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Pat Swarbrick

@swarpat.bsky.social

55 followers 110 following 890 posts

Bi lefty who became lefty long before graduating High School. Talking to people helps @gronkular.bsky.social is my spouse. Incredibly lucky to have found him when I did, 20+ years ago She/they

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Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 1m

I think we got to see the ones that didn’t make the cut. Mostly it was focal positions that didn’t look as good. Both our stuff looked nearly identical so no matter whose work got featured, they would look great.

My coworker was great at his job.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 1m

We did have slightly different positions of the heat-shrunk labels and I had a different loop position than his, so when the photos went up we both could tell that it was the photo of my wiring that came out the best and got put on the website.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 1m

My coworker and wired up 8 panels, they were paired. We each did one of each design.

The person taking photos took multiple of our work, and we didn’t know which would make the cut.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 15m

So if Trump is going to be a vindictive shitty person am dog after both Gaza and Ukraine because one person says they are unhappy with his behaviour, that makes him completely incompetent and incapable of being in charge. You can’t be thin skinned and be in power. Absolutely not.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 1h

Here is a photo of my kitties snuggling on their favorite chair. They did this fairly often.

#cats

A pair of cats in a donut bed on a chair, with their heads by each other's bottoms, almost like a yin-yang

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 1h

Actually I don’t think any of that actually happens. If it’s anything at all it’s the search history from anyone in your house.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 1h

Do you ever wonder how much audio your phone picks up? How often is that actually processed and used for stuff like populating video feeds or social media feeds and even for ad campaigns?

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

Also assume that you get an inordinate number of trashy romance novels.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

I’m curious about how often you come across the old Star Wars books, from before Disney acquired the franchise and punted them all from the official timeline.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

I actually remember where we lost a chunk of footage from The Empire Strikes Back. The tape ran out when Luke had fallen in the tube, and then the next tape started with Luke hanging from the antenna.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

We tried to stop the recording during the commercial breaks but sometimes missed the timing, and the tapes were not long enough to hold the complete movie so there would be a mad scramble when the tape would stop recording and we would have to find another tape to record on.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

When I was a child. We taped the original Star Wars films from satellite broadcast during the period we still had Satellite. It wasn’t available for sale back then. This was before the big remaster.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

I actually could only recall bits and pieces of the some of the Brownies’s scenes, and a bit of the ending.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

Just thought of something happy:

When I was really young I got into watching Willow on VHS. I watched it so often I wore out the tape.

When I was in my teens it got re-released and I was given a new copy.

I legitimately didn’t remember it.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

That’s when a collection starts to venture into the hoard category.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

See a collection of movies or figures, if they are properly stored or put on display and it doesn’t actually impede the use of the living space? That’s normal, and I don’t see a problem with that.

It’s when it interferes with daily life, blocking hallways, restricting access to utilities…

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

There’s an actual clutter scale that people involved with hoarding use to try and help quantify the volume of stuff that takes up the space, but that doesn’t actually completely describe the actual reduction in usable space and the corresponding impact on daily life.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

I usually don’t have a problem with well managed and stored collector’s items. Just because I don’t tend to collect I don’t see a reason to tell others they can’t. The thing is it’s if their living arrangements are impacted and they have issues with actual storage of the items.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

A similar thing applies to art materials.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

I’m more tolerant of electronics and old gadgets and games and stuff because I understand they are different, and as long as those don’t get over a certain level of hoarding, like a level 2 or 3 on the hoarding scale, confined to a couple of rooms, that’s okay.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

I also pick what I can actually use or display. I don’t want to have a big stash of stuff it actually triggers me when things get too out of hand like too many clothes or dishes or something.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

I mean the whole story of the Collier brothers and all their hoarding and the precious objects that were destroyed by their need to acquire? That turned me off of that kind of collecting.

I pick what I actually like to look at, or enjoy interacting with.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

It’s not about purity, it’s the fact I want to wear it and that means it going to get worn out and beat up.

It’s interesting to look at, and some of the valuable stuff that’s put on display? I like looking at the craftsmanship but that as far as it goes. Don’t need to acquire it.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

I find sapphire crystals interesting because of the engineering applications. I find fossilized prismatic stuff interesting for the history, but when it comes to actual jewelry for me, I would pick the lab grown stuff over anything pulled from the ground.

Pat Swarbrick @swarpat.bsky.social · 2h

I always had a fascination with jewelry and prisms and stuff. It’s just the diffraction of light that I like.

To be honest I don’t really care if something is a precious jewel or cut glass with some coating on it. It’s what is done with it.