rlamacraft @rlamacraft@social.cleverlibre.org

=> https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/23/what-are-my-options-if-google-shuts-down-search-in-australia

> But shutting down Google search could be highly disruptive not just to consumers. Google’s search algorithm, combined with other products like Google Maps, enable it to provide contextual answers such as a local plumber, shop opening times and directions. Google also powers the search functions on many websites, including the Guardian.

Maybe the problem isn’t with the Australian law (of which I have no opinion) that would ”force” Google to close their search there, but rather the fact that so much of modern infrastructure is dependent on a single company

> They might have to ensure their services are compliant with a number of different search engines, and advertise across them.

Oh no! How terrible it would be to operate in a market that isn’t dominated by a monopoly

Local police station closed on a Thursday afternoon #scotland

The New York Times describing a 404 error as ““Not Found” in plain font” (ignoring the use of “font” when they meant “typeface”) is just hilarious, and very telling of how much the Web has changed, that it’s users don’t recognise the terminology that was once so common because of the frequency of its occurrence. Also, for all ye bounty hunters, the White Houses uses Wordpress, just sayin’

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/19/technology/biden-white-house-twitter-account.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

Is it a dumb idea to write production JavaScript code that uses Church-encoded union types? I’m guessing yes…

One thing I have really come to learn in the past few months is the absolute privilege it is to work in an industry where I am in demand. There are just so many things that don’t affect me or I don’t have to worry about because of how valuable my skill set is. Instead of just teaching kids to do find a career that makes them happy, we should also teach them how to find a career that makes their life easy.

@lucifargundam Ooh, 3D printing is a good shout

There should be a range of kitchen appliances — toasters, microwaves, fridges, etc — where the opaque plastic casing is replaced with transparent, just for the pure aesthetic wonder

TIL Scotland has no official legal tender bank notes, only legal tender coins. The retail banks that issue the promissory cash notes must have their value in backed assets.

=> https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-legal-tender
=> https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/scottish-and-northern-ireland-banknotes

Say what you will about Apple, but this 6-year-old laptop is still going strong

@trinsec that’s what I suspect it mostly is, that and the fact that messaging platforms have evolved from SMS. There’s something personal about handwritten notes, or stylish about different forms

@swiley yeah I didn’t realise even Braille is widely supported until yesterday where someone had made some art using it on Gemini

It’s a real shame that the standard communication platforms provide so little typographic customisation. If I want to send someone a message in a thick gothic form, why shouldn’t I be able to?

@trinsec Oi! 🙄😒 But, that’s a fair point about the racist fallout for Asian people living in the West — I’m not advocating for calling it the “China virus” I’m just saying we should be consistent. Seems like the “British variant” is falling for the same problem as “Spanish flu”: the NHS is testing and reporting on variants whereas other places aren’t… *grumble grumble grumble*

Why is it socially acceptable to say “British variant” but not “Chinese coronavirus”? Just saying, seems like a bit of a double standard

@stevelord Looking forward to it — was only thinking of playing with Plan 9 in a VM earlier today what with everyone talking about it lately; a nice intro would be awesome!

Great blog post about the fragility of open source: https://blog.scottlogic.com/2020/12/22/software-crisis.html. Personally, I think we really need to focus on making software simpler rather than just piling on so much complexity that hundreds of dependencies are even needed in the first place

JIRA is a such an absolutely awful tool. Whose brilliant idea was it to use different editors when creating an issue vs editing one‽‽ Different vertical spacing, different em-dash conversion… Nothing short of infuriating!

Just casually blanching my potatoes in a solution of sodium chloride, mono-sodium glutamate, and sodium bicarbonate — yay, science!