@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

KimSJ

@KimSJ@mastodon.social

Escapee from Twitter, and now from home.social too. 🫤 Tofu-loving woke ex EU citizen. Retired hi-tech entrepreneur, once focused on future cities/buildings, climate & UBI, now keen on saving the planet and democracy. I dream of the day when I can return my focus to my first loves.

If you don’t like #politics, you probably shouldn’t follow me. 😁 Though I do also have a #creative side, and I'm a #maker too.

he/him

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dangillmor, to random
@dangillmor@mastodon.social avatar

Reliably hypocritical Apple pretended to be giving ground on right-to-repair, but when serious legislation emerged (in Oregon) the company dispatched the troops to block it.

https://www.404media.co/apple-is-lobbying-against-right-to-repair-again/?ref=weekly-roundup-newsletter

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@dangillmor I have been a long-time user of the Apple ecosystem (desktop, phone and tablet), but that was in the days when I could repair stuff myself. Unless they change, I will probably never buy any more Apple products.
People are getting fed up with unmaintainable devices.

luckytran, to random
@luckytran@med-mastodon.com avatar

It's ridiculous how much attention is given to those complaining about restrictions that haven't existed for over 2 years.

Meanwhile, complete silence about excluding disabled and higher risk people from most of society indefinitely due to the current lack of COVID protections.

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@luckytran It’s not just vulnerable and disabled people who find themselves excluded… anyone who, like us, is aware of the risks of Long Covid has been forced to completely change their lifestyle.
Governments not taking Covid measures seriously is destroying so much.

GottaLaff, to legal
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Via Jose Pagliery:

Jose Pagliery

Breaking news:

The New York judge who oversaw Donald 's bank fraud trial says Allen 's lies could seal the deal in the case.

He demands an explanation—and warns it could spell doom to Trump. https://www.thedailybeast.com/judge-demands-trump-explain-his-accountant-allen-weisselbergs-apparent-lies?ref=wrap

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@GottaLaff
MAGA… Make Attorneys Get Attorneys. 😄

RealJournalism, to Hydrogen
@RealJournalism@mastodon.social avatar

is the next big step towards developing clean energy and weaning us off fossil fuels. https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/hydrogen/the-dawn-of-the-clean-hydrogen-economy-visualized

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@starlily @RealJournalism
It seems that Sun Catalytix formed to commercialise this idea gave up on it, and then sold out:

“The Cambridge, Mass-based startup later shifted its technology and business plan from the difficult-to-commercialize hydrolysis technology to the difficult-to-commercialize flow-battery energy storage technology.

“In 2014, [Lockheed Martin] acquired "substantially all of the assets of Sun Catalytix Corporation" for an undisclosed amount.”

Source: https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Lockheed-Martin-Joins-Energy-Storage-Fray-With-Lithium-Ion-and-Flow-Batteri

ChrisMayLA6, to Sexism
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Another weekend, another story of ... sometimes its hard to believe this is 2024.

Now, in a sector that saw 'blind auditions' (with players behind curtains) do much to reduce sexism in hiring practice, it seems that pianists are still facing discrimination(s) across the world of .

So, despite seeming like a more 'civilised' area of the , what we still see are unacceptable discrimination & .

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/03/sexism-bias-top-female-pianists-classical-music

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@fkamiah17 @ChrisMayLA6 I prefer to think that they do change, albeit too slowly. I just hope the current resurgence of right-wing assholes doesn’t undo the progress we have made.

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@fkamiah17 @ChrisMayLA6 I find that article both sad and encouraging. Sad that these statistics exist, but encouraged that someone is measuring the problem and shouting about it. I hope that’s the first step towards change.

CatherineFlick, to random
@CatherineFlick@mastodon.me.uk avatar

Got all the Caspar Babypants songs stuck in my head all the time now. Tonight it’s
“You’re a speedy centipeeeeede
Speedy centipeeeeeede
You got a hundred happy feet
Walking away”

Even better I have it with the baby’s voice in my head saying “peeeeeeee” and “way” as he copies the words 🥰

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@CatherineFlick Misinformation starts at a young age! 😜 Some species will have more legs than others: an adult centipede will have between 15 and 177 pairs of legs, but ironically no known species has exactly 100.

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@CatherineFlick I confess I didn’t know most of it either until I checked the Internet. ☺️ I knew that the centipede which is common in UK has far fewer than 100 legs, I had no Idea that some species have many more legs. (Assuming, of course, that what I read was not invented by ChatGPT 😱).

ChrisMayLA6, to technology
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Tom Gauld on the problem of the 'bad workman [sic] blaming their tools'.... too often we blame for our own failings... from to ....


@bookstodon

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 @bookstodon Probably he hasn’t vacuumed the carpets or scrubbed the kitchen a sufficient number of times. 😜

ChrisMayLA6, to random
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

First the cut council budgets & demanded efficiency gains... so councils sought that could offer services more cheaply (as they were partly funded by donations & over grants).... then local provision became more & more dependent on these groups stretching their budgets.

Now further council budget cuts & declining fundraising from elsewhere (during the crisis of ) leave these charities teetering on the edge of failure.

!
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/03/charities-warn-devastating-knock-on-impact-english-councils-financial-crisis

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 My usual metaphor for Tory cuts is ‘we cut off one leg and the patient is still mobile, so clearly we can cut off the other leg too’.

augieray, to random
@augieray@mastodon.social avatar

David Sedaris in the New Yorker. He's often funny. This isn't funny. Don't be a dick to people trying to remain cautious--it's hard enough as it is!

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@augieray He seems to have no insight at all. He could have killed her.

gedeonm, to random
@gedeonm@mastodon.social avatar

For most of my professional life I’ve been perplexed by the whole venture capital scene in Tech. I’ve never really understood it… so like banks/hedge fund guys give you money and you get all excited cause you can build your thing but… now you’re on a major hook. They’re looking over your shoulder constantly expecting results and influencing your direction. If you don’t deliver then… you lose your house? You go into bankruptcy? Seems SUPER stressful. I just don’t get it.

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@gedeonm Which is why I have always favoured soft-start. Even if you do eventually go for outside investment, you’ll be giving away a far smaller slice of the pie.

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

Raspberry Pi is planning a London IPO, but its CEO expects “no change” in focus

— Yeah, right.

I am looking forward to my Raspberry Pi 7 which will arrive with Windows 11 pre-installed, cost a mere £25, and use the bottom 25% of the desktop for streaming ads (while snooping on my every keystroke). Because this is how enshittification proceeds …

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

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@cstross As usual, greed trumps delivering service to customers. 😢
Now there’s no longer any reason to be loyal to the Pi. It was fun while it lasted.

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

I have my weekend blog post ready. I always put it here first. The first few people will get that error. Just wait a minute and try again.

I plan to demonstrate that any democratic government—by its very nature and under its own terms—will have a dangerous anti-democratic opposition because eliminating the opposition cannot be done using democratic means.

The opposition can be blunted and, with constant work. . .

1/

https://terikanefield.com/the-anti-democratic-opposition/

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@Teri_Kanefield @MastMirrah I don’t see that as undemocratic. It’s Popper’s paradox, and my way out of that paradox is to view democracy as a contract between each of us and society. As soon as you start to operate in an undemocratic way, you have broken that contract and all bets are off. Break the contract and you are no longer protected by it.

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@goodreedAJ @Teri_Kanefield @Amoshias @MastMirrah Popper’s ‘tolerance’ doesn’t automatically mean defining everything in legal terms. Boycotts have no legal status, for example, but are an effective form of intolerance (a very effective form of democracy —only if enough people do it will it be effective).

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@goodreedAJ @Teri_Kanefield @Amoshias @MastMirrah That is why I think the biggest win we could have for democracy would be laws criminalising ‘deliberately or recklessly misleading the public”.If voters are lied to, their votes are meaningless and democracy is dead.

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@Teri_Kanefield @goodreedAJ @Amoshias @MastMirrah If someone’s weight is relevant (for example when evaluating the life expectancy of a Presidential candidate), then yes, it should be criminal to lie. Yes you’d need exemptions for national security, and yes you would need to show actual harm, as with defamation.

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@Teri_Kanefield @goodreedAJ So, what’s your solution?

davidallengreen, to random
@davidallengreen@mastodon.green avatar

The golden rules of tweeting links to posts:

  1. A person will type - a lot - in response to the link without clicking that link to see if their point is either anticipated or redundant.

  2. A person will say that you missed a point - even if your post is comprehensive. Or that you have missed the point.

  3. A person will complain that you do not share their point of view.

  4. A person will complain of your point of view, even though what they describe is not actually your point of view.

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@davidallengreen Does “Hmmm” carry different weight when it comes from someone who has actually read the linked material?

ChrisMayLA6, to random
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Carol Vorderman (on X) is preparing for :

TORIES NOW IN MELTDOWN
🔹Rishi Sunak’s own pollster Will Dry has resigned with venom as a SpAd at No10.
🔹He opines how "fundamentally broken our politcal system is"
🔹"if Farage comes back, the
@Conservatives
Party WON'T EXIST by Christmas "
🔹Bloody marvellous 👍🏼
🔹We'll be helping it on its way to oblivion wherever we can 💪🏼 you bunch of thieving, cruel, lying, narcissistic gravy train cowboys 😡

--
No, Carol tell us what you really think 😀

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@fkamiah17 @ChrisMayLA6 @HereToChewGum Because of her time on Countdown, CV holds the affection of many oldies (the main demographic of that daytime show). She is better placed than most on the left to reach the core Tory voter base.

plaguepoems, to random
@plaguepoems@mastodon.social avatar

According to my brother-in-law
this virus
was cooked up in a lab
and nefariously released
upon the unsuspecting public
as part of a conspiracy
to depopulate the planet
but when I ask him
if he is doing anything
to protect himself from
this virus
he tells me it’s just the flu.

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@plaguepoems Your most perfect poem yet!

ChrisMayLA6, to technology
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

thinks (by which he seems to mean digital technologies) will make the more efficient & means we can stop pouring money into a 'leaky bucket'.

Quite apart the vacuity of such techno-boosterism, you would have thought in the wake of the disaster, anyone thinking deploying technology is the answer, might want to be more careful.

Many people are watching Mr Streeting & are getting worried about how he thinks about NHS reform!

I'm one of them!

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@pasquires @etchedpixels @ChrisMayLA6 I remember going to a presentation by the civil servant in charge of that NHS IT project. I was appalled. It was as if none of the advances in software project management of the previous two decades had happened. Waterfall design of a giant, monolithic system,, with minimal input from actual users. It was immediately obvious that the project would fail.

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@tokensane @pasquires @etchedpixels @ChrisMayLA6 It doesn’t have to be that way… back in the 2010s, we were leading the way with Government IT. Infighting between Civil Service fiefdoms has seen off the danger of doing things well, though.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/24/government-digital-service-truly-was-once-world-beating-what-happened

ChrisMayLA6, to climate
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

@GarethDennis (a railways engineer & researcer, quoted in FT) points out that in light of ageing & the impact of a major programme of is badly needed on the :

'The way you make [disruption] less costly in the long run is by spending more money upfront to build a more robust & resilient system in the first instance.... But the do-nothing option costs a lot more money over a longer period'!

But also true for all UK's ageing infrastructure!

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@ChrisMayLA6 @GarethDennis The Sisyphus trap strikes again… huge amounts of effort needed just to stop going backwards, when a bit more investment would make it easy to move forward.

mattsheffield, to random
@mattsheffield@mastodon.social avatar

Elderly CEOs who couldn't justify their own salaries are finally giving up on forcing employees back to the office.

I predicted this would happen at the start of the pandemic and was met with a fair amount of pushback by some people who couldn't imagine doing something different https://www.axios.com/2024/01/16/ceo-return-to-office-wars

KimSJ,
@KimSJ@mastodon.social avatar

@mattsheffield I’ve worked mostly from home for more than two decades, so I know a thing or two about it. A key consideration that has been under-appreciated by those companies new to the game is the importance of maintaining team cohesion. When WFH is started, everyone knows each other well, from daily proximity. Over time, that fades unless effort is expended to prevent it fading. Regular get-togethers are essential, in my experience, as is a base where people can congregate when they need to.

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