Nostr notes by Simon Brooke

Because #Oil. Stephen Flynn has promised the oil and gas industry ...

2026-05-11T09:08:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…kam3
_________________________

Because #Oil. Stephen Flynn has promised the oil and gas industry in Scotland glory days ahead. That's incompatible with a survivable planet, and if Scottish Greens (npub1nzf…lckw) were to go into coalition without a clear statement that the SNP utterly reject Flynn's stance and stand by all their existing #ClimateChange commitments, they would betray us all.

Independence on a dead planet would be a very hollow victory.

#ThereIsNoEconomyOnADeadPlanet
#ClimateEmergency

https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/597213/stephen-flynn-aberdeen-oil-and-gas-holyrood/

We all know that #ScottishLabour are much closer to the #SNP on ...

2026-05-10T19:48:34Z

We all know that #ScottishLabour are much closer to the #SNP on policies than they are to #UKLabour. So would it be a good thing for Scotland if SNP/ScotLab were to agree a coalition deal in which:

1. ScotLab would support the call for #IndyRef2, but would not necessarily campaign for #ScottishIndependence and
2. ScotLab would get the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, with a remit to nationalise Scotland's buses?

#ScotPol

"Fascism and monopolies go hand in hand, and smashing ...

2026-05-03T06:41:43Z

"Fascism and monopolies go hand in hand, and smashing monopolies is key to the program of fighting #fascism." -- Cory Doctorow (npub1fdr…lvhs)

https://pluralistic.net/2026/05/02/denazification/

What is the longest word in the English language that you can ...

2026-04-22T21:25:56Z

What is the longest word in the English language that you can type on consecutive keys, either forwards or backwards, on a qwerty keyboard?

I think it's 'wert', although that's archaic; can anyone find a challenger?

Generally, that's a REALLY GOOD PLAN. If all pro-independence ...

2026-03-11T21:51:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…56l8
_________________________

Generally, that's a REALLY GOOD PLAN. If all pro-independence voters followed it, we would, as you say, maximise pro #ScottishIndependence
representation.

You can therefore be absolutely certain the #SNP will sabotage it.

I despair of the party, they will always put tribalism first and independence second.

Indeed, back in 1972-74, I was a member of a crew which produced ...

2026-02-13T10:05:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…7jxt
_________________________

Indeed, back in 1972-74, I was a member of a crew which produced what in those days was called an 'underground magazine', and we (illegally of course, we were all anarchists) republished that cartoon in a special issue on the Club of Rome Report.

Yes, the #ClimateCrisis is older than you thought -- and still virtually nothing's been done.

https://www.clubofrome.org/publication/the-limits-to-growth/

...but ALMOST HALF (47%) of white people in the US thought the ...

2026-01-14T15:54:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…ny4w
_________________________

...but ALMOST HALF (47%) of white people in the US thought the shooting, by an armed thug, of a peaceful unarmed woman civilian was 'justified'.

#StateTerrorism
#Murder
#ICE
#Renee

"There's so many good domestic reasons to do this. ...

2026-01-12T18:49:09Z

"There's so many good domestic reasons to do this. Without C-11, Canadian companies could defend their fellow Canadians from American data-theft and cash ripoffs by making alternative clients, jailbreaks, and other add-ons that disenshittified America's defective tech" -- Cory Doctorow (npub1fdr…lvhs)

This is good advice to Canada, but it's equally good advise to the UK -- and the EU.

https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/12/disenshittification-nation-2/#heated-rivalry

RE: https://mastodon.social/@eslamradwan1_D_5/115860724197782791 ...

2026-01-09T21:12:46Z

RE: https://mastodon.social/@eslamradwan1_D_5/115860724197782791

Islam ([@eslamradwan1_D_5](https://mastodon.social/@eslamradwan1_D_5 )) is another of the single parents I'm in touch with in #Gaza, living in a flimsy inadequate tent on a beach which floods, in winter.

People in Gaza have had to flee their homes not once but several times in the course of this dreadful war; each time, they can carry less, they lose more. It's no wonder they lack winter clothes.

These are conditions that are hard to understand, and harder to live through, and now the bombing is increasing again.

Please help, if you can.

quoting
note1x8j…cryc

This is truly alarming.😔
Terrifying sounds.
The buzzing is awful.
It's like the war has started all over again.
#PrayForUsMyFriends
#Gaza #Palestine #GazaVerified #israel #genocide #famine #warCrimes #settlerColonialism #apartheid #StopIsrael #StopTheGenocide #FreePalestine #fediAid #mutualAid

I've just checked out a #Clojure project I last worked on ...

2026-01-09T21:05:32Z

I've just checked out a #Clojure project I last worked on thirteen years ago, compiled it, ran its unit tests, and they all passed. I then ran `lein ancient upgrade :check-clojure` to upgrade all the dependencies to their latest versions, ran the unit tests again, and they all passed.

I did get one 'deprecated' warning. I can live with that!

It's not stability that I came to Clojure for, but it's a feature I really appreciate.

Say 'no' to bit rot!

RE: https://mastodon.social/@baraa1998/115849166721212305 ...

2026-01-07T09:01:40Z

RE: https://mastodon.social/@baraa1998/115849166721212305

Friends, everyone in #Gaza needs support. But I am genuinely worried about Bara'a (Baraa family🕊🤍 (npub1rd9…ur9k)) -- her health is obviously failing, but also her state of mind is deteriorating. I have sent her some money today, as I have several times over the past months.

She is a young single parent with one surviving child (she's lost two, and their father). Please, if you can, give her some hope.

quoting
note1m8r…fnu8

🚨We desperately need €200🙏😭🥶
Ihaven't received any donations today.I need medication and IV fluids daily.
My child's silence hurts me more than his words. I didn't ask for much💔
just life
just shelter
just a chance for my child,
a chance for my exhausted, sick&hungry body😔
and for my family who are freezing to death. I didn't ask for the whole world, just asmall space of safety.🙏🥹
Please share my post🙏
https://chuffed.org/project/161145
Gerrit 🇪🇺🌍🍉🔻 (npub1kqy…dzg9)
[@simon_brooke](https://mastodon.scot/@simon_brooke )
Clément Robert (npub1kzc…gpua)
kat donegan 🇵🇸✊ (npub1trg…v6kh)
Totts (npub1m0j…qy4f)
lashman (npub1zhe…ctns)

Dear @npub1zxf…wlsp, thank you so much for this podcast. It ...

2026-01-04T18:19:17Z

Dear Eceni 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🌈 (npub1zxf…wlsp), thank you so much for this podcast. It makes me think very carefully about the narratives that I am trying to write. But let me in turn urge you to reject the thought that 'there is no alternative' to money.

Money is the vector which transmits the disease of capitalism.

Accidental Gods: Thoughts from the Edge: Navigating the turbulent seas of the incoming year with grace and courage (Manda solo)

Episode webpage: https://share.transistor.fm/s/f15d0d0d

Media file: https://media.transistor.fm/f15d0d0d/d1f95463.mp3

OK, this is genuinely scary. It's a picture of me, aged 5. It ...

2025-12-27T10:15:27Z

OK, this is genuinely scary. It's a picture of me, aged 5. It was taken in 1960. It was scanned and uploaded to Google Photos in 2002. No one has told Google where it was taken. But the map, bottom right, is correct.

Obviously, in 1960, my father's pre-war Exakta camera did not have GPS. Could you identify, from that picture, exactly where it was taken?

Google can.

Friends in #Gaza, I am not able to send money to all of you. I am ...

2025-12-27T09:46:43Z

Friends in #Gaza, I am not able to send money to all of you. I am personally making gifts mainly to single parents, who are living in tents, and who are verified by the Gaza Verified (npub1d6t…vdlg) team.

If you are verified, I will boost your posts, even if I cannot afford to give to you. I do understand that there are very many of you who desperately need support.

I was thinking just this. And how many checkpoints are there now, ...

2025-12-25T11:58:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…a6jd
_________________________

I was thinking just this. And how many checkpoints are there now, on the road from Nazareth to Bethlehem?

#Palestine
#GazaGenocide

“They won’t imprison us all, they know if they fill the ...

2025-12-22T11:39:34Z

“They won’t imprison us all, they know if they fill the prisons with activists, we will overpower them from within. So flood the damn streets in your millions. Shut down these factories in your thousands! They can never arrest the resistance in our smiles. We will use the shards of our broken hearts to spear the system of injustice.” -- Qesser Zuhrah

#SayHerNamee
#PalestineAction
#Gaza

https://prisonersforpalestine.org/prisoner/qesser-zuhrah/

I hate clearfell. It's such an environmentally destructive ...

2025-12-22T09:54:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…k99v
_________________________

I hate clearfell. It's such an environmentally destructive practice, for so many reasons.

this is what I profoundly believe. If we share material wealth ...

2025-12-21T23:30:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…d4g3
_________________________

this is what I profoundly believe. If we share material wealth equitably in cohesive communities, we each need far less wealth to live satisfactory lives that we do in today's atomised, competitive battle zone.

Truly, it is civilisation, not hunter gatherer societies, that is the war of each against all.

I cannot believe that anyone who claims to believe in any of 1. ...

2025-12-21T23:24:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…rtj0
_________________________

I cannot believe that anyone who claims to believe in any of

1. Democracy;
2. Civil liberties; or
3. An international rules based order

Could possibly vote to proscribe #PalestineAction

The degree of hypocrisy, dishonesty and sheer bad faith in #Starmer's "#Labour" party is truly ground-breaking.

Turd Reich, perhaps?

2025-12-21T22:50:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…76zy
_________________________

Turd Reich, perhaps?

I've written to my own MP this morning about Qesser ...

2025-12-21T11:26:16Z

I've written to my own MP this morning about Qesser Zurah's #HungerStrike, and I've added the text of my letter to him to the end of this post.

Please could I humbly urge everyone in the UK to write, today, to their own MP urging for her immediate release on bail? This is now very urgent indeed.

Please, also, boost this post.

#PalestineAction
#UKPol
#Gaza
#GazaGenocide

https://www.journeyman.cc/blog/posts-output/2025-12-21-Tidings-of-comfort-and-joy/

A death by starvation at Christmas, while all our politicians are ...

2025-12-21T10:33:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…ghfp
_________________________

A death by starvation at Christmas, while all our politicians are chomping down on their chestnut-stuffed turkeys, pigs in blankets, christmas puddings, mince pies and rich fruit cakes, would be very bleak.

Qesser Zuhrah has not yet been -- and will now likely never be -- found guilty of any crime.

It would (deservedly) do this government a great deal of harm.

If she dies, we should all go and demonstrate on the streets

#PalestineAction
#HungerStrike

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/dec/20/palestine-action-activist-vows-continue-hunger-strike-teuta-hoxha

Could you point me to something I could read in support of your ...

2025-12-21T10:25:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…qakt
_________________________

Could you point me to something I could read in support of your contention that she 'destroyed the left'? I don't follow Icelandic politics very closely, but I was under the impression that she had been seen as a mostly effective, and mostly progressive, prime minister.

I may just have written a rather angry email to the UK Justice ...

2025-12-21T01:21:02Z

I may just have written a rather angry email to the UK Justice Secretary, one David Lammy M.P., about the #PalestineAction #HungerStrike.

You might think of writing, too.

#GazaGenocide

https://www.journeyman.cc/blog/posts-output/2025-12-21-Tidings-of-comfort-and-joy/

There isn't a #Lisp standard; there are many varieties of ...

2025-12-19T08:58:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…6gzs
_________________________

There isn't a #Lisp standard; there are many varieties of Lisp. But I think all of them allow you to reference a symbol bound in an external environment. Every call to another function is such a reference, and so, in #CommonLisp, are dynamic variables. But note that, in many Lisps, such variables may be bound on the stack, so the global binding may be overridden -- with e.g. a let binding in CL or more explicitly with e.g. `binding` in #Clojure.

and once again, with #AltText4You. ...

2025-12-13T08:34:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…5vfy
_________________________

and once again, with #AltText4You.

I also wish people wouldn't produce YouTube videos which ...

2025-12-12T08:24:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…nvas
_________________________

I also wish people wouldn't produce YouTube videos which would be better as blog posts. Video costs the planet far more to store and to transmit than text; it's worth doing only when the visuals form a substantial part of the content.

Given that #BlueSky is yet another product of the Silicon Valley ...

2025-12-12T07:29:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…2h0l
_________________________

Given that #BlueSky is yet another product of the Silicon Valley techbro culture, it seems to me hugely unlikely that any second server will be allowed to emerge which is outwith their control.

the government that claims to represent us sells weapons to ...

2025-12-09T15:14:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…8lcw
_________________________

the government that claims to represent us sells weapons to #Israel, and criminalises those who condemn #Genocide or show sympathy for #Palestine. It is reasonable for us to feel guilt. We are partially responsible for that government, and pay taxes to it.

I'm not sure it does. Those of us who have been homeless and ...

2025-12-09T15:07:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…64fp
_________________________

I'm not sure it does. Those of us who have been homeless and hungry are best able to empathise with those who are homeless and hungry.

People who have only ever seen the bright places of the world find it harder to understand the experience of darkness.

he speaks beautiful English. To be so fluent at two languages at ...

2025-12-08T17:33:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…4aeg
_________________________

he speaks beautiful English. To be so fluent at two languages at that age is a real gift.

Greetings to you, Ibrahim. You are a great support to your mother.

"Liberal commentators are very eager to accuse the left of ...

2025-12-08T12:58:10Z

"Liberal commentators are very eager to accuse the left of obsessing — and falling out — over things which, in reality, don't seem to the liberals to matter very much. They have a phrase for this: 'the narcissism of small differences.' Well, OK, we on the left do fall out over things which, seen from outside our spectrum, may seem trivial... But... let us, please, consider for the moment the beam in our brother's eye."

#Socialism
#Communism
#Anarchism

https://www.journeyman.cc/blog/posts-output/2025-12-06-The-Narcissism-of-Small-Differences/

The answer is probably to BAN new private housing, and to make ...

2025-12-08T10:11:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…h253
_________________________

The answer is probably to BAN new private housing, and to make all new housing public housing. Only by having a superfluity of public housing can we drive rents down, and quality standards up, in the private rented sector; and we're so far behind on this that there really is no need for any new private housing in the UK at all.

OK, let's be clear about #Autism: A majority of engineers, ...

2025-12-08T08:54:37Z

OK, let's be clear about #Autism:

A majority of engineers, including software engineers, are #ActuallyAutistic; I suspect a majority of architects and people who invent new stuff generally are; many people in the creative arts are.

Without #Autism, we would have no culture, and very few machines of any kind at all.

Autism is not a disease: it is an essential component of a healthy society, and should be celebrated as such.

(Yes, I am ANGRY about this)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-into-mental-health-conditions-adhd-and-autism-terms-of-reference/independent-review-into-mental-health-conditions-adhd-and-autism-terms-of-reference#scope

Conventional politics sees the City of London as one of the main ...

2025-12-08T08:42:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…4ae7
_________________________

Conventional politics sees the City of London as one of the main drivers of the UK economy; but in fact the City of London produces almost nothing of any use at all in the real world. The entire thing is a tottering pile of meaningless accountancy tricks.

it's not better to have untrustworthy transcription than no ...

2025-12-06T07:31:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…ds6k
_________________________

it's not better to have untrustworthy transcription than no transcription at all. It's quite a lot worse.

It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that transcription, like translation, can be done well given the current state of the art, but... Do you trust today's AI companies to do that?

Which, if they're paying attention, takes as much skill and ...

2025-12-05T22:28:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…jy6m
_________________________

Which, if they're paying attention, takes as much skill and concentration (and time) as transcribing it themselves, so precisely not labour has been solved. You've saved nothing and added one expensive step.

if they're accurate transcriptions, yes. Trustworthy ...

2025-12-05T19:36:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…dclq
_________________________

if they're accurate transcriptions, yes. Trustworthy translations of other languages, or faithful audio readings of texts also have merit.

Untrustworthy, unfaithful, inaccurate? No.

I can't help very many people. About 20% of my pension is ...

2025-12-05T09:50:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…ss5y
_________________________

I can't help very many people. About 20% of my pension is going to help folk in Gaza and I think that's as much as I can do.

"How do you acknowledge that the father of the computer was a ...

2025-12-05T09:27:46Z

"How do you acknowledge that the father of the computer was a homosexual, brutally bullied by the state into suicide, and then fund groups that want to deny gay people fundamental human rights?

The ARM processor which powers the modern world was co-designed by a #trans woman. When you throw slurs and denigrate people's pronouns, your ignorance and hatred does a disservice to history and drives away the next generation of talent"

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/12/the-web-runs-on-tolerance/

quoting
note1cms…vd8d

##

The Web Runs On Tolerancehttps://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/12/the-web-runs-on-tolerance/

If you've ever tried to write a computer program, you'll know the dread of a syntax error. An errant space and your code won't compile. Miss a semi-colon and the world collapses. Don't close your brackets and watch how the computer recoils in distress.

The modern web isn't like that.

You can make your HTML as malformed as you like and the web-browser will do its best to display the page for you. I love the [todepond](https://www.todepond.com/ ) website, but the source-code makes me break out in a cold sweat. Yet it renders just fine.

Sure, [occasionally there are weird artefacts](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28052190 ). But the web works because browsers are tolerant.

You can be *crap* at coding and the web still works. Yes, it takes an awful lot of effort from browser manufacturers to make "do what I mean, not what I say" a reality. But the world is better for it.

That's the crucial mistake that XHTML made. It was an attempt to bring pure syntactic rigour to the web. It had an intolerant ideology. Every document had to precisely conform to the specification. If it didn't, the page was irrevocably broken. I don't mean broken like a weird layout glitch, I mean broken like this:

https://example.com/test.xhtml Line Number 9, Column 5:" width="1800" height="600" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-63925">

The user experience of XHTML was rubbish. The disrespect shown to anyone for deviating from the One True Path made it an unwelcoming and unfriendly place. Understandably, XHTML is now a mere footnote on the web. Sure, people are free to use it if they want, but its unforgiving nature makes it nobody's first choice.

The beauty of the web as a platform is that it isn't a monoculture.

That's why it baffles me that some prominent technologists embrace hateful ideologies. I'm not going to give them any SEO-juice by linking to them, but I cannot fathom how someone can look at the beautiful diversity of the web and then declare that only pure-blooded people should live in a particular city.

How do you acknowledge that the father of the computer was a homosexual, brutally bullied by the state into suicide, and then fund groups that want to deny gay people fundamental human rights?

The ARM processor which powers the modern world was co-designed by a trans woman. When you throw slurs and denigrate people's pronouns, your ignorance and hatred does a disservice to history and drives away the next generation of talent.

History shows us that *all* progress comes from the meeting of diverse people, with different ideas, and different backgrounds. The notion that only a pure ethnostate can prosper is simply historically illiterate.

This isn't an academic argument over big-endian or little-endian. It isn't an ideological battle about the superiority of your favourite text editor. There's no good-natured ribbing about which desktop environment has the better design philosophy.

Denying rights to others is poison. Wishing violence on people because of their heritage is harmful to all of us.

Do we want all computing to go through the snow-white purity of Apple Computer? Have them as the one and only arbiters of what is and isn't allowed? No. That's obviously terrible for our ecosystem.

Do we want to segregate computer users so that an Android user can never connect their phone to a Windows machine, or make it impossible for Linux laptops to talk to Kodak cameras? That sort of isolation should be an anathema to us.

Why then align with people who espouse isolationism? Why gleefully cheer the violent racists who terrorise our communities? Why demean people who merely wish to exist?

The web runs on tolerance. Anyone who preaches the ideology of hate has no business here.

#politics #web

If we're going to have an Internet, people do actually need ...

2025-12-05T09:04:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…0vq2
_________________________

If we're going to have an Internet, people do actually need routers. If you make good routers at a good price, people will buy them. Routers are real -- and useful -- things.

No one needs things which generate texts which have no basis in truth.

"The woman, who did not want her name published for safety ...

2025-12-02T07:43:25Z

"The woman, who did not want her name published for safety reasons, added: 'This is not about us. We were beaten for 15 minutes. Palestinians here endure this violence every day, every hour, a thousand-fold.' ...

Activists say that violent incidents have become an almost daily occurrence. Attacks have included settler mobs breaking into homes and beating villagers, stealing 200 sheep, two cars and destroying solar panels"

#Terrorism
#Zionism
#Palestine

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/01/italian-canadian-volunteers-beaten-robbed-israeli-settlers-west-bank

This is a genuinely good idea, and I'd urge you to sign it. ...

2025-12-01T19:53:38Z

This is a genuinely good idea, and I'd urge you to sign it. Make #AI generated works immediately identifiable. It would be interesting also to require a similar 'watermark' in generated texts -- perhaps a particular sequence of whitespace characters.

#generativeAI

H/t LillyLyle/Count Melancholia (npub1sv4…5wk8)

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/736690/

We none of us (well, except perhaps Elon Musk) have enough money ...

2025-11-29T21:20:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…rfja
_________________________

We none of us (well, except perhaps Elon Musk) have enough money to help them all. There are about two and a half million people in #Gaza, and they're all more or less in need.

I'm supporting people I have already made commitments to, and when I have a little extra money, single parents from the #GazaVerified who have children under twelve.

It's arbitrary, but it's what I can do.

I repost a lot of requests for help from #Gaza. But what worries ...

2025-11-29T20:55:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…jk4z
_________________________

I repost a lot of requests for help from #Gaza. But what worries me is that the people who follow me will come to feel overwhelmed by this. I feel overwhelmed myself. So many people urgently need help, and I personally cannot help very many.

And it is very hard, on Wednesday each week, to decide who among all those in need I can afford to help this week.

in an economy in which the wealth gap is steadily increasing, as ...

2025-11-27T09:11:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…405g
_________________________

in an economy in which the wealth gap is steadily increasing, as it is in the UK, it is obvious that the taxation system favours the rich. If it were neutral, wealth across all deciles of the population would change at the same rate.

To achieve neutrality, we need to increase the tax on the wealthy. That's not socialism, it's centrism.

To rebalance and redistribute wealth, we would need to very radically increase tax on the wealthy — and apply heavy penalties to evasion.

or I could just run `strace` and find out where it is looking!

2025-11-24T20:37:17Z

In reply to nevent1q…5lnv
_________________________

or I could just run `strace` and find out where it is looking!

"In 1990, 943 million people [in China] lived on less than $3 ...

2025-11-24T20:34:28Z

"In 1990, 943 million people [in China] lived on less than $3 a day measured in 2021 dollars – 83% of the population, according to the World Bank. By 2019, the number was brought down to zero. Unfortunately, the United States was not as successful. More than 4 million Americans – 1.25% of the population – must make ends meet with less than $3 a day, more than three times as many as 35 years ago."

#Kleptocracy

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/23/china-us-poverty-income-inequality

h'mmm... If I run `jank repl` then `(use ...

2025-11-24T20:10:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…9lvr
_________________________

h'mmm... If I run

`jank repl`

then

`(use 'mw-engine.core)`

Nothing gets read. Instead I get

`error: Unable to find module 'mw-engine.core'`

I get the same error whether I'm in the project root directory or the `src/cljc` directory, so it's not looking in the normal #Clojure places for source.

Woohoo! following the Jank install instructions for #Ubuntu seems ...

2025-11-24T18:06:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…450h
_________________________

Woohoo! following the Jank install instructions for #Ubuntu seems to work fine for #Debian13trixie !

https://github.com/jank-lang/jank/blob/main/compiler+runtime/doc/install.md

I've installed lein-jank, but it does not seem able (yet) to start a jank repl.

Is there a how-to anywhere for porting a #leiningen project from #clojure to jank?

I really should try porting MicroWorld for jank, to see how well ...

2025-11-24T15:53:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…hqgk
_________________________

I really should try porting MicroWorld for jank, to see how well it does parallelising large maps.

The point about #Clojure is that it really does immutability ...

2025-11-24T07:10:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…sd92
_________________________

The point about #Clojure is that it really does immutability right, and consequently runs extremely efficiently on modern multi-core processors. The fact that it's JVM coupled gave it an early boost in that it could leverage thousands of pre-existing Java libraries, but I think that's less significant now.

#Clojure is probably the best #Lisp in common use today. I wish ...

2025-11-23T16:13:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…572d
_________________________

#Clojure is probably the best #Lisp in common use today. I wish it wasn't so tightly bound to the #Java ecosystem, but @borkdude is gradually loosening those ties.

"Arduino wasn’t valuable because it was just a ...

2025-11-23T14:53:26Z

"Arduino wasn’t valuable because it was just a microcontroller company. It was valuable because it was a commons. And you can’t apply enterprise legal frameworks to a commons without destroying it"

You also can't buy a #commons, at least without destroying it as a commons. The key point about a commons is that it isn't property.

#Arduino

https://www.molecularist.com/2025/11/did-qualcomm-kill-arduino-for-good.html

so long as the rich are able to make larger political donations ...

2025-11-21T20:03:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…zdml
_________________________

so long as the rich are able to make larger political donations than the poor, the rich will continue to own all those political parties which have enough funds to effectively contest elections.

This is how 'liberal democracy' is supposed to work — the political parties feircely contest with one another over issues which don't affect the #kleptocrats, but maintain careful unanimity in opposing anything which could undermine the #billionaires' power.

"When news becomes an extension of political and corporate ...

2025-11-21T19:54:00Z

"When news becomes an extension of political and corporate power, democracy loses its immune system. The Fourth Estate collapses. And disinformation rules.
This is what happens when billionaires control information. They decide what you see, what you don’t, who becomes a villain, who gets rehabilitated, and whose death is worth remembering"

#kleptocracy

Legacy Media's License To Kill
https://lets-address-this-with-qasim-rashid.ghost.io/legacy-medias-license-to-kill/

"When #billionaires own major media outlets, “news” ...

2025-11-21T19:52:36Z

"When #billionaires own major media outlets, “news” becomes something closer to state messaging. Not because the government controls it, but because the financial class that funds political power also owns the platforms that shape public perception."

#kleptocracy

Legacy Media's License To Kill
https://lets-address-this-with-qasim-rashid.ghost.io/legacy-medias-license-to-kill/

"Israeli officials openly stated the goal: to destroy #Gaza ...

2025-11-19T08:44:27Z

"Israeli officials openly stated the goal: to destroy #Gaza and make it uninhabitable. By textbook definition, this is genocide: the deliberate targeting of people not for who they are as individuals, but because they are members of a group marked for destruction"

#GazaGenocide

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/18/israel-accountability-gaza-genocide

"A new investigation of Elon #Musk’s X by Sky News found ...

2025-11-15T09:57:31Z

"A new investigation of Elon #Musk’s X by Sky News found that every account set up by reporters, 'no matter their political orientation, was fed a glut of rightwing content', much of which was extreme. The experts it consulted believe this pattern could have resulted only from an algorithm engineered for this purpose, and that 'an algorithmic bias must be decided by senior people at the channel'" -- George Monbiot

Anyone still on X is deliberately supporting #Fascism.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/14/climate-crisis-communication-super-rich

While we're on this topic, > "More than 1,600 fossil ...

2025-11-14T08:10:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…5yjs
_________________________

While we're on this topic,

> "More than 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists have been granted access to the Cop30 climate negotiations in Belém, significantly outnumbering every single country’s delegation apart from the host Brazil"

There surely must be enough trees left in the Amazon rain forest to hang them all.

#ClimateEmergency

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/14/fossil-fuel-lobbyists-cop30

What's horrifying about this graph is that we're emitting ...

2025-11-14T08:01:37Z

What's horrifying about this graph is that we're emitting CO2 from fossil hydrocarbons NOW at four times the rate we were when I was a child, and twice the rate we were in 1972, when we already knew that #ClimateChange was an existential problem.

Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/13/world-still-on-track-for-catastrophic-26c-temperature-rise-report-finds?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-gb

#ClimateEmergency

"because we lived near a mosque, we left immediately; because ...

2025-11-09T16:40:41Z

"because we lived near a mosque, we left immediately; because whenever they start bombing, they always bomb the mosques first"

Today is the anniversary of #Krystallnacht, when the #Nazis damaged 7,000 #Jewish places of worship.

Does #Israel not remember? Do they not care? Are they not ashamed to follow in those footsteps?

Today in Focus: The ordinary Brits evacuating children from Gaza
Starting from: 00:06:40

Episode webpage: https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/todayinfocus

Media file: https://flex.acast.com/audio.guim.co.uk/2025/11/06-45764-TIFGazaEvacuationsFINALFINALmp3.mp3#t=400

"The documents further note that users who click on scam ads ...

2025-11-08T21:14:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…jwy2
_________________________

"The documents further note that users who click on scam ads are likely to see more of them because of Meta’s ad-personalization system, which tries to deliver ads based on a user’s interests"

Ethics? What ethics?

https://www.reuters.com/investigations/meta-is-earning-fortune-deluge-fraudulent-ads-documents-show-2025-11-06/

Dear @npub1fq8…5ur3 I cannot personally help you, I am already ...

2025-11-08T19:40:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…xhsd
_________________________

Dear Mohammedhelp (npub1fq8…5ur3)

I cannot personally help you, I am already supporting as many as I can afford to. But if you post an appeal for help in English -- use Google Translate if you need to -- and mention me in it, I will repost it to those who follow me, and hopefully someone will be able to help.

Please also talk to Aral Balkan (npub1p09…m5vl) and Joy (npub1nv8…za59) about their Gaza Verified scheme.

My best wishes to you and to your family.

Gaza Verified is a very useful scheme (led by @npub1p09…m5vl ...

2025-11-08T19:35:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…ts6h
_________________________

Gaza Verified is a very useful scheme (led by Aral Balkan (npub1p09…m5vl) and Joy (npub1nv8…za59) -- many thanks to them) which gives us confidence that the people we are helping are truly in #Gaza and truly in need; but I don't yet have ways of assessing where need is most urgent.

The people I am helping are among the most articulate, know western languages, have phones. There must be others who lack these benefits, whose need is greater; but I don't know how to reach them.

Those who follow me may be feeling overwhelmed by the number of ...

2025-11-08T19:30:48Z

Those who follow me may be feeling overwhelmed by the number of appeals for help from people in #Gaza that I'm reposting.

I am sorry; I feel overwhelmed myself. I cannot help most of these people. My resources are very limited. I can't tell you whether one person's need is more urgent than another's.

But this need is real and desperate. Bombs are still falling; aid is still being blocked.

Please help if you can.

>>>

we need a diverse gene pool to be able to adapt to unpredictable ...

2025-11-07T20:51:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…dmk8
_________________________

we need a diverse gene pool to be able to adapt to unpredictable challenges. Yes, the reason hard-to-package, less-cosmetically-appealing, or short-shelf-life cultivars have lost out commercially is rational, but monocultures are exceedingly vulnerable to pathogens.

When a major commodity crop encounters a novel pathogen, the result is #famine.

with a sum total of zero American manufacturing jobs, of course.

2025-11-07T20:19:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…yva4
_________________________

with a sum total of zero American manufacturing jobs, of course.

Well, ways of growing more food in urban areas will be necessary, ...

2025-11-02T20:22:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…f2xx
_________________________

Well, ways of growing more food in urban areas will be necessary, especially in places like western Europe or Atlantic coast USA which are very heavily urbanised and there just isn't enough arable land outside the cities to resettle everyone. But there are going to be problems. How are you going to pump the water for irrigation? Are you going to get enough insolation in canyon-like urban streets where buildings shade one another?

no, it's inevitable. Without profligate use of hydrocarbon ...

2025-11-02T20:05:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…cdkj
_________________________

no, it's inevitable. Without profligate use of hydrocarbon fuels, modern cities are impossible to feed. We no longer have sufficient rail lines to transport enough food into cities, and we can't mine enough lithium fast enough to replace our current diesel trucks with battery electric.

Mind you, resettling the urban population with no horticultural or agricultural skills back into rural areas will be no picnic, either.

#ClimateEmergency

'More testing' does far more (permanent) damage to ...

2025-11-01T11:20:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…a5qu
_________________________

'More testing' does far more (permanent) damage to #ActuallyAutistc children than just 'suck[ing] the joy out of education.'

It's worth noting that places which are actually good at education, like Finland, do no standardised testing AT ALL.

It's child abuse; it should be banned.

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2018/09/10-reasons-why-finlands-education-system-is-the-best-in-the-world/

Friends, I'm seeing many appeals from people in desperate ...

2025-11-01T09:48:44Z

Friends, I'm seeing many appeals from people in desperate need in #Gaza. If you can help, and are not yet helping, please look at Gaza Verified and choose people to support.

There may be other, better ways to get help to people on the ground in Gaza, but if so I don't know of them.

There are families who have lost parents who I think are especially vulnerable.

https://gaza-verified.org/

Autism is not a bad thing. It's a normal part of human ...

2025-10-31T09:03:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…vwxm
_________________________

Autism is not a bad thing. It's a normal part of human variation without which we would not have any technological development or much in the way of art.

If #COVID causes more autism, that's to be welcomed. Then maybe we'll develop a culture which is less hostile to #ActuallyAutistc people.

Thank you all for the work you have done!

2025-10-30T12:06:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…2wgh
_________________________

Thank you all for the work you have done!

"Arbeit macht Frei" over the gate?

2025-10-28T15:51:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…f9hx
_________________________

"Arbeit macht Frei" over the gate?

"Companies that have recently donated to #Labour were awarded ...

2025-10-26T08:46:53Z

"Companies that have recently donated to #Labour were awarded contracts worth almost £138m during the party’s first year in government, according to new research that raises fresh concerns about the relationship between political donations and public spending"

#Corruption
#UKPol

(I see that Mastodon has a hashtag #CorrupToriesOut . That seems appropriate. #Starmer and his stooges are #Tories)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/26/companies-that-donated-to-labour-awarded-138m-in-contracts-study-finds

profit is the measure of the value you extracted from the process ...

2025-10-20T14:32:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…2fee
_________________________

profit is the measure of the value you extracted from the process you operated which you did not require to sustain that process. Which is another way of saying, it's pure theft –from your suppliers, your workers, and your customers.

Profit is a sin.

and I'm sure that's true. #Capitalism has a perverse ...

2025-10-20T11:44:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…jzma
_________________________

and I'm sure that's true. #Capitalism has a perverse incentive to externalise costs – the more shit you can dump into the commons, for others to pay to clean up (or to poison the commons for ever, which is the cause, inter alia, of the #ClimateEmergency), the more profit you make.

Any sensible economic system would not allow this.

It's widely reported that #China has been building out huge ...

2025-10-20T10:17:45Z

It's widely reported that #China has been building out huge amounts of #solar photovoltaic generation, and of course that is a big contributor to slowing #ClimateChange. But what I discovered to my surprise this week is that China is also #Reforesting faster than almost anywhere else on Earth, which is an equally important contributor, and also contributes positively to the #Oxygen cycle.

https://ourworldindata.org/deforestation

Yogthos (npub1n3s…q9zv)

Finland has, after all, bitter experience of Russia redrawing ...

2025-10-20T09:28:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…tpvj
_________________________

Finland has, after all, bitter experience of Russia redrawing lines.

In the 1980s, a whole generation of children in the UK were ...

2025-10-16T06:58:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…x5rp
_________________________

In the 1980s, a whole generation of children in the UK were taught at least some programming on BBC Micros.

"Crypto is my second bubble concern. It’s a classic Ponzi ...

2025-10-14T09:43:45Z

"Crypto is my second bubble concern. It’s a classic Ponzi scheme. It’s growing because investors believe other investors will keep buying it. And like #AI, crypto’s meteoric growth has also been powered largely by the ultra-wealthy. (Trump and his family are said to have made $5 billion off it so far.)" -- Robert Reich (npub1xjw…3c9q)

#Bitcoin
#Crypto
#Kleptocracy

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/beware-the-oligarchs-ai-bubble?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon

It's not that our politicians don't know what's ...

2025-10-07T06:26:09Z

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 industry, the car industry, and the armaments industry.

They do not care what happens ten years ahead: five is as far as they can see.

#ClimateEmergency
#Corruption

https://theconversation.com/we-surveyed-british-mps-most-dont-know-how-urgent-climate-action-is-266703

Today I had to go to the dentist, to have a filling replaced. My ...

2025-10-02T18:32:22Z

Today I had to go to the dentist, to have a filling replaced. My dentist is a small young woman from Glasgow, very competent, who chats cheerily through the whole procedure.

But I was thinking of Nouran 🍉 (npub1tqc…gqzq) , a poet from #Gaza who wants to be a dentist, and whose home was bombed yesterday, killing many members of her family.

Please help her if you can.

https://chuffed.org/project/121561-urgent-help-for-ahmads-family

We live in a world in which a person who says "I will always ...

2025-10-02T06:44:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…2mll
_________________________

We live in a world in which a person who says "I will always be a friend of [a state actively committing #Genocide]" is not only not arrested, not only not expelled from Parliament and from her political party, but is allowed to hold the second highest political office in a country which considers itself 'civilised'.

#GazaGenocide

https://www.thenational.scot/news/25510910.rachel-reeves-says-will-always-friend-israel/

As long as there are fascists, there should, must, and will ...

2025-09-30T06:13:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…yfcy
_________________________

As long as there are fascists, there *should*, *must*, and *will* be anti-fascists.

The time to lay the banners down will be when the threat is entirely gone -- not until.

#Antifa
#AntiFascism

there will be abandoned data centres, for which there will really ...

2025-09-28T15:08:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…dkxp
_________________________

there will be abandoned data centres, for which there will really be no economic use. One of then will be, allegedly, as big as Manhatten. That's an awful lot of ruined agricultural land, before you start thinking of all the wasted steel and concrete.

The upside? Fancy gaming rigs for nerds will suddenly get a lot cheaper.

"the #AI bubble is driven by monopolists who've conquered ...

2025-09-28T14:44:45Z

"the #AI bubble is driven by monopolists who've conquered their markets and have no more growth potential, who are desperate to convince investors that they can continue to grow by moving into some other sector...

when the bubble bursts, the money-hemorrhaging "foundation models" will be shut off and we'll lose the AI that can't do your job, and you will be long gone" — Cory Doctorow (npub1fdr…lvhs)

#LLMs

https://pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/econopocalypse/#subprime-intelligence

I'm going to introduce a new to me concept: #enfascisisation, ...

2025-09-20T22:22:55Z

I'm going to introduce a new to me concept: #enfascisisation, to rhyme, rather bitterly, with Cory Doctorow (npub1fdr…lvhs)'s #enshittification.

Enfascisisation is the process of making a society more vulnerable to #fascism, especially by spreading the belief that the triumph of fascism is inevitable. Thus when the #BBC asks Starmer whether he's happy for his daughter to walk past an asylum hostel, one could say "the BBC is engaged in enfascisisation".

You have direct experience of such a society, whereas all I have ...

2025-09-20T11:32:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…dqzk
_________________________

You have direct experience of such a society, whereas all I have is (largely hostile) propaganda about them; so I'll defer to you on this.

But revolutions are often -- usually? -- captured by the most ...

2025-09-20T11:01:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…feld
_________________________

But revolutions are often -- usually? -- captured by the most ruthless and the most corrupt. When social institutions completely collapse, bad actors flourish.

We must seek to act, I think, when established institutions have passed their yield point -- which it seems to me they have now, at least in the UK -- but before they catastrophically fail.

and I realise that to bring about much needed social change, ...

2025-09-20T10:31:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…quts
_________________________

and I realise that to bring about much needed social change, it's not sufficient to 'show and tell' people how a better society that can benefit the 99% can be created, while the vast majority of the information those people consume continues to come through channels controlled by the 1%, who do not want that better society and spread propaganda against it.

I'm feeling depressed and defeated at present.

This collides with something happening in my own life just now. I ...

2025-09-20T10:28:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…ryal
_________________________

This collides with something happening in my own life just now. I have spent a lot of effort over the past year trying through the official constitutional mechanisms to propose social solutions to the very severe housing crisis we are experiencing locally; and I am coming to the realisation that I have been completely outmanoeuvred by comfortable middle class homeowners who find the existing situation suits them well.

Continued >>>

This is very true. I find it hard to mourn the collapse of ...

2025-09-20T10:23:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…p0yx
_________________________

This is very true. I find it hard to mourn the collapse of neoliberalism, yet I acknowledge that what follows is almost certain to be worse.

I read a piece by George Monbiot this morning in which he wrote

"I finally saw the bleeding obvious: you cannot speak truth to power if power controls your words"

Continued >>>

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/20/journalist-40-years-forces-profession-power

No, that's not right, @npub1n3s…q9zv . We're not ...

2025-09-20T10:05:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…ujk6
_________________________

No, that's not right, Yogthos (npub1n3s…q9zv) .

We're not smiling.

If the English Arts Council have any balls at all, they will pay ...

2025-09-10T09:37:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…zyf8
_________________________

If the English Arts Council have any balls at all, they will pay Banksy to paint it right back in exactly the same place, and apply to the court for an injunction to prevent further vandalism of a public artwork.

#RightToProtest

I've stopped reading books much in the last five years, ...

2025-09-05T07:12:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…epdx
_________________________

I've stopped reading books much in the last five years, having been an avid reader most of my life. I don't know why. It's partly having to wear glasses, making it harder to read in bed, but I think it's partly also too many distractions and failing attention span.

There is no one who is not an 'immigrant' here. Humans ...

2025-09-01T08:09:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…99h5
_________________________

There is no one who is not an 'immigrant' here. Humans are not indigenous to Britain, we're all descended from Africans. The Anglo Saxons, in particular, are relative newcomers, but even the Celts have not been here much longer.

#RefugeesAreWelcomeHere

Well, there were problems in my trigonometry functions. But I ...

2025-08-30T15:19:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…pnc8
_________________________

Well, there *were* problems in my trigonometry functions. But I spent a lot of time hunting bugs in them that weren't there. It turns out the real bug was in my tree algorithm: I wasn't backtracking correctly.

However, this now works, and you may play with it if you wish.

#Scittle
#Clojure
#Lisp

https://git.journeyman.cc/simon/tittleZ

This isn't wholly fixed -- I still can't draw trees, ...

2025-08-30T11:57:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…x8cr
_________________________

This isn't wholly fixed -- I still can't draw trees, something is going wrong when I'm backing up -- but this is beginning to look good!

Tittle: Turtles in #Clojure #Scittle

https://www.journeyman.cc/~simon/tmp/