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
Sadly, it looks like we will be saying goodbye to President Carter fairly soon.
A very fine POTUS indeed who did a great deal for America's less privileged. but who will be remembered mainly for the failed rescue of the American embassy hostages in Iran. It's a great shame as the man had nothing to do the nuts and bolts of the mission; it was due to the astonishing internecine squabbling between branches of the US military, that caused the mission to fail! In effect pilots were sent on the mission who were totally inexperienced in that type mission whereas pilots with years of experience in such missions were sidelined due to the arrogance and glory seeking of one branch of the US military over another!
President Carter has worked; physically worked, into his 90s, helping to build homes for America's underprivileged. I don't think Trump would ever lift a little finger to help anyone but himself, in fact the Trump family stole money that had been donated to his 'charitable foundation' resulting in him being banned from having such a foundation in New York!
Paul Brownjohn
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@DrJackBrown
Speaking of which, I'm getting a lot tired of those demanding we exchange land for peace. The world already tried that tactic with Crimea, remember? The result was not more peace, but more invasions because that's what always happens when you try to trade land for peace with a fascist regime.
Paul Brownjohn
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Never forget the loved ones needlessly lost because of the ghouls pictured below.
Nurses were there for our loved, risking their own health and lives. Nurses were there for us.
Now it's our turn to help and support them.
Paul Brownjohn
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Climate strike week 235. #FridaysForFuture #ClimateStrike #PeopleNotProfit
Paul Brownjohn
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The last few years have made 'defending' #capitalism pretty hard work... I'm not an #anticapitalist (indeed for ten years I worked & then ran my family's small company), but I do think capitalism needs to be radically reformed!
Others say there is no hope & reformism is merely capitalisation or collaboration with Capital!
I point to Richer Sounds or Timpsons to say actually there is another way to organise economic activity which rewards (fairly) all parties
Call be an idealist but so be it
Paul Brownjohn
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Just realized it's now been two months since I was locked out of Twitter for factual reporting. I could delete the (non-rule-breaking) tweet and go back but, to be honest, I just don't feel any real desire to. It's a social network built for one, and not a place where you can trust that real reporting won't be punished on a whim. Every tweet supports a place that's hostile to what we do. Why enable that?
Paul Brownjohn
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Everyone wants to know which politician said the N-word or wore Blackface. No one wants to know who shut down mental health facilities (Reagan), or started the war on drugs (Nixon), or made college tuition unaffordable for Black folk (Nixon), or broke the tax code (Reagan).
This hurts white folk too. Today a white woman that's $80K in student loan debt and has no health insurance is standing on a subway platform, scared that a white homeless man with untreated mental illness might attack her. 🤷🏿♂️
Can anyone explain to me why Microsoft apparently believe that the Daily Mail and the Daily Express are credible, reliable sources of journalistic excellence?
Whenever I go to Bing (very infrequently indeed) or open the little widget down on the right hand side at the bottom of my Windows screen to see what the weather is doing, I am bombarded by articles from these two adult comics – the fuckin Beano would tell a story that was closer to reality!
Paul Brownjohn
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It’s not even a century, we know what follows the book bans. Stay Awake. Stay Woke. Resist Fascism
Paul Brownjohn
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@anamckellar This is so true. If we were to lose bees and flies, (key pollinators) we would quickly have no plant life on which we depend. Suicide! How stoopid are we? In parts of the UK sensible folk no longer use chemical sprays on verges and hedge rows. In other places quite the opposite, Go figure.
Paul Brownjohn
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Here's a good but of simple advice for our (often) sociopathic #management class when they are (among other things) thinking about #outsourcing & #supplychain contracts:
'Is there anything you don’t want to appear in the press about your pay gaps or tax records? Anything that would annoy the median voter? Maybe don’t do it. Behave as you would want your own subcontractors to behave'!
Its a simple ethics really, but one that often seems beyond many managers fresh out of #BusinessSchool!
This is something I don't quite understand, in France, where many of my colleagues hailed from when I was working, fixed rate mortgages are the norm when rates are relatively low. A colleague was able to remortgage his house, on which he had been paying a mortgage at 4%, for a new loan at a measly 1.44%; fixed rate for the entire 20 year life of the mortgage.
How come such deals are unavailable in the United Kingdom; is it the greed of the banks, is there some legislative reason why they can't or won't do this or is it, as I suspect, pure greed and profiteering!
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2022/10/20/a-global-house-price-slump-is-coming?utm_id=23852509992360064
Paul Brownjohn
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Now there's an omen for you - I'm just not quite sure what it signifies.
I blame Corbyn or Putin maybe!
I had to phone our would be new Internet service provider today just to confirm the time they're coming tomorrow as they sent me a text saying they'd be there in the morning whereas I arranged for them to come in the afternoon.
When switchboard answered the phone I was presented with a menu: press 1 for Luxemburgish, press 2 for German, press 3 for French or press 4 for English. Feeling a bit lazy, I opted for #4, English, so when the human operator actually answered the phone I started speaking English. The operator immediately asked me if I spoke French as she didn't feel able to handle the call in English! Is it just me or is it really a bit odd to offer people the option of speaking English and then when they ask for that option, you say to them “no, no, I can't do that!
Paul Brownjohn
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It's astounding that worthless morons like Frost get to criticize what the UK government is doing on the Brexit front without ever being asked to detail what alternative measures they would recommend.
The answer is of course, that they don't have any workable ideas of their own, just criticism of other peoples ideas!
This is just terrific - the cattle in the barn of the farm next door are making such a bloody row that I can't sleep. I don't know why - they are never normally this noisy. I'm guessing that this is a new batch of calves that have just been taken from their mothers and are calling out for her, however, I wish they would SFU!!!
Paul Brownjohn
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Just came across a poll question asking, “Should students be able to use cell phones in school?” and my first thought was if they can’t use cell phones in school, how else are they gonna be able to say goodbye to their parents before they get gunned down in the daily school shootings and what the fuck is wrong with this country?
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
