Wednesday, January 3rd, 2018

	Common interests
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was not even surprised when I read on Solderpunk's Phlog[1] that  he
reads pet84rik's phlog[2], because they are both interested in similar
things: fountain pens, mechanical watches, film  photography.

That's two out of  three for me,  because I just  haven't find  enough
time to dive into the  world of  fountain  pens. But I shoot film more
than 20 years and I still have some  cameras (beLOMO Vilia, Zenit TTL,
Fokaflex and even  Polaroid), even  though last few years I shoot more
with my "retro" DSLR -  Sigma SD9, which makes very  specific,  almost
film-like pictures. 

As for  mechanical  watches, that is  quite a new  topic for me, as my
first  brand  new   mechanical  watches  arrived  just  today -  Seiko
SRPB067J1. Until now I had two cheap  mechanical  watches from  India,
which I  bought to  make  sure I  like the  ticking  after  years with
quartz/digital/smart  watches  and I  _do_  like it. In  fact my  wife
bought me 3x2 watch box, so I am on the very beginning of a collection
with one place occupied and five empty. 

But   there are more  topics in  which there  seems to be  interest in
gopherspace, I can relate to: 

I also like  tinkering with  various  UNIX-like  operating systems (as
pet84rik  and  many  more  do).  I have  a  computer  collection which
contains  machines from 8-bits up to 64-bit  PowerPC workstations  and
Unix is  important  part of both  computer  history and present - I've
been Unix/Linux/BSD guy since 1998 and I can't imagine it otherwise.

And there is even 4th area of interest, which seems to be quite common
- HAM radio. I am a not full proper HAM yet, as I do just free  bands:
CB  and  PMR446, but  even  there it's  almost  the  same - portables,
contests, trying to make longer and longer QSOs with QRP.

Since I read gopherspace / phlogosphere more often thanks to Bongusta!
(I  shouldn't be  too  proud  about my own  creation, but it  seems to
connect  people, so I am), I  discovered that it is more like club for
people, who have similar hobbies. And that's great. 

Of course there is infinite  number  of  people  with these  interests
in the  world of world-wide-web,  but there you  have  to get  through
thousands of uninteresting, boring or just stupid websites to find one
which is about  what  you  like. On  gopher it  seems to be no problem
- pick any  phlog and you'll find there  almost for sure something you
do, like and enjoy. Such a happy place!

[1] gopher://sdf.org/0/users/solderpunk/phlog/assorted-replies-and-ack
nowldgements-03.txt
[2] gopher://sdf.org:70/1/users/pet84rik/