Mike Hall

It’s very BBC Micro flavoured.

I would have more sympathy for Peter Kyle’s position, if the measures in the Online Safety Act were actually going to protect children. They are not. The act clearly does not grasp the technical reality of what it’s trying to do, and the research says this approach doesn’t protect children anyway.

So the image of Richard E Grant in Rogue. Which we are meant to assume is an unseen past Doctor.

I reckon it’s the visage of Doctor Simeon, who is strewn across the Doctor’s time stream.

I wonder if Jordan Chase (Dexter) was in any way influenced by Jordan Peterson?

The self-help bollocks. The pseudo-profound rhetoric. Both named Jordan. Both cite the animal kingdom to support their views.

Probably not, given Peterson came to prominence several years afterward. But I dunno?

I know! Absurd how badly handled this is.

SV7 from Robots of Death.

There is a takeaway near me called Superwok. My brain, every time:

Investigation into AVS Group Ltd’s compliance with the duty to prevent children from encountering pornographic content through the use of age assurance

Top work from Ofcom in publishing lists of adult website which are non-compliant with the new age check laws 🤦‍♂️

www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet...

Not cool. Not good. Not right.

LinkedIn quietly removed references to deadnaming and misgendering from its hateful content policy LinkedIn quietly changed the language of its hateful conduct policy this week, removing a line that referenced a prohibition on misgendering and deadnaming of transgender individuals.

That’s a yikes from me dawg.

Skeptics with a K: Episode #425

Mike looks at the ramifications and limitations of the Online Safety Bill, which is responsible for the increase in age verification checks appearing online. Meanwhile, Marsh watches the Euros and Mike sees Superman.

www.merseysideskeptics.org.uk/podcasts/ske...

Whenever I get a push notification from Apple News, I have a little moment of panic. What’s happened that’s so big it can’t wait for me to find out? Has Iran invaded Turkmenistan? Has North Korea fired nukes?

Oh, no. It’s just Six natural alternatives to statins to lower your cholesterol.

Nothing I’m aware of. And I’m sure it would have come up if they were like “oh we did Run for Your Wife together at the National it in 1982” or whatever. Maybe they just moved in similar circles?

Feels like something @tobyhadoke.bsky.social may know?

McCoy’s birth name is Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith. Prior to adopting his stage name of Sylvester McCoy (which started as a gag) he went by the name “Kent Smith”, so I assume McGann met him early in his career.

So, it’s fairly well known that Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann were friends before Doctor Who. Good enough friends that McGann sometimes refers to McCoy as “Kent”, when even Sophie calls him “Sylv.”

But I’ve never seen anything about how or when they met? Is that known?

Skeptics with a K: Episode #424

Mike looks at the company which claims to be able to spy on you through your mobile phone, and the team returns from the Merseyside Skeptics Summer Picnic.

www.merseysideskeptics.org.uk/podcasts/ske...

Panel 1: Bus driver saying "Don't make me tap the sign" Panel 2: The bus driver tapping a sign that says "Engineers must review all AI generated code"

Been seeing an uptick in what are clearly vibe-coded PRs. On the surface this seems great -- more contributors!

But in the reality it's often AI slop that the person hasn't reviewed and instead the burden of review is on us, the maintainers -- which is a horrible trade.

Newspaper headline: “Doctor who supplied Matthew Perry ketamine and called him a ‘morin’…”

Peter Capaldi as the Doctor.

Superman is good. It’s nice to see him less stoic, getting frustrated and flustered. The world is a full and rounded comic universe.

I hope we’ve seen the last of “but what if this happened in the REAL world” comic book movies for a bit. If I wanted the real world I wouldn’t be watching Superman.

Even Hitler’s actual family changed their name to Stuart-Houston.

Just change your name. You’re effectively wandering around introducing yourself as “hi, I’m Sarah Hitler, nice to meet you” and wondering why people are weirded out by it.

Not only has La’An chosen to live with the most infamous surname in Federation history, but so has every ancestor for 250 years

I haven’t watched Star Trek Strange New Worlds, mostly because I won’t buy another streaming service. But, apparently there is a character named La’An Noonien-Singh who is descended from Khan, and faces a load of prejudice about it.

You don't necessarily need to say "image of" in your alt text for users to know it's an image. Screen readers will announce that it's an image. But it can help readers to specify if it's a hand-drawn image, Polaroid, infographic, screenshot, chart, map, diagram, or so on.

Not that I want to question the marketing department at Odeon, but the existence of “myLIMITLESS plus” does rather suggest “myLIMITLESS” is somewhat limited.

Finally got around to watching the “Bottom Exposed” doc. Probably shouldn’t have been surprised to see half of Doctor Who fandom listed on the end credits

It has been referred to as “the Second Doctor story you never saw” as Troughton’s performance is quite Doctor-ish at times

Yes. And Jeff Rawle.

Look at him. Look at Michael Pickwoad.

Apropos of very little - I watched the Children’s Film Foundation movie “A Hitch in Time”, and spotted that the Art Director is Michael Pickwoad.

Skeptics with a K: Episode #423

With the UK on its third heatwave of the year, Marsh asks what role geoengineering can or should play. Meanwhile, Mike has an unexpected knock at the door.

www.merseysideskeptics.org.uk/podcasts/ske...

I have not, I was thinking of going tomorrow evening though. You’d recommend it then?