@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

vfrmedia

@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de

Old roaming Tom Cat (zwerfkater) but still young at heart. Toots EN, (NL,FR,DE). #DevOpa - interested more in retro tech / culture / aesthetics than new stuff. Also transport and public infrastructure in general (with a UK/European focus)

Welcome to the secret goose shed!

Avatar is a tabby point Siamese cat - header picture is a Stentor FM radio transmitter designed in the Netherlands; popular with small pirate radio broadcasters in late 1980s

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

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

This is school lunch in Italy, I'm pretty sure I paid $50 for this same thing awhile ago.

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@RickiTarr school dinners* in Britain were of variable quality from 1977 to 1990 (it varied a lot on the school), but at my high school from 1985 to 1990 they were fairly decent (they have declined in quality since then due to outsourcing of the school canteen)

  • eaten at lunchtime, whether dinner is term used for evening or afternoon meal often varies depending on region and social class, in many areas the evening meal is called "tea" (as well as the popular drink)
alex, to random
@alex@dads.cool avatar

The “great” thing about England is that when these articles come out and you google the person who wrote them it’s not something boring like “their dad is a trust fund manager” it’s “their dad is a baron, their grandfather edited the newspaper this appears in, and their family founded the private Bank of England”

*all true of this writer

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@onepict @alex I initially thought it was a Private Eye spoof of the Torygraph but she's real..

paninid, to random
@paninid@mastodon.world avatar

Can you be real in the panopticon?

http://inaniludibrio.com/2024/04/03/can-you-be-real-in-the-panopticon/

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@paninid @lori UK nowadays has as much sousveillance as surveillance but often one feeds the other, its a case of "an eye for an eye gets everyone watched"

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@Bluedepth @paninid @lori this may work for folk like the dog walker who buys a bodycam and thinks they are James Bond, maybe even a minimum wage rentaguard watching a small CCTV scheme, and was done in 90s when folk first became aware of widespread CCTV - but surveillance officers are now trained to ignore distractions - or will just assume the person is under the influence of alcohol or substances, an offence in itself in a public place here which can attract further unwanted attention..

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@Bluedepth @paninid @lori it might raise a few smiles in the control room, but the folk would still be watched, and maybe watched closer by those thinking "what are they trying to hide"?

There's an interesting film from UK defence ministry, where in 1950s soldiers from a surveillance team were given LSD - most burst out into laughter and was unable to carry out their operational tasks; but one was determined to fight the effects (in the end he had to be taken away by medical staff to rest)

vfrmedia, to uk
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

Just read on FB a young mum bemoaning the fact it costs £45 for her teenage lad to attend the high #school prom, plus around £200 for suit hire (for just 4 hours!). Some other mums are trying to help her, but I was just thinking "why the fuck did we import this whole concept from the USA in the first place?" What was wrong with the "end of term school disco?"

#UK #CostofLiving #schools

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@zleap it happened between 1990 (when I finished high school) and a few years before social media became popular, as I was chatting to a lad from Yorkshire on a forum in the late 2000s who was then in his teens and just left school and they already had school proms (he also thought it was a daft idea)

lightweight, to random
@lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz avatar

Went out for a walk last evening around dusk in my parents' neighbourhood in Pennsylvania... lots of big houses, lots of US flags, lots of big pickups/SUVs. Only saw one TV on in a house as I walked past... but it was playing Tucker Carlson. This is bible thumpin' Trump country. How can people here really be so disaffected, credulous, & ignorant? (I'm no Christian, but how can you claim to be a Christian and not revile Trump?!)

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@lightweight if its anything like Britain, folk increasingly don't openly show such views in public (or at least when people might confront them over it), particularly since Brexit (the last time I saw any large amount of political posters anywhere), you have to lurk on Facebook groups etc to find out who the bigots are...

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@lightweight in some ways it does at least show you know who to avoid and whose businesses to boycott - but its difficult to deal with when the opposition have substantial numbers and resources. BTW bumper/car stickers are only less popular here because insurers load the premiums if you have them and have cancelled policies if they aren't declared; they consider them to be a risk factor as they potentially invite vandalism from those who disagree with the sticker (even just a sportsball team)

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@strypey

its not even really a "free market" here, only about 5 companies operate 100+ sub-brands, and actual work such as repairs is further outsourced to about 3 different accident management companies for all the 100 brands..

@lightweight

Jaden3, to animals
@Jaden3@mastodon.social avatar

Yall obsessed with cats on this mf 🤣🤣

Cats everywhere???? 🐈
Why ???????

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@Jaden3 @mxtthxw there's loads of other creatures as well on the timelines, its common for folk to put up pictures of wildlife they've seen in their local area, and as they are all over the world its included bears and lions, and other animals I have never seen before..

Binder, to random
@Binder@petrous.vislae.town avatar

Elon Musk is a catspaw of the oil industry, deliberately stalling the adoption of EVs by selling electrical death traps.

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@Binder UK insurers have already raised premiums for all EV's across the board (and in some cases are refusing to insure them at all) due to the costs they have incurred dealing with Tesla related incidents (including the lack of support that bodyshops get from Tesla and the high cost of replacement parts, even non electric items like body panels and trim)

vfrmedia, to Germany
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

#Germany has part decriminalised #cannabis - but I've still not seen any plans on how they reconcile this with their love of #cars and #motoring and acceptable limit for #driving in blood being even less than that in the UK! I fear this could lead to selective enforcement , even #RacialProfiling and a backlash / drivers feeling "persecuted" and moving further towards right-wing conspiracies (or at least the FDP, who have lobbied for the limit to be increased)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68674813

MikeDunnAuthor, to london
@MikeDunnAuthor@kolektiva.social avatar

Today in Labor History March 31, 1990: 200,000 people protested against the new Poll Tax in London. The new tax shifted the burden from the somewhat progressive tax based on property values, to an entirely regressive tax.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #polltax #london #uk #protest

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@MikeDunnAuthor I evaded the whole lot by accident due to a Council strike, LB Greenwich didn't process my form showing I'd moved out of Reading!

Was fine until I got nicked for minor drug possession in London in 1994 - Metpol had 0 record of me existing, and sent Thames Valley Police to my family home at 06:00 to do a citizenship check (as I am brown), which was awkward with my parents (as they knew I had got in trouble and that wouldn't normally have happened as I was over 18 by then)

annmlipton, to random
@annmlipton@esq.social avatar

"Even home showings have become a politically sensitive issue. He recalled showing an elderly woman one property where there were Confederate flags at the gate and swastikas on the fish tank."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/leaving-florida-rcna142316

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@LouisIngenthron @Compassionatecrab @annmlipton I was on some "rave memories" group on Facebook and there were a lot of folk from FL on there, so at one point it used to be a fun/party state (although I fear a portion of those ravers surely must have gone to hard right in their 30s/40s when they got bored of partydrugs). I wonder how long it will be before the place starts depopulating and is reclaimed by nature?

CultureDesk, (edited ) to Entertainment
@CultureDesk@flipboard.social avatar

40 years after Marvin Gaye’s death, never-before-heard music has been found in Belgium. How did the tape, which looks like a basic BASF cassette that was common in the 1980s, end up there? And will fans of the singer who's popularity remains strong get to hear what’s on it? BBC News heard a brief, tantalizing sample from the tape. “In a rather eerie moment, the Prince of Motown almost seemed to live again.” https://flip.it/cAcvye

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@CultureDesk @VE2UWY

The division of BASF which made magnetic tape got spun out as as EMTEC and since mid 2000s only makes digital storage media - the magnetic tape production (particularly of spools of tape) got sold to another company which went out of business, but a French Court allocated their assets to Mulann who restarted production. You can still buy a cassette tape based on a BASF formula today (albeit for a bit more than they cost back in the day)

https://www.recordingthemasters.com/blank-cassettes

skinnylatte, to random
@skinnylatte@hachyderm.io avatar

I was reading about people advocating for a ‘grocery store in the TL’ and I was confused because I go to several in the TL. Like, daily. I think they mean ‘a grocery store that sells Cheerios and brands I know’ rather than ‘low cost ethnic grocery stores that sell rice, vegetables, spices, that even have full service butchers, frequented by all POC in the neighborhood’

You know how in Whole Foods they have Asian food in the ethnic aisle? We’ve got to put Whole Grocery Store In The Other Aisle

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@skinnylatte there's a big one opening in my town soon, and its open late (I keep unusual hours and don't rise early, and do not like dealing with crowded stores and town in the daytime, which alas pushes me towards the big out of town supermarkets, but this one looks worth a visit especially if I am in town to do work at the community radio station)

https://www.suffolknews.co.uk/ipswich/news/new-multicultural-supermarket-and-restuarant-to-come-to-town-9359127/

aral, to threads
@aral@mastodon.ar.al avatar

Meta (Facebook, Instagram, , etc.):

  1. Doesn’t moderate anti-transgender hate on its platforms.

https://glaad.org/smsi/report-meta-fails-to-moderate-extreme-anti-trans-hate-across-facebook-instagram-and-threads/

  1. Secretly pays teenagers to use their VPN service so they can access all their web activity, gets busted, then uses same app to man-in-the-middle attack Snapchat users to get their encrypted data.

https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/26/facebook-secret-project-snooped-snapchat-user-traffic/?guccounter=1

  1. Lets Netflix see user DMs.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/03/netflix-ad-spend-led-to-facebook-dm-access-end-of-facebook-streaming-biz-lawsuit/

Mastodon gGmbH to Meta:

🤗 Let’s be besties!

https://www.platformer.news/mastodon-interview-eugen-rochko-meta-bluesky-threads-federation/

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@zleap @aral

BBC Monitoring also nowadays scrapes social media (and probably has access to data from Meta either officially or by posing as normal users) and feeds into GCHQ (they've been doing this since the Cold War, except previously it was more often done over the radio airwaves, but they were early adopters of online surveillance)

thomas, to random
@thomas@metalhead.club avatar

"That's why you don't touch radio towers"

We made a hot dog talk... with RF. By @geerlingguy

https://youtube.com/watch?v=GgDxXDV4_hc&feature=shared

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@thomas @geerlingguy there was a funny comment about how folk in areas with 0 vehicle inspections (like MOT / TÜV ) drive past the tower in a rusty truck, which rectifies the signal, the body panels start acting like a loudspeaker and they hear out of nowhere the hellfire religious preachers you tend to get on USA AM stations 😁

hello, to fediverse
@hello@social.wedistribute.org avatar

Server indexes of places for newcomers to join can be instrumental for adoption. However, sudden rule changes can leave some admins feeling pressure to change policies and remain listed.

https://wedistribute.org/2024/03/block-threads-to-remain-listed/

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@onepict @jdp23 @FediThing @hello

Its not much different really from giving your friends a lift somewhere and they say "maybe you should obey the new 20mph limit, and not honk those pedestrians and the senior driving slowly in their car", they are still your friends and appreciate you giving them a lift (and trust you or they wouldn't have got in the car) but just want the whole community to be safe.

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@onepict @jdp23 @FediThing @hello

an interesting thing I see on Fedi is there are a lot more admins who are blocking Threads (and a good deal other stuff too) than they officially let on, but also a lot of petulance (sometimes from the /same/ admins) that they have to do this (rather than accepting its part and parcel of having a safe community)

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@InsertUser @onepict @jdp23 @hello

this happens with other blocks, its still not 100% clear what limit and suspend actually do and even limiting breaks a lot of connections, so given Threads is seen as a major risk (and the benefit is mostly only one way, towards the Meta users) its not surprising instance admins pick the "nuclear" option..

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@jdp23 @onepict @InsertUser @hello I think for many people safety is the biggest concern.

In many countries the two groups of rival supporters at a large sportsball match are generally kept apart to prevent them fighting each other in the stadium or the surrounding streets and/or trashing local venues

Meta and other commercial social networks instead encourage such conflicts in the name of "engagement". So many admins do not want this sort of stuff to have to deal with...

ColinTheMathmo, (edited ) to random
@ColinTheMathmo@mathstodon.xyz avatar

[I'm not asking for advice ... please don't try to help me]

OK, so ...

Trying to assist to to things on the computer. These are things that they are absolutely capable of, and will (I believe) greatly enhance their quality of life.

Then Oh. My. God.

The misconceptions are f'n unbelievably. The way they think things work, the things they believe happen when they perform certain operations, it's just ... inconceivable.

I've started to unpick some of what's going on, and it's horrendous.

To start ...

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@ColinTheMathmo @vacuumbubbles the idea of "files and folders/directories" from 1970s/1980s computers comes from corporate offices - if someone hasn't worked in one during their lifetime nor encountered computers during the the 1970s to 1990s (and although many older people these days have, its not all of them) its always going to be a bit of an alien concept to them..

CelloMomOnCars, to Virginia
@CelloMomOnCars@mastodon.social avatar

Dominion wind project gets final 2 permits

"The facility, 25 miles in the Atlantic off the Oceanfront, will have 176 turbines capable of generating enough electricity to power up to 660,000 homes.

The more than $9 billion project is due to come on line in 2026."


https://richmond.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/dominion-energy-offshore-wind-virginia-beach/article_70be5e70-bf7f-11ee-a0d1-2baecbf317bd.html

vfrmedia,
@vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de avatar

@CelloMomOnCars @ariaflame if a whale or other marine mammal is washed up here (or closer to London), it is usually due to a collision from entering shipping lanes, the turbines are 50-100 km away from where the whales are ending up.

Even the well fed cats round here don't catch as many birds these days, I've seen them sleeping in gardens with all sorts of birds twittering above their heads..

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • megavids
  • InstantRegret
  • magazineikmin
  • thenastyranch
  • Youngstown
  • mdbf
  • everett
  • slotface
  • khanakhh
  • ethstaker
  • rosin
  • kavyap
  • GTA5RPClips
  • tacticalgear
  • JUstTest
  • DreamBathrooms
  • ngwrru68w68
  • Durango
  • normalnudes
  • cubers
  • modclub
  • cisconetworking
  • tester
  • osvaldo12
  • provamag3
  • anitta
  • Leos
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •