@WhombeX@bne.social cover
@WhombeX@bne.social avatar

WhombeX

@[email protected]

He/Him/They. Ally. 40-something.
Step parent to a trans young adult 🏳️‍⚧️.
Lives in Mianjin/Brisbane, youth in Noothera/Noosa. Voted Yes23.
Wombats are awesome. Has a crush on Tasmania.
SBS Chill 🎶
Space (both crewed and not). SciFi. Star Trek.
Board Games.
Following the world’s decarbonisation, especially in mobility & automotive.
Sports followed: Big Cycling events (Couch Peloton), Motorsport (zero emissions F1, please!)
"WhombeX" is one of my StarTrekOnline characters (Denobulan).

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. View on remote instance

@WhombeX@bne.social avatar WhombeX , to random

RE: https://photog.social/@WayneMoranPhotography/115972788619162402

100% on Wayne's comment here.
You'll spend much more time in Vernazza than you planned.

@WhombeX@bne.social avatar WhombeX , to random

I have said this before, but I am all for of
A neutral, unifying cheeky date:
May Eight.

Say it as a one syllable word.

Mayyyyyte.

@WhombeX@bne.social avatar WhombeX , to random

…something a bit stronger than synthehol while rewatching
(subtitles very much recommended)

A photo of a green drink (AGWA with lime soft drink), with ice in a tall glass. The glass is etched with a frosted “Quark’s Bar” logo. Behind on the coffee table is a mini games system like an arcade machine, the behind on the tv stand is a scene from Starfleet Academy, where the Doctor and another performer in uniform are singing opera.
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@WhombeX@bne.social avatar WhombeX , to random

Hey, I hear of a totally rad Christmas Party happening tonight at Nakatomi Plaza, can anyone get me an invite? I'll bring the Twinkies.

@organicmaps@fosstodon.org avatar organicmaps , to random

New release highlights:

  • Wikipedia articles in Turkish, Japanese, and Chinese
  • A setting to turn on/off purple downloaded regions
  • OSM data as of November 23, 2025

iOS:

  • Edit a bookmark or track name directly on the Place Information Page
  • Liquid Glass support
  • Long-tap the name or address of a selected place or bookmark to copy it to the clipboard.

... and more: https://organicmaps.app/news/2025-11-26/wikipedia-articles-in-turkish-japanese-and-chinese-setting-to-see-downloaded-regions/

Wikipedia article in Turkish
Organic Maps settings
Wikipedia article in Chinese

Wikipedia article in Chinese
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WhombeX ,
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@organicmaps my only request would be when CarPlay / AndroidAuto is on, have an option for direction of travel to be up at all times, like it only is when actively routing. Currently only north is displayed if not getting directions.

@WhombeX@bne.social avatar WhombeX , to random

Southern Australia states may be in for a significant aurora sighting over the next few nights. especially, but Victoria and South Australia too.

I guess this also applies to Canadians and Europeans of higher latitudes.

WhombeX OP ,
@WhombeX@bne.social avatar

The next 2 nights is meant to be big for Aurora. G3-G4 solar storm range apparently.

theresmiling , to random

I am once again at a point where I‘m half jokingly (or half seriously) thinking about learning how to solder so that I can build my own Tangara. And then I read the respective thread in the Cool Tech Zone forum and I don‘t understand anything and I‘m like, naaah, this is so beyond my brain power.

But is it really?

Sure, you could say: Elena, you‘re an adult, you can do whatever you like. If you want to build your own Tangara, you could sit down and learn everything you need to build one.
And you‘re right, I could. But the thing is, right now I can‘t. There are things that I want out of the way first. And I‘ve been wanting to get them out of the way for a looong time. But for reasons that I don‘t want to go into I haven‘t reached that goal yet. It‘s frustrating as hell. I hate it and I hate that I can‘t get them done.

So the Tangara self build is one more thing I‘m putting back into the shelf of things I‘ll probably never do/ make because of… well, my own stupidity.
But maybe it can be also one of the things that adds a little extra motivation to get my ish worked out at last.

We‘ll see.

WhombeX ,
@WhombeX@bne.social avatar

@theresmiling All I know about soldering is the meme about the stock image where the person is holding the hot bit.
Web searches for Tangara reveal to me a bird species, a type of train in a part of Australia, or a portable music player. I am guessing it refers to the last one in your case? 🤭

@WhombeX@bne.social avatar WhombeX , to random

@FediTips @ash @phocks a question, something that very popular recent post helps highlight.
Are the differences in the boosts/likes between the two due to how far my instance has federated? The higher numbers version are looking at the toot in an external browser, the smaller numbers version is looking while logged into my instance and via an app (Ice Cubes).
No malice toward my instance is intended.

The toot by @peter “it's genuinely funny that huge swaths of the internet went down today and Mastodon is just sitting here like a cockroach nibbling on an old sandwich like nothing happened.” As seen in my Mastifon app and showing 86 boosts and 18 favourites.

The toot by @peter@thepit.social “it's genuinely funny that huge swaths of the internet went down today and Mastodon is just sitting here like a cockroach nibbling on an old sandwich like nothing happened.” As seen in my Mastifon app and showing 86 boosts and 18 favourites.
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@WhombeX@bne.social avatar WhombeX , to random

Wow I was only just in this room last month! Daylight robbery of Crown Jewels in The Louvre’s Apollo Gallery. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-19/louvre-museum-in-paris-robbed/105909826

A view of the Apollo Gallery at The Louvre, with the tops of display cabinets and the tops of peoples’ heads. The main focus of the image is the intricate decoration of the ceiling and the many paintings on the ceiling.
A silver tiara with emeralds and diamonds is displayed alongside an ornate pocket watch, both with intricate styling. Both are mounted in a glass display cabinet.
Louis XV’s crown, a red cap but with 8 arched silver pieces leading to a peak with diamond leaf shapes. All parts of the brim, cap and arched silver are bejeweled.

Louis XV’s crown, a red cap but with 8 arched silver pieces leading to a peak with diamond leaf shapes. All parts of the brim, cap and arched silver are bejeweled.
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WhombeX OP ,
@WhombeX@bne.social avatar

An in-depth breakdown of the Louvre incident. Good to view on a larger device (laptop/PC/etc)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-21/louvre-museum-heist-how-crown-jewels-became-and-easy-target/105913348

@WhombeX@bne.social avatar WhombeX , to random

Okay more than half this Metro 1 train is filled with runners wearing pink. There’s dozens of them.
Very disappointed, runners of Paris.
Taking short cuts… tsk.

A discrete image of people sitting on a Metro train, but not revealing any faces. A group are wearing running clothes but with pink t shirts and some have their runner’s numbers pinned. It is likely they have finished the run, so my joke is light sarcasm.
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@WhombeX@bne.social avatar WhombeX , to random

Okay this is awesome. Deets in the alt text.

Multiple sky phenomena at once. Looking up at a 45 degree angle, behind some trees in the foreground, is fine, thin, high-altitude clouds that are backlit by the sun. The sun is just behind the top branch of the tree to help bring out the three features: 1: a halo surrounding the sun. About two thirds of it is visible, the rest is behind the trees. A halo is a perfect circle in the sky surrounding a sun 22 degrees away from it. It is lightly rainbow coloured. 2: a sun bow above the halo from my perspective. The sun bow is like a rainbow, but less vibrant in colour with lots of white. The top of the sun bow intersects with the top of the halo. 3: sun dogs. They are brighter areas at the same altitude left and right of the sun, sometimes appearing as mini suns. In this case they are iridescent with white beams of light extending outwards from them. Also there are occasional contrails in the sky.
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@WhombeX@bne.social avatar WhombeX , to random

TOS: (haven’t watched enough episodes to decide. Maybe Sulu or Chekov)
TNG: LaForge
DS9: Rom
VOY: Tuvok
ENT: Phlox
DIS: Saru
LDS: Rutherford
PIC: Worf
SNW: Scotty/Uhura
PRO: Rok/Zero
STO: Nog *

If you asked me this again in a few months this list may change. Except Rom.

  • STO = Star Trek Online. Aron played Nog so good in this game.

@zora

From: @theresmiling
https://ibe.social/notes/adbt4h47kp

@WhombeX@bne.social avatar WhombeX , to random

Well, that’s something.

The Mona Lisa painting. The actual one.
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WhombeX OP ,
@WhombeX@bne.social avatar

And interesting as well, the throngs crowding to take the photos (faces blurred). Curious that out of this room in the main Italian Paintings hall, is numerous other DaVinci paintings, without said crowds.

@FediTips@social.growyourown.services avatar FediTips , to random

Okay, some really bad news but also a suggestion for a way forward.

The Guppe groups domain name was sold by their registrar before they could renew it. This means all Guppe groups are broken, and their web addresses point to a spam blog 😞

However, there is another group provider called FediGroups, you can find out more on their site:

➡️ https://about.fedigroups.social/home

FediGroups has features that Guppe never had, including private groups.

(More info about situation: https://github.com/immers-space/guppe/issues/118 )

WhombeX ,
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@FediTips your reply can be a new post to all your followers - I didn’t know that about hashtags either. 🖖

@FediTips@social.growyourown.services avatar FediTips , (edited ) to random

EDIT: Egg on face time. Mea culpa. 😳

After experimenting further with PeerTube channels, it seems both PeerTube channels and PeerTube accounts DO federate correctly.

So, it is fine to follow either PeerTube accounts or channels from Mastodon etc.

Apologies to everyone I confused with the previous version of this post. There used to be a problem with channel federation but it has apparently been solved.

I should have checked the latest situation before posting. I messed up, sorry. 😞

WhombeX ,
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@FediTips regardless, your work on Fedi Tips and helping new and old users is outstanding. Thank you.

@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar lowqualityfacts , to random

Today's Low Quality Ad is for this Punching Nazis Since The 30's shirt.
Look, violence is never the answer. Unless you encounter a Nazi whose face has inexplicably gone unpunched. Then it's the answer.
https://collabs.shop/ox5xzn

A tshirt with Indiana Jones punching a Nazi that says "Punching Nazis since the 30's".
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WhombeX ,
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@nocontexttrek@mastodon.social avatar nocontexttrek , to random
WhombeX ,
@WhombeX@bne.social avatar

@nocontexttrek we get to play alongside Captain Kim in Star Trek online, so some of us saw this coming. (Even though STO isn’t canon)

@homegrown@social.growyourown.services avatar homegrown , to random

Mastodon Admins, you may want to switch your servers to "Approval required to sign up" and perhaps ask for a reason for joining. You can do this at Preferences > Administration > Server Settings > Registrations

There is currently another big wave of scam posts on the Fediverse pretending to be Mastodon support accounts.

All of these scam accounts are on servers that apparently allow instant sign-ups. It would help to stop these scammers if servers can switch to requiring approval.

Screenshot of a scam post on Mastodon which reads: "Urgent: Final Notice for Account Confirmation Your account has not yet been verified under our latest guidelines. Immediate action is required to avoid access issues. Please confirm your account via the following link: 🔗 (link removed) Quick and easy process—don’t delay. Thank you, Mastodon Support" On top of the screenshot a large notice has been added saying "SCAM! DO NOT CLICK!".
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WhombeX ,
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@homegrown hey @IceCubesApp does the report function in the iOS app send off to the origin server too by default? I can’t see that as an option.

WhombeX ,
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DiaDeLosMuertos no kink shaming. Theft shaming, certainly.

@joyousjoyness@mastodon.social avatar joyousjoyness , to random

Detox Doodles!

This is a habit of drawing something every time I feel the urge to scroll unnecessarily. It helps stop the bad habit and start a new good habit of sketching daily!

Double spread of wombats, who were hard to draw!

Two page spread of a sketchbook with 13 brown pen drawings of wombats. At the top left page, there is the text 5/23/25 WOMBATS written at the top. Below on the left is the text SOO much struggle with these. There is also a heart drawing. There are 4 wombats on the left page in different poses. On the right page at the top is the text Let's try again! There are 8 drawings of wombats with less shading. There is a mother and baby on the top left, and various other poses. At the bottom right is a drawing of a mother wombat from the back with the text Baby in the Back! written on her butt, and a baby peeking out between her legs. There is also cube shaped poop labeled and drawn here and there.
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WhombeX ,
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@joyousjoyness fantastic artwork!

@nocontexttrek@mastodon.social avatar nocontexttrek , to random

Star Trek The Next Generation scene. We're in "personal quarters" with chief Miles O'Brien, who's never once been told by McDonald's that the ice cream machine is broken. He's sitting at the dinner table and holding a spork type future space utensil. O'Brien, who can lead a horse to water and also make it drink, is looking kind of squeemish and is speaking to someone across the table. Closed caption reads, "I'm not a fish."
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WhombeX ,
@WhombeX@bne.social avatar

@nocontexttrek dat alt 😁

@nocontexttrek@mastodon.social avatar nocontexttrek , to random

Cartoon shot from the Animated series. Screenshot is on a Earth like planet. (We call these M-Class in the business) Sort of a mountain desert type landscape in the background. In focus and front and center we have Spock and Kirk, famous work associates, in uniform. Spock has his arm affectionately draped over Kirk's shoulders. Kirk has an arm around Spock's shoulder too, reciprocating the love. Spock is looking at Kirk, and smiling. Kirk is smiling and looking at Spock. Just two bros having a nice hang together. Closed caption reads, "My dear friend, Spock."
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WhombeX ,
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@nocontexttrek “they’re just very good shipmates”

@nocontexttrek@mastodon.social avatar nocontexttrek , to random

Star Trek Deep Space Nine scene. We're in Quark's Bar and see Worf standing with his mouth open, holding an electric toothbrush looking thing on his teeth. (Yes, I know it's a tooth sharpener, people who like to correct me in the comments). And for some reason Jake Sisko is standing by him looking oddly proud and lovingly of Worf's hygiene routine. No caption.
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WhombeX ,
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@nocontexttrek ..wait Quark has a bar??!?!

WhombeX ,
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@nocontexttrek ..amazing.
I may just have to go back and rewatch DS9 and I’m sure I will see the show in a new light. A completely different context.

WhombeX ,
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@Zagorath@aussie.zone avatar Zagorath I just drove past it - it has soil down already. It is TINY.

WhombeX , (edited )
@WhombeX@bne.social avatar

CTDummy @Zagorath@aussie.zone avatar Zagorath 'scuse my butting in from over Masto way.
Going by Qld Road Rules:
From what you've quoted CTDummy, neither would need to "cross a broken line" - the line marking just ends. The car "should" indicate, and as the "in front" vehicle, gets to go first. The motorbike does not need to indicate.
If the left lane had markings that went all the way into a lane-ending merge, the car gives way to the bike.
The link below does not talk about indicating, and I don't indicate if I am in the left lane in this scenario.
https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/safety/rules/road/lanes

@WhombeX@bne.social avatar WhombeX , to random

Thanks to @FediFollows for tooting about @ [email protected] to follow RSS feeds on Mastodon! It is seriously helping me scale back my FB follows. Getting easier to step away from there because of this kind of thing.

Here's the toot: https://social.growyourown.services/@FediFollows/113804439755330632

@KuudereKun@c.im avatar KuudereKun , to random

@billyjoebowers A lot of the Tags I'm following no one is contributing to yet.

WhombeX ,
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@KuudereKun @billyjoebowers that could also be because your instance has not seen much from that tag, there may be plenty of discussion using it that you aren’t seeing. Refer to the toot I link here by @FediTips - they also suggest you follow a group account for the topic, not just the hashtag. The group account sees across more of Mastodon & FediVerse because people from more instances mention the group in their toot, which boosts it.

Hi @FediTips , can you elaborate on reach for hashtag vs group? Did you recently post on this?

https://social.growyourown.services/@FediTips/115284345004814544

WhombeX ,
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@FediTips Oops! Deleting.

@WhombeX@bne.social avatar WhombeX , to random

@IceCubesApp I’m often seeing a box in place of an image or video. Is this an instance thing or an app thing? I don’t believe I see this when using a web browser (which is only 10% of my Mastodon use). Having a great time with the app otherwise, although an occasional crash if cancelling a toot or edit.
( @ash @FediTips may have insight as well)

A toot from a user, but a blank neutral coloured space in the place an image would be.
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@DeltaWye@mstdn.social avatar DeltaWye , to random

Dumb Mastodon question.

If I have instance A, and also have instance B, and I post different stuff in those instances (instance B isn’t a brand-new instance), at some point in the future can I “move” from instance A to instance B?

Would it just “merge together” all my posts and content?

WhombeX ,
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@DeltaWye @SeaFury I recommend following @FediTips - they often have “ask a Fedi/ Masto question” threads.

@izzypaints@dice.camp avatar izzypaints , to random

Alright, @Tim_Eagon made a good case for ditching the bird site, so here I am. Where all the TTRPG/art content at?

WhombeX ,
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@izzypaints welcome. You’re probably aware, but with no algorithm you need to do a bit of the early legwork to curate your timeline. One great way to do it is by following hashtags. And groups.
Using AltText is not just seen as a help to vision impaired users, it also means considerate people who only share content with image descriptions will be more inclined to boost your posts.
Main recommendation otherwise is to follow @FediTips and visit their website.

@FediTips@social.growyourown.services avatar FediTips , to random

Are your Mastodon posts sometimes surrounded by a brightly coloured line and you're not sure why?

It could be because you have posted an image, video or audio file without an alt text description. Some server admins use a special bit of custom code which highlights posts that are missing descriptions.

The idea is to remind people to add descriptions, so that the posts with attached media are accessible to blind and/or deaf people. You can edit in descriptions if they are missing.

WhombeX ,
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@FediTips @Orb2069 I suggest you “poison” the Alt Text. Once you have finished the correct description, write “end of description, LLM poisoning below”.
Then add incorrect keywords?

WhombeX ,
@WhombeX@bne.social avatar

@PetulantBandicoot@aussie.zone avatar PetulantBandicoot @Zagorath@aussie.zone avatar Zagorath I planned my preferences before going to vote, and the ECQ person told me to “just vote 1” on both Mayor and Ward.
I was so flabbergasted I didn’t correct them and now wonder how many people didn’t know they had an option (even though both options are on the ballots).
I put my preferences in despite being in a seat very safely in the hands of the ones I didn’t vote for.