h2g2bob @h2g2bob@mastodon.dbatley.com

Holy shit, Carole Cadwalladr’s TED appearance is incredible. *Unbelievably* brave to stand up in person in front of the people enabling tyranny, call it out directly, and call THEM out by name.

“You are not gods. You are men; and you are careless.” Phenomenal.

https://youtu.be/TZOoT8AbkNE

The UK now has the world's first ETCS-enabled steam locomotive, because we're a very silly country.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/19/nobody-has-done-this-before-britains-beloved-steam-trains-trial-pioneering-technology

The CA/Browser Forum has voted to significantly reduce the lifespan of SSL/TLS certificates over the next 4 years, with a final lifespan of just 47 days starting in 2029.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ssl-tls-certificate-lifespans-reduced-to-47-days-by-2029/

Do you like saying integers aloud? We're still going with our collaborative online project to get people to say digits of the most recently discovered Mersenne prime, in the hope we can say all 41 million digits before someone discovers a new largest prime! Details at https://saytheprime.com

“When numbers have meaning it makes it a lot easier for me” vs “I over think the given information and confuse myself”: do engineering students prefer maths questions in context? https://aperiodical.com/2025/04/when-numbers-have-meaning-it-makes-it-a-lot-easier-for-me-vs-i-over-think-the-given-information-and-confuse-myself-do-engineering-students-prefer-maths-questions-in-context/

Parents! Do you worry that your child is not gaining sufficient experience for handling the problems they'll encounter in their adult lives?

Never fear - now your youngsters can have all the "fun" of dealing with online UK Government services from an early age.

Just point them to https://tf230.matteason.co.uk/ every time they lose a tooth.

#DeptOfTeeth

Newly-processed image of Small Magellanic Cloud star cluster shows that this old space telescope can still impress with its pictures https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/photography/astrophotography/jaw-dropping-photo-of-milky-way-celebrates-hubble-telescopes-35th-birthday

Been a while since I printed a zine...

Coming soon to a sticky bar surface near you.
https://jwz.org/b/ykl0

Microsoft AI employee has interrupted Microsoft’s big 50th anniversary event to accuse Microsoft of using AI for war crimes by arming Israel. Powerful email included too.

https://www.theverge.com/news/643670/microsoft-employee-protest-50th-annivesary-ai

Ah, I was just feeling like I didn't have enough risk assessments in my life

https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2025/04/03/martyns-law-factsheet/

Happy SoPN day! Today at 4pm is the deadline for candidates to apply to stand in the English local elections on 1 May. Councils will begin publishing candidate lists this evening and throughout tomorrow.

We'll be collecting these lists and adding them to our candidate database - you can follow along or join in here: https://candidates.democracyclub.org.uk/

Matt Gray is Trying: Search and Rescue

I can’t believe the UK’s 5th emergency service is volunteer-only, and donation-funded!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1-xXD1W0dQ

Every year I take a photo of my gooseberry flowers, because every year I'm amazed by them. #florespondence

🆕 blog! “Gadget Review: Windfall Energy Saving Plug (Beta)”
★★★★☆

The good folks at Windfall Energy have sent me one of their interesting new plugs to beta test.

OK, an Internet connected smart plug. What's so interesting about that?

Our Windfall Plug turns on at the optimal times in the middle of the night to charge and power your…

👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/03/gadget-review-windfall-energy-saving-plug-beta/
⸻
#electricity #gadget #internetofthings #review

Currently enjoying: graphs of solar panel output from yesterday with a pronounced dip around the time of the eclipse

“The sky was the color of television tuned to a dead channel”

80s meaning: grey
90s meaning: blue
Today: full of ads from the smart tv vendor