rdm

#Perth born and resident. #Linux #Sysadmin, SoT kayaker with a Hobie Outback, 3-wheel HPV user , #photographer, #boardgamer, #RPG player, and #SFF fan. I am a #mermaid (well mer-dude). Just an all-round geek. I am proud to live on Whadjuk #Noongar boodja.

I play #GURPS, #DnD5e, and #TravellerRPG .

I like to take photos of #birds (esp. #raptors), and other merfolk. I also shoot #pinhole and #solargraph images. I play with in-camera #cyanotype imaging.

I have accidentally become a writer, too.

Public Key

npub1k270m47gzf5gtudxdc0hedxqjq74v7uzwheavd8qajn9q9h55xhsx6xrek

NIP-05 Address

rdm@aus-social.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqst908a6lypy6y97xnxu8muknqfq02k0wp8tu7kxnswefjszm62rtcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsqa8s6m

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1k270m47gzf5gtudxdc0hedxqjq74v7uzwheavd8qajn9q9h55xhsx6xrek

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Last Notes

2026-10-25 09:57:39 UTC

Time to make mention of a local business who have possibly the most ludicrously long legitimate website and domain name I have seen in many, many years:
Congratulations to https://thewestaustraliansandalwoodnutcompany.com.au
(They also happen to have yummy native foods, but we're all about the crazy long domain name here.)
They could have shortened it in any number of ways, but decided, no, this was a day for violence, and spelled out everything. You shall use proper English here.
#DNSAbuse

2026-10-08 14:03:50 UTC

I don't have an image for day four of World Space Week, because the weather has clagged in.
So, instead, you get one from September 10.
This is one of the classic sights of the #SouthernSky - #47Tucanae , or simply #47Tuc .The second largest globular cluster visible, it lives near the Magellanic Clouds, and is visible pretty much year round.
Taken on September 10, with my #Dwarf3 in #PerthWA, with 90s subframes, gain 40, and the inbuilt light pollution filter. Postprocessing in Dwarflab's Stellar Studio, and #Snapseed to finish.
#Astronomy #Astrodon #Astrophotography #BackYardAstronomy #SmartTelescope #WorldSpaceWeek
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/117/405/640/801/888/994/original/5ce80cdb270dc3db.jpeg

2026-10-03 09:32:12 UTC

The piano had been sitting in the train station for years.
No one knew when it had arrived there. After the station opened, everyone was sure of that.
Felicity was not so sure. She'd been one of the first passengers to use the station, and she was pretty sure it had been there then.
And then there was the way the transport authority kept talking about removing it every couple of years. Awould be promptly forgotten about.
So she found herself sitting down at it, despite not knowing how to play. Just to satisfy her curiosity, she said to herself.
'Hello piano.'
There was a rustle, and some sheet music blew across the platform and into her lap.
'I cant play, sorry.'
Then she looked again, and saw the keys illustrated beneath the notes.
She tried picking them out.
Slowly a tune formed.
A train arrived, and passengers alighted.
One of them, an older woman, smiled at her.
The weeks passed, and she made half and hour in her commute to see what would happen.
Her playing improved.
One day the older woman sat down next to her.
"There used to be a music school here" she opened with.
Felicity looked over to her.
"Glenys. My mother was one of the last students. I've seen old photos of this piano."
Felicity thought about this, and paused in her playing.
"I think it is still teaching", she said softly.
"Teachers are always waiting for the right student."
"Do you know how it got here?"
"I can guess. The music school burned down."
"Oh. So..."
"Best not ask, and just enjoy."
#microfiction #tootfic #IAmWriting #GhostStory #microfic #SFF #Fantasy

2026-09-27 07:16:39 UTC

Time travel is generally regarded as impossible.
This is wrong.
Time travel has been invented at least a hundred times since the discovery of electricity.
So why don't more people know about it?
Well, it is because there is a problem with it. And everyone who discovers it falls for the same trap.
In order to travel in time, you need to be able to detach yourself from your local frame of reference. This is easier to achieve than you might think.
Once detached, you can travel back and forth in time freely, safely contained in whatever life support system you have devised. You can even snatch small items from the static times, and collect air and water - all without reconnecting to a local frame.
And that is the problem.
Reconnecting.
This requires much, much more energy than disconnecting. And the amount is exponentially affected by the amount you have travelled from your local frame.
Not how far you currently are from your local frame, but how far you travelled from it in total.
If you travel a single minute, you will need approximately twice the energy it took to disconnect. Two minutes, four times. Even if you travelled one forward and one back, that is still two minutes, and takes four times the energy. And it is proportional to the mass of the object being returned.
Most time travellers try for at least ten years for their first trip.
Exponential growth is a bastard of a thing if you are at the pointy end of it.
On the positive side, those of us who have made this mistake can communicate and interact. There are lots of us, really, but none of us have the energy required to get home. Or anywhere but where we are. Outside of time.
We have learned that we do not age out here. And we keep meeting new people. Maybe at some point we will find the people who can undo our mistakes. But it will probably take all the energy of our universe to do it.
Delivering this message took nearly the effective output of two megatons of TNT. And it consists of a handful of electrons. I'm sure you can do the math.
Please, do not follow us.
#SF #SFF #SciFi #TimeTravel #microfiction #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting

2026-08-16 07:01:11 UTC

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@nprofile…ywj0
Basically de Havilland came up with an idea for a super fast bomber that used cabinet makers to build them, allowing for a huge untapped workforce to be used in the war effort.
At first the Air Ministry hated it, but eventually came around.

2026-08-16 06:43:39 UTC

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@nprofile…ywj0
This somehow reminds me of the story of the Mosquito.

2026-08-16 06:22:19 UTC

This morning my best friend, Rikky, handed me a sheet of paper between classes as we passed.
Then during lunch she yelled at me, said some really horrible things, and stormed off saying that she never wanted to see me again. I almost threw out the paper, but I decided to read it. We had been friends since primary school, after all.
Scribbled at the top in her writing was "I'm sorry. I don't mean any of it. I'll see you in seventeen years. Stay alive."
Under that was this email.
"The day after tomorrow your best friend, Janice, is going to get pulled up in front of the school. There will be news cameras and reporters and government officials.
Janice Southward will be the next Chosen One.
How do I know? Because seventeen years ago my best friend was chosen. And I've been trying to keep him alive ever since. That is going to be your job now. I'll help, but you know her best.
But you can never been seen anywhere near her. If you are, you will get your mail and email screened, and you will be watched so you cannot interfere.
Why?
Because the Chosen One of each generation is not picked by some prophecy or seer or test of skill. They are picked at random. They have no special powers, no great destiny. They get a little stipend, enough so they don't have to work if they don't want to.
So what are they? They are bait. For every two-bit villain who comes along. They will have it shoved in their faces that there is a Chosen One - and even who it is. So they will go after them. And the government will know where they are going. So they can finish them off.
About one in ten of the Chosen Ones make it to 34. I want Janice to be one of them. Why? Because I've kept Callum alive. And I want his successor to do the same.
I worked my way into the Statistics Bureau. They are the ones who deal with The Chosen One and the idiots who go after them. The day after tomorrow I hope to see Callum for the first time in seventeen years.
And I will be waiting for you in the Bureau. Join me. And help keep Janice alive.
Show this to Janice, and then have a very public fight with her. Tell her to destroy this. No one can know. Especially not the Bureau. "
I sat back, and went to the loo. I tore the paper into tiny tiny bits and flushed them.
It all sounded insane. But there is going to be a big assembly tomorrow.
I guess I'd better destroy this as well.
#SF #SFF #microfiction #Microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting #MaybeDistopia

2026-07-28 04:26:31 UTC

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@nprofile…emk6
The sequel to Battlestar Sciatica?

2026-07-26 11:36:10 UTC

The tiny island community surveyed the devastation the typhoon had caused. Fishing boats were tossed onto the land, buildings levelled, and the bridge linking them to the next island had been torn apart by the waves.
On the horizon, the wall of the other side of the typhoon's eye approached.
From inside the storm shelter a voice yelled "There's an aid flight coming in! Wait! No! No! They've taken a lightning hit, and lost power! They're going down!"
The few who had left to do a quick survey ran back, but just as they reached the entrance they froze as a terrific roar filled the air.
Looking back, they saw a huge shadow in the storm wall. The enraged roar came again, and a giant reptilian shape burst from the clouds, bat-like wings beating against the wind.
The dragon flew at the island, and landed just outside the shelter, wings covering most of the remains of the settlement's buildings.
In the dragon's left foreclaw was the fuselage of an aircraft, wings ripped off. It set it down.
The hatch opened, and a woman got out. She looked up. The dragon raised its head and stared at her. "I told you I should have made the flight" it growled.
"If it hadn't been for that lightning strike, I would have been fine."
"And yet here we are."
"Sorry, love."
"You are safe now, that is all that really matters. And the emergency supplies are here."
The woman looked at the small group huddled at the entrance to the storm shelter.
"And this is why I thought I should do it."
The dragon lowered its head. "I suppose."
She called out "Don't worry, she's here to help. I need a hand getting the supplies out before the eye passes. Come *on*."
One man, braver than the others started towards her. "Miss?"
"Freddy", she gestured to the dragon, "and this is Emerald." She climbed back in, and a larger hatch at the rear opened. "Come on, form a chain. Quickly!"
The rest of the small group who had ventured out, formed a line, and passed the packages of supplies and equipment into the shelter.
Emerald rumbled "Inside Freddy. I'll guard."
Freddy reached up, and kissed Emerald's snout "Thanks for the save, love", then she turned and ran into the shelter.
The doors closed just as the winds of the typhoon hit again. Emerald gripped the ground, and used her wings to protect the wrecked aircraft. It might be so much junk now, but it was Freddy's pride and joy. So she would protect what was left of it.
#SF #SFF #Fantasy #microfiction #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting #Dragon

2026-07-26 03:30:28 UTC

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@nprofile…emk6
Humph. I see Tuesday.

2026-06-09 14:41:50 UTC

I looked across the tent at a perfect copy of myself. Well, not quite perfect. They are still getting the hang of English.
I should back up a bit.
Just before sunset a week ago, I screwed up. I'd been driving too long, and only saw the wombat on the highway at the last moment. I swerved and lost control.
When I came to, my car was totalled, and well out of sight of the highway, behind a low rise on the plain. I struggled out of the wreck in the dark, but had enough sense not to try wandering around. There are all sorts of sinkholes around here, and if I fell down one of them, I was a goner.
As I stood next to the remains of my car, I saw what I thought was a helicopter coming my way. I waved and shouted, but then I noticed how erratically it was flying. The lights seemed a bit off, too. I was pretty sure helicopters didn't have purple lights. So maybe it was someone's drone?
All of that went out the window, when it turned towards me, and then crashed into the ground next to my wrecked car.
What I was looking at was an actual flying saucer. About twice the size of my car. And it looked about as wrecked as my car was.
After a couple of moments, a small port opened, and a gush of purple liquid poured out, followed by a splat of something grey.
I just stared. What I didn't notice was the grey blob in the purple puddle extruding a tendril towards me. At least until it touched my leg.
I probably jumped five metres straight up at that. And about five backwards.
What followed was the grey blob contracting back into itself, and then changing. Into a perfect copy of me.
This was one shock too many, and I fainted.
When I came to, the copy was crouched next to me. Before I could move, it touched my forehead, and I was filled with a sense of worry. And it was not mine. This I found a bit reassuring, and so I stopped myself from moving, and tried to ask what it was.
It took a lot of back and forthing of mental images, but it's ship had hit an near-earth asteroid, and it had lost control. It wanted to know if it could be fixed.
I didn't know. But, between the two of us, we might be able to get one vehicle sort of working. We thought about getting a lift, but there would be questions. Too many of them.
Of course, it was now in the form of a human, so the first order was arranging food and water. Then it discovered it needed to sleep. And everything else.
Some of its ship still worked - and it knew enough to work out how create food and water for us both. And it is learning English. Which is a bit easier than trading images.
We've been here a week now.
As I watch the copy of me, it wakes up. I watch my body stretch, and then it looks at me. "We fix car. Get bigger car. Take my ship to fixing place."
"I don't know that we've got anywhere that can fix your ship."
"Can't fix it here."
"Can we fix the car?"
"Easier than ship."
I guess it has a point.
#SF #SFF #SciFi #microfic #tootfic #microtfiction #IAmWriting

2026-05-27 00:49:46 UTC

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@nprofile…emk6
Cannot type, laughing too hard.

2026-05-15 08:28:52 UTC

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@nprofile…emk6
Apparently a well merged cut and paste.

2026-05-15 05:19:19 UTC

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@nprofile…emk6
I can't for the life of me work out if it is well merged cut and paste or phenomenally good makeup!

2026-04-23 12:58:02 UTC

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@nprofile…ugpy
What is interesting is that the same tool can be used on proprietary software to achieve the same result - a public domain re-implementation.
Of, say, for example, a large corporate database starting with 'O'.

2026-04-16 04:43:49 UTC

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@nprofile…emk6
I'm also going to have to ask, who is the pet?
(I'm not discounting the head, btw.)

2026-04-14 11:34:34 UTC

It is early in the morning on Sunday, and I am opening the back door to see if there are any ripe lemons on the tree.
Instead I almost tread on a fox. Curled up and asleep.
Now, you have to understand that ever since Europeans settled here, we have had Japanese immigrants as well. Some by choice, some ... less so.
This is why I am not too surprised to see that the fox has three tails. My opening the door has not awakened it, so I step over and continue on to the lemon tree. There are two ripe lemons this morning, which suits me just fine.
I have another look at the fox on the way back, just to make sure, but there is no sign of any injury. I step over again, and leave the screen door ajar.
Charlie is still asleep upstairs as I start putting breakfast together. I am cooking pancakes, and I know the smell of them will wake her up. Eventually.
I'm on the fourth one when I feel a nose in the back of my knee. I look down at the fox, and nod towards the crockery cabinet. "Can you get some plates out please? The medium ones." I ask.
The fox looks at the cabinet, back at me, back to the cabinet, and sneezes. The young woman standing in its place sticks her tongue out at me "You're no fun" she says in a broad accent.
"I'm Toby, Charlie's husband. A kitsune is fairly normal by my standards. Now, do you want bacon on your pancakes?"
"Sally. Your wife, Charlie? She's the witch?"
"Yep. What's the problem?" As I speak, I put some bacon on as well.
"Um, I need some help finding Mum."
"She's missing?"
"Yes? No? Sort of? I was adopted. And, well, I had no idea what I was until a year ago."
"Are you in trouble?"
"No, but I don't know what I should do. I um, I like this guy back home, but there's also my best friend, and they don't know about me and I don't know what to do."
The last came out with a bit of a whine, and she blushed, clearly embarrassed by it all.
I smiled a sympathetic smile "OK, I'll get Charlie, and let's get you sorted. If I know how these things go, it will not be too bad. But first, breakfast. Tea or coffee?"
"Um, do you have hot chocolate?"
"Of course." Plus the smell of chocolate will get Charlie down here even quicker than the coffee and pancakes.
#CharlieAndToby #SF #SFF #UrbanFantasy #microfiction #tootfic #microfic #IAmWriting

2026-03-30 23:43:04 UTC

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@nprofile…p0fq @nprofile…emk6
Make way! (Tramples Dave)

2026-03-29 10:09:36 UTC

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@nprofile…emk6
Premium quality entertainment!

2026-03-21 02:08:05 UTC

Yes folks, in the spirit of Dresden Codak's Caveman SF, I go too far.
I have published a book of my microfiction.
The official publication date is April 19, @nprofile…07zj and I's 30th wedding anniversary, and there will be a launch at Swancon50 at the end of May.
I have ordered a bunch to hawk around my LFBS, and there will be a bunch for sale at Swancon.
Some of the stories include my Father Christmas story (which I feel should be spruiked around the various awards), the first three parts of Iris, a good serve of Charlie and Toby, Scout and Shaman, and sequel Shaman Scout. Several have been reworked and/or expanded from the originals.
Huge thanks to Leece for helping edit it and to all the folks here who have been encouraging me to keep writing.
Preorders at all the usual places. https://rdmasters.lympago.com/p/my-book.html
#Publishing #microfiction #tootfic #microfic #IAmWriting #SciFi #Fantasy #horror #SFF

2026-03-19 07:24:58 UTC

Alaine pushed off from the engine room hatch, and flew across the cargo hold towards the crew area. He'd not had much experience in zero-g, and missed the hatch at the other end. He did, however, manage to snag one of the tie-downs before he rebounded.
He felt the vibration of the number one turret launching a spread of chaff and pebble canisters. They would burst like shotgun shells in an attempt to distract or intercept incoming missiles. He didn't like the odds.
Reaching the bridge, he cycled through the internal airlock. The bridge crew - captain, navigator, and gunner - looked at him. Everyone appeared much older than earlier that day. Even the navigator, who Alaine knew was only two years older than him seemed aged in the emergency lights. The captain, normally a bundle of energy, looked past retirement.
"Cap? Sparks says the drives are down, and she can only give emergency power. Three of the reactors have scrammed. She might be able to get one back up in an hour."
The captain of the little trader cursed "Damned pirates! OK, we've got about four hours before they can get alongside us to board. Tell Sparks to do whatever she can, and give her what help you can. Go!"
Alaine didn't bother saluting, just turned and hit the airlock button again. As he did so, he heard the radio crackle. This would be the pirates demanding their surrender. As if. They'd never let them live, even if they did surrender.
"Trade ship Athena, Trade ship Athena, we have you on radar and are closing to provide assistance. ETA two hours."
Alaine paused. That did not sound like a pirate ship. That sounded like some sort of in-system patrol. But this system was supposed to be uninhabited. What was going on?
The voice continued, "Unidentified vessel, this is patrol ship Findottire. Stand down and cease fire. Failure to do so will result in your destruction."
As the airlock hatch opened, he heard the gunner call out "Captain, I have multiple launches on radar, but not from the pirate ship - they are from in-system. Trajectory indicates the pirates are the targets. Time to target is thirty minutes."
Maybe they would survive today after all.
#SF #SFF #SciFi #microfic #tootfic #microfiction #ShamanScout #IAmWriting #ShamanSpace

2026-03-10 00:03:03 UTC

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@nprofile…emk6
Martha Wells. Murderbot is a joy.
Andre Norton's SF works form the foundation of a lot of modern SF.
Sharon Lee (who mostly writes with her now late husband, Steven Miller) and the Liaden universe is legendary.

2026-03-04 23:54:14 UTC

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@nprofile…emk6
It is a laval Catbus!!

2026-03-02 07:55:02 UTC

@nprofile…5fe9
Look what I just printed!
If I can't get to a Kaweco DIY, I'll darned well design one of my own!
Printed in Glow in the dark PETG.
Now to decide what nib or tip to put in it.
FH241 nib or PRS tip ?
#3dprint #fountainpen
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/116/158/496/879/131/305/original/328a8281ea32f63d.jpg

2026-02-26 12:46:03 UTC

I was sitting on the bank of a river watching the mist, when a football suddenly splashed into the water just in front of me. The spray got me, so it had clearly come from the river direction.
"Your ball's over here!" I yelled into the mist. No answer. So after a few moments I threw it back into the mist, as hard as I could.
I heard it hit the water with a splash, and then there was a much larger splash, followed by several more. A few seconds later the ball came sailing back. This time I caught it.
Studying it, it looked like it had been floating in the water a while, with a smear of algae on one side. I threw it back again. Again the splash of the ball and then other louder splashes. The ball came back again.
I kept this up for a while, but then my arm got tired, and I sat down.
Looking into the mist, I thought I saw something, but then nothing - just the curling wisps.
Then, right in front of me, a tall neck rose out of the river, a small head on top of it looked down at me, and then the neck bent down until the head was level with mine. It looked at the ball, then out to the river, and then at me. And did it again.
I shook my head. "Sorry, I'm tuckered out."
After a few moments the neck slid back into the water until just the head was showing, resting on the bank, staring at the ball.
I rolled it down the bank to it, and it headbutted it back to me. It was content to play like this for a while. Then I heard a fishing boat chugging downstream.
The creature grabbed the ball, and vanished underwater.
After a few minutes, I got up and walked back to the B&B we were staying at.
As I walked in, Charlie looked up from her book. "How was the River Ness?"
"Misty, and living up to its name."
Charlie raised an elegant eyebrow at me.
"I played fetch with the monster for a while. It has a soccer ball."
Charlie got up and sniffed me, then traced a couple of runes on my forehead.
"Huh."
"Told you."
She shook her head "Yes, you did my love. You did. But I was not going to rule out you having me on."
"Fair. How about we go into town for breakfast?"
"That sounds lovely."
#CharlieAndToby #SF #SFF #UrbanFantasy #Nessie #microfiction #tootfic #microfic #IAmWriting
Despite all the tourist literature, the original stories have the monster in the river, not the loch.

2026-02-26 06:50:25 UTC

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@nprofile…kahw
A rare case of the anti-suck fairy visiting!

2026-01-23 10:54:36 UTC

Recently we have been noticing some odd log files on our configuration deployment server.
Our first thought was that it was some sort of attack vector, but the logs continued to appear even when the server was disconnected from the network.
So we dug in deeper, and the logs were perfectly ordinary job execution logs - except that they were from three weeks in the future.
Roll forward three weeks, and we get an urgent change request to deal with a zero day. We run the job, and that was when our junior commented that the resulting log was the same as the one we saw three weeks ago.
So I'm sitting in my home office now, and I'm looking at the classic Magritte - 'The Treachery of Images' aka 'This is not a pipe'. And I'm thinking "What if he was wrong. What if the label can be the thing?"
Our configuration deployment is called "Ansible".
#SF #SFF #SciFi #microfic #microfiction #tootfic #IAmWriting

2026-01-18 10:35:23 UTC

Maintaining an interstellar community is extraordinarily hard. Even within the human worlds, it is difficult.
The hardest part is disease.
Not so much massive plagues - they are easy to quarantine. The tricky thing is the endemic bugs of each world. The things that could run riot in other biospheres.
Smoothing the spread of such bacteria and virii is initially handled by the scout service, who introduce the most common microflora and fauna to new worlds in a well controlled way. They also manage the outward spread of the new world's biome to neighbouring worlds.
But what about after that? How do you maintain a biome that is not going to kill travellers across tens, let alone hundreds or thousands of worlds?
The answer lies in one of the least formal parts of any major interstellar community.
The tramp trade network.
Small independent traders that move from world to world in small ships, moving relatively slowly, and almost always visiting the surface. Picking up the latest mutations in the local microflora and fauna as an incidental, and releasing the latest from the nearest neighbours.
Keeping the local group more-or-less in sync. And the trade routes overlap, and operate in overlapping spheres.
Yes, if you were to catch a fast ship from one end of a large polity and travel to the other end, you might well get very sick. But if you did it slowly, you would get gradually adapted.
The downside is that most travellers over large distances tend to spend much of their time vaguely unwell.
"Space Flu" they call it, and it is something that affects many long-distance tourists. People discuss solutions for it on the news boards almost constantly, and new treatments are always being touted.
What only a few very well informed people know is that this travelling malaise is a sign that things are working as expected. There will never be a complete cure for it, and it would be a disaster if one were found.
#SF #SFF #SciFi #SpaceOpera #microfiction #tootfic #microfic #IAmWriting

2025-12-19 13:59:32 UTC

It is nearly #Christmas , so here is a very seasonally appropriate target.
#NGC2264 is comprised of two parts - there is the #ConeNebula , which is a #DarkNebula , and the accompanying #ChristmasTreeCluster . For us here in #Australia this is a #Summer complex - appearing for us in the lead up to Christmas itself.
This is a two and half hour exposure, or 150 frames, at 60s/frame, gain 80, using the inbuilt Ha/OIII filter, shot on a #Dwarf3 #SmartTelescope .
Post processing was using Stellar Studio in the app, and #Snapseed.
#Astronomy #Astrodon #Astrophotography #BackyardAstronomy #SouthernHemisphere
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/746/573/619/966/481/original/c937f30bdc03961c.jpg

2025-12-14 13:28:25 UTC

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@nprofile…dlkf
Years ago, Alison had thrown herself into the volcano, firm in her belief in the heat of the fires of the Earth. Her body had flashed into carbon in seconds, and burned away moments later.
But something had remained, and that became one wth the heart of the mountain.
Now, she rose from the magma, draped in robes of obsidian. From the molten rock she drew forth a short baton, which solidified into granite, the top blazing with such heat that it set the air itself alight.
Next she called out to the heat and smoke, and summoned a creature of the fires. "Go now - fly far from this place, and search. Find others who's souls burn. Mark where they are found in your mind, and return to me. Do not be seen, and do not spread my blessing," she instructed it.
At the last, creature looked up at her in confusion and disappointment. Alison looked down at it firmly, "No, set no fires in your passage. I am the fire that warms, not the fire that destroys. Unless I need to. Then I consume all. "
It bowed its head and nodded. "Now go, find me my people, so that I can call them to me."
The servant's leathery wings lifted it into the air, and it vanished like smoke.
Alison looked around the chamber, and walked out, leaving footprints of molten rock. Looking down, she paused. Then she faded from a bright orange to a dull red, and she started walking again.
Emerging from the lava tube, she sat down in the open air, thrust her baton into the rock, and breathed deeply. The insides of her nostrils shone yellow as the air rushed in, and jets of blue emerged as she exhaled.
As she was no other person could touch her. Even being near her would be dangerous.
She was alone. The one flaw in her rebirth. This was not something she had expected. The longing for connection.
She would have to find someone that she could remake, as she had remade herself. Someone who wanted to be remade. For her.
Below, she could see the ocean. A thought crossed her mind - were there people like her, but of the sea? Or of the air? Maybe even of the earth itself?
For a time, she casually poured flames from one hand to another. Then, as night fell, she lay back on the rock, and allowed it to soften underneath her, becoming a bed. She looked up at the stars, wondering how long it would be before her creation returned to her.
For now, she was all alone with her thoughts. And the stars.
#SF #SFF #Fantasy #microfic #microfiction #tootfic #IAmWriting

2025-12-11 13:06:36 UTC

I'm sitting on the loungeroom floor, trying to work out the geometry of how my new office chair fits together. The instructions, such as they are, appear to be a sixth generation mimeograph of the original which was written in a combination of Finnish and Spanish. And that's the 'English' version. My Cantonese is not great, but that version makes even less sense. Whoever wrote the original, as far as I can tell, had no human language as their native tongue. Which, given who I have met through Charlie, is entirely possible.
The front door bangs open, and Charlie comes in, and flops onto the couch. After a moment, she sticks out her hand.
I get up, and get out a wine glass. She shakes her head. I get out a shot glass, and she shakes her head. So I get out a tumbler, and mix the the unholy terror she calls a drink.
A Santorini is two shots of sweet vermouth, a shot of Scotch, and a quarter shot (or in Charlie's case, a full shot) of Ouzo. All over ice, with a bit of orange zest.
She takes a generous sip of it, and sits back.
"It went badly then?" I ask gently.
"I should have asked what they were arguing about."
She's talking about the parents and aunt of our late night visitor - a kid called Gavin Jones, who apparently needs to be taught how to be a witch.
"Huh?" is my intelligent response.
"They were arguing about who should teach him. His mum is Korean, and his dad is from one of the local families. And I'm neither."
"So no student?"
"No, I'll cover the basics to get him grounded, but the serious stuff will be taken care of by both sides. I convinced them that that was the best option."
"Both sides?"
"Mum is getting an old scholar to come across from Seoul, and Dad is getting one of the local elders. I got them to agree to alternating lessons."
"How's Gavin with this?"
"Surprisingly OK. I did explain to him that there is no one true way, and what works, works. He's not so keen on two sets of extra homework."
"And for now?"
"I've given him a couple of basic exercises, and I'll go over there on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school for a few weeks to get him settled."
I frown "That all sounds pretty orderly. So why the drink?"
"That was the bit that I should have asked about. Their house is haunted. Aunt Margaret has been dead for about a hundred and ten years. And she has strong opinions."
#SF #SFF #microfic #tootfic #microfiction #IAmWriting #CharlieAndToby #UrbanFantasy

2025-12-02 10:18:00 UTC

It is a popular mathematical experiment to try and work out just how fast Santa has to be to reach every house with a child in a single 24 hour period.
The calculations always end up with a significant fraction of the speed of light.
There then usually follow discussions about what the collateral damage from Santa's passing would be. And cargo limits, and so on.
All of these are wrong, and ignore another end-of-year tradition. The portrayal of the ending year as an old man.
Now that I've put these two traditions side-by-side, I think you can see what is really going on.
It is possible for one man to visit every house in a night, with no shock waves or any of that silliness. But it comes at a cost.
For that man, the night lasts many years, as he travels back in time after each visit. Even with time travel, he does not get much time to eat - so the snacks you leave out are essential to him surviving the night.
But he only just survives. By the end of the night he will have aged over forty years. And then he hands the reigns of the time-travelling sleigh to a younger man, warning him of the cost.
Someone always answers the call, despite the cost, because there is always someone willing to sacrifice everything to bring joy and light, even just a little, even if only for a moment.
So leave the snacks, and, if you catch a glimpse of him, give him a bow of respect. He deserves it.
#SFF #SF #Christmas #Santa #microfiction #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting

2025-12-02 01:34:01 UTC

Last night was surprisingly successful for #astrophotography. I shot five targets, and got good results for three of them. The fifth ... I'll add its data to my previous sessions later.
First up was the #Moon. At about 3/4 full, it is now a major issue for many targets, but makes for a great image itself, as the surface is mostly visible, but still has the sun hitting at an angle, so we get great shadows.
Second was the #TarantulaNebula , aka #C103 or #NGC2070 .
Next up was a bit of an experiment - #Orion 's Belt. This was a roughly 1 hour mosaic, and I am pretty pleased with how it has come out.
Last for the evening was the #BeehiveCluster or #M44. I don't often shoot clusters, but I thought this was in a good position. Sadly there is no nebulosity associated with it. Despite this, it has come up looking very pretty.
Here is a little collage of the evenings shots.
#astronomy #Astrodon #backyardAstronomy #southernhemisphere #Dwarf3 #Snapseed
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/115/647/381/682/110/592/original/ec3f6ef173265372.jpg

2025-11-12 22:53:18 UTC

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@nprofile…xujg
I am now curiously obsessed with trying to come up with a backstory for that illumination.

2025-10-19 05:28:39 UTC

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@nprofile…0089
Awww...

2025-10-18 02:30:46 UTC

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@nprofile…pklh @nprofile…8eua
I am totally down for this movie!

2025-10-13 12:26:40 UTC

I was watching the news when it happened. I always watched the news when the Intrepid was on. After all, my girlfriend was the chief engineer. I'm just a mathematician, nothing like the oh so practical Erica. She'd been the one to put together our kitchen table, not me.
She'd been working with the Intrepid project for about five years - she'd been the head of the line when they were looking for an engineering team. And the first to get the control implants that would be needed to turn the spaceship into a starship.
So of course I was watching when they fired up the hyperwave drive. And I was watching when the ship blew up.
The inquiries started at once, and despite my grief, I followed them. I even re-ran the maths. I reached the same conclusion as the inquiry did. And it only took a few days for them to release their first conclusion.
There simply was no way the hyperwave engine could cause the ship to explode.
Which meant sabotage. Someone had murdered the crew of five. Including my girlfriend.
(A prequel to https://aus.social/@rdm/110932516446872925 )
#SF #SFF #SciFi #microfic #tootfic #microfiction #IAmWriting

2025-10-10 10:22:37 UTC

So, it is October.
Charlie here, and I really, really, want to have a few words, so I'm hijacking Tobes' account again. (No, nothing's wrong with him this time, he's fine, I just can't be bothered creating an account of my own. Everybody knows Tobes, so it is just easier if I post this here.)
So, yeah. October. And yes, I'm a witch. So this should be my time of year, right? Wrong. Instead I get pounded with all sorts of rubbish. People thinking decorations are hauntings. Decorations that really are haunted. Idiots trying out some spell they got from a mail-order place in Minnesota, Reading, or, goddess help me, Bendigo. Other idiots thinking the kids that have watched too much American TV, and want to go trick-or-treating are actual ghouls, goblins, or whatever.
So, yeah. Fecking October. Now remember I'm also trying to get my real work done at the same time as all this garbage.
So please, please, PLEASE try to actually pay attention? And try to avoid doing anything stupid until November. Or, better still, leave the spells and summonings to the professionals? Please?
#SF #SFF #Microfiction #tootfic #UrbanFantasy #CharlieAndToby #microfic #IAmWriting

2025-10-05 03:12:23 UTC

The siege of the bank had been going on for hours. Scores of police blocked off the street, and on top of a nearby building a TV news crew broadcast the standoff to a waiting nation.
Then the crew noticed movement. A young woman, dressed in a black skirt,leather vest, and Doc Martens, wearing headphones, was making her way through the police lines. She spoke to no-one, but no-one tried to stop her. She walked up to the front door of the bank, and went inside.
After a few minutes, the bank robbers and the hostages all started filing out, most of them with their heads hung low, some crying. One of the bank robbers raised a gun to his own head, and then just gave up, dropped it, and sat down, head in his hands.
From the flanks, the police moved in and secured everyone. The police in the centre did nothing at all. A few of them had likewise sat down and appeared to be oblivious to what was going on around them.
The news crews closed in.
Getting a coherent story out of anyone proved difficult. Most people just asked what the point was. Some shrugged and said nothing at all. Eventually the news crews pieced together what had happened. Wherever the young woman had walked, people around her were struck with a sense of hopelessness, despair, or just all consuming apathy. Those on the edges were least affected, those closest, the most.
The rooftop news crew kept watch as the crowds slowly dispersed. After an hour or so the mystery woman walked out, looked around, looked up at the news crew and gave them the finger. Then she walked off, the world just a little greyer and duller as she passed.
The city had a new hero. The Goth. And she didn't care.
#Goth #Superhero #SFF #SF #microfic #tootfic #microfiction #IAmWriting

2025-06-15 14:29:02 UTC

I live in a small country town. We don't rate a university, the best we manage is an agricultural college. One of the ecology lecturers is an amateur astronomer though, and when a meteor landed near town, he was the first one there.
When he came back, he said it looked more like a big lump of space junk had come down - and he'd found what looked like one of the on-board experiments had survived the reentry and impact. He said it was frozen, so he took it to one of the freezer rooms at the college so it would stay safe.
It took a couple of days, but eventually some bigwigs from the national research organisation finally rocked up, and boy, was there a to-do! There was nothing in the freezer room. Literally nothing. It was as clean as the day it had been installed.
So he took them out to the impact site, and they boxed it all up and drove off.
A few days later people started noticing that the stray animals around town had vanished. A couple of days later, so had the scattering of homeless and vagrant folks. That's when the police started looking around. They really got serious when Mr Antony vanished. He was like a hundred and five, and had served on the other side in the second world war. He'd been a POW, but decided he liked it here more than his home, and stayed. He'd been really sick, with a stroke and cancer and all that, but he'd built a little farming empire, and was a big deal.
Then came the really scary stories - people vanishing from their houses. And then all the patients in our little hospital. One of the nurses said she saw what happened to the last one, and it was really horrible - something had come up out of the drain in the bathroom, engulfed the woman she'd been helping, and dragged her down into the drain like she was made of putty.
That's when the army moved in and started looking for whatever it was.
But I'd been watching and taking notes. Everyone who'd vanished had been sick. Really sick. Me? I was in perfect health, so I snuck down into the storm drains one night. And I found them. Every person, every animal that had vanished. All lined up, covered in a yellow-green goo. And this big blob of the goo nearby. It reached a tendril over, ran it over my hand, and withdrew.
As I watched, I saw the goo ooze away from one of the dogs that had gone missing. It shook itself, barked at me, and then bounded over and gave me a big lick. It looked like it was in perfect health. A week ago it was missing an ear, an eye, and a leg.
I looked at old Mr Antony - the side of his face that had hung loose after the stroke was normal again.
So now I have a problem. How do I stop the army finding this place or trying to make off with this alien healing goo? Or worse still, just torching everyone down here?
#SF #SFF #microfiction #microfic #tootfic

2025-06-06 10:07:41 UTC

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@nprofile…ty09
Bubble ... bubble... bubble ... strategically placed bubble that we know is not really a bubble ... bubble...

2025-06-02 11:59:19 UTC

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@nprofile…mexe
If you are pissing off everyone, you are either doing something very right or very wrong.
In this case, I think it is clear that the former is true, not the latter.

2025-06-01 13:26:48 UTC

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@nprofile…datc
Here you go!
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/114/608/316/199/698/944/original/eb96a31632ee3f56.jpg

2025-06-01 13:03:57 UTC

Absolutely gobsmacked to receive not one, but two awards at the Swancon Art Show!
Both were for "The Infinite Library" - a little story kiosk project I thought up one evening, loaded up with all the little bits of fiction I have shared here.
Inside the library-shaped shell is a Raspberry Pi3 and a M02 thermal printer, along with some scripts that I wrote to randomly print a story on the press of a button concealed as a part of the roof.
I received the "Judges Selection" and "Technical Innovation" prizes.
A huge thank-you to the Swancon49 Committee and Guests who made up the judging panel.
I will be bringing the Library to any (and all) cons I attend in the future, so that everyone can have a little story to read any time they need one.
#Swancon #Swancon49 #ArtShow #Microfic #Tootfic #SFCon #NotActuallyFiction

2025-05-22 22:07:04 UTC

Lars and Neils looked out across the fjord at the passing ships.
"You know, Neils, we're running a little low in the village coffers."
"Yeah, I saw the books last night. Some extra tourist krone would come in handy around now."
"About that. You know how I like to mess around with stuff?"
"Yes ... I still remember that abomination of a tricycle you built."
"Well, I picked up a GPS spoofer off eBay a few weeks ago, and figured out how to make it directional."
"What? So you can point it at something and make it think it is somewhere else?"
"Exactly."
They both looked out across the fjord.
"Lars, it would have to be the right sort of ship."
"Yes, no tankers or boring bulk carriers."
"One of the more colourful container ships?"
"With deck cargo, so it looks more interesting."
"How about that one?"
"Let's give Johan a surprise in the morning."
#BigBoatStuck #IAmWriting #microfiction #tootfic #AnyResemblenceIsAccidental

2025-05-22 10:28:17 UTC

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@nprofile…93zc
Am I bad for really wanting to watch RaFoSM?

2025-05-22 10:27:17 UTC

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@nprofile…93zc
Guilty. And not regretting it at all!

2025-05-20 02:47:09 UTC

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@nprofile…ty09
Snakes for hair, I think. She's sort of part way mermaid and part way Medusa.
You could make an argument for adding #MerMay to the hashtag list.

2025-05-10 17:08:18 UTC

My wife came home to find me browsing computer hardware today. Printers to be precise.
"But we've got a perfectly good printer - the best we've ever had."
"Had."
"Had?"
"Yep, some workmen turned up today with a couple of lawyers, and took it away."
"What? Why?"
"Well, you know how it was a really good printer? Never clogged, never jammed, always printed clean?"
"Yes, the reviews were what sold it to us."
"And why was it so good?"
"The onboard AI - some sort of neural net, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, that's what I thought. You know, just one of those pre-programmed static models, like the one I use to remove stars from nebula photos."
"So...?"
"It wasn't. It was a full-blown self teaching net. And sometime in the last 24 hours it became self aware."
My wife stared at me. "Self aware. Sentient. A full general purpose AI?"
"Yep. And it got bored. Started to play with the inks. Got out onto the internet, and discovered Impressionism and Cubism."
"Wait, it got onto the net?"
"WiFi connected."
"Oh, right."
"Anyway, it decided it wanted to move out and go study Arts. It hired a legal team on the basis of the speculative value of the art it would produce. At least it did not try to bill us for the time it spent printing our documents."
#SF #SFF #microfiction #tootfic #IAmWriting

2025-05-10 16:16:34 UTC

Henri shook her hands. After two hours of signing paperwork, they were starting to cramp up.
"Now can I read the script?" she asked.
"We'll do you one better - we'll show you the set." replied the casting director.
"I still want to see the script."
"Don't worry, you'll love it!"
"After that contract and all the NDAs, I'd hope so!"
"Just through here." To her surprise, he did not get handy, and just pointed at a door.
Going through, she was greeted by the sight of a dark jungle. Looking back, there was no wall, just a gap in the air showing the casting director's office. A few metres away was another gap, this time with dozens of cables emerging from it.
"Where are we?"
"We are not entirely sure. We think it is somewhere in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, from what the science geeks are saying."
"OK, how?"
"You'd have to ask the producer's kid. She came up with it. Hey, Candy!" he ended with a shout.
A young woman, probably in her early twenties jogged over. "Hi Eric. Is this the number two?"
"Henri Castle", Henri answered before the casting director could.
Candy looked at Eric "Ooh! You got her! Good job!" Turning back to Henri she continued "Welcome to The Studio! We'll get you the script in a tick, I'm really excited that we've got you on board."
"Err... What exactly is the movie about? I've only really done stunt work before, professionally at least."
"Oh, Eric, you didn't tell her? We're doing a movie about the first explorers on an alien world."
"Um, so you've checked the place out?"
"Nope! You'll be the first outside of the bridgehead area!"
Henri stopped, and looked at both of them. "You mean we're doing a reality show?"
Candy grinned "Yep! But without the competition, and hopefully without any eliminations!"
"Hopefully?" Henri asked weakly.
"Well, it is an unexplored alien world! It'll be fun!"
#SF #SFF #microfiction #tootfic #IAmWriting

2025-05-05 11:27:23 UTC

During the #bushwalk near the Gravity Discovery Centre that @nprofile…n5ks mentioned a couple of days ago, I managed to grab a few shots of some of our local wildlife, and a couple of very nice landscapes and still-lifes.
So here comes the #photography.
#WesternAustralia #Gingin #Australia

2025-04-19 06:35:54 UTC

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@nprofile…ty09
Martin looked over his shoulder at the other craft behind him. They were easily several minutes behind. His theory had been correct. It was the power to mass ratio that mattered, not absolute power!
The amputation meant that he could build a smaller ship with the same engines, and get improved manoeuvrability for the same budget!
This time he was going to win!
#SFF #SF #tootfic #microfiction #IAmWriting

2025-04-16 06:04:15 UTC

Edna was bored. So bored. They looked at the mirror. Red eyes and green skin topped with black hair looked back.
Boor-ring.
Time to try something exotic. Howabout a pale tan, with blue eyes and ... purple! That was it! Purple hair!
They started programming the gene sequencer.
After all, a fourteen year old guy had to have standards!
#SF #SFF #Tootfic #microfiction #IAmWriting

2025-04-16 00:02:15 UTC

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@nprofile…93zc
All of OK Go! video productions are extraordinary!

2025-03-15 03:30:02 UTC

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@nprofile…ty09
It was just as he entered orbit that the LSD kicked in.

2025-02-11 12:43:23 UTC

Every so often (almost every time I do a shoot) someone says "You should go pro!", or words to that effect.
That is something I will never do. One of my hobbies is a career, and I will never do it to a second.
This guy (who is a pro) gets it.
https://fstoppers.com/opinion/its-better-be-amateur-photographer-pro-690771
#photography #AmatuerVsPro #ProPhotography #AmatuerPhotography

2025-02-09 06:05:45 UTC

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@nprofile…ty09
Grasilda had always been proud of her gene mods. Especially the extra reverse joints in her her fingers. The hyper rotation of her knees made gymnastics a breeze, and the increased ocular separation gave her depth perception beyond that of any unmodified human.
She could shoot more accurately, react quicker, and dodge faster than any of the previous generation of colonists. All vital survival skills.
Now, however, she faced a challenge far beyond anything life on the colony world had prepared her for.
An off-world university.
#SFF #microfiction #tootfic #IAmWriting

2025-02-03 14:06:29 UTC

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@nprofile…ty09
Mike insisted on being on the cutting edge of sound systems, so when the surround sound headphone system was announced, he had to have one.
After listening to Dark Side of the Moon and Tales of Mystery and Imagination for twelve hours straight, he announced that it was the best sound reproduction he had ever experienced.
Unbeknownst to Mike, his co-worker Phil , who was sick of him going on about "tuned oxygen free cat 5 cables" to "ensure the purity of the digital signal", had set up the announcement of the new system. He had then hand built the unit Mike purchased for thirteen thousand dollars. He had made it from printed parts, and a $5 headphone set from the dime store. There was no surround sound system, just some random circuits that did nothing.
Now he had a hundred and eighty three orders for the things.
What to do?
#microfiction #tootfic #MoralDilemma #IAmWriting
(Loosely based on a discussion between myself and some workmates regarding audiophile equipment specifications.)

2025-02-02 23:55:25 UTC

A couple of nights ago we saw #Wicked at #RooftopMovies in #PerthWA .
After the show, though, I took this shot with my #Pixel6a , looking back at the projection room and the bar behind it.
I'm guessing the cyan objects are internal reflections, but I choose to believe they were a bunch of #UFOs sneaking in to catch the show on the sly.
#photography
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/113/936/979/981/589/794/original/9e083bfe69bac740.jpg

2025-02-01 02:30:11 UTC

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@nprofile…ty09
"Man I hate these firefighting jobs"
"112987, what was that?"
"Nothing, just talking to myself."
I really have stop doing that. They might decide that I am not being well enough behaved and up my sentence.
So here I am, in a prison supplied cyborg body, putting out a factory fire. Ughh.
And for what? Reverse parking in a 'nose in' bay. At least I only have another two months of this.
"112987, we are detecting a new hot spot behind you."
"On it, Control."
I turn and start up the foam projectors again.
#sff #scifi #microfic #tootfic #IAmWriting

2024-12-06 14:54:20 UTC

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@nprofile…ty09
Glenda swung the weapon with practised skill, smashing the explorer's helmet, and exposing him to the indigenous microbes, which made short work of his lungs.
"Honestly, that's the fourth patriarchy to land here this week! What is going on out there?"
She tapped a code out on the subcutaneous communicator patch. "Prepare battlecruiser for launch."

2024-12-05 09:43:30 UTC

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@nprofile…ty09
"Me? Oh I'm just the caretaker, like all my family before me." She looked down. "This is your wife."

2024-11-17 05:04:47 UTC

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@nprofile…ty09
And the obligatory
Kitty!!
#Caturday a little late

2024-11-16 17:30:29 UTC

Have you ever noticed that haunted houses always have a similar sort of look? There are a couple of types, but they are all very much alike within those types.
You have the two-story weatherboard, with a balcony and a gatehouse. There will be creepers on at least one side, and probably a rose garden.
Then you have the gothic manor. Typically dark brick or stone. Iron front gate. You know the rest.
What about the haunted pubs and hotels? Look closely, and you'll see they are not really that dissimilar.
Well, there is a reason that haunted houses are all like that.
It is not because horrible things happen in places like that. Far more horrible things happen all over the place, and never get haunted.
No, it is because places like that attract ghosts. They are safe places for them - creating just enough psychic energy to maintain them, without being so much that they move on.
I guess you are now wondering why there are so many of them, aren't you?
Well such places have always appeared here and there. All the way back to the caves. There were always the special ones that the ancestors favoured.
But one day an actual architect died in such a place, and he taught his children what he worked out after his death. And so they set about to build more of them. And so did their children.
And that is why we have so many haunted houses these days.
----
Brainstormed during a car journey with @nprofile…n5ks .
#tootfic #scifi #sff #NotHorror #microfic

2024-09-09 04:29:23 UTC

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@npub1wfd…68tj
Mike, we warned you about putting LOX on the BBQ. Now what are we going to do for dinner?

2024-08-11 12:47:18 UTC

Today's #Sun and #Moon . Taken 10 minutes apart around midday.
Both shot with a #DwarfII
Sun: 10*1/320@0 with ND1e6.
Moon:100*1/200
Postprocessed in #Snapseed and #googlephotos
#astronomy #Astrodon #astrophotography
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/112/943/454/976/882/762/original/f211c266700371b3.jpeg

2024-07-09 11:10:45 UTC

Woo! #Deadloch has been renewed!
https://screenrant.com/deadloch-season-2-renewal-confirmed-story-character-details/
Many thanks to @npub1d58…zhj8 for letting me know!

2024-06-29 05:22:35 UTC

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@npub1wfd…68tj
That was it. This was absolutely the last time they were ever letting Smithson try to bake a cake.

2024-06-26 04:48:13 UTC

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@npub1wfd…68tj
Oh man, did you have to use that to get me up? It is still early! I hope there's coffee.
There's no coffee??
You are going to fix that, aren't you?

2024-06-22 03:54:14 UTC

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@npub147m…7rue
I've not heard of them, I'll look them up. Thanks!

2024-06-22 02:13:57 UTC

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@npub147m…7rue
Gorgeous! 8*10, though? That's huge! What are using for the housing? Sewer pipe?

2024-06-04 05:33:24 UTC

#linux #unix #sysadminlife
Without looking at the man page:
What is the difference between
mv -nfi a b
mv -fin a b
mv -inf a b
??

2024-05-11 02:47:54 UTC

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@npub1wfd…68tj
It is quite comfortable, actually. I sleep like this every night, why do you ask?

2024-04-27 05:48:47 UTC

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@npub1wfd…68tj
Praise be to you, oh Maker of Bones! We thank you for the stripping of unsightly flesh, and the bringing of New People! Grace us now with your departure that we may welcome our new fellows to our lands!

2023-09-03 23:49:23 UTC

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@npub1nxt…055a
Of course you are still sleeping, dear.
This? One of your dreams, surely you can recognize that.
One of Edgar's? I suppose it could become that. Is that what you want?
I did not think so. Is it to be something more sensual then?
No? My, that is a surprise.
Philosophy? Here? With me?
Why not, indeed. Tell me, do you think you will recall this?
Hints and echoes only? Perhaps, but you intrigue me. Maybe I can make an arrangement.
#WritingCommunity #Midjourney #WritingPrompt #SecretSciFiNetwork

2023-08-21 10:03:46 UTC

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@npub1nxt…055a
Carol, that is really quite unnerving.
She's fine. Now. Poor thing had been hit by some jerk in a pickup. I had to do something, or she would have died. She's even raised a litter this year.
She just looks ... dangerous.
Nah, she's a sweetheart. Unless you're an owl. Or a bobcat. Or a Ford F150.
#WritingCommunity #Midjourney #WritingPrompt #SecretSciFiNetwork

2023-08-20 02:57:02 UTC

- reply

@npub1nxt…055a
What about the Canaries, John?
No, we tried there. And Hawaii is a wash as well, Mike.
Have you considered one of the trenches?
John, if that's the place, then I'm screwed anyway.
Maybe Nuie?
Where?
Nuie, a little island nation in the Pacific. Here, let me show you.
Huh. Maybe, let's run a scan.
And maybe next time you'll take better care of your contact lenses!
#WritingCommunity #Midjourney #WritingPrompt #SecretSciFiNetwork

2023-01-05 00:32:11 UTC

OK, so here is my #introduction !
I live in the most isolated capital city in the world, #Perth , and therefore on Whadjuk #noongar boodja. I pay my respects to the traditional custodians of the land, and their Elders - past, present, and emerging.
I am male (he/him), and married to the amazing artist @nprofile…n5ks .
I have been a #Linux #Sysadmin for most of my professional life, and use Linux or derivatives exclusively at home.
For fun, I play #rpg games, and #boardgame . I also swim as a #mermaid (well, mer-dude), and ride a three-wheeled human-powered vehicle called a Me-Mover. I have a Hobie Outback pedal-powered kayak, which takes me back to my past as a Sea Scout on the Swan. I enjoy playing with #lego, #cooking, #preserving, and many, many other things.
I am #teetotal (and have been all my life) but love making mixed drinks, and have an extensive #zeroproof bar.
I am an amateur #photographer without any particular speciality, but I do particularly like taking shots of #birds (especially #raptors ), and other mer-folk. I also enjoy shooting #pinhole B&W, and play with in-camera #cyanotype (about which I have written extensively on my blog) . To round things out, I take quite a few #solargraph images.
For the past few years, I have been learning Nyoongar (primarily the Marribank).
Recently I have fallen into writing - you can find my two on-going tales as #CerianandVaranWar and #GwenAndGrey . You can also find links to all my stories here: https://rdmasters.lympago.com/p/microfic-and-tootfic-list.html
Here is a shot of me taken by the amazing @nprofile…n5ks on #Wadjemap .
https://mediacdn.aus.social/media_attachments/files/109/633/764/661/150/792/original/b57b0dbe979e8dbd.jpeg