Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • This Tuesday is okay.

    Many small flies in the house. They infested one of the plants, then several of them, and now they're everywhere. The internet recommended strewing perlite in the pots, and I don't know how putting small stones on the surface of the soil can kill flies, but it looks like it does.

• Technology and Free Software

  • Peter Schmid's Pocket Power Pack Lets You Run Model Railroads Wherever You Go

    Maker Peter Schmid has designed a "pocket power pack" which lets you take your model railroad projects wherever you travel — by combining a battery pack, throttle, command station, and booster in one compact box.

    "Model railroading on the go. A battery operated power pack gives you the opportunity to take your model railroad with you," Schmid writes of the project. "No mess with outlets and cables. Build your Pocket Power Pack, get some sectional track, a locomotive (DCC or DC) and a few cars and you are in business. From the DCC point of view the Pocket Power Pack combines Throttle, Command Station, and Booster in the same hand held unit. No power supply is required as long as the battery lasts. You can recharge the battery with a standard smart phone charger."

  • A quick note about batteries

    My old Nokia phone had a very small battery and lasted for days or, at times, several weeks. I was able to be contacted by the people that were in mutual friendship. I was able to be contacted by other people, too. Transmitting bytes was relatively expensive, then it got cheap.

    One day I put on big daddy pants and got myself an iPhone 4s that had about 1400 mAh (5.25 Wh at 3.7V) battery. It could charge in about 3 hours. There was no fast charge. It would last a little over a day, I hated it, but enjoyed the big screen, sweet lock sound, and being able to post what kind of vegetables I ate for lunch on Twitter.

  • Internet/Gemini

    • First long break in the year 2026

      Once again, the amount of work and personal stress becomes a bit overwhelming for me to write longreads for this phlog. I hope to recover by the end of winter, so will reappear here on March 2 if everything is OK.

      Meanwhile, you can read my microblog at [1] (compatible with any TUI/non-JS Web browser) to see some useful stuff and random intermediate thoughts.