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Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️

@kayelem23.bsky.social

250 followers 330 following 1K posts

voider of warranties • fixer of things • collector of stuff • audio, video, radio, TV, photography, music gear, T&M, retro/modern computer h/w; anything interesting neurodivergent • 🏳️‍⚧️ 🏳️‍🌈 • she/her

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Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · Aug 31

Hi, I'm Kat.

I take stuff apart. Sometimes, I put it back together...

I also collect obsolete television standards.

Currently not owned by a cat, so here's a 2005 pic of Frankie (RIP ~1985 - 2006) being a trip hazard.

#Introduction #ProofOfCat

Brown tabby cat curled up asleep on mottled blue/grey-carpeted stairs, paws tucked under her, tail over her nose.

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Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 13h

PC upgrade time..!

The Linux nVidia driver for GTX 780 is not being updated so it's time to swap that out for something newer, shinier, sexier...

And shorter so it'll fit in the case without taking bits off, inserting its arse-end in the drive cage and shoving drives elsewhere...

Cluttered bench, centred in the photograph is a box for an nVidia PC graphics card; specifically a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Ti OC.

Also partially visible; IBM Model M keyboard in need of cleaning, three mouse mats and a 50kV high-voltage probe. Just typical Kat's bench stuff.

Reposted by Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️

Cobweb 🏳️‍⚧️ @cobwebmadeoflego.bsky.social · 18h

Okay, better late than never, this week's #MinifigMonday whisks us off the sands of Persia, where a group of intrepid travellers has stopped to rest at a lush oasis. The antithesis of last week's environmental disaster. #Lego #AFOL #MOC #MyOwnCreation #PrinceOfPersia

Overview of a lego diorama of a desert oasis. There is a central pool surrounded by lush palm trees and other vegetation. A group of travellers has stopped to rest, their camels unloaded, horses allowed to drink from the clear blue water. A scattering of scorpions, butterflies and other bugs are sprinkled here and there, along with various other bits of wildlife lurking among the plants.

An overview of the Lego oasis. in the foreground, one of the travellers has found an old lamp and leans back in surprise at the blue-skinned genie who has emerged from it. To the left are two camels and a heap of luggage. Behind them is a sand dune, atop which stands a man wearing a turban, scimitar in his belt, a falcon perched on his outstretched arm. A man with two swords on his back stands in front of the dune, addressing the woman sat on the pile of luggage.

A view to the side, from above. The central pool is mostly obscured by the lush palm trees. Amid the undergrowth at the edge of the pool is a large black feline with at least one cub. She is drinking from the pool, unperturbed by the sudden influx of visitors to this quiet paradise. An eagle with outspread wings perches on one of the trees, about to take flight.

A view to the rear of the oasis. A brown horse can be seen from behind at the edge of the pool. To the right of the scene is a sand dune, atop which stands the falconer, seen from behind.

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Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 2d

This needs to be a thing.

14/10 would watch.

Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 2d

I had no idea that there was a Mister Global National Costume Competition. I am delighted to discover this!

Many of these outfits are amazing. Some are incredible feats of structural engineering, too. (The odd one is a bit 'meh' but pay those no heed.)

Thread:

Bevis Musson @bevismusson.bsky.social · 2d

You know what, let's do the Annual Mister Global National Costume thread tonight after all. Usual rules apply - this is all in fun, this isn't about the contestants looks or making fun of them, it's about the costumes and appreciating them (or, you know, making fun of them...)

Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 2d

I refuse to suffer alone.

Smiths Crisps 80s advert - We wanna be Smiths crisps!

YouTube video by advertarchive

www.youtube.com

Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 2d

I wonder how the UK compares, given an entire generation left traumatised by a chorus of animated chipmunk-voiced potatoes singing...

🎶 We want to be... Smiii-iiiths Crisps 🎶

... to the tune of Bobby's Girl...

jon rosenburger @jonrosenberg.bsky.social · 3d

They're spinning this as a marketing fail but I think the real story is just that people are stupid as fucking rocks now fortune.com/2025/10/10/p...

Lay's drastically rebrands after disturbing finding: 42% of consumers didn't know their chips were made out of potatoes | Fortune

New bags—matte-ified and designed to look like wood planks (like a potato crate)—will hold the chips with revamped ingredient lists.

fortune.com

Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 3d

Oh no. There's a Hello Kitty one..?

Hope it wasn't available in the UK otherwise I may have a new side-quest...

Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 4d

You think you can pepper ball a frog like that? More will come. Hundreds and thousands...

The Oregonian @oregonian.com · 4d

Things are happening at Portland's ICE facility tonight.

Read more of our protest coverage here: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...

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Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 4d

Me taking a bunch of pills out of my hand just now...

John A Dracula Cullen @nellucnhoj.bsky.social · May 28

living their best life

6 panel comic

P1: a crow stares at four chips/French fries, all laying on some grass

P2: the crow's head violently snaps forward, their whole beak engulfing the middle fry, with an audible SLAM

P3: a closeup of the crow, as they lift their prize from the ground, their eyes with a "no thoughts" look to them

P4: POV switches back to that of P1 & P2. The crow stands there with the line fry in their beak

P5: THOOM, WAM, BAM! the crow's head slams down on the remaining fries so quickly, that we see each action simultaneously

P6: POV is back on the crow's head again, their beak chockful of deliciousness

Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 6d

Does that include ekranoplans..?

If so, where do I sign up..?

Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 6d

"Mr. Samuel J. Seymour, the last living eyewitness to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. was the mystery guest on the February 8, 1956 episode of the I've Got a Secret game show."

Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 6d

My first shout of "WHAT..?!?!?!" was at 2m03s. Things went downhill from there...

Oilfield Units: a Measurement System so Cursed it made me Change Career

YouTube video by Alexander the ok

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️

Bill Amend @billamend.bsky.social · 6d

My friend Matt Inman made a great comic about AI…

A cartoonist's review of AI art - The Oatmeal

This is a comic about AI art.

theoatmeal.com

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Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 7d

This part of the year continues to confuse me.

Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.

Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.

Could we all agree to move everything around a bit so it makes a bit more sense..? It's the tenth month now; that's December.

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Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 7d

That would confuse me if I didn't know; think I'd default to treating anything unfamiliar in the middle of an intersection as some strange new kind of roundabout.

Reposted by Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️

Nigel Auchterlounie @n-auchterlounie.bsky.social · 8d

"IT ABSOLUTELY WILL STOP!!!"

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Reposted by Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️

Cobweb 🏳️‍⚧️ @cobwebmadeoflego.bsky.social · 8d

It's #MinifigMonday (again!?) and this time there's more than just autumn leaves in the air. In fact the air probably contains a number of things no sensible minifig would want any part of. I'm not sure this team is entirely sensible, though. #Lego #AFOL #MOC #MyOwnCreation #Hazmat #ToxicWaste

A disturbingly colourful Lego diorama featuring a rocky outcrop from which some kind of industrial effluent discharges into a river. Whatever is flowing out of that pipe is virulently green and most definitely hazardous to any kind of environment. All the fish in the river are dead and most of the plant life has succumbed. There are also a number of chemical drums that have clearly been dumped, bearing radiological and other hazard warnings. Several of the drums are leaking. Fortunately, there is a four person Hazmat team on the case, all properly suited up and toting various detectors and other equipment. From the other side of the river, a reporter is giving a piece to camera. Bricksanto are probably in for some serious fines once news of this gets out.

A front-on view of a Lego environmental disaster. The various abandoned drums of who-knows-what horrors are rather brightly-coloured but anything but cheerful. Whatever is flowing out of the discharge pipe is obnoxiously green and looks to have killed every last fish in the river. One of the hazmat team has retrieved a dead fish. In her other hand she holds a Geiger counter. She looks horrified. Behind her is an assortment of electronic equipment, hastily set up on the crates it arrived in. Another member of the team is standing atop the outlet, where a blackened and nearly dead tree stands. It's branches hold a last few leaves, desperately clinging onto life. Another team member is balanced on some rocks in the middle of the stream, scanning the outflow with his Geiger counter, while the fourth member looks to be studying the main heap of leaky drums. On the opposite bank of the river, a reporter stands, microphone in hand, facing her cameraman.

A view upstream shows the true level of devastation this illegal chemical dump has caused. Most of the plants in and around the river are dead, and those that aren't look decidedly sickly. A number of dead fish float down the river. On the right-hand bank, the rocky ground rises over the effluent outlet, crowned by a black and almost leafless tree. A heap of various different chemical drums has been left at the foot of the outcrop. Some carry radiological hazard warnings while others simple display a skull and crossbones and "Danger." The four hazmat-suited scientists are busy examining the scene and collecting evidence, while a journalist on the other bank is giving a live report of the situation.

An elevated view of the rocky outcrop and the effluent discharge pipe that passes through it. One of the scientists is stood beside the nearly-dead tree, studying the remaining plant-life, a radiation detector held in one hand. At the base of the small, rocky hill, at least a dozen chemical drums lie in a disorganised heap. Some are red, others yellow, orange, green and black. Some are obviously damaged and are leaking who-knows-what. The plants around them are brown and lifeless. Another hazmat-suited scientist is passing a radiation detector over one of the drums. He looks worryingly excited, given that the gauge on his detector looks to be pinned at full scale. A dead fish is visible, floating on the stream.

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Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 10d

Extremely nasty piece of shit with some influence.

RW article seems pretty good:

rationalwiki.org/wiki/Jesse_S...

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Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 12d

Lost it completely at "Benedict his Cumberbatch".

There is coffee in my nose and it's YOUR FAULT..!

(Or mine for reading your posts with a coffee...)

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Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 12d

Apart from the overwhelming degree of cuteness, that's a really nice photo, too. Lovely effect from the backlit fur :-)

Have a compliment from someone who sometimes thinks they know what they're doing with a camera...

Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 13d

I can hear this image.

Gef the Toking Mongoose @geftokingmongoose.bsky.social · 13d

I bet this felt so good if you were a monitor

An old crt computer moniter that has just been degaussed making the screen look warped and line covered

Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 13d

Yay..!

Just discovered Fascinating Horror and Fascinating History, purveyor of fascinating (yes!) YT videos wot I've been watching for ages, are on this thing:

bsky.app/profile/fasc...
bsky.app/profile/funh...

Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 13d

In case anyone's wondering, this is a radio in my collection, resurrected and photographed about 15 years ago. It's the only set in my custody with an interesting mistake on the tuning scale. More pics:

A mid-sixties valve table radio; wooden case; a horizontal glass panel includes the tuning scale with knobs for volume and tuning and a 'magic eye' tuning indicator; above this, a cloth-covered panel behind which is the loudspeaker; below the glass panel is a row of cream push-buttons.

The back panel of the radio in the previous image. A hardboard panel with an irregular pattern of ventilation holes includes red printed text identifying the set as a 'Carmen 3', model number S632A3, made by 'Electronica' in Romania. Smaller text advises against connecting the chassis to ground or removing the back while it's plugged in.

The same radio as before, now with the back cover removed. A small elliptical speaker is visible along with the audio output transformer, both screwed to the speaker panel. Below these, a metal chassis on which is the variable capacitor for tuning, three valves, two cylindrical IF transformers, a cylindrical electrolytic capacitor (for smoothing the HT supply). Hanging off the right of the chassis is the mains transformer providing the HT and heater supplies, but not providing mains isolation.

Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 13d

Wonder what happened to the Ligth Programme..?

Close-up photo of the tuning scale of a 'Carmen 3' valve radio, made by Electronica in Romania, dating from roughly the mid-sixties. The tuning scale has typical station markings; 'Hilversum', 'Welsh', 'Luxembourg' etc. And 'Ligth'.

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Kat Kayelem 🏳️‍⚧️ @kayelem23.bsky.social · 13d

Chris is one of the good guys; he has the authority to shut places down if they don't meet current standards.

He of all people will know more about how not-pristine bits of the UK food system are and has probably seen things I'd rather not know about...