Philosophical:

Ignorance is not a sin – don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know”, despite what academia might have taught you

Ask questions. Most of the time, the worst case scenario the answer you get back is “I don’t know”

Think about how those previous two intersect

Remember that progress is not always linear

Forgive yourself. Self flagellation only serves your enemies

Thank folks around you for things that they do that nobody thinks to show appreciation for. It goes a long way when people are seen for the effort they put in

Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good

Practical:

Take pictures of the mundane, like your house. You never know when you will need to look back on that again for posterity/prosperity or more likely utility

Wear your face mask. Yes. Still. KN95 or better, make sure it’s got a good seal. And keep up to date with your covid boosters. Not only do you not want to get sick, you don’t want to be the reason someone else gets sick. It sucks, but getting long covid sucks more. Each time you catch it, your chances of developing long covid increase because the damage is cumulative

Check if your headlights are on. DRLs are not enough, and some cars don’t automatically turn them on. If your headlights are on, that will turn your tail lights on. Other drivers need to be able to see you on the road

Take the old batteries out of your vintage computers and electronics so you don’t have to deal with a corroded terminals. Varta meltdowns suck

Clean your keyboard – it’s filthier than you think

Help your mom out with doing the dishes, or however that proverb best applies to you and your situation. This includes putting your shopping cart away when you’re done with it

Tumblr & The Internet:

Reblog stuff you enjoy for others, and spread the joy. Likes don’t mean much here on tumblr, but a reblog may make someone’s day – especially artists!

Engage in good-faith discussions with your fellow user, you might find a new friend

Cite your sources on images and try to tag things accurately where you can. Some folks will enjoy knowing where you found something so they can learn more. The breadcrumbs you drop may lead to someone else’s inspiration

Turn off “best stuff first” on your tumblr dashboard controls. It’s your dashboard, curate it! Otherwise, you miss out on the really niche stuff

Switch to Firefox

Install an adblocker: ublock origin, pi-hole, whatever’s new and beautiful

Don’t feed the generative AI. Draw it shitty or hire an artist. There are tons of artists in a wild variety of art styles just waiting for you to plop down some cash. Don’t have cash? Try making it yourself with traditional materials or a modern image editing program. Even a scribble on a napkin is more endearing to us and enriching for you than AI garbage

Use bookmarks instead of having a bajillion and a half open tabs. It makes it easier to find things and frees up computer resources. Think of it like cleaning the clutter off of your desk

Mental Health:

Friendships made beyond school are forged through showing up regularly to the same space

Take a moment to enjoy silence in your space. Mr. Rogers put it best, we live in a noisy world

Take a walk when you can

Be brave. The good news is you don’t usually be brave the whole time. 30 seconds of blind courage will get you farther than wondering

Use the special fine china, or those things you were saving up for some indeterminate future thing

Miscellaneous:

Call your grandma

Go to a Vintage Computer Festival

and lastly…

Be good to each other

Ohio Scientific Inc. – 50 year anniversary

Crawford Griffith, Bill Sudbrink, Bill Dromgoole, Bill Degnan

This was one of the big anchor exhibits celebrating 50 years of OSI. They had borrowed an OSI-300 and original Challenger from Bill Sudbrink (who sadly could not attend this year), a second OSI-300 from Bill Dromgoole, and a Challenger 1P-MF and Challenger III from Crawford Griffith. An excellent array of OSI machines!

Hanging out with the Ohio Scientific fans at VCF East XXI was awesome. We had a collective 5 exhibits spanning 42ft of table space, celebrating the 50 year anniversary of a now-obscure, defunct company. Together, we covered most of the major milestones of OSI’s history, and the results were awesome.