One of the defining beliefs of the political class is that what's good for business is (by extension) good for society.

As water privatisation, the Horizon IT scandal, the Grenfell fire & numerous other corporate actions from water depleting data centres to the impact of the supermarket oligopoly on the UK's food system attest, this is not (likely never was) true.

Only when Govt.'s are more sceptical of the business interest will we be able to build a good & just society!

#politics #business

RE: https://c.im/@BBC/117144240968313104

Years ago when I lived in Canterbury, they brought in a phone to pay thing for parking. I wrote a letter to Canterbury city council saying this was a bad idea as someone could put a sticker over the phone number, and scam people for their credit card details. CCC said this wasn't a realistic attack, and they proceeded with the roll out.

The phone number is now a QR code.

And I was fucking right.

I want to thank everyone who kicked in overnight to our effort to get a mutual-aid hub in Gary, Indiana – serving a city now eleven days without electricity – a solar generator. I’m delighted to report that as of this morning, we’re well over halfway to the target.

One more push today and, with any luck, I should be able to order the generator by the end of the day. Please circulate this as widely as you can – let’s let ‘em know they don’t have to face this alone.

Again, thanks so much for your care, your generous support and your solidarity. Taking care of one another is something we have the power to do.
https://chuffed.org/project/196914-lets-ship-a-solar-generator-to-folks-without-power-in-gary-indiana

UPDATE: Less than twenty-four hours later, we’re fully funded, thank you!

#mutualaid #anarchism #solarpunk #gary

As many others have pointed out, one way to think about what’s been happening to tech—software, especially—is that the entire industry is being “Boeinged” (or Jack Welched). And, as with an airplane, a faulty part can sit in a system for a decade before it snaps and brings the whole thing down

One of the most useful German nouns is the Swiss[ᵈᵘᵇⁱᵒᵘˢ][ᵈⁱˢᶜᵘˢˢ] coinage "Verschlimmbesserung", which is a portmanteau of Verschlimmerung (deterioration) and Verbesserung (improvement) and describes the act of making something worse in an attempt to make it better.

If your language has an equivalent expression, please share and explain it below.

Boosts for reach appreciated!

As someone who regularly helps elderly, low-vision, low-English-literacy & other folks who are struggling to understand them manage their phones (I know @jessamyn does this too), I cannot begin to explain to you the rage I feel at the designers & development organizations who foist these UI choices on a public not remotely equipped to navigate them.

The controls are overwhelming, still. They’re couched in jargon, still. They’re hidden somewhere non-obvious, down the end of a four-node decision tree. Fifteen years after I left the industry things have only gotten worse. And the worst bit of all – as I always insisted then, based on my own extended observation – is that *users internalize the blame for their inability to comprehend the UI*.

They wind up feeling stupid and incompetent. They wind up bewildered and scammed. They feel terrified to hit the wrong button, and then not be able to find it again. It’s so, so hard to watch. It breaks my heart, and it makes me furious.

Found this from one of the Design Channels that I follow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVo7H3EheMY

Much chewiness in there.

His approach towards Art is very similar to that of Dali, Dada, and, Prevert.

The main difference is that he could afford to "just create", rather than chasing The Spectacle, to earn a crust, or being forced to conform to whatever Industrial Design School was currently hip'n'trendy with the financial-decision-makers in the corporate world...

Colani's work with the car industry strikes me as having the same relationship as the Catwalk Fashion Spectacles to the Fast Fashion industry.

It's the fancy creative end of the spectrum that got the Column-Inches in the press, just like the pageviews, likes, and, clicks, in todays social media.

:D

You can see why he was an inspiration for Giger. :D

Heating plant and boiler house of the former Robert Fletcher & Sons Papermill in Greenfield, Manchester. Most of the 100-year-old industrial site was demolished a few years ago; the site will be developed into housing.

#Photography #Manchester #History #Abandoned #Factory #Industry #Abandoned

Residents in Gary, Indiana have been without power for nearly two weeks

Many are under a boil water advisory, which is nearly impossible without electricity

Thousands without power or safe water… and it’s barely a blip on the news

The richest country in the world is choosing to let people suffer

Please remember to check on the disabled and elderly … they are the first to die during catastrophic events like this

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/whats-going-on-in-gary-how-residents-are-still-without-power-nearly-two-weeks-later/3978350/?amp=1

#gary #indiana #uspol #disability #poverty #ableism

A Chinese mother and son spent 5 years on their passion project: an animation about a cow having a dream about walking upright.

They did it in SketchUp. It’s so amateur and primitive that people started buying tickets to see how ‘bad’ it is. Honestly, from all the videos I’ve seen of people in the cinema laughing as they’re in the cinema.. a work of art really.

I’d rather watch this than a crisp but soulless genAI movie

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2026/08/20/unbelievably-terrible-no-budget-film-china/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/17/niu-lai-derided-animated-film-challenges-blockbusters-at-chinese-box-office

#China #Movies

"How Russian propaganda works abroad, in one sentence per layer:

For the right: "Russia defends tradition." For the left: "NATO caused this." For the pacifist: "Weapons prolong war." For the cynic: "Everyone lies equally." For the tired: "It's complicated."

Five contradictory messages, one output: do nothing.

Russian propaganda doesn't need you to love Moscow. It needs you paralyzed."

Sulkhan Metreveli, CEO Met Capital | Director ACR Institute

“Microsoft has reportedly shared the names of Dutch civil servants…with the U.S. House of Representatives…

The civil servants involved are working on implementing the Digital Services Act (DSA), the European law that forces online platforms to take stricter action against illegal content, online child sex abuse, and disinformation.”

—> To enable retaliation, EU leaders please wake up

https://nltimes.nl/2026/05/22/microsoft-accused-leaking-dutch-civil-servants-names-us-government

#Microsoft #USPol #EUPol #Digital #Privacy #Infosec #Nederland #EU #Geopolitics

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.... and in this case, this Private Eye cartoon (from Wilbur) sums up a lot of the commentary on Mastodon about climate change & the myopia of our political class.

#ClimateChange #politics

Some chewy ideas in here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upICnImoaD4

:D

#Republican Palm Beach County Clerk Mike #Caruso, a former state Representative and steady ally of #GOP Gov. Ron #DeSantis, has been arrested on charges related to #CSA. As Bob is my witless, No Republican Can Be Trusted With Children.

The GOP is a political party that exists purely to protect billionaires and pedophiles.

The linked story contains details that may be triggering to abuse survivors.

#USPOL #childabuse #florida https://www.newsbeep.com/696361/

me: "I'm prepared to answer your riddles three!"
sphinx: "oh, you knew about the riddles three?"
me: "yes , you're a sphinx, it's a rather well-known thing that I gotta answer three questions"
sphinx: "oh wait did I just waste the first question?"
me: "hmm, that depends on updog"
sphinx: "what's updog?"

Prof Katya Rubia, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London: “My own contribution to this programme has been largely misrepresented as my comments were cherry-picked, truncated and presented out of context to make them fit into the programme’s narrative that ADHD does not exist and there is no brain basis to the social construct."

Channel 4's ADHD Myth documentary. Not sure we need to heed a psychiatrist who a) doesn't specialise in ADHD b) is a Daily Mail columnist c) Poses for photos with a stethoscope as if needing to *prove* he's a doctor (how many shrinks do you see using stethoscopes? It's a performative facade of authority)

This is what the billionaire press and many politicians were campaigning so hard to destroy. Their freedom to drive took precedence over our children's freedom to thrive.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Ulez led to better lung size a...

Touchdown! Private Chinese rocket aces landing on 2nd-ever flight
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/touchdown-private-chinese-rocket-aces-landing-on-2nd-ever-flight?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub