Rendering water in watercolour is diabolically hard

Duck test #watercolour #ducks

Well a tiny bit of good news #renewables https://www.drax.com/press_release/uk-battery-storage-capacity-surpasses-nuclear-power-for-the-first-time/

Jeez this is The Observer this morning #brexit

A wizard's sketch is never late #sketch #charcoal #art #lotr

I'm trying out open alternatives to Claude code, full stack (open LLM, open cli). Any suggestions? I cannot find anything even remotely as capable #llm #opensource

Call for freelance researchers!

I'm looking freelance researchers to support with a literature search on the impacts of AI adoption, looking at worker safety, infrastructure resilience, and environmental safety

https://www.careful.industries/blog/2025-9-freelance-researchers-safe-adoption-of-ai

Fairly fast turnaround due to a slightly delayed project start, but should be super interesting for people already working in this area.

I'm running another Ofcom Q&A for people who run small, low-risk sites in the UK, who want to know more about compliance with the Online Safety Act https://buttondown.com/indie-and-community-web-compliance-/archive/7-ofcom-virtual-qa-event-23-october/ - send your questions in by 15 October

Celtic clothes have a Star Wars feel (from the British museum) #celts #britishmuseum

If you're concerned about what a UK DOGE would look like, you're not alone.

Sycamore Collective is organising a small, Chatham House rules event, hosted by CAMRI (University of Westminster), on 18 June in central London to explore options for pro-democracy future proofing.

We're asking people to "apply to attend" because we know there could be sensitivities for some attendees, and the aim is to make this a safe space for everyone who takes part.

https://lu.ma/faby2ga4

@bookstodon just found out about solar punk magazine, a bi-monthly publication about hopeful SF. https://solarpunkmagazine.com/shop/solarpunk-magazine-issue-21/

#scienceficton #solarpunk #scify

Morning! A reminder that @danmcquillan will be joining the Reading Group for Hopeful Technologists at 1pm BST for a Q&A about his book Resisting AI. Tickets are free and you can still
sign up here lu.ma/jrditlbj - feel free to listen to the Q&A while having lunch. We'll talk about anti-fascist AI, good governance, resistance and strategies for finding hope :-)

Popping back to re-up this survey for UK-based technologists and technologish folk. Do you think there's a gap for a professional body to represent and build the field of socially liberal, progressive technologists? Survey open till 21 May https://www.careful.industries/blog/2025-4-survey-society-for-hopeful-technologists

Good morning! A reminder that the survey to help design the Society for Hopeful Technologists is open for responses. If you're a UK-based technologist who's had enough of extractive platform capitalism and wants to act in solidarity to build something better, please fill it in and share with others https://www.careful.industries/blog/2025-4-survey-society-for-hopeful-technologists

I'm co-hosting a roundtable/workshop thing in a couple of weeks on the possibilities of small-scale AI. Have sent out some invitations to folks I know who might be interested, but if this is your thing please do sign up https://lu.ma/70mrsc82

Does anyone know of maker/hacker spaces close to Greenwich in London? #makerspace #hackerspace #london #Greenwich

Bit delayed sending this out, but #5 of the Indie Web compliance email is percolating its way out now, with a link to this ORG tool so you can write to your MP about the impacts of the illegal harms code of practice https://action.openrightsgroup.org/save-our-sites-write-your-mp

(Newsletter link: https://buttondown.com/indie-and-community-web-compliance-/archive/5-write-to-your-mp-open-rights-group-campaign/)

Reupping last week's newsletter: do we need a union for hopeful technologists? https://buttondown.com/justenoughinternet/archive/a-union-for-hopeful-technologists/ This is from a UK perspective, where policy and influence is dominated - if not overwhelmed - by US tech thinking

I, for one, am fed-up of centralising technofascists and am thinking of new routes to organise. Wrote this, which is mostly questions, in the hope of finding some answers and a whole load of collaborators https://buttondown.com/justenoughinternet/archive/a-union-for-hopeful-technologists/

Trying something out ... a lunchtime reading group for hopeful technologists. If anyone wants to come, perhaps we can make it a semi-regular thing. For the first one, let's read Ruha Benjamin's Imagination: A Manifesto https://www.careful.industries/blog/2025-2-a-reading-group-for-hopeful-technologists