h2g2bob @h2g2bob@mastodon.dbatley.com

Turns out rhinos like eating pumpkins. Especially giant pumpkins. Especially when they get to gore and toss them first.

https://petapixel.com/2024/10/17/rhinos-get-in-the-halloween-spirit-by-adorably-goring-pumpkins/

https://4eyed.square.site

TIL that platinum hexaflouride is such a powerful oxidant that it oxidizes oxygen. It is a bit worse than chlorine triflouride which can merely make sand and asbestos burn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-g5-LJ5KZM

The letter:

💂 Announces Veteran Cards will be eligible voter ID.

🏫 Confirms commitment to votes at 16.

📜 Commits to review current electoral law with an eye to reducing 'pain-points'.

The water layer has been updated and now shows reservoirs, water treatment and sewage plants, and pumping stations.

https://openinframap.org/#8.09/51.355/0.088/L,W

More improvements still to come from the recent re-import.

#OpenStreetMap

The GOV.UK “exit this page" button (for pages that might be visited by e.g. domestic abuse victims seeking support) doesn't take you to the Google homepage but instead BBC Weather, and the reason why is interesting and well-thought-out: https://beeps.website/blog/2024-10-09-why-govuk-exit-this-page-doesnt-use-escape/#bonus%3A-why-does-it-redirect-the-user-to-bbc-weather%3F

Updates from @brewsterkahle about the DDOS attacks on Internet Archive:

Today in TLD shenanigans: dot io is being killed off.

Wishing a very pleasant rebranding to all techbros who squatted their web site in an unrelated nation because it made a good pun. On October 3, the British government announced that it was giving...
https://jwz.org/b/ykab

The Technical Difficulties are back with the first of four new episodes of Reverse Trivia

https://youtu.be/-1B-1EYsLk4?si=MWkuDrlsaIGbLSxv

New podcast episode! Mathematical Objects: Low bridge sign with Adam Townsend https://aperiodical.com/2024/09/mathematical-objects-low-bridge-sign-with-adam-townsend/

https://16n-faderbank.github.io/16nx.html

for my 42nd birthday I released the new, overhauled version of the 16-fader musical controller I design. No more Teensy; on-board RP2040. Everything open source, as ever. Finally glad to have this out.

(Also I value every second of effort I put into the 90s Akaicore logo)

This week we published our report into e-Visas, revealing flaws in its rollout and implementation.

By the end of 2024, up to 4 million migrants will be unable to prove their right to be in the UK offline.

They'll find themselves at the mercy of real-time checks. A system that'll decide a person's status by guessing which records match across multiple databases.

The errors that'll come pave the way for a digital Windrush scandal.

#stopEvisas #migrants #ukpolitics

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/publications/e-visas-hostile-and-broken/