@trechnex@social.trechnex.com
@trechnex@social.trechnex.com avatar

trechnex

@trechnex@social.trechnex.com

Hello! I'm English, in my early thirties, and write online docs for a living.

I usually post about UK politics, tech industry news, and video games that I'm currently playing. I'm also gay, so LGBTQ+ rights are important to me.

First joined fedi in 2017. I used to write for Linux Format magazine & created the defunct "Glimpse" fork of the GNU Image Manipulation Program.

This is a personal non-work account, and I do use swear words. All views are my own. He/him/his. 🏳️‍🌈🌹

#nobot #noindex

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

trechnex, to random
@trechnex@social.trechnex.com avatar

Just a heads up for people outside the UK that our first UK-wide televised debate of the general election is about to start on ITV, and it's a head to head between Sunak (Tories) & Starmer (Labour).

So, if you're not interested, make sure you filter hashtags like etc 👍🏻

RickiTarr, to random
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Money doesn't buy happiness is something rich people say, because they can't figure out why people don't like them.

trechnex,
@trechnex@social.trechnex.com avatar

@RickiTarr "Money doesn't buy happiness" used to apply specifically to rich people who can't stop chasing more money, to the exclusion of everything else.

That it's been weaponised against working people struggling to get by in the United States speaks to the mentality that seems to get pushed over there. 🤨

Humans don't have to rabidly chase their own self-interest to the exclusion of other people. They can collaborate for mutual benefit, and usually do when they're given the opportunity.

RickiTarr, to random
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Is this what y'all think living with me is like?!

trechnex,
@trechnex@social.trechnex.com avatar

@RickiTarr "Hi honey, how was your day?"

"What if everything in the world were a misunderstanding, what if laughter were really tears?"

"That bad, huh? By the way, we're out of cheesecake."

"The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you'll never have."

"Okay, I'll pop out to the store."

trechnex, to random
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DDoS-ing the Internet Archive is like bombing a library. What a thoroughly dick move. 😡

trechnex, to random
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"Work-Life Balance"

Most professions: "You work your stated hours, then you go home."

Software engineering: "You work more than your stated hours, do unpaid portfolio side-projects to demonstrate 'passion', and if you burn out then it's your own fault for not following the instructions in a blog post about mindfulness."

RickiTarr, to random
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What is the thing(s) that attracts you to a person romantically or otherwise?

trechnex,
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@RickiTarr they should have kindness, empathy, and patience for the people around them, but zero tolerance for bigots and neo-Nazis.

nixCraft, to random
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Why do so many people treat Excel as a database? 🤔

trechnex,
@trechnex@social.trechnex.com avatar

@nixCraft because technically you can use any modern spreadsheet program to perform the same functions as a personal database (eg. filtering tables, generating reports, organising data, searching for records, etc)

It's a good thing that people don't have to learn Microsoft Access or LibreOffice Base to do that imho. 🙂

This idea that using spreadsheets as a database is a "noob" thing to do probably should have went away about 10-15 years ago.

RickiTarr, to random
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What cracks me up is when you go to a restaurant, and they ask if you've been there before, and then they say, "Well, we do things a little different here", and then it's exactly like every other restaurant, but more expensive.

trechnex,
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@RickiTarr then you go to somewhere that does do things differently, and they do something ridiculous like putting your steak in a mason jar and giving you a ladle to eat it with.

trechnex, to random
@trechnex@social.trechnex.com avatar

It was the year 2024, and Skynet took control.

Fortunately it was powered by ChatGPT, so instead of firing nukes and destroying humanity, it produced a spicy poem about the futility of war as written by Mr Bean, and then apologised for not understanding follow-up questions.

It was finally defeated by John Connor, who checkmated Skynet by asking for same-sex dating advice.

quixoticgeek, to random
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I can't help but thinking this is more a case of fix your own shit. Rather than bitching about mastodon.

Pretty much any website beyond some self hosted personal blog should have no issues with the number of requests being talked about here...

Maybe if someone like @cstross was to be posting the link. That might be legit breaking. But for most mortals. It shouldn't be.

Fix your shit.

https://news.itsfoss.com/mastodon-link-problem/

trechnex,
@trechnex@social.trechnex.com avatar

@quixoticgeek @cstross I was kind of amused when they asked "should we pay for a CDN?" Err... if you run a high traffic website that uses a lot of images & JavaScript, yes! Why are you still on Cloudflare's free plan?!

RickiTarr, to random
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I'm going to start writing all my posts on old English, and daring people to correct my grammar and spelling.

trechnex,
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@RickiTarr tbh there's probably zero chance that anybody's pronouncing the Old English correctly because those sentences are probably a rough approximation of what used to be a runic alphabet with letters that made entirely different noises.

Just look at this original copy of Beowulf, which was apparently written around the year 1000. It's completely illegible! 😂

https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2013/02/beowulf-online.html

girlonthenet, (edited ) to random
@girlonthenet@mastodon.social avatar

UK millennials: if someone handed you a wooden recorder, could you play a song?

(Bonus points in comments if you can tell me which one. This Q brought to you by my confident assertion in group chat that even after 25+ years, I could still smash out Lord of the Dance)

trechnex,
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@girlonthenet at this point it’d probably just be “Three Blind Mice”, but that still counts!

fkamiah17, to USpolitics
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

What the bloody hell is wrong with Joe Biden???

"Joe Biden’s tale about cannibals bemuses Papua New Guinea residents"

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/19/joe-biden-uncle-bosie-cannibals-eaten-papua-new-guinea

trechnex,
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@fkamiah17 WTF 🤣

Advisors: “Mr President Sir, we need to build ties in the Asia-Pacific. Try to build friendships in your next speech.”

Biden: “Roger that, I’ve got a great ice breaking story that my pop pop told me about Uncle Bosie getting eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea!”

Advisors: “Please don’t say that when you visit the area. That probably isn’t true & it’ll offend the locals.”

Biden: “Too late! The train has left the station. Don’t worry, it’ll crack them all up!”

Advisors: 🤦🏻‍♂️

kissane, to random
@kissane@mas.to avatar

A few weeks back I encountered a FOSS guy here explaining that when he sees open source devs ask for money, he blocks them and then stops using their code because they're morally wrong and he only wants to work with tools made by people who are doing the work for the right reasons. (I'm paraphrasing to avoid indexing the post.)

I've resisted writing about it because I'm slammed, but the question I can't shake is: Who benefits from the ideology of "pure" volunteerism?

trechnex,
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@aral @kissane their other "fun" trick, if the project hasn't produced a first release yet, is spreading false allegations of impropriety. That spooks contributors & makes people fear for their jobs, so they end up closing all the donation portals!

One of the understated benefits of Open Collective is that it's handled by a trusted legal source & publishes everything publicly in real time. That eliminates trust as an issue.

Funnily enough, right-leaning white guys are just implicitly trusted.

trechnex, to random
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Whichever 20th century UK government minister decided that dentistry should be a separate form of healthcare urgently needs their grave to be pissed on. 😬

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/30/pliers-abscesses-and-agonising-pain-britains-dental-crisis-as-seen-from-ae

Fortunately I don't need any urgent work done myself, but I also can't get an NHS dentist. My employer will reimburse dental care through a salary sacrifice scheme, but that requires me to a) find a private dentist, b) ensure they aren't shite, & c) have money up-front to pay for initial checkup & hygienist visit. 🤦🏻‍♂️

trechnex, to random
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Crap like this is why there needs to be rules against companies buying other companies if they've just had to write-down losses or go through a huge round of layoffs. 🤦🏻‍♂️

https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/17/24132791/taketwo-interactive-grand-theft-auto-layoffs-cut-projects

MadeyeTheCarnaptious, to random
@MadeyeTheCarnaptious@mastodon.scot avatar

"RAF shot down Iranian drones heading for Israel, Sunak confirms."

So the RAF is now in combat defending ISRAEL against Iran, which is responding to Israel destroying Iran's consulate in Damascus.

This is what the Tories and "Labour" define as the "defence of the realm".

Any questions?

#IranConsulateAttack #IsraelWarCrimes #StopArmsSalesToIsrael

trechnex,
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@fkamiah17 @MadeyeTheCarnaptious yeah, having looked it up you’re right. Iraq war was actually the first example in modern times of UK government seeking parliamentary approval beforehand.

I think my view of it is coloured by the fact it was later found to be based on a faulty premise, and I was very much against it at the time. So I wrongly assumed that Blair must have forced through his illegal war. 😂

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

What is a little white lie you were told as a child, that you believed for too long?

I was way too old when I figured out a human couldn't actually get sucked down a drain or flushed down a toliet. I used to cling to my little brothers, and pull them out of the bath any time my Mum would pull to plug.

trechnex,
@trechnex@social.trechnex.com avatar

@RickiTarr I was told to never show my thumbs to a horse, because they might think they're carrots and try to eat them.

In fairness, that was a good one. 😂

trechnex, to random
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Sadly, this isn't the first time that far-right or evangelical christian groups from the US have tried to influence UK government policy. 😠

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/06/extreme-us-anti-abortion-group-ramps-up-lobbying-in-westminster

didgebaba, to random
@didgebaba@c.im avatar

“Last year, I had a life-changing experience at 90 years old. I went to space, after decades of playing an iconic science-fiction character who was exploring the universe. I thought I would experience a deep connection with the immensity around us, a deep call for endless exploration.
"I was absolutely wrong. The strongest feeling, that dominated everything else by far, was the deepest grief that I had ever experienced.
"I understood, in the clearest possible way, that we were living on a tiny oasis of life, surrounded by an immensity of death. I didn’t see infinite possibilities of worlds to explore, adventures to have, or living creatures to connect with. I saw the deepest darkness I could have ever imagined, contrasting so starkly with the welcoming warmth of our nurturing home planet.
"This was an immensely powerful awakening for me. It filled me with sadness. I realized that we had spent decades, if not centuries, being obsessed with looking away, with looking outside. I did my share in popularizing the idea that space was the final frontier. But I had to get to space to understand that Earth is and will stay our only home. And that we have been ravaging it, relentlessly, making it uninhabitable."
-- William Shatner, actor

trechnex,
@trechnex@social.trechnex.com avatar

@didgebaba and then a bunch of rich people that have been doing the ravaging cut him off when he tried to give a speech and sprayed him with champagne, because for them it was just an amusement ride.

HunkThunderzone, to random
@HunkThunderzone@beige.party avatar

For those who want to say "it's just flipping burgers" here's your reality check.
This isn't casual family barbeque "flipping burgers" where you can drink and socialize.

You are in a 120+ degree kitchen, on your feet, for hours. Everything around you makes noises you have to pay attention to. You are surrounded by things that can burn or maim you if you're not careful enough.
And you have to do everything as fast, efficiently, and in compliance with health codes and local laws.
It stinks, and so do you, and everything you're wearing.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/california-minimum-wage-law-necessary-rcna145877

trechnex,
@trechnex@social.trechnex.com avatar

@RickiTarr @HunkThunderzone as a teenager going through sixth form college I worked as a janitor in the mornings and a waiter in the evenings, and it's quite an eye-opening experience to see how differently people treat you when you're wearing the uniform for those roles.

I had hoped that the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns had taught people that "unskilled labour" is a lie, because those underpaid people are providing a vital service for everyone. But sadly it seems the lesson didn't stick.

trechnex, to random
@trechnex@social.trechnex.com avatar

It seems that Raspberry Pi is demonstrating once again that, if you create a “commercial arm” for a charitable foundation, it’ll eventually become a publicly-traded company with a charitable arm for PR purposes.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/01/raspberry-pi-is-preparing-for-an-ipo-in-london-for-likely-more-than-500m/

trechnex, to random
@trechnex@social.trechnex.com avatar

I've been amused by the "well, duh" jokes I've seen on social media about international shipping rediscovering that wind power can cut their carbon emissions.

The key difference is that sails made out of the same material as wind turbine blades don't require complicated rigging and have a higher tolerance for poor weather.

So my reaction is "actually, this is very cool." 🙂

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68543677

trechnex, to random
@trechnex@social.trechnex.com avatar

So, according to some former Twitter engineers, the future is SEO-optimised AI listicles and hallucinated news curated by another AI.

I personally like to imagine a future where tech bros actually read books and newspapers in their spare time, because then they'd understand why nobody wants to read automatically generated bullshit.

https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/26/former-twitter-engineers-are-building-particle-an-ai-powered-news-reader/

trechnex, to random
@trechnex@social.trechnex.com avatar

  • If you're angry at Mozilla for their ill-advised commercial experiments, try the ESR version of Firefox.

  • If you're angry at Mozilla for making bad privacy choices, try LibreWolf.

  • If you're still angry at Mozilla for deprecating plug-ins & RSS support, try Pale Moon.

  • If you're angry at Mozilla because Bryan Lunduke said mean things about them, then as someone whose previous project was torn apart after one of his videos called it a "woke fork", I kindly invite you to go fuck yourself.

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