adrysdale - Network

Reading the debate on facial recognition most MPs seem woefully misinformed and technically illiterate. Few, such as Siân Berry, seems to...

Reading the debate on facial recognition most MPs seem woefully misinformed and technically illiterate. Few, such as Siân Berry, seems to address the real issue of shelling out public money to private companies to start up big brother style surveillance with no legislation protecting the public

£240 million for 2.8 million people is about £10 per person. Do economies of scale help this £10 lift people into work or is the aim to...

£240 million for 2.8 million people is about £10 per person. Do economies of scale help this £10 lift people into work or is the aim to only lift a portion into employment? #politics

A nice opinion piece on the relationship between the climate crisis and the global debt crisis...

A nice opinion piece on the relationship between the climate crisis and the global debt crisis https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/climate-crisis-debt-cancellation

Are there any reliable sources that show the Royal's cost to the public and the income they generate for the economy? Personally,...

Are there any reliable sources that show the Royal's cost to the public and the income they generate for the economy? Personally, it's a matter of equality but I'd be curious to know some exact figures. #NotMyKing https://actionstorm.org/petitions/notmyking

I just signed a petition to stop bots making management designs. It took 2 minutes.https://action.privacyinternational.org/campaign/24I...

I just signed a petition to stop bots making management designs. It took 2 minutes.

https://action.privacyinternational.org/campaign/24

I don't understand why some people are so obsessed with perpetual growth. I can't imagine it brings happiness and I would bet on it actively getting in the way of it. Moreover, your happiness is tied to an externality rather than yourself.

There are only two sums of money, enough and not enough. If people realized this we could get by with managing people with people.

After a year using NixOS I recently switched to Gentoo + Nix and I couldn't be happier.Before I switched I couldn't find anything...

After a year using NixOS I recently switched to Gentoo + Nix and I couldn't be happier.

Before I switched I couldn't find anything online covering this sort of topic. So I wrote a blog on it.

https://alexdrysdale.xyz/site/why-i-left-nixos-for-gentoo-nix

Feedback and thoughts would be appreciated.

There shouldn't really need to be a financial insentive to tackle health inequality but I'm glad there is one. No one chooses where...

There shouldn't really need to be a financial insentive to tackle health inequality but I'm glad there is one. No one chooses where they're born and the start in life they get.

Here's the article:
https://nation.cymru/news/tackling-inequality-could-save-hospitals-in-wales-322-million-every-year/

TLDR; an interesting reporting showing that 9% of hospital spending in Wales is due to health inequalities.

A great article on the realities of autism. Not on the ins and outs or the day to day but how classify autism as a spectrum is a gross over...

A great article on the realities of autism. Not on the ins and outs or the day to day but how classify autism as a spectrum is a gross over simplification. Like defining red as "more spectrum" than blue.

Definitely worth a read.

https://neuroclastic.com/its-a-spectrum-doesnt-mean-what-you-think/

Trying to reach out for some #privacy advice. I'm looking to securely share #photos of our family with other family members (not many...

Trying to reach out for some #privacy advice. I'm looking to securely share #photos of our family with other family members (not many are that tech savvy).

My initial thoughts were to self host a #pixelfed instance but that might be a bit overkill.
Second, I was thinking about just sharing folders from our #nextcloud but that might not be the most user friendly for the non-tech people.

I doubt I could get everyone on session/signal etc.

Any thoughts? Boosts welcome to reach the right people.

Whether or not you agree with their reasons, its highlights the Silicon Valley Tech Giant's immense...

Whether or not you agree with their reasons, its highlights the Silicon Valley Tech Giant's immense power.

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/how-silicon-valley-in-a-show-of-monopolistic

Mass of artificial objects on Earth may now outweigh living things. Scary. What's scarier, is that the authors observe a doubling every...

Mass of artificial objects on Earth may now outweigh living things. Scary. What's scarier, is that the authors observe a doubling every 20 years and predict that the mass of artificial objects will be tripple that of biomass by 2040.

For each human, their body weights worth of artificial stuff is produced each week.

What's mind boggling is that less stuff can lead to happier lives (no citation for that sorry!).

As a race, we've gone too far.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2262229-mass-of-artificial-objects-on-earth-may-now-outweigh-living-things/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-3010-5

I've got a presentation to prepare for, analysis to complete and subsequently turn into another presentation along with a literature...

I've got a presentation to prepare for, analysis to complete and subsequently turn into another presentation along with a literature review to do.

Yet I still find myself reading PEP-8 guidelines and updating git hooks. I initially thought this was for developing useful career skills but I'm starting to think that its just academic procrastination.

Hopefully someone reading my code at some point in the future will thank me. I'm not sure my supervisor will...

#phdlife

Aside from the mind-reading device, what's worrying is the TLDR tool.The tool condenses news articles into bullet points.My concerns are...

Aside from the mind-reading device, what's worrying is the TLDR tool.

The tool condenses news articles into bullet points.

My concerns are not only with directing traffic away from news sites but the control the algorithm has over information. We've already seen the damage misinformation does and how bad Facebook is at controlling this spread. Such a tool gives Facebook a lot of power. Subtle biases within the algorithm could have dramatic consequences for societies.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/facebook-mind-reading-neural-sensor-b1774825.html

To the brain, reading code is not the same as reading a language.This article suggests that coding shares a lot more similarities with logic...

To the brain, reading code is not the same as reading a language.

This article suggests that coding shares a lot more similarities with logic problems and maths (whilst still being a unique task).

It would be interesting to see how the brain reacts to reading different coding languages and to the see the results in a feature space of cognitive function - brain-space*.

https://news.mit.edu/2020/brain-reading-computer-code-1215

*I'm not sure if that's what brain-space is but its what my brain thought was a good name.

Colombia is thinking of legalising cocaine (for medicinal purposes). I don't know the realities of how effective this would be or...

Colombia is thinking of legalising cocaine (for medicinal purposes). I don't know the realities of how effective this would be or medical ethics behind using it as pain relief. But, hopefully, this could really help the Colombian people. It doesn't need to be said how much cocaine has affected Colombians.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/epdv3j/colombia-is-considering-legalizing-its-massive-cocaine-industry

Has anyone had any success with the #dvorak keyboard layout?I've heard about typing speed increases and reduced strain. But with qwerty,...

Has anyone had any success with the #dvorak keyboard layout?

I've heard about typing speed increases and reduced strain. But with qwerty, I tend to get very little strain and maintain a high typing speed. Is it more just for comfort or are the claims true?

Boosts welcome to reach the right people.

I look forward to this paper being published so I can read the whole thing but from outset it seems quite flawed. Labelling all #Tor use to...

I look forward to this paper being published so I can read the whole thing but from outset it seems quite flawed. Labelling all #Tor use to access .onion sites as illicit seems ridiculous in age where so many legitimate services provide an .onion address (ProtonMail, Duckduckgo, etc.).

Moreover, labelling all Tor to clearnet use as licit seems ambitious as well. I can understand that assumption more but it will be interesting to see more of their methodology.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/11/does-tor-provide-more-benefit-or-harm-new-paper-says-it-depends/

Amazon hires 427,000 people in 10 months. Not including contacters or temporary workers.More importantly, they're also working with...

Amazon hires 427,000 people in 10 months. Not including contacters or temporary workers.

More importantly, they're also working with preschools to establish the foundation of tech education so that "as the hiring unfolds over the next 10 years, that pipeline is there and ready".

I'm not sure if I'm the only one but I find an Amazon led tech education quite scary. I'm all for tech education but I doubt that there won't be an agenda within th e education.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/technology/pushed-by-pandemic-amazon-goes-on-a-hiring-spree-without-equal.html

Its an interesting read. Personally, it highlighted the complexities of nutrition and the human body. And, as with most things, there are...

Its an interesting read. Personally, it highlighted the complexities of nutrition and the human body. And, as with most things, there are pros and cons with every decision.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2260515-meat-free-diets-linked-with-greater-risk-of-breaking-bones/

Let's stop the spread of misinformation on YouTube.Rather than reword the information myself I think its better to get it straight from...

Let's stop the spread of misinformation on YouTube.

Rather than reword the information myself I think its better to get it straight from @mozilla.

Here's 28 reasons why YouTube should change:

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/blog/28-reasons-why-youtube-must-change/

And here's a browser extension you can install to help the Mozilla understand YouTube recomendations:

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/campaigns/regrets-reporter/

Disclaimer: I do not use YouTube (or any google products if I can help it) but I thought this would help as I know I'm in the minority.