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taonf.bsky.social
Tao Neuendorffer
@taonf.bsky.social
1.4K followers 1.1K following 410 posts
🚋 on the T 😷 in Pittsburgh 🎤Songs and stories of computer science💾 We are none of us alone🎵 People of all colors and genders keep making tech history🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈
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taonf.bsky.social
Tao Neuendorffer @taonf.bsky.social · 14m
Letters sent with @resist.bot are a barometer of our concern

A way to keep the pressure on

Every day, write or call your legislators
☎️ 202 224 3121
Congressional Switchboard

You can write a letter as easily as you text
Text SIGN PDUAJJ to 50409 To Join Tao & Tell Your Officials: Preserve biomedical research funding to save lives, drive innovation Got 2 minutes? Resist.bot is a free tool to help you send communication to your legislators
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
georgerbuchanan.bsky.social
For #TransAwarenessWeek - trans computer scientists have driven the frontiers of digital technology. If you're reading this on a mobile device, it almost certainly has an ARM chip, pioneered by Sophie Wilson, who I was lucky enough to know via Acorn. blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/celebrating-...
Celebrating Sophie Wilson and 40 years of the ARM microprocessor - Science Museum Blog
To mark 40 years since the production of the first ARM microprocessor, Assistant Curator Cait Scott explores computing history and the career of one of ARM’s pioneering programmers, Sophie Wilson.
blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk
November 18, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
mattsiegel.bsky.social
the device that saved the ARM processor (which now accounts for a quarter TRILLION cpu cores)
taonf.bsky.social Tao Neuendorffer @taonf.bsky.social · Jul 14
The Newton was beloved by almost everybody who had one. It came from an R&D group hidden deep within Apple and was developed by people who believed it was the next big leap in computers

The #LoveNotesToNewton film was made possible by Newton fans all over the world
lovenotestonewton.moosefuel.media
Love Notes to Newton displayed on a Newton MessagePad screen Love Notes to Newton: a film about a little green computer, and the people who love it
December 13, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
newtontalk.bsky.social
The last Global Newton Users Meetup (GNUM) of 2025 is coming up!

Global Newton Users Meetup #18
Saturday, December 27th, 2025 @ 17:00 UTC

Join in for a casual chat with other fans of the #AppleNewton platform.

Details on the mailing list:

lists.newtontalk.net/pipermail/ne...

See you there!
lists.newtontalk.net
December 11, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
adalovelaceday.bsky.social
Abla Mehio Sibai researches healthy ageing and non-communicable diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, among older adults in underprivileged communities, including refugees.
adalovelaceday.subst...
Prof Abla Mehio Sibai, Epidemiologist
Abla Mehio Sibai is an epidemiologist and public health activist who researches healthy ageing and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in older populations.
adalovelaceday.substack.com
December 13, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
twiqh.bsky.social
Michelangelo emerges as a queer icon through his poetry for Tommaso Cavalieri, revealing romantic feelings. Some works were later altered—revisionism! Despite sodomy laws, Florence had nuanced views on queerness. His art and writings reflect deep admiration for the male form. #QueerArtHistory
December 13, 2025 at 6:04 PM
taonf.bsky.social
Letters sent with @resist.bot are a barometer of our concern

A way to keep the pressure on

Every day, write or call your legislators
☎️ 202 224 3121
Congressional Switchboard

You can write a letter as easily as you text
Text SIGN PDUAJJ to 50409 To Join Tao & Tell Your Officials: Preserve biomedical research funding to save lives, drive innovation Got 2 minutes? Resist.bot is a free tool to help you send communication to your legislators
December 13, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
taonf.bsky.social
Contact your elected representatives. Call. Write. Protest.

Let them hear us.
Text SIGN PSBRWS to 50409 To join Tao & tell your officials: Vote to advance All Three articles of impeachment
December 12, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
benfranklinskite.bsky.social
Urgent
URGENT

Phone!

Make the noise
Just like for the ACA the first time round

Then follow up with a @resist.bot
colemanrogers.com Coleman Rogers @colemanrogers.com · 2d
Congress must pass a clean extension of ACA premium tax credits—no anti-abortion riders, no attacks on gender-affirming care. Reject Crapo-Cassidy bill and act now to prevent nationwide premium spikes. Text SIGN PELAKZ to 50409 or go to: resist.bot/petitions/PE... @resist.bot @campaigns.resist.bot
Vote Today: Support a Clean ACA Extension, Oppose Harmful Riders
Text SIGN PELAKZ to 50409 to send this to your officials.
resist.bot
December 11, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
airshipwriter.bsky.social
There’s a lot to protest, but amongst all of Trump’s grift, there’s this: Bad for rate-payers, the environment, climate, and workers.

Call Congress, tell them
#NoCoal

202-224-3121

With @resist.bot you can also text ‘sign PSQLFL’ to send to your Reps in Seconds!

resist.bot/petitions/PS...
December 11, 2025 at 8:02 PM
taonf.bsky.social
Librarians kick ass! I asked for European hairstyles from before the 17th century and they gave me a pile of ancient tomes from various countries

But you need to ask for something real. LLM chatbots hallucinate fake references—you’re sending librarians on unachievable quests after imaginary books
histoftech.bsky.social Fleetwood Emacs @histoftech.bsky.social · 1h
As an author, I’ve already gotten multiple emails from people asking me for fake articles and books that I’ve supposedly written, because chatbots have told them fake references. I *cannot imagine* the frustration and time waste for librarians and especially ILL library professionals right now.
December 13, 2025 at 5:40 PM
taonf.bsky.social
What I post from
Backstage Right, next to the stage of The Muppet Theatre, by the dressing rooms and stage door
December 13, 2025 at 4:59 PM
taonf.bsky.social
#Muppet Monster Eats Machine youtu.be/nhzlsRvLQ2M
Muppets on Ed Sullivan: (Cookie) Monster Eats Machine
YouTube video by Muppet Songs
youtu.be
December 13, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
firewalldragons.bsky.social
Excellent video, well worth a watch. I completely agree. I love my tech, but I prefer to own my media. And having an analog backup of data or manual override for digital controls is mandatory for anything important.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvJe...
The power of analogue | Carissa Veliz | TEDxGeneva
YouTube video by TEDx Talks
www.youtube.com
December 13, 2025 at 3:39 PM
taonf.bsky.social
First Real-Time Passenger Information (1974) Imagine not knowing what platform your train has been changed to or if it's running late. Well, that's what things were like before Dina St Johnston. Her company, Vaughan Programming Services (VPS), started working with British Rail in 1974, supplying real-time passenger information systems at busy stations such as London Bridge and Gatwick. Telent Technology Services, with thanks to Simon Lavington
December 13, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
kenplume.bsky.social
Another little festive treat, from THE MUPPET SHOW’s second season - “Sweet Gingerbread Man”. The production on those horns feels so 70s to me…
December 11, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
kenplume.bsky.social
This interaction is just brilliantly sweet and sublimely played by a wonderfully present Frank Oz…
December 12, 2025 at 3:19 AM
taonf.bsky.social
This year, The Black Market has moved to the Cultural District inside the Merry Marketplace space on 7th Street

The Black Market will be open for the next two weekends and is a short walk away from other vendors at the Encore building in Downtown Pittsburgh
December 13, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
authorkaraj.bsky.social
I say this with love, CALL YOUR FUCKING SENATORS, especially the republican ones and give them the what-for about health insurance premiums and keeping the ACA funded.
Haunt them like they're Scrooge.
ericmgarcia.bsky.social Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 1d
Brian Fitzpatrick, one of only three Republicans who hail from a district that voted for Kamala Harris, filed a discharge and said "It feels more realistic that our push will inspire the Senate to come up with some kind of compromise." #PA01
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
Moderate Republicans revolt against Mike Johnson to force a vote on health care
As the Senate remains stuck and many oppose extending the subsidies, Republicans from swing districts try and find a bipartisan fix, Eric Garcia writes
www.independent.co.uk
December 12, 2025 at 2:57 PM
taonf.bsky.social
Radioactive 50-ft. Woman Has Period in Space!

Constance Penley and Robin Moore

Science as a Prize in a Crackerback Jox
#Mondo2000 #Cyberpunk
CONSTANCE PENLEY: Canned cultures like Biosphere Il are interesting because they are one place where ideology is more important than actual information. Real science projects have to project themselves like this to be popular. For example, NASA modelled itself on Star Trek. They had a hard time getting support for the manned space program—scientists know you get much more information from unmanned flights—so they tried to tap into people's love of Star Trek. They named the first shuttle the Enterprise. They hired Nichelle Nichols—Lieutenant Uhuru—to run a recruiting program for women and minorities in the astronaut program. The Challenger crew was modelled on a kind of Star Trek lineup: a mixed-race, mixed-sex crew. MONDO 2000: What's your take on MONDO and the sexification of technological culture? Do you think it goes too far in glamorizing tech? CP: I like projects that go too far. I loved JFK. This time (Stone's) insanity went the right way. Just when people are feeling Iran-Contra is never going to move, here comes someone making a film on conspiracy, coverups, etc. Now that kind of frothing at the mouth, being a little too shrill—love the way it breaks the smugness of what passes for political discourse in this country. We always find issues of sexuality and sexual difference around technology. I teach a science fiction film course where right from the beginning, anxiety about technology gets projected onto women's bodies. In the class we go from Melies' Trip to the Moon, through Godard's Alphaville, to Blade Runner. Just take Metropolis. Fears about emerging technology get projected onto the body of the woman becoming a robot. And the number of exploding/radioactive women in science fiction film is phenomenal! When I was doing all this Challenger explosion and Christa MacAuliffe research, I was collecting kids' sick jokes about it. The very first one I heard was: "What were Christa MacAuliffe's last words? 'Hey guys, what's this button?'" M2: It's too consistent to just be a pattern of scapegoating women. CP: Right: when technology was on the rise, women's political power was increasing. I think fear of technology being out of control and fear of women being out of control got conflated. M2: It clearly fits into Christian ideas of sin—the apple as techno-knowledge. And technology seems to be an equalizer, physically. CP: When women were tested in the early phases of the astronaut program in the '60s, they were better in every skill! There was a famous article in Ms. magazine in 1973 about this. Women had more stamina, more dexterity, more psychological stability… M2: I remember hearing women couldn't be astronauts because of some weird thing about menstruation! They weren't sure if gravity was necessary. And I thought—I was 12 then—they can send a man to the moon, but they don't understand tampons? Wouldn't it be worth it, on the verge of a new age, to find out?!? Aroused by the space-period question, I called OB/GYN at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Dr. Richard Jennings was kind enough to answer my questions. He said women were excluded from the early space program because President Eisenhower decided that 1500 hours of training at the Test Pilot school would also be required—and the academy at that time excluded women. He also gave me a history of the prejudices against women in aviation, which were doubtless inherited by NASA. There were accidents in the 1920's involving menstruating women pilots—like a wing of the plane coming off—that were fully exploited by journalists. About menstruation in space, he said "Even if there were a problem—there still wouldn't be a problem." Retrograde (backflowing) menstruation has never been found to have any consequences. "So do they just bring tampons along on space flights?" "Basically, yes." Other options available for years to Olympic athletes and mountain climbers have been suppression with pills or menstrual extraction.
December 13, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
amiga.vision
We sometimes get asked why AmigaVision ships with scan lines and shadow masks out of the box. Why not use sharp pixels? Because the graphics on the Amiga were never meant to be shown as sharp pixels on a flat panel. Here’s a fun video talking about it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC-8...
what did you do
YouTube video by Noodle
www.youtube.com
December 13, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
computeum.bsky.social
🎄Der Computeum #Adventskalender🎄
🎅Türchen 13: Handlocher🖥️

Die Löcher müssen in die Karten. Das ging auch in klein und auf dem Schreibtisch. Einfach Buchstabe am Handrad einstellen und ein Druck auf die Taste stanzte den Code. Dazu automatischer Vorschub und sogar Tabulatoren für Formulare.
#Retro
Auf einem Holztisch steht ein Gerät mit einem flachen Metallunterbau, und einer blauen Haube über der Mitte. In der Metallfäche sind Führungsschienen angebracht in denen eine Lochkarte liegt, die dann unter dem blauen Aufbau durchgeschoben werden kann. In der blauen Haube ist der Stanzmechanismus. Links an dem Aufbau ist ein Drehrad auf dem man Buchstaben, Zahlen und Sonderzeichen einstellen kann. Davor ist ein kleineres Drehrad mit 80 Rastungen die die Position der Karte anzeigen. An dem Drehrad sind 8 Metallplättchen befestigt, die man auf eine der 80 Stellen arretieren und so Tabulatorpositionen festlegen kann. Am vorderen Ende der Metallfläche sind 3 blaue Tasten, eine große in der Mitte, beschriftet mit PUNCH, links und rechts jeweils eine Kleine mit den Buchstaben T und S. Ein Druck auf PUCH stanzt das eingestellte Zeichen. ein Druck auf S (für Space) erzeugt eine Leerstelle, ein Druck auf T bewegt die Karte weiter bis zur nächsten Tabulatorposition.
December 13, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
infinite-women.com
You can read more about her at www.infinite-women.com/women/annie-... and find more than 120 other women astronomers at www.infinite-women.com/category/sci...
December 12, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
womensartbluesky.bsky.social
Local women crochet/knit woolly PJs for rescued vulnerable, ill and formally abused elephants to shield them from the nighttime cold, Elephant Conservation Care Center, India #UnravellingWomensArt
Four images of Indian women creating crochet covers for elephants in a sandy landscape
December 13, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
firewalldragons.bsky.social
Today I chat with Skyper & TMZ from @phrack.org magazine as they celebrate 40 years of phone phreaking, stack smashing and seminal filez like the Hacker Manifesto!

@hackerschoice.bsky.social @guitmz.bsky.social

podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com/2025/12/08/4...
40 Years of Phrack - Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast
Way before the world wide web, computer enthusiasts were sharing information via digital bulletin board systems (BBS). This amounted to attaching a modem to...
podcast.firewallsdontstopdragons.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Tao Neuendorffer
benfry.com
Super impressed with this extremely well-documented, and well-designed, open source hacking project. What a pleasant surprise: www.typeframe.net
Typeframe
A collection of open-source hardware and software for building writerdecks/cyberdecks.
www.typeframe.net
December 12, 2025 at 1:45 PM