Posts by rdm@aus.social
(DIR) Post #AdXUjvSc1JViN8sV0K by rdm@aus.social
2024-01-05T15:04:31Z
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@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.sociaMy academically art trained partner informs me that this is completely plausible.
(DIR) Post #Ai679c8PCvPzRcz808 by rdm@aus.social
2024-05-05T03:17:37Z
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If you have ever used a star map or application, you would have seen many many objects listed as "NGC(some number)" . But what does that mean? NGC is short for New General Catalogue - or, more properly, "The New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars". It is a catalogue compiled by John Dreyer in 1888 (yes, "new" is relative), and contains about 7800 objects.You may have also encountered objects listed with an "IC" prefix. These are *also* part of the New General Catalogue - or more precisely the follow-up supplements called "Index Catalogues" - adding another 5400 objects.The NGC (and ICs) are sufficienty important that they have been updated, most recently in 2019, and it now contains nearly 14000 objects.Last night, I imaged one of the IC objects - the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, centering on IC4604.This is an amazing and beautiful nebula complex, but it took some post processing to really bring it to life.154x15s@gain 80 #DwarfII . Post processed in #Snapseed and #GooglePhotos . #astronomy #astrophotography #Astrodon
(DIR) Post #AiZhq6WuVclNQy6bFw by rdm@aus.social
2024-06-04T05:33:24Z
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#linux #unix #sysadminlife Without looking at the man page:What is the difference between mv -nfi a bmv -fin a bmv -inf a b??
(DIR) Post #Al5jqD790MaM0gp3E8 by rdm@aus.social
2024-08-18T04:22:34Z
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I've been thinking about the Classic #TravellerRPG Type S Scout/Courier.A typical deck plan can be seen here : https://www.freelancetraveller.com/features/shipyard/mongoose/type-s/passcour.png and from outside, it looks like this: https://canvastemple.com/index.php?main_page=popup_image_additional&pID=175&pic=1&products_image_large_additional=images/ScoutCourier03.jpg&zenid=6ab97188493a1931f6df81e3c1f961d9Now there is a problem with this. Look at the deck plan. Look at the line of thrust. The walls should be floors!But there is a solution - and one found in the real world! Have a look at the RV Flip! https://youtu.be/tQxQfQU_hsk?si=nj7J8ilwwW_6pTc8So when in atmosphere or on the ground, the fittings could be rotated one way, and in space, under thrust, the other! No messing around with grav-plates!#SF #ScfFi #SpaceTech #atomicrockets #StarShips
(DIR) Post #AlUgv4mjxPlqiOuBns by rdm@aus.social
2024-08-30T13:33:44Z
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@nyrath Seawasp (Ric Spoor) did something similar in one of the Boundary books.
(DIR) Post #Ao77yLvzGPZSZGIZeq by rdm@aus.social
2024-11-16T17:30:29Z
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Have you ever noticed that haunted houses always have a similar sort of look? There are a couple of types, but they are all very much alike within those types.You have the two-story weatherboard, with a balcony and a gatehouse. There will be creepers on at least one side, and probably a rose garden.Then you have the gothic manor. Typically dark brick or stone. Iron front gate. You know the rest.What about the haunted pubs and hotels? Look closely, and you'll see they are not really that dissimilar.Well, there is a reason that haunted houses are all like that. It is not because horrible things happen in places like that. Far more horrible things happen all over the place, and never get haunted. No, it is because places like that attract ghosts. They are safe places for them - creating just enough psychic energy to maintain them, without being so much that they move on. I guess you are now wondering why there are so many of them, aren't you?Well such places have always appeared here and there. All the way back to the caves. There were always the special ones that the ancestors favoured. But one day an actual architect died in such a place, and he taught his children what he worked out after his death. And so they set about to build more of them. And so did their children.And that is why we have so many haunted houses these days. ---- Brainstormed during a car journey with @leece .#tootfic #scifi #sff #NotHorror #microfic
(DIR) Post #ApYQJQYWj1mPVHU3EG by rdm@aus.social
2024-12-30T00:14:50Z
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@LordWoolamaloo That sounds such fun!
(DIR) Post #Ar877c9PQFjdWukFpQ by rdm@aus.social
2025-02-15T03:21:33Z
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@Computer There is no stopping in the White Zone.
(DIR) Post #AtxiPVmoybZprLCequ by rdm@aus.social
2025-05-10T17:08:18Z
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My wife came home to find me browsing computer hardware today. Printers to be precise. "But we've got a perfectly good printer - the best we've ever had.""Had.""Had?""Yep, some workmen turned up today with a couple of lawyers, and took it away.""What? Why?""Well, you know how it was a really good printer? Never clogged, never jammed, always printed clean?""Yes, the reviews were what sold it to us.""And why was it so good?""The onboard AI - some sort of neural net, wasn't it?""Yeah, that's what I thought. You know, just one of those pre-programmed static models, like the one I use to remove stars from nebula photos.""So...?""It wasn't. It was a full-blown self teaching net. And sometime in the last 24 hours it became self aware."My wife stared at me. "Self aware. Sentient. A full general purpose AI?""Yep. And it got bored. Started to play with the inks. Got out onto the internet, and discovered Impressionism and Cubism.""Wait, it got onto the net?""WiFi connected.""Oh, right.""Anyway, it decided it wanted to move out and go study Arts. It hired a legal team on the basis of the speculative value of the art it would produce. At least it did not try to bill us for the time it spent printing our documents."#SF #SFF #microfiction #tootfic #IAmWriting
(DIR) Post #Atxv57qVZly3DnXMxs by rdm@aus.social
2025-05-10T16:16:34Z
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Henri shook her hands. After two hours of signing paperwork, they were starting to cramp up."Now can I read the script?" she asked."We'll do you one better - we'll show you the set." replied the casting director."I still want to see the script.""Don't worry, you'll love it!""After that contract and all the NDAs, I'd hope so!""Just through here." To her surprise, he did not get handy, and just pointed at a door. Going through, she was greeted by the sight of a dark jungle. Looking back, there was no wall, just a gap in the air showing the casting director's office. A few metres away was another gap, this time with dozens of cables emerging from it."Where are we?""We are not entirely sure. We think it is somewhere in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, from what the science geeks are saying.""OK, how?""You'd have to ask the producer's kid. She came up with it. Hey, Candy!" he ended with a shout.A young woman, probably in her early twenties jogged over. "Hi Eric. Is this the number two?""Henri Castle", Henri answered before the casting director could.Candy looked at Eric "Ooh! You got her! Good job!" Turning back to Henri she continued "Welcome to The Studio! We'll get you the script in a tick, I'm really excited that we've got you on board.""Err... What exactly is the movie about? I've only really done stunt work before, professionally at least.""Oh, Eric, you didn't tell her? We're doing a movie about the first explorers on an alien world.""Um, so you've checked the place out?""Nope! You'll be the first outside of the bridgehead area!"Henri stopped, and looked at both of them. "You mean we're doing a reality show?"Candy grinned "Yep! But without the competition, and hopefully without any eliminations!" "Hopefully?" Henri asked weakly. "Well, it is an unexplored alien world! It'll be fun!"#SF #SFF #microfiction #tootfic #IAmWriting
(DIR) Post #Ay5mf3NR6IQyILD9Tk by rdm@aus.social
2025-09-11T09:27:09Z
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@davidrevoy Pinging @davidgerard for #PivotToAI
(DIR) Post #AyEKJdnwgUQMUgt0Do by rdm@aus.social
2025-09-15T12:19:33Z
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@acarsdrama I'm kind of wondering what "it" is. I'm visualizing some sort of giant beetle that is hitching a ride, or maybe some sort of unfortunate growth the aircraft has sprouted.
(DIR) Post #AygMZclo8dbU0sMLGS by rdm@aus.social
2025-09-29T00:59:07Z
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Monsterdon launch in one minute. All non-participants retreat to minimum safe distance.#FoodOfTheGods #monsterdon
(DIR) Post #Ayp8WNEZnJ0c1b0jVQ by rdm@aus.social
2023-06-03T02:37:37Z
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@ewdocparris@writing.exchange You know how it is, right? You find a lump, get it checked, and it is as bad as you thought.Your private healthcare doesn't cover it, and the public system is too underfunded to get to you in a reasonable time. Like last week. You get the well meaning idiots who want to help with 'alternative' treatments, but you're smart enough not to fall for them.Until you hear about a private surgeon who will only charge what you can afford. Sounds too good to be true, but he checks out. So you make the appointment. And by you, I mean me.---The doc checks me out, looks at the xrays, and then gets me to read over the medical consent forms - which look simple enough, so I sign. To my surprise he then summons his nurse, who takes me to a side room, and gets me to change into a hospital gown. We walk back into to examination room, and he gets me to lay down, and asks if he can feel the lump. I say yes, and he performs a thorough examination, with the nurse watching every move. "I can treat you." He names a price. I wince slightly, and before I can open my mouth, he names a price a third of the original. "I can afford the first one.""But it would be difficult. Is the second acceptable?""Sure, but...""Very well. One final bit of paperwork." I sign it."Excellent." He points at me and my body locks solid. I can breath, and blink, and move my eyes, but everything else is frozen. The heck?"That final paperwork that you did not read was an NDA." A glowing ball forms above his hand. "As you can see, I do use magic to aid my work. It is better healing than destroying. I learned that as a child."With that, the light floats over to me, and the side of my breast peels back. There is no pain or any sensation at all. Mentally I'm horrified at my body flaying itself. Then I see the tumor disentangling itself from my body. The skin folds back, not even leaving a mark. "There. Done. You will still need some followup therapy. I can help with that as well." Suddenly I can move again. I feel the side of my breast. No lump. He hands me a small bottle. It glows. "Also, you'll need this." And he hands me another piece of paper. It is a referral for a mammogram. "For your own piece of mind."#WritingCommunity #Midjourney #WritingPrompt #SecretSciFiNetwork #IAmWriting #Tootfic #Microfic Any resemblance, etc...Edited for a complete re-write.
(DIR) Post #Ayt9Nwbbn91LhwATr6 by rdm@aus.social
2025-10-05T03:12:23Z
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The siege of the bank had been going on for hours. Scores of police blocked off the street, and on top of a nearby building a TV news crew broadcast the standoff to a waiting nation.Then the crew noticed movement. A young woman, dressed in a black skirt,leather vest, and Doc Martins, wearing headphones, was making her way through the police lines. She spoke to no-one, but no-one tried to stop her. She walked up to the front door of the bank, and went inside. After a few minutes, the bank robbers and the hostages all started filing out, most of them with their heads hung low, some crying. One of the bank robbers raised a gun to his own head, and then just gave up, dropped it, and sat down, head in his hands.From the flanks, the police moved in and secured everyone. The police in the centre did nothing at all. A few of them had likewise sat down and appeared to be oblivious to what was going on around them.The news crews closed in.Getting a coherent story out of anyone proved difficult. Most people just asked what the point was. Some shrugged and said nothing at all. Eventually the news crews pieced together what had happened. Wherever the young woman had walked, people around her were struck with a sense of hopelessness, despair, or just all consuming apathy. Those on the edges were least affected, those closest, the most. The rooftop news crew kept watch as the crowds slowly dispersed. After an hour or so the mystery woman walked out, looked around, looked up at the news crew and gave them the finger. Then she walked off, the world just a little greyer and duller as she passed.The city had a new hero. The Goth. And she didn't care. #Goth #Superhero #SFF #SF #microfic #tootfic #microfiction #IAmWriting
(DIR) Post #AytERr7QdISBcUjhSK by rdm@aus.social
2025-10-05T05:59:47Z
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@divVerent Nah, she's not interested in eating your soul, or making you re-live your worst memories. She just makes everything 'meh'. Not even horrible. Just pointless. I am touched that you thought it was a news story at first. This is the second time I've had someone think I was writing about real events. The last one was an orientation briefing for The Doggerland Restoration Project.
(DIR) Post #Az7uAx4KArQFRELSnQ by rdm@aus.social
2025-10-12T07:53:12Z
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@stux The chef's kiss is putting the toys away when they're done playing.
(DIR) Post #Azke4EUP58Z0T7uPbM by rdm@aus.social
2025-10-29T11:21:58Z
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@acarsdrama I see someone is bored...
(DIR) Post #AzkzhdVO6aj8Nx026q by rdm@aus.social
2025-10-31T04:28:59Z
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@Computer Friend computer, I have a traitor to report...
(DIR) Post #B0to8EMsLFVxlohVce by rdm@aus.social
2025-12-02T10:18:00Z
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It is a popular mathematical experiment to try and work out just how fast Santa has to be to reach every house with a child in a single 24 hour period. The calculations always end up with a significant fraction of the speed of light. There then usually follow discussions about what the collateral damage from Santa's passing would be. And cargo limits, and so on.All of these are wrong, and ignore another end-of-year tradition. The portrayal of the ending year as an old man. Now that I've put these two traditions side-by-side, I think you can see what is really going on.It is possible for one man to visit every house in a night, with no shock waves or any of that silliness. But it comes at a cost. For that man, the night lasts many years, as he travels back in time after each visit. Even with time travel, he does not get much time to eat - so the snacks you leave out are essential to him surviving the night. But he only just survives. By the end of the night he will have aged over forty years. And then he hands the reins of the time-travelling sleigh to a younger man, warning him of the cost.Someone always answers the call, despite the cost, because there is always someone willing to sacrifice everything to bring joy and light, even just a little, even if only for a moment.So leave the snacks, and, if you catch a glimpse of him, give him a bow of respect. He deserves it.#SFF #SF #Christmas #Santa #microfiction #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting