iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

A cup or two is good As the winter winds howl and rage Stay or go, who knows

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Resumes lie scattered, Like leaves on the forest floor; A candidate will emerge

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Perhaps a haiku: The app continues Your posts age like autumn leaves Engagement numbers fall

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I was recently watching a movie from the 1930s, and it took so long to move the plot along. Then I thought about it and realized that the problem was me, not the film. That made me sad.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Noise is the issue IMHO. Unless they add noise dampening to the walls or ceiling this area will sound busier and probably louder. Not a relaxing pre-boarding experience.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

History is all about the "how and why" of human choices. Engineering requires making and analyzing human choices; far harder than the math & science. A good engineer is often a renaissance man (or woman).

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I said this before, and now she's old enough to serve in the office: Taylor Swift should run for president. She'd have a built in base, and her political views are vague so she could "adapt". "Tay Tay for Pre!"

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Yes! Always have your personal disaster response in your mind. I visited a great bar in Prague. They had an 18th century basement that had fantastic atmosphere, but they were having trouble getting a use approval. Why? Only one exit and no way to add another without major architectural changes.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Smith? No, it would be UCONN, where Rory "shares an apartment" with Sydney, a person of undetermined gender. Everyone is dismayed, but they try to be nice.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Tell the 20 y-o to f***-off; you're still alive, independent, and reasonably successful. Personally, I'm going to enjoy some whisky that is both older than my 20 y-o self, and certainly more expensive than I could have afforded back in the day. Cheers!

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Back in the 1950s, many Catholic churches had "family rooms". But in the 1960s, as family size dropped, and churches had Vatican II remodels, they disappeared.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

My 2011 BMW allowed you to turn the screen off, though doing that was three menus deep. It definitely lowered the distraction factor.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I've heard so many terms misused during this war that we should consider charging some writers with journalistic malpractice. (Some early blockades were literally blocks of wood, joined by chain or cable, used to deny passage on a river or inlet)

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I remember as a teenager watching a WWII-era movie in which a woman was asked out on a date, but the man was surprised that she didn't need to call her mother first. "I'm free, white, and 21" she replied. These old films contain many teachable moments.

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Reposted by Tom Beck 🇺🇸

Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Apparently the renaming shenanigans isn’t over. Trump is now floating the idea of changing New Mexico to “New America.”

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

My Mom had no experience with children before I was born. In first grade she sent me to school with what she thought were mosquito bites. The school nurse quickly sent me home with a note explaining that I had chickenpox.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I remember when simply using "Ms" was a somewhat radical statement. Confusion reigned; how would you be able to tell married and unmarried women apart? We all owe Ms Steinem a lot for advancing all aspects of equality.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

If you visit Penang, the Oriental Seafood Restaurant on Gurney Drive has amazing food prepared in a variety of styles. It's been my favorite for +20 years (For expense justification purposes, it's about 20 minutes away from the quay where the U-boats tied up, a must-see for any historian).

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I lived in Utah back in the 1980s. Combining names to make something new & unique was fairly common, and an alternative to choosing some obscure name mentioned in the Mormon texts. (Both options were rather odd IMHO).

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

An interesting & informative edition of ATC. Thanks!

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

If only Meatloaf was still alive to create the rock opera...

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Back in the late 1950s, my Mom took us to the public health office, where we waited outside in a long line to receive the first oral polio vaccine. We knew kids who had polio and knew this was important & necessary.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

It's not buying just old books, it's "book rescue", which is both a calling and a service to humanity. You're on the road to sainthood.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Yep; Jiffy cornbread mix is the best. I've tried other mixed and scratch made but always come back to the little box.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

The real story is why wasn't this found during systems integration testing? Pretty simple; you turn it on, and look at the data stream. (Back in olden times, this was common practice to see if a device was "chatty" & consuming precious bandwidth)

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Anyone who thinks like this person has never been responsible for a goldfish, let alone a child. Sheesh.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

In defense of the aviation world, I'll remind you that airports once had flight insurance vending machines, because arriving at your destination alive wasn't a sure thing.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

We launch MILLIONS of Disney-branded mylar balloons. This will accomplish two objectives: 1) take down the national electric grid. 2) delight the Iranian children and bring about economic collapse, as parents try to obtain black market Disney products for their demanding kids.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

What is sad is that these mistakes are so obvious to anyone who has taken middle school geography. This says more about our education system than it does about AI.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Ah yes, the "LeMay" strategy. Obviously the plan that led to our victory in Vietnam.

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Reposted by Tom Beck 🇺🇸

Alt National Park Service @altnps.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Meanwhile, the United States has already seen more than 4 million acres burn in 2026, with over 42,000 wildfires reported nationwide. #SaveUSFS

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

I use Boost Wireless. $25/month, no contract, unlimited talk, text, & data. They use the T-Mobile network. I've used them for about 5 years; no complaints.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

I moved to Sacramento in 1991. Light rail to SMF was "a couple of years ahead". Still no rail connection, or project for it. Sigh. At least IAD finally has Metro (only a ~40 year wait).

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

I hope he said that in a gravelly voice and your car was only a stone's throw away from the curb.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

My first thoughts were that the SOH was going to be a mess, and keeping it open would require control of the Iranian coastline. This is going to go on for ages. I have grandnieces/grandnephews of draft age. They will face the same issues & choices that I did back in the Vietnam war era.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

My Dad took me to see "Dr. No" when I was 7. I don't think there was a rating system at the time (1962).

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Are these pre-modern wills, rents, and other legal agreements still enforceable, or have they been nullified? (I'm thinking akin to some of our deed covenants, which may be retained in the deed, but are not actionable).

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Yes; my doctor noted that I was "obese". True, I admit, but that didn't make it any easier to read.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

The editorial meeting before each show would be as entertaining as an MMA cage fight. Who's story will make the cut? NPR could even setup it's own prediction market, so we could financially back our favorite editorial teams.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

The hymns were a lot better, IMHO, when we sung them in latin. Much more about the tonality and "feel", rather than the words (which if you translated them, were often odd or insensible).

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

I'm going to have to find & watch it!

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I often use $10 of gasoline to drive to thrift stores and purchase $2 worth of books (between 4-8 items). It's a sickness, but it does keep me out of the bars.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Regardless of one's opinion of capitalism, everyone should read the accounts of 18th & 19th century labor issues and conflicts. Tales of great opportunity, displacement, and rapid change. Thanks for the eelightenment.

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

It's all a cruel joke... the multi-hour international flight will be on the old plane, with its traditional coach seats. The memories of luxury will taunt you every minute you're onboard... (On the plus side, you will have active anti-missile defenses available)

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Tom Beck 🇺🇸 @thbeck1.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

"The Joy of Cooking" is the only cookbook anyone needs. It has served my grandmother, mother, and me well. Any other book may be interesting, but not essential.

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