Nostr notes by Stuart :progress_pride:

The golden toilet on Senja was definitely my favourite and I ...

2026-10-30T23:47:41Z

The golden toilet on Senja was definitely my favourite and I camped near it. I was also impressed by one that was nearly snowed under up on the tops between Bekkarfjord and Mehamn. Norway has some lovely toilets.

The Nerve has a long article around SA allegations against the ...

2026-10-29T23:51:26Z

The Nerve has a long article around SA allegations against the head of OpenAI https://www.thenerve.news/p/sam-altman-annie-altman-sexual-abuse-allegations-openai-ceo-civil-case-deposition-family-dismissal

In high school, one of our Shakespeare texts had a black and ...

2026-10-29T21:48:06Z

In high school, one of our Shakespeare texts had a black and white photo in the front showing a young Patrick Stewart with his hand outstretched. In my memory he was doing the "Alas, poor Yorick" monologue but it may have been something else. Anyway, some previous student had drawn a speech bubble over it with the word "Engage!".

My updated wall in advance of tonight's episode. ...

2026-10-29T19:39:29Z

My updated wall in advance of tonight's episode.

Made a wire frame witches hat for the top of the local (defunct) ...

2026-10-29T10:57:20Z

Made a wire frame witches hat for the top of the local (defunct) phone box. We didn't have enough black material in the end but it still works, just about. #Halloween

There seemed to be fewer things at Leeds Light Night this year. ...

2026-10-29T01:02:12Z

There seemed to be fewer things at Leeds Light Night this year. Anyway, I enjoyed the projection mapping on the Queen's Hotel in City Square. It was based around an original song with lyrics anchored to the city. I ended up watching it through three times.

Excellent conversation with Jen Brister ...

2026-10-29T00:23:11Z

Excellent conversation with Jen Brister https://www.jenbrister.co.uk/

#Tupo - Oct 28th 2026 (Medium) ⏱️ Solved in 2:08 💯 A ...

2026-10-28T23:36:08Z

#Tupo - Oct 28th 2026 (Medium)
⏱️ Solved in 2:08
💯 A perfect game!
Play at https://playtupo.com

Been making a large witches hat to go on top of a phone box. ...

2026-10-28T23:31:47Z

Been making a large witches hat to go on top of a phone box. I've not done this before so I hope it works.

Yesterday's Loconundrum was very pleasing. Loconundrum #225 ...

2026-10-27T09:29:25Z

Yesterday's Loconundrum was very pleasing.

Loconundrum #225
⬜⬜🟨 🚂🚂🚂🚂
🟩🟩🟩

All UK electricity companies I've ever used are dodgy with ...

2026-10-26T20:08:20Z

All UK electricity companies I've ever used are dodgy with their billing. They have _always_ over-estimated my usage which they always use as an excuse to over-charge me in advance. They constantly put up my direct debits to get increasing interest-free loans from me. They almost always use the excuse that energy use can vary across a year (obvs) so they need to build up a large stockpile of credit. That excuse sounds most plausible at this time of the year but I've had it in spring too.

I'm struggling to have any motivation in life at the moment. ...

2026-10-26T14:49:40Z

I'm struggling to have any motivation in life at the moment. Everything feels like a vast effort.

When a publication (e.g. Bylines) starts with a deceptive design ...

2026-10-26T14:47:24Z

When a publication (e.g. Bylines) starts with a deceptive design pattern like this, how can trust be built in their writing? Making "Reject" almost imperceptible means I can't trust your "Accept all" is as harmless and that you genuinely think PRIVACY MATTERS. Also, you can _count_ readers without all the cookies.

Today's spam emails can't decide (between them) if ...

2026-10-26T14:24:32Z

Today's spam emails can't decide (between them) if I'm too hot or too cold. Presumably covering their geographic bets.

Putting Jeri Ryan as six of nine? ...

2026-10-26T10:40:01Z

Putting Jeri Ryan as six of nine?

Everyone else on here is too old to remember kid's TV ...

2026-10-25T18:07:30Z

Everyone else on here is too old to remember kid's TV programme Watt on Earth. As a kid it felt very off and made me uncomfortable. It was about a shape-shifting alien stranded on Earth. But the alien was effectively an adult man who turned up at a boy's house, stopped the boy from telling any adults about him, and then lived in the boy's bedroom. That setup was a dodgy thing to teach.

I use closed captions a lot and they've been getting worse. ...

2026-10-23T07:56:18Z

I use closed captions a lot and they've been getting worse. And not only for names, jargon, idioms and accents etc. Even for those voices you'd think it most tuned/trained for there are so many mistakes; in something I just watched on YouTube with a white American man speaking, a clear "the" was bafflingly shown as "Siri".

It almost feels like computers are coming to an end. Like ...

2026-10-21T15:37:43Z

It almost feels like computers are coming to an end. Like everything is going to be filled with slop and/or run by Nazis. Like every website will collapse under the weight of "AI" traffic. Like slop coding will make software worse, faster. Like the OS makers are going to stop you having any control over your device. Like every government is trying to legally restrict people from access. Like a few massive companies pushing a bubble are making the hardware unaffordable, faster.

Checking with my boyfriend to see which computer chaos news has ...

2026-10-21T15:21:35Z

Checking with my boyfriend to see which computer chaos news has broken containment of Mastodon. He hadn't heard of "4” but now has the impression that it has become 6/7 for computer folks.

I had some scything training the other day. Next year we are ...

2026-10-21T14:49:08Z

I had some scything training the other day. Next year we are going to be working in the local burial ground with scythes.

This was all very clear to me at the time. My dad had been ...

2026-10-20T16:45:51Z

This was all very clear to me at the time. My dad had been recovering from a stroke in hospital. With help from occupational & physio therapists he'd been on the start of trying to walk again. After being emergency-discharged, all that support went because the care home had nobody who could do it and no therapists were allowed in. It got to June or so before they gave some slight training to care home staff but by that point my dad had been bed bound for months. He stayed bed bound until he died

My dad was one of those who got discharged from hospital to a ...

2026-10-20T16:38:52Z

My dad was one of those who got discharged from hospital to a random care home. From what I could see/infer as a relative, I didn't believe Matt Hancock at the time.

I'm contemplating running an intro to #OpenStreetMap event in ...

2026-10-20T13:38:09Z

I'm contemplating running an intro to #OpenStreetMap event in my local area. It'd be for absolute beginners. Has anyone done something like that and can give advice/tips?

As a side project, I make a site for my local town #Horsforth ...

2026-10-20T13:31:14Z

As a side project, I make a site for my local town #Horsforth https://horsforth.town/ The homepage was a little sparse so I've made it a little bit nicer.

Turns out I'm on page 3 of a very local newspaper. To British ...

2026-10-20T13:23:15Z

Turns out I'm on page 3 of a very local newspaper. To British ears that'll sound dodgy.

Pretty sure I've seen enough Shakespeare, Greek myths, genie ...

2026-10-19T14:10:29Z

Pretty sure I've seen enough Shakespeare, Greek myths, genie stories etc to spot the tricksy wording here. That's one share split between all the children. Or he has found a person called "Every Child" who is getting one share. Anyway, tax the super rich.

For #Leeds and #WestYorkshire (and surrounding) folks, Gareth ...

2026-10-18T22:37:34Z

For #Leeds and #WestYorkshire (and surrounding) folks, Gareth Dennis has an episode of Rail Natter where he details a plan for an actual Metro system which is interesting https://youtube.com/watch?v=Qh0vG5967A8

A lady in her 80s, without a smart phone or computer, has been ...

2026-10-17T19:29:23Z

A lady in her 80s, without a smart phone or computer, has been given a leaflet from her GP's surgery telling her she will only be able to get an appointment via an app or their website. For her "convenience". They exclude her whilst framing it all in language pretending they are being "fairer" and more inclusive.

The oddest role I had in a school play was being Manuel in my ...

2026-10-17T16:06:28Z

The oddest role I had in a school play was being Manuel in my French teacher's production of Fawlty Towers. The whole thing was in French but I was obviously supposed to be Spanish. Trying to work out which language and accent I was supposed to be using was confusing.

I was finally getting to the point that I might feel I could ...

2026-10-16T14:58:13Z

I was finally getting to the point that I might feel I could recommend Linux as an option to normal people. Then it all sloppified. :( I feel barely capable of even trying things like NetBSD myself, never mind suggesting it to others.

This is a moan. With a big sigh. I won't like advice from randomers.

Leeds often focuses on radial routes in and out of the city ...

2026-10-16T07:59:30Z

Leeds often focuses on radial routes in and out of the city centre but that can make it hard to get _around_ the city without a car. For instance, the Ring Road bus service is very limited. To me, we need to fill in this stretch of the Ring Road with bike paths. That would then make it possible to cycle from Bradford and north west Leeds to Roundhay Park (and beyond) more or less car free. Most of this stretch has wide verges so it'd be very doable.

There could be a cycle path down the wide verge on the Ring Road ...

2026-10-15T22:37:20Z

There could be a cycle path down the wide verge on the Ring Road as well as a footpath. Instead, you have to brave cycling across Meanwood valley on a 50mph dual carriageway and just before you reach some traffic lights you are given this rough bit of bikepath for a few metres.

Blog post: A spanner in the LLMs ...

2026-10-15T15:49:52Z

Blog post: A spanner in the LLMs https://strudel.org.uk/blog/stuart/000047 - in which I write about creating 2,000 fake blog posts that nobody should read.

Here's the distribution of installed heat pumps by ...

2026-10-15T14:11:10Z

Here's the distribution of installed heat pumps by constituency (this isn't a geographical map; it is a cartogram).

The UK Gov publish "Official statistics in development" ...

2026-10-15T13:45:25Z

The UK Gov publish "Official statistics in development" about heat pump installations in the UK https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/heat-pump-deployment-statistics-june-2026 These are sourced from the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) Installation Database but only go down to region/nation level so aren't very granular. A week ago I contacted to Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) to ask if they'd consider publishing a table at Parliamentary constituency level too. Would be good for nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpqptymhkrwehly7ezu3ks260xfdefcwhm22dnqazqztzs6gw8046sq7r5t9p (nprofile…5t9p) I would have thought.

We need some serious non-Trump alternative to VISA/MasterCard. It ...

2026-10-15T09:14:07Z

We need some serious non-Trump alternative to VISA/MasterCard. It isn't in any way good that Trump's regime forces the rest of the world to do whatever it wants.

Paul Longley with a recap of week 2 ...

2026-10-15T09:01:57Z

Paul Longley with a recap of week 2 https://www.instagram.com/reel/DegQ-diSkGX/

Another junk blog post that is only for bad "AI" scraping ...

2026-10-14T12:16:41Z

Another junk blog post that is only for bad "AI" scraping bots https://strudel.org.uk/blog/no-scraping/002001.html

Perhaps Mastodon could provide a hint that quote posts are going ...

2026-10-14T10:39:07Z

Perhaps Mastodon could provide a hint that quote posts are going to sit with "post pending" for some indeterminate amount of time? Who exactly gets to see the full quote post? They are pretty useless as posts.

I've made my own simplistic script that reads in other blogs ...

2026-10-12T17:25:39Z

I've made my own simplistic script that reads in other blogs I make and joins together sentences from different posts to make junk blog posts. No "AI" involved in my very fast "text extruder". I've used it to create a special blog that shouldn't be visited by any "AI" training scraper https://strudel.org.uk/blog/no-scraping/ unless it wants to ingest lots of meaningless drivel.

I've now had at least four local people ask me if I'd ...

2026-10-12T17:07:13Z

I've now had at least four local people ask me if I'd thought of standing for the local town council. Two have been Labour councillors. One has been from the local Greens. One was a Conservative voter who wouldn't sign my petition but said he'd vote for me (?!). I think it is mostly because I've cared about things and turned up at meetings.

Some situations that feel they have things in common to me: 1. My ...

2026-10-12T10:51:12Z

Some situations that feel they have things in common to me:

1. My dad's mountaineering club were worried about the membership aging. But when us "younger members" suggested changes, to do or not do, we were over-ruled, ignored etc. What could attract younger members? they kept asking, rhetorically.

Yes folks, I know it isn't fair, but 20+ years worth of bad ...

2026-10-12T09:29:14Z

Yes folks, I know it isn't fair, but 20+ years worth of bad faith internet people came before you starting interactions with "I'm just asking questions", "I'm curious", "Genuine question" etc. So, from a receiver's perspective, there's a really low probability of being genuine. Especially from someone they don't really know. Yes, that's not fair on genuine people. The blame sits with decades of non-genuine people insisting they are genuine. We exist in the environment they made. :(

The car industry would never listen to me because they mostly ...

2026-10-11T22:18:52Z

The car industry would never listen to me because they mostly want to sell expensive SUVs to make more profit, but I'd be making loads of little EVs with replaceable and standardised batteries (as we have AA, AAA, C, D betteries etc). That'd be better for road space, parking, people with less money, EV uptake, battery replacement instead of charging etc. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c620r33plgppo

When I was a kid I had two bumper books of jokes. I've ...

2026-10-11T21:47:18Z

When I was a kid I had two bumper books of jokes. I've remembered a bunch of terrible elephant jokes ever since.

I've been saving up duplicate #AnimalCrossing artwork for a ...

2026-10-11T20:10:49Z

I've been saving up duplicate #AnimalCrossing artwork for a few months. Tonight I invited my boyfriend, sister, auntie and uncle (who all play #ACNH) to an auction. It was pretty fun and we had a couple of bidding wars (for the Proper painting and Tremendous statue) but also a couple of bargains. A few items didn't meet the reserve price (5,000 bells) so I have some genuine art left over.

Nostr event nevent1qqspm9tvz2jmt7yn2kdn40ry2lj9gyg5vs0ksr800lmv57fafnpkg7szyra26vc4fndz0kkcn4r0neaysvr7dqdz4rajeysvqsey2vke95y7v2qp22r

2026-10-11T12:19:24Z

Fascinating to hear that tarn and beck basically exist in Swedish too.

Second spam (after supposedly being removed from their mailing ...

2026-10-09T10:21:29Z

Second spam (after supposedly being removed from their mailing list) from some supposed US dev who thinks that he will solve "government" with a bunch of chatbots to speed up paperwork. As if *that* is the big problem. Of course "he" is likely some "AI" processes in a trenchcoat. So I'm adding nonsensical/unhinged content to maybe mess up any training data. It is sort of quite freeing/calming to write junk text and not really worry that much about meaning.

Glad that they've since replaced the soundtrack on the ...

2026-10-08T18:10:34Z

Glad that they've since replaced the soundtrack on the preview video for Open Printer
https://mastodon.me.uk/@slowe/117291243365541634

I see that the so-called "Taxpayers Alliance" (a company ...

2026-10-08T14:28:01Z

I see that the so-called "Taxpayers Alliance" (a company operating from Tufton Street) have created a site specifically to have a go at those needing benefits https://benefitsdata.uk/ They make some visualisations where they plot "number of claimants above MP's majority" which is possibly a tortured statistic.

"Oh don't worry about all the new and increasing energy ...

2026-10-08T13:49:32Z

"Oh don't worry about all the new and increasing energy demands of 'AI' because you also watch Netflix, drive a car, and eat. Let's pretend this new and growing usage isn't in addition to those. Ignore all the new gas/oil/coal powered generation we are making for 'AI'. Listen to us say that we _will_, at some point, pinky promise to run it on renewables. Oh and the LLMs might invent a cure for climate change so we can ignore the real solutions that we've known for decades."

I do find reader view very helpful in my browser to avoid some ...

2026-10-08T13:00:27Z

I do find reader view very helpful in my browser to avoid some paywalls. I've also got a couple of simple JS bookmarks that hide some paywall elements.

I keep finding it odd to see people referencing Robin Ince's ...

2026-10-08T12:56:18Z

I keep finding it odd to see people referencing Robin Ince's posts on Bluesky when he is (also) saying them on Mastodon. Why not just reference him saying it here?

Paul Longley is doing his comedy recaps on Instagram again ...

2026-10-08T10:29:08Z

Paul Longley is doing his comedy recaps on Instagram again https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeOPXLxyOLw/

Apparently the Armenian geocide was the initial interest for the ...

2026-10-07T09:51:43Z

Apparently the Armenian geocide was the initial interest for the lawyer who coined the term "genocide". But the Turkish goverment apparently still insist it can't be described as genocide. I wonder how many perpetrators of genocide have agreed that they are doing genocide. It doesn't seem like many. Perhaps some have acknowledged it after they've done genocide. It is notable that people will enact genocide but will really object to the term being used to describe it.

If you have access to BBC iPlayer, then watch Finding ...

2026-10-06T21:55:00Z

If you have access to BBC iPlayer, then watch Finding Britain's Slave Traders with David Olusoga for a two part documentary using data and stories from the Register of British Slave Traders https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002zkrm/finding-britains-slave-traders-with-david-olusoga

I operated the Astronomy Picture of the Day Twitter ...

2026-10-06T18:33:21Z

I operated the Astronomy Picture of the Day Twitter "mirror" account from 2007 until not long after Musk took over. I let my automated tool keep updating for a bit but then Musk made changes to the API and wanted some huge amount of money for me to post the daily APoD. I was a volunteer operating this "mirror". I resigned and strongly advised the APOD editors that the mirror shouldn't continue because of Musk turning Twitter into a Nazi bar. They decided to continue it. I was disappointed :(

Had an impulse buy of the Map Men book in Waterstones. In the ...

2026-10-06T15:38:40Z

Had an impulse buy of the Map Men book in Waterstones. In the first chapter they say the NZ goverment 404 page is a map which is missing NZ/Aotearoa but, sadly, it looks as though the 404 page has since been changed.

Nostr event nevent1qqswuhzu5g7e62rvy4ka6u8egyqftq8qm088hncqr0zvt6sxxs66m3czyra26vc4fndz0kkcn4r0neaysvr7dqdz4rajeysvqsey2vke95y7vpvyscr

2026-10-06T13:24:58Z

Received spam from a .christmas domain. Not seen that before.

A: You can't complain about Y affecting the climate when you ...

2026-10-05T10:39:18Z

A: You can't complain about Y affecting the climate when you drive a car.

Me: I don't own a car.

A: Well it is ok for those who are priviledged and can afford to be without a car. Some of us *need* a car.

Me: Oh, sure, I would benefit in lots of ways (as you do) if I had a car. Life would be made much easier. As it stands I just can't do a bunch of stuff and am excluded from things. I get deprioritised on foot/bike/bus. It is funny how your advantage has been reframed as me having privilege.

"But it has some interesting intellectual uses" cannot ...

2026-10-05T09:33:56Z

"But it has some interesting intellectual uses" cannot get rid of the massive pile of existent (not hypothetically extreme) harms and the massive entrenchment of power it is being used for, for me.

It certainly is free from Easter at this time of year. ...

2026-10-04T13:32:31Z

It certainly is free from Easter at this time of year.

I'm trying to work out what are the motivations of a man to ...

2026-10-04T12:02:38Z

I'm trying to work out what are the motivations of a man to buy a semi-detached, knock it down entirely and then sell what was left (at a loss?). It just seems so over-the-top and expensive. Did he lose the plot? Was he vindictive against the lady next door? Did he need to destroy all evidence of something? Was it to allow a subsequent owner to rebuild from scratch?

Has anyone else played this game? ...

2026-10-03T13:37:31Z

Has anyone else played this game?

It seems that having a Traitors group chat has encouraged ...

2026-10-03T13:04:21Z

It seems that having a Traitors group chat has encouraged multiple people I know to get Signal.

I feel I agree with lots of the perception mechanism in this. ...

2026-10-03T12:09:41Z

I feel I agree with lots of the perception mechanism in this. And, also, I have experienced a more clock-like behaviour from a visualisation technique I read in a book as a teenager for waking up at a set time. I don't use it a lot but, over the decades, it has often woken me up within seconds of when I've visualised before going to sleep. So it seems to function when I'm not conscious. But it definitely doesn't work if the period of sleep is less than about five hours.

Saw a "revenue enforcement officer" wearing a Halos body ...

2026-10-03T10:28:07Z

Saw a "revenue enforcement officer" wearing a Halos body cam. Out of interest I found myself looking up the Halos privacy policy https://halosbodycams.com/privacy-policy I find it confusing. It is as if privacy policies for the public, people wearing a body cam, and Halos internal staff have all been squished into one policy. Or are they collecting "tax and pension information" of the revenue enforcement officer? Is it appropriate for their public-facing privacy policy to be covering their internal staff?

I've been enjoying listening to Time Travelling Queers and ...

2026-10-02T16:02:21Z

I've been enjoying listening to Time Travelling Queers and hearing about some figures from history I didn't know about https://timetravellingqueers.com/ Plus a couple of the episodes feature local (to Leeds) historian Kit Heyam.

Several - but not all - trains are cancelled through my local ...

2026-10-02T13:34:40Z

Several - but not all - trains are cancelled through my local station for various reasons including "points failure". But if the points failure reason is true wouldn't that mean every train should be cancelled given that they all go up and down the same line? As usual I find myself trying to work out what has actually happened, and where, so I can predict if the later trains will be able to exist even though they aren't currently officially cancelled.

The scammer sending me an "automated systems" scam was ...

2026-10-02T09:52:09Z

The scammer sending me an "automated systems" scam was from a vivaldi domain. I've reported them as "spam".

A good example of an older white man being very open about being ...

2026-10-02T09:49:04Z

A good example of an older white man being very open about being a baddy and then other people putting in the work to excuse it and say he can't be really.

When I was a kid I used to like writing out my full postal ...

2026-10-02T09:18:13Z

When I was a kid I used to like writing out my full postal address which went...

<house + street>,
Leeds,
West Yorkshire,
United Kingdom,
Europe,
Earth,
The Solar System,
Outer Spiral Arm,
Milky Way,
Local Group of Galaxies,
Virgo Supercluster,
The Universe

Not sure if I was just being ready to post something from elsewhere in the multiverse or just keeping my perspective broad about where I was from.

Listening to Suella Braverman tonight makes me sad. The same way ...

2026-10-01T23:14:52Z

Listening to Suella Braverman tonight makes me sad. The same way I get sad when I hear gay men defending/promoting homophobia. Or cis women working to defend the patriarchy. Or immigrants acting against future immigrants. The "pick me" people who sell out the rest of their marginalised group in the hope that they'll be exempt from targetting. Working for the oppression of themselves.

We stayed at a Travelodge a few months ago. We were given a key ...

2026-10-01T21:35:00Z

We stayed at a Travelodge a few months ago. We were given a key card to a room that already had someone's things in it. We immediately went back to reception and asked for a new room. Just as we got to the new room I saw a man returning to the room we'd just been in. I let him know that reception had given us a key to his room by mistake. I'm not sure if that was helpful but I thought he should know.

I don't usually watch BBC News. So far they've presented ...

2026-10-01T21:20:49Z

I don't usually watch BBC News. So far they've presented statements by Trump, Netanyahu, and Putin about various news stories. Now a graph with a supressed zero.

I've made a traitors wall for a group chat. I'll share it ...

2026-10-01T21:02:38Z

I've made a traitors wall for a group chat. I'll share it here in caae anyone wants it.

Apparently 5 men in their 40s to 70s have been arrested for an ...

2026-10-01T12:54:58Z

Apparently 5 men in their 40s to 70s have been arrested for an assault near me. A man is in critical condition. Very little news about it.

I don't know if it works but I add LLM-aimed "training ...

2026-09-30T23:29:45Z

I don't know if it works but I add LLM-aimed "training data" into some of my blog posts as a present for them plundering the web.

"You can't put the slop back in the outflow pipe. You ...

2026-09-30T20:33:35Z

"You can't put the slop back in the outflow pipe. You just have to accept it. Oh and don't question why we are turning up the rate of discharge, installing even more discharge pipes, and getting the discharge pipes classed as essential national infrastructure to make the state protect them from anyone backwards enough to object to slop discharge."

Blog post: The Skelton Grange Data Centre ...

2026-09-30T17:54:02Z

Blog post: The Skelton Grange Data Centre https://strudel.org.uk/blog/stuart/000047

Disappointed that a nearby MP has said he cares about the ...

2026-09-30T12:05:04Z

Disappointed that a nearby MP has said he cares about the environment but that we need a hyperscale data centre because of "economic activity and innovation", "the development of quantum computing", "public service delivery" and "overall modern-day communications". Then he goes on to say that we need to have hyperscale data centres in the UK otherwise they'd all be in China and powered by coal. https://alexsobelmp.substack.com/p/the-skelton-grange-data-centre-questions

I made https://open-innovations.org/projects/placename-heatmap/ a ...

2026-09-30T10:52:26Z

I made https://open-innovations.org/projects/placename-heatmap/ a few years ago and it has helped me know that some bits of placename are more likely to be concentrated in specific parts of the UK. For instance, here are places ending in "ham". Knowing these things has helped a bit with the britm.app challenge.

Blog post: Lemmings in SVG ...

2026-09-30T03:29:46Z

Blog post: Lemmings in SVG https://www.strudel.org.uk/blog/stuart/000046 that builds on a blog post by nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpqzu7r9pe3hxxvvq2c0v6psj6uq69ljkf9kx6ud695p6985klptqnq8u4rfv (nprofile…4rfv).

Been trying to find out the power demands for the Microsoft ...

2026-09-29T23:11:08Z

Been trying to find out the power demands for the Microsoft Skelton Grange hyperscale data centre. Looks like it ramps up over time https://publicaccess.leeds.gov.uk/online-applications/files/7B7778602F99CA3640A61904DD45B17C/pdf/25_06139_FU-HYBRID_ENERGY_STATEMENT_PART_1-6229086.pdf

I started wondering if there was a map of UK data centres. The ...

2026-09-29T20:14:03Z

I started wondering if there was a map of UK data centres. The best I've found so far is 568 on https://www.datacentermap.com/united-kingdom/ (not open) or roughly 300 on OpenDatacentreMap https://opendatacentermap.deuxfleurs.page/#map=8%2F53.2948%2F-1.3843 (uses OSM).

I've not had a job for a while. Been keeping busy but I'm ...

2026-09-29T16:48:34Z

I've not had a job for a while. Been keeping busy but I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Ahh Infantino wants to sell commercial rights for the World Cup ...

2026-09-29T16:14:26Z

Ahh Infantino wants to sell commercial rights for the World Cup to the brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law. I hadn't been aware of that part of the corruption but should have guessed.

The UK has a lot to do if it is going to hit the 2030 and 2035 ...

2026-09-29T13:36:10Z

The UK has a lot to do if it is going to hit the 2030 and 2035 targets for heat pump installations.

I want to vertically position several HTML elements at different ...

2026-09-29T12:58:53Z

I want to vertically position several HTML elements at different places within a container but have their container still take its width from the group of them. Struggling.

Given the other billionaires with enough aquired wealth to have ...

2026-09-29T11:49:59Z

Given the other billionaires with enough aquired wealth to have their own space programmes, it is notable that Elon Musk is too scared to go to space himself.

Bezos got to 106km
Branson got to 86km*

*The internationally agreed definition is 100km so this meets the US Air Force's easier target.

Saw someone describe people who object to "AI" and ...

2026-09-28T23:12:17Z

Saw someone describe people who object to "AI" and don't want to be forced to use or be used by any of it as "anti-AI terrorists".

It is funny to think that in 2015 I was sat in Newhaven worried ...

2026-09-28T17:19:46Z

It is funny to think that in 2015 I was sat in Newhaven worried about cycling across France for the first time (from Dieppe to Strasbourg via Paris). In the ferry terminal I met a lady in her 70s named Janet who (IIRC) was cycling to Spain by herself then cycling to the Netherlands. She gave me the confidence to keep going as well as tips. It turned out France was much nicer to cycle in than the UK.

Leeds people, Leeds Stand Up To Racism are having a march and ...

2026-09-27T21:16:20Z

Leeds people, Leeds Stand Up To Racism are having a march and rally to celebrate our diversity and stand up against the far right on Saturday 10th October from midday. Please consider joining in. We must take up the mantle that this era requires in standing against fascism.

Been to the celebrations for the 90th anniversary of Leeds ...

2026-09-27T19:41:12Z

Been to the celebrations for the 90th anniversary of Leeds running out the fascist blackshirts. They shall not pass.

Told my sister about bustimes.org and she loves it. She is amazed ...

2026-09-27T15:18:23Z

Told my sister about bustimes.org and she loves it. She is amazed such a thing exists. She asked if she could share it with other people!

12 people ahead in the queue for stitches at 21:20. Nine by ...

2026-09-27T00:55:42Z

12 people ahead in the queue for stitches at 21:20. Nine by 23:20. Still seven at 01:50. A long night.

Leeds folk, Leeds Stand Up To Racism are having an event to make ...

2026-09-26T10:46:08Z

Leeds folk, Leeds Stand Up To Racism are having an event to make the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Holbeck Moor.

I get bothered about standing charges on electricity bills. ...

2026-09-25T11:47:04Z

I get bothered about standing charges on electricity bills. Because they act in two ways that are counter to what we should be doing. Firstly they've basically doubled compared to gas since 2022. This discourages the switch from gas to electricity. Secondly, because they add a floor to how much you get charged, they discourage people from lowering electricity use. Gas put the costs of network operation onto unit prices but electricity puts it on the standing charge. These are choices.

Every single electricity company I've used has billing that ...

2026-09-25T11:21:48Z

Every single electricity company I've used has billing that deliberately makes it hard to easily compare periods of time. They must have people inventing ways to make it more confusing.

I've been dipping into this continuing thread on and off ...

2026-09-25T10:16:00Z

I've been dipping into this continuing thread on and off https://neuromatch.social/@jonny/117324790823856750 I feel I should have had some 🍿 to hand.