mastodon 4.7.3Former podcaster of Radio Clash (still sort of), owner of Hard Up Hiker YT channel, mashup artist, ne'er do well, seemingly the Monarch of Shadowbans and captain of obscurity!
Heads up: 'Devil's advocate', strawmanning or arguing a false position for a 'gotcha' isn't welcome here, go sealion elsewhere.
This is not your argument playpen.
Genuine responses wanting a real discourse only please.
Lynott was SUCH a good songwriter, and genre blind too... rock, folk, rnb, reggae, electro pop on his solo stuff and with Midge Ure...
Sade knows how to choose a good tune to cover as well ;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOIAEz4sonk
Cable install went well, scary when they were drilling, but it's all up, and took me 5 minutes to switch to Modem Mode cos I have my own router...and it just works!
Also Virgin Media has historically a bad rep, but so far the customer service and engineer service has been top notch.
Obligatory speed brag!
Home Assistant / Zigbee folks - always ONE sensor that uses a shitload of batteries isn't there?
Got some lithium rechargeables cos my cheap Chinese sensors seem to freak out with 1.2V rechargeables. Nearly all love them,have been on 100% *allegedly* for months.
One has drained batteries entirely.
It is the one with the LCD display, and there was a few times the network has been down so might have been pinging away, but it's alarmingly fast still.
Second time in 24 hours I've heard the phrase "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes".
Never heard it before, apparently written by Theodor Reik in 1965. It does indeed rhyme and sums up the times.
https://grokipedia.com/page/History_doesnt_repeat_itself_but_it_often_rhymes
I haven't said Happy Pride this year because...it doesn't feel very happy does it?
I think we should have a Queer Defiant Pride, or a Fuck You Pride. The first Pride was a riot after all.
And Matt here reminding you that rainbow capitalism was a fad, they never cared about us at all... well apart from a few like Spice Girls and Madonna, LOL.
We know who are eternal allies are...they are the ones speaking up RIGHT NOW when it's not easy or 'cool', Like back in the 70's-90's, where to support LGBTQ rights the first question was 'are you gay then?' rather than a given. Similar.
Love it when trolls try to ‘own’ me over my health. I can easily say I am an expert in that given it's my body, and many decades of chronic conditions…wrangling with the NHS, being misdiagnosed and not believed then accepted, etc.
So please tell me how I’m somehow wrong in my hard won knowledge about my body? /Wonka
And the classic own goal moment - their 'gotcha' in a discussion about cost of medicine, is they pay twice or three times for the branded version of a cream you can get an exact generic for.
And I'M the stupid one (according to them)? LOL.
They always drop the ball with their 'atcherly' corrections.
Fucking HILARIOUS.
"It wouldn't kill you to clean this..."
Heard that phrase a lot when I was growing up...but here's the irony - it literally can.
A combination of dust and mould (and some disinfectant) triggered asthma and eczema triggered by sweat, heat, stress and a multitude of other things means cleaning is a nightmare for me.
Especially in this heat...just been clearing the place for an engineer visit on Wed and looks like it's going to take that long in between waiting for antihistamines to (not) work, frequent application of creams and manic scratching sessions. Wheezing hasn't kicked in yet, but when I hoover it will.
This is why in this heatwave I've been hiding inside, humid heat and sweat is not good for me.
Also the UK has humid heat - dry heat? Mostly fine, if I stay moisturised. But sticky sweaty humid heat sets off my eczema horribly. So best to just hide til it cools.
It's also why I get annoyed when people criticise my progress, I am the worst candidate for clearing/cleaning a dusty and mouldy flat!
Laverne Cox on Caitlin Jenner - GO OFF QUEEN! I LIVE for this shit...and she's right. It's voting for the Leopards Eating My Face Party and being amazed that leopards did indeed eat your face.
Also her fangirling over Gianmarco is amazing. Drop the tea!
There are actual proper Stalinists on here?
Oh dear.
They got upset when I said 'depends what type of communist - tankies can get in the sea' when I suspected their response saying we should build radical groups JUST for the radicals, those who are poor and aren't sucks to be them and suffer cos they aren't radical was suspiciously Stalinist.
Cos yes, FUCK THAT.
We don't build community orgs to survive what is coming with the fall of Capitalism like some End Times Heathers Club?
The callous 'hey we need to put our lives in the hands of Daddy Anarchist/Communist' is the same old blather that won't bring ANY sort of revolution.
Quite a few I've met have weirdly also been bigots actually.
Been tangentially part of these groups, was scarily autocratic, or middle class anarchism.
Same old, same old.
Please don't go there...we win by being the good guys and helping folks, not making In/Out groups with ideological hot air and building Mao/Stalin style power cults....
Metal with Kenny G and his son? It's amazing.
As a comment said, John Zorn prepared me for this, but great video, love the sax shredding!
(his son is a metal artist, hence the link)
Love the useful idiots saying ‘capitalism is the best system we’ve got’.
Cos when pressed on what makes it so, list a bunch of things that us socialist ‘commies’ spilled sweat and blood to get from their beloved masters.
Weekends, worker protections, pensions, sick pay…they didn’t just happen.
Who knew drilling into sash windows could be so stressful? Not knowing how deep you needed to go (fnar) & where exactly the glass goes into the frames adds extra trepidation, and using a 11mm drill which took absolutely AGES to find and get here, cos why not never stock that size in a wood drill anywhere locally?
One window done with secure sash stops, so now fully insurance compliant (realised one window didn't have either a bolt or stops, Dear Partner had put a single removable screw in (!!!) in a really lame DIY attempt).
Also that window has these curved ornate sides, different to the others - Victorian original? Smelt sweet like pine though, ornate edges made siting the stops really hard.
And I hated standing in the bathtub drilling, even without water all my usual safety internal alarms added to the stress. Rubber gloves and safety glasses, I was dolled up for safe DIY...
Leaving the rest til tomorrow as they can be bolted, and I have a temporary way of stopping the other window while I sleep.
It fascinates me that when I make mashups they directly reflect my mood, but when I write music it's often the reverse.
Paradoxically joyful'* music when I'm down, moody music when I'm happy, etc.
*it kind of annoys me we see joyful silly stuff as cringe, I certainly felt like before, but writing soundtrack stuff I don't care,, all moods are welcome. Moody depressing 'cool' shit is easy to write, it's actually harder to write 'up' music that's genuine, and usually it is.
When I see a new restaurant open I think 'oh I'll try that, I'll tell....' then my thoughts trail off.
Who with, exactly?
We used to go to most of the restaurants around here, new one was an exciting thing - a new place to try!
Now it's just a sad reminder of time passing and him not being here.
Just bought some face masks. Here we go again....
(going to use them for hoovering if we don't get another pandemic, but I remember last time when I had to make a mask out of a hoover bag? And hand sanitiser and N95s were going for silly money!)
Could be paranoia but rather not be unprepared this time, as they say in the video, overreaction is better than underreaction.
Almost as good as the Thin Lizzy original... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW8HHw8kpfM
"Think I'll just fall to pieces
If I don't find something else to do
This sadness never ceases
I'm still in love with you"
Can't think why this song resonates, nope, not at all... :-(
"Our focus has always been making sure organisations have clear, accessible guidance on how to implement the law," Women and Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson said.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0e2rj3zj02o?at_format=link
It's about as clear as mud? This is like that old parody account 'Hope that Helps' - but for real.
Depressing cycle of the Henry Nowak case is as ever everyone is flapping around. Doing the usual handwringing, re-arranging deckchairs and not asking the important questions:
Like 'why do people think there is a second tier of policing?' and 'why are some looking to others to blame?' (be they trans, a different colour or creed).
No, I'm hearing the usual centrist liberal condescension of 'they don't know any better' and 'that's racist' and the boring rumblings from the usual fash suspects pushing a racist divisive narrative. Blah blah blah.
Do I have to really say it? Riots, racism are bad, mmmkay?
But the fact that people are struggling wtih cost of living, energy costs and an impossible job market and AI BS - that's what's fueling this.
Sort that out, and it will be gravy. Back to the usual 3 people in bomber jackets trying to start a movement and failing.
But the lack of engagement over people's anger over fuckups like this is why Reform keeps growing.
Never liked Maps by Yeah Yeah Yeahs...especially the line 'They don't love you like I love you'. That irritated me immensely, it comes off like 'mine is better than yours'
Now a staple of weddings, a beige polite sort of indie....when I looked up the background I had satisfying schadenfreude that the relationship didn't last.
And yes I know the song is about touring, so 'they' is the fans, but even that feels pretentious and grandiose.
Like - get her! Who does she think she is?
But yes, Karen I loved mine for 27 years, and yours lasted a few months? A year max? 2 maybe?
So I guess you DID love in a different way, after all! :-P
Matt shows a post where an AI bro doesn't get what Van Gogh was going for or what (post) impressionism was doing. Oh dear.
You can't 'improve' Vincent's work? It was a singular vision and the humanity, pain, mistakes and genius is everything that AI cannot create.
And I mean CREATE. Not copy. Create.
No a LLM is not creating anything, nor is inspiration trawling billions of images.
It's one thing, a flower, a moment, a riff, a sound, a thought, and creating from that seed. LLMs/AI is like infinite monkeys writ large, design by committee.
You can't be inspired by everything ever created, hence the bland melange you get.
SIgned for John.
We must defend libraries and we must defend librarians at all costs.
Seen this before but it explains really well what the far-right/fascist/extremist schtick does, and wants.
In previous and better times, these statements would have been obvious and I'd not have to CW it, as it wouldn't be so fucking damn relevant. Sigh.
