Do we have site of any Lemmy instances that defederate from us? It’ll be interesting to see if many do.

Not that that’s a solution, as UK users can join any Lemmy instance (and non-UK users can join feddit.uk), but I can see some going for it as a quick fix.

How the fuck do you know my PIN number?!

If only the biggest problem was messages starting “I asked ChatGPT and this is what it said:”

A far bigger problem is people using AI to draft text and then posting it as their own. On social media like this, I can’t count the number of comments I’ve encountered midway through an otherwise normal discussion thread, and only clocked 2 paragraphs in that I’m reading a chat bot’s response. I feel like I’ve had time and braincells stolen from me in the deception for the moments spent reading and attempting to derive meaning from it.

And just this week I received an application from someone wanting work in my office which was very clearly AI generated. Obviously that person will not be offered any work. If you can’t be bothered to write your own “why I want to work here” cover letter, then I can’t be bothered to work with you.

Unfortunately it’s a combination lock, and the code is written on a post-it stuck on the front of the drawer.

She’s talking about Tomiwa Owolade’s words on racism in Britain.

She gives three, and only three, examples of racism to illustrate her point:

In pre-civil rights America, Irish people, Jewish people and Travellers were not required to sit at the back of the bus. In apartheid South Africa, these groups were allowed to vote. And at the height of slavery, there were no white-seeming people manacled on the slave ships.

Pre-civil rights America, the American slave trade, and Apartheid South Africa are all explicitly not about racism in Britain.

Tomiwa Owolade’s points may have been more focused (and more valid), but her own commentary takes it in a wildly unhelpful direction. And it’s her commentary that’s being criticised, not Owolade’s.

Don’t forget Tizen too; MeeGo’s other bastard offspring.

I think Tizen is still around?

The rules are different for parties registered in Northern Ireland versus political parties registered in Great Britain.

Great British parties can only accept donations from UK sources. However Northern Irish parties can also accept donations from Irish sources.

Look at it the other way around. Should similar rules be introduced in Ireland would they be happy that UK companies are donating to Irish political parties?

This is already the case, in that Irish political parties can accept donations from any individual or organization in Northern Ireland. The position is reciprocal to the UK situation.

Last time I heard a deal talked about in serious terms (which was some years ago), I believe the plan was for a “permanent loan” to Greece in exchange for a rotating selection of loans in return. Greece has a pretty impressive collection of ancient artifacts, and it would give British museum-goers a chance to see them.

Arianespace has fallen behind, but they’re not out of the picture. They’re still by far the largest competitor to SpaceX, and they’re aiming for their 7th generation Ariane to be a reusable design.

Arianespace is an Airbus and Safran subsidiary, so it’s not like they don’t have the engineering oomph behind them.

Yeah, but it’s a dry heat.

Worth noting that these were changes implemented by the previous Tory government. The new Labour government was more or less happy to leave it to ride, but now it’s been successfully challenged in court they’re happy to let it fall by the wayside.

Sure, but that applies to the UK too. London has a higher cost of living than Los Angeles; averages being averages, this is weighed against lots of cheaper places to live (with massive unemployment and stagnated economics).

Cost of living in the UK is about 12% lower than the US, including housing costs. But the average salary is about half of the US salary. So you can see that that doesn’t really cover it.

Source: https://livingcost.org/cost/united-kingdom/united-states

Just looked on that link for the UK. The average is listed as £63k, which is $85k.

So you’re not exactly disproving the point that that type of high salary is a US thing.

Ask a non-protesting friend or family member to take it with them about their daily routine?

I’m sure my mum would be happy to look after my phone for a day if it meant getting one over on the authorities. And if anyone asks, I’m just a good son who likes to hang out with his mum.

Exactly! Tunnel capacity is a hard upper limit, but in an ideal world you’d be using every minute of that capacity for either passengers or freight. Depot capacity issues are very solvable.

Station capacity is also an issue (particularly passport control issues at St Pancras, which limits how many passengers they can process even beyond platform capacity), but that’s relatively solvable too. One of the competing proposals (possibly the Gemini one?) wanted to make Stratford International its terminus rather than St Pancras to avoid station congestion. If HS1-HS2 link were back in play, that would open up other options for alternative termini too (such as Old Oak Common, or HS2 stations out of London).

Yep. It’s to distinguish it from other forms of homelessness, such as “sofa surfing” (where someone moves from one friend or family member to another for short periods without having a fixed address of their own), people temporarily living in homeless shelters/boarding houses, people living in places which aren’t really accommodation (such as their place of work), and “statutory homelessness” (a broader legal definition which includes a few things which might not seem like homelessness, such as people who are at serious risk of violence in their homes).

Personally I am decidedly unoptimistic about their chances on this one, as it seems to be looking for a huge amount of spending for some very small communities (e.g., a new mainline station at Christian Malford, population somewhat less than 1000 people). But you’ve got to love the effort.

With the number of different proposals now in flight (at least 5 that I’m aware of, including this one), surely we must be heading towards the conclusion that we need to build new depots. If unmet demand for international rail travel is there and the only limiting factor is capacity at Temple Mills, surely the answer has to be increasing capacity to meet the demand rather than just accepting that some company will be allowed a few scraps.

I must have missed the golden age. Taco Bell opened in my town in 2021, and I’ve only eaten in there a couple of times because it’s dire. Small, scraggly little wraps with barely any filling (and the filling they do have is bland and crap; they don’t seem to sell a single spicy item on the menu).

We’re not exactly overwhelmed with Mexican restaurants, but even if I wanted a taco I still wouldn’t bother.