@SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk
@SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

SamJSharpe

@SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk

Cloud Botherer / Data Wrangler. He/Him. Also https://twitter.com/SamJSharpe

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coldclimate, to random
@coldclimate@hachyderm.io avatar

>>Pride flags make “everyone who doesn’t support the whole LGBTQ+ agenda feel unwelcome”

MARVELOUS

https://citizengo.org/en-gb/ot/13159 < please don't sign this

SamJSharpe,
@SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

@coldclimate I'm devastated that they would feel unwelcome.

Just like I feel in church... (because I'm an Atheist and take pride in it)

Also I looked up CitizenGo because I've never heard of that petition platform before. It's not good. https://bylinetimes.com/2021/06/21/the-money-men-behind-citizengos-anti-rights-agenda/

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

https://slashdot.org/story/24/05/19/1713226/ai-godfather-geoffrey-hinton-if-ai-takes-jobs-well-need-universal-basic-income

> He recommended a prohibition on the military use of AI.

Like seriously dude, who do you think is going to enforce this prohibition? Team America, World Police?

GossiTheDog, to random
@GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @GossiTheDog and this is a problem why?

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

    Sorting out some Lego for a friend, and I've found a part that's at least 55 years old, maybe up to 70. And I thought the sets I had as a kid were getting on.

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @Floppy did you not have any Meccano to gift?

    coldclimate, to random
    @coldclimate@hachyderm.io avatar

    UK folks, anybody gone sim based broadband? Any opinions on . Friend in a rural area has great 5G signal but dreadful Internet over the phone line and fibre is years away. What kit will work well for a family of non tech folks?
    House has a games console, iPads, Netflix TV etc.

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @coldclimate @norm you won't get a better deal. I looked into this a lot as my FTTC is abysmal and FTTP is a pipe dream. The other way to do it is GiffGaff will do unlimited for £35 a month on the O2 network (no contract) but a 5G router will set you back about £300 . If they can get Three 5G, then there is no better option. You may get someone offering 5G without a router for less than £24 but it will take a heck of a long time to claw back the cost of buying your own router.

    Edent, to android
    @Edent@mastodon.social avatar

    Does anyone know of a modern phone which allows call recording without root?

    I'm currently on an aging 5T running and can record calls just fine - a button in the dialler lets me record straight from the line. I don't need to put it on speaker and record via the microphone.

    (Looking for 1st hand experience, not search results. No need to reply to discuss the legality of call recording. I need root-less for online banking etc.)

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @Edent it works a bit differently to turning your phone.

    You need to place one hand either side of the external screen, gently raise it slightly from the desk, rotate it a quarter turn, place it gently down on the desk again and let go with both hands.

    joelanman, to random
    @joelanman@hachyderm.io avatar

    The last time I posted about this I had a reply guy telling me it wasn't much 'per person'

    British Gas profits leap from £72m to £751m in a year

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/15/british-gas-profits-energy-bills-centrica

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @joelanman at the risk of also being a Reply Guy, Terence Eden covered this last year - https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2023/07/big-numbers-are-difficult-to-contextualise/ - yes, it’s a big number and it offends me that they (and others) post greater profits while households are struggling, no it’s not a lot per person.

    Ofcom allowed them to recoup their losses from taking on clients of failed energy providers (so we’re not paying for BG’s greed, we’re paying for the greed of all the investors in failed energy suppliers who chased growth at a deficit)

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @joelanman British Gas are doing what our government allows them to do and they only get to do that because the expansion of our energy market was a failure (of Government/Regulation). All the major energy suppliers will post bigger profits this year, because they took a hit mopping up the failure of that experiment and Ofcom is letting them recoup it. This is a government/regulation failure, not a corporate one. I'm no fan of corps, but in this case I'm blaming gov the most.

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @joelanman Where did you do what?

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @joelanman I don't believe I ever said you did (and I am sorry if you felt that), but you quoted an article with the headline "British Gas profits leap from £72M to £751m in a year" so my assumption (which I admit could be in error) is that you agree with that framing, rather than the "The UK energy market failed, Consumers set to pick up the costs" framing, hence why I was putting that side of the argument. I think we both agree it's bad, either way.

    coldclimate, to random
    @coldclimate@hachyderm.io avatar

    Tuning in to https://scenesat.com/ to hear a set by CoLDSToRAGE with visuals by loads of folks including local boy @jtruk

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @Thayer @coldclimate Crystal Method were in so many good movies, way more than I realised. It's the Bones theme tune I know them from.

    jonty, to random
    @jonty@chaos.social avatar

    Absolutely losing it after discovering what3words took control of the whatfreewords domain by arguing that "three" and "free" are indistinguishable when spoken.

    https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/text.jsp?case=D2019-2439

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @coldclimate @jonty I'll get one of my Irish friends to register whattreewords.com

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @coldclimate @jonty damnit, the bastards already took that one. https://www.udrpsearch.com/search?query=whattreewords.com&search=domain

    revk, (edited ) to random
    @revk@toot.me.uk avatar

    Anyone got code for GPS lat/lon to OSGB Easting/Northing. What I have is out by a noticeable amount :-(

    And I mean without a look up table.

    Update: I have decided to pre-calculate (using the look up table) lat/lon for postcode centres and so no need to convert on device. Thanks for all the help.

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @revk I don’t think that is possible. OSGB is by definition a lookup table and not algorithmic.

    There’s probably a library that allows you to convert lat/long to w3w and then w3w to OSGB though….

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

    Last week I changed the battery on a 2016 Macbook Pro, it was incredibly fiddly and annoying even though iFixit have very detailed instructions.

    Today I changed the door gasket on a 3yr old Bosch Serie 6 washer dryer and OMG I cried, swore and wanted to just light the thing on fire about a hundred times more than when I was scraping glue out of a Macbook.

    Props to the people who do that kind of work for a living - I'm sure it's easier if you practise regularly, but I couldn't do it every day

    georgetakei, to random

    It so happens my birthday is 4-20. But I never stole a mile marker for it. At least, not yet.

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @georgetakei I hope there's still a lot of time for you to do this though 😬

    revk, to random
    @revk@toot.me.uk avatar

    I have some musings on Highway Code Rule 170.

    https://www.revk.uk/2023/12/rule-170.html

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @revk It’s been a while since I was in Y Fenni, but I’m pretty sure that the “road” is the A40, so if you’re turning right when coming from the South, you’re actually continuing on the same “road”. I think only if you want to go straight or left are you entering another road. Isn’t there a barrier that stops traffic going North up the old high street on the route of the old A40 anyway?

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

    By the thirteenth day of Christmas, my true love had given to me:

    • 12 partridges in pear trees
    • 22 turtle doves
    • 30 French hens
    • 36 calling birds
    • 40 gold rings
    • 42 geese a-laying
    • 42 swans a-swimming
    • 40 maids a-milking
    • 36 ladies dancing
    • 30 lords a-leaping
    • 22 pipers piping
    • 12 drummers drumming

    Honestly I’m not entirely sure what to do with them all.

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @Floppy 141, provided you're at home.

    revk, to random
    @revk@toot.me.uk avatar

    This is a weird one.
    HMRC are basically asking us to lie to them about December pay. Recording a different pay day than the actual pay day, because it could impact people on universal credit. That sounds like a very broken system.
    It is also a tad unclear as they talk of normal or contractual pay day. We “normally” and “contractually” pay staff a week early in December. So I am not clear what they want me to put on RTI!

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @revk it is a very broken system. If you earn too much in a pay period (which is probably a month), it immediately starts the process to stop UC. HMRC is trying to do the right thing by reducing the impact to the UC claimant, but they are passing the responsibility to "fix" it onto the employer rather than the Government.

    frabcus, to random
    @frabcus@mastodon.social avatar

    Ollama seems pretty good for downloading open source LLMs

    I like it more than LMStudio so far. For one thing it is more command line / local API driven, and for another it maxes out my Apple Silicon GPU and is very fast

    https://ollama.ai/

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @frabcus have you tried https://github.com/simonw/llm from @simon ?

    joelanman, to random
    @joelanman@hachyderm.io avatar

    If you were implementing messaging in an app (something like eBay) would you encrypt it for privacy or not so you can moderate content? And tell people either way

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @joelanman encrypt it at rest and in transit, but make an auditable way for systems and people to decrypt it for support and moderation purposes.

    So I can't go snooping as an employee of the service, but at the same time the company can moderate it either by flagging the Comms for review with an automated system that then allows moderators to see the content, or by allowing moderators to review Comms in response to complaints.

    Anything else is a recipe for letting people abuse your service...

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @owenblacker @joelanman that's acceptable if you are a messaging app where users have some kind of relationship to each other and you can maybe say your messages are your business, but I took "eBay-like" to mean it's a commerce platform and messaging (perhaps between buyers and sellers) is a secondary function. Having that unmoderated and invisible it just leaving your platform open to being a vector for abuse and I don't think it is acceptable.

    joelanman, to Palestine
    @joelanman@hachyderm.io avatar

    "The BBC was not shown what was on the laptops"

    "Our visit was tightly controlled; we had very limited time on the ground and were not able to speak to doctors or patients there."

    "After almost 24 hours securing and searching the hospital, Israel says it has found weapons and other equipment that could help provide information on both Hamas fighters and the hostages. But it has its hands on neither."

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67436154

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @joelanman it's almost like there never were any WMDs isn't it...

    tommyp, to random
    @tommyp@mastodon.social avatar

    Understanding how software is built is sometimes a curse but you've got to give it to CD Projekt Red for this justification of a "Won't Do" ticket - They couldn't be arsed adding birds into Cyberpunk 2077 so just wrote it into the lore that all birds were culled.

    https://cyberpunk.fandom.com/wiki/Avian_Extermination_Act

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @tommyp @joelanman I am full of righteous anger. I vow to never play this game or any other game ever again because it contains no positive role models for my many canine friends.

    SamJSharpe,
    @SamJSharpe@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    @joelanman @tommyp is it more dull than a bit of Wordle every morning on my phone? Because that's the current peak excitement I get from gaming...

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