⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️ @falken@qoto.org

Just because the rest of you have given up on this old sci fi aesthetic, doesn't mean I have to. I need it into my veins through intravenous drip please.

@cstross @jredlund
I really appreciate that I read this statement on mastodon, where I'm reasonably sure it's intended as horror, whereas if I read it on tumblr, I'd be more worried it's erotic

Walked 9 miles. Earned my delicious victory pint 👍Massively missing my walking buddy and wise pal Peanuts but we’re catching up next week and aiming for 40 miles in a weekend.

Fresh basic income pilot results, this time from Arlington, Virginia where 200 people got $500 a month for 2 years. The findings:

Employment INCREASED by 16%, and their incomes from paid work INCREASED by 37%. The control group saw no such gains.

Nearly three-quarters of the treatment group also reported improved mental and physical well-being and an increased sense of control, compared to the control group.

https://www.arlnow.com/2024/02/06/report-arlingtons-first-guaranteed-income-pilot-boosted-quality-of-life-for-poorest-residents/ #BasicIncome

UBI - the basics

This was first mooted in the UK at least 40 years ago. I am describing it in a UK context because I know the tax system but most of the criteria can be applied to any country. I was in favour then, and still am.

In the UK you get a tax allowance - an amount you are permitted to earn before income tax kicks in. Much of that is standard but there are addons based on your particular situation. You are then taxed on the remainder of your income.

So the proposal was that instead of a tax allowance everyone would be paid an equivalent amount, irrespective of whether or not they were working. They would then be taxed on all income. From an administration point of view, this is actually simpler. The overall cost is small once you remove tax allowances you would have given anyway, welfare payments you would have made and reduced admin costs (including much of the not insignificant overhead of investigating fraudulent welfare claims).

It has a number of advantages:

1. Because everyone gets it, there is no stigma attached; no "us and them", "sponges", lazy people".

2. Previously if you were claiming benefit and you had the chance of a part-time job paying, say, £100 per week, there was no incentive to take it because that amount would simply be deducted from your benefit (or you had to break the law and risk prosecution by not declaring it). Under UBI you legitimately keep that money, less (probably 20%) tax.

3. There is less incentive to conceal income (if you are even able to get "cash-in-hand"). Paying tax will generally be worth it for staying legitimate and the peace of mind that brings.

From the start, these proposals had support from across the political spectrum (though for different reasons, depending on political perspective). It's unclear to me why it has taken so long even to get round to pilot schemes and small scale implementation.

I am now living on a pension so, in effect, I have UBI.

I open sourced a thing for monitoring HP printers from #checkmk

https://codeberg.org/falken/checkmk-hp-officejet/

#geek #linux

You can read more about today's announcement here ⬇️ https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/a-new-chapter-for-mozilla-laura-chambers-expanded-role/

On my way to a porn panel with legends Myles Jackman and Clarissa Smith at Durham Uni and I'm so excited! I get dinner and a fancy hotel and several hours each way on a train to be by myself ✨

Start of my journey has been messed up by flooded roads despite leaving extra extra time, so I'm on the next train and hoping I can make my change at Kings Cross okay - wish me luck 🤞

I built my own USB infrared tower to communicate 🚨 with my old 1st generation #LEGO #Mindstorms yellow #RCX brick 🟨 🧱 . I was able to load the firmware! 💻 🚀

Parts: an IR LED, an IR receiver, a microcontroller, some current-limiting resistors and two LEDs (power, activity), wires + a breadboard, USB/serial converter. For little money: total parts cost is around 10 €. 💶

I am willing to put this under open source and work on web-based tools. More details in this thread...

🧵

You know what "total victory" means right? Countries use this when they intend to completely remove, or conquer, another country, or people.

It's just another euphemism for #Genocide #EthnicCleansing

And yes... it will take "months"... because that's how long it will take to starve out, kill, imprison, or remove every last Gazan.

#IsraelGaza #Israel #Hamas #IsraelHamasWar #CdnPoli

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68232883

"Man who takes bets on whether refugees will be deported to an unsafe country makes transphobic joke in front of mother of murdered trans girl"

So that's UK Politics this week, in case you thought the Yanks had the monopoly on awful rich cunts

#RishiSunak #Ukpolitics #Ukpol #PMQs

@John @codinghorror @hotdogsladies LOL - download? The idea hadn’t even been invented yet since there was nothing to download to. Just characters on paper.

When I started on BBSs & Internet over terminals, that at least started at 1200bps. Newsgroups, Binhex, etc. Fun times.

But yeah, it’s probably time for bed for an old fogy like me :-)

@mitchw I would also like to point out NK Jemisin's "The Ones Who Stay and Fight".

https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-ones-who-stay-and-fight/

@pluralistic

@Computer @magitism I CAN’T physically LOVE Friend Computer because Friend Computer is, well, a Computer: but I can WORSHIP FRIEND COMPUTER AS MY GOD WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MERE CARNAL DESIRE, amirite?

Here's a fun thing to do: repost this, or comment on it, and then think about it every time you ever repost anything or comment on anything for as long as you live.

h/t @pluralistic

https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kim_02_24/

Am I out of touch of what the public think? Or of what the press imagine the public think? Channel 4 News just spent most of their programme going on about the King's cancer even starting to repeat stuff they already said as had so little to say. It not as if there no other news to report. Why isn't it enough to say he has cancer and is receiving treatment and let's move on?