⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️ @falken@social.cleverlibre.org

Ministers could have made the Rwanda policy legal. They chose not to do so.

The government has only itself to blame for this week’s Supreme Court outcome.

By me, at Prospect

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/63942/david-allen-green-rwanda-asylum-supreme-court

Happy Partially-muscled-skeleton-stands-by-the-perimiter-fence-and-screams-for-thirty-seconds-before-vanishing Day to those who celebrate!

I've been following some of the Post Office Horizon Inquiry. I came across a report used in evidence to 'showcase' the level of programming used in that system.

The example they used in evidence was the code devised to reverse the sign of a number (equivalent to the command :- d=-d )


Public Function ReverseSign(d)

If d <0 Then
d=Abs(d)
Else
d=d-(d*2)
End If

ReverseSign = d

End Function

Smart Quotes and Coding Examples

Every so often, I copy and paste some code from a website and it utterly fails. This is probably a good reminder not to practise ✂️ & 📋 development, but it is also a reminder that "smart" formatting often trips up new students.

Here are a few examples I've seen recently - produced as a result of computers trying to be cleverer than humans, and huma

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/11/smart-quotes-and-coding-examples/

#/etc/ #code #education #NaBloPoMo

Remember the Cant!
The Expanse (Season 1, 2015): In-universe advertising, art by Jonathan Hunter

Before being an ice hauler, the Canterbury was a colony ship.
#scifi #tvshow #theexpanse #spaceship

"Here's an AI to write Alt-Text for your images" is exactly what @danmcquillan argues is the "management of austerity" at the core of current "AI" systems: Marginalized (in this case blind) people get a shitty version of the real thing because we can't be bothered ("can't afford") to give the real thing.

Writing alt text is not some annoyance that you should automate half-assedly. Write the fucking description of you post an image. It's just part of what you do when posting a fucking image.

I had to go find another keyboard though. my spare keyboard on hand is an AT keyboard, and while of course I have a (hand made!) AT-to-PS/2 adapter, this computer for some reason only has USB ports.

I can't understand these companies just expecting us to have obscure hardware on hand to diagnose their failures.

You (uninspired, bland, predictable): syntax highlighting with colours.

Me, (innovative, experimental, pushing the envelope): syntax highlighting with fonts.

Horrified by the prospect of Suella Braverman's impending dismissal as Home Secretary.

Not because I *like* her but because the trajectory for the past 20 years has been a downward spiral.

So who will they install as Home Secretary next?

Dracula?

Hitler?

Kemi Badenoch?

@SolarDavy @cstross

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/golden-age

The cover of this week's Lancet and the accompanying article on the UK Covid inquiry by the Editor-in-Chief

https://thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)02504-7/fulltext

Imagine if this was done in the United States

of all the government sites the I’ve audited in the past half of a year, the sites that have the best frontend (most accessible, most performant) are the ones that were built 20 years ago, but the devs are usually embarrassed that they haven’t kept up with “what’s new” and I always go the extra effort saying “no no no, this is great. you want to look new? over lunch I’ll write 100 lines of CSS to make that happen. but this site is plain old HTML and it is the best.”

“add some headings though.”

Beautiful pixel art https://x.com/arkhaipxls/status/1723123099774968225?s=46

I’ve been running an ORG stall today at the Liberal Democrat’s regional conference in Leeds. If you have a relevant conference or event then we would love to come and talk about digital rights issues at it! #digitalrights #privacy

41 American and Canadian companies trialed a 4 day work week in 2022. None has reported going back to working 40 hours a week.

Requirements: a tolerance for risk, and trust, creativity, and open-mindedness. https://www.npr.org/2023/11/11/1207991399/4-four-day-work-week-manufacturing-work-life-balance