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ben, to debian
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

It was an insane idea for to strip things out of like that and especially to that extent.

Stripping out network comms, I can sort of understand. But stripping support for browser integration? Madness.

IMO, the upstream maintainer was right when they said they should have created keepassxc-min instead.

None of that, though, excuses the subsequent pile-on.

https://lwn.net/Articles/973782/

ben, to random
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

> The Metropolitan Police say that around one in every 33,000 people who walk by its cameras is misidentified.
>
> But the error count is much higher once an someone is actually flagged. One in 40 alerts so far this year has been a false positive.

Sorry, do the Met think 1 in 33,000 is a good failure rate?

That's abysmal even before you get onto the false positive rate or before you look at outcomes and realise you may incorrectly deprive someone of their liberty

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-69055945

ben,
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

Arguably, this technology should not be in use at all, but with a failure rate that high it definitely shouldn't be on our streets.

But, I suspect vendors are probably pushing to get it deployed (and collect their money) before laws catch up and better regulate it.

And the Met are... well, being the Met.

rmdes,
@rmdes@mstdn.social avatar

@ben we're one automated flag away from automating racial profiling and others factors to be used against people, it's frightening how much, with all the available warnings, we're still heading straight to a wall.. almost willingly.

ben, to random
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

Yesssssss.... it's finally time.

Get the cunts out.

ben, to Blog
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

New : Troubleshooting a wet passenger footwell on a

This issue's been living rent free in my head for months, but we've finally cracked it.

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/general/corsa-water-leak-wet-footwell-carpet.html

ben, to random
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

started offering in my area.

It sounded quite tempting until I looked closer at their terms.

Residential packages:

  • 24 month contract
  • price goes up a tenner a month if you roll off the end
  • Use of their router reqd

If you want a static IP, or to put the router in bridging mode, you need a business pkg, which are all symmetric, so cost a good chunk more.

I'd be paying more for less.

I think I'll stick with @aaisp and wait for Openreach to get FTTP rolled out round here.

ben,
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

@danieldurrans Oof, yeah I'm not sure I'd like that either.

ben,
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

@psfshr @danieldurrans We once lived in a house that was in a (no longer new build) estate that had done a deal with Virgin (actually it was prob Telewest)

All the houses had covenants against installing a rooftop aerial because Virgin would provide a communal link.

That link had long since broken and Virgin had no interest in fixing it. Some installed aerials, but some were jobs-worths convinced it'd affect property prices and tried to cause trouble.

Exclusive deals should be banned IMO

ben, to Blog
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

New : hangs on opening

After years of working perfectly for me, my text editor up and broke on me.

Spoiler: The underlying issue was actually a mount, turns out KATE walks the filesystem on launch, even if not opening a file

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/general/kate-sits-on-a-loading-wheel.html

lewiscowles1986,
@lewiscowles1986@phpc.social avatar

@ben is it not worrying that without being asked to take an action the program is performing one? Also that it doesn't time out and unlock ..

ben,
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

@lewiscowles1986 Yep... I can sort of understand it taking the action - the component's on the bar on the left (not that I ever use it).

But it should absolutely be giving up at some point.

ben, to Smoking
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

My last cigarette was 6 years ago today

Feels like a lot longer, though I still periodically find myself fancying one - particularly if there's time that I need to kill.

I don't think that'll ever go away though.

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/stop-smoking.html

bazkie,
@bazkie@chaos.social avatar

@ben Congrats!

My tip would be: try to not look back at smoking with nostalgia, but with hatred. You were enslaved by a murderous industry, now you're free. That mindset worked very well for me

ben,
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

@bazkie Yeah, I try to think about it in similar terms. Plus I tell myself I'd probably be sick if I had one now

ben, to Blog
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

New : My won't power on or charge

I originally tooted about this about a month ago. Through a dose of bad luck (combined with shipping times), it's taken a month to get the up and running again.

Post covers:

  • Initial troubleshooting
  • Mainboard replacement

It's actually not too bad to do on these.

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/documentation/general/keyboard-removal-and-reinstallation-on-a-thinkpad-x280.html

ben, to random
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

My inbox isn't just elite, it needs enunciation

Yeah, I should probably have a clear out

tom,
@tom@social.huginn.uk avatar

@ben Right click -> Mark all read

ben,
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

@tom But.... but... I'm totally going to read them at some point.

ben, to Blog
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

New post: Spending an Afternoon in the Sizewell Control Room Simulator

I'm a bit late in writing something, but @popey, @8none1, @sil got to spend an afternoon in the operations training centre at B power station

T'was an awesome afternoon

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/general/an-afternoon-in-sizewell-b-control-room-simulator.html

pamiiap,
@pamiiap@mstdn.social avatar

@ben also here from tom scott's newsletter, what an interesting and fun read :D

ben,
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

@pamiiap Glad you liked it, it was an awesome afternoon!

ben, to Blog
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

New : Plugging a heater into an extension lead, what could go wrong?

We had a 2kW heater plugged into a multi-socket lead which ultimately failed.

I took the lead apart to see what exactly had gone wrong.

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/house-stuff/plugging-a-heater-into-a-switched-extension-lead-what-could-go-wrong.html

steve,
@steve@mastodon.nexusuk.org avatar

@edavies @ben I usually charge on a single phase type-2, rated at 32A. If the EVSE tells the car to draw 32A, that's what my car seems to draw, regardless of the voltage. So on low-voltage days, the EVSE screen shows 32A but a lower KW power than on high-voltage days. Although not a resistive load, I guess the charger can tune itself load pretty well to stick closely to the current limit, regardless of the voltage. I rarely use a granny charger, but I can't imagine it would behave differently.

ben,
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

@edavies @steve Nice catch, thanks!

ben, to Blog
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

New : This was our worst Yet

There was a powerup this morning and, as a result of various things we completely fluffed it.

Last year, there was a powerup that I forgot about and we still managed to pull more from grid than today.

So, I thought it was worth a small post

https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/house-stuff/this-was-our-worst-powerup-to-date.html

ben, to random
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

Admittedly it's not often I do, but I hate catching a cold this time of year.

You end up sat in a warm room, staring at a steaming mug and wondering whether Iced Lemsip should be a thing

ben, to random
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

It sometimes strikes me just how weird the tech industry can be.

Kicking together a quick slide deck.

Google's "smart" enough to figure out that I've just written "Content-Type: " and so might want "application" after.

But it's also too dumb to know that when I write a double quote I want an actual double-quote not those fucking magic quote bastardisations.

Kind of sums up how I feel about AI actually - lots of cleverness involved. Ton of other shit that should've been done instead

ben, to random
@ben@mastodon.bentasker.co.uk avatar

I'm genuinely not sure whether I'm just slightly too young, my parents weren't up for this or it wasn't a thing round here.

https://heatherburns.tech/2024/04/30/i-hope-you-know-this-will-go-on-your-permanent-record/

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