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Today's fun fact: Forests are inherently socialist. Seriously.

In a forest, most plants are linked together by an underground network of mycorrhizal fungi. Via the fungi, the plants share resources around so that they can all benefit. Wha's more, the plants contribute more or less depending on how much they have. Plants with more resources contribute more to their community, helping to nurture the small, young, and weak ones.

This is one of my favourite random pieces of knowledge!

💚☀️🌳

Timex Sinclair 1000 (USA's ZX-81) repair (+) 

The replacement ZX81 keyboard arrived, and the ribbons look and feel much more substantial. The only cosmetic differences are a slightly different font, shift-0 is rubout instead of delete, and enter is "new line" instead. Time to clean off the gunk from the top of the case so I can put the new keyboard in.

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I just received a package of mouse balls that shipped from New York & took a 5-day detour through Las Vegas. Everything I get comes through Albuquerque.

This package took the vacation I want to take.

I want to be lewd and be kinky and boost furry porn, but IDK if it's better to do that from another instance or just do it here. The trouble is that some of what I want to boost isn't CW'd, & there's no status privacy control in boosts like there is with plain toots.

Federated timeline 

I tried to click on a toot, but the instant the switch closed inside the mouse, the timeline scrolled, and the arrow ended up on top of a favorite star. I didn't even get the chance to read it before the gremlin in the machine decided I should fave it.

Toshiba T4600C repair (-) 

I need a working FDD in this thing to do anything else anyway.

I have a HDD that booted normally a few days ago, but whoever installed Windows 95 on it installed it using a CD drive the lappy doesn't even have a port for. When I go to change anything, it tells me to put the CD into a nonexistent drive.

I have installation floppies I can blow away the janked install with, but that's why I need a working FDD.

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Toshiba T4600C repair (-) 

Well, crap. I can't even test if my HDD is good or not (I have a known-working I can reformat if it isn't), because both the FDD inside my laptop & the spare I recently picked up have spindle drive belts that either slipped off the motor or just lost too much elasticity to grip the motor's spindle. Worse, the FDD is a slim model with ribbon cables, & IDEK if off-brand replacements ever existed. (Using a USB FDD is out because USB didn't exist yet.)

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Fun fact: When laptops were thick-as-textbooks monsters, some manufacturers broke up the motherboard into a mainboard with modules sandwiched above. Toshiba did that to my laptop: 3 layers of 4 or 5 modules stacked behind all the peripherals & keyboard.

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I had to spend the evening digging through everything again to convince myself that a hard drive problem isn't why I stopped the repair 16 years ago. (It went through an earthquake, & even though it was barely felt where I was, about 100 miles away, the utility power was messed up enough to kill the DC power-in module.)

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I guess I shouldn't be too shy about the taped printout. How many things taped to the outside of a frequently-carried, frequently-shuffled plastic box survive almost a quarter century without a single edge peeling loose or corner turning up?

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Computer screen photography tip: 

Put a giant black panel or posterboard in your lap while sitting in front of it, or rig one to hang from your neck or shoulders while standing in front of it, to minimize reflections.

Perk: If you can cover your face as well (& still see through it), it's a half decent privacy screen as well.

It's okay if you failed today. You can try again tomorrow.

lewd?, link to lots of nsfw 

I love the "horny people are X" toots @beth bot is doing.

It wouldn't have taken so long or been so worth it today if it wasn't my first laptop or one that runs Windows *without* Internet Explorer. (Yes, IE was actually optional back when I first got it.)

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Friendly reminder that you deserve a strong, four-armed lesbian girlfriend that will princess carry you whilst carrying a rose.

⛓️ : OkCupid

I'm excited to finish a PC repair that I started 16 1/2 years ago. I thought it would never happen.

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Computer Fairies

Computer Fairies is a Mastodon instance that aims to be as queer, friendly and furry as possible. We welcome all kinds of computer fairies!