Phil Thane ✅

Hi #pedants I'm seeing 'normalcy' online where I would have used 'normality'. Is this because the writer is American or trained in US English or just because I'm old? Is normalcy the new normality now?
#pedantry #English

#Linux #Nerds please explain this. I try to run a command and get [app name] Command not found. So I do apt install [app] and get [app] is already latest version. So I try [app] -h and instead of help I get app not found. It's happened twice recently with different apps.

"What to do if There's a Witch at Your Door" A black and white old lithograph style image of a witch knocking at someone's door. "Step One: Invite them in. Step Two: Make tea. Step Three: Plot against the puritans."

It's that time of year. Make sure you're ready.

#halloween #witches

#FirstDirect bank are usually quick on the phone if one has a problem but today they weren't and the phone message advised me to use 'message us' on the website. But the button isn't where it should be. So eventually I got through on the phone to the 'tech team' and was told it's because my […]

@futurebird After reading this post, I've decided to flesh out the ideas a little. And I think I may have conceptualised the future of vibe coding!

First, the problem of inconsistencies about how AIs respond to prompts.

We need better predictability!

So let's create a standard syntax for […]

@recantha Hello Michael, sorry for the unsolicited DM but we have met (many years ago in Potton). I have a techie query and don't know anyone else to ask. Can you offer some advice on figuring out what's wrong with my Debian/Nextcloud server? It crashes every lunchtime and 'journal ctl' shows a […]

THIS.

1971 at college my girlfriend used to drink 'Brown&Orange' ie Newckie Broon with a dash of orange squash. She was from Liverpool 🤷‍♀️. Fast forward and I don't think she's drunk it in 50 years but I've had tongue surgery and bitter flavours I used to like are now unpleasant and you know what? A […]

Privatisation stupidity:
https://nation.cymru/news/royal-mail-fined-21m-by-watchdog-for-missing-mail-delivery-targets/
So we fine a company £21m, who's going to pay? Shareholders? Unlikely. More likely it'll be staff through job losses or shorter hours, or customers through price rises or […]

Does anyone know what is inside a home #EV charger? They supply AC current at mains voltage, the rectification and battery monitoring happens in the car. So apart from a switch, controlled by an app obviously so they can extract your data, what else? Why do they cost £500. #EVCharging

The Cruel Fantasies of Well-Fed People The astonishing story of how a movement’s quest for rural simplicity drifted into a formula for mass death

In any discussion of food and farming, unless your solution can be scaled to feed 8 billion people, you shouldn't be taken seriously. Unfortunately, cottagecore fantasies that would feed only the richest consumers, leaving billions to starve, are all too common.
www.monbiot.com/2023/10/04/t...

@jaz I like the diversity of people and their interests. #TellEveryone

JEN DIDN'T ACTUALLY SAY this Friday, but it IS the obvious conclusion:

#NaziDon has declared the nonexistent] [#AntiFa to a "terrorist organization", called them "ANTI-AMERICAN".

"AntiFa" LITERALLY stands for "Anti-Fascist", so according to #MangoMussolini, if you are "Anti-Fascist", you are […]

Any more 'Strickly' refugees here? Every Saturday from October to Christmas I retreat to the 'office' in the spare room to escape. Every year I hate it just that little bit more.

Longer pub opening hours - to boost economic growth. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/oct/08/pub-opening-hours-in-england-and-wales-could-be-extended
Given the insane way we count 'growth' that may well be true, but is it worth it? More staff working long hours, more people drinking too […]

Men with guns wearing masks in civilian cars are abducting off the streets little girls walking home from school.

The United States is now a fascist police state. If you support this then you are the enemy of freedom and democracy. I will never stop resisting you or Trump.

It took six of Trump's fascist thugs to take in to custody a single frightened little girl. These people are pathetic.

For all those boaters who know Pontcysyllte and anyone interested in technical history this is a great explanatory animation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqeCu6jd9W0
#BoatsThatToot

#B&Q #DIY Have I been arguing with a bot? Months ago I ordered some wood for a project at home via B&Q's 'platform'. It arrived, not as described on the website. However I'd previously scoured the internet and found that what I wanted wasn't available anywhere so I accepted it but filed a […]

#Linux #Debian people troubleshooting my home server going off line and found it's NIC set to 100MB rather than 1GB. So tried ethtool.
ethtool --version returns 'command not found'
apt install ethtool returns 'already the newest version'
Can't both be right!
Help??!!

I've heard of AI bots scraping data from websites, but is it possible something is trying to attack my little home Nextcloud server? It's running, ie the lights are on, but there's no network connection. I rebooted it a few hours ago and it was OK, but its gon again.

It's not that our politicians don't know what's needed to slow #ClimateChange. It's that they don't care.

Their two priorities are

1. winning the next election, under the UK's absurdly dysfunctional, archaic and undemocratic system;

2. pleasing the big donors, who include the #FossilFuel […]

Sunday roast dinner today. Yes I know it's Saturday but tomorrow I'm helping youngest granddaughter make a labyrinth for a school project on ancient Greece, I'll be in no fit state for cooking after that. I'll be confused about what day it is for the rest of the week. #grandchildren

Concrete “battery” developed at MIT now packs 10 times the power New concrete and carbon black supercapacitors with optimized electrolytes have 10 times the energy storage of previous designs and can be incorporated into a wide range of architectural forms.

IMAGINE IF the concrete we use to build homes, roads, and buildings could be turned into giant rechargeable batteries?

It's not science fiction. #GreenTech
#ClimateChange
https://news.mit.edu/2025/concrete-battery-now-packs-ten-times-power-1001

#Nextcloud Panic. I'm running Nextcloud server on #Debian via #Docker and the AIO dashboard. 2 days ago AIO upgrade failed. I can #SSH into the server (and su root). I can HTTPS into the AIO login, but I've lost the pwd. Normally I would get to the dash via my normal admin login but that's not […]

EV owners in UK. I notice there are many companies providing charging points. If/when I buy an EV do I need a separate account/app for each or is there a simple pay by card option for all of them? (Not Tesla!)

OK, so, 2 million before midnight was a little too lacking in ambition, as it has just passed 2 million, so how about 2.5 million by midnight...? 🤣

UK Gov Petitions: Do not introduce Digital ID cards
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/730194

OK, let's see if this gets to 2 million signatures by midnight? Policy was announced on Friday, could it survive the next week?

Should’ve done that with Trump, too

“Dozens of delegates from multiple nations walked out of the U.N. Gen Assembly hall en masse as Israeli Netanyahu stepped up to give a speech about the Mideast situation to the world’s leaders and, beyond them, many of its people” […]