⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️ @falken@qoto.org

Norman Jewison (1926-2024) — Oscar-nominated director of IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and MOONSTRUCK.

Also: THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, CINCINNATI KID, THOMAS CROWN, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, ROLLERBALL and more in a 50-year career.

An extraordinarily versatile filmmaker whose work will endure.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/22/movies/norman-jewison-dead.html #normanjewison

There needs to be legislation to stop this and reverse it. Cars wider than 180cm should require a special, expensive, license renewed, with test every year.

SUVs drive trend for new cars to grow 1cm wider in UK and EU every two years, says report
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/22/cars-growing-wider-europe-report?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

But even worse, they want your connections list which are likely a rich target list & the most valuable resource your LinkedIn account has. By accepting connections from people you don't know, you open up all your coworkers, friends & anyone you have a #LinkedIn Connection with to be profiled by these leeches.

(3/3)

Check out this big Linux For Everyone bundle: https://www.humblebundle.com/software/linux-for-everyone-software?partner=gamingonlinux (partner link)

Adding to the list of phrases of which I never expected to utter...

"My hat just sent me an email, yay!"

The GPS logger now does email as an alternative to http/https POST. This will be simpler for some people, I am sure.

https://www.aa.net.uk/etc/circuit-boards/gps/

I'm having a conversation with a designer about icons. Making a screenreader read "camera" or "microphone" when an icon is shown is trivial with aria-label. But screenreader users are massively outnumbered by sighted users who might be confused by the meaning of a tiny image/ icon. The mighty Paul Annett explains more:

“Using a panel of 709 volunteers [..] Consumer Reports found that a total of 186,892 companies sent data about them to the social network. On average, each participant in the study had their data sent to Facebook by 2,230 companies.“ https://themarkup.org/privacy/2024/01/17/each-facebook-user-is-monitored-by-thousands-of-companies-study-indicates

Meanwhile, 33 years ago

I don't think I have ever been this disinterested in an Apple product category launch before.

The tech and all is neat and it's better than whatever crap their competition is making, absolutely no question about it.

On the other hand, people do not want to strap computers to their faces (uncomfortable and make you look like a dork); and many people get nausea and headaches from these headsets (yes, even the high-end ones).

"It took Israel and the US approximately 35 years to talk to what was then seen as the terrorist PLO, just as it took years for the ANC and IRA to be recognised as partners to a resolution. All those threatened or rightfully concerned about what may happen next, simply cannot afford the price of waiting that long"

An excellent article from former Palestinian negotiator Ahmad Samih Khalidi in today's UK Observer
#Israel #Gaza #Palestine #Hamas

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/21/israels-plans-for-gazas-future-will-only-keep-the-flame-of-hamas-resistance-burning

😂

As has been noted elsewhere, the real problem this raises (the 2023 awards can be addressed by a future Retro Hugo vote if WSFS deems it necessary) is "what do we do about worldcon venues with poor human rights?" Eg. Florida/Texas have book bans that specifically target LGBTQ+ content (never mind the human rights of attendees/voters). Glasgow in 2024 and Seattle in 2025 worldcons are probably safe, but future worldcon bids in progress include Saudi Arabia, Tel Aviv, and Uganda …

@Wintermute_BBS @colin_mcmillen

I still have an Apple //e on my desk with the #Minitel server code I restored a couples of years ago... running from time to time.

Here is the restoration explained:
https://cq94.medium.com/get-your-minitels-back-the-computel-videotex-bbs-is-back-1d8c42f1ea17

I create my company (JCA) in 1985 mainly to sell this software and host vidéotex services.

One year later, we switched to Macintosh with another product: Dragster (code is also available on github, mix of 68K assembly and MPW Pascal).

#retrocomputing

I have 9 of these boxes that need to disappear.

35x22x25cm internal

If you would like any number of them for free then I can send them relatively inexpensively anywhere in the UK! Or you can collect from Reading 🙂

Looking for boosts 🙏

Are you still using Twitter? ​

(12 months later follow-up)
#TwitterMigration
#Mastodon

Watching "Dr who the star beast".. they leaned a bit heavier into the woke side of things, but while a bit on the heavy side I liked it. Right until the end, the end they said something like "We have a power a male-presenting time-lord will never have... letting go". Got that was cringe, sexist, and ruined it.

'Hilariously, Sunak insists anyone failing to get behind all this just wants to take us “back to square one”. Square one? Oh man – who wouldn’t take square one in a heartbeat? We’re somewhere near square minus 39 here, receding backwards through the squares until the place of utter darkness beyond all squares'

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/19/tories-squid-game-rwanda-policy