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John

@[email protected]

I am retired in Southern California after working on the computational side of chemistry, medical electronics, environmental monitoring, motion pictures, and even some web commerce.

I am interested in hiking and the outdoors, exercise physiology (especially for someone in my age group), gardening, and old man projects in general.

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arstechnica , to Random
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After 48 years, Zilog is killing the classic standalone Z80 microprocessor chip

Z80 powered Game Boy, ZX Spectrum, Pac-Man, and a 1970s PC standard based on CP/M.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/after-48-years-zilog-is-killing-the-classic-standalone-z80-microprocessor-chip/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

John ,
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@arstechnica I owned three generations of computers with the Z80 microprocessor. My first was a TRS80 Model I, with 4k and then 16k. Then a Big Board CP/M machine with 64k. Finally an Epson QX-10 with 256k.

In retrospect it's pretty strange that a microprocessor generation lasted that long.

Of course everything was very awkward in the transition from 8-bit systems to 32-bit ones.

arstechnica , to Random
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So much for free speech on X; Musk confirms new users must soon pay to post

The fee, likely $1, is aimed at stopping “relentless” bots, Musk said.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/04/so-much-for-free-speech-on-x-musk-confirms-new-users-must-soon-pay-to-post/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

John ,
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@arstechnica Musk is no longer "speedrunning" old ideas about how to run social media, but he's still working through that backlog. "Nobody would spam if it cost money" is an old idea.

I don't think it works in this age though.

There are lots of people who will pay a dollar to be certified as "real." Perhaps more fake people than real ones.

ai6yr , to Random
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This piece of vintage woodworking equipment appears to be traveling (repeatedly) through Craiglist this week... 😂

John ,
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@exador23 @ai6yr it is the transformer of woodworking tools. It is fundamentally a lathe, but it has a table to make it into a drill press, a table saw, a disk sander, or even an attachment to make it into a bandsaw.

My dad had one and did a lot of things with it, but as you can imagine it requires some transformation and some pre-planning about which operations come before the others.

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