Dave T-W @davoloid@qoto.org

This is why we can't have nice things.

amazing timelapse

The reason sith lightsabers sound different and throw off more sparks is inferior engineering caused by lack of knowledge sharing because sith believe competition breeds strength while Jedi share knowledge and encourage collaboration. This is not dissimilar to software engineering; in this essay I will

And really the sheer absurdity of European Sleeper

Here are two determined guys. They lease a freight locomotive, 2 ancient sleeping cars (at least with air con), 6 couchettes without air con (also old) and 2 seating carriages

And they manage to run a Berlin-Brussels night train, something that others - like DB, NS or SNCB - could *much more easily do with their financial means* BUT REFUSE TO EVEN TRY

And basic though it is it’s booked up all summer

“The greatest monsters of history —men like Andrew Carnegie, JP Rockefeller, Henry Ford and Andrew Mellon — lived lives of cruel mass-exploitation, only to rehabilitate their reputations at the ends of their lives, or posthumously, by endowing charitable foundations that do genuinely good works, while plastering those monsters’ names on every tangible expression of those works. Our modern crop of monsters are pursuing the same path” @pluralistic https://doctorow.medium.com/rich-peoples-gain-is-worth-less-than-poor-people-s-pain-6c3631292841 ht @SteveRoth

All this sewage dumped in the rivers! I used to be really keen on wild swimming, but nowadays I’m just going through the motions.

Plus, on the topic of #gender differences in academic engagement:

"#women more likely to engage with #charities, regardless of career stage and research field."

Thus, "women have weaker links to #industry than #men".

➡️https://tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2023.2184790

Do you remember Amanda Gorman's poem from the Biden inauguration? The state of Florida banned it in school. So much for freedom. https://www.joemygod.com/2023/05/florida-school-bans-poem-read-at-bidens-inauguration/

I've decided to move my newsletter - the Gardeners of the Galaxy Mission Report - to Substack.

If you're already subscribed, you should have had an email telling you just that!

If you'd like to subscribe, this is the new address. I'll be sending out the newsletter on Tuesday as normal.

#astrobotany #SpacePlants

https://emmadoughty.substack.com/p/gardeners-of-the-galaxy-mission-report

A day of travel disruption, but while waiting for a train home I spotted #EdMiliband disembarking with his #bike, and he was gracious enough to pause for a photo.

Did we really end up in this current mess because of a bacon sandwich?

Just to summarize this week.

G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan
--> no Russia

Arab League Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
--> no Russia

Central Asian Summit in Xian, China
--> no Russia

This is how a former power disappears from the world stage. Especially the Central Asian Summit is an epic disaster for Moscow. China was not interested to have Russia even for symbolic reasons there.

Thank Putin, his oligarchs and their fascist but also failing "Russkiy Mir" fever dream for that development.

The case for public ownership

English water firms have handed £57 billion to shareholders in the 30 years after privatisation
By contrast, Scottish Water - which is publicly owned - has invested nearly 35 per cent more per household in infrastructure than the privatised English firms, charging 14 per cent less and not paying out dividends.