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cmsdengl

@[email protected]

HCI academic (retired). Here for #politics #fbpe #RejoinEU #climatechange #ukulele #cats #synths #analogmusic #space #gardening #IAmEuropean

Also born with #cleftlip and #cleftpalate

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@cmsdengl@mas.to avatar cmsdengl , to random

Apply to Rejoin the EU as soon as possible to increase growth in the UK

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/749128

@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar ChrisMayLA6 , (edited ) to random

So as many suspected David Lammy, the UK Justice Secretary intends to massive constrain the right to a jury trial & in a move using the justification of the crisis in the court system, will limit the possibility to elect for a jury trial only to the 'most serious offences'....

The decision has yet to actually be made but appears in a leaked memo seen by the Times (reported by the FT).

The Q. is whether this is Treasury-like kite flying of which we've seen so much recently?

cmsdengl ,
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@ChrisMayLA6 I wonder if this is connected with the government losing some protest cases, e.g. aintree racecourse, etc, in jury trials.

A better solution would be to stop criminalising political protests

@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar ChrisMayLA6 , to random

So you may have seen that the commentariat has decided that one key issue coming out of the Covid Inquiry is its cost (at around £200mn) with all sorts of opining that this really is not not a good use of scarce money...

Well, I'll tell you wasn't a good use of scarce money: the nearly £1.5bn that was lost on contracts for faulty/unusable PPE & the associated fraud(s).

It makes £200mn for something actually (potentially) useful look like pretty good value to me!

cmsdengl ,
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@ChrisMayLA6

The Boris Johnson fans circling the wagons. I'd say £200m to destroy the Tories reputation is money well spent.

Next up: the unredacted Russian report to put the cherry on the Tory shit-cake

@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar ChrisMayLA6 , to random

Lloyds Bank used data on account usage of staff who hold their bank accounts with Lloyds to assess whether they should get the pay rise demanded by their union.

So, if you're banking with your employer your privacy can be breached if it is in the commercial interest of your employer?

so, I'm sure this will prompt a legal challenge over invasion of privacy;

& a lot of Lloyds (and other bank workers banking with their employers) may be swiftly changing their accounts?


h/t FT

cmsdengl ,
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@ChrisMayLA6 The Victorians banned Truck shops - where only employer tokens could be exchanged. Welcome to the new Banking Truck Shops

@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar ChrisMayLA6 , to random

For those of us who think there is some milage in reforming capitalism, the rise of the B-Corp is a clear example of this possibility.

Often summarised as a firm 'during well from doing good' the B-Corp self-avowedly measures its success against both financial & social criteria.

If you're unfamiliar with this form of corporate governance, then Matthew Bishop offers a quick introduction, but also stresses too few large firms are adopting the approach.

https://observer.co.uk/news/business/article/wave-of-british-b-corps-shows-firms-can-be-a-force-for-good-and-still-turn-a-profit

cmsdengl ,
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@ChrisMayLA6 For me B-Corp lost credibility when they allowed certification of small companies bought up by Unilever. Unilever represents everything that opposes B-Corp principles.

@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar Daojoan , to random

I don’t like asking for money and I never expect financial help from anyone but due to circumstances outside of my control I’m about €230,000,000 short this month to pay for this yacht any assistance would be amazing and I will absolutely pay it forward (I won’t)

Two photos of the luxury superyacht Lady Lara cruising in open blue water near rocky coastlines. The sleek white yacht spans 298 feet (91 meters) with multiple decks and a modern, aerodynamic design. The listing below the images reads: “Yacht for Sale – LADY LARA. Length 298’7’’ (91m) | Builder: Lürssen | Build: 2015/2023. Guests: 12 | Cabins: 8 | Crew: 28. Asking €230,000,000,” alongside a “Contact A Broker” button.
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cmsdengl ,
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@Daojoan Surely you're getting a Trump tax break on your US earnings which would pay for that boat ??

@Alice@beige.party avatar Alice , (edited ) to random

Imagine how awful it must feel to be a harmless snake, with many people fearing, hating, or even wanting to kill you just because of how you look.

cmsdengl ,
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@Alice

Sharks get a bd press. It's us that's killing them!!

@cmsdengl@mas.to avatar cmsdengl , to random

AWS goes down. Takes down UK Gov login gateway, including HMRC login. What kind of brain-dead idiot decided to base a key government gateway on an overseas cloud service ??

@Daojoan@mastodon.social avatar Daojoan , to random

"Turns out if you criticise private jets on LinkedIn you make a lot of dudes who don’t own private jets real mad.

Which supports my theory that all men secretly believe they will one day own a private jet."

cmsdengl ,
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@Daojoan

Yeah but mine will run on sustainable fuel!!

@tante@tldr.nettime.org avatar tante , to random

Microsoft Research is at it again:

Advait Sarkar, a Microsoft Research employee got a paper published at the CHI Conference on Human Factors in computing systems:

"AI Could Have Written This: Birth of a Classist Slur in Knowledge Work"

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706599.3716239

Now I am all for calling out structures and language of oppression and discrimination but this is really something special. "AI shaming arises from class anxiety in middle class knowledge workers" ... yeah no. It's about shaming people (usually from the middle or upper class) who don't want to put in actual work but get credit for having done it.

Like what is the argument: Lower class people can only compete while using AI and therefore should not be shamed? What kind of a view on lower class people does Mr. Microsoft Research communicate here?

cmsdengl ,
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@tante

Yes its an Alt-CHI track paper which are meant to be provocative, and no, Sponsors do not get preferential treatment in acceptances

David England, CHI participant since 1987

@dangillmor@mastodon.social avatar dangillmor , to random

The New York Times says Trump's praise-the-dictator parade was overshadowed by the Minnesota killings and Israel's war on Iran.

But it doesn't mention that millions of people turned out around the U.S. to protest Dear Leader's fascism.

The Paper of Record™, indeed.

NY Times headline/deck: Takeaways From Trump’s Military Parade in Washington The events in the capital were overshadowed by an assassination in Minnesota and turmoil in the Middle East.
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cmsdengl ,
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@dangillmor Even the BBC mentions the No Kings protests before the Grump Parade https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70622038yxo

@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar gerrymcgovern , to random

Bitcoin is pure evil

“From mid-2022 to mid-2023, the 34 mines consumed 32.3 terawatt-hours of electricity—33% more than Los Angeles—85% of which came from fossil fuels. We estimated that 1.9 million Americans were exposed to ≥0.1 μg/m3 of additional PM2.5 pollution from Bitcoin mines, often hundreds of miles away from the communities they affected.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58287-3

cmsdengl ,
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@untakenusername @veronica @gerrymcgovern

Add a carbon tax to Bitcoin and then we'll find out what its worth

@GeriatricGardener@mstdn.social avatar GeriatricGardener , to random

A long read but, imo, a very worthwhile opportunity for enlightenment!

“Macron's Folly: Why "Pacification" Guarantees Escalation - From Munich to Minsk: The West's Relentless Path to War with Russia”

by Raja Sohail Bashir in The Geopilitical Compass on Substack

https://open.substack.com/pub/hailyb/p/macrons-folly-why-pacification-guarantees?r=27oltk&utm_medium=ios

cmsdengl ,
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@GeriatricGardener @HarriettMB

There's no complexity in dressing up Russian propaganda in pseudo-academic language.

It takes entirely the Pro-Putin "NATO is to blame" line but ignores the substantial history of Putin's imperialist ambitions.

Its chronology ignores the funding of eastern separatists in Ukraine, the downing of MH117, Putin's assassinations on European soil etc etc. Nothing is said about the invasion of Crimea.

Its a bad student essay: I'd mark it a fail

@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar ChrisMayLA6 , to random

Anytime someone you says we're living in a post-racist Britain, all you need to do is to point them to cases like Ademola Adedeji (who after spending three years in prison has has his conviction quashed) to demonstrate the bias & prejudice still built into the legal system.

The very fact that the Crown Prosecution Service has launched (yet another) project to eliminate racial bias, tells you all you need to know; previous efforts clearly haven't worked!


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/07/youth-culture-experts-could-help-avoid-stereotyping-of-young-black-men-say-lawyers

cmsdengl ,
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@ChrisMayLA6

Just posted a couple of reports to my timeline on this.

if black men were arrested and convicted at the same level as white men, the prison population would drop by 8,000.

There is no need for more prisons. Just tackle the racism.