@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

samueljohnson

@samueljohnson@mstdn.social

Scientist, MBA, ex IT professional, Irish & European
Lived 30+ years on 4 continents, now back in Ireland.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

davetroy, to random
@davetroy@toad.social avatar

📄NEW: If Donald Trump is elected, what will it mean for US and global security? The history behind his motivations runs deep and is tightly connected to Putin's nuclear ambitions and his KGB past. My latest, and maybe most important, piece in Washington Spectator.
https://washingtonspectator.org/wide-angle-nuclear-blackmail/

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@davetroy The "thoughts" of an imbecile are... important? 🤔

What's important is why so many Americans can't see he's an imbecile.

molly0xfff, to web
@molly0xfff@hachyderm.io avatar

If you've ever found yourself missing the "good old days" of the , what is it that you miss? (Interpret "it" broadly: specific websites? types of activities? feelings? etc.) And approximately when were those good old days?

No wrong answers — I'm working on an article and wanted to get some outside thoughts.

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@molly0xfff not being subjected to endless, utterly pervasive surveillance and instead thinking of the technology as potentially democratising access to knowledge for the betterment of all. Turns out the only knowledge some want is how to impose their will on others.

BrideOfLinux, to random
@BrideOfLinux@mastodon.opencloud.lu avatar

Well, it hadn't occurred to me, but I guess it's pretty obvious now that you mention it: AI Boom’s Secret Winners? The Companies Powering Data Centers https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-boom-s-secret-winners-companies-powering-data-centers

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@BrideOfLinux Picks & shovels for gold miners. And never mind the negative externalities - - climate esp.

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Now SNCF TER Bourgogne Franche Comté announcement is telling me the compulsory reservation of bikes “is for everyone’s security”

Fuck off. Really.

The train is quite empty. As far as I can tell there are 2 non folded bikes on board, and space for 12.

And the reason for your stupid bold reservation rules isn’t our safety. It’s because the Région - for cost reasons - ordered trains that are too small.

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@jon A pander works wonders (if you're in the mood for it): ask if you may reply in the world's most beautiful language.

Antipodean friends of mine living and working in low wage jobs in France were challenged rudely why they were there. This answer had people eat out of their hands immediately:

We thought it was so important that our children learned to speak the world's most beautiful language.

StevePeers, to random
@StevePeers@mas.to avatar

On the Rwanda policy and the UK/Ireland dispute over responsibility for asylum seekers, by Colin Murray and me https://eulawanalysis.blogspot.com/2024/04/high-trust-arrangements-in-low-trust.html?m=1

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@StevePeers A welcome change from some less considered comment from the UK. Eg, odious (and corrupt political has-been) current leader of UKIP, Neil Hamilton, who opined that dumping asylum seekers would be deserved payback for "weaponising the NI border during Brexit negotiations". That is, insisting that the UK abide by an international peace agreement.

Ireland has taken UK equivalent of 1.4m Ukrainians & has an acute housing shortage. Electoral salience on the island of Ireland is real.

jackofalltrades, to climate
@jackofalltrades@mas.to avatar

It's very clear how desperate green tech advocates are to paint the current developments as a win for the climate. But by doing so they only reinforce the status quo.

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/04/17/wind-energy-saw-record-growth-in-2023-which-countries-installed-the-most

#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #climate #renewables #wind #solar #EnergyTransition

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@jackofalltrades Your implied contention that nothing should be done is absurd. The cost of renewable energy systems (wind, batteries, solar) is falling dramatically every year and installation is growing exponentially and will continue to do so precisely because people started to make a difference which then compounds.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0116/1426723-wind-energy/

https://www.irishtimes.com/environment/2023/07/22/irelands-solar-revolution-the-countrys-fastest-growing-renewable-power-source-is-having-a-profound-impact/

These trends will continue. Yes, competing growth rates in renewables and non renewables matter but quitting isn't an option.

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@yianiris @osma @jackofalltrades There is nothing unfortunate about reducing carbon emissions by using renewable energy. People cheating eg claiming non-renewables are renewable is unfortunate... and should be criminal.

LindaCollins11, to random
@LindaCollins11@mastodon.social avatar

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218905101

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@LindaCollins11 I've seen a report* of someone coloured using a phone being told to speak English by an ignorant monoglot in Ireland only for them to be told the language being used was Irish.

*incl video

BrideOfLinux, to random
@BrideOfLinux@mastodon.opencloud.lu avatar

The European Union will apply its flagship market fairness and contestability rules to Apple’s iPadOS, which expands the number of Apple-owned platforms regulated under the DMA to four: Apple's iPadOS will have to comply with EU's Digital Markets Act too https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/29/ipados-dma/

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@BrideOfLinux Cue lots of whinging online from American techbros asserting that the EU seeks to achieve by regulation what it can't by competition.

Someday the US will rediscover regulation, anti-trust laws, who knows, maybe even privacy and data protection and more.

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@sjvn @BrideOfLinux We must. A world in which America fails would be too depressing.

The zags (of uneven progress as Obama referred to them) are 😬🤦‍♂️but 🤞🇺🇲.

BrideOfLinux, to random
@BrideOfLinux@mastodon.opencloud.lu avatar

"From today all new internet connected smart devices sold in the UK will be required by law to meet minimum-security standards": UK rolls out new consumer safeguards for smart devices https://betanews.com/2024/04/29/uk-roles-out-new-consumer-safeguards-for-smart-devices/

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@BrideOfLinux The British pass laws to assert things that aren't true (Rwanda is a safe country eg) and don't bother enforcing laws that already exist (against money laundering, tax dodging, false accounting, misuse of personal data etc.). They believe in "enshrining" things in law. Putting laws into effect and complying w international legal obligations... Not so much.

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@BrideOfLinux

Failing anyway, thanks to self-inflicted wound

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/04/26/ftse-100-markets-latest-news-uk-anglo-american-us-inflation/

But Londongrad has been overdue for some comeuppance

https://youtu.be/OYfnkLurLA8

Origins of offshore (supposedly deleted scene)

https://youtu.be/2WD_v9L9ui8

SURF, to twitter Dutch
@SURF@social.edu.nl avatar

As of 2 May, we will stop using X (formerly Twitter).

The reason is that X no longer matches SURF's public values such as humanity, autonomy and justice.

Also, the reach is declining on X and more and more academics and researchers are leaving the platform.

Read more about our decision: https://www.surf.nl/en/news/surf-stops-using-x-twitter?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=2024-04-social&utm_kwd=surf-stops-using-x-twitter--&utm_source=mastodon&utm_content=surf

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@SURF Fantastisch! 👏👌Dank je wel.

samueljohnson, to random
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

Stupidest YouTube advert?

"For anyone with vision loss do not eat another egg before you see this..."

clicks on Skip

(Every time)

See what? 🤔🤷‍♂️

I'll never know. (Don't tell me)

Google logic

He's got chickens, let's frighten him?
He keeps hitting skip, let's annoy him?
He wears glasses and probably eats this one weird thing, let's make it scary?
Feck, he isn't yet blind, there is still time for a scam?

Someone is paying Google for this? Really?

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

I’m lost

I’ve just crossed a capital city by train, 3 stops so far*.

Not once been told to mind the gap between the platform and the train.

Not once been warned to not leave behind my luggage.

Not once been warned to not open the doors before the train is at the platform.

Not once been told to label my luggage.

Not once been told to mind the closing doors.

And no one died (as far as I’m aware).

    • I’m now in Belgium having arrived from France earlier
samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@jon No "See it, Say it, Sorted?"

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@mjr @jon but was the "t" pronounced or swallowed? 😋

glynmoody, to random
@glynmoody@mastodon.social avatar

Ireland reaps €700m Brexit bonanza from customs duties - https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/apr/29/ireland-reaps-700m-brexit-bonanza-from-customs-duties those #brexit benefits just keep on coming, just not for the UK...

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@glynmoody I used to buy things from GB regularly. Since it left the single market I have bought nothing*. Instead I buy from NI if possible and otherwise from the rest of the single market. There's no bonanza of any kind here except a boost for the single market and lost trade for the UK whose value far exceeds the "bonanza".

*Except when deceptively sold on a ".ie" website with surprise customs charges once shipped from GB.

randahl, to random
@randahl@mastodon.social avatar

It may take a while for voters to react, but in the long run, whining won't win you the presidency.

image/jpeg

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@LALegault @randahl @FantasticalEconomics

Maybe not

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/26/allan-lichtman-prediction-presidential-election

But it's not Biden who's in trouble if he is. It's the US, and the rest of the world.

chriswho, to random
@chriswho@mstdn.social avatar
samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@Sir_Osis_of_Liver @chriswho I used to pass a travel agent's office on my way to work. The window had some posters for sunny destinations, one of which featured a couple supposedly catching a fish on a fine sandy Mediterranean beach. One day I realized that the line hanging from the rod was hanging straight down and flatfish on the end was certainly 100% dead. Ergo the whole thing was staged and completely fake. Amused me every time I passed.

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@yunchtime @chriswho Regulation is vital. Only 2 countries allow direct marketing of drugs to the population (US and NZ). The rest regulate, for good reasons. We need to extend the regulation:

https://www.eff.org/wp/behind-the-one-way-mirror

Most people have no clue how their data is collected and used.

glynmoody, to ireland
@glynmoody@mastodon.social avatar

plans to send seekers back to under emergency law - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/28/ireland-plans-to-send-asylum-seekers-back-to-uk-under-emergency-law "Taoiseach wants to reduce arrivals through Northern Ireland amid concern that Sunak’s plan is driving people to Ireland" this is going to end in tears...

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@tokensane @glynmoody UK exporting asylum seekers to Ireland will lead to suspension of East West part of Common Travel Area and end of cooperation on visa policies.

Tip: Unless you are writing in Irish, in which case Éire is correct, not Eire, Ireland is the name of the country. Ignore if you invariably write Deutschland instead of Germany.

(Eire means something else entirely.)

randahl, to random
@randahl@mastodon.social avatar

In a series of posts on Threads, American businessman Dustin Moskovitz debunks Elon Musk's manipulated graph claiming to show exponential growth for the use of Tesla full self driving (FSD).

Manipulations include, the x-axis dates are deliberately not spaced evenly. And the data does not even show people buying FSD. They show, Elon Musk starting to give away FSD for free to get the graph to rise steeply.

Picture 2: Very grown-up, very serious businessman Elon replies.

— Just buy another car.

Graph used in Tesla marketing, which incorrectly shows exponential growth for the use of the full self-driving feature. The graph is clearly manipulated.
Elon Musk responds with a picture of a big dog placing it's genitals on the face of another dog lying underneath it. Musk has written his own name on the top dog, and Muskovitz' name on the underdog.

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@randahl When I was choosing an EV the first citerion was "Anything but Tesla".

linuxtldr, to linux
@linuxtldr@noc.social avatar

Which distribution would you consider purchasing a license for if all distro's became paid?

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@linuxtldr Linux Mint. I already donate monthly.

itsfoss, to linux
@itsfoss@mastodon.social avatar

Ubuntu 24.04, are you kidding me?!

https://news.itsfoss.com/ubuntu-24-04-disappointment/

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@itsfoss I switched to Mint years ago for a user-centred distribution. Mint developers have made consistently better decisions, at least as far as individual users are concerned. Including making contingency plans to use Debian as a foundation.

eddie1perez, to random
@eddie1perez@mastodon.social avatar

As a former director for civic integrity at Twitter, I’ve been disturbed for some time about what Elon Musk is doing with his private global platform.

Today, I took the step of leaving Twitter, completely.

Why?
Here’s my last tweet:
https://mem.ai/p/e83QTrTPntGEmmZYQUEc

samueljohnson,
@samueljohnson@mstdn.social avatar

@eddie1perez I abandoned ship the day he bought Twitter. It was already clear who he was. I subsequently deleted all my tweets. Twice. (They got restored; may have been again, I can’t check without logging in which I will never do). Welcome to the club.

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