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Colin

@thefizma.bsky.substandard.info

69 followers 88 following 60 posts

From Scotland, in Silicon Valley

Posts Replies Media

Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 01/10/2026

Some kind of bird of prey swooped in right in front of me during the commute home tonight! The bike camera makes it seem kind of plain but it was only a couple of feet away from me, I had started to pull on the brakes before it successfully passed me (to grab something on the ground)

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 19/04/2026

One of my favourites from my "antique computer collection", anything with a built in screen is much more convenient for retro computing :D This one was kept under a dust cover when not in use by the original owner so the plastic looks really good.

An Apple Macintosh SE running After Dark with the famous flying toasters, sitting on a shelf next to a Next Cube monitor. Nearby a CRT TV can be seen along with some tools.

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 22/01/2026

I enjoyed this mural while I was riding along the Guadalupe river trail today. Don’t know how I didn’t notice it before!

A mural depicting a lady bathing in lovely cyan water, amongst mossy rocks at the she of an ocean. There are some flowers on the closest rock, and some mountains on the horizon. The mural is under a bridge over a river and the mural can be seen reflecting in the water of the river.

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 22/12/2025

Achieved this myself a slightly different way (grabbed this thing off eBay recently as I always wanted one when they were new in the ‘90s but couldn’t buy such a thing for myself back then!) it’s mostly DOS compatible, just some oddities as it’s a 186. Graphics are CGA

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 04/09/2025

Almost

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 27/08/2025

Took this photo testing some videophones I found for $20 each. Sadly the software couldn’t be made to realise that the devices are portrait-only ;)

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 18/08/2025

Spent way too long unsuccessfully trying to find out what make/model it was ;) It was very similar to this one (photo from eBay) but they don't seem to have an LPT model so I don't think it was a Panasonic. Either way, "portable" style but too big to actually carry around in your pocket ;)

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 05/05/2025

Took this in a park near Cupertino. Wish I'd taken my DSLR, for the zoom lens

A bird of prey sits on a dead tree branch against a blue sky. Towards the right of the picture is the moon.

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 26/04/2025

I was watching The Return of the Living Dead and spotted an antique computer I actually own - an Epson HX-20! They stuck it in a console to make a keyboard. Later they show the general from through this prop and you can see the DIN serial connectors, power port and ROM/tape drive eject button.

A still from the movie "The Return of the Living Dead", showing a general in his pyjamas in dressing gown looking at the printout emerging from a dot matrix printer in a console concealed in a wooden cabinet, which also has many lights and knobs, a keyboard, a display showing a map of the US, a telephone and a keypad.

A picture of an Epson HX-20, featuring a full keyboard, an LCD screen, a speaker, a small dot matrix printer and a micro cassette drive. This unit is branded British Telecom Merlin instead of EPSON, and has the model number CM6000 instead of HX-20. This specific unit was intended to be used with a BT office PBX, though its ROMs have been switched to the original HX-20 software.

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 14/03/2025

I’ve got the predecessor to this, the Epson HX-20, they’re visibly related. This thing is missing the built in printer but otherwise seems like a huge upgrade in every way! This one was sold as part of a BT PBX but I installed the original Epson ROM.

An early laptop computer, branded British Telecom Merlin CM6000 but actually an Epson HX-20. There’s a 16x4 character screen, a microcassette drive, a dot matrix receipt printer and a the printer paper has a small BASIC program to make sounds. The machine is running and shows the boot menu offering MONITOR and BASIC apps.

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 12/01/2025

Chocolate Brussels sprouts and beetroot, quite a change from chocolate coins

A basket containing several net packages filled with chocolate wrapped in foil to resemble various Christmas dinner vegetables including beetroot and Brussels sprouts. Each package is labelled “M&S Food Christmas Veg, solid creamy milk chocolate shapes”

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 09/01/2025

My parents cat was unimpressed by our visit

A cat sitting on the roof of a swing chair, peering upwards

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 04/01/2025

So for our trip to Scotland I set up the "YOLO" image detection model to keep an eye on our CCTV, by just recognising things like "person" and "cats" and sending a message each time. For the past thirty minutes this cat has been blowing up my phone.

A CCTV image of a cat sitting on a window ledge, highlighted with a bounding box labelled "cat 0.88".

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Colin @thefizma.bsky.substandard.info · 03/01/2025

Visited Tantallon Castle today

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