Paul Sutton @zleap@social.cleverlibre.org

[2/5] … US and UK bombed Yemen, reportedly attacking Houthi "military facilities" (a vague term). If these attacks make Houthi attacks on shipping hard or impossible, that could stop them. Otherwise, I expect this retaliation to have little effect on the Houthis' actions. Others agree. The Houthis knew the ways the US can attack them, and have surely figured in advance what their anti-shipping war will cost them. They say that their attacks will "punish" the US for counterattacking them, but …

When I was a teenager, I found a tool that let me customise the font used by the MS-DOS text mode. I'd just discovered the demoscene, so I worked long and hard to make the coolest font I could imagine, a font so cool I could only call it "COOLFONT".

I later converted it to a Windows font, and this week I found a tool that could convert it to a TrueType font that renders crisply and pixel-perfect, just like I remember. So for some nostalgia and self-deprecation, I've uploaded all the versions (DOS, Windows, and TTF) for people to play with:

https://gitlab.com/Screwtapello/coolfonts

#retrocomputing #typography #nostalgia

A disappointing response from the UK Government to the recent House of Lords Science and Technology Committee report on "the effects of artificial light and noise on human health".

PDF: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/42401/documents/210714/default/

#LightPollution #NoisePollution #DarkSkies #UnitedKingdom

Parents’ rights groups mobilize as California advances a ban on youth tackle football - Raw Story

https://www.rawstory.com/california-youth/

@RickiTarr I'm a product of public schools. 50 years ago, the schools still whitewashed how indigenous peoples were portrayed, if at all. This was back when we were being taught that Christopher Columbus "discovered" America. The Trail of Tears was barely taught, until you went to college. I hope things are better today in our schools, at least our public schools. They were pretty awful then.

If anybody is wondering why news on Gaza has stopped, they haven’t had internet for 3 days and counting.

"Go to an old cemetery. See all the baby graves from before the 1950s & 60s? After that, hardly any. That's when people started vaccinating their children against deadly childhood diseases. If you're unsure what to do to protect your kids, the answer is literally written in stone."

[from Michael Okuda on the birdsite]

Canadians Express Concern Over Future of U.S. Democracy and Election Integrity https://newsfactsnetwork.com/news/canadians-express-concern-over-future-of-u-s-democracy-and-election-integrity/

Today I am bummed by the skills and knowledge that as a society wendon't think are worth paying for.

The art we won't buy. The books we won't pay for. But also the teaching and curation and public dissemination of knowledge.

The careers we massively undervalue that as so much more important than our ability to automate things that become LESS valuable and LESS interesting when they're not made by humans.

What a horrible world, with so many people who could make it better if we PAID them.

"The modest school district here has become the first in the state to entirely replace its diesel school bus fleet with no-emissions electric buses. Martinsville Independent School District applied for and received a $1.6 million grant last year from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency." #Texas #EV #ClimateChange https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/clean-fleets/a-small-texas-town-is-home-to-the-states-first-all-ev-school-bus-fleet

A River’s Microbiome May Protect Wild Salmon Against Malnutrition via Oregon State University, published by Applied and Environmental #Microbiology

by @GrrlScientist

#ecology #microbiome #microbiology #salmon #malnutrition #SciComm🧪 https://forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2024/01/15/a-rivers-microbiome-may-protect-wild-salmon-against-malnutrition/

Jason Dallas & co show that the community of microbes inhabiting the guts of tadpoles contributes to their ability to withstand rising temperature & suggests that microbiome transplants could offer hope to species at risk as global temperatures rise

#gutmicrobiome #climatechange #amphibians #tadpoles
#zoology #biology #comparativephysiology

https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/227/1/jeb247159/341170

Read the full research at https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/227/1/jeb246735/341168

The kids were guessing the ingredients of the stroganoff sauce.

Thinking about salt, I gave them a hint: "It's very small, you can't see it, but it's present in almost all food."

Said the 7yo: "Microplastics!"

Part of why tech workers at huge orgs like this need a union:

Being compelled to relocate to a forced birthing state is violent as hell

So much more to collective power than just getting paid

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/14/24037904/apple-san-diego-siri-ai-team-relocating

If you are a citizen of any EU Member State, I implore you to consider signing the Tax-the-Rich citizen's initiative:
https://www.tax-the-rich.eu/

The idea is to tax the super rich and then use the money for climate justice.

This is an official EU citizen's initiative, meaning that if it reaches certain thresholds, it *will have to be* considered by the EU institutions. This is a really powerful tool, if actually used.

So we should use it.

#TaxTheRich #EU

10 MODE 7
20 PRINT "Hello world"
30 REM Just checking this works
#bbcmicrobot

Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS cartridges use NAND flash for storage , not mask ROMs. Like all Flash memory, they "leak" charge over time and eventually lose data.

The Switch and 3DS card reader tells game cards to "refresh" themselves periodically. https://gbatemp.net/threads/nintendo-switch-3ds-cartridge-lifespan.591607/

But, some users are reporting cartridges already dying, especially ones they haven't used for years. I wonder which of mine already don't work.

Just a reminder that you don't own any data you can't back up. Buying physical cartridges and game cards isn't enough if they're using technology that inevitably deteriorates over time.