h2g2bob @h2g2bob@mastodon.dbatley.com

Today is the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. I only learned *this year* that the Great Bengali Famine of 1770 was a precipitating factor in the protest, and so I collaborated with my historian colleague, Dr. Robert Martello, to share the globe-spanning story of colonialism and corporate power that we think should be much more widely known.

https://tinyletter.com/metafoundry/letters/metafoundry-80-tea-and-famine

This is a 100% serious request: Does anyone have access to a ground-penetrating radar we could borrow?

We’ve just published a detailed analysis of how libel firm Carter-Ruck acted for OneCoin, a massive cryptocurrency fraud. The evidence is reasonably clear that Carter-Ruck were reckless in choosing to act for OneCoin and how they acted. They missed obvious signs of fraud. That had serious consequences.

https://www.taxpolicy.org.uk/2023/12/18/carter-ruck/

“[…] I don't think honestly I could do it, in my own words, without this machine; I'm hooked on it, now.”

the Rhetorizer, as envisioned by Philip K. Dick in 1964

Today’s poem consists of popular searches on Google to do with Christmas. It’s called ‘Christmas in the Age of Google’.

A deep dive into the GOV.UK cookie banner (more interesting than it sounds!)
https://nooshu.com/blog/2023/12/12/govuk-cookie-banner-browser-privacy-and-security/

By @TheRealNooshu

#webdev

Sitting down or getting up from my Ikea chair seems to generate enough EMI to de-sync the HDMI monitor on the other end of the room.

Evidently, this is somewhat common: https://mastodon.social/@haeckerfelix/110272427676278609

What was Carl Sagan like as a child? Pretty much exactly how you’d expect. https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2023/12/carl-sagan/

Just found this...

Does anyone remember these ? :)

I'd be interested in a drive if anyone can spare one. (I realise they are incredibly rare)

#RetroComputing #floppy #computers

Man Announces He Will Quit Drinking by 2050.

A Sydney man has set an ambitious target to phase out his alcohol consumption within the next 29 years, as part of an impressive plan to improve his health.

The program will see Greg Taylor, 73, continue to drink as normal for the foreseeable future, before reducing consumption in 2049 when he turns 101. He has assured friends it will not affect his drinking plans in the short or medium term.

Taylor said it was important not to rush the switch to non-alcoholic beverages. “It’s not realistic to transition to zero alcohol overnight. This requires a steady, phased approach where nothing changes for at least two decades,” he said, adding that he may need to make additional investments in beer consumption in the short term, to make sure no night out is worse off.

https://theshovel.com.au/2021/10/26/man-announces-he-will-quit-drinking-by-2050/

#GlobalWarming #Oil #BigOil #FossilFuel #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #Drinking #Problem

From my favorite charity: Early findings from the world’s largest Universal Basic Income study

Basically, receiving one big sum is way more efficient to escape poverty than a monthly payment -- people can invest at once in equipment that will give them both immediate and long term returns, rather than just covering their immediate needs.
+ as expected, people know what is good for them and came up with a way to transform many tiny sums into a big one for investing.

https://www.givedirectly.org/2023-ubi-results/?utm_campaign=20231207%20UBI%20study&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=285530804&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--1p1LvCwsdGblMtQD_JYzbB17IOKiRwzMew2kSbcaICRICWZtcYvPfjO5uYvexK6TZq_xvh_2kju2LdNm-MWIO64T6Eg&utm_content=285530804&utm_source=hs_email

Firefox has a new hidden setting auto-rejecting cookie banners (not just hiding them eg Brave). Piloting in 🇩🇪 in Private Browsing but anyone can enable:
Go to the URL about:config
Set cookiebanners.ui.desktop.enabled ->True
Go to Settings->Privacy, turn on Cookie Banner Blocker.

Similar to our population calculator, we also make the Parkulator https://open-innovations.github.io/parkulator/ It is a tool which finds all the car parks (parking lots) within an area (from OpenStreetMap) then estimates alternative things you could do with that land such as build homes, build parks, or generate solar power.

Making a brew using the awesome tea bot that @biglesp gave me. Another friend said it looks like he is being waterboarded. He doesn't seem bothered 😁 #teatime

#introduction I've been running my Beholder website since 1995, with projects such as #Planetarium

https://www.beholder.uk/planetarium

Planetarium is an online story-puzzle in 12 weekly instalments, starting from the moment you log in. Registration is free and anonymous. You don't need to solve, or even attempt to solve, any of the puzzles to progress (although most people do, entering solutions as they go along).

Planetarium has been running since 9/9/99.

#puzzle #puzzles #OnlineStorytelling