Good Evening

// This time I made it in :-)

Bartender? A Highland Park, please? A glas of water and a coffee. Sure, I know, strange combination, isn't it. Thank you so much.

I take a seat such that I can stare outside and watch the rain. I dig a paper notebook and pen out of my trusty backpack and wait. Maybe my mind will find something to note down. Maybe not. Who knows. Just be prepared ...

My drinks arrive. Thank you, bartender! Cheers, folks!

// note to myself:

Aha, so I see that my round trip through the booby trap wasn't entirely unexpected. When the gemini reader says "(thread)" after "~login wrote:" THEN there is another message behind that! Yay. Which confirms what I knew already: /me is web-ignorant to unbelievable levels . And no, I'm not going to dlick everywhere in order to find out, where all the funny links are hiding. Sigh! Maybe I should resort to "show me the source" more often %^>

Respect to she12! I'm impressed by looking at the ascii version of the list of signs. But making that work? On my browser?? Meeehhh, well no. Bound to fail.

rosie88

I am sitting by the lounge, I am nursing a whisky and water, hearing the front door open I turn to look to see who walks in, it is ew. I smile and lift my glass and calls out "Hiya ew, how about keeping me company?" Spots him getting his drink and waits for him to approach.....

// I hear my name and take another look. Why are all the interesting places so dimly lit? Isn't it the century of magic light emanating from microscopic Light Emitting Devices? I do know, that I have reached the age which entitles me to tell the youngsters "Switch on the light when reading, will you?" Hmmm. Someone is rushing through the "Another Door" to the work shed giving way to an well illuminated scene for a moment. I see! Looks like rosie88 has lifted her glass.

Cheers, Rosie88! Would you mind my company? You wouldn't mind? That's kind, thank you.

// The bartender has seen this coming, somehow. Intelligent guy. Before I have grabbed my paper journal and other stuff he is juggling my drinks towards rosie88s table. I'm impressed.

Thank you, bartender!

Hello Rosie88, how are you?

// I can see the complicated part coming up: relativistic round trip delays and high levels of improbability and nerd speak ...

she12

As I hurry back outside, all cought up in my renovations, I notice a new face.

"Hey there, fellow Midknight! Good to see you up here, welcome to Pub."

rosie88

I look up from my laptop screen and smiles as I see ew approach. The sight of the bartender playing a juggling act with filled glasses had me chuckling a little. As ew approached I say cheerfully, "Thank you for joining me. I was just adding a few touches to some disgustingly complicated HTML code. A good friend of mine wanted me to build him an e-commerce site, it is almost done, thank the stars." I go for my glass of whiskey and takes a sip. I add, "Other than the headache of dealing with coding, I am well thank you. How have you been?" I put the glass down, I look towards the bartender and say, "Can you please get me another whiskey and water and get my friend whatever he wants, thank you" I shut down the laptop and turn my full attention at ew with a smile I am all ears now.

Bartender? When I'm finished with that coffee, would you please be so kind as to serve the best beer from your selection of microbreweries? Yes? That would just be so nice!

// And while I take a seat and find a place for the stuff in my hands ...

Hello rosie88, nice to meet you!

E-commerce site? I wouldn't even know, where to start. Gives me the shivers. So do you understand all that magic, that ~she12 is mixing up in the shed? Really???

// Me looks impressed

You know, the stuff I'm dabbling with --- 8 bit micro-controllers with maybe 2kB of RAM ... I wouldn't even attempt to build anything html-like on these little fantastic machines. Seriously. I have toyed with the idea to add something gemini like, BUT that would require some other component to deal with the certificate stuff. Well, maybe in another life in another universe ...

// me takes a sip of coffee and staring out of the window into the rain ...

I'm not a prepper, but maybe it would be good to get to grips with these low power radios called LoRa, and build small, solar powered stations with little screens, that ping the neighborhood like twice a day. And the folks across the street can answer by typing in "we are well! come over for coffee if you like". Like a neighborhood telex machine or something such.

// Other part of brain: Shut up Nerd! So I switch gears, sit upright, take another sip of coffee ...

This coffee really is good! Just what I needed. Do I bore you already? Isn't hardware supposed to "just work"?

rosie88

Takes my glass of whatever it was I ordered and as ew was talking I took in everything he said. Being an introvert has its perks and being a great listener is one, once done listening I begin to speak, "yes an e-commerce site and it is more of a damned headache, all that html bullshit has me dreaming in code. I am almost done and as soon as I am I will put up a 'gone on vacation all summer' sign up so no more work for at least the summer." I take another sip of my drink, ew continued on speaking, once again the opportunity came for me to add to the conversation, "Oh? I wasn't aware that she12 was up to anything magical in the shed but if she is I am certain it will be amazing, she is a great artist with the ascii paintbrush" I laugh thinking myself witty. I add, as ew spoke of 8bit microcontrollers and 2 kb of RAM, "why with those specs that truly must be the tiniest of tiny computer. I would love to see it. As for gemini it is quite easy to start your own capsule with a VPS, domain name and a trusty TLS. Eventually I will fire up my own server and get my own gemini capsule".

The mention of the word prepper got me to cant my head slightly, since I am indeed one I listened intently but what I heard next made the corners of my mouth curl into a smile, I say "why that is a great idea, ew. You see I am a prepper, one thing I lack is a shortwave radio, but what you suggest is far better than a shortwave.

"On the contrary, you did not bore me, honestly you fascinated me instead" I continue to sip on my drink as the conversation continues.

Dreaming in code? Yay. That sounds like high time for a summer vacation, indeed!

// I shake my head in disbelief and take a sip from that Highland Park. Ah, good stuff!

I'm sure glad that my nights are "Black as the Night is Black in Africa" (from some old song by Özay & Altinay band).

Regarding the neighborhood telex ... I found two projects which might serve as puzzle pieces ...

// I grab my notebook and leaf through it. Paper is sure nice. And it works without electricity --- however, I always miss a "grep' working on paper journals ...

Ah, there we go: a microcontroller based thingy

https://disaster.radio/

and a small computer thing running on a Pi or similar, even without internet access. Even provides this newfangled gemini stuff!

gemini://freedombone.net/

// I take a mental note that my list of useless projects is too long already. And on the other table I overhear ~euromancer saying

... and was amazed at the amount of free time people have :D

// I chuckle

Did you hear that, too?

// Rosie88 nods.

I can speak only for myself: the day I stop feeding my mind with projects --- useless or not --- it will likely come up with its own. And that might not be desirable, I'm afraid.

// We burst in laughter ...