It was inevitable – but still, a very welcome moment of schadenfreude…
I hear that Trump was furious – so this parody is probably not so very far from reality…
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Can I Say How I really Feel?
Had an email from Microsoft today:
All I could do was to reply to their “Did you find this email helpful?” question with a “No”, when what I really wanted to do was to reply with a “Please just fuck off with your Copilot crap”.
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A Welcome Distraction…
…from all that’s going on in this sorry world. Forget Trump, Putin, Musk et al for just a moment.
I’ve just realised that what is missing from my life is a roller-skating duck.
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Words Fail Me…
“Russia unilaterally frees Stephen Hubbard after US request while Steve Witkoff praises Putin as a ‘humanitarian’”.
A “humanitarian”? Really?
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Supporting Ukraine
Good to see that at least some in America recognise that Russia is the aggressor with its “brutal and illegal” invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to blame Zelensky for the continuing war. One suspects that this person will be his next press secretary – at least then we’d be seeing the organ grinder (in all senses of the phrase) rather than the monkey.
Addendum: This sums it up rather nicely…
One response to “Supporting Ukraine”
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I can’t wait to get rid of this idiot.
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Treacherous Trump
There seems to be no end to the moral bankruptcy of Trump and his administration. The news of the diesel deal with Putin brokered by Witkoff and Kushner is merely the latest deep point and one that was underlined by Trump’s blaming Zelensky for the continuing war initiated by Putin.
The US could easily have bought the diesel from Canada, but it’s clear that Trump views Mark Carney as his enemy and Putin as his friend.
As Emily Maitlis says, Witkoff and Kushner are not diplomats involved in negotiations between Ukraine and Russia aimed at making a peace deal – they are only interested in deals that enrich themselves and their families – and Trump is 100% behind that.
One response to “Treacherous Trump”
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It is astonishing to me that the Republicans continue to tow the Trump line and are doing as well as they are doing. Hopefully the mid-term elections in just three weeks will indeed show the popular distaste for Trump and his and his acolytes doings.
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End Times Fascism
That’s the title of a new book by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor. Here’s a short video from Klein and Taylor introducing the main themes of the book:
I found the video after I had listened to this podcast from the London Review of Books. It’s an interview of Klein and Taylor by Adam Shatz.
On the strength of this, I’ve ordered the book. With every passing day there seem to be less “Reasons to be cheerful” (thank you, Ian Dury), but Klein and Taylor offer some glimmers of hope. However, they need putting into action and that’s down to each and every one of us to do what we can.
One response to “End Times Fascism”
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Hi Geoff, good you mention this item !!
I am preparing a presentation on endtime kapitalisme and endtime fascicm in relation of course to the TechBro’s, but also with an historic view on for example the “VOC Amsterdam”.
Loads of papers to be found on the subject. Most pervers is the website of Peter Thiel investments : https://foundersfund.com/2024/02/hereticon-2024/ with their Hereticon festival/meeting etc in November 2024
Joost Verhoeks
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WTF, Microsoft?
I received an email from Microsoft this morning informing me of upcoming changes to my Microsoft 365 subscription.
Two of the changes relate to the AI service, which are irrelevant as far as I am concerned because I don’t use it or Copilot. The change that caught my eye, and caused me to swear, was the announcement that my cloud storage allowance will change from 1 TB per person to 2 TB of shared storage.
Er, hello, a Microsoft 365 Family plan can have up to six people enrolled in it – that means that currently six people can use up to 6TB of cloud storage; 1TB per person. Under the new regime, those six people will have to share just 2TB – a 66.6% reduction in storage space.
In my situation, I have four family members enrolled in the plan, myself and three others; so currently we can use up to 4TB of cloud storage, 1TB each. With the new plan, we have to share just 2TB of cloud storage – a 50% reduction to what we can currently have.
Of course Microsoft is putting an Orwellian Newspeak spin on this claiming that this gives us “more flexible cloud storage”, which is simply contemptible – they must think we are idiots not to see this for what it is – a price hike far above simply the cost of inflation.
I’ll have to do a check to see how much cloud storage we are using collectively at the moment – I know that I have over 70% of my 1TB used. Perhaps I need to plan to make more use of local server storage. There was a time when I was using Windows Home Server quite happily for this, but of course Microsoft killed that product 10 years ago…
Microsoft does it again – snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, whilst giving the two-finger salute to its customers.
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Naza
First – Netanyahu’s speech to the UN… then this… It’s no wonder that Trump and Rubio want to destroy the ICC. NAZA – official trailer | NAZA | The Guardian
International law either works for everyone or for no one. This court was established to protect us against impunity and it was built on the foundations of the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials. And now, with the ICC under attack, the writing is truly on the wall.
After all, how can you possibly be opposed to prosecuting the very worst crimes? And I believe there can be only one response: to say, hands off the ICC and all those other institutions that protect the international legal order.
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Delusional and Dangerous
That’s Kenneth Roth’s summation of Donald Trump after hearing Trump’s speech to the UN this week. Delusional because Trump’s mind is obviously going, and dangerous because of the position he holds and the fact that his administration seems determined to indulge his every whim.
The article is worth reading and reflecting on. As Roth says:
It is sad and dangerous that at such a perilous moment, the United States is saddled with a president who excels mainly in disseminating self-promoting fantasies while flouting the most basic rules of decency. His UN speech put that all on painful display.
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Vitality Club Challenge
Here in the Netherlands, we have more than 100 “Vitality Clubs”. A Vitality Club is a group of people aged 55 and over who exercise together outdoors in a public space in a city or village. These Vitality Clubs operate on the basis of peer coaching – someone from the group who takes the lead during the exercise session. Since there is no need for a paid professional or an expensive venue, costs remain low. The accessibility, social atmosphere, and lack of obligation are important attributes of the Vitality Club.
Yesterday the clubs set themselves a challenge: to break their existing record to exercise with as many people aged 50+ as possible.
There’s a club that meets in our village, and I was asked to make a video using my drone. Here’s some photos from the day…
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Clever Corvids
We have a walnut tree in the back garden and it’s that time of the year when the walnuts in their green casings are ripe for the picking.
I was out walking the dog this week along a nearby road that is lined by oak trees. The acorns are beginning to fall, so the road is covered with acorns that have been flattened by passing vehicles. I noticed that in among the acorns, there was also the occasional squashed walnut.
The road is at least 100 metres away from the walnut tree so the question arises: how did they get there? The answer is almost certainly that at least one of the local crow population has worked out that the way to get at the walnut encased in its shell and casing is to drop it on the road and wait for a passing car to break it open…
One response to “Clever Corvids”
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Cleverness and patience – that’s the way to a good meal. It might even work for humans.
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Alas, Poor Surface Duo…
I knew thee well.
I see that Apple has just raised the middle finger to Microsoft by announcing the iPhone Duo. Serves Microsoft right, really – they cancelled their Surface Duo range of smartphones back in 2023 and never released a Surface Duo 3 that would likely have been all that the iPhone Duo is now.
Even my Surface Duo 2 had most of the core features and behaviours of the iPhone Duo – foldable form factor, multitasking and pen support.
Here’s a comparison of the two devices.
It’s clear that Microsoft, under Satya Nadella’s leadership has long since turned its back on the consumer market as far as its hardware devices are concerned.
If I hadn’t have dropped it, I would still be using my Surface Duo 2 today
Well, I won’t be getting an iPhone Duo and in any case, I wouldn’t be able to carry over my nanoSIM to the Apple device – it only supports eSIMs and I don’t want to lose the mobile telephone number that I’ve had for over 20 years.
2 responses to “Alas, Poor Surface Duo…”
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Phone numbers can be migrated – just ask your phone company.
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Mine can’t be migrated – it’s a PrePaid SIM, and those numbers cannot be moved to another SIM. And I don’t want an iPhone.
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How To Become a Centaur
Here’s another book recommendation for you – and a question. Are you a centaur or a reverse centaur?
Confused? Then don’t be. Just read Cory Doctorow’s book: The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI.
And as Brian Eno says in his blurb on the back: “Doctorow is the most lucid and generous guide I know of, and this book – ostensibly about AI, but more broadly about the new world of hyper-capitalism and high tech – is stunning in its clarity and breadth of vision”
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The Castle
That’s the title of Jon Ronson’s most recent book. I’ve almost finished it, and am gobsmacked by it. I don’t know whether to feel pity for, or be aghast at, the flawed humans he has encountered. Highly recommended reading.
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An Open And Shut Case
We bought our first fully-electric car five years ago – a Skoda Enyaq. We’ve been very pleased with it. Amongst its many bells and whistles is the ability to contact an Emergency Call Centre in the event of an accident. If an airbag inflates or a seat belt tensioner is activated, then a call will be made automatically and information such as the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number), the location and severity of the accident is also transmitted.
It is also possible to place a call manually by opening the cap that covers the SOS button in the unit situated overhead.
At the beginning of this year, the latch that holds the cap closed failed, and the cap was permanently in the open position. It didn’t worry us, because the SOS button itself is in a recess and unlikely to be pressed accidentally.
However, a couple of months later the car started reporting a problem with the unit and advised a visit to the garage. The car went in on the 9th April for inspection. The result was that a small 12v battery supplying power to the unit needed to be replaced but the battery was currently on backorder. The work could not be done until a replacement battery was available.
When I collected the car, I noticed that the cap was now closed, so I assumed that the garage had at least repaired the latch.
Yesterday, the car was back in the garage to have the battery replaced. After collecting the car, I thought I would try opening the cap, but it wouldn’t budge. I asked the service person at the garage to take a look and he came back a few minutes later to tell me that it had been glued shut. Consternation!
Why on earth someone in the garage had glued it shut in April, I really have no idea – it defeats the purpose of pushing the button if needed.
When I got home, I used a couple of small screwdrivers to prise open the cap and yes, it had indeed been glued shut.
The garage rang me this morning to apologise – they will replace the whole unit – and I’ve made an appointment for the work to be done.
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A Warning…
A film from the 1940s that is very relevant to the USA (and beyond) today…
Thank you to Robert Reich.
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10 Years of Brexit
I see that it’s been 10 years since a tiny majority of the citizens of the UK voted to leave the EU (51.89 per cent voted in favour of leaving the EU and 48.11 per cent voted to remain a member state). It was a referendum and the then Tory government had decided that a simple majority would be enough for the UK to pull the plug on EU membership. David Cameron, the then Prime Minister, resigned 24 hours later and walked away from the mess he had created.
10 years on and Brexit continues to be a disaster for the UK. Enter “Brexit” into the Search field on this blog and you get three pages of tales of woe that it has caused.
No, today is not a day to celebrate.
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How Not To Win Friends And Influence People
Dear lord above – we have people like Mr. Bessent with their hands on the levers of power? We’re doomed, I tell you, doomed…
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The Oligarchic Endgame Theory
An interesting article in today’s Guardian from Ingrid Robeyns – a Belgian-Dutch economist and philosopher. In it she argues that extreme wealth (with Elon Musk as the most extreme example) is damaging to wider society. At one point she writes:
The ultimate danger is the so-called oligarchic endgame theory, whereby power is concentrated among the super-rich. Governments, captured by the richest, then do everything to protect the privileges of this group and its supporters. Democracy itself is at risk if the rigid social hierarchy implied by this concentration of power among the wealthiest comes to pass.
It seems to me that the “so-called oligarchic endgame theory” is no longer a theory, but a cold hard fact..
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