Paul Brownjohn @Paulos_the_fog@social.cleverlibre.org
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
I am constantly astonished that so many in the USA support Trump. Why do americans identify with a compulsive liar, a serial sexual abuser, and rapist, whose business acumen is so stunted that his companies have had to declare bankruptcy multiple times? Is it because that's what they'd like to be - that is the limited vision of the great American dream?
What make his supporters think that someone who inherited around half a
$ billion and has now contrived to lose all of and is in debt to the tune of about the same amount, is a 'self-made man'. Don't the stupid dick-wits realise that if he had invested the vast fortune he inherited in a decent fund (like Warren Buffet's fund), he would be a multi-billionaire by now whereas in reality he has loans coming due for repayment shortly that total $250,000,000 and no means of repaying them (the loans are to his companies BUT he gave personal guarantees for the loans so if his companies can't pay, he is personally liable!)
Well at least measles gives you immunity for life - at the price of completely wiping your immune system's memory! Vaccination against measles is probably a better option!
When I moved to Thailand in 2015, for the 1st time in my life, I came into contact with lots of Americans and the subject of America's notorious healthcare system often came up.
Even suggesting that there was anything wrong with America's profoundly PROFIT orientated heath-care system was often akin to suggesting barbecuing human babies alive for supper!
Americans it seems don't want it to change however utterly dreadful it may be!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
@fkamiah17 the USA can go to hell. The trigger happy meddlers should be chased from every country. The USA has a long history of rigging polls, supporting military coups, channeling funds and spreading political propaganda in other countries for their own gain and it’s about time the world treated them no differently than Russia. This U.S. obsession with meddling in other countries seriously jeopardises world peace.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
I feel like this hits the crux of the matter. Techbros don't want LLMs/AI because they're “new and exciting", they want it because it's a profitable grift that hasn't yet been regulated—and the thrill of stealing from artists who achieve more than techbros can ever dream of adds a fillip, I'm sure.
From Laura K of Normal Island News!
"Israel has achieved a world record by killing 105 journalists in just 83 days, continuing their kill streak of more than one journalist per day. This has disproven the conspiracy theory that Israel is using unguided "dumb bombs" in its genocide. Unguided rockets are not this reliable.
An IDF spokesperson told me they are keeping score and that while a civilian target is only worth one point, a doctor is worth five points, a UN aid worker is worth ten points, and a problematic journalist is worth a whopping 25 points. I’m no good at maths, but I suspect the IDF has shattered its high score.
At this point, the IDF’s biggest problem is they might run out of journalists to kill and then they'll have to turn their attention to troublemakers with large Twitter followings, but I’m not sure how many points they will be worth.
While the IDF was celebrating its record-breaking performance, US state propagandist Anthony Blinken, who is basically the American version of me, almost caused a diplomatic incident when he clumsily tweeted:
"This has been an extraordinarily dangerous year for press around the world. Many killed, many more wounded, hundreds detained, attacked, threatened, injured – simply for doing their jobs. I am profoundly grateful to the press for getting accurate, timely information to people."
When Netanyahu saw the tweet, Mossad threatened to release the tapes they've secretly recorded, but thankfully, Anthony clarified he wasn’t referring to the journalists in Gaza who totally had it coming, especially the Al-Jazeera ones. Fucking truth tellers.
The thing about journalists is they’re brilliant when they’re telling the truth about leaders we don’t like (or even just repeating our lies about leaders we don’t like), but the moment they tell the truth about leaders we like, that is completely unacceptable.
The problem with the journalists in Gaza is they weaponise the truth against war criminals, increasing the risk that people might feel sympathy for their victims, and this cannot be tolerated. The only available response is to destroy their homes (which Israel has sensibly registered) to ensure that not only can journalists not continue to tell the truth, but their children can’t grow up to be truth tellers.
As a journalist, the most courageous thing I can do is fall silent as any journalist Netanyahu disapproves of is assassinated. Only a handful of western journalists have been cowardly enough to speak out against our favourite war criminals and I’m at a loss to explain why we have not levelled their entire neighbourhoods. I thought that is what we are doing now x"
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
We can't keep transferring attention and wealth to billionaires while blindly hoping they will selectively choose to focus their attention and resources on the world’s actual problems. It's like giving a room full of 5-year-olds a tub of ice cream and an iPad and hoping they retile the kitchen.
This is more serious than people think. Aircraft design is a meticulous business and any nut or bolt that is designed to stay tightened should be designed and specified with a system to prevent it from loosening under the influence of vibration (the sworn enemy of all threaded fixings!). There are half a dozen or more ways of stopping nuts and bolts from loosening, ranging from the use of castellated nuts with a split pin through them to the use of locking compounds like Locktite. One of the primary concerns in aircraft design is the elimination of anything that could go wrong including the loosening of any sort of fixing due to vibration. This fault appears to indicate yet again that Boeing are cutting corners that shouldn't be cut!
No, I won't turn off my ad-blocker and no I won't bother wasting my time for the site to appear after X number of seconds - I'll just block you instead!
Yes the trend towards 'edgy' dialogue; i.e. dialogue you can't fuckin well hear, has been progressing for some years now. I can't make up my mind whether the directors of the shows really think that completely inaudible dialogue is 'really bang on trend' or whether modern sound specialists/engineers are just a bunch of completely incompetent slobs who need sacking!
Mobile phone service provider, Tango here in Luxembourg, finally rolled out a 5G service to our little village in the country and suddenly the speed available dropped from 40-50Mbps on the old 4G service to around 10 - 15Mbps on 5G. This is not quite what we were anticipating!
I complained to Tango's technical service and was fobbed off with excuses but eventually, I was told to complain to the directors of Tango as they were the only people who could authorize the expenditure required for 'densification' of the network which would improve the speeds available!
In one or two places, I have seen speeds of 200-300Mbps available in Luxembourg but on average speeds are extremely poor for users of Tango at least!
I have a phone that is capable of taking two SIMs so I have one from the Post.lu; the biggest local provider, and I will be installing that shortly to see if service is better with that! If it is then Tango can stick their bloody worthless service where the 5G don't reach!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
The same people that can recognize Nazi rhetoric in Trump conveniently stuff their ears and close their eyes when Israel says it's going to commit war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide, goes on to commit those atrocities.
Moral bankruptcy/degeneracy is too weak to describe it.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Rwandan dissidents in exile in Britain have been informed that President Kagame's agents may be trying to kill them.
Personally, I am resolutely atheistic and have little patience with true god-botherers and even less with convenience ones (christenings, weddings and funerals only).
What you call jews who enthusiastically support the genocide currently being perpetrated by the state of israel on Palestinians, I don't know but certainly not aherents to a religion of peace!
I'm not anti-buddhist as that's not really a religion even if some adherents treat it as such nor am I against Jainism; the ultimate religion of peace. Jains are by definition vegetarian and many Jains won't even eat root vegetables as it kills the plant.
Yes but the teaching of many religions is not that at all. For example - Islam - religion of peace but the Koran repeats more than 100 times verses that broadly have the meaning 'kill the infidel'.
https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/quran/violence.aspx?_e_pi_=7%2CPAGE_ID10%2C2657980978
Cable salad is one of Thailand's specialities!
This one is down in Pattaya (unless you happen to be interested in paying for sex - this is about the best thing Pattaya has to offer!)
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Putin can leave Donbas, Crimea, and abandon its naval base in Sevastopol - those are the terms of a ceasefire.
Ukraine gets back its territory, every inch of it.
Russia pays reparations to rebuild. (Russian oligarchs have assets everywhere waiting to be forfeited and sold)
Putin stands trial for war crimes.
Those are the terms of a "ceasefire".
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
@wannabemystiker
Rampant transmission is bad because it means: 1) more chances for a mutation creating a worse variant, 2) those of us who are high risk are in even more danger than usual, 3) more people will get long COVID (10% or so of cases) or new medical conditions, 4) more people will die.
Sure, less people will probably die than prior surges.
But take it from someone disabled by post-viral illnesses - I'd be more worried about long COVID than death or hospitalizations, if I were you.
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
