h2g2bob @h2g2bob@mastodon.dbatley.com

”The march to make things more efficient makes the world a worse place. The idea that we would efficiently measure how effective advertising was through clicks & eyeballs erased all the extra money that made all the journalism and pop culture that you cared about in the 20th century. It made it all possible. The inefficiency of the advertising system made everything good in this world. The idea that you’re trying to get things to be as efficient as possible is a terrible, world-destroying idea."

Your eyes are not deceiving you! I have written a blog post for the first time in many years! I'm live blogging getting to grips with #thepihut Baguette S3, a breadboard friendly ESP32 S3 via #circuitpython Join me during September 13 (today) as I hack around. https://bigl.es/im-tinkering-with-an-esp32/

UK government report based on internal civil service trial finds Copilot doesn’t increase productivity, and indeed makes Excel take longer and with more errors, and requires Powerpoint users to have ‘corrective action’ applied to their outputs. https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/04/m365_copilot_uk_government/

🔄 NEW THING 🔄
We set out to make the daftest browser game ever; did we succeed?
The final upgrade is where the FULL HORROR becomes apparent
https://vole.wtf/reload-clicker/

New ELF specification for public review

https://lwn.net/Articles/1036569/ #LWN

Some thoughtful stuff about passkeys and the identity system, includes a few angles I hadn’t thought of: https://lucumr.pocoo.org/2025/9/2/passkeys/

#identity

Imagining all the code repositories in the world, and all the people pushing code to them and all the pull requests and build pipelines, millions at once flowing in a vast network of unfathomable richness.

@divbyzero But I like this...

https://www.revk.uk/2025/09/qr-abuse.html

I’ve spent the better part of two decades dealing with people trying to dox and harass the volunteers who make Wikipedia the incredible resource it is today.

I liked it better when they weren’t in Congress.

https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/082725-letter-to-Wikimedia.pdf

#Wikipedia #USpol

Reading this excellent HoC Library briefing on the proposed UK voting age reduction. Fascinating section on other nations: In Ecuador, voting is obligatory for 18- to 65-year-olds, and optional for people aged 16, 17, and 65+.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01747/

@politicalscience

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10 months ago, a company across the world put my neighbor's access to medical care at risk, giving us 2 weeks notice that software behind our 40 electric car chargers would be shut down.

This is the story of how my neighborhood broke free from this potential disaster.

https://natematias.com/portfolio/2025-08-22-unchaining-from-broken-software-tethers/

Well, today I spent an afternoon leafing though David Lloyd George's 1918 Christmas cards. He got a lot - there are approx 270 in here, though some are birthday cards (17 January).

Gutted that the Library shop doesn't sell any reproductions.

How much did it cost me to 3D print a PC case? What issues did I hit? Find out here https://www.tomshardware.com/3d-printing/i-3d-printed-an-entire-server-case-with-the-elegoo-centauri-carbon-this-is-what-happened-and-how-much-it-cost