@leymoo@hachyderm.io

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Jul 21, 2026

I see @advancedrubbish@hachyderm.io has trumped any of my potential “now home” posts from #emfcamp by doing this image of one of our cats

4

0

2

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Jul 18, 2026

Replying to @ChaoticCatboy@cupoftea.social

@ChaoticCatboy@cupoftea.social gonna go ask shortly!

0

1

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Jul 17, 2026

To whoever just stole my dect handset off my waist just now in null sector - I hope you never get a ticket again. #emfcamp

2

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · May 03, 2026

Replying to @programmablecat@post.lurk.org

@programmablecat@post.lurk.org This is my preference too. I seem to use vision to compensate for poor motor control and proprioception. I also *love* various strong colours as a sensory thing.

1

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Apr 30, 2026

Replying to @leymoo@hachyderm.io

You see, I am a Big Light preferrer for indoors but also I will have sunglasses on all the damn time in daylight.

2

4

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Apr 30, 2026

Sooooo, are you a Big Light person that is always turning lights up or on to see stuff properly, or are you a Turn Them Damn Lights Down person?

2

6

2

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Apr 30, 2026

Replying to @glennf@zeppelin.flights

@glennf@zeppelin.flights Thank you for this! I’ve lost various afternoons running out of disk space, swap crawling the machine to a halt then frantically running Daisydisk to work out what I can cut…

1

2

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Apr 25, 2026

So @cloudthethings@hachyderm.io and I are half considering writing a (joint) letter to our “not in the tech bubble” friends and family about AI, aimed at a general audience (mainly based on a lovely taxi driver and a few other recent questions we have had) - what are the things you *really really really* want them to understand but it’s taking too long to explain to make the point?

We want to connect up the macroeconomic factors with the more practical parts of how it’s affecting day to day work, in tech and out, plus actually how it looks like it’s thinking, as I’ve not seen pieces that cover all this together.

3

2

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Apr 22, 2026

Replying to @leymoo@hachyderm.io

Also won’t claim credit for the best boat name found so far - will let @cloudthethings@hachyderm.io share that one

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Apr 22, 2026

Went under the M6 yesterday. Not as hardcore to moor overnight at the sewage works today though. 😅

2

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Apr 07, 2026

Replying to @screwturn@mastodon.social

@screwturn the “weirdo country” that still uses a *lot* of imperial measurements that people like to make fun of does not do this, they use feet and miles rather than yards and miles.

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Apr 07, 2026

Replying to @carey@mastodon.nz

@carey thankfully this number format has no negative numbers in its worldview

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Apr 07, 2026

Replying to @cmdrmoto@hachyderm.io

@cmdrmoto sadly not, this data is from a . decimal place locale

1

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Apr 07, 2026

Replying to @prozacchiwawa@functional.cafe

@prozacchiwawa this convention was likely around and inherited from the days of dot matrix printers so this is possible

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Apr 07, 2026

Replying to @leymoo@hachyderm.io

A SCARY UPDATE (if you like your data sensible) This is actually worse than I originally depicted. 56.104 is NOT 56 miles and 104 yards. You assume truncated 0s. So it's actually 56 miles and 1040 yards. 56.0104 is 56 miles and 104 yards. 💀

6

3

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Mar 19, 2026

Replying to @cloudthethings@hachyderm.io

@cloudthethings @hazelweakly Honestly this whole talk gave me goosebumps it was genuinely amazing.

2

1

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Mar 15, 2026

Replying to @einsiedlerspiel@todon.nl

@einsiedlerspiel this might be a reference to something real happening but for me it’s because I took my adhd meds after 10am 😭

1

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Mar 13, 2026

If you have a spreadsheet, or a value in a database with a value of say, 56.1068 and it’s miles, what do you expect this to be:

- decimal miles, ie 56 and 0.1068th of a mile
- 56 miles and 1068 yards

😭

8

10

5

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Mar 12, 2026

Replying to @mhoye@cosocial.ca

@mhoye@cosocial.ca Some thoughts: Heston Blumenthal said he could always tell if a chef had eaten at his own restaurant by the butter - if it was cold, and didn't spread, they clearly had never experienced being at the table themselves. Railway and civil engineering however is much closer to the large "team effort" of software. They don't need to "live" their own consequences by attending to every derailment, because a sensible proxy has been set up - professional chartering, striking people off, criminal charges, disciplinary action. Right now, software does not have this concept. But prior to them having this setup, old bridge builders were invited to stand under it to "prove" it worked.

2

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Feb 27, 2026

Replying to @xeno@hexokina.se

@xeno the more deep fried this becomes, the more I will repost it

0

1

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Feb 16, 2026

Replying to @diffractie@glitterkitten.co.uk

@diffractie@glitterkitten.co.uk “assume a star shaped cow…”

4

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @lpbkdotnet@mstdn.social

@lpbkdotnet @Extelec I certainly enjoyed bringing a dect handset to emfcamp and will be doing it again. Much thanks for the work and fun!

1

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @LaF0rge@chaos.social

@LaF0rge I am dumb enough to post this on mastodon before asking one of my friends who is a member… they were driving so am bothering them later!

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @leymoo@hachyderm.io

My mother would like to clarify for the record that a friend got her onto the phone line, she was “too cool” for the fully licensed and legal capital radio and listened to mainly pirate radio, notably Horizon Radio #radio #capitalradio #phreaking #VintagePhoning #1980s #retrochatroom

52

0

2

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de

@vfrmedia @alicemcalicepants ah, that tracks but a mild shame. I suspect trying to get hold of anyone who remembers dialling in is an easier shot.

1

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @kitten_tech@fosstodon.org

@kitten_tech @401matthall I don’t know if us Brits had a different term but I do know as a student my next door neighbour’s son was a police investigator who worked on phone crimes (phreaking and scams) in the 80s - the new premium numbers in the late 80s meant lots of people worked out loopholes to make money - he talked about a bunch of scams which my now significantly older brain has lost to time, sadly.

2

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de

@vfrmedia @alicemcalicepants I think the next step is for me to to find someone at capital radio at the time to verify - I’ve enlisted help outside fediverse for this part. And the one I’m holding out for - would be amazing to see if anyone remembers dialling in - I think the Capital Radio Facebook group might be the best shot for that (mainly due to generation of person dialling in)

2

4

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @leymoo@hachyderm.io

You might be amused to know that my mother is now deeply bored of the phone kit and phone system details I am showing her (please don’t stop sharing it, I’m loving it) but I suspect my dad would be bored instead about the radio and human interest aspect of this (and would also be deeply squeamish to talk in detail about meeting my mother, someone he broke up with over 30 years ago) so it balances out l reckon #radio #capitalradio #phreaking #VintagePhoning #1980s #retrochatroom

36

2

1

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @lpbkdotnet@mstdn.social

@lpbkdotnet I just complimented you on something you then apologised for, you must be British or Canadian 😂. I’d say maybe upgraded to an electronic exchange - timing is right - I am very very limited in knowledge here, but I’m aware of the switchover to System X in that period. Hoping the radio parts of fediverse might chip in on whether the radio station had any idea this was going on, or even any people who also called in, or whether the timing of the switchover to an electronic exchange triggers any memories for them.

5

6

1

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @dzwiedziu@mastodon.social

@dzwiedziu Turns out I might have a second degree connection with these people, so this is a good shout on the specifics of the PBX and so on.

1

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @meganL@mas.to

@meganL wow a blast from the past - no idea this was still about, to the extent I had forgotten it existed! I broadly need to get hold of very early Gen X/younger boomers so this is a good shout.

1

2

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @lpbkdotnet@mstdn.social

@lpbkdotnet ok this is amazing detail - I have friends of friends in THG but it’s not something I have detailed knowledge of.

2

8

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @leffe@social.linux.pizza

@leffe This sounds much nicer than the UK’s approach (recently privatised in 1984), which was to introduce premium rate phone numbers so people could run these at a profit ☹️

2

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @Theresacityinmymind@mas.to

@Theresacityinmymind I’m curious as to whether there was specific telecom kit that radio stations used to manage calls in the 70s and 80s - maybe if there was a bit of kit it used the same concept to work as the party line concept in the US, but on purpose? I understand the UK switched from US style phone networks to their less phreakable system (System X - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_X_(telephony) ) by the early 80s - a black box would work on UK networks up until that switchover.

1

2

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @mark@mastodon.fixermark.com

@mark I love this! Both of them maybe thinking “Wait, I’m not the only imposter here?!”

8

0

2

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Replying to @401matthall@mastodon.xyz

@401matthall There are so many parallels to my teen years on irc… I have been 🤯 My mother was doing this from about age 13-14 - she met my father at 17 or so (nowhere near the first person she met), they liked each other, had a few dates, became boyfriend/girlfriend, few years later I appeared. Turns out teens causing trouble is not just for modern social media. 😁 Apparently the max sizes of the groups tended to be 20-30 people at one go - so pretty niche, and I have no idea if the radio staff have any idea now this was going on.

13

12

1

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Sep 17, 2025

Oh my goodness. I think this is the only place on the internet nerdy enough to help me locate this info.

My parents met on a what was effectively an unofficial chat room hosted by capital radio (London). In the 1980s, Capital Radio used to leave their switchboard open at night (unintentionally, they didn’t realise it was happening) and people would call the regular radio phone and just end up in what was effectively a giant group call for Londoners late at night. (I say Londoners due to the reach of the radio rather than the phone line itself, people wouldn’t know the number unless they listened in).

I understand they changed how the phone system worked later in the 80s and closed this loophole off.

So what I’m after is…
- the nature of the switchboard that allowed this to happen - edit now answered
- what change would have blocked this later on - edit now answered
- any historic info on the period it was left open, or personal accounts - still pending, trying other social media too for this

#radio #capitalradio #phreaking #VintagePhoning #1980s #retrochatroom

339

60

392

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭 @leymoo@hachyderm.io · Aug 31, 2025

Replying to @Curator@mastodon.art

@Curator@mastodon.art

1

0

Ashley Rolfmore -bye emfcamp😭

Posts

Remote instance

Media