Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK

https://social.tchncs.de/@vfrmedia

Old roaming Tom Cat (zwerfkater) but still young at heart. Toots EN, (NL,FR,DE). #DevOpa - interested more in retro tech / culture / aesthetics than new stuff. Also transport and public infrastructure in general (with a UK/European focus)

Welcome to the secret goose shed!

Avatar is a tabby point Siamese cat - header picture is a Stentor FM radio transmitter designed in the Netherlands; popular with small pirate radio broadcasters in late 1980s

pronouns EN : NL: he/him : hij/hem
pronouns DE : FR: er/ihm : il/lui
alt:: https://cyberpunk.lol/@vfrmedia

Public Key

npub1dl644u43vqez77lfde56axyjcnhnpmjgc9838l6a4qx8unlz0uasp7jqx6

NIP-05 Address

vfrmedia_at_social.tchncs.de@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsxla2672ckqv30005ku6dwnzfvfmesaeyvzncnlaw6srr7fl387wcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dstvyed5

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1dl644u43vqez77lfde56axyjcnhnpmjgc9838l6a4qx8unlz0uasp7jqx6

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Last Notes

2026-06-12 18:46:34 UTC

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they may not be related, (George Hersee only had two daughters and not a son (who would be the right sort of age) but he turns up towards the end of this web page as a young trainee.
He's now retired / doing freelance work and living in Ipswich (I might check if anyone at the community radio station might know him)
http://tech-ops.co.uk/next/roger-bunces-behind-the-scenes-glimpses/

2026-05-07 19:22:44 UTC

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I can slowly understand written Danish by translating it into Dutch, but found some free content from DR and tried to understand that and realised - gosh, folk there add stuff like å æ ø (I like ø, which appears in some Dutch dialects and I think should be included in Scots as well) - but they also seem to leave out all the consonants 😁

2026-05-04 19:10:48 UTC

German girls *do* make passes at men who wear #glasses 😁
#Brille #Schlager #1970s #NRW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ezy3wVkCbg

2026-05-01 18:00:17 UTC

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folk from Britain have actually complained to Yorkshire Tea for using "foreign tea that wasn't actually grown in Yorkshire"

2026-04-17 23:23:45 UTC

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I deliberately collect dead tree books about cars (going back to 20th century, although I have a few more modern ones) and magazines published by reputable sources, and keep an eye on forums where there are real humans, as otherwise there is so much dubious AI-generated info around about car-maintenance (the worst part is its often 80% correct, but getting the other 20% right is *important*)

2026-04-14 20:09:52 UTC

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it might not be /immediate/ priority, but I'm Asian and food is *important* in our culture (if I were to spend any time in Sweden I'd want to know all the vocabulary for food, both local and Asian) 😁

2026-04-14 20:03:47 UTC

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if you've got Asian friends who maybe recently arrived and are learning Swedish they might want the cookbooks (even if they aren't planning on following the recipes as they've got better ones of their own, it would help learning the words for the ingredients..)

2026-04-13 15:00:37 UTC

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangqi

2026-04-12 19:41:31 UTC

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I was a small boy when they happened and vaguely knew about them and it was a reason *why* the EEC/EU was generally a good thing (as it was supposed to stop things like this happening too often) but didn't realise it had gone as far as live ordnance being discharged...

2026-04-12 15:46:46 UTC

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Metpol are flush with resources compared to other provincial constabularies - they can do this *and* nick the real criminals (for instance the same weekend they nicked the two lads who stabbed the rap video cameraman in Primrose hill)
Maybe the protestors should change tactics and hold the demos in provincial towns? Alas, I'm not sure though if the same level of support for them exists outside the big cities...

2026-04-12 15:03:41 UTC

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even in our lifetimes there have been conflicts over fishing rights in the North Sea, including firing of live rounds at ships from fellow EEC/EU nations as recently as the 1970s...

2026-04-09 00:14:00 UTC

RE: https://social.tchncs.de/@vfrmedia/209190
Slightly late to announce this but now 9 (nine) years on #Fediverse for me 😸
#note1h4f…ghzz

2026-04-05 17:16:26 UTC

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I think you have tech-related interests and hobbies, but what you put together tends to be considered "shadow IT" in the industry (even though its now more widely used).
I suspect a lot of those aged 50-70+ do now have greater tech skills than younger generations as they *had* to learn a bit more about how the computer works (such as file and directory structures) and until 1990s computers with GUI weren't that commonplace..

2026-04-05 16:43:32 UTC

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By and large modern Mastodon / Fediverse *is* a welcoming and diverse place.
There have been historical issues with lack of timely moderation, ongoing issues about reply controls and a long standing problem that parts of Fediverse are run by edgelords that had already been yeeted from just about everywhere else (even corporate socials) and they actively try to disrupt things, but its endured this and even attracted interesting segments of folk such as older adults (age 60-70+) who are *not* all tech focused.
What is generally unpopular here is any kind of "hustle" or tech/AI bro culture (no matter who it is from), and those who push it too hard can end up being chased off to the sound of Yakety Sax 😁

2026-04-05 12:55:48 UTC

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I think its George Takei's social media team rather than him directly, but one thing I've noticed since 2017 is whilst I was initially one of the oldest on my Fedi group, now there are *many* folk on Fedi easily old enough to be my parents (and I'm 54!) and a lot who aren't from tech backgrounds, which shows the network has become accessible and usable for older people..

2026-03-22 22:19:55 UTC

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some slight strangeness on #LinuxMint 22.3, #XFCE desktop - today #Anydesk let me log in but password entry field unresponsive - checking PC directly showed the num lock was working but keyboard wouldn't type any numbers. PC was also still on network (but no SSH as its not there out of the box and I hadn't installed it yet!)
Had to press power button, PC came back up with lockscreen (not full Linux startup) and password so likely something to do with a power saving / resume setting - clearly the PC hadn't fully crashed as all the photos I had uploaded to Dropbox (from another machine on the network) had been picked up by the client..
I(how do you change this on #XFCE ? )

2026-03-21 02:54:34 UTC

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Left #LinuxMint PC switched on overnight again with both browsers open (but fewer tabs, just #MS365 on #Edge , a terminal window and two large PDFs (a scanned copy of 1981 Handbuch für Fernmeldehandwerker (training books from DBP-Telekom) and a draft of what appears to be a University textbook (in German) about VOIP (which seems to have a better explanation about how SIP works than many English texts!).
Everything remained stable, including the Dropbox client and even the Mastodon tab left open on Firefox didn't go OOM - I suspect yesterdays crash may have been an outlier due to multiple things hammering the system (or possibly a commercial news site and the adblockers eating memory)

2026-03-19 22:02:16 UTC

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Went to the village shop to get some food and returned to find the PC fully locked up ( needed a power cycle to restart!)
I suspect this is more fault of #browsers with multiple tabs left open (there's an open issue for this on #Firefox) than any flaw with #LinuxMint itself, on top of websites being more bloated and #adtech scripts and #adblockers fighting one another.
Successfully installed #Anydesk on #Linux PC, so can access #XFCE desktop remotely from my Windows laptop (we use Anydesk a lot for remote support)

2026-03-19 19:55:14 UTC

Got smol SSD drive (250GB) and restarted #LinuxMint experiment (old #desktop was laggy using spinning rust) - this is actually now a usable PC!
Office #printer once again detected by #CUPS with driverless install, built in software handled printing a large graphics-intensive PDF well.
Both #Firefox and #Edge running without problems (only reason I have Edge on here is to test how well it works with if #MS365)
Only minor drawback is #Dropbox #Linux client wants to download entire Dropbox to the hard drive (which will fill it up very quickly), it doesn't have the "save hard drive space" functionality on #Windows
This would now be good enough to use as backup PC for general (non technical) office staff (many use web MS365 apps a lot more than desktop these days!)
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/116/257/416/566/029/976/original/8396c3db96c16c82.jpg
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2026-03-18 20:48:32 UTC

Some reporter (presumably American) seemed to be disappointed that #Banksy turns out to be a middle aged British man.
WTF did they expect him to be? Especially given all the cultural clues / influences in his art, and that the British Establishment haven't nicked him for criminal damage (which is what would happen to a younger person or one from a less privileged middle class background)
BTW have a look at these (don't worry if your French isn't that good, the dialogue is minimal) and you will see where he got the inspiration for a lot of his art as a young lad 😁
#TonyHart #art #UK
https://www.youtube.com/@declicvisionon7961/videos

2026-03-17 15:23:31 UTC

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I remember reading about a UK driving instructor in NW England mentioning how in the mid 2000s (when there was a lot of paranoia over terrorism), his candidate passed his driving test and said "Allah-u-Akhbar!" in celebration, a number of people at the test centre flinched and some even ducked (but not the instructor nor the examiner, both of whom had had cultural awareness training)

2026-03-13 19:13:12 UTC

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Now the other two are ported - all the #analogue #trunks are ceased and all traffic to and from the #PSTN from this #PBX is now #VOIP (using #PJSIP trunks on #FreePBX )
I disconnected all the analogue lines as #Openreach leave battery on them, that way they show as RED alarm on #Asterisk and won't be selected for any calls (worst case is they return a busy trunk status and the route will go to the next trunk, but I've taken away all the analogue circuits from every PSTN route)
#Telecoms #Telephony
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/116/223/233/993/452/625/original/4e285fc35af73ec9.jpg

2026-03-12 19:08:47 UTC

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the constabularies are losing officers even during probation (having spent a fuckton of taxpayers money training them) as many are quitting due to considering policing "too woke" (the other worrying thing is what happens to these men *after* they quit the job, its not as if they disappear in to thin air)

2026-03-07 21:05:31 UTC

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they probably got sold on Ebay and are now ridden by your local "roadman" (young drug dealer), they are fast and have no registration mark so ideal for this sort of activity...

2026-03-07 21:04:24 UTC

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I went 30 years in my life without owning or needing a car, then the last recession meant I had to leave SE England for East Anglia (which is geographically large and car-dependent) and finally got my driving licence and first car in 2019, at age 47.
I still remember passing my test and the examiner sheepishly handing me a "First Car" magazine along with my pass certificate which was clearly aimed at those 17-25 and had YouTubers, rappers etc in it (as well as propaganda for insurance spy boxes), I could barely keep a straight face 😁

2026-03-07 20:59:55 UTC

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I've already lived though a couple of recessions in UK where folk were forced onto bikes/public transport - I didn't even have a car myself then and rode a bicycle everywhere, but I could tell that those who were doing it out of necessity rather than choice were thoroughly miserable, angry and often rode badly and aggressively..

2026-03-02 20:07:02 UTC

Although its claimed that #cats don't #meow to each other, I saw and heard today the #tomcat from across the street (who hangs out with the other cats round here) enter the yard, sit down and give a single meow in the direction of where the other yard cats come from.
It wasn't the typical call tomcats make when calling for females, it sounded more like he was simply letting the other cats know he was around (like humans would send a text or similar message) - I've been watching these cats for years now and it definitely seemed like inter-cat #communication
#AnimalBehaviour #wildlife

2026-03-01 18:30:12 UTC

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I saw a quote from President Eisenhower about this a few days ago - hardly the most "woke" of presidents either.
I remember about 15 years ago telling some lads who had been playing a 3D computer wargame about the Cold War how that when I grew up in 1980s we *could* have had all those 3D graphics cards but all the best tech was instead diverted to the military industrial complex because of the *real* Cold War (the same happened with telecoms, which delayed civillians getting the Internet until 1990s).
This is all starting to happen once again..

2026-02-25 17:24:08 UTC

One (1) #telephone number successfully ported to #VOIP, one more left to go (there's 2 pairs for main and aux line, provisioned on same number but those will go to 3 channel #SIP trunk)
For some reason #Openreach have left battery on the pair (I would have thought they would want to recover capacity on the line card and it would just go dis, as there are still going to be a handful of customers remaining on #PSTN circuits.
I thought a lot of "analogue" trunks these days were literally just a SIP ATA connected to the copper pair at the Telephone Exchange (or from a street cabinet) but it looks like Openreach really are getting the last out of the old #SystemX kit!
There is no dialtone or even NU tone, just some noise..
#Telecoms #Telephony
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/116/132/317/841/530/889/original/a1e9308c15fa8ed4.jpg
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/116/132/324/593/086/817/original/e5a3851cde046fcf.jpg

2026-02-05 19:57:47 UTC

"We guarantee to make any bag air tight that is not actually burst" (this should be read in a #Scottish accent)
#Bagpipe #Doedelzak #Düdelsack #Scotland
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/116/019/778/761/240/350/original/fcf2c252d56f5431.png

2026-02-03 23:28:13 UTC

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https://social.tchncs.de/@vfrmedia/114966840070642784
#note1qfh…hwkn

2026-01-29 17:23:19 UTC

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even the cat is not impressed by all those RAM errors 😸

2026-01-26 13:55:54 UTC

This is bad - its not even that the #Police have been sitting on their arses in #Sheffield but they have lost a local officer who kept an eye on the streets, and there seems to be a repeating problem with angry men across this part of #Yorkshire deliberately intimidating female owners of "woke" businesses (I suspect either they daren't target the shops run by Desi lads who will fight their corner, or these shops have already been priced out of the market in that street?)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdx4rk5zy37o

2026-01-18 04:15:19 UTC

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Alas: black paint on the clasp still gets scratched up easily (weak point of #design, its always going to be metal on metal contact and #Filofax is shaken about in bags during travelling (especially on Britain's roads!).
I sanded and polished it to bare metal, other than black dot in the middle and paint on sides (other bit probably doesnt go all the way down into the hole), which fits in with brushed metal of slimline #fountainpen (a cheap Chinese one from a set of 3) in pen holder
I'm toying with the idea of swapping all my daily stuff into the Wellington rather than my somewhat battle scarred #leather Winchester, but that has some sentimental value as its been with me since early 1990s and on all sorts of adventures when I was a younger man with way more of an IRL social life!
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/115/914/118/234/822/869/original/6d51e01691ce511a.jpeg
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/115/914/120/493/395/193/original/197cebc24935168d.jpeg
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/115/914/122/016/794/943/original/10c4d59e7e0633ac.jpeg

2026-01-17 23:27:38 UTC

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have a look here, its possible a good portion of pet cats in Scotland already have some wildcat genes (I've already seen a picture of one hybrid that a lass in Dumfries and Galloway took in - unfortunately I can't find the digital picture as it was 20 years ago but he definitely had the broad tail and other attributs of a wildcat and she said he was a good cat and coexisted peacefully with other cats, dogs and humans (but was very protective to the family group and would see off anyone he didn't like the look of!)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159125003041?via%3Dihub

2026-01-17 04:02:15 UTC

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Unusually for any #Filofax of that era, it has a #magnetic clasp rather than a snap fastener (as is now common on mobile phone cases) - black paint on this was worn off so I resprayed it as I already had the part used rattle can from repainting the centre caps for my alloy wheels.
I wonder how many people here can work out *why* this particular variant, in spite of being robust (more so than fake or real #leather) and fitting in perfectly with late #1980s #aesthetics and #design may not have been that popular back in the day (its a rare find second hand, although possible some folk have held on to theirs as they are durable)
What mishap could befall someone using one, as offices started becoming more high tech?😉
#reuse #vintage
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/115/908/416/119/620/930/original/8a47b0535edb678e.jpeg
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2026-01-17 03:53:36 UTC

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Cleaned up the #Filofax binder with same stuff used for car interiors (its very similar material) and a detailing brush, it looks a lot better now
#1980s #reuse
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/115/908/397/700/795/709/original/434020128dc913a0.jpeg
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2026-01-17 03:48:25 UTC

Snagged one (1) #Filofax from 1987, less common Wellington which as name suggests is made from a rubber type material rather than #vinyl / #leather - when I saw it was red and black I had to get it as it matches the colour of my car - and I wanted it to store my car maintenance log / petrol diary (I'm keeping my Winchester for other day to day notes and plans as its been with me since 1992 when I got it at a reduced price from some random shop in Reading)
It came with 2004/2005 diaries, old Tube/Underground map (still showing Surrey Quays as Surrey Docks and missing the DLR!) and a ratty set of dividers, and needed a bit of cleaning
#1980s #vintage #reuse
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/115/908/348/778/126/612/original/02841332ed50b46c.jpeg
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2026-01-12 18:48:24 UTC

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the Netherlands also usually delivers all 3 phases of electricity even to smaller houses, with 230/400 volts - making high power home charging a lot more practical than in many other countries (even the UK, where you only get a single phase 230V supply in residential buildings and smaller businesses)

2026-01-11 18:26:10 UTC

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also I would have thought even ICE might baulk at shooting people in frog costumes as unless they are now available with concealed holsters its even more obvious that these folk aren't any threat, plus like masks it makes it very difficult to identify who the frogs are..

2026-01-01 22:37:25 UTC

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I hope the Greens can reword their transport policy in a way that doesn't totally water down the environmental aspects and continues to encourage EV adoption, whilst picking a realistic timescale for a full phaseout of ICE vehicles (2040, which was in their previous manifesto is way to soon, especially without massive *public* investment in charging infrastructure and the development of an aftermarket for EVs to the same level you have for ICE vehicles..)

2026-01-01 22:14:30 UTC

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it was happening 30+ years ago too, its just that people are more likely to involve the Police and Social Services in such incidents whereas previously it was sorted out "within the family" (in many cases by the parents simply responding with more violence, which might have already been a thing but ceases to work when/if the teenager becomes physically stronger than them which can easily happen in the early teens)

2026-01-01 18:57:08 UTC

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I think a lot of the hatred of London is envy that it does have a functional public transport system, even outside work hours (for instance my town has a fairly decent Council run bus service with a working app and real time tracking, but its not as good during evenings and weekends, and the outer suburbs only seem to have "office/school hours" services (and this is exactly what embeds car dependency into communities)

2026-01-01 18:44:55 UTC

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a lot of the bitterness is a completely irrational fear that Sadiq Khan could somehow extend ULEZ outside boundaries of Greater London / M25 (its politically and legally impossible!) or they work for some petit bourgeoisie business that was making money undercutting those within London and stubbornly refuse to change their shed of a diesel van for something compliant (there are plenty of vehicles which /are/ compliant and they don't eve nhave to be brand new!)
I collect various books on motoring, written by obvious car enthusiasts and those from /late 1960s/ onwards all advise *against* driving in London unless you really have to, and suggest taking the train is a better idea..

2026-01-01 18:34:36 UTC

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I was born in London and spent a lot of my life there.
I've not been back for about 20 years, but it is really not any worse than any surrounding provincial town, and I've been researching this for 30+ years.
The same violent crimes happen as much in Essex, Suffolk or Reading as in London, only on a smaller scale as there are fewer people in the same space but they are clearly driven more by #ToxicMasculinity rather than race/ethnicity.
it does seem there are fewer fatal road traffic collisions in London these days (at least those caused by bad driving rather than someone *deliberately* choosing to run someone over) - having a 20mph speed limit in many areas and actually enforcing it (as well as general traffic laws) does seem to have a positive effect..

2026-01-01 16:14:38 UTC

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my local newspaper website (mostly read by middle aged folk!) has two sponsored articles for online casinos (actually published as articles so the adblockers don't stop them), and a local radio station is dependent on online casinos for funding to the point I stopped listening (even though I really liked the music genres they played) - alas I think its the flipside of Europe becoming more "liberal"..

2025-12-30 01:07:18 UTC

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they burn this stuff at Thetford in Norfolk, England, where there is a whole entire forest of *new* fast-growing trees (which could surely provide the same fuel) just up the road!

2025-12-29 21:55:08 UTC

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Even in late 2000s when 3,5" disks were still sometimes encountered (we'd only recently stopped using them) I remember showing some younger colleagues (both of whom were interested in tech) a picture of a 5,25" disk - I may as well have waved dinosaur bones in the air and shouted "ug! ug! ug!" - none of them had ever seen such a thing in their lifetime..

2025-12-29 13:15:04 UTC

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it does at least seem that Beijing are trying to nudge both manufacturers and drivers away from vehicle bloat, although a 2000 kg car is already on the large size (my petrol car is only about 1400 kg).

2025-12-22 13:15:50 UTC

Bloody hell - a #canal in #Shropshire has been completely emptied by a #sinkhole - with boats aground in the empty channel, others in farmers fields and a few million litres of #water in the field.
Major incident has been declared with 50 firefighters deployed, thankfully no one has been hurt and water has been prevented from flooding the surrounding areas..
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2lvq0yk9dko

2025-12-16 20:28:44 UTC

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I wonder how many politicians from the Greens have a background in manual work or the skilled trades?
This IMO is the Achilles Heel of the Left - as there seem to be many more "traditional working class" folk flocking towards the right wing organisations such as Reform (or those further to the right)

2025-12-14 15:48:34 UTC

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A few sources are naming the man who ran into danger and saved others (despite being shot twice!) as Ahmed al-Ahmad, a Muslim citizen of Australia...

2025-12-09 16:33:57 UTC

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even a couple of years ago, just before Trumps second term a friend from NC said that he thought USA was going back to pre-1960s social and political attitudes..

2025-12-09 15:44:36 UTC

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I remember being taught about this in high school in 1980s (in the context of discussions of the USA civil rights struggle!)
Often the IED contained sharp metal and other shrapnel intended to injure whoever was under it, as USA light fittings were often operated by a pull cord on the lampholder (something you may have also see in older USA movies)

2025-12-08 15:42:38 UTC

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this is the actual advice from our consumer protection authorities and the anti-fraud unit of the Police in the UK...

2025-12-07 01:33:48 UTC

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before the dementia fully got to her (or maybe just as it was starting to increase and remove her inhibitions), Thatcho gave various news interviews where she openly admitted she regretted deregulating a lot of the UK's commercial media, as it allowed "too *much* freedom of expression" (particularly around the 1990s and 2000s)
Social conservatives have been trying to roll back the "permissive society" since it started in late 1960s, even before I was born..

2025-12-01 19:27:52 UTC

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Dacia Sandero is classed as a supermini / B segment, but in Europe there is one smaller size (the city car / A-segment), and superminis have grown in size in just last 10 years (for instance a VW Polo Typ AW isn't *that* much smaller than my Mk7 Golf)
I suspect its only fuel costs (on top of those of the vehicle itself) that keep the F-350 a rare sight on European roads (the only ones I could find in the UK were clearly imported as they are left hand drive). I am seeing more and more Rangers, mostly in the outer suburbs and semi-rural areas (they would be too unwieldy for the town)

2025-11-24 17:26:24 UTC

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I've found a lot of small businesses to be way sketchier than the larger chains and they are more likely to simply ignore things like health and safety regulations *until* something bad happens, whereas larger organisations at least have enough slack to allow staff to do things like inspect equipment, flag it for maintenance etc. They also have a more adversarial attitude to their customers when there are any customer service issues..

2025-11-23 15:38:15 UTC

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that would catch a *combined* household income of someone like a mechanic/builder whose partner is in health/social care (but not individual incomes).
What really does worry people outside the big cities (or if they are in occupations where driving is required, such as the two I just mentioned) is FUD being spread by the right wing about restrictions on motorists from "left" parties.
However if the Greens just kept the 2030-2035 ban on *new* ICE cars and pushed the full ban to around 2045-2050 this would easily combat it (and wouldn't even need massive upheaval as many ICE cars would not be still running by 2040/5 due to wear and tear and lack of spare parts availaibility)

2025-11-23 15:17:23 UTC

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one problem is "wealthy" nowadays doesn't always just mean millionaires, it includes your average petit bourgeoisie, particularly self-employed workers in the skilled trades who have done fairly well since the 1990s (particularly with regard to car ownership) and they get *extremely* paranoid about any type of political policy that might take this away from them (such as how the Greens may have scared off a lot of voters by going for a full ban on petrol/diesel cars by 2040, something they might have since u-turned on but haven't admitted to it yet)

2025-11-22 01:16:51 UTC

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I was intrigued by the last bit and its exactly as described (and that priest is playing surprisingly good underground techno)
https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/pope-priest-dj-cathedral-rave/

2025-11-21 16:57:24 UTC

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during the Cold War the security services in both Western and Soviet countries as well as some branches of domestic Police/security agencies were able to identify individual typewriters by irregularities in the text that were fractions of millimetres, but gave each machine its own individual signature - nowadays the yellow dots in computer printers are used for the same purpose, although slight variations in paper alignment and skewed print could also identify monochrome laser, inkjet and dot matrix printers..

2025-11-21 16:50:00 UTC

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at least all these things require physical access to either the office or at least the rubbish bins (so would require infilitrating the building maybe as a janitor) rather than todays infrastructure where it is often trivial to spy on someone remotely..

2025-11-21 16:45:34 UTC

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there are two kinds, the older reusable sort on the spools and the carbon transfer kind (often used with electric/electronic typewriters of the 1980s). This last one has a clear impression of the letters typed and organisations such as the UK Security Service (MI5) and GCHQ warned office staff to be very careful about the disposal of used typewriter ribbons..

2025-11-21 16:37:57 UTC

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there's still quite a demand for typewriters (even amongst younger folk who grew up with computers) and it might well increase as people get more and more concerned about the privacy of online services..

2025-11-05 00:52:15 UTC

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the FB story has been somewhat condensed/edited for clickbait value.
The full story is even better, she had even *more* pets/companions, also the fellow natural scientist and photographer Lech Wilczek moved nearby to the same set of cabins in the forests, initially carrying out seperate research but they got to know each other and eventually became romantic partners after bonding over the raising of a pet wild boar (I think it is this boar on the bed in the photo, rather than a wolf)
https://3seaseurope.com/simona-kossak-polish-veterinarian/

2025-11-03 20:29:42 UTC

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a basket of black rats would still be metal enough - although you might need to pick self coloured black variants of /rattus norvegicus/ rather than /rattus rattus/ (true black rats) as they are harder to keep as a pet...

2025-11-02 22:38:43 UTC

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there are *loads* of 30 something (and older) white men stabbing each other in East Anglia for relatively trivial reasons (love triangles, arguments over small sums of money), I read about cases like this every day in the news - the only reason this incident is "unusual" is that folk were randomly targeted on public transport and the high number of casualties - whilst the other stabbings with 1 or 2 victims only make the local news.
They don't go unpunished, the offender is quickly caught and often gets 20+ years, but nothing seems to be done to deal with the hidden level of violence and toxic masculinity in this region..

2025-10-22 10:15:22 UTC

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Thatcher destroyed 75% of the country for the short term benefit of the 25% in London, SE England and East Anglia.
Her policies did however increase private car ownership for those who could afford it (and even second and third cars for some families).
It is *this* that many folk don't want to give up and will openly support fascism / authoritarianism to keep (including the current popularity of Reform, many of them aren't even full on bigots but more paranoid about a full ban on petrol/diesel cars (not just a ban on sale of new cars with fossil fuel engines making driving inconvenient or even unaffordable..

2025-10-20 20:50:25 UTC

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I 've seen many Scottish Asians (both of Desi and ESEA ancestry) proudly wear the kilt - and even in SE England I remember the corner shop chap getting Irn Bru as early as 1986 (a good few months before the rest of England).
He told us it was because when him and his brother arrived in UK from South Asia, his brother went to Scotland to open a shop whilst he did so in England, and his brother told him about Irn Bru and how it would soon be very popular down here..

2025-10-18 16:35:05 UTC

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sharing the flight with a live rat would be preferable, if it is friendly, at least you have a travel companion 🐀

2025-10-11 17:35:13 UTC

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which is precisely why allowing longer alcohol sales hours won't save nightlife (compared to things which are potentially more difficult / expensive for the public sector such as making town centre streets safer for people at night (particularly women/girls and those from minority groups, who otherwise end up becoming targets in white male dominated spaces)

2025-10-11 17:26:43 UTC

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there was (and still is) an absolute metric fuckton of *good* harm reduction advice available since the 1990s (I helped put a lot of it online myself).
Even Talk to Frank is fairly good these days, as they quietly borrowed a lot of the info from underground rave forums as well as research from Universities on behalf of the NHS.
Folk simply chose to ignore it around the 2000s, went down a rabbit hole of dead end libertarian hedonism and self-destructed.
Many of todays youth don't even *want* drugs and booze as much (having learned from the mistakes of previous generations) and would prefer late night venues that didn't revolve around alcohol as much but those are hard to find..

2025-10-11 17:17:39 UTC

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late night opening of night time venues including to 02:00 - 04:00 has been a thing in various forms since the 1990s
The only time it did work as a distraction tactic was when either by accident or deliberately the govts turned a blind eye to the concurrent use of partydrugs (and allowed the rave scene to thrive), and I really can't see Starmer, Farage or anyone else (not even the Greens/Your Party) doing that as predictably the NHS and social services ended up picking up the pieces (especially when folk combined booze and partydrugs, and then insisted on trying to drive home, on top of all the domestic and other violence that was often triggered by midweek comedowns)

2025-10-09 12:11:52 UTC

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is he the inspiration for Carrot? 😸

2025-10-06 16:41:45 UTC

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its also possible Reform wreck themselves through infighting - many aren't happy that Zia Yusuf, a brown person, has a very prominent role in the party, and at the same time its likely a lot of mainstream Reform supporters aren't even *that* bigoted or racist, but support Reform more due to their perceived pro-motorist and anti-environment legislation policies (so would baulk at full on racism, and without PR this could split the right wing vote further)

2025-10-05 21:22:59 UTC

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the Police used Section 59 (something normally used against boy racers and badly driven vehicles)
https://searchlightmagazine.com/2025/10/golding-ignores-police-warning-and-britain-first-battle-bus-is-seized-at-labour-conference/

2025-10-05 11:38:31 UTC

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Police Scotland are using the same tactics that constabularies in England use to deal with car meets, illegal raves and other incidents where the cops are outnumbered by a potentially hostile crowd - they just gather surveillance info and pick people off later during the week..

2025-10-05 11:28:34 UTC

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The live updates show a press release from 01:53 where Sussex Police finally say it is being treated as a hate crime. Newsquest is notoriously slow to respond to any incidents at weekends (they don't even pick up on serious RTCs and crimes in my area (Suffolk/Essex) until later on Sunday or even Monday).
(I once wanted to be a crime reporter, but realised if I did it now it would be a significant pay cut (after the expense of having to go back to college/uni) and precarious work with a risk to personal safety)

2025-10-05 11:20:52 UTC

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Quite prominent on the national part of the ITV news website, and top article on Meridian in spite of it being a Sunday (for all the massive budget cuts and downsizing, ITV remain a leader in crime reporting in this country)
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/115/321/276/097/318/221/original/111e837127212324.png
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/115/321/279/168/412/257/original/31734f139946d7e6.png

2025-09-28 12:36:27 UTC

The #PaddyFields of #EastAnglia have produced their first crop!
#rice #UK #England #ClimateChange
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1wgeq702dyo

2025-09-26 23:39:12 UTC

Apparently you were supposed to dress like this to program in #Forth on the #Atari #8bit #computer in 1980s 😁
https://f2.tchncs.de/media_attachments/files/115/273/219/256/602/476/original/427f4a956e706527.png

2025-09-24 12:08:29 UTC

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Reform's economic policies are surprisingly similar to Blair's - even going as far as part nationalisation of industries which is basically a copy of PPI (and for this reason would be popular with angry white men from the skilled trades, as they hope to get work as contractors being funded by taxpayer money)

2025-09-24 11:36:38 UTC

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people will tolerate the tax, but at the same time resent it being spent on anyone who "isn't like them" (this isn't a problem confined to Britain either, its rife across the whole of Northern Europe, including the more social democratic countries)

2025-09-24 10:16:38 UTC

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the big dilemma in Britain is many of the *people* generally do like /some/ left wing policies such as renationalisation, the NHS and well funded public services, but baulk at paying extra taxes for them. They are also highly car-dependent and push back on any "Green" policy that might restrict car use and many have excessive paranoia about immigration (and ignore its positive benefits such as the overseas health and social care workers)

2025-09-24 10:05:06 UTC

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theres a book written by Susan Faludi as early as 1991 which warns of (from a USA perspective) a backlash against feminism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backlash:_The_Undeclared_War_Against_American_Women

2025-09-20 14:00:29 UTC

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the problem here is so many skills for manufacturing have been permanently lost (even in the areas where they were once common), its hard to find metal fabricators and those which remain charge premium prices or simply refuse small jobs, whereas they were widespread until the 1980s - I collect books about motoring in Britain and Europe during the 20th century and it was not that uncommon to have a lathe and other metalworking machinery even in a large residential garage workshop, and repair garages also had such tools available..

2025-09-20 13:51:54 UTC

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I've found I can get car detailing supplies and books cheaper than Amazon here in Britain (as both are made in Britain or mainland Europe), and Amazon couldn't even deliver a workshop manual (from Germany) but I managed to purchase it as a PDF e-book direct from the publishers after multiple false starts as the smaller online booksellers didn't want to deal with UK post-Brexit (I couldn't understand that as it wasn't a physical book, but maybe there is some weird tax issue)

2025-09-13 16:53:41 UTC

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I'm 53, British Asian and this country has always been toxic my entire lifetime. The only brief respite was a few years in the 90s with the rave scene and even *that* (especially the commercial events) split partly along racial lines by the mid 90s and the partly successful attempts by successive governments to clamp down on the partydrugs use have only shifted bitter ex-ravers to the far right (or at least enabling them through "centrist contrarianism") where they oppose *anything* an elected government does (even when its beneficial) in vain hopes of regaining "freedom"

2025-09-12 21:06:28 UTC

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I read crime news every day for multiple regions and have done so for 40 years - when crimes do happen they affect a fraction of the overall population and even as a single man in early middle age (who in common with most males is more likely to be both a target *and* an offender) its relatively easy to avoid trouble by being careful about lifestyle choices and not overtly flashing around images of wealth too much as society becomes more unequal once again..

2025-09-12 20:53:23 UTC

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this has been going on for 30-40 years (even before the Internet), but its easy enough nowadays to get accurate crime figures almost down to street level which show many crimes have declined (and in particular the middle aged and older are *least* likely to be victims)

2025-09-12 19:33:41 UTC

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here in Britain all the "local" news sites fill up their article lists with crimes, fires and accidents from *other regions* (such as a stabbing in Scotland appears in the news for Suffolk/Essex) - if there aren't enough in the local area - if you aren't good at geography (or happen to read sites from multiple regions and notice the duplicates) its very easy to assume there is far worse stuff happening locally than the reality..

2025-09-11 19:55:13 UTC

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maybe I'm a bit older as it wasn't illegal when I was in high school. Did the same privilege escalation on Econet (maybe via a slightly different method) and used the shadow RAM banks in the BBC Master to swap Mode 7 screens so my RAT looked like a normal wordprocessing app unless you used *NNN# type codes (similar to Viewdata) to access its functions..

2025-09-11 17:06:19 UTC

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even the older Fedi (Mastodon / Pleroma / GNUsocial) had this problem in the early days until more moderation tools were added *and* moderators were more ready to act against poor behaviour (I remember 2017/2018 Fedi in particular attracted a lot more edgelords)

2025-09-08 19:14:44 UTC

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in the last two years, other than computer software/services (on behalf of my employer), I have purchased precisely *one* item from USA - a connection cable/dongle and software for accessing the embedded systems in my German car via a laptop, as unfortunately the Lithuanians have enshittified the OBDEleven app I was previously using. Although I suspect the USA-based devs are European expats.
Everything else is either from China, Japan, South Korea, EU or UK (countries that still hold on to at least some parts of their manufacturing industries..)

2025-09-08 13:38:59 UTC

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in Britain we had a cheque guarantee card - which meant the cheque to £50 (later £250) couldn't be stopped, but cheques for larger purchases often required a credit reference enquiry which was done over the phone. By the 2000s (as the cheque guarantee card could also be used at the ATM) this same card became a debit card.
Cheques still exist here but nowadays only seniors use them for larger purchases (or you might get sent one by the government if you sell your car, and they refund you the road tax for the remainder of the year.
Which caused me a minor problem as my preferred name is Alex but my legal name is Alexander, I had to open a whole new bank account in this name just to pay in this cheque (my other bank which knows me as Alex couldn't accept it!)

2025-09-05 18:54:10 UTC

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in other countries like UK, if a medium/large business is one that is likely to have many immigrant workers, the HR department has to check the staff's documents and notify the immigration authority, so it would be very difficult for a business of that size to amass sufficient undocumented workers to warrant a heavy raid. But that does of course require investing in a reasonably well resourced public sector, which USA govt seems loath to do..

2025-09-04 19:49:44 UTC

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the most worrying part of this is it suggests whoever is picking these networks *isn't* completely technically clueless and has picked up on trends and the more niche networks - and TBH they are only copying what some Western countries are trying to implement..

2025-08-30 14:19:01 UTC

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for instance Corbyn and Sultana made a good start with their "your party" (even if it has a daft name at the moment), but now seem to have gone silent after a month -their website is not updated, they've not even said when their autumn conference will be and don't even appear to be communicating with each other
That Zack chap from the Green Party seems promising too, but again they seem to be surprisingly quiet (although they do at least put out regular press releases which is something)

2025-08-20 21:06:32 UTC

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Alas, I don't think I've had a "personal" letter for 20+ years - other than some propaganda from a local conservative politician, and even a hand written one from a persistent religious group (they encourage seniors to write and hand deliver them).
But I do read a lot of books (mostly non-fiction, recently I've made quite a collection of mostly 20th century books about motoring, which are a very interesting insight into the rise in car ownership in that century, how this expanded across social classes, and the impacts that two world wars had on this..