Paul Brownjohn @Paulos_the_fog@qoto.org
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
If we approached climate policy with the same risk-mitigation framework we use for national defense, we’d have mobilized for a green transition decades ago. A 1% probability of foreign attack justifies trillions in spending, but a >90% probability of climate disaster doesn’t.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
If you hate the Pope because he is too “liberal”, I have some very bad news for you about Jesus.
A point or two to ponder:
When vehicles tyres wear, they liberate large quantities of rubber dust and although these days only about 40% of the rubber content of a car tyre is natural latex, that is still a massive quantity of rubber dust which, for those people unfortunate enough to be allergic to Hevea latex, could be expected to bring on a life threatening allergic reaction, particularly in towns where traffic is dense and the continuous heavy traffic will stir up the rubber dust especially in prolonged dry spells.
When I was young and right up to the 1990s, vehicle brake pads and brake shoes contained large quantities of asbestos which produced a fine dust as the friction materials wore away. This dust was deposited on the roads particularly after disc brakes became common (the dust produced by drum brakes tends to stay in the drums).
My questions are therefore:
why are people allergic to natural latex not dying like flies in the street from exposure to rubber dust from vehicle tyres and why were the majority of people who lived in towns prior to the 1990s not affected by asbestosis and mesothelioma from exposure to vehicle brake dust?
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Don’t forget Jesus died for our sins so make sure you ramp up the depravity today, show the little fella it was worth his while 
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
I swear these billionaires could announce they're going to start hunting us for sport and some people would still be out there defending it with they're whole chest like
"you're just mad because you can't run fast."
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Are there any period tracking apps that are single-purchase, NO CLOUD DATA, NO HEALTHKIT, privacy respecting at all? My daughter is getting to the age where she should probably start tracking mood so she might have some warning for when she starts fully menstruating, but I'm deeply concerned about the 3rd party doctrine and apps like Clue collaborating with the fascists.
If not, why not? Is there something I'm missing? Is this a thing I should consider during my down times in my consulting biz?
Thanks! and please boost widely!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
For those of you interested in the gender pay gap (which I'm assuming is most of you/us), here is the data for the countries of the EU.
For comparison in the UK (expressed differently) the GPG is around 13% which, would make it in these terms around 87% of male pay (the UK figure is the median pay rate for both genders).
To say this is a problem that still requires work would be an understatement
![Chart: Whats does a woman earn compared to a man; While a man earns 100& a women earns:
[slected lines]
EU average - 88%
Luxembourg - 100.9%
Italy - 92.8%
Spain - 90.8%
France - 87.8%
Germany - 82.4%
Austrai - 81.7%](https://cdn.masto.host/zirkus/media_attachments/files/114/317/692/042/472/160/original/9701394cbced6606.jpeg "Chart: Whats does a woman earn compared to a man; While a man earns 100& a women earns:
[slected lines]
EU average - 88%
Luxembourg - 100.9%
Italy - 92.8%
Spain - 90.8%
France - 87.8%
Germany - 82.4%
Austrai - 81.7%")
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Greenpeace dyes US embassy pond blood-red
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QasB8lpU1Y
British police have arrested the UK head of Greenpeace, alongside five other activists, after they poured 300 liters of blood-red dye into a pond at the U.S. embassy on April 10 in protest against the U.S. sale of arms to Israel.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
Good morning fellow socialists. 
#Socialism #WealthTax #TaxTheRich
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
US gov asks european suppliers to guarantee they don't do DEI.
Next: we ask US to guarantee they do fair pay, 5 weeks paid annual vacation and 1 year paid maternity leave.
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
My article in this week's Common Weal newsletter.
Anyone who thinks Starmer prostrating before Trump to get a lower tariff than the EU was some kind of diplomatic genius has to reconcile this with the fact that he was unable to get a better deal than a colony of penguins.
For folk who like me want to boycott US products - here's a little help!
Paul Brownjohn
boosted
I considered charging my neighbors a fee for tomatoes this year to make more money but then I realized that they could respond by charging me a fee for their eggs, plums, and lemons. This is because I paid attention in 5th grade social studies, and also I’m not a blithering dumbfuck.
If you use US internet services, here is a list of European alternatives.
There are currently plenty of political reasons to wish to reduce our dependence on US based companies as most seem to be run by management who support the orange moron but there are, in reality, other good reasons to eschew any connection with the USA.
Russia has recently been indulging in a bit of sabotage of undersea assets and, should the conflict between Russia and the rest of the world escalate, the data cables that connect the USA to Europe will be a prime target. Thus if you or your business depend on a good connection across the Atlantic ocean to servers in the USA, now might well be a very good time to sever that umbilical cord and connect to services closer to home that are less likely to be disrupted if the conflict escalates.
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
