We've just had our garden renovated. Today we're getting our new patio set delivered. Today is windy and raining. For the first time in weeks...

There was a time I actually enjoyed the challenge of getting various tools working together... I've just been playing. Typescript 7 is out now. Eslint doesn't support it, and actually can't until at least TS7.1 in October because they removed the programmatic interface. ☹️

AI company Anthropic secretly bought millions of rare and out-of-print books to train its Claude AI model. They used a hydraulic-powered cutting machine to remove the pages for scanning before destruction.

I've been tinkering for a while with building a webapp for PbP RPG games. So many of them these days just use Discord (which is awful) or sites that feel 20 years old. And there's just been a thread on Reddit where someone else has built one and almost all the replies are how nobody needs it... ☹️

Excerpt from "Yumi and the Nightmare Painter" by Brandon Sanderson, for no particular reason at all... (Good book btw. Well recommended)

Just seen one of those quizzes "Tell Us What Games You Played On The Family Computer, And We’ll Guess Your Age". Question 1 - in which decade did your family first get a computer. And it only went back to the 90s... Guess I'm just old...

The Daily Mail are inadvertently making Andy Burnham sound even better as they've run a front page headline about how he "plans to roll back Thatcherism"...

All I'm going to say is that bad news often comes in threes. And the death of Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell are both very bad news for MAGA...

Today has been a very long month...

I'm getting dangerously close to just giving up and writing my own CIAM service. Which is a very bad idea. I know full well that it's a bad idea. And yet, every single existing service (seemingly) without fail is awful. Most of them are just broken, missing important features, or too expensive.

Maybe it's just me, but DS9 Episode 1 looks a lot more dated than most of TNG did, even though it's actually newer than most of it...

Since actual air conditioners seem to be rarer than unicorn poop, does anyone have any recommendations for air coolers that will actually work in the UK #heatwaves? I know they work by evaporation so the more humid it is the less efficient they are, so not sure if any are any good...

So, apparently both Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage are already criticising Andy Burnham, which - in my mind - means he's doing something right...

I'm very nearly at the end of my #ßtarTrek #TNG watch-through (I'm on S7 E23 right now). Do I go straight on to #DS9? Or watch something else first? Not sure which way to go...

What's the temperature again? #Heatwave (This was outside in the sun for about an hour)

There's a clip on YouTube of Farage asking "What do you want?". Someone really needs to edit that into Babylon 5 in place of Morden asking the exact same question when trying to recruit followers of the Shadows...

Okay, UKsters, the media is useless re: extreme heat, so let’s do this. I’m from Southern California, spent the last ten years living outside Seattle, which has a similar climate to Scotland, where I am now. Here’s what I know. 1. Heat exhaustion and sickness are no fucking joke. Do not tempt them.

Is anyone else having problems with exceptionally large moths this year? Or is it just us?*shudders*

It's 2026. I got a brand new 11"tablet recently. Last year I got myself a Bluetooth controller that works with Android. I've just spent the last hour or so getting Quake 3 Arena running on it. Turns out I'm not as good as I was 25 years ago!

I know you lot aren’t the ones who need to hear this, but: all a ban does is make the banned thing less safe, ever. Kids are gonna keep going online and now they are going to meet a predator who’s going to be able to threaten them with “you’ll get in trouble if you tell anyone”

Let me guess. This proposed ban on under 16s using social media is going to mean the social networks need to prove your age in order to let you use them. Which will mean they need to do that whole thing of sending your ID to the lowest bidder to prove who you are... This country sucks sometimes... ☹️

The Authors Guild are in partnership with an AI Licensing company. They're trying to funnel members to this company in the guise of 'earning more' from their books. But even if an author is paid for a 3 year licence, their books are in the meat grinder for good. There's no way to extract titles.

Anyone who openly proclaims that Russia is not an enemy of Britain is, quite clearly, an enemy of Britain themselves. And almost certainly a Russian asset as well.

Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We need leaders who can spell out what's happening clearly and with force.

Looks like our local far right council are starting down the book banning line. I'm surprised it took them this long, but they did have a lot of important work to do making sure that only the right flags were on display... 😡😡 leamington.nub.news/news/local-n...

Finch promises ‘comprehensive policy’ for libraries after ‘contested gender ideology’ concerns raised

Cllr George Finch vows to create a 'comprehensive policy' for Warwickshire libraries to ensure neutrality and safeguard children, addressing residents' concerns

leamington.nub.news

So, according to the daily mail, the BBC is accused of bias because Desert Island Discs won't have Farage on because "his presence makes staff feel unsafe". But no accusations of bias when they disproportionately give Reform more airtime than they fairly deserve given the number of MPs they have...

My starting routine on #StardewValley is pretty much always the same. I spend my starting money on parsnips and plant 40 of them. Then use the money from that to buy other crops. I often lose 1 to crows, but it's not unusual to not lose any. This game I lost 3! ☹️

💥 70,000 signatures! 💥 ...and the petition closes on June 8th. Imagine if we can get it over 100,000 before then - and open a Parliamentary debate in time for the 10th anniversary of the Brexit vote on June 23rd 2026. That'd be powerful. All hands to the pump! Sign and share, share, share! 👇

Petition: Apply to Rejoin the EU as soon as possible to increase growth in the UK

We believe Brexit's not working. The OBR judges that the UK economy is smaller and trade is weaker because of Brexit, and it will just get worse. 10 years after the Brexit vote, let's apply to rejoin ...

petition.parliament.uk

Well, here come the Christian nationalists... 😡☹️ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Reform council to sing national anthem and say Lord's Prayer at meetings

Kent County Council amends its constitution, although opposition councillors objected to the change.

bbc.co.uk

I feel like I'm missing something. Capitalism 101 is "spend less, earn more". It's simple. And yet so many businesses are currently spending billions on AI features that nobody wants, alienating their customers. I've seen people seriously looking at alternatives to Google because of this!

TechCrunch@techcrunch.com · 3mo ago

Google is transforming Search from a list of links into an AI-powered experience filled with conversational answers, autonomous agents, and interactive interfaces — a shift that could further reduce traffic to publishers across the web.

I very often wake up with a song stuck in my head and no idea how it got there. Yesterday it was Drunk Cigs by MacKenzie Carpenter. A few days ago it was Hotel California by The Eagles. Today? YMCA by The Village People. Please make it stop!