ?
Maybe it's the roof leaking in to the wall and then ... ? Why is it pooling in this particular location? It doesn't make sense.

2024-05-20 22:07:37

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We get occasional rats in the building because we're in a city, and because there's a restaurant across the street, and an abandoned building next door. They get under the floor, and then climb the inside of the walls. They rarely make it out of the walls, and on the few occasions that they have ... well, they don't live long after that, is what I'm saying (and then we patch the hole, and they don't come in that way anymore.)
We haven't seen any evidence of rodents in the kitchen, we haven't seen any evidence of rodents in the bookstore. We haven't really seen any evidence of rodents anywhere in ages.
But today I walked in to the ceiling dripping water.

2024-05-20 22:06:50

Guess what? There's a big ol' hole in the ceiling at the bookstore.
Guess why? A goddamn rat.

2024-05-14 17:59:55

Have you checked out any of the bands that my record label release?
I founded Analog Revolution 10 years ago, with a little zine, a handful of printed top CD-Rs and real-time dubbed tapes in a little room off the side of an all ages DIY venue in Kennesaw GA.
These days, we still have the zine and the printed top CD-Rs (now with robotic duplication) plus way more tapes, and Vinyl.
We release music from the likes of @npub14vg…4kdw and Hurly Burly and the Volcanic Fallout, and The New Clear Lawn Chairs and Eli Pop and Red Hot Empty and Small (and soon, Pharmacy and Michael Cera Palin and who knows who else?)
Anyway, our bookstore just did a blogpost highlighting some of the bands we release: https://www.hemlockbazaar.com/2024/05/14/product-spotlight-analog-revolution-records/
There's a huge variety in this music, and I think you'll enjoy it.

2024-05-10 18:47:33

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The core here is:
- I am accepting work
- If you are doing open source stuff, a hobby project, etc. I'm $25/hour.
- If you're a tech company, I'm $125/hour.
- If you're a small business, etc, I'm in between those two numbers, but closer to the hobby number.
- I can do lots of weird computer bullshit, and I can contract out to people I already work with and trust for the small number of things I can't do myself.
- Initial discussions are free, and I'll quote the whole project up front.
- I'd rather do weird BS for individuals than corporate stuff for corporations.

2024-05-10 18:43:38

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This will be the home of my soon to be returning Impractical Computing zine.
It will also be the home of the Impractical Computing web series, if I ever make that.
In the meantime, it's a great way to see a showcase of the kinds of projects that I've worked on in the recent past, and to get an idea of the kind of work I'm willing to do.

2024-05-10 18:39:10

I'm working on a little portfolio site to make it easier for people to know that I am accepting freelance work.
It's a work in progress right now.
https://impractical.computer/
I am accepting productive feedback, if you have any.

2024-05-10 05:20:00

It's time for me to build a pedal board.
I have some cheapy pedals, they work. I enjoy playing with them.
But they are all fairly generic.
I would like some weird pedals made by internet people.
Do you make a pedal?

2024-05-07 22:54:19

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If you're considering making a film:
Focus on the story. Use the camera you have, until you outgrow it. Spend more time thinking about sound than video.
Beautiful productions have been made with 480i60 black and white analog video tube cameras. What you have in your hands or your pocket is almost unimaginably more powerful.
Start there, worry more about sound, location, story, blocking, etc.

2024-05-07 22:46:13

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This book, so far, has presented a somewhat surface level overview of a lot of the technical aspects of the development process, a good vocabulary lesson, and a somewhat deep dive in to the technical aspects of what a camera does, and why you might want one kind of a camera or another.
It is very descriptive, and not very prescriptive, which might appeal to some folks.
I think it's spending too much time on technical minutia, at the expense of practical advice, but that might just be because I'm already overly familiar with this aspect of the topic.

2024-05-07 19:45:23

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"Whenever money is involved, the gatekeepers aren't far behind."

2024-05-07 17:27:33

My afternoon plans.
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/400/507/301/523/534/original/f7f423118e9184ae.jpeg

2024-05-01 22:46:11

This thing talked it's way in to my life earlier. It's a sony fx-412 from the late 70s.
It's a cassette boom box, an am/fm radio, and a tabletop television.
Runs on batteries or 12v center negative DC.
Does it work? We'll find out!
https://retro.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/367/778/078/128/103/original/455fcd4de6eac664.jpg

2024-04-29 16:56:14

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Nope, should I?

2024-04-25 00:48:48

When I was a kid, I did a summer job where my primary responsibilities were filing papers in a filing cabinet, and doing light data entry.
I think I was 14?
I hated it. I hated filing, I hated data entry. It was tedious and boring. The filing cabinets were badly disorganized when I started, the data entry was extra fidlely.
Anyway, now I'm an adult who runs a bookstore with a web portal, so glad I escaping filing and data entry. 🙃

2024-04-10 18:54:09

The biggest thing I took away from reading Yu-Gi-Oh ( https://retro.social/@ajroach42/112247872898781375 ) is that I really miss the early days of Pokemon Go.
The game, especially in the early days, was bad. It didn't explain itself in any meaningful way. It crashed a lot. Many of the mechanics were badly broken unless you lived in a big city.
But, honestly and truly, none of that mattered! For a solid two years, I could reliably walk down the street in any city (or drive down the street in most suburbs) and meet new people, united by a common goal.
That part was incredible.