Ben Taylor @VoxDei@qoto.org

@cstross Are they playing us for fools if the whole time we're shouting that it's a scam that was never meant to work? It's not like that hasn't been obvious from the beginning. That surely makes it less of a con and more of an armed robbery...

@theron29 Well, it's quite a long way away, maybe they'll change it if they realise they're forcing a lot of customers to try the competition. I'd be on Linux anyway if it was better for gaming, so it could well be time to try it again.

My PC has just told me that it can't run Windows 11, but that Windows 10 will be out of support from October 2025. I have news for you Microsoft, I don't have a spare £1k (or even half that) for a new gaming rig just because you don't like mine. It'll be Linux for me if you force me.

#Windows #Windows10 #Windows11 #Microsoft #Linux #pc

@GeePawHill Absolutely. So many of our public policy positions fly in the face of data on what works just because politicians (and sometimes people at large) have some ideological problem with it.

@cstross But but but... he says none of the money is going to Trump for Presibwahahahahaha...

Sorry, I couldn't keep my face straight while I said that.

@freemo You haven't been short tempered with me that I recall, but just to say sorry you've had all that and glad you're (from the sound of it) on the right track now

"Yet, for all that, Hong Kong flourished... under the aegis of empire. ... Though denied full democratic rights, its people eventually prospered."

Simon Tisdall in the Guardian decrying China's destruction of Hong Kong's democracy by, er... harking back to the British Empire's undemocratic treatment of Hong Kong. China's treatment of Hong Kong is a disgrace, but I'm not sure this is the killer argument Tisdall seems to think.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/23/xi-jinping-seals-hong-kong-fate-as-failed-state?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

#HongKong #China #BritishEmpire #TheGuardian #SimonTisdall

@lucas @JaxVent I'm with @drandrewv2 on this in that I'd go with Prospect (and like her I'm a former Prospect rep - stopped when I moved to a non-unionised employer). Specifically because relevant to @lucas 's point, Prospect have members at National Grid (as well as being good for tech in general).

On the reviews, I'd say:
* The local branch does the heavy lifting. You will have a good experience if you have a good branch
* Prospect is less militant than some other unions in general. If a fight is called for, fine, but it's not the first tool in the box. Some won't like that.
* Prospect as I recall came out against the 999 operators' strikes a year or two back (Prospect represents managers at BT but not rank and file staff, I believe). That didn't go down well in some quarters, might be some bad reviews from that.

@janbartosik @bookstodon @scifi @knihy Vinge was a fantastic author, the Zones of Thought books I loved, but also A Deepness In The Sky is one of my all-time favourites. I hadn't heard he was gone, I am sad. RIP. :-(

@lowqualityfacts Ah, well, that's supply and demand for you. Can't stop progress. But I can sell you this fine box with a button on it if you want to try. Look, the button says "Stop" and everything. That'll be another $100 please.

@drandrewv2 Michael Gove is secretly a militant communist and this is the culmination of his years working under deep cover to get the Tory party banned from the inside.

@artemis I think it's actually worse. The palantirs are neither good nor evil, they are just tools. They can be a blessing or a curse, which it is is entirely down to the user.

I think that's what Thiel is saying. Palantir is a tool, it (the company) does not care who uses it or for what purpose. Make its abilities available to anyone who can pay.

To a certain type of libertarian nut, this is presumably a form of ultimate freedom, freedom from moral considerations as to his actions.