Simon Brooke

Anarcho-syndicalist, autistic, crofter, cyclist, depressive, entrepreneur, geek, Zapatista. Politics & environment, especially #LandReform. he/him.

Twitter: @simon_brooke
GitHub: simon-brooke
FetLife: Simon_Brooke

Credo: Life is harsh. What we can do - and what we should do - is strive to make it less harsh for the people around us.

Addendum: you would not deliberately block a wheelchair ramp. Do not post images to social media without alt text.

Public Key

npub15gce8rm6vfqmjj5438c3r0tahv9hemsvdzppc0mwvddk3r7stt4qg40scz

NIP-05 Address

simon_brooke_at_mastodon.scot@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs2yvvn3aaxysdef22cnug3h47mkzmuacxx3qsu8ahxxkmg3lg946spz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qfydc77

Publishing to

relay.mostr.pub

Author Public Key

npub15gce8rm6vfqmjj5438c3r0tahv9hemsvdzppc0mwvddk3r7stt4qg40scz

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Last Notes

2024-09-08 08:24:37

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@npub19lt…qfjk If you were trapped in a carceral institution like that, you'd probably make angry and grumpy noises, too.

2024-09-08 06:48:30

"Our analysis shows that questionable and potentially manipulative GPT-fabricated papers permeate the research infrastructure and are likely to become a widespread phenomenon"
#LLMs
#StochasticParrots
#AcademicFraud
https://misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/gpt-fabricated-scientific-papers-on-google-scholar-key-features-spread-and-implications-for-preempting-evidence-manipulation/

2024-09-07 13:26:45

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@npub16u7…uend OK, granted Iceland has plenty of geothermal energy so this isn't exactly rare, but isn't it nevertheless an asset rather than a liability?

2024-08-26 06:39:54

"But imagine what would happen if we played this game with real people: Some of the wealthy players would inevitably argue that they deserve to be rich because they're better at guessing the result of a coin flip" -- Alvin Chang
https://pudding.cool/2022/12/yard-sale/

2024-08-19 21:36:23

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@npub19lt…qfjk Actually, if you include the Open Graph metatags in your page, Mastodon makes quite a good job.
https://ogp.me/

2024-08-16 13:44:03

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@npub1v5a…5yax I would never dare to criticise your daughters.

2024-08-16 12:03:40

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@npub1v5a…5yax much better analysis than I have from my system!

2024-08-10 08:44:27

Liberal commentators on #Fascist-owned social media platforms, bewailing the rise of the far right, and wondering what has caused it.
Bizarre.

2024-07-29 10:55:50

The thing to understand about #Generative Artificial Intelligence is that it generates nothing and isn't intelligent.
But it isn't entirely a lie: the "artificial" part is true.
#GenerativeAI

2024-07-28 14:15:01

"But there are things that only veterans of the childless cat lady wars can know. They used to call us witches because we knew shit. We still do. That’s what makes us so powerful. And dangerous" -- Carole Cadwalladr
#Misogyny
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/27/misogyny-emergency-huge-outpouring-kamala-harris-us-electionction

2024-07-28 11:26:15

"on the plus side, now you can sit on the terrace of your holiday let and watch ecosystems collapse in real time"
#Ecocide
#PolyCrisis
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/28/the-end-is-nigh-for-insects-bats-protest-the-planet

2024-07-22 21:19:29

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@npub1d4h…2ta7 There's trust left in the UK. It's still a civilised country, although that is declining.

2024-07-08 08:08:48

I'm looking for detailed analysis of the exit poll. Five years ago I could ask Google and I'd get right to the data immediately. Now, all Google will offer is fluff and trivia from tabloids.
Anyone know where I can get a summary the actual data? I want to know what voters' motivations for voting for each party where
#GeneralElectionUK
#ArtificialStupidity

2024-07-08 05:21:35

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@npub1hpc…hjn3 And this is why the point to attack is the concept of property. Once the right to absolute property is conceded, tyranny inevitably follows.

2024-07-05 13:28:31

OK, the first thing to say about #GeneralElectionUK 2024 is this: #Labour lost, and lost badly. They lost, in fact, HALF A MILLION VOTES compared to their 2019 result.
All the major parties, including the #LibDems, lost. Labour just lost less badly than either the #Conservatives or the #SNP.
#UKPol
#ScotPol
https://media.mastodon.scot/media_attachments/files/112/734/098/155/535/840/original/1aecb9fa5678b666.png

2024-07-03 21:09:46

#Labour planning to mortgage public capital projects to vulture capitalists AGAIN?
H/t @npub1ke2…wvwj
https://youtu.be/BzgSf-hTKmY

2024-07-03 08:08:53

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@npub19lt…qfjk That's our house, that is: the house of commons, and we're common. And we common people get to choose what we wear in our house.
The gents in suits have their own house at the other end of the corridor.

2024-07-02 08:10:16

Tactical voting aggregator here.
#GeneralElectionUK
https://inglesp.github.io/apogee/tactical-voting/

2024-06-17 07:43:21

"The hundreds of thousands of pounds paid in bonuses to the bosses of Severn Trent and South West Water’s parent company, despite the companies pumping sewage into Britain’s rivers, seems a textbook example of rent-seeking by oligopolistic capital"
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/12/the-guardian-view-on-water-privatisation-end-an-experiment-that-has-failed

2024-06-16 16:13:13

"One of the most popular people-killing tools out there is an AR15, which is a massacre weapon. I call it a "massacre weapon" because massacre is what it is designed to do, which is why it is very popular with people who decide that massacre is the solution to their problems"
Also truth.
https://www.the-reframe.com/cruel-luxuries/

2024-06-16 07:11:21

"Many of the scientists envisage a “semi-dystopian” future, with famines, conflicts and mass migration, driven by heatwaves, wildfires, floods and storms of an intensity and frequency far beyond those that have already struck"
This is not a distant future. This is within the lifetime of people now adult. We need to change course right now.
#ClimateEmergency
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/08/world-scientists-climate-failure-survey-global-temperature

2024-06-15 07:44:20

I'm beginning to make notes for an essay evaluating Margaret #Thatcher's historical legacy; it's my thesis that every single thing wrong with Britain today can be traced directly back to her.
Can anyone think of single thing which she did which has had, in the long term, beneficial consequences?
#UKPol

2024-06-13 21:05:42

I've been doing a lot of reading over the past week about 3d physics engines for #GameDev, and how to make them perform on modern multicore hardware; and I'm increasingly wondering why people are not trying pure #functional physics engines, which *should* parallelise much more cleanly. The only one I can find is this in #Haskell:
https://github.com/sebcrozet/falling3d
Does anyone have any other pointers? I'd be particularly interested in anything in #Lisp or #Clojure

2024-06-12 10:57:23

My meadows are bright with wildflowers at this time of year -- as they should be, maintaining a species-rich native herbage is the main thing I'm farming for. But on a bright day in summer there are damned few bees -- far too few to pollinate all these flowers.
The world is dying, and the loss of pollinators worries me almost as much as the #ClimateEmergency.
#Ecocide
#PolyCrisis

2024-06-06 22:15:51

"the last thing party managers want is bolshy back benchers, They want a quiet life. They want a party which appears disciplined, and united. So they select for people who don't have strong opinions. They select for people who don't have strong principles, robust consciences. For people who are not deep thinkers. And, the thing is, they've (now) been doing this for generations"
#UKPol
#GeneralElectionUK
https://www.journeyman.cc/blog/posts-output/2024-06-06-the-triumph-of-the-mediocracy/

2024-06-05 04:04:59

It is not possible that an attack on the generators of a hospital is accidental. It is not possible that it is "collateral damage". This is yet more evidence of a systematic policy of destruction of health facilities by #Israel in #Gaza. It is a #WarCrime in itself and a contribution to #Genocide.
This cannot be tolerated; there must be prosecution of all decision makers in the chain of command, with deterrent sanctions on conviction.
https://aje.io/l1r9sg?update=2951706

2024-06-04 06:38:38

If you're saying that #Trans people cannot use lavatories of their legally assigned and recognised gender, you're essentially saying they cannot safely use lavatories in public places at all. Which means you're saying that they cannot travel, and cannot exist in the public realm. Which means you're also saying that that legal recognition is meaningless and worthless.
Trans people are our brothers and sisters, our comrades. Is this really the world we want to build for them?

2024-05-29 04:37:37

Lesley Riddoch here arguing, essentially, that we all have to bite our tongues, haud oor whischt, and vote #SNP, because "they're the only parliamentary route to #ScottishIndependence. I count Lesley as a friend and as someone I greatly respect, but I think she's wrong here: there is no longer a parliamentary path to independence.
The Lesley Riddoch Podcast: Campaign Pains
Episode webpage: https://share.transistor.fm/s/981581dc
Media file: https://media.transistor.fm/981581dc/601cf266.mp3

2024-05-28 05:53:38

Destroying the planet we live on -- the only planet we can live on -- is of course totally legal and even supported and subsidised by governments around the world (including #Scotland's).
But PROTESTING against destroying the planet? That's illegal. That's very, very illegal. Don't even think about doing that.
#ClimateEmergency
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/23/alarm-as-german-climate-activists-charged-with-forming-a-criminal-organisation

2024-05-26 09:47:44

"This leads us straight back to the original conversation about “Man or Bear,” which has nothing to do with bears. (Sorry, bears!)"
https://bikepacking.com/plog/man-or-bear-debate/

2023-12-27 11:28:07

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@npub10z2…wt9g what counts as "active" on your metrics? I note that only about 10% of accounts are reported by you as "active", which seems disappointing.

2023-08-14 19:36:48

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@npub1qqz…t6ge See, this happens. I have real trouble, sometimes, sorting out which things that I clearly remember occurred in dreams or when hallucinating.
But... my hat? Why my hat?

2023-08-14 14:45:23

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@npub1t39…p7ef mine is without. My monitor has multiple inputs, and reliably recognises which one at any given time actually has a signal.

2023-08-14 11:15:38

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@npub1t39…p7ef USB based KVMs are simple and cheap (and work).

2023-08-14 11:14:44

One of the inevitable consequences of living with long term madness is that my memory, and consequently my knowledge, isn't very reliable. But most of the time I believe that at least the areas of my knowledge which may be unreliable should be predictable.
Today I was cleaning under my bed, and I found a favourite hat. I remember exactly where I was when I lost that hat. It was a long way from here.
This is very jarring.

2023-08-12 22:08:40

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@npub1nca…7f70 Thank him from me!

2023-08-12 20:51:01

How about an extra 5% VAT on all good sold in mixed-materials packaging?
How about an extra 5% VAT on all good sold in non-recyclable packaging?
How about an extra 5% VAT on all goods sold in non-standard bottles and jars?
How about an extra 5% VAT on all goods sold with labels stuck on with non-water-soluble glue?
So that's an extra 20% for non-recyclable mixed-material non-standard bottles with bastard glued on labels...
Packaging would get sorted QUICK.