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Dan Moore

@danm628.bsky.social

Retired principal engineer. Who is quite willing to bore you with how communication systems work. And old computer history, at least the parts I was involved in. Here to read what some of my favorite authors write.

186 Followers  |  194 Following  |  1,203 Posts  |  Joined: 21.09.2023  |  2.119

Latest posts by danm628.bsky.social on Bluesky

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From the askscience community on Reddit Explore this post and more from the askscience community

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanue...

www.reddit.com/r/askscience...

11.11.2025 07:21 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Which leads to wild stories (histories in their view) where random planets fly out of Jupiter and Saturn.

Because they understand, partially, electricity.

11.11.2025 07:18 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
Plasma cosmology - Wikipedia

Because if they donโ€™t understand something it isnโ€™t real. The illogical simple explanation has to be right no matter how many contradictions there are.

Huge flaw in humanity.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_...

11.11.2025 07:18 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Iโ€™m convinced that a large part of the population in all (most?) countries stops learning around 10. Science after that isnโ€™t learned. Math isnโ€™t learned.

Hence they believe nuclear weapons arenโ€™t real. The Earth is flat. That gravity isnโ€™t real and itโ€™s all electostatic attraction.

11.11.2025 07:18 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

The first couple of years were tough. Switching from severe overwork to nothing. During the pandemic.

Now, itโ€™s the greatest thing ever. Study things I want to. Work on small projects for fun. I just started learning Rust. For fun. Not for some huge multimillion dollar project.

11.11.2025 06:08 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

It is amazing how many interesting people were in Colorado back then. Near the mountain. Near Lockheed.

I spent decades making it easier for people to be connected to the internet.

Voice band modems. Wireless.

I'm retired. And I wonder if what I worked on was actually a good thing.

10.11.2025 12:33 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

And the fact that he never talked about what he worked on. Other than fun arguments about PL/1 vs C.

Online was bad in the age of BBS systems and Compuserve/GENIE/BIX/AOL/Usenet.

It's worse now. More people. Who either are idiots and don't believe in reality or are trolls who enjoy the carnage.

10.11.2025 12:33 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

One had sat in a room for long stretches with one other officer. And two keys. He was transitioning to MAC when I met him. Nearing retirement and wanted lower stress than SAC.

Another who worked on Star Wars hit to kill weapons in the 80s. Guessing based on where he worked and what was done there.

10.11.2025 12:33 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

One was a tech who worked on circuit boards that went into satellites. A tech at Kodak. The camera company. Any guesses what satellites those were? /s

10.11.2025 12:33 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I met some interesting people.

One had worked on the SW that run on the S/360s in the mountain.

Another had worked on guidance software for ICBMs and later for the Space Shuttle.

One is the only person I've met who has watched ICBM warheads headed towards him. Worked on Safeguard in the 60s.

10.11.2025 12:33 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I've run into a lot of weird people online. Including the "nuclear weapons are not real" ones. And a few who been at actual underground test sites in NV.

I'm a software guy. Wrote a word processor in the 80s. Worked on data comm for decades.

And back in the 80s, when computer clubs were a thing...

10.11.2025 12:33 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

The whole internet is full of people with bad advice about chemical weapons. And conventional weapons. And, Iโ€™m fairly sure, about nuclear weapons.

And has been for decades.

10.11.2025 11:38 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

Burning tear gas grenades have been clocked at nearly 800 deg C (1450 F), which is way hotter than most gloves, mitts, etc will ever bear. So don't pick them up.

10.11.2025 11:14 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 69    ๐Ÿ” 16    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 4    ๐Ÿ“Œ 1

Pinning this again:

Do not use milk, juice, urine, antacids, baking soda on pepper spray or tear gas. Just water. Plain water..

Optical saline ok in eyes, but maybe save it for the dumbasses who wore contact lenses.
Plain soap or shampoo ok on skin, but never in eyes.

10.11.2025 11:12 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 217    ๐Ÿ” 78    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 8    ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
A post on Mastodon by small cypress (@small_cypress@indieweb.social):

As an art teacher I was worried AI would come up as an issue of "why should I learn how to draw when I can use AI instead."

But the real issue is that my middle schoolers CONSTANTLY believe all art I show them is AI. Digital art. Photography. Oil paintings from the Western canon. "A human couldn't do that"

Being convinced that humans can't make great art is kind of terrifying

A post on Mastodon by small cypress (@small_cypress@indieweb.social): As an art teacher I was worried AI would come up as an issue of "why should I learn how to draw when I can use AI instead." But the real issue is that my middle schoolers CONSTANTLY believe all art I show them is AI. Digital art. Photography. Oil paintings from the Western canon. "A human couldn't do that" Being convinced that humans can't make great art is kind of terrifying

I spotted this on Mastodon and I find it horrible, not least for the speed with which this has happened.

04.11.2025 09:56 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 5634    ๐Ÿ” 1974    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 85    ๐Ÿ“Œ 240

Did you know that in Canada, if a budget doesnโ€™t pass the government doesnโ€™t shut down?

Federal workers arenโ€™t furloughed.

Funding for social services doesnโ€™t dry up.

Failure to pass a budget triggers an election.

It puts the politicians jobs on the line.

They get the budget passed.

09.11.2025 20:49 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3166    ๐Ÿ” 1042    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 91    ๐Ÿ“Œ 94
Know Your Rights: In the 100-Mile Border Zone | American Civil Liberties Union

For the 100 mile zone they use the land border, not the water border.

www.aclu.org/documents/kn...

09.11.2025 23:53 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Ryan Moulton
@moultano
Oil is the most Lovecraftian thing that actually exists. You're telling me that there's a black ichor under the earth, made from the ancient dead, whose burning can realize all the dreams of man but only at the price of slowly returning the earth to its primordial state?

Ryan Moulton @moultano Oil is the most Lovecraftian thing that actually exists. You're telling me that there's a black ichor under the earth, made from the ancient dead, whose burning can realize all the dreams of man but only at the price of slowly returning the earth to its primordial state?

08.11.2025 17:44 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 11320    ๐Ÿ” 2886    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 58    ๐Ÿ“Œ 124

I have a shirt with the school logo I bought at The Colorado School of Mines bookstore when I was a freshman.

Fall of 1978.

For some reason I suspect it no longer fits.

09.11.2025 00:56 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 2    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

One of my favorite videos from you. Thanks.

08.11.2025 10:38 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 0    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

In a box, somewhere, I still have a double speed cassette machine. Half the play time but much better dynamic range a fidelity.

There were a lot of interesting tape systems in the 60s to 90s.

06.11.2025 05:28 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

It was still AT&T Bell Labs when I was there. I left several years before Lucent was spun out.

The worst was an early 2000s wireless chip at a startup. With one interrupt routine that had to complete in under 10 uS on a 47 MHz ARM 7. I kept trying to move that into RTL.

The good old days.

06.11.2025 05:02 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

I did some work on the System 85 Test Switch (a modified rack controller with more ROM). I had to make sure the compiler never put a DIV into the code. It took too many cycles and could break the capture mode interrupt.

I don't miss embedded programming and weird timing restrictions.

06.11.2025 04:43 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 3    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 1    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

The judge in the sandwich guy case asked for order in the court and the defense asked for a Pastrami and a couple Reubens.

05.11.2025 22:01 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 109    ๐Ÿ” 9    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 4    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
Preview
FBI Warns of Criminals Posing as ICE, Urges Agents to ID Themselves In a bulletin to law enforcement agencies, the FBI said criminal impersonators are exploiting ICEโ€™s image and urged nationwide coordination to distinguish real operations from fakes.

FBI Warns of Criminals Posing as ICE, Urges Agents to ID Themselves www.wired.com/story/fbi-wa...

05.11.2025 12:27 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 120    ๐Ÿ” 60    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 20    ๐Ÿ“Œ 13
A human asks an oracle โ€œHow can I live forever?โ€

The oracle responds โ€œBe difficult to forget.โ€

The human asks โ€œHow?  Should I create art? Should I be famous?  Or powerful?โ€

The oracle responds, โ€œYou should be kind.โ€

A human asks an oracle โ€œHow can I live forever?โ€ The oracle responds โ€œBe difficult to forget.โ€ The human asks โ€œHow? Should I create art? Should I be famous? Or powerful?โ€ The oracle responds, โ€œYou should be kind.โ€

You should be kind

03.11.2025 14:05 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 370    ๐Ÿ” 105    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 2    ๐Ÿ“Œ 7

I always buy for the number I want. I enjoy the kids in costumes. This year looks to be really low.

Whatever is left in the last open bag is for me.

The unopened bags go into my next food bank donation. Along with the canned and dry goods. People deserve to eat. And occasionally candy.

01.11.2025 03:33 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 1    ๐Ÿ” 0    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 0    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0
A red ballon coming out of a storm drain

A red ballon coming out of a storm drain

Couldnโ€™t settle on a Halloween costume this year.

So instead my wife and I drove around the neighborhood, distributing red balloons to storm drains.

(H/T @stephenking.bsky.social )

31.10.2025 21:16 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 480    ๐Ÿ” 78    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 14    ๐Ÿ“Œ 2
Meme showing six logical operators illustrated with jack-o'-lantern images. 

trick OR treat 
trick AND treat 
trick XOR treat 
trick NOR treat 
trick NAND treat 
trick XNOR treat

Meme showing six logical operators illustrated with jack-o'-lantern images. trick OR treat trick AND treat trick XOR treat trick NOR treat trick NAND treat trick XNOR treat

31.10.2025 22:42 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 4563    ๐Ÿ” 1535    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 21    ๐Ÿ“Œ 40

important content

01.11.2025 00:46 โ€” ๐Ÿ‘ 469    ๐Ÿ” 94    ๐Ÿ’ฌ 4    ๐Ÿ“Œ 0

@danm628 is following 20 prominent accounts