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Tom Brossman

@tom.je
144 followers 194 following 208 posts

Nerd. Bailiwick of Jersey.

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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 02/10/2026
A $500 fuel stop was so unusual I only did it once, 21 years ago. 164 gallons at a truck stop in California. Sadly this is new normal for long haul because you can burn 80-100 gallons/day. I really enjoyed driving trucks but man, my 1-mile cycle commute to an office job now is so much nicer.
Diesel fuel pump readout showing $540 for 164 gallons at a TA truckstop in Ontario, CA in October 2005.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 25/09/2026
"This site is only available in the United States." Good luck with that, then.
Your connection appears to be somewhere else. If you are seeing this in the United States, your mobile carrier, office network, or a privacy tool is probably placing you outside the country.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 08/09/2026
Man in hot dog suit, from "We're All Trying To Find The Guy Who Did This" meme. He's holding a screenshot of the Government of Jersey's FoI disclosure log page.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 12/08/2026
I took the good camera out to get some (partial) eclipse photos, but that was a let-down and this is my only keeper. The fisherman is wearing a Dark Side of the Moon shirt. That album's closing track is "Eclipse". OK good enough, there's my (very partial) eclipse photo.
A woman taking a selfie, with a fisherman in the background.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 17/07/2026
Drivers cutting off cyclists is nothing new, but it takes a special type of asshole driver to sit and wait to cut you off, like this one.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 18/05/2026
Once, just once, I would like to see a Jersey reporter do a privacy scan of a website launch before writing their article. Need mental health support and want to share that with creepy advertising companies? The Government of Jersey has a new website for you. Privacy not included, as per usual.
Blacklight privacy scan results for recoveryhub.je, confirming the presence of advertising trackers and third-party tracking cookies on a Government of Jersey mental health support page.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 17/04/2026
Attention Jersey residents: For the first time in 5+ years, Bruno finally made his "rum logs" again, which is his all-time best cream cake (if you disagree, you are wrong, but apparently they don't sell well?). La Bagette Chaude, next to Town Hall. You're welcome.
Chocolate and rum buttercream choux pastries on a plate. The best.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 12/04/2026
@philhendrie.bsky.social Any guidance for expats who want to watch your film? Not available in the UK market.
Screenshot of JustWatch website, confirming no UK streaming options for the 2024 film "Hendrie"
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 14/03/2026
I was worried about the wait to clear airport security at PBI this morning, but breezed right through. Is it because a certain someone also uses this airport? Anyhow, if you are flying be sure to thank TSA for working during the shutdown.
Air Force One at PBI today.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 01/02/2026
Same
Me, age three, sipping dad's beer.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 15/11/2025
Sad news about Blue Islands shutting down. I know their on-time record wasn't good but the crews were great and they took good care of us on a recent Verona trip. And look how much nicer the view is passing over Nice and the Alps, at half the altitude of a passenger jet!
Sunset view from an airplane window, with large mountain peaks rising above low clouds.View of Côte d'Azur airport and Monaco from the air.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 04/11/2025
@dieworkwear.bsky.social I'm looking for a nice mid-length wool (or heavyweight linen) coat and noticed a trend towards removable "bibs" in many new coats. This trend is a crime against humanity worse than dress sneakers, right? Any recommendations ~$500 please? Can be new or used.
Cat wearing a removable bib.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 03/11/2025
Has someone in Jersey recently had your Cannondale CAAD8 bicycle stolen? This one sitting unlocked for nearly two weeks at my workplace. No rust, nice bike in perfect condition. There is a Mark Pickford's shop sticker, but sadly they don't know whose it is.
A Cannondale CAAD8 bicycle leaning against a wall.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 23/10/2025
Fuck the Raiders. Tell people it's a Breeders tattoo. (and yes, also drunk in photo)
"Breeders Mystery Tee" here: https://the-breeders.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage/products/breeders-mystery-tee
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 20/09/2025
"This item cannot be shipped to your selected delivery location." An ever-increasing number of listings on the Amazon UK website like this. Originally due to air freight restrictions on certain hazardous cargo, but obsolete now that all Jersey freight comes by boat. Is there anything users can do?
Error message displayed on Amazon UK website for products they refuse to ship to Jersey.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 18/09/2025
For years, most dimmable LED bulbs I bought would flicker or buzz annoyingly with touch control lamps. But today at Romeril's, they suggested "trailing edge" dimmable LEDs which work perfectly! I had no idea. You will never find that level of service online, so don't forget to try your local shops.
Four dimmable LED lightbulbs, in their packaging and of different manufacturer and types.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 29/07/2025
And the Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems (same museum) is also pretty impressive. These photos came out OK but do not match the vivid, deep colors present when you see this in person.
A large, colorful geode.A large bubbly cluster of mineral deposits.Numerous long quartz crystals embedded in stone.A large geode with multi-faceted, glittering mineral structures inside.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 29/07/2025
If you like dinosaurs, Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History is not to be missed. That's a huge selection of fossils on display in the Kamin Hall of Dinosaurs. Website: carnegiemnh.org
Two Tyrannosaurus rex fossils facing each other.Dinosaur fossil half-embedded in stone.Large room with multiple dinosaur fossils on display.Large room with multiple dinosaur fossils on display.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 28/07/2025
Pittsburgh has a bicycle museum called "Bicycle Heaven", which I visited for the first time this weekend. The place is wild. Two floors rammed full of everything bicycles, plus workshops & bike hire, etc.
Selfie from inside second floor of Bicycle Heaven in Pittsburgh. The floor, walls, and ceilings are filled with colorful bicycles and bicycle parts of all types.A row of very stylish Bowden bicycles in different colors.Museum display of the red bicycle from "Pee-wee' Big Adventure".Colorful neon painted bicycle cranks mounted on the wall and lit with a blacklight.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 23/07/2025
I'm visiting beautiful West Virginia and just bought whole milk from a local shop. It is EXCELLENT and wasn't homogenized, which made me double-check the label. "From local Guernsey cows" in fine print at the bottom. Shoulda known...
Half-gallon jug of whole milk with bowl of cereal and fruit behind. In small print at the bottom, the milk jug label states "From local Guernsey cows", with the name of an Ohio, USA farm above.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 16/07/2025
It's been a while, but I loved it so much I used the name "Tommy Yungas" for years when we moved back to the US. This really confused my teachers. Here's La Paz & Lake Titicaca, mid-1970's.
A man and a boy in a garden, with the Andes Mountains behind.La Paz, Bolivia, 1972.Small motorboat and reeds growing in Lake Titicaca.A parade with uniformed men and bystanders wearing elaborate, colorful outfits decorated with flowers.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 05/06/2025
@propublica.org your @cloudflare.social hosted site is on the Google Safe Browsing blocklist? (at least according to NextDNS, so inaccessible to all their users) I'll raise a support request but you might get a quicker response.
Screenshot of NextDNS request log page, showing "Blocked by Google Safe Browsing" error message for ProPublica website.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 25/05/2025
Is there a way to change the call history background in Facetime, so that it doesn't fail accessibility standards for legibilty? A contrast ratio >1.5:1 is shockingly bad (4.5:1 is the recommended minimum).
Screenshot of Facetime iOS app call history, with dark grey text on darker grey background highlighted.WebAIM online contrast checker, showing the contrast ratio values for Apple's Facetime app failing all possible tests for accessibility. The contrast ratio shown is 1.45:1. A contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 is the recommended minimum.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 18/05/2025
A colleague handed me this recently, saying they were returning "an old company laptop". They weren't joking! That's a 25 year old Sony Vaio in perfect condition. Pentium 3 CPU, Windows 2000 Pro (licence for 1-2 CPUs only) and a 9.04GB, 4200rpm IBM Travelstar hard drive. Will it run Doom?
A Sony Vaio model PCG-3192 laptop from 2000, open and sitting on a desktop.Three stickers on a laptop next to the screen. An "Intel inside" Pentium 3 sticker, a Windows 2000 Professional sticker and an EISA (Expert Imaging and Sound Association) award sticker.An IBM Travelstar 9GB 4200 rpm laptop hard drive, with a manufacture date of May 2000.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 01/05/2025
Riding a unicycle, playing Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Call Me The Breeze", headed for Cheapside. Well done, sir. Ronnie would surely be proud of you.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 17/04/2025
Any local computer builders want some free RAM? I've just upgraded and have no further use for these. 4 x 16GB DDR5 6000MT/s Corsair sticks, tested & working.
Four sticks of computer RAM.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 15/04/2025
Not even close.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 06/04/2025
Penguin Final Boss. Good luck, sir.
Danny DeVito playing the character Oswald Cobblepot, also known as the Penguin, in the 1992 film "Batman Returns."
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 03/04/2025
Do any European space agencies make live weather imagery available at high resolution? I can easily find 10000x6000px images like this of North America updated every five minutes, copyright-free. Anything comparable on this side of the Atlantic? For example: www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/conus.p...
Weather satellite view of North America from NOAA's GOES-East satellite.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 25/03/2025
This is probably my closest "near miss", and I think the big bang is the sound of my bike lock in the pannier bag hitting the van as I skid. Horrendously bad driving and since reported (once my hands stopped shaking), but to the driver's credit he did stop and apologise. Please watch for cyclists!
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 20/03/2025
Once in a while I'll spot-check "redacted" PDFs on the Government of Jersey website. I don't think I have ever failed to find them. This one was uploaded this week and there are more. There are always more. And yes, I've reported these through the proper channels before.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 07/03/2025
Option 1: Pay for a wasteland of algorithm-recommended low quality content and forced advertisements, to follow a few good shows. Option 2: Just torrent the good shows on any particular platform, now that everything is so fragmented and user-hostile.
Photo of a Vero V, a set-top media playback device with remote.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 27/02/2025
Today NatWest emailed me to say my payment dispute was successful, which is good news. They attached a PDF with someone else's transaction info, card numbers, billing address, everything. That is not good news. Now I'm left wondering - who received my PDF?
Captain Jean-Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart) reacting to a stressful situation by placing his hand on his face
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 15/02/2025
One for the nerds here, do you choose the entrance on the left and if not why not?
Two public parking garage entrances side by side with overhead digital signs showing the number of available spaces. One with 42 and one with 404.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 05/02/2025
The so-called "Idaho stop" here, legal in a few US states and a couple European countries. Not (yet?) legal in Jersey and even if it was, this is not a junction where I would try it.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 27/01/2025
Horchata, corn tortillas, carnitas. A proper Mexican taco shop. Heaven. And now comes the food coma and a nap.
Styrofoam takeaway clamshell with three carnitas tacos, beans and rice.Empty!
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 26/01/2025
This bromeliad flower almost looks fake, but my mom just picked it from her garden. Amazing.
Close up photo of a flower from a bromeliad
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 23/01/2025
A truly dystopian vibe, the TWA Hotel at JFK airport in the very early morning hours. Rooms are from about $400/night and not at all worth it. Definitely a place to check out if the airline is paying for it. The staff were nice. And Jayhawks fans might recognise the lobby from a certain album cover.
A long, sloping hallway with curved walls and red carpeting. The profile is meant to resemble the interior of an airplane.Vertical grooved wood panels with brass pegs and three brass clothes hangers.Lobby of the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport in New York City. The lobby is empty except for a man carrying a large garbage bag.Curved ceilings and support pillars inside the main hallway of the TWA Hotel. An Exit sign suspended from the ceiling is damaged and bent forward at an angle. In the background several people are slumped forward at an unattended bar, sleeping.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 09/01/2025
Same road, same magistrate, same 20mph motor vehicle speed limit. Driver 1 - 43mph (plus a previous conviction), fined £250. Driver 2 - 38mph, fined £350. Seems rather arbitrary, but the second was at night so perhaps that explains the difference?
Two news articles describing speeding offences on the same road one week apart.

£250 fine for driver who sped

A 61-YEAR-OLD man who drove his van at more than double the speed limit has been fined and told he risks losing his licence if he offends again.

The Magistrate’s Court heard that Gary Paul Brown was spotted by traffic police on the morning of 15 October driving his blue Ford transit at 43mph along La Neuve Route in St Brelade – a road with a 20mph limit.

The court also heard that he had a previous motoring conviction from January 2023.

Brown admitted the charge of speeding and said: “I just apologise.” Relief Magistrate David Le Cornu imposed a £250 fine and endorsed his licence – meaning that it will bear a record of the offence for three years.

And he warned Brown: “If you come back to court for a similar offence you will risk losing your licence.”

Fine for driver who broke speed limit

A MOTORIST drove along La Neuve Route at almost twice the speed limit, the Magistrate’s Court has heard.

Darren Peter Willmott (35) broke the 20mph limit by driving at 38mph on the night of 21 October. He admitted speeding and was fined £350. Relief Magistrate David Le Cornu did not ban him from driving, but endorsed his licence. It will bear a record of the offence for the next three years.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 03/01/2025
It's tricky to capture the dynamic range, but this was the view from above Saint Aubin's Bay this evening looking towards the St Brieuc wind farm in France. Still a great view, whatever your thoughts on the turbines.
View of Saint Aubin's Bay in Jersey, looking South at sunset with patches of low clouds. At the horizon, the St Brieuc wind farm is just barely visible off the French coast.View across Saint Aubin's Bay in Jersey, looking South towards rows of wind turbines in the St Brieuc wind farm are at the horizon.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 01/01/2025
That's 41 miles cycled today to start the New Year off right! Few people on the roads and no rain yet, which made for a very pleasant ride. That wind was howling though.
Map of Jersey with an overlaid GPS track showing the route cycled.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 23/12/2024
Anyone else sending Christmas cards from Europe to the USA, and do any actually make it? For the past three years mine all come back weeks/months later with "Return to sender" despite being perfectly formatted & correct. Cards to other countries are delivered, this is a USA-only thing.
Scan of envelope with yellow USPS "Return to sender" label. The sender and addressee addresses are machine printed, and partly obscured.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 17/12/2024
I have good news and bad news. Bad news first. Dad forgot his iPad was on the roof of the car and Mom was able to locate it using "Find My", which still functions even after being driven over repeatedly. That is pretty impressive.
An iPad lies in the grass next to a road, its screen shattered.An iPad lies in the grass next to a road, its screen shattered.An iPad lies in the grass next to a road, its screen shattered.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 14/12/2024
This is your reminder to please drive safely to and from Christmas parties. And thanks to the police and honoraries for doing road checks on a cold night. Got a souvenir from the party AND the breath test (0.0). And yes I kept the hat on as I drove into the checkpoint!
Selfie with a paper Christmas hat and plastic tube from breath test, which the police gave me after my test.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 25/11/2024
Never mind, I should have searched first.
Search results for accounts with the text string "xn--" showing multiple results.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 24/11/2024
Related question, would you and @tonymoretta.bsky.social like to join the new Bluesky gang @matt.je and I are forming? Nerds only, first-name basis and all that.
Terminal whois "NOT FOUND" results for the domain names rory.je and tony.je, meaning the names are available for purchase.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 24/11/2024
Great to see the new zebra crossing at a spot where it was very much needed. Well done @andyjehan.bsky.social for getting this done.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 19/11/2024
Curious, for those following @govjersey.bsky.social or @statesassembly.bsky.social here on Bluesky - do you have any way of verifying those accounts? They aren't mentioned on the respective websites, nor on their Twitter/X accounts. Strange, and so easy to impersonate without public confirmation.
Screenshot of website modal with the text "Government of Jersey joined Bluesky 2 days ago".
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 13/11/2024
First attempt at a "Starter Pack" for users in Jersey. Does another one exist? I'm having trouble finding many local users, so please suggest any I missed. go.bsky.app/QqKRPvK
QR code with a link to "Bailiwick of Jersey" Bluesky starter pack.
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Tom Brossman @tom.je · 12/11/2024
At a previous job, I queried why Google Chrome was installed & set as default, since they claimed data protection was a priority. Never got a response. New job, and this week they've purged Google Chrome from all >100K employee machines, and offer ad-blockers. Perfect!
Graphic showing a computer user with a laptop. Behind are two robots with the names "Facebook" and "Big Brother". Looming behind them is a massive robot with the name "Google".
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