h2g2bob @h2g2bob@mastodon.dbatley.com

Let’s ban the advertising of SUVs as an easy first step then let’s start working on regulating them out of existence. The emissions and child deaths are unacceptable and these aren’t the handy farm vehicles people pretend.

Step 1) sign this petition.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/640775

DELIGHTED to see the BMJ @bmj_latest saying today that they will require papers to share their code.
https://www.bmj.com/content/382/bmj.p1609

HUGE milestone for reproducibility, quality, and efficiency.

Here's our BMJ editorial on why code sharing matters, from 2019:

https://www.bmj.com/content/367/bmj.l6365?ijkey=8ee17da43af8132af29e52b299d9d576483dc532&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha

Dug out this late-90s-vintage Brother GeoBook from my work archive, after reading https://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2023/06/o-brother-geobook-lets-get-thou-back-on.html?lr=1

We (at STNC) wrote the IP stack and web browser libraries (maybe email too?).

There's only the tiniest bit, if any, of my code on this - I did a few weeks on it when I started at STNC but then switched to the Psion Series 5 web browser.

#Brother #GeoBook #STNC #retrocomputing

The tories want to close almost every railway ticket office in England.

Here’s @JenOnTheMove and friends laying down why it will absolutely wreck our railways, and why its about much more than just tickets. 😡

https://youtu.be/uZwcZ9EjZpQ

Our IdenTrust cross-sign is set to expire on September 30 of next year. This will affect any Android devices still running old versions of the OS (currently 7.5% of all). Learn more in our blog post: https://letsencrypt.org/2023/07/10/cross-sign-expiration.html

- Will you print these three pages for me?
> I cannot. For there has been An Error.
- Oh no, what was it?
> An Error.
- Can you accept a new print order for the three pages?
> Of course! I will get to that after the job that's already pending.
- Please delete that first job?
> It is important that you want to delete it, but it is more important that it has An Error, so no.
- What if I shut my computer all the way off and come back tomorrow?
> Oh! In that case you may have all six pages.

I've made a thing that helps you to make a printable template for a hexaflexagon, with your choice of pictures on each of the three faces: https://somethingorotherwhatever.com/hexaflexagon/

You can take a photo with your camera, or upload a file.

#hexaflexagon #math #RecreationalMath

I've shared this before but it's been a while and probably was on twitter, so it's worth a re-share

A lot of people don't know that `diff` (and `git diff`) have a several algorithms to choose from

They have various tradeoffs, mostly around performance vs readability & semantic accuracy vs overall diff size

For manual/visual diffing, I generally prefer 'histogram’, as it tends to be a closer representation of what *actually changed*

Here's a nice writeup

https://luppeng.wordpress.com/2020/10/10/when-to-use-each-of-the-git-diff-algorithms/

(1/n)

The government are closing the most of the ticket offices at uk #train stations, seemingly regardless of how busy they are.

This probably includes your local station: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/interactive-map-shows-station-ticket-30403930

This is bad for staff, who have a year before being sacked.

This is bad for customers, who are left on their own to navigate the UK's notoriously complex ticketing system.

There is a petition against this: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/636542 #railway #ukpol

Today in 'blast from the past' ... What's the Carbon Footprint of burning a cow in Minecraft?

https://boingboing.net/2011/11/29/hacking-carbon-emissions-into.html

(excellent work from @floppy back in 2011 that demonstrates the power of APIs, automatic carbon calculation and fun. Still as relevant today as it was then.)

Enjoyed this paean to Kolmogorov - https://bristoliver.substack.com/p/genius-in-turbulent-times