Ian Kenway @iankenway@social.cleverlibre.org

I suppose I should introduce myself properly. I'm Alex from Canada, and I'm on this server because dw i'n dysgu siarad Cymraeg. I've also been working on Irish and Klingon.

I write stuff over on Medium. My two most recent pieces are about how Elon screwed up Twitter, and about the Pentagon's psychic spy program.

I'm linking them below, mostly so I can try out some of Mastodon's features.

#introduction post. I spent the last 25 years working in the disability rights field, still dabble. I'm now taking some time to decide what's next. I'm a photographer, my work features in an exhibition opening in London next week! I'll post more below. Here's the confession: I'm married to a Scot he's from Fife and I love Scotland. I'm not really from anywhere; we moved around so much growing up, Dad in RAF. So I've adopted Scotland and it's welcomed me. Currently living in Bedfordshre though.

Tories are handing over our private medical records to Palantir & We have no say. Trump backer’s firm ‘lined up’ for £360m NHS England data contract https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/13/controversial-360m-nhs-england-data-platform-lined-up-for-trump-backers-firm

FYI to all my Electronics people out there.

Did you know you can represent capacitance and inductance with a complex number and by doing so you would incorporate ESR (equivalent series resistance) into your equations. Essentially you dont have to model with idealized components and add in the parasitics manually, you can add the parasitics directly into the capacitance or inductance of your components!

See the following equation in my blog and the subsequent explanation if you want some further details and examples: http://jeffreyfreeman.me/an-indepth-look-at-duals-and-their-circuits/#mjx-eqn-realcap

#electronics #electricalengineering #EE #HamRadio #AmaetureRadio #Physics #Science #QotoJournal

#Brexit a major cause of #UK’s return to #austerity, says senior economist | Brexit | The Guardian

Well nobody saw that coming, said nobody.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/nov/14/brexit-a-major-cause-of-uks-return-to-austerity-says-senior-economist

#Politics #EU

I got an email, which appears legit, from Disney+:
---
Disney+ now requires additional information from the primary account holder, including your birthdate and what best describes your gender. To avoid any interruption to your streaming, please update your account with this information before December 8, 2022.
---
I can understand the birthdate, what with all the new NC-17-rated Star Wars content coming out, but why would they need a gender?

Qoto != Goto
Yet, when first I glanced at Qoto, I saw Goto, that infamous #Fortran statement responsible for mountains of spaghetti code. I then saw what it really stood for and immediately signed up.

Qoto, to me, means #reading to learn or teach ourselves. How else really? Watching or hearing do not quite measure up to reading, especially physical books that you hold. In bed, paperbacks are preferred; hardcovers can be dangerous if you’re drowsy.😩

The best way I found to see if I’ve learned something from reading is to write down a synopsis. Not so easy. How about writing something original? I have great admiration for all writers of: #novels, #short stories, #history, cook books, text books, technical specifications, how-to books, etc. etc. I’d go out on a limb and say, the art of writing is significantly more difficult than either creating a painting or composing a piece of music. Please note that I said art, not science.

In this internet age, much of our reading is in snippets. TL;DR
So, here’s a poll for the longest time you’ve spent reading in one sitting recently. (excepting this toot)

#Brexit is the ultimate reason why the UK now faces a fresh round of austerity, and has permanently damaged the economy, according to a former interest rate-setter at the Bank of England.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/nov/14/brexit-a-major-cause-of-uks-return-to-austerity-says-senior-economist

Devolve the same powers to #Cymru as #Scotland

Please consider signing.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/627934

#RuportMurdoch tells #DonaldTrump he will not back fresh #WhiteHouse bid – report | Donald Trump | The Guardian

Oh dear, the two dears are having a fall out. Seriously, though, it’s obscene that Murdoch has this much power.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/15/murdoch-press-turns-on-donald-trump-in-favour-of-defuture-ron-desantis

#US #Politics

I'm writing a short article on getting started with Mastodon for Computers in Libraries and have found @nikodemus guide invaluable. You might too. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D9gfeKg_-hlsU66R-dLEvUeyMsqEfyIx2pnfUeX0t_E/edit?usp=sharing

Boost this toot if you're planning on sticking around Mastodon whether or not it becomes more popular than the birdsite.

Introduction? Hmmm. OK, here goes.

Firstly, who am I? #Cymraeg. Solicitor. Farmer. One husband, one daughter (7), literally hundreds of #dogs, #cats and #sheep (not the same amount of each). Pleidiwr, #Annibyniaeth

Hobbies? Erm, this is starting to feel like a dating profile.... #Knitting #baking #painting and #kickboxing (not all at the same time - it makes a mess).

Other interests include: #archeology #fungi #natur and spying on #alpacas and #goats (don't ask). #TerryPratchett = legend.

Doing my #introduction again but with hashtags (learning!) Hello. I live in South East #Wales, paying the bills by keeping some tv channels on air. My interests are nerdy and occasionally nostalgic. I travel by #publictransport and #ebike as much as I can and get tetchy when it isn’t possible. I’m #Quaker -curious and believe there’s ‘that of God’ in everyone. Oh, and I #volunteer at https://careradio.org

Revealed: the £30bn cost of #LizTruss’s disastrous mini-budget | Liz Truss | The Guardian

Right-wing #libertarians are a blight on the plolitical landscape and create a black hole for the economy.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/nov/12/revealed-the-30bn-cost-of-liz-trusss-disastrous-mini-budget

#UK #Politics #Tories

Very disappointed to read that #Aberystwyth fair won't have any market stalls this year. This is a historic fair, and a big part of the Aberystwyth calendar. Last year, the excuse was Covid - fine. That's not an excuse this year though.

Braverman linked to UK’s emergent American-style religious right
https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/braverman-linked-to-uks-emergent-american-style-religious-right/

The involvement of Palantir in our confidential medical records is a really bad news https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/13/controversial-360m-nhs-england-data-platform-lined-up-for-trump-backers-firm

Banksy’s new works in Ukraine. Genius. #banksy #artist #art #ukraine

📣 For fellow Mastodon rookies - I understand that ‘favouriting’ things doesn’t amplify them to your followers in the way that ‘liking’ would have on Twitter

So if you want to share something, you need to ‘boost’ it

Trying to get my head round a different threshold for sharing things on here!

#TwitterMigration #MastodonRookie