tenebrisnox

@tenebrisnox@feddit.uk

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Vet prescription fees to be capped at £21⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Cue the claims that this will force vets out of business!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Palantir extends reach into British state as gets access to sensitive FCA data⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Handing over UK state information to a foreign entity that has links with countries like Russia is at best problemmatic. Hopefully Palantir will use the promised “quantum computers” that the UK govt is supposedly buying at scale - that way we can be assured that it’ll never work.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Water bills are rising and thousands are planning not to pay⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  It IS a risk not paying bills - especially if you’re already hard up and extra fines just add to your family’s debts. I wonder how a campaign of only paying small amounts and then waiting for the water companies to chase up payments would go? Agreeing to pay and then dragging our feet?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Spycops inquiry exposes police efforts to destroy left-wing movements⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  It’s always been like this. I doubt there are any radical orginisations in the UK that aren’t riddled with police. There used to be a story floating around in the 1980s that there was a meeting of a Trotslyist splinter group from the WRP where everyone in the meeting realised they were all police. I doubt it’s true but I wouldn’t be surprised if it had some element of truth.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨UK looks to emulate Spanish youth custody where inmates do art and play sport⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  Woke prisons? Fresh meat to the Tories, Reform and neo-Rightists! “Bring back the birch and National Service!” we’ll hear.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨In regards to my recent other post regarding the Pinterest alternative Aiko, I stumbled upon a couple of other potential alternatives⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve used Pinry for years and love it. Unfortunately, it’s no longer maintained. Last update 2+ years ago. I’m looking for a self-hosted alternative.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨UK recruiter emerges from insolvency for third time, avoiding millions owed in tax⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Are you daring to say that the poor family scraping to make ends meet with both parents working and still having to claim benefits is actually patriotic? And suggesting that the millionaire who hides his inherited wealth in an offshore taxhaven, lives in Dubai and hires accountants to avoid contributing anything to the UK doesn’t love this country? That’s not how we’re programmed to think in this country!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Major UK supermarket to stop selling mackerel in coming weeks⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Salmon farms have an appalling impact on the sustainability of wild salmon, so no

  theweek.com/…/the-dark-side-of-salmon-farming

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Major UK supermarket to stop selling mackerel in coming weeks⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Salmon next, please. Shut down the horrendous Salmon farms.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Energy bills to fall in April in price cap change and charges shake-up⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  And, of course, energy prices will fall incredibly and they’ll never be the need for price caps ever again and the “clean” nuclear waste can be recycled into toys and distributed to children to play with in this New Jersusalem.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨John Lewis pulls out of housebuilding business⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Unless these housebuilding firms make huge sums of money, they really aren’t interested.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Russell Brand latest: Comedian pleads not guilty to new charges⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  He was one of those early grifters who saw the transition to para-politics and then God as a means of making a brand (of Brand).

  That anyone ever took his spirituaity or politics or his cringe comedy or acting seriously is beyond me.

  They had PILES of his Bookie-Wookie in Waterstones once.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Chocolate kept in anti-theft boxes as retailers warn it's being stolen to order⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I’m super-suspicious of the “massive increase in shop theft” stories. I’m sure it has happened, does happen and has increased as poverty goes up in the UK. I’m just dubious about the gangs robbing stored made-to-order.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨LibreOffice Online, a self-hostable libre office environment, is coming back!⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  I think Libre Office is fantastic and I’m glad to see the back of Microsoft. But I miss how useful mail-merge was and how limited it is in Libre. It’s my only small complaint among so many cheers for Libre.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Energy bills to fall in April in price cap change and charges shake-up⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Wait until the next “price cap” in three months… and the one after that in six months… and the one after that in nine months (that’ll raise the cap even higher). It’s a con-game and we’re the suckers.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨‘Seasons have become confused’: the people struggling in UK’s relentless rain⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  It rains in the UK. When the Romans invaded they noticed how cloudy and rainy the place is. Still is.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If you are not in a tech field, what got you into self-hosting?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s one of the other big issues. I have the same worries about how digital-only gaming has become. My kids seem to prefer digital downloads and really don’t believe me when I warn them that they have absolutely no control over what they “buy”. But they look at me like one of those crazy old-timers who just doesn’t understand the modern world.

  I started with Logseq and then quickly moved to Obsidian (which I think is great). Over the last couple of months I’ve started using Emacs with Org (partly for the challenge and partly because it seems to be able to do pretty much everything).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If you are not in a tech field, what got you into self-hosting?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I did make the jump… into unemployment. But still much happier. I love teaching and would join an authentic, child-centred school at the drop of a hat - but not willing to be complicit in the toxic horror show that’s current UK education.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨If you are not in a tech field, what got you into self-hosting?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Former English teacher here. My self-hosting origin is that I had 20 years or so of teaching materials I’d collected in OneNote over that time and simply wanted to have offline copies so that I could feel that if ever something went wrong with Microsoft like getting permanently locked out of my account, then I had a means of restoring everything. Microsoft makes it practically impossible to export to a working backup.

  After spending a LONG time trying everything to get back ownership of my materials, I understood the need to move my digital stuff away from big tech. I bought a Synology NAS, learned how to use Docker and then took more steps. About the same time I started using Fediverse apps and learned a great deal from the discussions and links there. My greatest “learn” has been keeping notes in plaintext files (and not getting seduced by nice shiny new apps that are actually horrors that want lure you into a future subscription).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Oatly banned from using word ‘milk’ to market plant-based products in UK⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Thank you. That was actually weirdly interesting in terms of the specificity (while also being quite broad). I can’t imagine how many hours and meetings and people were involved in that.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Oatly banned from using word ‘milk’ to market plant-based products in UK⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Have the courts come to an actual definition of what (animal) milk actually is? Last I read, neither EU or UK could define it. Milk’s content differs so much from brand to brand and there’s no set standard. Presumably other than it comes from an animal of some kind.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨‘You’d be ashamed to bring someone here’: The struggling billionaire-owned high street that shows Reform’s road to No 10⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  Benzion Freshwater.

  Surely that’s a made-up name? Do you have to have a name like that to be a billionaire?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Number of US-style pickup trucks on UK roads up 92% in a decade, data shows⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Why doesn’t your company provide parking? Why should other people not be able to park because people with business vehicles hog residential parking?

  I live in a road that’s nearly 150+ years old. Not sure that the planners foresaw vans and monster-cars. They were probably more concerned with horses and carts. I doubt trademen parked their carts and hitched their horses outside of other people’s houses in the street.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Starmer says he won't 'choose between' the US or China⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t blame him. Choice of one stable and expanding authoritarian regime and one unstable and expanding authoritarian regime. Do the Chinese police hold nurses down in the street and shoot them?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Number of US-style pickup trucks on UK roads up 92% in a decade, data shows⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Why aren’t the vans parked in commercial car parks or premises? And why do their owners insist on parking them wherever they like (but not their own drives!) without any thought for pedestrians? At the same time, after about 7pm it becomes almost impossible to find a parking space largely because of the sheer number of vans. I’m not talking about the little white vans but the big ones. Commercial vans and pickups have no place being parked in residential streets. Or, charge them higher rates of parking permit fees for commercial vehicles. No one is driving a big van as their family vehicle - unless they’re Steptoe & Son or Trotters Trading.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The great Ministry of Defence-to-Palantir pipeline: Palantir hired four Ministry of Defence officials last year. Then it won its biggest ever contract with the department⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Palantir = truly evil Skynet.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨China has network of 75 covert influence outposts across Britain⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Are these “talent liason” outposts what used to be called spies? And doesn’t the UK have “talent liason” people in China? Excuse me if I’m not really shocked about this. Surely, rather than moan about it, the UK security services need to use some James Bond-types to investigate (using some futuristic gadgets like chewing gum that blows up etc) and sort it out. Usually these “talent liason” outposts are inside volcanoes or deep sea bases. Should be easy to spot in UK.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ban phones throughout the school day, Phillipson tells teachers⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Welcome to the UK… country that once had aspirations to be a center of digital tech… now just wants a Victorian factory education for its kids. Soon pen and paper will be too radical and chalkboard slates will be reintroduced. You can hear the “teach from the front”-types salivating already. “The Empire was built on rote and chalk, Mr Gradgrind!”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Number of US-style pickup trucks on UK roads up 92% in a decade, data shows⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  In the last 5-10 years our residential road has gone from having normal family cars parked outside houses to pretty much these types of monstrosities and - worse - transit vans. Our Yaris looks like a toy car in comparison to these behemoths! What’s worse is the ones who have drives can’t fit them so they park in the street.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Ex-Tory Home Secretary Braverman defects to Reform UK⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  In other news: rabid dog bites gurning man.