Paul Sutton @zleap@qoto.org

When I was a teenager, I found a tool that let me customise the font used by the MS-DOS text mode. I'd just discovered the demoscene, so I worked long and hard to make the coolest font I could imagine, a font so cool I could only call it "COOLFONT".

I later converted it to a Windows font, and this week I found a tool that could convert it to a TrueType font that renders crisply and pixel-perfect, just like I remember. So for some nostalgia and self-deprecation, I've uploaded all the versions (DOS, Windows, and TTF) for people to play with:

https://gitlab.com/Screwtapello/coolfonts

#retrocomputing #typography #nostalgia

A disappointing response from the UK Government to the recent House of Lords Science and Technology Committee report on "the effects of artificial light and noise on human health".

PDF: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/42401/documents/210714/default/

#LightPollution #NoisePollution #DarkSkies #UnitedKingdom

Parents’ rights groups mobilize as California advances a ban on youth tackle football - Raw Story

https://www.rawstory.com/california-youth/

"Go to an old cemetery. See all the baby graves from before the 1950s & 60s? After that, hardly any. That's when people started vaccinating their children against deadly childhood diseases. If you're unsure what to do to protect your kids, the answer is literally written in stone."

[from Michael Okuda on the birdsite]

Canadians Express Concern Over Future of U.S. Democracy and Election Integrity https://newsfactsnetwork.com/news/canadians-express-concern-over-future-of-u-s-democracy-and-election-integrity/

Today I am bummed by the skills and knowledge that as a society wendon't think are worth paying for.

The art we won't buy. The books we won't pay for. But also the teaching and curation and public dissemination of knowledge.

The careers we massively undervalue that as so much more important than our ability to automate things that become LESS valuable and LESS interesting when they're not made by humans.

What a horrible world, with so many people who could make it better if we PAID them.

"The modest school district here has become the first in the state to entirely replace its diesel school bus fleet with no-emissions electric buses. Martinsville Independent School District applied for and received a $1.6 million grant last year from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency." #Texas #EV #ClimateChange https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/clean-fleets/a-small-texas-town-is-home-to-the-states-first-all-ev-school-bus-fleet

A River’s Microbiome May Protect Wild Salmon Against Malnutrition via Oregon State University, published by Applied and Environmental #Microbiology

by @GrrlScientist

#ecology #microbiome #microbiology #salmon #malnutrition #SciComm🧪 https://forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2024/01/15/a-rivers-microbiome-may-protect-wild-salmon-against-malnutrition/

Jason Dallas & co show that the community of microbes inhabiting the guts of tadpoles contributes to their ability to withstand rising temperature & suggests that microbiome transplants could offer hope to species at risk as global temperatures rise

#gutmicrobiome #climatechange #amphibians #tadpoles
#zoology #biology #comparativephysiology

https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/227/1/jeb247159/341170

Read the full research at https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/227/1/jeb246735/341168

The kids were guessing the ingredients of the stroganoff sauce.

Thinking about salt, I gave them a hint: "It's very small, you can't see it, but it's present in almost all food."

Said the 7yo: "Microplastics!"

Part of why tech workers at huge orgs like this need a union:

Being compelled to relocate to a forced birthing state is violent as hell

So much more to collective power than just getting paid

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/14/24037904/apple-san-diego-siri-ai-team-relocating