hengymrohebwlad

@hengymrohebwlad@mstdn.social

Old Welshman without a country.
Welsh. British. European. Gen X. Migrant.
Putting the "grey" into "emigré".
Professional interests: #BigData, #DataEngineering, #software, #scala, etc.
Real world interests: #astronomy #space #science #technology #nature
#scifi #nerd #GenX #walking #NaturalWorld #UKPolitics #wales #scotland #proEU #history #ClassicalMusic #BaroqueMusic #linguistics

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AnthonyFStevens, to random
@AnthonyFStevens@mastodon.online avatar

#Tories #CONservatives #Tory #Sunak #GTTO #ToryCorruption #ToryScum #Brexit #Covid #Starmer #Labour

Austerity, Brexit, Covid Lockdown Parties, PPE Scandal, Raw Sewage in UK Waterways & Coastal Areas, Economic Crash, Record Inflation, Record Interest Rates, Cost of Living Crisis, Pensions Decimated, Mortgage Rises, NHS in Crisis, Schools Crumbling, Housing Crisis...

This is the choice. It's really that simple.

#GE2024 4th July

Vote #Labour 🌹 ❎️ 🗳

hengymrohebwlad,

@Theriac @AnthonyFStevens @CloudyMrs @Wen @soren Clearly somebody south of the border cares about Scottish independence, or they wouldn't need to make such efforts to stop a second independence referendum.

ChrisMayLA6, to ai
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

If employers have been unable to prosper due to a skills shortage then that AI may be enhance productivity looks like good news....

But, if employers are unable to find staff because they don't pay enough & offer rubbish working conditions, then a move to AI will confirm capitalists want to replace workers with technology, as they have done before, but now in the service sector(s).

If you're a Keynsian you'll now be wondering about 'effective demand'!


https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/may/21/productivity-soars-in-sectors-of-global-economy-most-exposed-to-ai-says-report

hengymrohebwlad,

@ChrisMayLA6 There's another problem with replacing humans with AI. AI models are trained on existing data from humans (translations, decisions, classifications, text interactions, etc etc). Training basically means tweaking the model so its outputs are comparable with those of humans. But as humans are eliminated, the AI will increasingly be trained on AI outputs, reinforcing and amplifying problems in the models: garbage in, garbage out.

It's known as model collapse:

https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-model-collapse-threatens-to-break-internet-2023-8?op=1

davidallengreen, to random
@davidallengreen@mastodon.green avatar

How the Good Friday Agreement checks and balances the UK government

With the disapplication of the Rwanda policy in Northern Ireland, we can see how the 1998 treaty practically limits the power of the UK executive

New, by me

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/66236/how-the-good-friday-agreement-checks-and-balances-the-uk-government

hengymrohebwlad,

@davidallengreen Thank you for such a clear explanation of the latest example of Brexit delusions crashing headlong into reality.

Incidentally, I enjoyed the irony here:

"But the actual shape of Brexit owes more to another international agreement: the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. This instrument has restricted the free movement of the government of the United Kingdom."

Serves the bastards right for taking away our freedom of movement, eh?

danjac, to random
@danjac@masto.ai avatar

Apparently the guy who tried to assassinate Fico had Russian paramilitary connections.

Hard to see a Russian motive for it though, Fico was pretty much their ideal candidate.

hengymrohebwlad,

@danjac Great way to stir up the far right vote just in time for the EU elections, though. Timing is certainly interesting.

Wen, to UKpolitics
@Wen@mastodon.scot avatar

Labour doubles down. When in a hole carry on grinning inanely and digging.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/may/12/labour-natalie-elphicke-lobbying-husband-trial-claims

We can expect nothing else. Corbyn and Abbott out, Elphrike in.

hengymrohebwlad,

@Wen If you liked that, you'll love this:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/may/12/natalie-elphicke-anti-strike-stance-incompatible-with-labour-tuc-boss

dajb, to random
@dajb@social.coop avatar

There must be a word, or term, for at least one of these three things. They all relate to seeing someone you know:

  1. The "are we going to acknowledge each other?" moment.

There's many reasons why someone you know might not acknowledge you, or you might not acknowledge them.

For example, they might be embarrassed at where they are or what they're doing. They might be lost in thought. They may be in a bad mood.

hengymrohebwlad,

@dajb @fitheach After a few years living in a small town of 10k I was constantly seeing familiar faces and failing to recall if I actually knew them or if I had just seen them 100 times over the years. I ended up saying hello to pretty much anybody who made eye contact, just to be on the safe side.

Mind you, after a while I think people started crossing the street to avoid me....

w7voa, to random
@w7voa@journa.host avatar

Washington Post: At Mar-a-Lago, Trump asked oil CEOs to raise $1 billion for his campaign and told them if he gets back in the White House he'll immediately reverse dozens of Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted. https://wapo.st/3UBf4Fy

hengymrohebwlad,

@w7voa These stories are not unrelated:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/08/world-scientists-climate-failure-survey-global-temperature

danjac, to random
@danjac@masto.ai avatar

I feel the real story here is that stunning incompetence and corruption in the tech company C-suite is too often compensated for by the willingness of tech workers to burn themselves out to prove...what exactly?

Sometimes the industry reminds me of George Orwell's quote about the UK: "a dysfunctional family with all the wrong people in charge".

https://grumpyolddev.com/post/the-one-where-i-lie-to-the-cto/

hengymrohebwlad,

@danjac I'm old enough to remember Ed Yourdon describing this kind of thing as "death march" projects, back in the early 2000s. I've seen plenty of these, worked on a couple and walked away from a few.

But too many areas of IT still seem a bit like Soviet era gymnastics, where eager, talented youngsters are groomed into accepting massive burdens and sacrifices, then abandoned once they can no longer deliver the often pointless performances their masters demand.

skinnylatte, to transit
@skinnylatte@hachyderm.io avatar

18 years old: listening to music with headphones in the train

38 years old: putting ear plugs in my ears to take the train (BART is too loud)

hengymrohebwlad,

@skinnylatte

60 years old me: putting noise-cancelling earphones in my ears on the train.

"Why not both?" 😉

hengymrohebwlad, to random

This is an excellent idea (reported in The Guardian):

"It is an old and not very funny joke: how do you tell if a politician is lying? Their lips are moving.

Members of the Senedd, the Welsh parliament, are intent on tackling this age-old problem by bringing in legislation that bans politicians from telling untruths.

If the law comes into force, Wales would be the first country in the world to make lying by politicians a criminal offence."

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/30/welsh-senedd-members-consider-criminalising-lying-by-politicians

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

This is not a software glitch, it's the Y1C problem: old mainframes were so storage-constrained that they only allocated two decimal digits for passenger age, and adding another digit would mean rewriting software that in some cases has been in use and constantly patched since the late 1950s.
https://press.coop/@BBCNews/112345996328670433

hengymrohebwlad,

@cstross Makes you wonder if this is fossil code that should have been caught by the Y2K process, or if it's just crap code written by people too dumb to learn from the Y2K experience.

hengymrohebwlad,

@cstross Thanks for sending me down the rabbit hole of Sabre record formats! 😱😱😱😱

A quarter century after the Y2K Filter, I still can't help thinking this is a problem that should have been solved by now. OTOH I guess there's only so many centenarians jetting about, so the airline industry no doubt feels it's probably not worth the cost. It's not like the Customer Experience is especially high on their agenda after all.

junesim63, to UKpolitics
@junesim63@mstdn.social avatar

"..this model that some people want to put in place, which means that you go and look for a third country, for example in Africa, and send our immigrants there”.
“We’re creating a geopolitics of cynicism which betrays our values and will build new dependencies, and which will prove completely ineffective”
Emmanuel Macron.

Yes, I was surprised too....


https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/emmanuel-macron-launches-bitter-attack-on-rishi-sunaks-rwanda-plan_uk_662b4724e4b09d8df9d60d8a

hengymrohebwlad,

@junesim63 Meanwhile Switzerland is looking at a similar option for removing Eritrean refugees, with people already citing the UK Rwanda plan as an example (🇨🇭 tried this approach with Senegal in 2003 but Senegal withdrew from the deal):
https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/abschiebungen-nach-ruanda-nationalratskommission-will-asylsuchende-in-drittstaat-abschieben

Right now it's a parliamentary committee recommending this, but there seems to be significant political support on the right.

Not a good look for Switzerland, whose right wing parties often seem to be inspired by British Tory nonsense.

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Welcome to today's thread - #CrossBorderRail 2024 Extra Days 26 April - Valenciennes - Quiévrain - Gussignies - Aulnoye-Aymeries - Paris - Nuits-sous-Ravières

Crossing these borders:
Blanc-Misseron 🇫🇷 - Quiévrain 🇧🇪
Bettrechies-Bellignies 🇫🇷 - Mons 🇧🇪

These borders on the borders map:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-all-the-borders_935041#12/50.3640/3.7038

Today's routes on the routes map:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-extra-days-2024_1030682#11/50.3036/3.6839

hengymrohebwlad,

@jon Rue du Couronnement?

MadeyeTheCarnaptious, to random
@MadeyeTheCarnaptious@mastodon.scot avatar

The absolute state of this sneering vituperative creep.

"Kemi Badenoch has claimed the SNP are “too lazy” to do their own legislative work amid a spat over the UK Government’s handling of the Post Office scandal."

https://www.thenational.scot/news/24276732.snp-too-lazy-deal-post-office-scandal-says-tory/

hengymrohebwlad,

@MadeyeTheCarnaptious Maybe she should support a Scottish to force those "lazy" SNP folk to run their own country without England's "help"?

junesim63, to random
@junesim63@mstdn.social avatar

I found Philippa Perry's advice column in today's Observer heart-breaking.

As an immigrant I’m undervalued, and my wife has no sympathy | Marriage | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/apr/21/as-an-immigrant-im-undervalued-and-my-wife-has-no-sympathy

hengymrohebwlad,

@junesim63 This man's story is heart-breaking. I hope he can get the support he needs to regain his confidence.

As a far more fortunate migrant, I have just a little insight into the challenges faced by all migrants on top of their very different individual backgrounds.

Anyone who has embarked on this journey into the unknown, learning a new language, coping with a new culture & the many daily challenges that natives never even see, deserves respect & compassion for their courage & endurance.

fkamiah17, to UKpolitics
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

Fuck sake. He's gone full gammon.

hengymrohebwlad,

@fkamiah17 He says that like it's a good thing.

ChrisMayLA6, to random
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Why when the NHS is in crisis does the 'solution' seem to be increased private healthcare, but when the railways hit crisis point, it was finally the state that had to step in...

The solution to constrained funding is not to introduce more suppliers who by their very market character need to make a surplus out of any available funding....

And yes, in Wes' terms... if saying that makes me a middle-class Leftie - then so be it!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/08/middle-class-lefties-wont-stop-labour-using-private-sector-to-cut-nhs-backlog-wes-streeting-says

hengymrohebwlad,

@ChrisMayLA6
🇬🇧 private healthcare is already a racket. My elderly uncle & aunt pay £16k a year for private health because NHS is simply no longer accessible to them. The staff who treat them were trained in NHS, mostly still work for NHS & often use NHS facilities: all funded by taxpayer.

In 🇨🇭 we have a totally private health system, no subsidies, much higher salaries for staff, yet wife & I pay £13k for our insurance.

No way 🇬🇧 private health should cost more than 🇨🇭, except for profiteering.

danjac, to random
@danjac@masto.ai avatar

When visiting England, it's a good idea to check if a village or county still has a higher than 50% of voters who think Brexit was a good idea.

These places should be avoided around a solstice, as you will probably end up sacrificed in a pagan ritual after seeing multiple hints around the area of a terrible secret kept hidden for centuries.

hengymrohebwlad,

@danjac Thanks for that. I'm headed to East Anglia next week.

😱

junesim63, to random
@junesim63@mstdn.social avatar

Visas created hastily to solve labour shortages as a result of Brexit have put workers at greater risk of modern slavery and exploitation.
Migrant workers’ vulnerability to exploitation was compounded by the hostile environment as fears of immigration enforcement action deterred them from reporting mistreatment or exploitation to the authorities.
As ever with the Tories, the cruelty is the point. Mustn't let migrants get too comfortable.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/01/migrant-workers-greater-risk-modern-slavery-brexit-research

hengymrohebwlad,

@junesim63 I'm old enough to remember idiot Lexiters insisting that the UK leaving the EU would put an end to the exploitation of migrant workers.

fkamiah17, to UKpolitics
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

This country isn't going to survive much longer if we don't get rid of these ghouls.

The Times: "Rishi Sunak faces revolt over plan to criminalise homelessness"

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rishi-sunak-tory-mps-revolt-homelessness-criminalisation-w07rwhzm6

hengymrohebwlad,

@fkamiah17 So they want to arrest homeless people, lock them up, charge them, take them to court (eventually), convict them and presumably send them to jail to be locked up in overcrowded prisons, where they need to be fed and treated for ill health, so we'll need to build more prisons to house and care for them.

So why not cut out the expensive cruelty theatre and just provide some, you know, houses and services to house and care for them outside prison instead?

junesim63, to UKpolitics
@junesim63@mstdn.social avatar

This worries me. No party should have such a huge majority, particularly one led by a man who brooks no opposition in his own party and has reneged on all his policy pledges.

#UKPolitics #LabourParty #Tories #ConservativeParty

Conservatives set for worst election result yet, research shows | Labour | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/mar/30/conservatives-set-for-worst-election-result-yet-research-shows?CMP=GTUK_email

hengymrohebwlad,

@junesim63 Indeed. We are supposed to vote Labour and trust them to be more progressive once they're in power. But if they win a massive majority on their timidly conservative manifesto, there will be no pressure on them to be more radical because "people voted for our manifesto". If they don't have a huge majority, they will be even more timid for fear of losing their slender majority. And they will refuse to work with other parties because that undermines their own insistence on keeping FPTP.

hengymrohebwlad,

@krans @junesim63 Not yet, true. But given how they keep telling us all the stuff they're not going to do, and they're terrified of alienating their new target demographic, it seems reasonable to predict it will be pretty thin and every bit as timid as their overall message has been recently.

danjac, (edited ) to random
@danjac@masto.ai avatar

Listened to a podcast interviewing Joseph Matheny, creator of Ong's Hat. He talked about his role in the early days of the web.

It seemed then it was fairly easy to get into tech from all kinds of background, not just the STEM degree. The early web developers were often artists, or film-makers, or any number of other, non-CS backgrounds.

Now that hiring is all Googleized and leetcoded, we lose all the creativity that came from that diversity.

hengymrohebwlad,

@danjac I'm no tech pioneer, but I started in IT in late 80s with a languages degree. Lots of contemporaries came from all kinds of backgrounds, because industry needed people and they could teach smart people to code. Programming isn't the hard part, thinking logically is, but lots of people can learn to do that.

Also had the impression there were far more women entering IT back then than a few years later, when proto-tech-bro CS grads started taking over from mid 90s and diversity nosedived.

andrewfeeney, to random
@andrewfeeney@phpc.social avatar

Is the test failing because it's a leap day?

hengymrohebwlad,

@andrewfeeney Eventually it should line up again, but it might take a billion years...

https://www.sciencealert.com/earth-s-spin-is-slowing-down-and-that-might-be-why-it-has-enough-oxygen-for-life

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