Quixoticgeek @quixoticgeek@v.st

@doop @quixoticgeek

shortbread coated in chocolate? 20% VAT

millionaire’s shortbread coated in caramel and chocolate? 0% VAT

@quixoticgeek @fanf see, I do get the logic with Jaffa cakes themselves (biscuits kept in the same tin as them will go soft, so they can’t be biscuits), it’s the idea that cakes are essential but biscuits are luxuries that I never quite understood.

Regarding some fishing by the UK media for people to share experiences about (DIY) HRT that has been making the rounds, I'm repeating something I posted on Bluesky.

Do not engage with Susanna Rustin on any topic, especially those related to being trans or trans healthcare.

The material she's written in The Guardian, the paper most at the vanguard of stirring anti-trans sentiment in the centre left, is not friendly, fair or objective regarding us.

12yo son has #scoliosis and just got measured for his brace. As a family we have zero experience with this. Any advice or words of wisdom would be appreciated. Thanks #fedi

I just noticed the depiction of St George on today's Google search page.

Such a fine figure of British manliness!

I have to wonder what the Y*xl*y-L*nn*n crowd think of him now.

omg so big marshmallows that are sold for roasting are ingredients therefore get 0% VAT

and small marshmallows that are sold for baking are also ingredients therefore get 0% VAT

but medium sized marshmallows are just right for HMRC because they are sweeties and get 20% VAT

https://www.bgm.co.uk/insight/news/the-marshmallow-paradox-vat-or-no-vat
https://mastodon.flooey.org/@generalising/112322050845028555

For the #London and #UK crew:

Never talk to cops, journos or anything in between.

At some point in the next several years, as climate and environmental crises continue to worsen, it’s nearly certain that our capitalist rulers will look at all the problems caused by technology and industry — and then attempt to fix them with even *more* technology and industry, specifically with geoengineering.🤦‍♂️
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As nearly every climate indicator grows increasingly dire, calls for extreme technological fixes get louder. However, study after study finds that taking a gamble on forced geoengineering comes with its own dangerous risks.

New research warns that if we inject sulfate particles into the atmosphere to attempt to reflect sunlight and mimic the cooling effects of volcanic eruptions and they don't end up in the right position, they could cause further warming and even worse climate anomalies than burning greenhouse gases as usual.

"We found that some detrimental effects of this injection are of a similar magnitude to those from climate change itself in some regions," ETH Zürich atmospheric scientist Elia Wunderlin and colleagues write in their paper.

Their findings add to a growing list of research highlighting the risks of forced geoengineering, which include losing more of the ozone layer, changing global rain patterns, and further disruptions to ecological systems.

Alternatively, one type of geoengineering poses far less risk and guarantees benefits. Restoring native ecosystems has massive potential to help stabilize our climate without introducing such extreme risks and unknowns.

However, despite being a much surer and safer bet, this option doesn't appear to attract nearly as much attention, fanfare, or funding.

Regardless of future strategies, transitioning away from fossil fuels is essential to addressing our climate situation. Meanwhile, usage continues to rise, and corporations receiving public funding are making record profits.
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FULL STORY -- https://www.sciencealert.com/injecting-sulfur-into-the-atmosphere-could-pose-dangerous-risks

#Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

The Debian model is extremely tempting - if you go to all that effort to ensure that inter-release upgrades work, point releases are probably no problem at all for the end user. But it also results in massive amounts of additional complexity that maintainers have to deal with, especially over major transitions (such as the current migration to 64-bit time_t)

Update to the AWS service terms: they suddenly don’t want you to attempt to reproduce their AI service training data.

What’s the training data, @AWScloud, and why are you suddenly getting religion on this particular point?

The Tories are now too right wing for the BMA…
https://mastodon.social/@JorisBohnsonPM/112315380520449126

Via Morgan McKay:

#TrumpTrial Court Conditions:

- There is no food or coffee allowed inside ctrm, means reporters have not eaten or had anything to drink (unless they brought water bottle) since 8:30 am- it's 2:30 pm

-No cellphones or reading material allowed
- Bathroom brks are ~5 min for 20 reporters
- Reporters are confined to ctrm: not allowed to get up, talk to ea other (besides quick whispers) or check phones til floor is cleared - for ex court broke at 2 but still inside the courtroom

(comic) You should work long hours too! https://workchronicles.substack.com/p/comic-you-should-work-long-hours

How much space should you give fungi?

As mushroom as possible.

Just checked and yes, the screen reader is still broken in Fedora 40. (Cannot be controlled; keyboard shortcuts/modifier key doesn’t work.)

So this is yet another release where the screen reader is broken by default.

It’s amazing to me that this is not a showstopper.

#accessibility #a11y #fedora40 #fedora #linux

Sky over Athens this evening : not a filter, real color of the sky due to sand storm : “Apocalypse Now” & Acropolis #SEE #SEE-12 plus local news : https://greekcitytimes.com/2024/04/24/kythera-struck-by-apocalyptic-sahara-dust-storm/

Transgender and non-binary human beings have always existed and always will. A disagreement with this fact is a threat of annihilation and should be treated as such. Do not be polite with those who are so cavalier about eliminationist dogma.

If you can't get on board with what I just said, you're no ally. TERF ideology is inherently pro-genocide and pro-Nazi. It requires believers to deny an entire chapter of Nazi Germany's mass slaughters. Do not support those who traffic this hate in any capacity. Ever.

Reminder: Amazon and Space X are fighting in court to have the NLRB declared unconstitutional.

This means the two richest men on earth want to dismantle the agency that holds them accountable for union busting.

Today is an important anniversary.

73 years ago, on April 23, 1951, in Farmville, VA, Barbara Johns led a walkout of her segregated high school to protest the unfair and deplorable conditions of her school.

What?! You don’t know who Barbara Johns was?

She led her walkout more than 4 years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, and before MLK, Jr. embraced nonviolence as the way to equality.

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