h2g2bob @h2g2bob@mastodon.dbatley.com

Math trivia: the "B." in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stands for Benoit B. Mandelbrot

The voluntary nature of Internet standards means that the biggest power move may be to avoid playing the game. Let's take a look.

https://www.mnot.net/blog/2026/02/13/no

Thank you, #OnlineSafetyAct for failing to regulate #AgeVerification in any way at all. Now Discord users must hand their data to a Peter-Thiel-of-Palantir-linked system.

https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/oh-good-discords-age-verification-rollout-has-ties-to-palantir-co-founder-and-panopticon-architect-peter-thiel/

Elections bill published: votes at 16 confirmed for all UK elections, alongside a range of other changes.

- Press release: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tougher-rules-on-political-interference-to-keep-uk-elections-secure
- Policy summaries: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/representation-of-the-people-bill-policy-summaries
- The bill: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4080

#ukpolitics #elections

A lot of people still believe that Medieval Europeans rarely or never bathed, didn’t have soap, were scared of water, lived up to their necks in faeces that they had thrown into the streets from their windows, shared their bedrooms with cattle, etc. The truth is very different. https://fakehistoryhunter.net/2025/11/26/articles-links-videos-about-medieval-hygiene/

New blog post!
Java based #Commodore #VIC20 emulator brings the classic 1980s computer to your browser. Now excuse me, I am off to play Gorf!
https://bigl.es/vic20-in-browser/

i made a version of wikipedia you can doomscroll
https://xikipedia.org/

Finally, an update on the state of #passkeys for the #linux desktop:

Credentials for Linux: Bringing Passkeys to the Linux desktop

https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/838A8N-credentials-for-linux-bringing-passkeys-to-linux/

Slides: https://fosdem.org/2026/events/attachments/838A8N-credentials-for-linux-bringing-passkeys-to-linux/slides/265188/fosdem_ravbuub.pdf

#FOSDEM2026

Portland's transit crisis is getting bad. They're even talking about cutting all transit to a major hospital.

Yes, I know we have other crises. Leaders will have to multitask here.

My moderately deep dive:

https://humantransit.org/2026/01/portland-dire-transit-service-cuts-planned.html

Today's #Muppets GIF of the Day is...

Collecting a whole deck of cards (by finding them on the street)

Picking things up in the street has been a habit since I was a child. I always had pockets full of nuts and bolts and other interesting bits and bobs I'd collected. When I started compiling sketch books for visual research around 2008/9 a lot of found objects ended up in there, with the occasional playing card. Since 2021 I have been collecting playing cards more deliberately, logging the date and location of discovery.

http://grahamdunning.com/2026/01/30/collecting-a-whole-deck-of-cards-by-finding-them-on-the-street/

📝 We've created all the May 2026 elections in our system. 4,357 English councillors are scheduled for election, across 107 councils. This is in addition to six local authority mayors and the Scottish and Welsh parliaments.

👀 Find out if you have an election at https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/

🔼 The final seats total will rise slightly when by-elections are taken into account.

🔽 29 councils have had their elections postponed. 656 councillors were due to be elected in these councils.

🆕 blog! “Are there any open APIs left?”

One of the dreams of Web 2.0 was that website would speak unto website. An "Application Programming Interface" (API) would give programmatic access to structured data, allowing services to seamlessly integrate content from each other. Users would be able to quickly grab data from multiple sources and use them for their own purposes. No registration or …

👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/01/are-there-any-open-apis-left/
⸻
#api #coding

RE: https://social.vivaldi.net/@LonM/115966748145817371

UK PEOPLE: this is REALLY IMPORTANT. If the government bans under-16s from using VPNs, then logically they must intend to REQUIRE AGE VERIFICATION FOR ALL VPN USE. Which will affect adults too!

*Your* privacy and right to anonymous web browsing is at risk!

Great news today the French government have launched their own Visio video conferencing tool #digitalsovereignty

But the PR stories, while explaining it is French built, don't mention it is Open Source and based on LiveKit - so any government can reuse what they have done.

https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/01/27/france-to-ditch-us-platforms-microsoft-teams-zoom-for-sovereign-platform-amid-security-con

https://github.com/suitenumerique/meet

Are you in the UK? Do you have an hour to spare to watch the birds in your garden (or other greenspace) today, on Saturday, or on Sunday? 🐦‍⬛

Then you should totally do the Big Garden Birdwatch: https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/big-garden-birdwatch

It's #CitizenScience and it's good for the soul!

(Only open to participation January 23-25 2026, in case you see this later.)

#BigGardenBirdwatch #birdwatching #birds

I went on a hunt for the new Piccadilly Line tube trains yesterday.

I'd seen that they were testing them around Acton Town on Saturday, so headed over there to see if I could see one, and I struck the jackpot! There was one waiting in a siding, then another came round the corner into the platform!

Tfl were testing the new Piccadilly line trains over the weekend, and luckily I managed to find some in the wild and get a few shots.

Here's the train arriving at Hammersmith London Underground station, I love how the lights look in the darkness.